After a long layoff, we played DF today.
- the crew headed into the Brotherhood Complex
- used magic to find some gold
- headed to the gold
- ran into gnolls, and had a big brawl with them
- sat around for 30 minutes after the big brawl and more gnolls came
- and we left it there, in a big brawl with the gnolls.
Full summary tomorrow.
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Saturday, April 29, 2023
War in the East & operating vs. playing a game
I found the Three Moves Ahead podcast thanks to a link over at ACOUP. They mentioned "War in the East" so I found the episode where they discuss it.
Here is the link:
Three Moves Ahead: War in the East
One criticism of the game by the podcasters was that in a way you operate the game, rather than play it. In other words, much of what's going on in combat resolution is effectively a black box - it's hard to gauge the odds and the possible results. So you don't so much play the game as move the pieces around, try things, and see what happens. In other words, operate the interface.
I don't think that's entirely fair (or that my summation really does the argument justice.) But I can see where it comes from.
In a way, I like that about War in the East. It's resolving individual tank-on-tank attacks, company assaults, artillery bombing of units, and so on. You can turn the highest level of detail on and watch combat take place shot by shot (don't, it takes forever.) But you don't have to do it all. You can make an educated guess if you two Soviet infantry corps and two infantry divisions backed by front artillery is enough to prise a German division out of its fortifications behind a minor river . . . but you could save the game and play that fight out 10 times and get 10 different calculations of effective attack strength/results/etc. as random factors come into play.
And I like that. I like that it's not just some math-grinding of putting X units vs. Y units and getting Z effect 100% of the time. Or even 50% of the time. I like it when I put a single division a little too far forward and it gets mauled, or I put it forward and against all odds it holds out. The AI makes better guesses about what will work than I do, but that's fine - I make better decisions overall. I feel a lot more like STAVKA or O.K.H. when I order a front to attack, move it into place, and then sigh because they couldn't get the job done. Yet I still have enough control to feel like I'm making the good stuff happen - encirclements, reinforcing success and starving failure, implementing my own strategy and operational choices.
It was a good listen - especially on the pricing, actually. But this is what made me fire up WiTE while I was listening and play it. It's because I like the uncertainty and the level of decision making. Thought provoking stuff.
Here is the link:
Three Moves Ahead: War in the East
One criticism of the game by the podcasters was that in a way you operate the game, rather than play it. In other words, much of what's going on in combat resolution is effectively a black box - it's hard to gauge the odds and the possible results. So you don't so much play the game as move the pieces around, try things, and see what happens. In other words, operate the interface.
I don't think that's entirely fair (or that my summation really does the argument justice.) But I can see where it comes from.
In a way, I like that about War in the East. It's resolving individual tank-on-tank attacks, company assaults, artillery bombing of units, and so on. You can turn the highest level of detail on and watch combat take place shot by shot (don't, it takes forever.) But you don't have to do it all. You can make an educated guess if you two Soviet infantry corps and two infantry divisions backed by front artillery is enough to prise a German division out of its fortifications behind a minor river . . . but you could save the game and play that fight out 10 times and get 10 different calculations of effective attack strength/results/etc. as random factors come into play.
And I like that. I like that it's not just some math-grinding of putting X units vs. Y units and getting Z effect 100% of the time. Or even 50% of the time. I like it when I put a single division a little too far forward and it gets mauled, or I put it forward and against all odds it holds out. The AI makes better guesses about what will work than I do, but that's fine - I make better decisions overall. I feel a lot more like STAVKA or O.K.H. when I order a front to attack, move it into place, and then sigh because they couldn't get the job done. Yet I still have enough control to feel like I'm making the good stuff happen - encirclements, reinforcing success and starving failure, implementing my own strategy and operational choices.
It was a good listen - especially on the pricing, actually. But this is what made me fire up WiTE while I was listening and play it. It's because I like the uncertainty and the level of decision making. Thought provoking stuff.
