The Wizard of Duke Street

Question #15: People often talk about the divide between what happens "in game" and "in real life." Do you maintain that divide in your own play, or do you tend to take what happens to your character personally? Why?

To be honest, I have difficulty in conceiving how someone could not make this distinction - and I suspect that the only people who think this happens aren't gamers. And they're probably the people who think that the actions of fictional characters represent the opinion of the author, too.

Continue reading "Reverb Games: Fantasy & Reality"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 27, 2012 at 12:53

There's a review... well, an article, anyway, about Skyrim up on Futurismic, which is such a spectacular example of missing the point that it should probably be printed out and framed. Maybe calligraphed and illuminated.

Quite aside from the fact that I disagree strenuously with the article, this is one of the things that drives me spare about computer game reviews. I'm sure it happens in other fields as well, but I don't read many film or book reviews any more. That is, the reviewer plainly doesn't like the genre. Jonathan McCalmont doesn't like open world games. So why have him review one? It seems clear that he'd be much happier reviewing something with a wholly pre-written storyline - there are excellent examples out there like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.

Indeed, it's worth arguing that unless you like the genre, you can't identify good or bad within it. Broadly speaking, I'd be hard put to identify good or bad country & western music, because it all makes me grind my teeth and look for a hammer.

But in this case, McCalmont sits down, ploughs his way through the game, and then proceeds to whine through a long article (as web articles go), wherein all the points can be summarised as "I don't get it". If you don't get it, a) play something else, and b) review that instead.

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 25, 2012 at 14:50

Question #14: What kinds of adventures do you enjoy most? Dungeon crawls, mysteries, freeform roleplaying, or something else? What do you think that says about you?

Each has their place. I like dungeon crawls, because I don't have to think after I've written the scenario. I like mysteries, because it's often fascinating seeing how players and characters go about solving them. I like freeform roleplaying, because it immerses me much more in the campaign world.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Adventure Types"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 25, 2012 at 13:22

Question #12: Do you prefer collaborative or competitive games? What do you think that says about you?

I'm not a competitive person. Sure, winning is nice, but it's hardly the point of a game. If it was, then we'd all play nice, easy, solo games, which we could win every time. If there are other people involved in a competitive game, you're sometimes going to lose, and if that's a problem, you shouldn't play them. So the collaborative/competitive divide isn't as stark for me as it for most people, I think.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Compete or Cooperate?"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 24, 2012 at 12:26

Question #11: Have you ever played a character that was morally grey, or actually evil? Why or why not? If yes, did you enjoy it?

If you believe that you have played a character that is purely good, I would like you to study some philosophy, even just a little bit. The only people who think they can even define purely good are thoroughly deluded. Of course, you can play a character who is deluded.

That out of the way, yes, I've played plenty of characters who are greyer than white, some worse than that, and some who are outright evil. Strangely, some of the outright evil ones are regarded as some of the "best" as far as the safety of worlds goes.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Shades of Grey"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 23, 2012 at 12:41

Question #10: Have you ever played a character originally from a book/TV/movie? How did the character change from the original as you played? If not, who would you most like to play?

Ew. No.

More precisely, no, and I've no particular intention of doing so. I have enough difficulty with NPCs from other people's settings, let alone taking on a character who's so intensely associated with someone else. It'd be faintly like... I don't know, wearing someone else's underwear.

Continue reading "Reverb Games: Media Characters"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 18, 2012 at 11:26

One of the reasons I occasionally get a massively twitchy urge to develop a whole new campaign world in a whole new cosmology is that I've learned a huge amount from my current one, and there are lots of things I'd do differently a second time around. But there's another, and it's one I really dislike: my current campaign world is not properly documented.

Continue reading "Keeping a Campaign Journal for RPGs"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 17, 2012 at 13:22

Question #9: Have you ever played a character of the opposite sex. Why or why not? If yes, how did the other players react?

I've never played a female PC. I've played plenty of female NPCs, and for a long while I wasn't at all sure if I was "getting it right". And then I decided that "right" was a matter of playing them as people, and not worrying about gender, sex, or the like, except as one more characteristic.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Opposites Attract"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 17, 2012 at 10:10

Question #8: What's the one gaming accessory (lucky dice, soundtrack, etc.) you just can't do without? Why?

