So…you have about 20 people over and it’s kind of boring, no one’s really talking about anything interesting and people aren’t too familiar with one another. What do you do? You break out Wits & Wagers (North Star Games, 2005), that’s what!

Billed (accurately) as “The trivia game for people who don’t know stuff,” Wits & Wagers is a trivia game in the sense that you have to answer questions – but rewards don’t come from knowing the answers, they come from placing bets on the players who do know the right answers.

Now in its second edition, the game includes a 28-inch-long felt betting mat, poker chips, trivia cards, player betting markers (2 each in 7 different colors),7 dry-erase pens and mini-boards, and a sand timer. Up to 21 people can play, forming as many as seven teams (individuals may play alone as well).

The goal of the game is to finish with the most points after seven rounds. On each round, a “question reader” reads the appropriate question on the card – the first question for the first round, and so on – and each player or team comes up with their best guess at the answer. The questions always have a numerical answer, typically one that very few people will know outright (see below). Teams have 30 seconds to record their answers, after which the answers are revealed and placed in order of magnitude (lowest to highest) on the large betting mat.

Players then have 30 seconds to place up to two bets on any of the answers, hoping to win one of 4 payoffs (2:1, 3:1, 4:1, or 5:1). Players may also bid on an eighth space, for a 6:1 payoff, labelled: “The correct answer is smaller than all given answers.” Players then identify their bids by placing their colored betting markers on their bets, and then the answer is revealed. The answer that comes closest to correct without going over is considered correct, and all players who bet on this answer receive the corresponding payoff. The player whose answer was chosen also gets 10 bonus points. If all answers went over, there is no bonus given, and only players who bet all answers were too high wins a payoff.

When I first played Wits & Wagers, we had a group of over 20 people (at a board-gaming event), and more were attracted by the laughing and fun. Since then it has not failed to please.

I recommend Wits & Wagers for any family or group that is likely to get larger than, say, 8 people. The more the merrier with this game, but it is still plenty of fun for 6 or more. It is intellectually stimulating, but, as advertised, one need not know anything about trivia to enjoy or even win the game. It is sufficient to know the right people to bet on from turn to turn.

Buy Wits And Wagers at Amazon!

The game “Scattergories” hit the shelves in 1988, and quickly became one of the most popular family and party games in America. I liked it, but having already been a fan of Facts in Five (3M, 1967; Avalon Hill, 1976; University Games, 2008), I knew there was a superior version of the same game. In fact, Facts in Five is on my top ten list for all time. I owned the Avalon Hill product, but it was first published by 3M in 1967 (example above), and is now available through University Games (see below).

The concept is simple enough. Draw five letter tiles and record those letters in the left-hand column of the answer sheet; draw 5 categories and record them along the top row of the answer sheet. Turn the 5-minute sand timer over and fill in as many examples within each category, starting with each of the drawn letters, as you can. Scattergories is laid out differently – especially since you are focusing on examples from many categories for just a single letter – but it is still basically the same concept. In fact, they both derive from a classic parlor game that as far as I can tell was never boxed. But why, then do I consider Facts in Five to be better than Scattergories? Because of the categories.

Categories in the Scattergories game are everyday things that just about anyone should know, such as “Things in the refrigerator” or “Boy’s names.” Facts in Five, on the other hand, has far more detailed categories, with many options for narrowing a category. In the example below, a player must choose a category and can choose as broadly as “Military Figures” or as narrowly as “Military Figures during World War II.” This feature allows the players to specify the level of knowledge required for their own game, and stimulates thinking about and memory of actual knowledge. Facts in Five is far more intellectually challenging, and therefore more intellectually stimulating and rewarding.

The newest University Games version of the game has been changed to make the categories more accessible, but still are far more interesting than the more mundane categories of Scattergories (see below). The general knowledge required to play is on par with other intellectual pastimes such as Crossword Puzzles, or Trivia.

Another important and very interesting aspect of Facts in Five is the scoring system. Correct answers are indicated on the answer sheet, and final tallies are made in the scoring table on the right – except they are collapsed upwards. That is, if in the first category a player correctly listed three things, then the player would get three tallies in the corresponding column of the scoring table, and regardless of which of the five in the first column were correct, the three tallies are placed in the top three sections of the first column of the scoring table, and then so on for each column. When each column is totaled, that number is squared and placed in the box. The same is done across each row – correct answers are tallied, but regardless of where the answers existed on the regular grid, since they collapse upward the first rows will get higher scores. Once all squared numbers are entered, they are summed up for a final score for that round.

This kind of scoring yields slight differences between itself and simple counting of answers. For example, high numbers in the columns indicate a strong specific knowledge of a given category. High numbers in the rows indicate general knowledge. Overall, however, the effect of general versus specific knowledge are made moot once the answers are added back together for a final score for that round.

Scores, once they are obtained, are moved to another scoresheet (below). It also has a space for specific and general scores, but they are not crucial to the game. After five rounds of play, final scores are tallied and listed here.

It may have been the time in my life where I was just discovering how much I loved trivia, coupled with my great memories of my two brothers and I naming things from different categories as we went through the alphabet. Whatever it was, however, I have loved this game ever since I was little.

I therefore recommend Facts in Five to any person or group who you know to be more intellectually driven – again, someone who would feel comfortable working the crossword puzzle. I find it an exhilarating exercise for the brain, and I think that most who play would feel the same about it.

Buy Facts in Five at Amazon!

Fast action, involving a wooden plunger-tipped “spear,” makes Ooga! (SimplyFun, 2008; aka Dino Booom, 2004) a unique game that appeals to the entire family.

Ooga! consists of “spears,” square “dino” tiles, rectangular “menu” tiles, and four “bone” tiles. Players use the spears to “capture” dino tiles, in an effort to accumulate the dinosaurs depicted on the menu tile. The catch is that the players must compete in rounds, and each round the slowest “dino hunter” must go without a tile.

