I recently went to two cons in a row.  I was working for Catalyst running Shadowrun, so I had fun.  But, I saw some major differences between these cons.  Let’s go con by con and talk about my loves and hates of these cons.  Both cons started with some frustrations, but one ended being a con I will happy go back to next year.

 

AnCon

AnCon is a smaller con in Hudson, Ohio, May 1-4.  It looked like it was about 1-2,000 people.  The con is completely inside of a moderately sized hotel with events in the conference rooms and regular rooms, dealers in the ballroom, and other gaming even in the onsite restaurant!  The con is organized by MSTB Gaming, and outside of Baldman Games, who I’ve worked for, these guys are the BEST in the business at making a con work well.  Everything is really well organized, lines are short, and the trains or Trains board games run on time.

I got to the con at 7 AM after driving for four hours because I’m poor, have to work Friday, and can only afford one night at the hotel.  I went to get my badge, and I found out I had to pay for a Judge badge!  I was unhappy, but its $25.  Some cons give out free badges if you work for X amount of time.  I was running 12 hours of Shadowrun, so I was somewhat cranky that I have to pay to do that!  But, I found out that this con does an exchange of each person who plays in your games pays two bucks to the con, and, you get one of those.  That’s not bad, but I would prefer to just get a free badge.  So, I was a little angry running into my first game, but that went away under a tide of fun as I ran three games of Shadowrun in a row.  Great times playing with some great people.

Sunday, I woke up early, got my roommates up early (remember:  we are poor so we split gas/room. It’s cheaper!), and got to the con.  We started with a game of Eminent Domain (review here), followed by Artimis.  Artimis is what all the guys/gals who CosPlay Star Trek wish they had when the show was running.  It’s a game where every person runs a different part of the ship: helm, weapons, engineering, communications, EVERYTHING!  I was the last to sit down, and no one wanted the captain’s chair, so Captain Ed it was!  I felt like an idiot, but my crew was competent, so we only lost one star base.  Only a few thousand died on my watch, so good job!  After that, we played a game called Wrath of the Dragons.  It’s a mix of a Eurogame with some American style elements.  You play dragons and each century you get to destroy Europe based on cards you play (Euro), but the cards you have are random (American).  It was great to play, and I sat down with the designer after.  I’ve spent way too much time and money, and got into long discussions on game mechanics and kickstarter price points.  Way too much gaming (or far too little!).  After that game, I bought a copy of an RPG called BareBones Fantasy.  It’s a lighter RPG that is mostly d100 with three main attributes.  You do one thing a turn, and can do more, but each additional action costs you -20% for success.  I’m really looking forward to playing that one.  Then we headed home.

I really loved this con.  Its small and I ran into friends I haven’t seen since GenCon.  I loved it a lot.  The staff was on the ball, and all the spots were set up well in advance.  Heck, free WIFI!  If you live close, go to this next ~May.  I’ll be there.

MarCon

I also went to MarCon.  MarCon is a con that moved a bit.  This year it was on Mother’s Day, but it’s been over the Easter weekend a few times.  It’s at the Columbus Convention center (same one as the Origin’s Gaming Convention).

I was unhappy before I set foot in the door.  A weekend badge is $50 bucks.  If you GM 12 hours, they refund your money via PayPal.  I hate that.  PayPal takes time and I have to hope no one loses my money in the middle.  Since I still have to work and am poor, I got there at 7AM.  I wanted to be early to set up, and get my badge since my first game is at 9.  And, here is where the fun starts.  None of my games were listed in the program guide.  NONE!  That’s a problem, but it’s even worse when I’ve been yelling at the staff via email to check if I have games down there for two months before I spend four hours and $120 driving.  So I was a bit mad.  Then badge registration doesn’t open till 9AM.  It’s a major problem when you can’t get your badge before you get to your table and both open simultaneously!  I talked to a few of the con attendance vets, and they said this was on par.  So I was pretty pissed come game time.  I cleared my head, and hoped for gaming to make life better. I headed down stairs to where gaming was.  And here’s where some learning comes in.  MarCon is great at what it does, and what it does really well is Panels.  MarCon hosts an impressive amount of panels on geek stuff.  Topics ranging from NASA funding to how to Cosplay your favorite Lolita Stars were all in the program.  So, for my first four hours of gaming, I sat in a large room with lots of tables with no players.  Table top gaming was in a large room with lots of six feet in diameter tables.  That’s good, but we’re mostly out of the way and not a priority of the con.  The room for board games was pretty small, and I’ve been spoiled by the GenCon Board Game library, so when I only saw 10 games, I was let down.  Computer gaming had a large following with a projector set up for rock band, and a LAN ready to rock.  My second game actually happened, and so did my third when I started to convince random passersby to come play.  I ended the day happy, and I   decided not to stay the night and went home early.  I did meet the Looney Labs crew and they are AWESOME!  Bought Loonacy because I met the wife of the husband and wife team that runs the company.  Also got to play a secret edition of fluxx that I can’t wait to play again!

This was a learning experience.  I can’t leave this con completely mad.  There are some people putting in some hard work to make gaming happen at this con.  I might not have been thrilled to start the day as an unlisted crazy person sitting behind a GM screen in an empty hall, but I did get two of my three games going.  Shadowrun made life better.  Just like a good beer after a long, hard day!  Also, I went to a panel con expecting a gaming con.  Panels are fine, but not my cup of tea.  That was a big hit from the learning stick.  What makes me mad is organization above the gaming guys.  You HAVE to open before events start.  I don’t care you don’t need tickets to do stuff.  You need a badge to attend panels or play games, so if the con starts at 9, you have to give people a chance to get a badge before the panel/gaming open.  That’s really important.  Also, all events need to be listed on your program.  I know priority number one is getting the sponsors in that book, but priority number two must be accuracy.  I’m going out there to convert some people to my game.  If I don’t have any advertisement of my game, it doesn’t matter if I’m even there.  Organization can only get worse down a chain of command.  The MOST I can do is keeping the same level as what I was given; I CAN’T make things more organized above me.  I left this con disheartened.  I’m not sure I’ll come back next year.  Its four hours away, and since it not completely a gaming con, that’s a long way to travel for a gamer.

