Consent in Gaming

I may be an old-school fan where anything goes, but this book has a place.

This is a free download over at Monte Cook Games, and it goes through many topics that may upset people at a gaming table. I heard some criticism of this book along the lines of, "This is not needed," or "Sit at my table, and you consent to anything!"

I wish I had this checklist at a few of my games in the past, it would have set the tone for the game, and we would have avoided many problems. You can laugh at "needing a book like this" all day, but after you know all the trouble this game agreement saves you from - you will know.

In short, this is an informal agreement the group makes of what everyone expects at the table. Everyone fills them out, and it can be anonymous, and the GM goes through them and sets the game's parameters. This can also be used for world design and what players can expect from the world's history and events.

The book also has advice on resolving problems and includes a few good suggestions on apologizing and checking in later with both sides of a disagreement to ensure the "later feelings" are all right.

I also look at a book like this as an enabler. If you plan to play a "Friday the 13th" style game, and everyone accepts what happens in those movies, this pre-game checklist is good. This sort of understanding can enable handling a lot of sensitive topics that you are not 100% sure everyone at the table may be comfortable with. You never know if Bob from Accounting is a horror movie fan, and this sort of discussion is good to have just an ice-breaker. This applies to sex as well and includes the smart "fade to black" way of handling things many games recommend, and this technique can also be applied to too-violent scenes. 

The killer raises the axe, and...

Fade to black.

It works, and in some games, this is a far more potent and effective tool for horror than rolling 1d6 damage plus STR mod and realizing the blow wasn't that deadly.

I do not see this as a "tool for wussies" but as a good starting point to set expectations and also "clear the way" for allowing even more sensitive topics at a table that most games would sweep under the carpet because, by default, most all games are made for a younger audience. Having a tool to "open the door" to mature topics for a group of mature players is a good thing, and it can expand your game more than the typical "sanitized out of the book" settings and adventures we get these days.

This is a good thing for more reasons than avoiding hurt feelings, but that is where this book starts, and you can take it so far from there and have a better game that fits your group's expectations as a result.

The Politics of Boxing Up Games

Well, with our broken shelf, we are down to just three shelves to store gaming books instead of four. Instead of buying a new shelf, we took the easy route and got a set of cardboard 'bankers' boxes to store games we rarely use, and those are going into storage. We are cutting down on the number of gaming books we have out at one time and just sticking to what we like to play.

It is a strange exercise, because in gaming culture your 'display' feels like your 'street cred' - and who doesn't want a large collection on display at one time? Now, each book is being judged on it's 'fun value' and 'usefulness' and either staying out or going in the closet (or sold if it really is of no use).

You have a pile of books on the floor and you are asking yourself that question about each one of them. It really does get your gaming priorities straight, and I am finding it to be a refreshing exercise in dealing with my tendency to hoard and collect books.

D&D 4? We still use some of this material from time to time, but not all of it - so I will probably keep the basic three books plus some of the planar guides out just for reference. The rest of the pointless, already errata'ed and now useless power card collection books are going in the closet. It is funny, after the game's online systems and errata downloads go away someday, all we will be left with are the books, so what was printed will outlast the errata.

D&D 5? We sadly don't play it enough to justify keeping it out. There is nothing really different about for us, these are the same monsters and the same worlds we have in D&D 3.5 and other versions of the game, just MMO-ized (in my feeling with those infinite-use cantrips) and with the rules streamlined. Now note I said "for us" and this doesn't mean others are having a lot of fun with the game, and they should. We kind of missed the boat on this game, and we had long-standing campaigns based on the D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, and D&D 4 material still going strong, so there was no need to switch mid-stream (and it would have been disruptive, a lot of change just for the set of rules, and we went through that in the D&D 2 to D&D 3 shift).

Pathfinder? Here is where it gets interesting. Do I keep out just the basic three books? The world guide is staying out, just for reference. I am not seeing a great value to some of the class add-on books, and I have this sneaking suspicion we may have more fun with the game the less we have out for it. I can still pull an oddball book out if I need it, like a monster book, but if the world were just 'the basic three' would we play it more? There is an argument that the books past the first three are what makes the world unique and special, but it will be interesting to see if the first three books can sustain the game (for us) or will those just sit there like orphans wanting the rest of their shelf-mates.

