Sometimes, I see players make comments in a game, explaining why they haven't made a move in a challenge so far:
"I don't think this is something my character knows how to deal with."
"I'm not sure she cares about this."
"I think he's just kind of stunned right now.
"She doesn't know what to do."
Sometimes these are indications of a problem in the story - if all of a narrator's players are telling him their characters don't care about the current situation, it is probably time to revise the situation and figure out how to better relate it to the story at hand.
But...more often, they're a statement that is actually pointing directly at a very interesting opportunity for the character: A chance to make inaction your action.
When you're writing the story of a challenge, things are happening, whether your character is acting on them or not. Each move drives the timeline of the challenge forward. When a card is played, something happens, and the challenge moves positively or negatively, or just towards the end of its story.
So...if your character, for instance, doesn't know how to deal with something, and chooses not to act...that's a choice. And that's his "action" for that moment in the tale.
So let it be an action! Make your move! Show your character's uncertainty or confusion about what to do! Show how your character hasn't cared about the situation, if that's the case, and chooses to ignore it! Show how the situation has left your character stunned, or how he's tired and needs rest, or how his injuries prevent him from joining the battle!
Sometimes, those things are treated as reasons not to make a move, but...that's not what they should be. They are, in fact, excellent opportunities to make moves.
Especially...especially...if you have either Weakness cards to play, or a Subplot.
I'm stunned. I'm confused. I'm shell-shocked. I'm injured. I'm exhausted. I just plain don't care about this.
Those are all excellent weakness plays.
When a situation is ongoing and your character chooses not to do anything about it, that's a great opportunity to show what starts going wrong with the situation because your character is not preventing it. Philosophically, there's nothing really different here from if things start to go wrong and your character tries to prevent it and fails because of a Weakness, right? Something goes wrong either way. The difference is just that your character, in this case, didn't do something to stop it instead of doing something but getting it wrong.
What about Subplots? Well, Subplots are great for these situations too! When a character is shocked into inaction, when she finds something she doesn't care about, when he struggles to understand what he's supposed to do in a situation...those are great times to explore the other mysteries in a character's life or the things the character does care about. There are some excellent subplot moves available that show how the character withdraws into themselves, or starts thinking about how all this ties in with their personal problems, or tries to examine where they are right now...and because of all that, something starts to happen in the current situation, and they're not really sure what to do in the face of it...or even if they should do something.
A subplot isn't a weakness play, mind, so chances are nothing ends up going outright wrong right away, but you can certainly hint that something will! While your character is distracted by his own thoughts, or full of self-doubt, or struggling with what he's supposed to do, or disinterested in what is happening, how does the situation evolve?
If your character doesn't seem certain of what's going on, or doesn't know what to do, or just plain doesn't care...don't just drop out of the challenge. Use that to advance the challenge.
Now...one more point on this. Especially in the case of a character that "doesn't care" about a challenge, this can actually be a great way to figure out what would make them care, and therefore explain how a Strength comes into play, or at least how they get involved in the challenge despite their feelings. If you find yourself thinking that your character just wouldn't get involved for some reason or another, put a little time into thinking about what might happen because of that decision.
Then, write a move based on that...and maybe, maybe midway through the move, you'll realize the character now does know what to do, or does care about the situation, as she sees what is about to happen, or starts watching something she does care about slip away.
Maybe that leads to the character using a Strength and turning things around after all. Or maybe the character ends up doubling down on fear or uncertainty, or just takes the wrong action, using a Weakness. Or maybe, the character's Subplot drives him forward, making him engage with the challenge now that he's seen what it could mean if he doesn't.
Now...this isn't something you need to pull in all the time. (And to be clear, if you find yourself constantly trying to figure out why your character would get involved in something, it may be time to talk to the narrator about how to make your character mesh better with the story.) But there are times when an inability to think about something that your character would do can itself be precisely what drives the story forward and makes an interesting situation.
Don't overuse this, but...keep it in the toolbox. It's a handy trick to pull out and it can lead to some astonishingly interesting moments for a character if used properly.
Remember Spider-Man and Uncle Ben...sometimes, when your character doesn't take action, that ends up driving his story more than anything else.
jueves, 23 de mayo de 2019
Crowd-Sourcing Awesome
My brain is usually working on a dozen different things all at once, but Cha'alt is a huge project and GaryCon is coming up, and I also need to finish off a couple things from awhile back.