The dino tiles are laid out, face up, in the center of the table, and a menu tile is turned over. The goal of the game is to acquire more of the menu tiles than any other player. Menu tiles are acquired when a player has successfully hunted each of the colored dinosaurs depicted on that menu card and yelled “Ooga!” before any other player.

But dinosaur tiles can only be hunted one at a time, and according to the “roll” (actually, it’s a “drop”) of the bone tiles. Three of the four bone tiles depict habitats (plains, forests, mountains), so only dinosaur tiles with those backgrounds may be hunted during that round. The fourth bone tile depicts coconuts and fruit, allowing a hunter to choose the corresponding “coconut” dino tile, which is a wild card (representing any color and type of dinosaur on the menu tile).

At the beginning of each round the bone tiles are dropped, revealing the range of habitats that may be chosen by any player. Each player must then immediately decide which dino tile to “spear” based not only on the habitats rolled, but on the type and color of the dinosaurs listed on the menu tile. Whichever player is slowest at choosing an appropriate dinosaur tile must do without a tile for that round. As soon as a player has accumulated each of the dinosaurs (by type and color) depicted on the menu tile, that player must shout “Ooga!” and turn in their tiles. They win the menu tile, and a new menu tile is turned up.

The challenge of quickly determining which of the dinosaur/habitat combinations to choose, coupled with the actual fun of “spearing” that tile, makes this an exciting little game. It definitely has appeal for younger players, but adults can enjoy it too, even alongside youngsters (although the youngest players would have trouble keeping all of the elements straight and still act quickly enough to compete, so I would recommend a handicap for more mature players in that case).

I had two problems with Oooga! Although it should have been simple enough to learn, it took a careful reading of the rules to really understand how to play because they don’t clarify the difference between a hunting “round” and a menu “day.” Besides that, the bone tiles are two-dimensional. Unless there is a large enough playing surface, dropping them can disrupt the rest of the playing area, or else they can bounce off the table onto the floor. One has to sacrifice the satisfying randomness of just throwing them up and letting them land wherever, for a more controlled and less random drop onto a smaller part of the playing area.

Overall, Ooga! turns out to be a lot of fun. It lends itself to multi-generational play, it involves quick-thinking and dexterity, and excitement builds as the game progresses. I recommend it to any gaming family or group of kids!

Buy Ooga! at Amazon!

Let’s get things straight once and for all…

Indie games emerged from role-playing games. Or roll-playing games, arguably.

RPGs emerged from D&D, which originally was neither, apparently.

D&D emerged from miniature wargaming. That’s because Gygax & Co didn’t find wargames nar enough.

Miniature wargaming emerged from Kriegsspiel. That’s because that Wells guy didn’t find playing with toy soldiers gam enough.

Kriegsspiel emerged from Chess. That’s because some military guys didn’t find Chess and such sim enough.

And that’s all there is to it. The entire tabletop hobby emerged from abstract board games. Indian eurotrash, to be more precise. Consequently, boardgamey indie games constitute the REAL return to the roots of the hobby.

Eat that, all you twenty- or thirty-something “grognards”

The currently known upcoming 2010 releases for a variety of collectible miniatures games.

Buy singles for Heroclix, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, World of Warcraft, and Axis and Allies here.

Heroclix –

• The next release is DC Heroclix, The Brave and the Bold.  Date not yet announced.  Rumors point to March 2010.

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures-

• Streets of Shadow – Date not yet announced.  Rumors point to April 2010.
• Lord’s of Madness – Date not yet announced.  Rumors point to July 2010.

Star Wars Miniatures -

• Dark Times – Date not yet announced.  Rumors point to January 2010.
• Masters of the Force – Date not yet announced.  Rumors point to April 2010.

World of Warcraft Miniatures

• Souls of Vengeance – Release Date TBA.

Axis and Allies Miniatures

• Early War 1939-1941 – Release Date December 15th

Lee Speakin Geurts

http://stores.ebay.com/Lees-Clix-Comix-and-Games

Heroclix is gone, right. Wrong. Topp’s, who owned Wizkids, who manufactured heroclix, decided to shut down their Wizkids division. Thus no more Heroclix.

To make a long story short, a company called NECA has bought the rights and are rumored to be releasing the set called Hammer of Thor before the end of the year. Everything I have seen and read says it’s release date will be in November. At recent conventions, they have even been selling Thor’s Mighty Chariot, a limited edition fig from the Hammer of Thor set.

I still have heroclix available in my store, and as soon as Hammer of Thor releases I will be carrying singles of it as well. Until then, check out the Hammer of Thor Set List below.

Buy singles at my Store when the set releases.

Buy Heroclix Here

Common
#001 Bug
#002 Kingpin
#003 Asgardian Warrior
#004 Valkyrie
#005 Hand Ninja
#006 Rock Troll
#007 Jimmy Woo
#008 Fire Demon
#009 Pip the Troll
#010 Malekith
#011 Marvel Boy
#012 Enchantress
#013 Thor
#014 Bi-Beast
#015 Phalanx Soldier
#016 M-11

Uncommon
#017 Balder
#018 Fandral
#019 Chase Stein
#020 Karnilla
#021 Ulik
#022 Moonstone
#023 Beta Ray Bill
#024 Namora
#025 Starlord
#026 Pluto
#027 Moondragon
#028 Rocket Raccoon
#029 Gorilla Man
#030 Owl
#031 Ronan the Accuser
#032 Daredevil

Rare
#033 Sif
#034 Hogun
#035 Loki
#036 Heimdall
#037 Songbird
#038 Venom
#039 Surtur
#040 Captain America
#041 Molly Hayes
#042 Phyla-Vell
#043 Penance
#044 Airwalker
#045 Karolina Dean
#046 Fenris
#047 Nico Minoru
#048 Spider-Man

Super Rare
#049 Ultron
#050 Hela
#051 Odin
#052 Venus
#053 Seth
#054 Loki
#055 Valkyrie
#056 Destroyer
#057 Thor and Loki
#058 Gertrude Yorkes and Old Lace
#059 Volstagg
#060 Kurse

Lee Geurts

Aka Lee Speakin

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Lees-Clix-Comix-and-Games

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures is releasing the next set of collectible miniatures on November 17th of 2009.  This new 40 piece set is called Savage Encounters.  Following is a link to a full figure gallery, and a complete set list.  As always, when this set releases I will have a full stock of singles available at my store.