This will be the test, I suppose, for Pathfinder for our group. If not, I am feeling the basic three books will go in the box and we will just keep the world guide out. At that point, we will be looking for a new set of rules to play in that world. There mechanically is some fun to the rules, the question is for us, are we that interested in all that fiddly mechanical character build stuff to sustain interest? With less books, there are less build and less reasons, so there may be a benefit to identifying the core supporting books and keeping those out. We shall see.

The retro-clones such as Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy? Of course those are staying out, even if we don't use them all the time. There is very little cost to keeping a single 'all in one' book out on the shelf, and these books are actually inspiring and fun packages of gaming goodness. For us, 'big system games' are a tough sell, even if it is just the 'traditional three' books of the player's guide, monster book, and referee's guide. For us, something that is just a hundred or so pages and contains everything needed to play will beat out three-volume sets that clock in at around a thousand total pages.

There is a value with less is more, and would I play a D&D 5 type game that was more of a one-book solution of around 100-200 pages? Yes. I doubt they could do that since the game really feels like it evolved into a big box affair where more is more, more spells, more monsters, more magic items, and more of everything is more - even referee's advice and art. More is more is fun and gives value, but there is a point when my shelf collapses and the game becomes too big to play. Even at three books with near a thousand pages, I am feeling a smaller one-book game still has more play value.

But then again Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy fill that niche of the single-book, compact and fun game - but I would like to see the big publishers try. They would probably have to fundamentally change the structure of the game and not do a 'cut down levels 1-5 only with 20% content' sort of thing, but make a complete game within that limitation. They tried with D&D 4's Essentials line, but I feel that fell short since those were not self-contained books - and you still needed the original books for a lot of stuff.

It is the "tablet versus PC" thing I feel, and the big-box games (at least for us) feel bloated and heavy - especially when you start adding books. Something small, single-book, less than 200 pages, and all-in-one feels more playable than a three volume collection of 800-1000 pages where everything is handled and everything is given in maximum detail. At least for us - and for some groups that love the complexity do better with the big-box games (since there is more to enjoy). Again "tablet versus PC" comes up, for hardcore gamers - PC all the way with upgrades and swappable parts. For casual users, less is more, and a tablet will do the job for most computing tasks. Right now I am feeling less is more for our group, and we would actually play more if we focused on lighter-weight games.

You Play What Your Friends are Playing

One of the terms popularized during the D&D 3 heyday was "the network effect" - or, you play what your friends are playing. This is one of those "no duh" theories, but there is a lot of truth to this congealing force between players, groups, and what's hot.

There are groups that follow along with similar games, such as Savage Worlds or FATE, and finding a group for those two games is typically more difficult than Pathfinder or D&D 5. The Internet, of course, makes everything easier, and you can find a pick-up group for almost any game and any past version of it somewhere online. But that "walking into the hobby store" moment where you look around on a Saturday and see what people are playing? This is the Network Effect.

It's What's Hot

In a way, it's like having a smartphone that can run the game everyone's talking about versus having a flip phone. You are in, you can talk about the game, and you are a part of that 'water cooler' crowd that can talk about the game. Older versions of the game, or lesser played games? There's less of a discussion, and you may find yourself talking to a smaller and less-interested group.

You buy the game, and that gives you a 'golden ticket' to participate in the social interactions surrounding that game. In a way, it is why you pick up the new version, to be a part of the fun.

There are a couple things to consider, for example, with Tunnels and Trolls the version 5.5 of the game is the one most all of the solo adventures (over the last 20 years) were written to support, and the newer version 8.0 changes things. A lot of people online see 5.5 as the version they still want to play, since the solo adventures are still a huge attraction in playing the game. This may change if 8.0 takes off, but that many years of solo adventures is hard to walk away from in just a rules-compatibility standpoint. There are still holdout crowds like this with other games, such as Shadowrun 4th vs. 5th, and possibly about every version of Traveller ever published.

It's What You See People Playing

We walk into hobby stores, and people are playing D&D 5 and Pathfinder. A lot of people play Magic the Gathering and Warhammer as well, along with games like Warmachine. You see those games, and you want to join in the fun. It is harder to get people interested in a niche or smaller-fanbase game. You have to work harder at it, and there may be some cross-interest (such as old-school D&D groups forming around the current edition players).

I play with some stubborn players with strong opinions about games, and that is cool, but sometimes this limits your options. I have some players that refuse to play Pathfinder because of the complexity, and others that feel D&D 5 isn't for them. Some don't have the money to play some of the games I would like to play with them becuase of the cost to buy books. I think this is about the trickiest part of our hobby, we have a lot of players with strong opinions and it isn't always easy to get people together.

