I got schooled.

And now, I am going to be schooled again.

You see, classes started this week for me. So far I've been spending a lot of time trying to reorient myself to the schedule I'm on, which mostly consists of me trying not to stay up so late. So far sleep is losing out on the deal, but last night was pretty promising in the waking refreshed and ready to go department.

But enough about that, let's get to what's been keeping me up late as of, well, late. Viz and to wit, I am speaking of Dragon Age: Origins. It's the latest offering from Bioware (as far as I know), and while it's not the revolutionary game I'd hoped it would be, it was still pretty fun.

What's more, while playing it, I kept imagining the game I'd like to play, imagining what I'd do differently if I had designed the game. Or any game, really. This last thought is the one that drove me to see the end of it, to keep exploring and playing and trying to see the shape of the game that could have been.

You see, in doing so, I found some really nifty ideas that I could use when running my next game, that will hopefully make it a more robust experience for everyone involved.

I'll start with my biggest issue with the game; it's a problem I have with many rpgs in video game form, limited options. Now, I understand perfectly well that the resources of a programmer are limited and there are only so many things you can program in. Sure, and in a game you have the flexibility to allow players to come up with ideas you might not have thought of (which is another post in and of itself), but the ideas you plan for don't always have to be the same binary template that many games lay before you: one good option and one bad option for completing each quest.

For example: I've fought my way through an ancient temple and retrieved a sacred artifact as part of a quest. This is pretty standard but often hearty fantasy fare, the meat and potatoes if you will, of many an adventure. You can do all kinds of things with this idea. The artifact can be holy, unholy, prove the existence of a forgotten deity, exonerate someone who has been wronged, and so on. And that's not even counting getting there, the temple can be all kinds of things as well. But then when the adventure is done, and the heroes return with the artifact, a lot of times, there's only two things to be done. Either use the artifact positively (and in doing so, generally benefitting society as a whole) or negatively (either for solely personal gain, or to the direct detriment of the people invested in the artifact). Dragon Age is no different.

But what else can you do? Well, one thing I'd like to see, and would absolutely love to play around with, is the idea of competing factions, each with a valid claim to or plan for the artifact. Suppose I have found the resting place of the Lost Branch of EL TREE, Mightiest of the Ancient Trees and Lord of ALL FORESTS! Pretty awesome, no? Now getting there is a perilous endeavor (or endeavour if I'm British) which only I and my trusty companions can undertake. You with me so far?

Now for the interesting part, let's say that there are a number of people interested in our party's undertakings. So how about a group of druids who want to use the branch to breathe life into a nearby wasteland? And then we'll create a group of mages who can use the branch to weave a protective spell around something important. Then we have a group of priests who can use the branch to help grow more food for the people of the land.

And that's just on the "good" side of things. Let's assume that I like to keep my options open, and have been at least a little evil-curious, so there's a shadowy order of mages that can distill the branch down to concentrated essence of EL TREE, Mightiest of the Ancient Trees and Lord of ALL FORESTS! With this essence, they can bind a powerful demon to serve them. And let's say that there's a ritual I've found that will let me imbibe the concentrated essence, making myself even more powerful than I already am. And last but not least we'll say there's an organization who can use the branch to subjugate all living on the land connected to it, bending them to their will, and they'll let me rule in exchange for this.

Now the branch can only go to one group/person, so I've got to decide to whom to give it. Which is pretty cool already, because it means my actions have a meaningful impact on the world. We'll go beyond the personal power that the decision places in my hands, and say that it causes me, as a player, to become more invested in the quest, because now that I've decided which group to throw in with, I have a personal stake in the endeavor (unless I'm British). Beyond that, I could have members of my party who work for one of the other organizations, leading to conflict within my group, and depending on who I choose (if indeed I choose any) I could have to deal with attempts by the others to take the Lost Branch of EL TREE, Mightiest of the Ancient Trees and Lord of ALL FORESTS! for themselves.

This also adds to the depth of a game, because it reinforces the idea that my actions in the game have consequences, and that I'm not limited to being rewarded by one group and attacked by the other. It also imposes some responsibility on myself, as I must consider what the implications of my actions are. The important thing is for every option to have both positive and negative consequences. It makes them all equally appealing.