So two cons in two weeks.  It’s not as much fun as I originally thought.  It’s kind of expensive, and you see how different things can be.  I did learn a few things.  One, learn more ahead of time.  It’s good to be early and all the other standard courtesy thing, but if a particular con doesn’t roll out of bed before 9.  Then, no amount of early will help.  If one con is externally rules conscious, then you have to be too.  Two, if you ask nice a hotel might waive any fees for dropping your room the day of.  Thanks Hilton!  Three, while it might not seem it at first glance, if you look, people really care about their fandom.  I started my MarCon furious, but by the end I saw some gamers who really wanted to make sure other gamers had a blast.  Those guys/gals are building a community out there.  Maybe in a few years it will really grow.

This is a slow year for RPGs.  Last year around this time there was 13th age, Numenera, Star Wars new release, Firefly ect.  It was hard NOT to find top tens of whoever’s most anticipated RPGs of the year.  This year…it feels different.  I’ve seen lots of smaller products, which is great, but I haven’t seen the large releases that I would have expected this year.  Even the large producers haven’t been a loud this year.  Paizo recently announced new monster book, but didn’t use the standard fanfare I would have expected.  It’s almost like everybody is holding their breath and waiting for something…

Now, I kid.  We all know that coming out this year.  For those of your out there who may not be as informed or care, it is widely assumed that DnD Next is going to be released this year from Wizards of the Coast.  There have been signs from slips from Barns and Nobles to it being the 40th anniversary of DnD indicating that this year will be the year when the system will see a real release from the beta testing that has been going on for the past two years.  Thus, most companies are hesitant to release anything that might be even remotely controversial.  Products are being aimed at bases of each RPG and expanding already working systems like Run & Gun, the new Adventure Card Game, Advanced Classes Guide, The Strange, the new Star Wars RPG source book and others.  A few products such as O.L.D. and N.E.W. are coming out from ENPublishing, but what does a lack of new products mean for the industry?  Well I can think of two possible outcomes based on the health of an industry balanced on one larger company.

First, WotC could drive all the industry together toward a much more stable future.  Back when TSR existed, releases of DnD products would not only cause sales of DnD products to increase, but people in the stores would also buy tangential products.  Sales of all RPG products increased when DnD products were released.  When TSR ran into trouble, all RPG sales decreased.  Could a resurgence of the DnD brand bring back RPGs?  We do live in a golden age of geek, and having the flagship back would bring back a lot of people into the fold.  WotC is the current captain of DnD, but Paizo has given them a run for their RPG money.  That said, when you tell your non-geek friend you are playing an RPG, do you say you’re playing Pathfinder or do you say you’re playing DnD?  It took at least 20 years and a large cultural focus on video games for people to stop calling all video game consoles “Nintendos.”  How long will it take people to see the large spectrum of RPGs out in the market place?  Will they?  Can the once and future king take back its place as the industry leader and really fire up the place?

Second, WotC and DnD could fail leading to some interesting times for us all and a different industry going forth into the future. *In by best crotchety old man voice* Back in my day, there was really only one game console Atari!  We all played Atari.  There were some smaller companies, but who really cares.  There was only one company.  And, that’s a horrible idea… Recently the fabled E.T. graveyard was found.  E.T., while an awesome movie, is a horrible game.  Since it was a movie tie-in it was thought to be a sure bet for making money.  Thus, Atari bet the whole farm on this one product.  And it failed miserably.  It failed so miserably that the company went bankrupt.  It failed so miserably that the company had to bury thousands of unsold units in the desert.  It failed so miserably that the entire U.S. video game industry almost died until Nintendo and the N.E.S. came and rescued the industry a few years later and from a different continent and market!  Later, there were only TWO video game companies: Nintendo and Sega.  Sega, through a string of horrible business initiatives, failed and died as a console manufacturer leaving Nintendo alone in the market….just not for too long.

Could we see this with DnD?  Could DnD Next do SO badly that the industry shakes as a result?  Previously, Hasbro considered mothballing DnD much like my little pony or G.I. Joe.  WotC was barely able to prevent this fate for our much beloved game, but it’s something to keep in mind.  By the way, the recent G. I. Joe movie did so poorly in the marketplace that no new G. I. Joe toys are being produced.  That iconic American toy is currently being stored and possibly later a new rebranding will be released.  If that does happen, there will be a major time of upheaval as the industry shrinks.  Companies like Paizo, ENWorld, and Catalyst will survive, but much smaller companies with one person and his/her friends as freelances will undoubtedly not weather this storm.  If gods play games, men are the ones who suffer.  Then, who knows… maybe a new dawn as with after Sega came Xbox and Playstation.  Or it could be like model trains, a fun toy that doesn’t thrive today.

What do I think will happen?  Well, I like DnD Next.  Despite what problems I’ve had with WotC, I like that company.  I think the management of the company cares about not only their product, but the hobby in general.  But, that doesn’t preclude the industry from deciding that DnD next isn’t what they want.  I can only wish success on anyone at this point.  If WotC crashes like a capital ship in a cheesy Sci-Fi movie, remember two things.  The world changes and you might not like where it goes when it does.  And two, what happens to the place the ship crashes to?  Right now, no one is sure how healthy that ship is.  Paizo has all but confirmed its plans to stay the course and observe DnD Next from afar.  They are positioning themselves to either ride a wave of success or move out of the tsunami if the WotC ship crashes hard.  And no one can blame them for that!

Best of luck WotC at GenCon!  I’ll be there ready to play wishing you all the success I can.

I’ve written before about how much I love Living RPGs.  But, today’s post is about the dark side of Living Games.  I was at a con this weekend, running a battle interactive, and some things went wrong at my table.  I want to talk about some of what happened and some other Living RPG problems.

Most of this will break down to choice.  In a home game of whatever RPG is your favorite, you have choice.  You kill that Shoppe keeper, he’s dead, and you’re a marked man!  You save the village from goblins and perform a minor bit of genocide, those goblins are never coming back, and you’re a hero.  YOU have choice!

Living games have to tap dance around choice.  Maybe one person in 1,000 kills the Shoppe keep.  The people who run the campaign can’t kill him/her for everyone.  So you lose some choice, and when the player who killed that merchant encounter him again, the GM will have to hand wave why he’s back.  When you lose choice, your character matters a little bit less each time you lose choice.  In the end, if the village is saved no matter what, then why do I need to be there!?  If I kill every goblin in the world and then the respawn like in a MMORPG, then why am I even trying to make the world a better place!?