Buy Savage Encounters Singles here.

D&D Miniatures Savage Encounters figure gallery spoiler.

Savage Encounters Set List

• Adult Gray Dragon
• Adult Purple Dragon
• Angel of Valor Legionnaire
• Black Slaad
• Bloodspike Behemoth
• Bodak Skulk
• Bullywug Guard
• Bullywug Mud Lord
• Death Giant
• Death Knight
• Deathrattle
• Drider Fanglord
• Fallen Villager
• Foulspawn Berserker
• Githyanki Gish
• Githyanki Mindslicer
• Goblin Skullcleaver
• Goblin Wolf Rider
• Gray Slaad
• Grazzt
• Greenvise Vine
• Hobgoblin Hand of Bane
• Human Outrider
• Legion Devil Legionnaire
• Marilith
• Nightwalker
• Norker
• Rat Swarm
• Rockfire Dreadnought
• Salamander Archer
• Savage Minotaur
• Shardstorm Vortex
• Skeletal Cyclops
• Skeletal Tiefling
• Sorrowsworn Reaper
• Specter
• Tiefling Necromancer
• Vampire Guildmaster
• Windfiend Furg
• Zombie Hulk

Lee Geurts -aka

Lee “Speakin”

Buy singles in my Ebay Store

Here’s an interesting post about a tabletop game, Train, that explores some of the complicity issues we talk about in regard to Rameses and (especially) Rendition. I share some of the reservations of the post’s author: is a game whose chief gimmick is to make you not want to play really a game? How much depth can be wrung out of such a construction?

But I find it really interesting to see this same idea being played out in the realm of the physical board game, even if it is (as in this case) a single-edition Art board game that will never be widely distributed.

(Edited to add: the linked page has a chat app in the sidebar that seems to crash Firefox for some people. Sorry about that. Safari appears to view it safely.)

Hy en estadística me ha dado por preguntarle a la profesora por la fórmula para obtener la probabilidad de que salga un determinado resultado, así que para ayudaros un poquito a hacer vuestras predicciones de cara a una tarde frente a un mapa o talero, y teniendo en cuenta que hace falta un poco de tiempo para sacarlo por cuenta de la vieja (o yo no me cosqué), lo pongo por aquí. En este caso, es para sacar fuerza irresistible en whf con 3D6, es decir, al menos dos 6.

P(66NU6N6UN66) = 1/6 · 1/6 · 5/6 + 1/6 · 5/6 · 1/6 + 5/6 · 1/6 · 1/6 + 1/6 · 1/6 · 1/6 = 16/216 = 2/27

Es decir, de cada 27 tiradas de 3D6 que hagamos, en 2 saldrá un doble  un triple 6.

Todo este párrafo esá aplicado al 3D6. La probabilidad, obviamente, es la misma para todos los demás resultados. Para hallar la probabilidad de que salgan otros resultados, sólo hay que multiplicar lo que nos ha dado antes (2/27) por el número de resultados favorables de entre 6. Por ejemplo, la probabilidad de que nos salga un doble cualquiera con 3D6 e de 12/27.

Para tiradas que no sean de 3D6, hay que hacer lo mismo siguiendo esta fórmula para hallar la probabilidad de, al menos un doble, en la tirada, pero añadiéndole un ·5/6 más a cada uno de las multiplicaciones (excepto la última, a la que se añaden ·1/6) y añadiendo tambén otra multiplicación más igual que las anteriores por cada dado que añadamos a a tirada. Una vez obtenida la probabilidad de cualquier doble.

Paratriples o cuáduples, sólo hay que poner en cada términ de la suma (cada multiplicación) un 1/6 en vez de 5/6.

Espero haberos echado una mano a la hora de planificar rol y wargames.

By: J-Fénix

Ale, parece que la droga ha llegado a las oficinas centrales de Games Workshop, pues… ¡¡¡SORTEAN ALGO GRATIS!!! O eso, o les han hackeado las cosas, porque no me acabo de creer que den algo gratis, aunque sólo sean 12 vales de 80€. Bueno, aquí os copiopego el link de la página y el artículo completo.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=2000003a&section=community&aId=11100063

 

Doce oportunidades de ganar un Vale de Regalo Virtual valorado en 80€

 

¿Estás harto de que te regalen calcetines y pijamas estas navidades? Crea una Lista de Deseos online, a la que podrás acceder a través de tu cuenta, envíasela a tus amigos y familiares, y, probablemente, estas fiestas tendrás lo que realmente deseas. Y además, si nos envías tu Lista de Deseos a santa@games-workshop.co.uk antes del 1 de diciembre, ¡podrás recibir un Vale de Regalo Virtual!

En enero, elegiremos 12 Listas de Deseos al azar y, si eres uno de los afortunados, te enviaremos tu Vale de Regalos Virtual de Games Workshop valorado en 80€. Estas navidades, tus deseos son órdenes: no sólo te regalarán lo que tú quieras, sino que puede que obtengas un regalo adicional para el nuevo año.

Cómo participar:

1. Si aún no estás registrado en nuestra página web, hazlo aquí.
2. Cuando estés registrado y accedas con tu usuario, añade productos a tu lista de deseos.
3. Envía tu Lista de Deseos a tus amigos y familiares.
4. Y envíanosla también a santa@games-workshop.co.uk

Ya sabes, cuánto antes completes tu Lista de Deseos y la envíes a tus seres queridos, ¡menos probabilidad tendrás de recibir calcetines este año!

Si aún no has creado una Lista de Deseos, esta guía te explica cómo hacerlo.

No te olvides de leer las reglas del Sorteo de Navidad.

¡Mucha suerte!

