Ninja Fight!

Yes, I'm starting work on my game again. Actually, I never really stopped. I've been tinkering with it here and there, but I had hit a major snag. Revise that. I hit three.

One of them is now solved. This makes me deliriously happy! You can't see it, but I'm smiling.

I figure so as not to be a total tease, I'll let you know what the three snags are.

1. Final Move/Super Saiyan Mode (SOLVED!)

2. Optional Story Structure metagame (Getting there)

3. Number of dice and how they're assigned to characters (Completely unsure)

The last one tempers my enthusiasm a bit, but I'll keep plugging away.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

So who here is hyped about the upcoming release of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians film? I am. I know quite a few friends and fellow sci fi/fantasy fans who are?

I’m baffled when it comes to figuring out why 20^th Century Fox isn’t hyped for it.

Sure, there have been commercials of the trailer playing. Sure, the trailer has been in front of some movies. These things are good. I’m guessing (because I haven’t seen any) that there are cast and production members giving interviews and such in all the various places one does such things.

Guess what I keep encountering when I ask people not familiar with the novels if they’re interested in the movie? They universally say something along the lines of “You mean that new Harry Potter knock-off?” At that point I want to throw my hands up in frustration. The really annoying part is I can’t blame them. I can point them to the novels, and I can explain to them what the premise is and how much I enjoy the novels. What I can’t do is figure out why Fox is sending the movie out to die.

I mean they had to have spent quite a lot of money on the film, so why not spend some on marketing and get the word out this is more than a Harry Potter wannabe? I suspect I already know the answer: They’ve already decided that it’s going to fail and they aren’t going to spend a dime more than they are required to spend at this point. Maybe the movie isn’t good. Dunno. Haven’t seen it yet. I’ll let people know once I do. I think Fox thinks it isn't or won't sell for some reason.

Still, it would be nice to have seen a push for this film.

By the way, if I missed said push, let me know. I would like to believe it did happen and I just whiffed on it.

Transparent Mechanics

Often I hear someone talk about wanting their system of choice to "fade into the background." I've thought about this quite a bit over the years and have come to the conclusion that most conflate "task resolution" with "system." This is inaccurate since every part of the game is the "system."

"System" includes the manner in which tasks are resolved, character creation (even the character sheet), terminology. . . all of it. It's quite impossible for the system to fade into the background without discarding system altogether. To illustrate, here's an example from Amber Diceless Roleplaying, which has one of the least intrusive mechanical architectures I've ever encountered. Player characters are ranked in four attributes (Psyche, Warfare, Strength, Endurance.) Higher rank always wins. Your character's rank in Warfare is part of the system. I realize that it might be said that using a description such as "Flynn is second to none in the arts of war!" is effectively fading that system into the background, but I disagree. It's still in the player's mind that Flynn-the-character is ranked first in Warfare. And there's nothing wrong with that.

What most are trying to say is that they want transparent mechanics. They don't want to have to stop, pull themselves out of the game, and figure out how to accomplish what they want to accomplish. Most games created these days certainly try to make their mechanics as transparent as possible. The issue of "fading into the background" comes into play when the players (and I include the Dungeon Master or whatever he or she may be called in the particular game) are either comfortable or uncomfortable with the game and its system. Some players are very comfortable with a heavy dose of mechanics. For instance, I've known a player that feels HERO System fades into the background. I've known others that feel anything more involved than Wushu's mechanics are far too apparent. It's a completely personal judgement

Personally, I'm fond of emulation, which requires a heavy layer of apparent system; however, I also enjoy task-resolution mechanics that are as transparent as possible. A d20 is about as granular as I can stand in task resolution for various reasons (I'm sure I'll get into those as time goes on) and see no reason why that will ever change. When I play sci-fi, I want to have the same feeling I do as when I read a good sci-fi novel or watch a sci-fi film. If I play a Lord of the Rings game, I want it to engender the same excitement and wonder the films created. I don't want to have to think about what dice to roll and what I can do to increase my modifier bonuses. Those things I want to fade into the background. If there is a "corruption" sub-system though--something similar to the Sanity Points from Call of Cthulhu--having that present in my mind emulates the dread and fear that Frodo felt while possessing the One Ring. I don't want that to fade into the background. That mechanic would emulate the feel of the films and increase the richness of experience.

I feel that game designers would do well to consider which sections of their game systems should be apparent and which should be transparent.

Opening Shop

Time to give this newfangled blogging thing a try.

I'll be blogging mostly about tabletop roleplaying games. Sometimes I'll branch out into video games and comics and film and such.

Bear with me while I figure out how this thing works, and hopefully we'll have something worth reading.

Stay tuned!