Let me provide a real example.  I was running a game where one player HATED another player’s race.  Now things were civil, but some words went across the table.  It was playful, but eventually a major artifact of the hated player’s race was found.  Most of the party wanted to leave the artifact.  Heck, a few wanted to destroy the location of the artifact so it couldn’t get free.  This led to some sadness and hurt feelings all around.  Things got worse when a group of the hated players race went back, found the thing, and then brought it out of the dungeon.  This made the hater player very mad and basically made him feel his choice didn’t matter.

I was the GM for this group of players, and honestly, I didn’t have a clue how to make this work out.  There is the standard rule of don’t play dick characters and hate group XXXX, but the system has a long history of allowing that behavior.  Should that item have been found regardless?  Should the players have just had a cut scene happen so the campaign staff could ensure that the item would have been found no matter what?  In either case, the players lose choice.

Choice is hard to get right.  Shadowrun give a lot of free reign to its GMs.  There, the campaign staff basically give a wealth limit for the players that the GM can give out, and say go have fun.  As a GM, I feel like that gives me the ability to make the right choices for my group.  However, Shadowrun doesn’t do Battle Interactive.  I wonder what would happen if they did.  Would they eliminate that freedom or embrace it even more?

Let me provide another example, this time with a happier ending, so I’ll name the system-Living Forgotten Realms (LFR).  I ran a battle interactive a year ago, and in it I had more misbehaving players.  They players were on sky ship, and they boarded an enemy sky ship just as theirs was destroyed.  My group decided to take over this new ship as their ship dropped out of the sky.  The people running the event hadn’t planed for that and had every table report if a player ship was destroyed as their crew was plummeting to their deaths.  My crew had technical done that, but found a loophole.  The campaign staff like the ingenuity and rewarded the player’s creativity.  Everybody left happy!

However, LFR does have its problems.  LFR and the Forgotten Realms novels no longer live in the same world.  I am a purist, so when I read something and I get to game in the same universe, I want those two to interact.  Because LFR and the novels don’t interact, I’ve basically decided one doesn’t matter.  I gave up playing LFR as my characters didn’t matter.  I lost any choice!

So the morel here is I need choice.  Choice means I matter.  When I play a single player video game, I matter and I’m the only one make choices.  When I play an MMORPG, I don’t.  If I kill every bear in the forest for a quest, the bears respawn after I leave.  If I would have never played, the game will be the same.  Make me matter!  Let my choices have an impact, and I’ll play.  Cut me out, even by inches, and I’ll walk away.

Dear Wizards of the Coast,

Hi, my name is Ed Kabara.  I know you’re really busy right now with DnD Next and as part of that you’re talking, at least internally, about PDF and licensing.  I’d like to throw my two gp into the conversation.  Now, I know I haven’t ever worked in the RPG industry, but I pay attention to the market, the gaming stores, and player needs.

I’d like to start this conversation with Nintendo.  I know that’s a strange segue, but hear me out.  Nintendo used to dominate the industry, they were virtually unrivaled until they basically made their biggest competitor, and they didn’t read the industry well leading to  major setbacks.  Nintendo killed any competition they had.  They destroyed Sega (or the argument could be made that Sega killed itself….).  Nintendo also made Sony enter the video games industry when Nintendo spurned Sony publically and left that company high and dry at a major event.  And finally, Nintendo was destroying the market, but then decided to make the Wii U system they thought would lead the market, but ultimately failed to appeal to their customer base.   Does any of that sound familiar?

WotC, I love you guys and 4e.  I do.  I have run more 4e than most people you can find.  If you guys had stars like Paizo’s GM, I’d have 5 starts.  But you need to learn from Nintendo.  Everything that has lead to the shot life of 4e and the birth of 5e/Next has its roots in Nintendo’s current straits.  Trust me as a DnD AND Nintendo fanboy, I know stuff is not looking good all around.

So the stuff above is in the past, what can we learn from the future?  Well, the most pressing thing is third party support.  Nintendo does not like to play nicely with others.  Heck, the Game Cube was a direct result of Nintendo NOT wanting to use CD/DVDs because those formats were not proprietary, thus Nintendo could not control their manufacture and licensing.  This has lead to a strange bible/Noah’s Ark/Doom hybrid illegal game for the Super Nintendo from angry third party developers leaking software.  More pressing, many of the AAA develop firms will not make games for Nintendo’s current consoles.  While the Wii U might not be the gaming machine the world wanted, the death blow to the system was EA announcing that it will not make any more games for the system.  This has to do with many factors, but one can suspect that Nintendo’s history of not working well with others has to at least figure in a bit.

The second thing we can learn from Nintendo is the failure to embrace the internet.  Nintendo doesn’t like to use technology it can’t fully control.  This fact has lead to Nintendo basically considering the internet a passing fad.  Nintendo doesn’t have accounts, they have consoles.  When you get a new console, you can rebuy all the old games you had!  Isn’t that nice!  Can’t wait to upgrade my Wii to a Wii U, so I can rebuy the Zelda game for the Nth time at $5-$10 a pop!  Besides the snark, there are other problems like a market place, buying media (music, TV, movies etc) and games.  Nintendo using mostly it older hits online and doesn’t have near the independent game database that other game studies have.  Sound familiar again?

Now, I am a self admitted Nintendo fanboy.  I want Nintendo to stay around.  I don’t think you understand how much it hurts for me to admit that that Nintendo might be a sinking ship.  Now, I want to turn my attention to another large company I love and hopefully tell them what I’ve seen.