I'm feeling creatively blocked.
So, I'm throwing these questions out in hopes that you guys will respond with some inspiring awesomeness. Here goes nothing!
- There's a small orange cube and a small blue cube, both magical, (possibly thinking of order vs. chaos) what do the cubes do?
- If I produced a sequel to Dead God Excavation, what would you want to see?
- Where would you like me to take the last part of the THOT trilogy?
Ok, that's it for now. Thanks!
VS
SaltCon 2019, Preview
SaltCon 2019 is about a week away. Held at the end of February, this tabletop gaming convention is a great place to be for everyone who enjoys all of the non-electronic games we play with our families and friends. Thursday, February 28, through Sunday, March 3, with all types of games and events. The die-hard players can even push through and play non-stop (like we used to do when we were much younger).This is the 11th year for SaltCon and my 8thyear attending either by just being a player attending, volunteer running roleplaying games (RPGs), or being on panels. Although the role of my attendance has changed, the experience has been good every year and has kept me coming back for more.
One aspect that sets SaltCon apart from other conventions where gaming is available is SaltCon is about gaming, for gamers, hosted by gamers. Gaming is not a sideline attraction, it's the main event. This isn't the only convention that does this. But the group putting together SaltCon does it well.
What you can expect
The first year I went I didn't know what to expect. It was in a hotel where I had been training for my day job. I knew the size of the place and figured it would be a couple dozen people playing some games they'd brought with them. I grossly underestimated.
The game rooms were packed with players. There were enough players for the convention to move the following year to a larger location. That growth continued to where it is held at the Davis County Convention Center. Last year I know they had over 1200 people in attendance (I know it was more but at least that many). This year they expect the same numbers of gamers. This is a good match for the size of the location. There are a lot of people, but not so many to make people crammed.
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| From a previous year |
You can bring your own games. People bring their own games because they might be looking for a place they can meet up and play or find new players. However, there are a number of different ways to be playing games you don't have. You can play the games others have brought. SaltCon also has an extensive game library. The library has great older games and new games just coming out. There is no extra charge to play the games and they have a system for using the convention badge for quick and easy check in and out to allow more time at the table. A part of the games SaltCon provides are included in their 'play to win' section. Play any of the games there and you are entered into a drawing to win it.
Not only players attend. Every year SaltCon hosts the Ion Awards for game design. For the designers, there is Prototype Alley where you can play or demo games being worked on. I have enjoyed playing these games including some that are now available on the market. These are not just local developers. I've had the opportunity of meeting people from across the United States and Canada. You can get a jump on what is hot by sitting in on these games, then you can let friends know what to watch for. Those games that are farther along can also be found by a number of vendors sharing their games.
If you have ever wanted to be the first to have a game, then you need to check out the companies there. There are always independent game companies presenting new games. The booths are another great place to play some fun new games. Along with the games, there are artists and other groups. There is always something for everyone and it is easy for me to find more than I can afford.
If you are looking for something older, there is the 'games trade and swap meet'. Last year the trading corner was quite the hive of activity. I saw games from my childhood (and that is going back awhile). There were also newer games people found just didn't match their style of play. If you have games you aren't playing, it is a great place to turn them into a little cash, or new games.
SaltCon has RPGs. I know last year they were running a couple dozen tables. This year they are doing at least that many. D&D and Pathfinder are represented along with a number of other systems. I have played games that were in development along with some big name games like D&D, Star Wars, Paranoia, and Seven Seas. The last couple of years, the D&D group has run a multi-table player event that was amazing.
Along with playing the RPGs, there is a mini painting competition. This isn't the only tournament taking place. There are many throughout the convention for fun, prizes, and national qualifiers.
Panels are also available about games, gaming, and developing games. You can find out more about how to be part of the industry. There are people involved in different levels willing to share their experiences and knowledge.Podcasting has been a part of the past and I expect to see podcasters there again. You can see what they are doing and how they do it. You might even end up on one if you look around and watch what is going on.
SaltCon is a fun place to be. I'm looking forward to being there. There is no way I can cover everything that will be taking place in one short article, so check out their website (SaltCon home page). Find something of interest. And meet us there. Tell people hi and why you're there. You'll find you've just become part of a larger family with a lot of new friends.
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
Priest As Sacrifice. Inspired By I Am Setsuna/ FFX.