But It Isn't Always So

I ran a group once where it was tough to have the rules keep us together. We 'thought' the rules were the driving force behind keeping the group interested, but in the end, it turns out some of our home-brew ruled games were more compelling than the latest version of the D&D. For some players 'new and shiny' doesn't matter at all, and they are there for the interaction and the fun.

This was a D&D 4 game, and the rules here I feel let everyone down. When a computer program is needed to do things right you take away a lot of player interest and investment in learning the rules. It's part of our struggle with Pathfinder and HeroLab, part of me wants to go back to basics with that game and ignore a shelf worth of expansions, but another part of me says 'investment made' and use everything. Granted, sticking with a smaller set of Pathfinder books probably means a larger player-base as well, so there is that.

When a set of rules goes bust for a group, adjust quickly. This can even happen with the 'newest and latest' so the current version isn't always a sure thing. The latest version gets your foot in the door, but always when you deal with a group of people individual tastes change. Some players care, some champion their favorite version, and others will go along with everybody else thinks. You may have some players more involved with a totally separate genre than what is being played, we had a subset of that group that loved superhero gaming a lot and that resonated with them.

Know Your Group

The hobby is diverse, and the people who play tabletop games are even more so. The best advice is to know your group, and also to play games that you love and your group loves as well. In the best of all worlds, everyone could come together based on our common interests regardless of time and distance. In the real world, there are times when we have to make due with groups that may not play the things we like to play, and we have to make due - because playing something face-to-face is better than sitting at home in front of a computer or television.

You have to put yourself out there to find those people though, so sometimes a couple dull weeks playing at the hobby store is worth finding that group which brings magic to the table and your gaming life. Be a fan of everything, open to new things, and join groups which you may not think you would like, and things may eventually come your way.

The Martian: Sci-Fi That Speaks to Us

So I just watched The Martian, and I am getting the same feeling I did with Interstellar. This is sci-fi that speaks to us. Back in the 1960s we had a world growing closer together, so the "clash of cultures" type of sci-fi where space civilizations learn to get along was relevant then, and Star Trek spoke to that era. In the 1970s and 80s when escapist entertainment pleased the masses, so Star Wars filled the need of that time, and spoke to that era. Let's forget the 1990s because it was so confused with the end of the Cold War, it was a mix of escapist entertainment, geo-political drama and "personal" sci-fi stories that used science-fiction as window dressing for those times.

But we need sci-fi that speaks to us today. But to know that, we need to know what the world's problems are:

• The world hates itself
• People have given up
• The problems we face are just too big

We hate each other and we are ruled by fear, plain and simple. Our world can do nothing great unless it learns to work together, and more-so, come together behind great things. Our society has also turned inward with a sickness of "me" and self-important posts on Facebook and Twitter. It's not about you, it's about us! We distract ourselves with online games and Pokemon Go when there are great and incredible discoveries out there in the universe waiting for us to get over ourselves and take the challenge on.

It is an odd feeling, but Star Wars, Star Trek, superhero movies like The Avengers, Firefly, and all of those other forms of sci-fi don't feel like they speak to me anymore. They all feel like window dressing sci-fi that puts a western, romance, or Earth-bound drama in spacy clothes, bug-eyed aliens, and car-like starships and presents it to us as "meaningful."

It is not meaningful because it does not reflect the problems we face. It feels tone-deaf today because it speaks to none of our problems. Sci-fi is about reflecting who we could be, and overcoming the human drama that is life to rise above and do great things. At least, that is what speaks to me today. In the 1960's when television made the world smaller and brought every corner of the world into our living room, yes, Star Trek would have spoke to me. In a way the crew sitting in front of that large TV and dealing with the problems it brought into their world, a bridge that was essentially an American living room, would make sense and speak to that era.

But now, no, it doesn't mean anything to me more than nostalgia. What means something to me is overcoming hate. Finding a way despite all of our "it's about me and my way of life, screw you" based differences to come together and solve impossible problems. It's about living in a bigger universe. It's about us, not me.

Star Wars ships that fly around like "space cars" speak to the 1950's and 60's when exploring the universe meant hopping in the family Chevy station wagon and cruising the open highways and interstates. Those don't mean that much to me anymore than just nostalgia, since they don't reflect the real problems we have in escaping the deathtrap that is Earth at this moment. We need to prepare the next generation for the great "Christopher Columbus" type difficulties and hardships of space travel and exploration, and it will never be as easy as hopping in the Millennium Falcon and tooling off to Mars for a few hours.