WotC, you NEED to embrace the third parties!  You need to be OPEN!  Open is good!  Open gets you more than just in house design.  Open keeps a game alive!  Open is more software (modules, adventures, rules) for your console (RPG system).  Right now most successful gaming system ever created in the 3.X system and all its babies.  I don’t think that even arguable.  It worked well for you, and then Paizo ran with the ball and made ALL THE MONEY.  While 3.X is good, I think that open design of the system helped.  Sure, crap got made by not you and lots of people might have saturated the market back then, but if you had stayed with 3.X and designed more parts to 3.x, while keeping the system open, you might still be number 1.  When 5e comes out, keep it open.  Do the same rules as before with parts being open (standard crap, base system, standard classes/spells), and then carve out your own stuff (Umber Hulk et al).  I’ll still pay top dollar for the aberrant books with mind flayers.  That strategy above is paying out beautifully for Paizo.  If you want more evidence, look at Paizo and the Living Games that have grown around them.  I know I can name at least three.  You own D&D!  I promise if you let the third party play without threats, you will get double that. And the more people playing your system, the more base books you sell.  You will have people like me buy all the WotC official world books (i.e. anything Forgotten Realms etc), but you can get the people who don’t want that setting to play your game and buy your base books also!

Next, you need to embrace the future and technology.  I’ve mentioned before that Paizo doesn’t support the stores as much as you do with their business model.  I like your support of the friendly local game stores (FLGS), but you need more online presence.  Lately, you’ve put your greatest hits online.  That’s good, but I’ll only buy the Zelda games so many times!  You need to put the newest stuff up there also.  What I would love would be a scratch off code that gets you a free or reduced cost PDF when you buy the physical books.  The FLGS get money and support, I get a PDF with the book, and you look modern.  If I sell my book, the new person has to buy a PDF.  That’s ok.  You basically pull of the same trick Paizo’s doing with their online store, but with the physical stores.  You get less money, but the FLGS have some product to sell, and having product to sell means they support your stuff more.  If I get all my wishes, you will also put out a bunch of small, online only PDFs about your campaign worlds.  Paizo does this with their setting, Numenera does this with their setting, and even Catalyst does this with Shadowrun!  You should too.  I pay WAY too much for a short PDF compared to the price of the base book.  Heck, I’ve spent almost as much on Numenera PDFs as I’ve spent on the base book.  If you have more smaller stuff come out that the stores can’t keep up with like Paizo’s smaller books, and have a few hard covers come out each year to help the FLGS (with those nifty PDF codes inside).  Keep the magazine alive with freelancers (that you control), and I’ll give you lots of money.  Heck I kept my DDI subscription up for the 4e run AND bought lot of other products, I’ll do it again!

So that is my 2gp.  I know you’ve been waiting on pins and needles to hear what one random geek has to say, but I just wanted to put that out there.  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Ed

I love RPGs.  I love to play crazy one-shots made my obscure companies.  I love to play living games made by GIANT, multinational companies.  I like random pick-up games at con with people I don’t know and will most likely never see again.  I love these game!

But, I noticed something over the last few weekends.  I’m seeing nerd rage on levels I hadn’t seen before.  Lots of this was directed at Wizards of the Coast (WotC).  Some of this came from people who are still made that WotC is owned by Hasbro.  Some is directed at their “money-grabbing” tactics.  Some are gloating of the failure of 4e.

This kind of made me mad and sad.  When I discussed this with many of these people, most of them said the next edition was doomed to fail also, and WotC kind of deserved this.  When I asked, many of these people said they had not tried DnD Next, nor did they want to.  Again, this was because of the negative image that WotC had for them.

I think this is unfair at best.  WotC has some of the best support for gamers and the brick and mortar stores.  While it does befit WotC in non monetary ways, DnD encounters have continued even since WotC stopped releasing purchasable products for DnD.  Heck for the longest time, WotC offered DnD encounters completely for free and gave out dice.  Now you have to buy the adventure, but they still give out promotional material for each encounters season.  In addition to that, WotC has supported the Living Forgotten Realms for quite some time.  This might have shifted to a labor of love as WotC stopped paying writers, but WotC still supported the campaign and helped ensure that this was given floor space at major cons.  Heck stores that run multiple DnD encounter and Living Forgotten Realm events became “premier” stores and were given early access to WotC products.  This support represents a large financial investment in the brick and mortar community.

Now I would like to engage in a thought experiment.  Paizo is often seen as the white knight compared to WotC evil, dark wizard.  I don’t think this holds up.  Paizo does do geek outreach, but this is matched by WotC.  Both have supported Free RPG day.  Both give out random crap at cons (still got my buttons from both!).  However, I see major difference in their support of the physical community financially.  Paizo does have a living campaign, which I play in and run often.  However, this is not free.  WotC’s LFR has been (mostly) free since its inception in 4e.  For the large part, Pathfinder Society (PFS) charges for events.  What’s more, these adventures are only available online.  The brick and mortar stores are unable to make any money from these direct sales.  Furthermore, Paizo’s business model favors direct sales both on line and in physical products.  Through bulk order, online exclusives, and free PDFs, Paizo encourages players to only buy their produces through their website.  In addition, Paizo’s release schedule is several small products per month with few hard cover books per year.  This release schedule of small books forces most stores I have seen to only carry the larger books and leave the smaller books, the bulk of Paizo’s release schedule, to Paizo own sales.  This is in direct opposition to WotC’s business model of few hard cover releases each year that are predominately physical books.

Now, this is not a hippy WotC love fest, nor is this a condemnation of Paizo.  WotC has done some things that have annoyed me in the past.  They have also made some business decisions that have angered me (looking right at you GPL!).  Paizo has also show great support for the RPG community in several ways.  Paizo is an intelligent company who understand the plight of the brick and mortar retailer and is not trying to undermine their existence.  My goal here is to show that both companies are not necessary the paragons of corporate greed, evil, or virtue.  The goal is to show both of these places are businesses that make choices that reflect their best understanding of the market.  It’s in neither of their best interests for the brick and mortar stores to fail.

My point of this is to not hate a company out of hand and to not extend that hate to the products they make.  If a company constantly does thing you hate like employing sweat labor or other egregious business practices, then that is one thing.  If a company made a game you didn’t like some time ago then that’s a different matter.  I had one player randomly show up for a PFS game.  He had a great time, and I mentioned I also run DnD encounters using DnD Next.  He flatly stated he would never play that game because of WotC.  When I finally got him to sit down and play, he now can’t get enough of DnD Next.  I’ve had players go the opposite way.  I’ve had players try one and absolute HATE the other.  And you know what, that’s fine!  Amazing even!  If you hate a game because you play it and think it bad, that’s an honest opinion.  If you just sit in the back and cross your arms and fume because company X made a thing, and company X is bad because of reasons, then that’s sad on a lot of levels.