Friday, April 28, 2023
Random Links & Thoughts for 4/28/23
The usual roundup for the end of the week!
- This article on unpleasant history (and present) in games. I enjoyed reading the thoughts of the game designers. As someone who plays games with terrible things in them - murder, mass murder, theft, slave labor, evil of all sorts, etc. - I like to keep that stuff from being ignored and put aside. It might not affect what I do - I play to win as the Wehrmacht in War in the East, kill orcs for no reason other than wanting their stuff in DF, and so on - I like to play without justifying it in some way that sets aside what's really going on there. Acknowledge it but still enjoy the game that encompasses it.
- I received a playtester's copy of Matt Riggsby's new book, Merchants of Venice. I think my contribution, as it usually is, was making it sillier.
- New monster - a hooded hydra.
- I folded a new pudding type into my monster seeds for them.
- We'll try to game this Sunday. Let's see how that works out - generally, it hasn't, but we'll keep trying.
- This article on unpleasant history (and present) in games. I enjoyed reading the thoughts of the game designers. As someone who plays games with terrible things in them - murder, mass murder, theft, slave labor, evil of all sorts, etc. - I like to keep that stuff from being ignored and put aside. It might not affect what I do - I play to win as the Wehrmacht in War in the East, kill orcs for no reason other than wanting their stuff in DF, and so on - I like to play without justifying it in some way that sets aside what's really going on there. Acknowledge it but still enjoy the game that encompasses it.
- I received a playtester's copy of Matt Riggsby's new book, Merchants of Venice. I think my contribution, as it usually is, was making it sillier.
- New monster - a hooded hydra.
- I folded a new pudding type into my monster seeds for them.
- We'll try to game this Sunday. Let's see how that works out - generally, it hasn't, but we'll keep trying.
Thursday, April 27, 2023
More Monster Seeds: Puddings
Here are two monster seeds for puddings, as requested by an anonymous poster on my previous post.
A Prince of Puddings: Puddings are smart, but not too smart . . . usually. Rarely, a highly intelligent pudding leader will arise. Such a pudding may be responsible for the sudden appearance in very organized packs of puddings in the local swamps. Not just the occasional lost sheep or traveller, but whole patrols of well-armed soldiers have disappeared along the fringes of the swamps. The few survivors report puddings in packs. Could a green prince of puddings be behind them? The local government has put up a reward to encourage delvers to take care of this problem. Complications can include rival groups after the reward, druids who don't want the swamplife harmed, wizards seeking to capture the pudding, and all sorts of non-pudding swamp monsters.
Nothing is Pudding Proof: Puddings are mostly a wilderness or dungeon problem, but occasionally they get into urban environments. They're quick, they're sneaky, they're capable of squeezing into small places, and they're always hungry. A pudding loose in a big city, preying from the sewers on the most helpless of victims - drunks, crime victims, and the aged or young - could do a lot of damage before being found. A "bug hunt" in the city sewers for a canny pudding can be dangerous and exciting. Smugglers, guild thieves, secret societies, and others use the sewers for their own ends, and would rather have a pudding on the loose than delvers on the loose. Their opposition could be subtle and oblique or direct and violent - and the pudding won't take sides!
Prince of Puddings: As a usual pudding, but with IQ 8, Charisma 2 (Puddings only), and Leadership-12. It's not clear how they communicate with other puddings, but all other puddings immediately recognize them as superior beings and follow them willingly.
A Prince of Puddings: Puddings are smart, but not too smart . . . usually. Rarely, a highly intelligent pudding leader will arise. Such a pudding may be responsible for the sudden appearance in very organized packs of puddings in the local swamps. Not just the occasional lost sheep or traveller, but whole patrols of well-armed soldiers have disappeared along the fringes of the swamps. The few survivors report puddings in packs. Could a green prince of puddings be behind them? The local government has put up a reward to encourage delvers to take care of this problem. Complications can include rival groups after the reward, druids who don't want the swamplife harmed, wizards seeking to capture the pudding, and all sorts of non-pudding swamp monsters.