The spaceships in Interstellar and The Martian feel like things that our culture should be dealing with and preparing the future generation for. They speak to me. They speak to the challenges we have ahead of us. They speak to the math, science, and physics problems that will be the next generation's "dragon" to slay when we finally escape this world and move on to better things.

I like my escapist entertainment, but in the end it doesn't mean much to me. It provides a couple hours of distraction and something popcorn goes well with for a night out. It's fun, but it doesn't make me think. It doesn't make me want to do better for myself, to sacrifice for something greater, and "do the math." I know going against "what's popular" is fruitless and pointless, right? But there is something here, something greater than just a popcorn movie.

I find my tastes changing today, yet the world around me still seeks the safety of the blanket of nostalgia. We grow inward with our social media and online identities, and we lose what it is to be human - together. To accept the greater challenges. To explore. To understand each other in face of an impossible problem. To overcome.

Even supposed "hard science" games like Traveller still have that "space cars" influence in a way. They ignore the little challenges, they focus on the wrong things, it feels too much about "me" than "us". They are too easy, point and go. They take in a thousand ideas from a thousand random sources and say "hey, sci-fi!" They ignore the "grand challenge" of making it to a point of space that is infinitely small when we look up at the stars, yet when we are there is as large as a planet.

For sci-fi gaming, I am done with nostalgia and I want something that speaks to us. I want something that reflects the challenges ahead of us instead of the memories of the past. I want something hard, that forces my players to work together, think, and solve problems. It doesn't have to be hardcore trigonometry and math, but having a game that reflects what space travel will be like for our children and their children really means a lot more to me than laser swords or space battleships right now. It still has to be a game and fun, but what it speaks to will be different than the games and sci-fi serials of the past.

Something greater calls.

Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough: Castle Seige

Wow, we almost quit before the cool part. We are continuing our Dragon Age Inquisition playthrough, and we hit the part with the castle siege. We had previously quit playing through this after a long period of grinding quests and zones, and we decided to do another last throwdown with this game.

Glad we did.

We began the castle siege part of the game, and we were pleasantly entertained by this large set-piece adventure. It was an exciting climax to the story, and we wish there could have been more of these action segments in the game, rather than the long and boring sandbox searching and questing parts in the game.

It is almost as if the sandbox parts of the game just can't compare to the story parts, and frankly while I love sandboxes, these weren't done as well as other sandbox games. It dragged the great parts of the game down, and I was wishing there was more story and less roaming. It is a hard thing to say, because I like my sandbox games and there frankly aren't enough of them, but I feel there is some truth here.

The sandboxes in this game feel large and empty, with not much going on. There aren't wars happening between mages and templars, or the good guys and the demons, and everything feels static and less alive. The zones themselves are masterpieces of world creation, pretty with weather effects and organic terrain, but they feel like they can't compare with the great story missions in this game. As a result, the entire game feels dragged down by weaker sandbox zones.

The castle siege represents some of the best work by the team, and that moment shines as one of  the great RPG action sequences in this and the last generation of console and computer RPGs. It is epic, dramatic, has lasting consequences, and it shines as a great climax to an engrossing story. I wish this part could have came earlier in the game, or the game would have even started with something like this event. We also wished the castle siege was longer, with a build up and more interactive battler parts.

We wanted to finish the story by playing this through with the pen-and-paper game, but we may just delay that for a little bit. We toughed out the boring parts and are now focusing on the story missions, and the game is rewarding us for doing so.

I still want to play a modded version of the roleplaying game, perhaps using the RPG's leveling and rules, and the videogame's powers and spells. I want to make this an epic campaign and tell our own story in this world and with this cast of characters. I will need to come up with conversions and some rules to do this, but I feel it will be a great game for everyone who wishes to join in our group's fun.

But the console game? It has been redeemed, at least a little bit, and we learned some important lessons on sandboxing and what makes for a great story adventure. There is a balance here that I feel needs to be addressed in this game, but for now, we are sticking through playing this until the end, and putting aside the optional parts for the main story line. I hope in future games they address the empty-feeling sandboxes, and find ways to insert story missions into these open and sparse spaces. As for the story missions? They are top notch and fun, and we are savoring the likely few we have left in this game.

And then, we will get to telling our own.