My point is game on.  So long as the game isn’t actively hurting someone, the game doesn’t cover horrific, offensive material, or the company run my active members of the Third Reich (figured I’d Godwin myself here), then give it a try.  Just game and see what you like and don’t like.

Ok, now time to ride the exercise bike while reading the DnD Encounter story then off to run my PFS game.

Winter Fantasy is my Con.  It’s the first real RPG Con I ever went to.  This con was the first taste I had of Living Games.  It’s the first Con I went to with a girl (my Girlfriend at the time).  When that girl became my wife, it’s the first Con we went to and is our annual honeymoon.  It’s the Con I get to play game with my wife since I’m usually GM/DM by default.  Basically, Winter Fantasy is a really big deal to me for a lot of reason.

This year, my wife and I went to Winter Fantasy, and we had a blast.  It might have been different than I expected.  But, I had a ton of fun.  I met with all my friend who run games through Baldman Games.  I played a TON of RPGs.  I even got to play some new board games!  Let’s do a day-by-day run down, then I’ll do a summary of what each event meant to me.

Friday

I got to play in the 8AM Witch Hunter RPG game.  I love the new Witch Hunter RPG.  Heck, after a weekend of this game, I posted my RPG review here.  (Spoiler, I liked it.)  At Noon, I was off running Witch Hunter for close to my first time.  That went really well.  The day ended with King Gyro and more Witch Hunter at 7PM.  All and all a good day of RPGs.

 

Saturday

Saturday kicked off with my wife and I playing Witch Hunter at 8AM.  A good way to start the day!  Lunch was more, tasty King Gyro (WHY DID I NOT DISCOVER THIS TILL NOW!).  I took a break from games as to much Gyro makes you sleepy.  I woke up, and my wife and I tried J. K. O’Donnelld’s.  This place is AMAZING!  I like beer and whiskey, but I’ve never know what’s good.  This place has flights of Irish beer and whiskey.  That is great, and combined with authentic Irish food full on amazing.  Full of beer and good liquor, we returned to the Con and tried the GenCon board game library.  We found a copy of the Firefly board game.  We had a blast playing it although we didn’t finish. A review is coming next week.

Sunday

Sunday I was scheduled to run more Witch Hunter, but we didn’t have players.  However, I was needed for Pathfinder Society.  My wife joined in, and we had a good time.  After, we tried the Carnival dice/card game from Dice Hate Me games.  We had fun, but needed two play throughs to really get the game play.  The Con ended with me saying good bye to all my friends at the Con the getting more King Gyro ( GOD HELP ME, I HAVE A PROBLEM!).

 

That was fun, now the high points.

Witch Hunter

I kickstarted the Witch Hunter RPG.  I like the company that ran the kickstarter, and I’m a kickstarter addict, so I gave them money.  I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.  Now, that I ‘ve played a bunch of games, I’m really glad I did.  I got to play in two and run two.  I’m really looking forward to playing some more of this game.  I want to know what else happens in the living game from these guys.

 

The End of LFR

LFR is why I went to DDXP/Winter Fantasy.  Long ago when I was but a graduate student, I went to a Con with NO IDEA WHATSOEVER to expect and in one day went from having played no LFR to going through the special and the battle interactive.  Losing LFR is sad, but I’m optimist of the future.  Also, the campaign staff did an awesome job according to all the people I spoke too.  It’s good to see an old friend get the send off it deserves.

 

Pathfinder Society

Not sure where these guys were.  It might have been the time as several local Cons were happening like Marmalade Dog in Kalamazoo, MI.  However, I got to run a game so that made me happy.  Some of the blame falls to guys like me who don’t check the Paizo or MichiganPFS forums enough.  I didn’t respond to their call for GMs so without the GMs no games can happen.  I like Pathfinder Society, and I hope they get more of a presence at this Con next year.  When your company doesn’t make time for me, it’s harder for me to feel like you care.

 

Mage Wars

If I have to play a competitive, collectable card game, this is my card game.  I haven’t been able to get as many games of this in as I want to.  The Mage Wars crew had some demo agents out in the field at Winter Fantasy.  I spent a long time talking to those guys, and that really fired me up to play some more.  Any time a head honcho from a game company makes an effort to come to a Con I’m at, it makes me want to buy whatever they are selling and tell my friends about it.  I can’t wait to get some games going in Jackson!

 

The GenCon Board Game Library

While I love RPG a lot, this place was my favorite part of this con.  I love the Game Library.  It’s like having an awesome friend who lets you try any game they have.  When my wife and I had some downtime, we would play some games.  I really need to donate some games or money to these guys because they do a lot of work for a labor of love.

 

Wizards of the Coast

WotC had a presence at this Con as Chris Tulach attended the Con.  I was able to talk to him for a few minutes, and I asked him about Wizards of the Coast and product production.  Like I said before, any time your company can send big wigs out to a Con and you’ll talk with me about whatever’s on my mind (this case was the size of WotC vs. Paizo and the use of freelancers vs. in house production for product design) you win major points in my book.  I’ve bought my copy of the next DnD encounters events, but now that I feel WotC cares more about what I care about, I feel more energized than ever to bring this game to the masses in Jackson.

 

Readers

So, Throat Punch Games started off as my little blog I did as a hobby a little over a year ago right around Winter Fantasy.  My way to destress and make my voice heard, because as we all know, people listen to whatever you have to say on the internet!  And, strange as it turns out, I have readers!  A few people approached me and asked if I was the writer of this blog!  I’m internet famous!  Thanks Readers!

 

And that was my Winter Fantasy.  I love this place.  I love these people. And I can’t wait till next year!  See you there.

It’s almost Winter Fantasy, one of my favorite cons out there.  This is the first place I ever played in a battle interactive.  So for this week’s column, I’ve decided to talk about my love/hate relationship with the battle interactive.

A battle interactive is a multi table game of any RPG.  Each table acts simultaneously in the event and can even lend help to other tables.  Some battle interactive have multiple, different events occurring simultaneous while some have every table doing the same event at the same time.  Let’s give this a rundown of the good and bad at them so you know what to expect.

