Age System with a How I Suck at Rolling Dice Rant Mixed In original

For the past two Mondays a group of has been getting together to play Fantsy Age set in +Rob Conley's  Majestic Wilderlands.  Dwayne, the GM, really likes the AGE system.  He wanted to give it a run and see how it works.  Cause just because it looks good don't mean it plays good.

I think it plays very well.

I rolled a character, ended up being a mage, human, poor, artist, but a charming fellow.  I took my magic in healing and lightning.  And the skills I took (or focuses) are in healing and lore.  So I am sorta of a glorified band-aid.  One of his quicks I gave him is he is always one inch taller than anyone standing next to him.  One of the first questions he asks when meeting someone is, "How tall are you?"

Different character, different system, different campaign, same horrible dice rolls.  I just don't get it.  How I can roll so bad, in 2d6, 3d6 and d20 systems.  Roll high or roll low.  I will find a way to destroy what the average is supposed to be.  Let's take the easiest (hey +Douglas Cole I'm doing number stuff, I know you like that), the average of 2d6 is 7.  I did a calculation of a few of my sessions using Pits & Perils and discovered that in my realm of existence, 7 is not the average, it is actually 5.6.  Now I m NOT a number dude, but I would say that is a signifcant difference.

And as for quantum number generators, don't believe the hype.  Quantum has feelings, cause it hates me.  I still remember the night in a d20 game I rolled 6 or 7 1s in a row.  And that was just the 1s I rolled in that one part.  There were lots of them sprinkled throughout.

Breathe, step away from the Quantumness.  Find that happy place where there are no 1s on the dice.  Somehow the dice bounce playfully upon the table and slowly spin and come to rest with a large 20 showing.  I cheer.  I point at the GM and laugh and then remember that I was rolling an ability check.

Back to my intended intent.

Age System, I love the combat.  I enjoy that there is defense, what you roll against to hit someone and armor, the bits that keep you from bleeding out.  In the AGE system these are two very different things which I like a lot.

Cobat is a blast.  This is where the AGE system works the best for me.  Stunts are the mechanic that sets the combat apart from other systems.  Stunts occurs when a roll is successful and doubles are rolled on the three dice.  The stunt die is a different color and if a stunt is earned, the number rolled on the stunt die is how many stunt ppoints you get.  So you can knock your oppenent down, do extra damage, do another attack, order a pizza or a combination of things.  The stunt mechanic shines in this area.  In other areas, like magic, it is less effective because the stunts are mainly geared toward combat.  There are also stunts for exploration and role-playing.  I don't think they work.  It seems forced.  If I were running a game I would keep the stunts strictly in combat.

Magic system is a bit generic.  I don't hate it, but can't say I am a big fan.  You select from school that specialize in fire, water, healing, wood, pickles and cookies.  There are four spells in each school.  They are independent on one another.  It's not like GURPS where the schools overlap and some requirements are in other schools.  With AGE it is a tiered system, you get the first two spells when you are a novice in that school, you get the third spell when you are a journeyman and whan you reach master level you get the 4th.

The spells are balanced, they don't overpower the mage, but if you can roll well (see rant above) they can be very effective.

The system uses spell points instead of slots.  Various things can happen to make a spell work or fail.  Most spells have a target number, if you don't roll above that, you lose your mana points and you have the pleasure of nothing happening.  I tested out this several times during our last session and yep, sucks not to hit the target number.  Some spell you can plaw  more points in to give it more power.

Then there are the skills and focuses.  They are different and I still get confused of which is which.  I get it for a while then I get distracted by a squirrel and I forget.  Happens.  Skills allow you to use or do things that others can't.  Like the first aid skill (that is called something I can't pronounce), I can do a minor action and first aid someone during combat.  You get a major and minor action for clarification.  So I can first aid someone then cast Get Back You Evil Bastard in one round.

Following up on what I just wrote.  A round is 15 seconds.  So in the AGEsystem I can first aid someone while in combat and then attack if I want....   Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?  If I am then you are wrong and I am right.  I think if I ran a game I wouldn't permit first aiding in combat.  Being someone who has experience with first aid it just doesn't work in my mind.

Healing is always a big issue with me in games.  Most games make it too easy for adventurers to heal everything and move on without a scratch.  AGE does this also.  Not a fan.  They have a short and all night healing rate.  I would cut the all night rate, take the short rest rate and make it the all night rate.  I don't want sissy adventurers.  And sissy healing systems encourage entitlement and laziness.

Every class has specializations, like I plan on becoming a Miracle Worker so that increases my healing ability.  But I could choose to be a lore master or sword mage.  They are add on abilities to help enhance your character.  I don't see the need for these specializations, but I guess it helps me target my career track for being a mage.  Again, these are teired, novice, journeyman and master levels.

