D&D 4e Review by David Banuelos on RPGNet
This explains fairly well why I no longer have any interest in D&D. Too bad.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Soldier of Steel
Work continues. A steel mill is a pretty interesting place.
Looking forward to leisure and other things in August. Kind of want to be back at school.
Things are interesting right now. Starting to think about the whole 'job after college' thing, and the whole 'what the hell is going to become of my life' thing. Some looking forward, some looking back. A lot of things change, but some things stay significant regardless. What I've found is that sometimes you have to dig back a few years and look for patterns.
Looking forward to leisure and other things in August. Kind of want to be back at school.
Things are interesting right now. Starting to think about the whole 'job after college' thing, and the whole 'what the hell is going to become of my life' thing. Some looking forward, some looking back. A lot of things change, but some things stay significant regardless. What I've found is that sometimes you have to dig back a few years and look for patterns.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
A Summer's Worth of Random
This may be long, but more because I have a lot to say, less because I want to rant about it.
I started my (and I mean my) project at work. Just started, but it's already totally worth it. I'm an engineer, bitch! All in all, I'll say I really like this job. I would definitely work at ArcelorMittal if they offered me a job. Not going to commit until I see who else offers me jobs, but we'll see...
D&D 4th came out a few weeks ago, and the reviews are starting to leak out, in both the 'love it' and 'hate it' camps. I'm going to say now that, because of the type of gamer I am, I'm probably never going to play D&D again, barring nostalgia or promises of free alcohol. 4e is not the only reason, but it's definitely one of them.
As I've played more RPGs, I've kind of learned what I like in terms of gaming. I like stories, I like settings. I like images in my mind (which sucks because I can't describe for shit), and I like seeing character sheets turning into real people. I like wanting to write stories about characters when games are done. I like development, I don't care for advancement. I like conflict and even violence, I don't care for 'combat'. I like competency and concept, I don't like min-maxing and point builds.
If you're going to use the GNS model (which, flawed as it may be, boils things down pretty well), I'm halfway between N and S, narrativist (or dramatist, to some) and simulationist. I like story and conflict, and to a degree, I like realism. I mean, I can't play a fantasy game if I don't understand the consistency of the world, physically possible or not. And of course, I like stories. I like telling stories, which is one reason I GM so often.
D&D was born out of wargaming, and has been based on fantasy characters killing each other since it started. Gygax turned it into what it was because he saw more potential: potential to tell stories, potential to make characters that grow and develop. Of course, when his game started making shit-tons of money, there was no need and no reason to develop it out any further from wargaming than it already was. Its roots in the preexisting hobby no doubt made it more popular, and there were others who would do the boundary-pushing later.
Now, I don't like wargames. I'm not going to bash Warhammer or anything like that, it's just not my cup of tea. Risk is as far as I'll go when it comes to strategy, and I'll admit I like Risk quite a bit, as well as Chess. What I find interesting comparing Chess to something like Warhammer is that when the unit equation is made complicated, gameplay is simplified. The more wonky shit people put into wargames with all the different units and everything else doesn't make the game deeper. Chess is a game that becomes intellectually interesting because of its simplicity. It's easy to learn, hard to master. Warhammer is harder to learn, but after that, all you need is 1000 bucks to buy powerful shit and you're golden. You don't tweak armies like that. You choose a strategy and then stick with it. Yes, it's interesting to pick apart army builds and figure out weak spots, but you know what? I don't need to play to do that. And the play itself isn't necessarily more interesting than, say, Command and Conquer. C&C is cheaper, too.
So D&D 4th has further optimized toward the MMO crowd and the wargame crowd. They'll make a lot of money, I'm sure. I have no doubt that mechanically, D&D is now a simpler system to comprehend. It's also so far from what I'd consider enjoyable as an RPG, I know for a fact I'm not going to even bother to play it. It's not what I want.
Finally, after I scared you all off with the nerd speak:
I guess I did kind of want to rant, and to a degree, I did, about D&D. But you know? I should have learned a long time ago that vomiting words into the internet does little good.
I guess I just feel like bitching about relationships because I feel so removed from people I care about right now. People or person, I guess, depending on how widely you paint. It's only June... not a great time to start looking forward to mid-August.
I started my (and I mean my) project at work. Just started, but it's already totally worth it. I'm an engineer, bitch! All in all, I'll say I really like this job. I would definitely work at ArcelorMittal if they offered me a job. Not going to commit until I see who else offers me jobs, but we'll see...
D&D 4th came out a few weeks ago, and the reviews are starting to leak out, in both the 'love it' and 'hate it' camps. I'm going to say now that, because of the type of gamer I am, I'm probably never going to play D&D again, barring nostalgia or promises of free alcohol. 4e is not the only reason, but it's definitely one of them.
As I've played more RPGs, I've kind of learned what I like in terms of gaming. I like stories, I like settings. I like images in my mind (which sucks because I can't describe for shit), and I like seeing character sheets turning into real people. I like wanting to write stories about characters when games are done. I like development, I don't care for advancement. I like conflict and even violence, I don't care for 'combat'. I like competency and concept, I don't like min-maxing and point builds.