The world is soaked in sin, and sin is adding to sin, evil upon evil, every day. The peoples of our world are seduced by the evil one, and he gains more slaves every day. Gripped in the slavery to the evil one many souls are falling into hell like snowflakes in winter, like the leaves in autumn.
See the people living lives of despair! Under fear of the unknown, fear from the meaninglessness of their existence, and fear of death, the great enemy of humanity.
Is there an escape from this misery? Is there a pathway from the great plague of our time?
It is said that many ages ago a perfect sacrifice was offered, a sacrifice to do away with sin, an oblation to release souls from the grip of the evil one, an immaculate offering that compensated for all the outrages of our peoples.
This holy sacrifice, this wondrous oblation has been taken into eternity, into another dimension, into a perfect domain, here is the answer to humanity's woes! Here is our hope! Here is the desire of the nations!
The Almighty wishes this perfect sacrifice to intersect with time, to touch each age of the world, to encounter the sins and peoples and needs of every day of history.
He calls forth men, chosen men, to enter the domain of the perfect sacrifice, He sets men apart to pass through the veil into the fiery realm of the eternal perfect sacrifice,These men are to encounter the Holy of Holies and to be the conduit for allowing that perfect Holiness to intersect with our daily realities- to dissipate sin, to snatch souls from the evil one, and to offer a glimpse of hope to the broken world.
O noble priest! O Catholic priest! You are that man set apart, that man summoned from a country village, from a city tower block, from an anonymous suburb- you are that man who perpetuates the sacred incarnation of the sacrifice, who allows us mean folk to meet the all holy God, and brings the absolution of the Most High to the dead and the damaged.
O God, how you whisper into ears of that young man, how you speak in the silences of his prayer, how you lure him with the scent of your beauty. You set before him a holy pilgrimage, a mountain of trials, a way of self denial, in order for him to become a man worthy of victimhood, worthy of entering the Holy Place and encountering the All Holy.
Know this young man, at the end of your journey lies death. You will die when you pass through that sacred veil, your pathway ends in complete oblation, the loss of all the things that you would desire in this life.
And yet your oblation is needed if the world is to find peace! To have any hope of salvation! Any respite from the evils of sin and the damnation which poison the great multitude of our race.
Hear His voice and follow Him.
Bring the calm that the nations yearn for,
allow your life to become His Life, to be the perpetuation of His Sacrifice, the perfect eternal sacrifice,
become Christ, bring Christ.
Building A Magnetic Model Transport System
Last June I started collecting Convergence of Cyriss. Since I was getting the faction almost completely by doing model trades, the project turned into a bit more work than I had planned for it as more than half of what I got in trades were in a horrible state.
That said, I did get most of the faction in one swoop and after a bit of hard modeling work, I had everything ready to go.
Except I couldn't really go anywhere with it because as any war gamer knows, you need some kind of transport system for an army.
I've typically used Sabol foam trays carried around in a Battle Foam Pack Air case, but huge based models require specialty foam from Battle Foam, and those are pretty pricey - $23 per huge base. If anyone knows about CoC, they know you will have at least 3 huge bases, and I ended up with 4 after all the trading was done.
I'm looking at almost $100 in foam just for the huge bases, then at roughly $8 per Sabol tray, I'm easily blowing $150 or more getting everything in foam for this faction. Then I'm lugging the large pack air case plus an old Sabol Army Transport bag to hold my huge bases if I'm using them in my list pair.
There simply had to be a better way. Then the idea hit me...
Magnets!
I went to the local craft store and bought myself some bins that were the same length and width, but had different heights. I did some pre-measuring of each of my huge bases and my "floating" vectors to check heights.
Each bin is 15.5" x 11.5" and I ended up with 5 bins in total: 1x 8.3" tall, 2x 5.6" tall, and 2x 2.9" tall. The bins were about $12 a piece, but more importantly I wouldn't ever have to buy more in the future. The only recurring cost for this system is going to be purchasing magnets for new models.
That said, I did get most of the faction in one swoop and after a bit of hard modeling work, I had everything ready to go.
Except I couldn't really go anywhere with it because as any war gamer knows, you need some kind of transport system for an army.
That's a lot of CoC!
I've typically used Sabol foam trays carried around in a Battle Foam Pack Air case, but huge based models require specialty foam from Battle Foam, and those are pretty pricey - $23 per huge base. If anyone knows about CoC, they know you will have at least 3 huge bases, and I ended up with 4 after all the trading was done.