I'm pretty sure there's no such beast. I like my dice, certainly. I like my folders of notes. But I am capable of sitting down and running a game off the cuff with no dice and no notes, and it'll still be a good game. It'll probably wreak utter havoc on the campaign world as I veer off from established plotlines, merrily barrelling straight ahead where a plot was supposed to turn left, or worse, end. But it'll be backward consistent, and forward hasn't happened yet. Besides, the players do that every third or fourth game anyway, so it's not a major problem.

I've been playing without a screen in recent months, too. I like my screens, but in the current configuration of our kitchen, people are constantly passing behind my seat, so there's not a lot of point, and my handwriting is still difficult enough that accidentally reading it upside-down is unlikely. I trust the players not to do so deliberately.

I've never used soundtracks much. In theory, I like them. In practice, they're rather distracting. And my voice is of a particular pitch that seems to be blocked by background noise very easily, so unless I deliberately re-pitch and project, it'll be hard for the players to hear me over it. Besides which, I'm never 100% happy signing over atmosphere to a band or composer; it's never quite right.

So, short answer: Ain't got none.

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 16, 2012 at 14:03

Question #7: How do you pick names for your characters?

It varies wildly. Sometimes it's obvious what a character is going to be called from the moment they enter my head. Other times, it takes a long, long time to settle it.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: The Power of Names"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 15, 2012 at 21:19

Question #6: Describe your all-time favourite character to play. What was it about him/her/it that you enjoyed so much?

There are two, really. One was as a player character, the other as an NPC. The player character was Dimitri Eminescu, a Moldavian folklorist turned superhero (for certain definitions of superhero). The non-player character was - and is - Thunder Lies Dreaming, whose background can't really be usefully compressed, but who was full-on anachronistic crazy, and a joy to play.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Let me tell you about my character!"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 14, 2012 at 23:12

Question #5: Have you ever introduced a child to gaming, or played a game with a young person? How is gaming with kids different than gaming with adults?

Well, when I started playing, we were all kids...

One of my current gaming groups has a guy in it who's just gone 14. Campaign started when he was 13, and it's his first. I'd put his level of maturity about level with the rest of the group, to be honest, and the rest of us are in our 30s and 40s. One of the other players is his mother. I reckon that once you pass a certain threshold of attention span, and the kid is actually interested, you've no real problem. You have to watch the content a bit, but that happens with adult players just as much. Indeed, I've had adult players - thankfully only in the short term - who were way less mature.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Including The Kids"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 13, 2012 at 12:17

Question #4: Are you a "closet gamer?" Have you ever hidden the fact that you're a gamer from your co-workers, friends, family, or significant other? Why or why not? How did they react if they found out?

If there's an opposite to "closet gamer", that's me. The Prairie Gamer, visible for miles around. I was open about gaming in secondary school, and had two good gaming groups there. I was open about it in my social life, and met some of my best friends through gaming. I was open about it in college, for all that I wasn't doing much, for as long as I was there, which also wasn't long. And I've been completely open about it in every job since.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: Out of the Closet"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 12, 2012 at 12:58

Question #3: What kind of gamer are you? Rules Lawyer, Munchkin/Power Gamer, Lurker, Storyteller/Method Actor, or something else? How does this affect the kinds of games you play? For example, maybe you prefer crunchy rules-heavy systems to more theatrical rules-light ones.

I run games a lot more than I play them. A lot more. I fall squarely into the Method Actor slot when I'm playing, although I've only got to play in very rules-light systems in the last few years. Given a crunchier system, I think I would probably head in a direction not really specified above, where I'd use the rules a lot to do interesting stuff with the character. In my teens, I tended to explore the extra options for a character a lot - strongholds, sidekicks, creating magical items, that kind of thing.

GMing, it's a different story.

Continue reading "Reverb Gamers: What Kind of Gamer Are You?"

Posted by Drew Shiel on January 11, 2012 at 11:55