If you're going to use the GNS model (which, flawed as it may be, boils things down pretty well), I'm halfway between N and S, narrativist (or dramatist, to some) and simulationist. I like story and conflict, and to a degree, I like realism. I mean, I can't play a fantasy game if I don't understand the consistency of the world, physically possible or not. And of course, I like stories. I like telling stories, which is one reason I GM so often.
D&D was born out of wargaming, and has been based on fantasy characters killing each other since it started. Gygax turned it into what it was because he saw more potential: potential to tell stories, potential to make characters that grow and develop. Of course, when his game started making shit-tons of money, there was no need and no reason to develop it out any further from wargaming than it already was. Its roots in the preexisting hobby no doubt made it more popular, and there were others who would do the boundary-pushing later.
Now, I don't like wargames. I'm not going to bash Warhammer or anything like that, it's just not my cup of tea. Risk is as far as I'll go when it comes to strategy, and I'll admit I like Risk quite a bit, as well as Chess. What I find interesting comparing Chess to something like Warhammer is that when the unit equation is made complicated, gameplay is simplified. The more wonky shit people put into wargames with all the different units and everything else doesn't make the game deeper. Chess is a game that becomes intellectually interesting because of its simplicity. It's easy to learn, hard to master. Warhammer is harder to learn, but after that, all you need is 1000 bucks to buy powerful shit and you're golden. You don't tweak armies like that. You choose a strategy and then stick with it. Yes, it's interesting to pick apart army builds and figure out weak spots, but you know what? I don't need to play to do that. And the play itself isn't necessarily more interesting than, say, Command and Conquer. C&C is cheaper, too.
So D&D 4th has further optimized toward the MMO crowd and the wargame crowd. They'll make a lot of money, I'm sure. I have no doubt that mechanically, D&D is now a simpler system to comprehend. It's also so far from what I'd consider enjoyable as an RPG, I know for a fact I'm not going to even bother to play it. It's not what I want.
Finally, after I scared you all off with the nerd speak:
I guess I did kind of want to rant, and to a degree, I did, about D&D. But you know? I should have learned a long time ago that vomiting words into the internet does little good.
I guess I just feel like bitching about relationships because I feel so removed from people I care about right now. People or person, I guess, depending on how widely you paint. It's only June... not a great time to start looking forward to mid-August.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Syrup
So, I just read one hell of a book.
The book is entitled Syrup, and it's written by Max(x) Barry, the author of Jennifer Government. The book centers around marketing idea-man Scat and his partner/object of infatuation, 6. After Scat's old roommate, Sneaky Pete, steals Scat's brilliant idea for a new soda, Scat and 6 need to figure out a way to get around Sneaky Pete's social maneuvering and shoot him down once and for all.
The thing that made the book so compelling was that Scat kept failing. Whether by chance, by Sneaky Pete being quicker, or just by bad luck, almost the entire book is of him screwing up and yet somehow still being intelligent and creative enough to keep going. He spends the entire book infuriating two women (6 and his old flame, Cindy), and yet neither of them seem to actually tire of him. Sneaky Pete is clearly better at the game, which in addition to frustrating everything Scat tries to do, also adds to the book's story by making a very hateable, despicable antagonist. You will get so pissed off at Sneaky Pete. Despite the smallest introduction possible as Scat's roommate, by the end, he's the most insidious, two-timing and just evil guy you could think of. He makes you hate the marketing ethos, despite the fact that the 'good guy' is doing the exact same thing.
I enjoyed it thoroughly, though I wonder if taking longer to read it and fuming a bit more would have made it more fun. I don't know.
In vaguely related news, I got my Maximo iMetal iM-490 headphones in the mail from Woot. They are completely sealing earbuds, something new to me. The sound is crisper, the passive noise cancelling is fantastic, and, unprecedented for earbuds, they have bass response. For 15 bucks, I say it was a pretty good buy.
The book is entitled Syrup, and it's written by Max(x) Barry, the author of Jennifer Government. The book centers around marketing idea-man Scat and his partner/object of infatuation, 6. After Scat's old roommate, Sneaky Pete, steals Scat's brilliant idea for a new soda, Scat and 6 need to figure out a way to get around Sneaky Pete's social maneuvering and shoot him down once and for all.
The thing that made the book so compelling was that Scat kept failing. Whether by chance, by Sneaky Pete being quicker, or just by bad luck, almost the entire book is of him screwing up and yet somehow still being intelligent and creative enough to keep going. He spends the entire book infuriating two women (6 and his old flame, Cindy), and yet neither of them seem to actually tire of him. Sneaky Pete is clearly better at the game, which in addition to frustrating everything Scat tries to do, also adds to the book's story by making a very hateable, despicable antagonist. You will get so pissed off at Sneaky Pete. Despite the smallest introduction possible as Scat's roommate, by the end, he's the most insidious, two-timing and just evil guy you could think of. He makes you hate the marketing ethos, despite the fact that the 'good guy' is doing the exact same thing.
I enjoyed it thoroughly, though I wonder if taking longer to read it and fuming a bit more would have made it more fun. I don't know.
In vaguely related news, I got my Maximo iMetal iM-490 headphones in the mail from Woot. They are completely sealing earbuds, something new to me. The sound is crisper, the passive noise cancelling is fantastic, and, unprecedented for earbuds, they have bass response. For 15 bucks, I say it was a pretty good buy.
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