By: J-Fénix

Time out from the blah blah blah of political douche-baggery that I normally write about to talk about something I’m involved in:

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game 3rd Edition

(or as some people are calling it, “Version 3″ or “WHRP v3″)

Apparently, there is a huge amount of purism pushing people to protest this game. Granted, it’s a new system and a new way of playing the game that draws from the successes of other popular RPGs in existence (D&D 4e, for example). What I’m seeing is a similar negative response from fanboys/girls that I saw in another re-imagined franchise.

Fallout 3

If you’ve read any of my previous entries about FO3, you’ll see that I basically was disgusted in the fantard reactions of old fans of the original series (for example, the negative Nancys of No Mutants Allowed). I’m starting to see the same problematic fantardism arise from the old WHRP fans. I understand some of the complaints, but there are others that just don’t hold water (and are basically people bitching about having to use a new system because they are old people sitting on their porch yelling, “Get off mah lawn!”).

Here’s what changed in WHFR 3e:

• Instead of percentile dice (2d10), it uses a lot of unique dice to generate results. Most of the action/result can be determined directly from what was rolled.
• Making a party an actual character with stats (and a meter to keep parties from bickering too much).
• Cards to indicate what actions or talents the PCs are presently invoking for the round. Cards can actually gain tokens that can be used to do different options on the cards.
• The four races available out of the core set is Reikland human, High elf, Wood elf and a dwarf.
• Careers are limited to the cards in the box.
• Skills work differently, much like the Dark Heresy system of progression (basic, trained, etc).
• There’s a Stance mechanism that allows players to determine how aggressive they are. Each class has a different stance set up. However, green always = calm and red always = fired up. It can affect how certain talents and actions work. Built out of small chits that link together, and tracked with a counter.

So, what are the issues that I see with the game (the legit issues, in my eyes):

• Price. The price for the core set is $100. Or $120 for the expansion that comes out at the same time that adds careers and more spells.
• Space. I see the space needed to play the game is restricted to a large area, with cards, sheets, dice and stance meters. Lots of parts involved.

And that’s it. Those are legitimate inhibiting factors when you look at WHFR 3e compared to all the other RPGs that use unique stuff. In fact, WHFR 3e isn’t even all that unique. So here’s the illegitimate complaints:

• It’s a boardgame. No it isn’t. There’s no boardgame mechanics in the game. You’re just bitching that it looks like one because you hate the fact that Black Industries isn’t producing the game and Fantasy Flight Games is.
• It’s fiddly (too many cards, too many counters, etc) to be effective/speedy. We don’t know that, since we haven’t tried playing it yet. What I see are tools – the GM only has to look at the table once to see what everyone is doing. New players can read from cards instead of having to bust out the rulebook and flip through dozens of pages to find out what which talent/power does what.
• The percentile dice system is better. I’ve never thought so, and a lot of GM’s agree with me. Here’s why – people who know the percentage of chance to succeed at anything will more likely weigh all their character’s decisions on that instead of roleplaying. Not knowing the chance of outcome forces players to instead rely on “what would my character do” decisions instead of “Oh, I have a 50% chance of failing so I’m not doing it.”
• It was great the way it was, why change it? Uh, that’s never an excuse for anything. Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games are businesses, and – like other RPG companies – move their games in directions of the money. Right now, card-driven, unique game systems that make it easier for new GMs and players to play are huge. So the games move that way. The old v1 and v2 of WHRP was not drawing in a lot of players, and was a bit of a pain in the ass for GMs.
• It won’t capture the gritty feel of Warhammer. That – again – is bullshit. GMs create and run the setting, so it’s the GM’s job to set a gritty feeling. Or maybe the players don’t want to play WHRP in the old gritty fashion, and want to run a more heroic, high fantasy version? GMs can do that as well. Even if the new mechanics are slightly tilted to a more dynamic, faster style than the old versions, it’s still the GM who sets the tone of the world and the other characters in it. The GM is also the final arbiter of the rules and how the world goes.

What kills me are all the “this is heresy!” and “it ain’t Warhammer if it has pretty bits and a more dynamic system” type complaints. These are aesthetic issues that have more to do with player and GM preference than anything else. Don’t like v3? Then play v1 or v2! You are the consumer, you tell the developer through your wallets! But don’t sandbag and boycott the fun of everyone else looking forward to v3. Stop being a complaining, threatening, annoying shitbird.

It’s not fucking rocket science people. It’s a role-playing game.

@====={{\\\Breon Guarino\\\\\\

That’s right, you heard me. I’m a TABLETOP GAMER. You might ask what that entails; you might be utterly confused by the miniatures and dice scattered amongst the half-consumed soda cans and dog-eared manuals. I would answer you, but I am elsewhere.

Where I am, I am the tactical commander of a Blood Angels battle-group. I am watching the auspex readings of a dozen squads of elite Space Marines. I am sending troops loyal to the God-Emperor of Mankind to their deaths in battle; I send them to glory. I speak three words, and thirty jump-packs spin up their turbines, thirty power-armored knights fall from the sky into the main gun-line of the menacing xenos. The foul Eldar have made their last incursion on the surface of this planet, and it will be by my hand and my faith in the God-Emperor that they are driven back. The air is thick with ionized air from the pitifully deficient las-weapons carried by the doomed Planetary Defense Force that held the surface long enough for me and my battle-brothers to arrive by drop pod assault.  We were fired from orbit to bypass the danger of anti-aircraft fire; the blessed sons of the Emperor have arrived to purge the xeno filth from a loyal planet of the Imperium. I hear the bark of my brethren firing .75 caliber shells from their holy bolters, and within short moments I hear the secondary explosions as the bolts penetrate and explode a few inches past the first layer of armor, terrain, or flesh that they encounter. I hear cries of “For the Emperor!” and “Death before dishonor!” I see my brother Chaplains reciting the Litanies of Hate among their squads, fearless in their sable armor, masters of the trade of bringing death and destruction. Streams of plasma and melta-weapons bring down the agile but poorly-armored vehicles of the Eldar, and my Assault Marines have torn through the enemy gun-line in a spray of tainted blood and torn flesh.