Lastly, it adds to the flexibility of the world, which helps it seem more real. Because nothing quite disrupts the suspension of disbelief like not being able to do something I've thought of, and want to do, but can't because someone else hasn't thought of it. This goes for both video games and pen-and-paper games like D&D. I think this is why both dungeon master's guides encourage you to say "yes" to nearly every player idea and action. It helps that as DM you're able to adapt on the fly, sure, but even in video games, giving me more than just the standard really good or really horrible options, especially giving me multiple good and evil options, helps me to feel more like I'm experiencing the game, rather than just doing a slightly more active version of reading a book.

Such is the power of choice.

Notes from the Past

I uncovered a time capsule full of treasure earlier today. I was cleaning out some of my old stuff, when I discovered a few of my old notebooks from my first few classes at ACC.

I've been kinda wandering the halls of memories, finding lost gems amidst old formulae and hasty notes scribbled about the Civil War with illustrations of swordfights in the margin.

I'll share with you my favorite one. It's an entry of adventure notes jotted down in between acting class review notes. It reads:

Magic Traps
AoE Attacks
NINJAS

Life, she is good.

Whapow

I updated the Saga of Arnthorr.

We'll see how it goes tonight. I like that I have a character equally at home in D&D as Shadowrun here.

More on this later on. Stay tuned!

Questar!

No not this one.
.

Wait... why aren't we talking about him? I mean, do you not see this?

Well, be that as it may, I was going to talk about quests in D&D. And Questar seemed like a cool title.

Seriously? I mean look! Dinosaurs! LASERS!

But... quests and laser... dinosaurs. Holy cow, are those missile pods on a Diplodocus? Is he riding a deinonychus? Well, dang. I guess it's on now.

Dang skippy.

Are those a smaller set of robot T-Rex arms underneath the gatling lasers? Gah, I, buh.

Um.

So... awesome...

Okay okay. You got me. We'll talk about Questar. He's the leader of the Valorians, a noble race of space-faring humans. They have telepathic abilities and advanced technology, including the STEP (Space Time Energy Projection) which allows them faster than light travel.

Besieged by the evil Rulon armada, Questar was forced to abandon the Valorian's home planet, and flee. While attempting STEP they were caught in the Rulon flagship's tractor beams, and both leaders of the warring empires were transported back through space/time to prehistoric Earth.

There, the peaceful Valorians befriended the dinosaurs with their psychic powers, while the ruthless Rulons used "Brain Box" technology to enslave their own army of tyrant lizards, including the mighty, nigh-unstoppable Tyrannosaurus Rex, ridden by Emperor Krulos himself.

Their evil ways were no match for the brave leadership of Questar, however. He marshalled his forces beautifully, using dinosaurs to fortify their ship and the valley into which they had crashed, and disguised the weapons they'd equipped the dinosaurs with, so that when the Rulons came, looking for trouble, they were prepared.

The Rulons were driven back, and Questar triumphed.

This is the story of the Dino Riders.

Tomorrow I'll talk about Quests in D&D. Assuming I can survive this much awesomeness.

The Saga of Arnthorr

Real men wear tights.

"When I met him, it was like one of our album covers walked in through the door and sat down to eat some cheese fries." -- Ufthak Orcobal, lead guitarist of Ragna-ROKK.

Born in 2051 to a human father and an Orkish mother, the Ork known as Arnthorr Odinkarr lived a reasonably normal life until the 9th day of his 9th year. Tormented by visions of the world consumed by fire, and its people trapped in the nightmares of a dying god, he Awakened.

It was not a peaceful Awakening. His power manifested without prelude or overture; it was a sudden crescendo of energies burning through his body, overwhelming him with its symphony of destruction.

He claims to have survived due to the grace of the All-Father, who left him bloodied for nine days, hanging from Yggdrasil, the World Tree, during which he learned the secrets of the runes.

While this may or may not be true, exactly nine days after his Awakening left him in Intensive Care, he was completely healed. School was troubling for him after that, he was placed in a program for Awakened youths, but found himself chafing against the program's more formulaic, hermetic structure.

In 2064, he found himself once again troubled by dark dreams. This time it was the 13th day of his 13th year that he claims to have been visited again by the Grey Wanderer, and the meaning of his dreams revealed. The Norse cult known as Winternight, in collusion with the corrupt Otaku, Pax, unleashed the Jormungand Mega-Worm upon the Matrix, and struck with electromagnetic pulse devices, bringing down the informational infrastructure of the world. They claimed to be ushering in Ragnarok.