Good-

            Team Work-You and your friends are part of something much larger.  You get a feeling being part of the larger group while getting to see the rest of the group.  You and your closest over hundred friends are all gaming together at the same time.

Influence-I have a character who sacrificed himself to seal away an elemental.  His name is forever part of the Living Arcanis world.  Throat Punch, my gaming guild, is known for trying to prevent the capture of Myth Drannor from secret demons.  I have personally affected games that many people play.  I take pride in that.

Prestige-Battle Interactives are few and far between.  If you’re part of one, other players will want to learn about what happened at it.  You’re famous!

Reward-Battle Interactives are rare experiences.  When you do them, you travel far and wide to get there.  You play for long hours.  And, the organizers reward you for it.  Battle interactives have some of the best loot/boons that any event in a living game can offer.

 

Bad-

            Time- Battle interactive are about EIGHT hours.  Now eight hours of DnD is fun, but even I need a break after eight hours.  Once you’re in, you’re in, so keep that in mind when you go in to the event.

            Bad days are REALLY bad-When you have a bad day of DnD, it’s about four hours.  Maybe the dice are cold for you or maybe you’re not in a social mood today.  In either case, DnD just isn’t where you want to be today.  Battle interactive tickets are some of the first tickets to sell out so you buy those months in advance.  You don’t know what kind of DnD day you’re going into.  Now, when you play, it’s eight hours of bad DnD Day.  It still beats work, but maybe not by much.

Challenge mode!-A battle interactive isn’t your standard Living Game experience.  You don’t role-play much.  You don’t go shopping before in the town.  You don’t take things slow.  In a battle interactive it’s GO GO GO!  You will be hit with the highest challenge your party should be able to handle.  You will take your turn in under 30 seconds.  You MUST know your rules for your character.  YOU MUST BE READY!  A battle interactive is a stressful experience.  You get thrown into the hardest, most brutal fights with a timer.  You have to complete objectives that are nearly impossible, and you have to move fast enough to get them all done NOW!  If you fail you let the room and your organization down!

 

Mix-

            Your GM- I’ve been in awesome battle interactive, but I’ve also been in not so fun ones.  Even people who play the same game don’t have to see eye to eye on how the rules work.  If you and your GM are likeminded, then it’s eight hours of fun.  If you and your GM don’t like each other, then you’re going to have a bad time!

Friends/Enemies- If you go to a battle interactive and you bring a full table with your local gaming group, get their early!  You might get a choice table with your full party and life will be great.  If you are going alone then go early and find some new friends.  Hopefully, you and they will love one another and you will make friends with some people you’ve never met before.  And it will be a glorious eight hours of gaming.  On the other hand, if you don’t know these people and you get stuck with five alpha males or power gamers or some other group you hate, then it will suck.

 

That said, I still love Battle Interactives.  It’s a great day of DnD.  Even a bad day is awesome.  I hope I see you at Winter Fantasy!

 

How about a few tips:

-Bring some drinks/food in a small cooler

-When you get a break, go to the bathroom/smoke.  Get the biology stuff done when you can!

-Veggies and fruits are your friend.  Don’t just pack chips and cookies!

-If your character is complicated, bring books and have them marked with your powers/spells.

-Be nice to your GM.  He’s here to have a good time too!

-Be nice to your fellow players.  They are your life line!

-Be able to take your turn in under a minute.  Five players plus one GM with two monster groups means 14 minute rounds if every player takes a two minute turn.  You might only get 30 minutes in a particular scene.

-GET TO THE PLACE EARLY!  For life to go smoothly, you should get their 20-15 minutes in advance.  It makes making groups easier.  It makes getting GMs easier.  It makes every facet of life easier.  DON’T BE LATE!   Same goes for breaks!

-Have fun!

            All right, let’s gear up for some edition war goodness!  Time to draw some lines in the sand!  And…..I got nothing….  Ok, let’s talk about what I see going right and wrong in the adventures I play.

I love DnD( yes even you 4e, even you), Pathfinder, Shadowrun, DCC, Numenera, and all the others.  Heck, when I see a kickstarter, I have to try NOT to give it money if it’s an RPG.  But, I’m seeing a bit more rail roading lately(maybe I’m paying more attention), especially in living games, and I think that’s a problem.  Not a giant one, but one to keep in mind.

Now, I’ve talked before how I love the living game model.  I do love the community that living games build.  But, lately I’ve seen them being very linier.  That’s not “bad” as the Lord of the Rings is a fantastic story, but completely linier.  But I feel that limiting the choices a player has limits their agency and therefore engagement in a RPG.  The door swings booth ways though.  If you give the players a swimming pool of options, they drown.  And, in a four hour con slot of a game, having the entire world of Pathfinder to play in won’t get much done.

What’s got me thinking is how adventures are laid out and what is put up front for the GM.  I’m bad a preparing for my games, so I end up reading my adventures about an hour before show time.  But, what I’ve seen is mostly a standard layout.

Act 1-intro

Act 2-get to a place (box text)

Act 3-Kill x of y guys

Act 4-Trap/dungeon

Act 5-Kill z of y guys

Act 6-Three minute wrap up of an adventure so you get your certificates and the GM gets a drink before doing it again.

Now the above isn’t bad.  It’s an adventure that with some extra from the GM will be fun.  However, I’m seeing this repeated a lot.  And that’s where it’s not as much fun.  I see LFR and PFS as having been the guiltiest of this.  Then again, these are two of the most prolific groups out there.  And I still love these guys!

What’s been making me more happy lately is Shadowrun, old school gaming, Numenera, and the current season of DnD encounters.  What’s the difference between these? Let me describe their typical adventure setup.

Act 1-introduction

Act 2- location A

Act 3- location B

Act 4- location C

Act 5- location D

Act 6- Summary of events, usually done in five minutes so your GM can get a drink and do this again.

The difference is how the information is presented.  All adventures have box text.  All adventures have monsters.  However, by giving me the information as a location with stuff there, it’s less “we’re all gonna die/have to fight monsters”, and more “here is a world, go play in it”.  As a GM, the emphasis is less on combat as the only way to fix stuff and more on making the PC do their own things.  Combat is always “fun”(relatively speaking), but if I get more freedom/descriptions as a GM to allow the world to “live” I can consciously and subconsciously give that as freedom/choice to my players.