Shortly thereafter, my turn has ended, and I pass the dice off to my esteemed opponent with a few comments about the wonderful painting work on his miniatures. I am only human, and I watch my opponent’s vehicles prove their offensive worth against two of my support squads. My opponent doesn’t fully grasp that I’ve allowed myself to be flanked for a reason, though, because I still have some  reserves left, and he’ll be singing a different tune once I melta-bomb his sorry little grav-tanks with my fresh Assault Marines on the next turn.

Sure, I’ll grant that I’m sitting at a table covered in painted plastic terrain pieces. I’ll allow the assumption that all I’m doing is playing a luck-based version of chess. A person who sees only these things does not see the story I am creating with every die roll and with the help of my opponent. My miniatures were painted not too long ago, but the Blood Angels are a venerated Chapter that has been in existence since the 31st millennium. I wage war not upon tabletops with good friends but on distant scattered hell-worlds against horrors that would break the minds of less well-versed humans. The Great Age of Humanity has come and gone three times before the battle on my dining-room table, and I fight in the name of the mighty God-Emperor that only just succeeded in uniting humanity once more before his betrayal by his favorite son among the Primarchs, the Warmaster Horus. I insert myself and allow myself to fall into the grand universe of Warhammer 40,000 like a quarter into a gumball machine. Through my battles and campaigns, I forge new legends and lore against the backdrop provided the backdrop of a cold and uncaring universe in which the only hope for humanity is to abandon the compassion and mercy that makes it humane.

Am I playing 40K (as it is often affectionately known by the fan base) for the tactical struggle? Oh, most certainly. It is engaging to work within the rules that are constructed. At the end of the day, it is an honor to test myself and my good fortune against that of a worthy opponent. I love the feel of a good roll in combat, knowing that my squads’ bolter fire has struck true. I love the suspense of an assault phase during my turn and the triumph of pinning down an enemy squad with well-directed sniper fire. There is a thrill to the process, almost as though my war-spirit was being tested in the same fiery baptism that my miniature battle-brothers go through.

However…I could just be playing chess, or the Star Wars miniature battle game.

I play 40K because the story really hits me. The grim darkness of the 41st millennium is a setting in which humans cannot afford to give or take any respite. Travel through the Warp from planet to planet runs the risk of being devoured in transit by otherworldly daemons too powerful for the human mind to comprehend. It is a unique tactical experience, but it is a purely unique experience in storytelling. It is a meeting and melding of LotR, Star Wars, and the compiled world of Lovecraft, with the finest aspects of each. Each victory comes through a moral fog, because the morality isn’t white/black, gray/black, or even simply gray. Each race is unabashedly disturbing in some aspects, from the dogmatic zealotry of the Space Marines and Ordos Hereticus to the frenzied debauchery of the Dark Eldar and Chaos to the planet-rapes of the Tyranid hive-mind. The depth there to be probed is staggering, and one can only truly appreciate the game through the story. This is why I play 40K instead of chess, when given a choice.

Why do I play 40K instead of the Star Wars miniature tabletop battle game?

I play 40K because a .75-caliber explosive shell punching into your chest and detonating within you will clear up that nasty little case of Midi-Chlorians in a hurry. The Force is a sign of the Taint of Chaos, after all.

Hark back to days when Scholastic and a few other publishers made these books that allowed you to plot your own course through the story. Best known as Choose Your Own Adventure books, these were the nerdy kids greatest wet dream. I had a few of the basic ones that allowed me to travel back in time to help General Washington at Valley Forge, or explore an Egyptian tomb, or survive a forest fire! Other publishers made CYOA books for Indiana Jones, Doctor Who and Zork. Fairly basic stuff – read an entry, pick a action from a given list, then go to the entry that was listed with your choice. Repeat until you win or lose.

Later, as I got older, these books got more … interactive, as far as books go. They literally got me involved in roleplaying games before I first laid eyes on a Dungeons and Dragons book. These books were CYOA with a twist – you managed your inventory and/or used stats to fight battles! There was a series for Car Wars,  Swordquest, Lone Wolf, the World of Lone Wolf, Way of the Tiger (ninjas!), etc*. Above all, there were Fighting Fantasy books that were written by soon-to-be well known RPG authors, such as Ian Livingstone.

I still have a few of my stack of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. I think Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Deathtrap Dungeon. I kinda go back through them when I stumble upon them every few years. Nostalgic, I wished that they still made the gamebooks of my early teen years.

And now they do! Fighting Fantasy books are being republished! As well as the Lone Wolf series! I’m so OMG! If you’ve never tried one, I suggest getting one. This is the analog version of video game RPGs. And it teaches kids to read and think through puzzles logically. It stimulates the imagination. I’d even suggest trying a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

I spent a month trying to beat the Warlock of Firetop Mountain fairly. In the end, I had flowcharted the exact actions you could take for each outcome, and learned the various different non-combat ways you could win (there were two). Great books.

——————–

* NOTE: All those books listed? I had/still have those books. I have two Car Wars ones, a few Lone Wolf ones, the entire World of Lone Wolf series, some of the Way of the Tiger ones, and one Swordquest (Quest for the Elf King) one. I used to have three Indiana Jones and one Doctor Who, but I lost them somewhere.

Whether they are accustomed to third edition or are new to traditional gaming altogether, D&D 4E provides a fair number of challenges to gamemaster and player alike.  Many of the old habits (rolling for stats and hit points) are gone, and even without impressions left from older editions there are still many things to learn and unlearn.  Fourth Edition has been around for a few years now, so I am a bit behind when it comes to writing about it, but I reserve my right as a gaming nerd to flap my jaw (or keyboard) and act like I know what I’m talking about.  If the information presented here is useful to you, wonderful!  Otherwise, this is a great outlet for me and I find that just writing about the game helps me gain a better understanding of it.