Experience is the same for each class.  2000 will get everyone to 2nd level.  AGE doesn't give experience points per monster, but has a system where the GM determines the difficulty of the encounter and assigns xp from there.  I do like this set up.

I really have enjoyed the AGE system, there is a lot I like about it.  I hope to run a few one off games soon.  I just wish I could find the system where I could roll better.

How I Hate My Printer and Inspired by Folklore

Some days I like my printer.  This was not one of those days.  It was one of those days where you create new curse words to describe your frustration.  You ask your printer to do things that are anatomically impossible, not that it has the anatomical parts to perform such acts.  This is on of those days where you wish objects had feelings to hurt.  Am I mean?  Maybe.  But when you request a simple thing, like print landscape instead of portrait, of your printer, you don't think too much of it until it refuses.  Maybe you're asking the printer to change the size of your document, but no matter how many times you click the button to change the size and save, the printer reverts back to a size you did not select.  Over and over again.

I finally settled on what it wanted to do and stopped fighting it.  I lost every battle.

I bring you Along Came the Spider, my 34th micro-adventure.  This one features the map I drew in a map book a good man sent me as a gift.  The map that is included was drawn in my vehicle at lunch and scanned in to use for this adventure.

 This adventure was inspired by folklore.  We've been messing with folklore in our Pits & Perils game and that inspired me to come up with something.  A folklore thing.  An artifact.  But not some powerful magic item, but a thing,  a symbol that contains meaning to people who know it. A thing that inspires or causes fear.

My $5 patron will receive the zine copy of Along Came the Spider at the end of the month and the PDF is free for anyone to download. 

Enjoy!

A Tiny Rant About Why Patreon is Good

There has been some recent discussion about Patreon, mainly coming from +Erik Tenkar's end.  I'll join his so his wife can send me some of his gaming stuff.  muhaha

It seems many folks are very aware of Patreon and what it is.  I was a fan of it before I got involved with my own.  I can't remember who my first person I patroned, it was either +Dyson Logos or +matt jackson or very likely I may have discovered them at the same time.  I thought what a cool idea.  I didn't think it would come to much, but I thought it was a fun idea.

Wrong.  I was very wrong. 

People are making some serious money off Patreon.  And despite what some folks say, THERE IS NOTHING FUCKING WRONG WITH THAT.  I hope I didn't leave any gray area in my opinion. 

The great thing about Patreon is the patrons have absolute control over how much they give.  You can donate by project, the patrons can select one of the pre-selected pledge levels or you can adjust to the amount your comfortable with.  And you can put a max amount per month so you don't go over your budget. 

I back 8 or 9 projects (I forget the exact number) myself.  I love giving these guys a little monetary motivation to do what they do.  And the very cool thing is, they offer their stuff for free, just like I do.  You don't have to get involved in their Patreon to enjoy what they do. 

I offer the same for my micro-adventures.  They are up for anyone to download.  But I have a great group of folks who have backed me.  It motivates me to push the boundaries, to do something new or put that extra effort in developing a project.  For my higher patrons they get a 4" x 6" laminated version of the adventure.  It's cool to do.  Takes time and postage to do it, but I like the product.

I know I am preaching to the choir, so to speak, most folks understand Patreon and how it works.  If you have the time browse Patreon, they have some great stuff going there.  It's a ton of fun to just check out all the creativity being funneled through there.

Mini Rant Alert

Actually not so much of a rant as an annoyance.  And the thing that is annoying me wasn't directed at me, but it has happened in the past.  Here's my annoyance.  When someone describes some magical thing in their world, whether it be a place or thing or creature and then someone comes along and says its not logical or makes no sense.  They some how get caught up in the plausibility of something magical...

Really?

This flows over into other gaming things.  I'll use falling damage as an example.  Where some folks will argue that d6 per 10' is not what was intended and not realistic.  I've got no problem with someone doing the work and using it in the game their running.  If they want to figure out gravity and mass and squishiness of things, go for it.  But when they are arguing with someone else about it just makes me turn the channel.  In a game where you have armies of skeletons and fireballs a flinging they get caught up in the reality of a 10' fall.

I guess this relates to what +Ken H  wrote about in his post, You're Playing It Wrong.  Years ago, when I was mainly a GURPS player, I found this attitude pervasive through out the community.  I read the boards and the arguments that went on, surprised me.  GURPS does an excellent job of recreating a realistic simulation.  Almost to a fault. I only use GURPS as an example because I have experience with it.  I'm sure there are others.  But because of that attitude I saw on the boards//forums, I had no interest in joining or becoming part of the GURPS community.  Not everyone was like that, but enough that it turned me off to joining.