I'm looking at almost $100 in foam just for the huge bases, then at roughly $8 per Sabol tray, I'm easily blowing $150 or more getting everything in foam for this faction. Then I'm lugging the large pack air case plus an old Sabol Army Transport bag to hold my huge bases if I'm using them in my list pair.
There simply had to be a better way. Then the idea hit me...
Magnets!
I went to the local craft store and bought myself some bins that were the same length and width, but had different heights. I did some pre-measuring of each of my huge bases and my "floating" vectors to check heights.
Each bin is 15.5" x 11.5" and I ended up with 5 bins in total: 1x 8.3" tall, 2x 5.6" tall, and 2x 2.9" tall. The bins were about $12 a piece, but more importantly I wouldn't ever have to buy more in the future. The only recurring cost for this system is going to be purchasing magnets for new models.
Securing the Models
Magnets don't work on plastic, so I needed to line the bottom of my bins with metal. My local big-box hardware store had 1 foot square steel sheet at about $5 per. Not too shabby. The only problem was that I'd need to shave off some of the sheet to fit into the bottom of my bins. What's more is that while the overall top dimensions of the bins are the same, the bottoms are not.
There was a bigger problem. I'm not particularly handy, and I don't have a ton of power tools. What I do have however is my friend Ray.
This is Ray. Ray is handy. Be like Ray.
Ray is one of those guys who makes his own furniture - as a hobby...and the furniture actually looks good when he's done! He's got tools galore and was kind enough to help me out by cutting my metal for me. I had used a pair of metal snips to cut one sheet and it worked, but it didn't look great. Ray sanded that shit down for me and trimmed it up so it looked better.
So now I had 5 sheets of steel cut to the right size for my bins.
Mixing Plastic and Steel
Next up I just gotta stick my steel to my bins, should be easy right?
I tried superglue. That failed spectacularly. The steel pulled right off with a tiny bit of tugging. It worked well enough to hold if I didn't rumble it too much, which was good for a short term solution of carrying the CoC to play games locally.
So next I decided to buy a two part epoxy that said it would work on metal and plastics. So I put on my gloves, was really careful, sanded down parts of the steel where the super glue didn't take and weighted down my bins:
After 24 hours of curing....the steel peeled right off with just a little bit of force, just like the the superglue.
At this point I was done trying to find some kind of glue or epoxy based solution. It was time for nuts and bolts. Luckily the bins I bought had the raised section in the middle where I could have the bolt-ends sit while not exceeding the lip of the base of the actual bin (ie. I won't scratch up any tables due to having bolts on the bottom of my bins).
Construction Tips
One thing I learned: Drilling through steel sheet isn't great if you don't have special drill bits, which not being a handyman, I didn't have. You can however put a thick nail through the steel pretty easily, which then lets the drill go through easily and drill through the plastic. I only hammered my thumb once. Ray would be proud. Sorta.
Because bolts take up model space, and my huge base solution is kind of tight, I elected to only use two bolts per bin rather than 4. I will see how well this holds up, and if I need to secure it more it's easy enough to mark where to put the holes, remove the plates, make the holes, and re-secure it all.
That said, there's only a tiny bit of wiggle with the two corners secured as it is, so I believe this setup will work. Here are my results:
Magnet Advice
I recommend buying strong rare earth magnets for this, stronger than what you'd usually buy if you're magnetizing jacks/beasts. Specifically N52 strength is preferred. I've gotten some magnets off Amazon but the affordable ones there are generally the weaker kind, so I've preferred to get magnets for this from K&J Magnetics. I'm not affiliated with them at all, but I've used them for years and they deliver quality stuff.
You can get away with cheaper magnets if you use multiple, and cheaper magnets work well for small based plastic models that don't require as much force. Amazon can help out here.
I actually had quite a few magnets laying around from years gone by which reduced my magnet purchasing requirements a bit.
That said, once you've used the right magnets, everything stays very secure in the bins. I didn't take a picture, but I was able to turn the bin upside down with the models in it and not have any casualties.
Carrying Solutions
The final bit that isn't finished yet for this is a bag to hold it all. Currently I use a set of straps I had for carrying a PC around to LAN parties to secure the bins and hold my dice bag + widgets. This works but isn't exactly pretty.