 

Now I know living games have to have a similar structure/adventure across all the games that get played.  Hence, the whole “Living” thing.  But I think trust has to come into the game somewhere (along with some behind the scene rules.)  Shadowrun right now is the front runner for my favorite RPG for its living game.  The game is less rules tied down, and it gives a ton of trust out to its GMs.  However, the system does have its rules.  If you steal a tank, you can’t keep it.  Nor can you really sell it.  That would break the game.  And the game/system basically tells you to tell your PCs that.  While that does break the forth wall a bit, so does the episodic nature of the game.  And that’s ok.  Players want to have fun, see the world for a bit, but really don’t want to say there!  Don’t believe me?  Even the most hard core DnD Player will want a shower after a while and they don’t

 

There is a drawback to location vs encounter description.  Locations with lots of information require preparation.  I as a GM have to read the location, know what in-game mechanics are required, and be able to rattle off my own box text to describe what happens.  I also have to have a better knowledge of the rules then if they are just given to me.  Encounters can be written really easily for beginner GMs as you front load the chapter with rules to make life easier.  That’s again not bad and even great for someone who needs to learn how to GM, but if you older in the tooth like me, then maybe the location with descriptions is a better model.  Also, it will make me prep more ahead of time!

 

Basically, the more “freedom” you give me as a GM the more “real” world will be for the PCs.  Keep that in mind when you play and run your next living games.  Have fun!

NOTE-I do not endorse anyone saying anyone else is not a geek.  You’re all your own little special kinds of geeks out there.  Let’s all just not be an ass to one another?-END NOTE

So, I have been doing some thinking lately.  Some has to do with the idea of a Fake geek, while some is how many board games can I afford before my wife will kill me.  Let’s focus on the one that is important now.

So a tweet long ago talked about “con-pretty” girls pretending to be geeks.  That’s pretty interesting on the surface of it, but I think there is a lot more going on here than we really realize.  I also kind of want to understand where this comes from.  Now we, as civilized humans, all realize this comes from a place of purely being an ass.  That starts off as our given, but I think the “why” is almost as important as universally disdaining this behavior.

I want to introduce an idea called Effort Justification. Check this YouTube link to see it applied to Homestuck and Ulysses.  I haven’t read either.  The crux of this video is effort justification.  Simply put, effort justification is getting more out of a activity because you put so much more effort into the activity.  I bring this in because I am a 30 year old geek.  I’ve been a geek for a “decent” amount of time.  I’ve paid my dues.  I’ve EARNED the right to be a geek!  And that’s where I think the idea of fake geeks comes in.

I’ve talked before about working for gaming companies and the fact that they give you free games/products.  One of the products I got was the new copies of First Edition DnD.  And that game was HORRIBLE!  The layout is bad; it’s walls of text, random strangeness for no apparent reason, no thoughts were given to any sort of balance, the writing seemed more stream of consciousness than organized, and honestly if that is where DnD was today we might not have an RPG hobby.  However, if you look past all those faults, it’s the game I play today.  You have to really put time and energy into making that game work.  If you do, it’s a fantastic experience.  Some of the most fun you can EVER have.  But it does take time and energy.

I didn’t have to put that energy/time into my first game.  My first game was with some friends and we played 3.0 DnD.  I played a half Golem fighter who was basically Mega man (my friends didn’t understand the rules, but it was fun).  When I took over and really read/learned the rules, it was pretty easy to understand.  Now does that make me less of a geek than a gronard sitting in his basement poring over his white box of DnD?

Right now, being a geek is easier than ever.  In the last 24 hours, I’ve bought board games off Amazon (free Prime Shipping!), video games off Steam (no shipping!), the newest Shadowrun books from rpgnow.org (right to dropbox then iPad!), and gotten a free comics sent to my comixology account (right to the android phone!).  I didn’t have to hunt across old stores for any of these.  I didn’t have to fight through hard-to-understand computer code to install. I didn’t have to look through mountains of splat books to find a copy.  I didn’t have to pore over long boxes to find these comics.  In short, I did this while I watched The Daily Show in five minutes.  Heck, when I play a new board/card/video/Role Playing Game, if I have rules questions, I check YouTube and live tweet with the game designer to get my answers and done have to muddle through esoteric rules.  It’s easy to be a geek.

As things are getting easier, we geeks are also getting more noticed.  Computer literacy is assumed now.  You might be the tech guy at Thanksgiving because you stole a song once, but in your daily life, if you can’t get on the Wi-Fi at work, then you are assumed that you somehow aren’t quite up to snuff for the workplace.  And as we get more noticed, we grow more.  I propose The Big Bang Theory is the Will and Grace of geeks.  I hate that show, but in the end, it’s getting us out there in a way all the free demo games of Shadowrun I run never could.  I get questions about Settlers of Catan from family members whose last gaming experience is Candyland and now they want to play.  The number one movie of last year was The Avengers!  Right now the biggest things in Hollywood are if WB can figure out how to properly market Superman and get Justice League out there!

And now I come back to the original purpose of this: fake geeks.  None of the newest people will EVER have to go through what I went through to be the geek I am today.  They won’t dive into the rules of 1st ed. Civilization.  They won’t have to dig up 2nd printing of Spawn #1 to learn his origins.  They won’t have to read poorly written books to learn an RPG.  They won’t have to order from an obscure store in the UK and PRAY it shows up (EVER).

But are these new people geeks?  I say yes.  As we grow, geek becomes nebulous.  We don’t really have a good definition anymore of what we are.  And defining what we are not doesn’t really help either.  My own discrimination shows because I think if you only buy an Xbox One to play Call of Duty and Halo, you might not be a geek.  But then again, that honestly isn’t being fair to those people.  I put lots of time into my hobbies, and they most likely do to.

Now I know that most of this fake geek strangeness has centered on women.  For most of our hobby’s history they have been a minority.  Now?  The numbers bear out that they are approximately equal.  However, the assumption is the average geek is a pasty, fat male who doesn’t observe most/any hygiene norms.  This isn’t true.  But I believe we as geeks may have started to believe our own stereotype.  When our assumptions are challenged as a clean cut woman walks into the hobby store it’s easy to assume that they must be one of these “new” geeks here because being geeky is the trendy thing to do.  However at this point in reality, that makes as much sense as assuming that if you see a fat guy walking about in WalMart he must be able to fix a computer.