I see that less in the old school arena.  There is a lot more tolerance for different ideas on how to handle things.  I don't get into gaming to argue with others.  Unless its my gaming group, then its fun.  It's one of the main reason why I did decide to begin this blog almost five years ago.  Most of the time if there is a difference of opinion with gaming stuff (I won't go into the meta gaming crap that sometimes flares up) it's shared.  Only on occasion do you see a pompous ass argue that you are wrong and they are right.  In those cases you just nod and treat them like that crazy uncle you have that thinks a dog is chasing him when he gets drunk.  "Old Uncle Bob is at it again.  Pay him no mind, once he gets tired he sleep it off."

So I guess I need to go sleep it off.

Rant over. 

Maybe I'm That Guy: A Bit O' the Rant

Last night I was reading an article about GMing and the psychology of dealing with players and running a game.  The more I read the more frustrated I got.  When I saw that the players and GM should have a 'safe word' in case things got too heated, I had a visceral reaction of wanting to punch the writer until he stopped moving. 

I'm all for folks getting along and having a game.  Gaming is supposed to be enjoyable, otherwise why do it?  But when you add pop psychology techniques into the mix on how to manage players and feelings...just saying it makes me want to throw up...it becomes a workplace situation where being politically correct must be observed when your killing a hundred imaginary goblins with an imaginary fireball.  Screw that.

People get into arguments.  It happens.  You don't need a damn group hug and pass the talking pillow around the circle.  Group dynamics work best when you get a group with a common sense of what you want out of the game.  The Monday night crew I game with are all 40's dudes who have been playing for years who enjoy making stupid jokes, making fun of each other and rolling dice.  We cheer and laugh at the failures as much as the successes.  Probably more at the failures.  But we come together each week expecting a break from our real life responsibilities and worries. 

Others want something else out of the game.  Maybe it becomes more to them than just a game and take it more serious when bad things happen to their characters.  That kind of person would not fit into our group.  I would hate to see someone come into our group and try to be serious.  I think they would get frustrated very quickly.  We have some grade A smartasses in our group.  Yes Ken, I am putting myself into that category. 

If you need a fricking safe word or a time out chair for your group than the dynamics need to change.  A person may need to go.  It's really no big deal.  There is no congressional right to game or to belong to a group.  If you have a griefer in your group you don't invite him back.  If it's a buddy of your get in his craw and tell him to knock it the hell off and let's have some fun.

Some people will think I'm simplifying the problem.  I would tell them they are complicating the situation.  I've been very fortunate in this regard, with annoying members of a gaming group.  If I don't like it I don't go back.  Why get angry and frustrated?  I can do that at work and get paid for it.  Minimize the bullshit.  Maybe that will be my safe word.

Or maybe I am just that guy.

A Bit Pissed

Last night I had about an hour or so to work on campaign background.  I was typing away, things were coming quickly and I liked it.  I should have known it was going too well.  Then I went to close a website I was using to do a little research, instead I hit my Word document.  I was thinking, I don't want to close this.  Then the old yes or no question popped up on the screen (Would you like save?) and instead of answering that question it asked, I answered the one in my head.  I answered 'no'.............

My Problems with Stack Exchange

Normally I don't get too involved with ranting. Most of the time it's counterproductive, but I'm gonna do it today. My rant, I gotta problem with Stack Exchange. I'm not a big fan of people telling me what is a valid question and what is not. So far I've seen some other pinheads tell other their question does not have a real answer, that they are argumentative and subjective questions. *1, 2, 3, 4, 5...* Screw it.

Maybe some people who are involved with the Stack Exchange don't realize a lot of gaming is based on being subjective with hopefully a minimal amount of arguing. Check out the hundreds of blogs out there. There are to real answers. It's all opinion. Unless you are asking for exact information such as how many HD does a troll have in AD&D. Most know this. But if I or someone asks a question that might not be the most intelligent then ignore it and move on to another question. Don't bog me down with your censorship bullshit. Maybe someone will have a great answer that I never thought of.

Second problem is when someone edits my question and makes it ask a question I did not ask. I've asked one question and I already had one guy edit it. He took away two my tags that I wanted and switched words around to make my question different. Oh boy I was pissed. Had to go back and change it back to the way I had it the first time.

Third problem ties in with the second above, where someone decides the tags you have to identify your question, are not correct and need to be changed.

Maybe Stack Exchange is not for me. If I have check on my questions to make sure someone hasn't changed it around or messed with the tags I won't be spending too much time on there. They have a peer review system with votes. If you don't like it vote it down. I'm cool with that. If I ask an incredibly dumb question and there are a lot of down votes than I'll check it out and see what I did wrong.

Okay, feel better now. A little. I'll hang out a little longer. Some of the questions and answers (most of with are opinion OMG) are great. But as for the long run, I don't see it staying in my bookmarks very long.