Before I get carried away with the charm of plastic polyhedrons, I would like to introduce myself.  I’m a 23 year old IT Guy (professional term) who has been playing D&D for 18 years.  My first character was a Half-Orc Magic User.  Since moving on to becoming a DM, I run between one and two sessions a week.  In addition to D&D 4E I have hosted the following:

• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (as well as 3.5)
• Werewolf: The Forsaken
• Vampire: The Requiem
• Mage: The Awakening (yes, I like White Wolf games, give me a break)
• Shadowrun
• Traveller (the little black book version, not GURPS)
• Battletech (just recently started with this, having a blast)

To clarify, I am not trying to toot my own horn, just giving a pedigree of sorts.   I just hope that it will help you trust my babble, and maybe understand where I’m coming from.

Its amazing really, how we indulge ourselves in our civilization, our music, Ipods, we are on the information age, exchanging information left and right, meeting people from all over the world, I mean… you guys are reading a blog from a Venezuelan and I dont even know where my readers are from…

Why is it then, that in this day and age its so hard to communicate asertively and efectively with others?.

I wish I had the answer, but seeing as that´s not coming anytime soon, lets talk about the solution!…

Have you ever fought with a player or a GM?, come ooooon, be honest… there must have been a few times when you felt that heavy feeling in the stomach of being upset, differences and fights are part of our daily life, remember as a kid when they taught you something in school and then when you got home your parents told you that it wasn’t like that at all?, ah I knew you would…

So how do we deal with the differences?, we could kill everyone that doesnt think like us, but it seems like some people wrote something pretty cool called the human rights, so thats not an option anymore… so instead, lets try and understand each other´s points of view…

Feedback is the act of giving back, returning, and in doing so producing a change, when you say something to someone and that persons just stands stills, doesnt look at you, or keeps doing whatever he or she was doing… do you feel like you conveyed your message?, no, why?, because there is no feedback, in stopping the activiy, looking at you or just nodding the person has just given a feedback, letting you know that he payed attention to what you have to say.

Is every feedback good feedback?… nope… just like not every cheeseburger is a good cheeseburger.

For example, before starting a game I like to write a social contract, a common set of rules we as players should abide to, one of the rules is that if you are playing (that means, your character is actively involved in a scene) no distractions are allowed (Handheld consoles, internet browsing, etc, etc, etc) otherwise if you are not involved its fair game, this one time one of my players was playing with a handheld console, I call for him becuase its his turn, the guy sits down the handheld in hand, one of my players raises up and says “No handhelds on the table, its a social contract” the other one replies “so what?!”, it wasn’t until we pressured him further that he put down the bloody thing… the next day he comes right of the blue and tells me that he found the last session boring, after talking to him for a while I realized that we had a difference in opinion, as far as he was concerned, GM should provide entertainment for the group, my perception is that the group provides entertainment for itself, that I as a GM am a facilitator whose job is to makes thing go smoothly.

So we talked for a while, ironed things out and I invited him to be proactive, if a scene was boring for him it was his job to change it (the others players were really enjoying the drama by the way), I would help in any way I could but in the end it was his responsibility, no more problems like that have aroused, and it could all have been solved that same night if he would have told the group how he felt in the first place.

Guidelines for a good feedback:

- Never use “but” as a word it invalidates what it came before.

Wrong: I liked the session but the combat was too long.

Right: I like the session, the combat was too long, I would like to speed things up next time.

- Always speak in singular, about yourself, your position, your thoughts and your feelings.

Wrong: We wanted to kill the governor and you didn’t let us!.

Right: I really wanted to kill the governor.

- Never insult.

Wrong: of course you dont get it, you are an idiot.

Right: Ok, what is it exactly that you did not understand so I can explain it with other words.

- Dont interpret or presuppose, speak only of behaviors and observations.

Wrong: Of course you are not gonna let the governor die, hes your pet npc…

Right: When the governor escaped throught the tunnels when we had them riggeds with traps I felt really upset, it didnt seem a fair call to me.

On that same token, GM you have to be crystal clear with your players, you are sitting on the other side of the screen because people trust you with their time, if you did handwave the escape of the governor dont be afraid to admit it “I handweaved the escape because I wanted to use him for another plot” and also be ready to offer a solution “how about I give you guys and extra reward for it and the promise that you´ll eventually get to kick the crap out of the guy?” (even better: if you tell them right on the spot that you would like to use the governor for another story and that  you would like some help in thinking another way around it, they can come up with something you didn’t thought of) I assure you that your players will respect a thousand times more if you are honest with them.

Anatomy of a good feedback

social engineers have come with this formula:

Name of target + Witnessed behavior + state of mind and emotion of speaker when behavior occurs + alternative/future pacing.

“Adam, when you let the governor escape throught the tunnels after we had rigged them with traps I felt like it was an unfair call for me and it made me feel upset, in the future I would like you to let us take him down”

“Sarah, when you killed the town guard without provocation it made me feel very unconfortable as a GM, in the future could you be a little less agressive?”

In both cases you are speaking from youself, about what you feel and how you perceive the world, no sane person would argue against a subjective experience like that, Adam and Sarah may take the advice or they may not, but at least you are giving them something to think about “oh this person feels this way when I do this… I get it” social awareness

Words to erase from your dictionary

I dont want to finish my thoughts on feedback without telling you first that there are two word you have to get rid of right now!… put one of this little fuckers and your whole communication system goes down the drain, “right” and “wrong”.

Let me start by saying that Im a catholic born turned atheist, I beleive in god as an inner force, and I make this notation because right and wrong are terms directly tied to morality which is in itself part political awarenes, part religion.

Right and Wrong are subjective terms, just like good or bad, they are  dependent on culture, religion, upbringing and innate characteristics, something which might seem wrong to me is perfectly fine to my brother, by calling something right or wrong you are judging it under your own system of beliefs, you are imposing your own view of the world on another person, that is the closest thing to an agression without getting physical, so always keep in mind that when you say “this is wrong” always add “to me” at the end, Im not asking you to accep it and embrace it, just understand that if you dislike something its your choice and your opinion.