There is little record of what happened in those dark days before the Matrix 2.0 was unveiled and some semblance of order reestablished. Fighting had spilled over into the streets, and Arnthorr disappeared.

He resurfaces some years later, in the service of an order of warrior priests. It is unknown when he adopted his current alias, but for some months now he has, as he puts it, "Wandered the Land in homage to the Grey Wanderer," finding his particular skill set suited to life as a small time mercenary.

He has recently arrived in the Auburn district of Seattle, as a result. He has fallen in with the Ork Underground there, his friendly nature and slightly unusual convictions netting him friends in the all too cynical world of today. Helping him to acquaint to life on the shadier side of the street is an Ork going by the name of Ufthak Orcobal, the lead guitarist in the Goblin rock Band, Ragna-ROKK.

Suspected of having ties to the Sons of Sauron, Ufthak has introduced him to other figures in the Ork underground. While he might not agree with the Sons' violent 'extreme' methods, Arnthorr cannot help but support their cause. Perhaps one day he can turn his friend from the path of violence, but in the meantime, he enjoys their shows and has found part-time work as one of their roadies.

As far as Seattle's occult community goes, he's reacquainted himself with a familiar face from his school days. Now an antiquities and oddities dealer, the Elf known as Asgrim Rauðskeggjaði has taken to entertaining his fellow Icelander, even going so far as to introduce him to Etehe Golden Eagle, an Amerind Shaman and Talismonger who has taken it upon herself to fill in the gaps in Arnthorr's magical knowledge in exchange for his patronage of her talismongering services exclusively.

Though he is a bit of an oddity in his "traditional" garb, complete with chain tunic and floppy pointy hat, and possessed of a prideful and fiery nature, he's willing to help people, and that counts for a lot in Auburn.

This may be the most metal character I've ever thought of

I'm going to be playing Shadowrun in the near future.

I am excited about the character I will be playing. He is a nordic warrior-priest-skald who fights the unrighteous with a magic sword and chainmail armor. He is also an ork. His primary means of attack is by shooting things that will either set you on fire or on lightning with Magic.

All I need now is like, a wicked guitar solo or truly earth-shattering power chord to announce his presence, and like some lightning crashing in the background, and people holding up their lighters in awe and I am set.

Oh yeah... his name? ARNTHORR ODINKARR.

A Day in the Life

That is one of the things I love about Shadowrun. Stuff like the above picture can fit in perfectly with the world. People don't bat an eye. Another of the things I love about it is illustrated in Arsenal, the Sears catalog of the year 2077, specifically in the armor section.

They feature several lines of designer armored clothing, so that you can look incredibly stylish while at the same time not getting as shot as you might otherwise get. But that's not the part that sends me into giddy fits of why don't more people wear these... no that comes from the Heritage Line of clothing, designed by Zoe, who if you are not familiar with the setting is THE Fashion Designer's Fashion Designer. It doesn't get more high class than Zoe's. The Heritage Line was created after researching the cultural roots of Scottish Highland society. So yeah, they have designer armored kilts... but not only that... "Pueblo, Navajo, Salish, Spanish courtesan, Italian Renaissance, fifteenth-century French royal court, Hanseatic trader, Russian Cossack, Confederate aristocrat, Indian Maharajah, Aztec, Mayan, Imperial Rome, feudal Japanese, traditional Chinese, Nubian, Victorian-era colonial gentleman, and Scottish Highlander."

This means that at a gala event, like a black tie super elegant party type gala, it is not only not frowned upon to wear, say, samurai robes or a poofy renaissance outfit, but in fact, it is considered to be the epitome of style, grace, and class. Did I mention Victorian-era colonial gentleman's clothing?

Some day.

Some day.

A cultured gentleman

I have been working on the various cultures for the game I'd like to run.

Again, bearing in mind that these ones are created with the Explorer in mind, I'll go ahead and talk about what I have in mind so far.

Apparently I didn't actually enter something here. Anywho...

The characters will start off in a feudal society. Perhaps a little more oriented around defense, as it is a necessary part of day to day life. I'm going with feudalism because it implies that the social order is more stratified and likewise control of information and education is pretty sparse.

As I'm making up the world, and hoping to encourage the Explorer to learn more about it, I can situate the characters in a backwoods farming type village and it would make sense for them not to know too much about the world at large.

Also by setting up society as stratified it makes it a little easier to contrast it with other cultures. When you know a lot about the system you're in, it makes the other ones seem novel and cool. Or so I would hope.