I am lucky in that my wife is a quilter, and she's currently sewing up a bag to hold this in, complete with pockets, straps for easy carrying, and all the rest. I realize not everyone can do this or has the luxury. The alternative was trying to find a piece of luggage or a transport/case for a sewing machine that would have the internal dimensions to hold my bins. With better planning up front (buy bins that fit in luggage more easily) this is probably more achievable, but again you're still spending a decent amount of money this way. It's still probably less than a equivalent sized Battle Foam bag + rack system, but it's a lot of work to find the right combo of bin + case.
Costs and Benefits
I started this project thinking it'd be good long term going forward wargaming wise and would save me money. Did it? Yes, but partially because I've cheated.
I am saving a good bit of money and getting a custom case + transport system, but that's really only because my wife isn't charging for her labor to assemble the bag, Ray didn't charge me for cutting the metal to size, and I don' t have to pay myself for all the work I've done getting the bins setup. I also didn't have to buy lots of my strongest magnets because I already had a bunch from when I played 40k/WHFB.
I probably could have just spent the extra money up front and bought Battle Foam's Magna-Rack system and one of their cases. They're pretty damn expensive, and you still have to buy the magnets, but it's basically none of the work and it looks great. My custom case will look as good if not better, but not everyone is married to a quilter with sewing equipment to make a custom bag.
The real savings are in the fact that going forward for any new armies I ever pick up, I'm using magnets, not foam.
Magnets can cost up to $0.50 per magnet of the right size/strength, so 100 models is $50 in magnets. Is there really a cost savings here? I think so, but in hindsight, it's probably not much.
Typically $50 in foam is not going to store 100 models, especially if you're counting lots of bigger models (30mm to 50mm bases) which take up a lot of foam space, but still only require one strong magnet. Huge bases (120mm) require multiple magnets per, but even then it's only like $2 in magnets as opposed to $22 for a foam tray.
You can also use weaker magnets for small based plastic models, where the magnet costs are significantly cheaper, especially if you look around on Amazon where you can get 50 to 100 magnets of the right size for something like $15.
The real savings comes in the fact that once you've bought+built your bins to transport the minis, you can use them with basically any model set you want. Compared to foam where you need to pluck out whatever kind of foam for your specific models. The other benefit is storing models that have long reach weapons or stick out oddly...like Inverters or Reciprocators.
When it comes to storing models long term (ie. when I'm switched to another army), I can put some metal sheet in larger storage bins and just put my models into one decent sized bin. This is probably more efficient than what I have to do now to store foam trays for models.
The other benefit is when it comes to going to tournaments. I can fit my two list pair onto a single baking sheet, which makes for a great tournament tray that securely holds everything. I've already attended one event this way and it has worked out great. The baking sheet was something like $5 and slips easily into my bag.
Overall I'm pretty happy with how the project has come out and I've certainly saved some money going this route, but it's definitely a lot of work to get here.
Fallout 4 (PC)
| Developer: | Bethesda | | | Release Date: | 2015 | | | Systems: | Win, PS4, Xbox One |
This
You might be wondering why I'm writing about a complicated modern RPG again when I should know better by now. There's already a hundred reviews, streams and YouTube videos out there about it, so it seems a bit redundant. I have a good reason though: I already played all the others (aside from Fallout Shelter and Brotherhood of Steel) and it seemed wrong to leave it out.
Plus it means I get to mention the drama going on in late 2013 when there were competing teaser sites like thesurvivor2299.com and thepropheteer.com all appearing to be revealing the game's existence, and people were trying to figure out which of them was legit and which were fake (they were all fake).
Thankfully the game actually was being developed in secret, because that's typically what you do when your last game was a huge hit (unless you're Valve). Though it seems weird to me that after all this time this was only Bethesda's second attempt at a Fallout RPG. Obsidian were the ones that made Fallout: New Vegas and I'm curious to see if Bethesda decided to take anything from it. Or take anything away from their last game.
I'll be playing it without any mods, by the way, because I'm not really keen on tweaking my game. I feel like opening the box like that lets some of the magic escape (plus I'd be too tempted to give myself an infinite ammo rocket launcher and fly around on a fire-breathing unicorn or something). Also this means I get to ignore the Creation Club entirely and all of the bullshit that goes along with that!
(Click the screenshots if you want to make them very slightly bigger.)
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