Being a psychologist is no easy task let me tell you, when you sit in front of a person for an interview you are expected to take notes not only on what the person says but the way he says it and what he does when he says it, my notebooks are listed on Chaosium´s Call of Cthulhu as mythos book that takes 1d10 sanity points on a fast read… but in the end its well worth it.

The most basic premise of observation is to observe without judging, the best way I can find to explain it is with a short story:

Two psychologists once boarded a train in london to go sighseeing around Britain, one of them spots an animal herd on a field and calls his colleage “hey, I didnt knew they had goats in England”, the other sees throught the window, turns to his friend and apprentice and says “Well… to you its a goat, but Im only seeing half side of an animal with horns a goatee and white thick fur, I´m really curious to see the other side, I wonder if its the same”.

See the difference there?, the first one made a presupposition, based on his sensory input he interpreted what he was seeing as a goat, the other one just described what he perceived with the language he knows… a small difference but a vital one in the technique I´m about to explain.

First lets define a behavior as: the measurable changes (active or reactive) we perceive in others with our senses.

There are two kinds of body language, the first one refers to physiological reactions to outside stimuli.

For example, dilated pupils are related to states of excitement, yawns are related to tiredness and lack of activity, flushed cheeks point to exercise and socially tense situations, the body changes and adapts according to the circunstances in a  biological sense.

The second relates to actions linked to a certain emotion or state of mind, this are subjective, and even if there is a social tendency, its almost impossible to speak about universal body signs, crossing your arms could mean that you are cold, that your back hurts, that you are thinking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are on the defensive…

How is this useful to us?, by doing a little thing NLPers* call “calibration”, in plain english it means “learning the association between a behavior and an individuals state of mind and thoughts”.

I have a player, lets call him Albert, cool guy, really smart… but Albert is really shy, he hates being in the spotlight because he beleives that everyone is judging him, everytime Albert interacts in the game and hes not sure of what he is doing he gets a really bad cough, it takes him several minutes to  recompose and afterwards he just does the first thing that comes to mind (usually something very passive like just sitting around, no action no judgment)

*NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming, a higly controversial theory of communication that have been misused and bastardized in the form of workshops for self-discovery and self-growth by scam artists, I use it regalurary and for me it works wonderfully, but I´ve been very careful in only reading the most prominent literature and learning for credible sources

So how does this little piece of knowledge helps me?, whenever albert starts to cough I know that I have to break his moment, I either introduce and NPC or quickly send him into action, I take away that what worries him and let him get back into the game… but I will only do so with the cough that begins when he is faced with a decision.

A long time ago I had a lady player, lets call her pickle, she always sought romance in the game, but she felt a little ashamed of liking her characters being romantically involved, I observed that whenever pickle was getting into the game she would flush and her pupils dilate (both common signs of arousal), incidentally the scenes she liked the most were those where I could observe this reaction, so I knew that when I observed those behaviors she was having a good time.

There is nothing magical about this, I laugh when something makes me nervous, I crack my knucles when I get into something I find interesting, I stare with a small smile when I see someone I like, (remember, brain-rituals?), we have little quirks and a trained eye can catch them, ask a professional poker player.

So here is an excersice for you, next time you GM something pick a player, and observe, dont interpret, just observe, what are his or her behaviors, whats the reaction when you ambush the character, when the player rolls a crit, write it down, try to find a pattern, with their actions the players are telling you how they feel about your game, the amount of feedback you can get out of this is huge.

Remember:

- Observe behaviors, dont interpret them, and inference says more about you than about the person you are observing.

- Watch for behavior patterns, things that are repeated many times.

- Dont be afraid to ask “hey joe, why do you laugh when the orc dies?”

- Practice Practice Practice.

Why is observation useful?:

In my experience I have been able to:

- Determine when a decision has made  a player upset.

- Figure out when the group needs a break or I need to wrap up the session.

- A conflict between characters turns personal.

- A player is bored.

- A player is interested.

- A particular scene is emotionally touching.

- Also observation leads to a good feedback (an issue I have never seen treated in RPGs and that I want to talk about).

There is so much I would like to say about observation, but I have to go to bed, and rather than being a cathedratic I want you people to go out into the world and try this out, if it doesnt work I´ll personally go to your place and teach you

Till next time

For those who have enjoyed the blog so far sorry that I haven´t been around, between college classes and thesis my RPG time gets thinner by the minute, for the new guys, welcome, be sure to check out the other articles!…  lets get our hands dirty right away:

Last time I talked about templates (and  if you haven’t read it, GO, NOW!!, its quite good modesty aside), I briefly mentioned that the mind is a ritualistic little machine, today I want to expand on that notion and talk about the GM using this little knowledge to blow the players out of their seats:

The brain is not only a CPU and a hard drive for the human experience, but also a regulator, see, if we were able to memorize every single piece of data input that comes from our senses you would have used all of your brains capacity in less than a month , so, we can say that the brain is selective, it chooses what it considers important and discards the details (like time or place) -no wonder zombies love it-, that´s why you get into fights with friends every time they tell a story about a party but you remember that it happened someplace else.

Stereotypes (you know, the kind of though that’s gonna get you stereotyped as a racist -lol-) are by default another way the brain economizes, its a process that allows to make judgmental decisions in situations where no other information is available, for example, being South American you might imagine me as  brown skinned, short curly haired with a small mustache and talking like that guy from “that 70s show”…

Hello!

If you did, I don’t blame you, you didn’t know better, so your brain is gonna grab what it knows about South American culture and build an approximation, its natural and necessary, of course, some people will stick to those believe beyond any demonstrable truth -I don’t care if this guy is the next pope, he is a Latino, ergo, he must be a gang member- that’s when things start going downhill.. but I digress and this is not a political blog.