But I have an “excuse” for why some people behave this way.  I think its because they are being defensive.  Another assumption is that geeks are the bullied ones.  We’re the ones pushed around on the play ground (apparently).  Now that we’re adults (to various degrees), we want to keep that crap from happening.  I think the reason we challenge women is we assume they are just doing the “trendy” thing.  It’s like assuming that a woman is wearing Uggs because it’s what all the other women are wearing on a college campus.  Now, I’m not excusing that behavior.  I just provide it as a possible explanation.  In the end, the people complaining about fake geeks are just being asses.  However, yes, I promise somewhere, someone is just going with the crowd.  This is at least a few individuals who are doing the geeky thing because it’s cool.  I can also tell you from my work research there are some HIV+ individuals who now go around infecting unsuspecting people.  I promise that the percentage of people who do both of these things is about equal and amazingly low.  Also, the reason Uggs are popular is because they are warm (I have tried them and really pissed off a friend doing so since I stretched them out).

And what if those people are doing a trendy thing?  DnD was trendy in the late 70’s/early 80’s.  Heck it got its own cartoon and a brand of meat in Italy (look it up!).  We’ve all jumped on the bandwagon because something was trendy.  We stayed because it was fun and we liked the community.  We need to be inviting.  If we’re inviting we will grow.  And our hobby needs to grow!

Also, as a straight male, here is a tip.  If you see a woman in a hobby/comic store, if you’re not an ass you have an easy in-road to a conversation.  You both obviously like something there.  If you want to know how deep she is into the hobby (I’ve read a trade paperback vs. I have the first edition alternate art covers to all 50+ issues), ask general questions in a friendly manner.  “Have you seen the latest issues? It’s AMAZING!” vs. “Who was XXXX hero’s sidekick in the short lived 80 buddy series by Jack Kurby?” is a hell of a world of difference.  One gets you talking and shows you depth in the hobby, while one makes you an ass.  If you can’t tell which one, then maybe there is no hope for you….

I think we live in interesting times.  Right now, geek is chic.  It will change.  We won’t always be the summer box office draw.  Target won’t always stock Settlers of Catan.  Life is easy now.  We need to embrace as many of these young whippersnappers as we can.  It won’t always be this easy.  But, just because the younglings didn’t have to walk up hill both ways in the snow storm doesn’t mean they wouldn’t if they had too.

I’ve been thinking about what I play, and why I play it.  Now I don’t want to join the edition war, but I think what you play is impacted largely by the fiction the surrounds it.  I want to talk today about my love for 3.5 DnD Eberron vs. 4e Eberron and ludonarrative.

PLEASE DON’T JUST RUN AWAY FROM THAT TOPIC!  I PROMICE I HAVE A REAL MEASAGE BESIDE EDITION HATE!

I read a lot.  I love audiobooks.  I listen as I walk around my house and clean.  I love print media.  I say up late and read old books while my wife sleeps.  I love my Ipad.  I keep my wife up late as I read next to her.  So when DnD fiction comes out, I go buy it and read it.  I won’t say it up to King’s level, but I’m not looking for that.  I want people to have adventures in worlds that I play in.  I want to read about people in the Forgotten Realms.  I want to see skyships in Eberron.  I want adventures in Dark Sun.  AND, I want the people to, at least tangentially, follow the rules my characters have to follow.  Make no mistake;  I’m not a guy counting fireballs in a fight as I read, but the healing cleric shouldn’t be able to pull off a fireball without some serious ‘splainin’ to do.  And this is why a specific breed of author works well in these books.  You have to follow the rules of the game, and that limits your creativity a lot.  It’s hard work to write.  I’m not even good, and it’s hard.  If you don’t believe me, then I implore you to do NaNoRiMo.  In one month, pound out 50,000 words.  If you can do it, THEN do it while following fake rules.  If you do that, then my hats off to you.

Now here is where rules hurt and help a book set in a world.  I want to introduce something called ludonarrative.  Here is a link explaining it for the video game crowd.  He also goes into why it’s a bad term, but since it’s established I’m going to use it for a bit.  For ludonarrative, it’s how well the story and the rules of the game mess together.  If in a cut scene your character can fly, but when you get to play the game for real, you can’t, than there is a problem.  That’s the basics.  I hit this hard when I played Batman Arkham Asylum on Hard difficulty; in the cut scenes Batman would one-two punch bad guys to the floor, but when I played for real, I might as well have been using cold ramen noodles to beat them down instead of his punches.  In the end, I felt disconnected from the game.

How does this affect my Eberron play experiences?  Well, if you read the fiction of Eberron, its primarily set in a world of 3.5 DnD.  And that’s OK.  However, when you play 4e DnD, the world doesn’t “work” as well.  Now, I’m not saying you can’t ‘make’ it work, but I would read through things in the book like a dual wand wielding wizard (alliteration!) and be amazed.  But when I got to the 4e table, I could use a wand once an encounter and then be sad as a free action.

Why did this happen?  Well, the quickest explanation is in 3.5 magic is broken. (ah I can feel the angry from here!)  It’s almost impossible for a fighter to deal with a 20LvL wizard who can wish his mom away before he was born.  And, that’s OK.  Those kind of crazy things make 3.5 fun.  When I play some 3.5 Eberron, magic’s broken, so crazy wand wizards are a thing.  I feel like I’m playing the ‘real’ Eberron.  The constant nature of magic without balance really helped me feel Eberron and its world.

Does 4e do something right then?  Yes.   Arguably the longest I’ve ever played DnD is Living Forgotten realms.  And it was 4e.  The fiction matched the books, and it worked in reverse.  I loved to read about the realms in the books, and I loved to read about the rules that supported it.  It worked well together, and how well this worked together really made me enjoy my game and books that much more.

In the end, the take home message is I need fiction to match what I’m doing in game.  I’m seeing more of this with the Sundering.  Magic is changing, and it’s changing how players play.  That’s good.   I might not like the ‘how‘, but the end result will be a system that meshes well with the books and books that mesh well with the system.  And, that what any good system needs.