Nothing is Pudding Proof: Puddings are mostly a wilderness or dungeon problem, but occasionally they get into urban environments. They're quick, they're sneaky, they're capable of squeezing into small places, and they're always hungry. A pudding loose in a big city, preying from the sewers on the most helpless of victims - drunks, crime victims, and the aged or young - could do a lot of damage before being found. A "bug hunt" in the city sewers for a canny pudding can be dangerous and exciting. Smugglers, guild thieves, secret societies, and others use the sewers for their own ends, and would rather have a pudding on the loose than delvers on the loose. Their opposition could be subtle and oblique or direct and violent - and the pudding won't take sides!
Prince of Puddings: As a usual pudding, but with IQ 8, Charisma 2 (Puddings only), and Leadership-12. It's not clear how they communicate with other puddings, but all other puddings immediately recognize them as superior beings and follow them willingly.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
More adventure seeds?
I'm a inspired to do a few more bonus adventure seeds for monsters that don't have them, in support of this quickie Kickstarter.
Which ones should I do? Dinomen? Electric Jelly? Golem-Armor Swordsmen? Slorn?
Let me know in the comments and I'll do a seed or two for the requests that tickly my imagination!
Which ones should I do? Dinomen? Electric Jelly? Golem-Armor Swordsmen? Slorn?
Let me know in the comments and I'll do a seed or two for the requests that tickly my imagination!
Monday, April 24, 2023
GURPS DFM Monster Seeds
Remember when we did a bunch of monster-centric adventure seeds for DFM1, when DFM2 was launched?
SJG is compiling them into a book. $1 in PDF, $5 in print. Ends in less than 3 days from now!
Pretty neat. I'd back it except as an author I'll get a copy anyway - re-use of materials, you see.
One seed they couldn't include - for space and for we-didn't-pay-for-it reasons, largely the first I'm sure - is this one. The Monster Seed to Rule them All - Draug Race!
SJG is compiling them into a book. $1 in PDF, $5 in print. Ends in less than 3 days from now!
Pretty neat. I'd back it except as an author I'll get a copy anyway - re-use of materials, you see.
One seed they couldn't include - for space and for we-didn't-pay-for-it reasons, largely the first I'm sure - is this one. The Monster Seed to Rule them All - Draug Race!
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Felltower - the slow times
It's been a tough year for gaming. We play on Sundays, but we've had a paucity of days when we could get enough people for gaming.
The Felltower campaign is designed for a varied group size, so it's not like we need everyone to play. But we do need at least a few. Several days we've had all of three people available including the GM, and not for the whole time we usually have to play. A few days I haven't been available. The add in holidays, and blank out any Sunday immediately after another Sunday session . . . it's a recipe for relatively little actual play this year.
This coming Sunday is possible, but not assured yet. We'll keep trying, but the weekends have been bad for me too often this year and for many players as well. I'm not sure what a solution is - it's not like week nights are any better for anyone.
On the bright side - everything people have had custom made or special ordered will have come in. And broken arms healing in a month after Restoration or Regeneration is not a problem at all.
The Felltower campaign is designed for a varied group size, so it's not like we need everyone to play. But we do need at least a few. Several days we've had all of three people available including the GM, and not for the whole time we usually have to play. A few days I haven't been available. The add in holidays, and blank out any Sunday immediately after another Sunday session . . . it's a recipe for relatively little actual play this year.
This coming Sunday is possible, but not assured yet. We'll keep trying, but the weekends have been bad for me too often this year and for many players as well. I'm not sure what a solution is - it's not like week nights are any better for anyone.
On the bright side - everything people have had custom made or special ordered will have come in. And broken arms healing in a month after Restoration or Regeneration is not a problem at all.
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