So… how does this ritualistic and economic body organ is gonna play in our favor?…

1. Stereotyping the GM style: you as a GM might be the alpha of the pact, but it does not make exempt of being just as ritualistic as everyone else, players understand this consciously or unconciously, for example: everyone who plays on my table knows that the bad guy is not really the bad guy, there is always someone else pulling the strings, I always have a mastermind hidden amonsgt a bigger conspiracy… knowledge is power my fellow GM and knowing youself is absolute power… so, stop reading now, grab a piece of paper (get away from the computer and grab a pen) and for the next ten minutes just focus on your last three or four adventures and look for patterns, things you do over and over again…

GO!… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2…1

If you came up with anything at all chances are players already have done so as well, so this is what we are gonna do, on whatever game you are playing right now build an encounter, adventure or whatever involving this pattern, make it pretty obvious, dont hide it, let the players be on the safe zone, but as draw to the climax, bait and swithc it, do something so unexpected with the plot, something so crazy, that completly breaks that pattern, I promess you a WTF face from at least one of your players or your money back.

-Using my own example, I’m gonna work  with the save the town from the orcs encounter from the last column, instead of killing the orc chief, he drops his satchel and runs away leaving the players with the note that reads “I will provide more alchemist fire once the village has been burned down”, as the players follow the trail of the note they find a retired magician living by himself on a cliff, as the players approach a voice projects from the house “I WILL NO LONGER BE THREATENED BY YOUR KIND ORC!” and with that a golem appears to protect the magicians house, it turns out the orc chief was the bad guy after all, he wasn’t burning down the village to get more magic fire, the magician sent the note to let them know that he couldn’t make anymore until after the attack, as they face the wizard smoke rises once again from the village´s direction-.

2. The neo effect: Ah movies… the proof that mankind has reached the end of the barrel… I havent seen terminator yet, but I believe that is gonna be something like this:

Pretty boys is leader of rebellion, some action happens, pretty boys loves pretty headstrong rebelious girl, more things get killed, something happens that goes against pretty boy agenda, he realizes that he must fight on and makes a harsh but heroic choice, the humans win with a sweet-sour victory.

Good guys win, bad guys loose, the chosen one saves the day, the nerdy girl becomes popular with a makeover, Hollywood is the master and lord of everything Trope, they will exploit the same thing over and over and over and over again with a new paint job each time.

So, lets use the tropes to destroy players just like we did with your style, when you present a villain in your game use every single trope to make him look “weeevil”, he kicks puppies, dresses in black, has a curly mustache, wields huge amount of resources in mysterious ways, his enemies dissapear, call him rotten pete, whatever… just be sure that by the end of the night, players brains have proccesed this guy as the little devil on hitler´s shoulder that told him to start the holocaust…

Then make something happen around the guy, a big crime, just what the players need to make them bring rotten pete to justice, they find evidence, non-conclusive, but enough to make them even more suspicious… and when the showdown comes… BAM… the guy surrenders unconditionally, he is a little corrupt, mean spirited and frankly not the best neighbor in the neighborhood, but he is also a guy that would never kill, he is by no means a good guy, just a folk with “soft” ethics, and not the guy the players were looking for, meanwhile the real rotten apple has a drop on those pesky adventures that have been making questions…

- Using the orc town attack again, the orcs fall upon the village, the players fight to the best of their will, and in the end, during the showdown against the Chief, the only greenskin that speaks common, he curses the human for kidnapping the orcs children and selling them as slaves… WAIT WHAT?!, yeah, the town captain has been raiding the orcs village for months with mercenaries and selling their children to random evil empire, the greenskins just came to save their own, orcs just did what they know best, fight… serves them right for assuming this was just another trope… and the little orc babies in the town hall jail cells, just where the villagers took refuge-.

And yes wiseass this bait and switch is in and itself a trope, har har har, you though I wasnt aware.

For common tropes go to: tvtropes

3.  The “that´s how its supposed to work” maxim: I have found that there are two types of munchkin, the “I hit and decimate” kind which build powerhouses that deal obcenes amounts of damage, and the “I never get hit” pansies, that take every single advantage to avoid getting hit, the first I can live with, the second I hate to my guts, because there nothing more obnoxious than rolling three hundred dices that wont do squat unless you top your roll…

So wimpy´mc´dodgie picks an attribute that avoids surprises, the next time you ambush the group trap them, inmobilize em, of what have you, just make sure that with that first attack you got them out of the way but unharmed, except of course wimpy´mc´dodgie, sudlendly his amazing advantage has him surrounded by a dozen mooks with weapons in hand, the others might have been surprised, but at least they are safe!… roll for initiative punk.

John Wick talks about this in a column at gaming outpost  “Hit em where it hursts” where he creates a virus that specifically targets people with inmunity to diseases.

Not only with advantages, skills, combat stats, bend the rules and break them, there is always an exception its just a matter of knowing where to find them.

Be adviced, this is something to pull off once every few times, players buy advantages becauses they are bonuses, and using them against them is something fun and unexpected, but also disheartening in the long run.

4. If I have´em you have´em: Oh yeah, the sweetspot of ritualistic behavior… if you have stereotypical actions, so does the players…. figure them out and you are in for one of the best rides in your gamemastering experience…

Last saturday on my weekly game I made a scene for one of my characters, he is a dragon god reborn as a human psychic, the character has a huge heart but he is whimsical, moody and stuborn, in this particular scene the other players controlled the characteristics mentioned above, they started demeaning and insulting and degrading the character, the player kept rationalizing that he had more power than those sides of his character personality (and by doing so feeding the shadows of his real self), and it wasnt untill finally he asked for mercy and forgiveness that he found a new side of himself and awakened to a higher power.

See, I knew the player wouldnt ask for mercy, that he would try and get his powers back by force, that if I showed his character his moody side he would try to put himself above it instead of below, so I pressed him into a corner and made him change his pattern.

If a player always fight with two handed weapons shove him in tight corridors, if a players only relies to much in magic, curse his powers, the idea here is not to penalize the player, but to make him think outside his normal patterns, to break the ritual, to be creative, and reward them for it, he will be back to normal eventually, but in the meantime hes gonna have to find new ways to approach the problems sorrounding him, doing so helps the person grow as a roleplayer and as a human being.

Remember in the end you dont want to screw your players, you want them to break away from common rituals, and think outside the box.