A Role Playing Games Blog
Ask The Readers
Gen Con here I go!
5June 17, 2011
I realize it maybe a little premature to be so excited about it, Gen Con Indy is still over a month and a half away, but I feel like a kid the night before x-mas. Gen Con was a mythical place for me most of my life. I read about it, saw pictures, knew people who had been there, and I could not wait to make the pilgrimage that every RPG geek must do at least once in his or her life. So back in 2007when a friend put together a trip I jumped at the opportunity.
We all gathered together and travelled from sunny Puerto Rico to that mysterious land called Indiana. I loved going, it was fun, exciting and I spent far too much money! Since we went as a large group we spent most of our time together, I played little and had very little interaction with other convention goers. Amazingly for a gaming convention I only played a couple of encounters at the Wizards of the Coast room and some demos at booths, but that was it. My fellow travelers played some CCGs but that’s not my thing so I roamed the Exhibitors Hall and took a LOT of pictures.
When we left we all said “We are coming back!” And we meant it, but real life happens and putting together a trip where all of us can coordinate our schedules becomes harder and harder. Then I began writing for the blog, and last year when Michael said he was going I wanted to go to Gen Con and meet the Stargazer (i.e. Mr. Rock Star). Sadly work and other situations kept me from going, 2010 was not the year for me.
The sword is mightier than the laser gun – or is it?
10June 15, 2011
My love for everything SF started back when I was still in elementary school. For a while I had been admiring the silver hardcover books with those fancy covers that my father had on his bookshelf. I think I was about 7 or 8 years when I finally picked one up and starting reading.
That book was the first issue of the hardcover edition of the Perry Rhodan series. When I remember correctly the first few pages described in much detail how a rocket was prepared for its launch towards the moon. This was much more exciting than everything I have been reading until then.
Since then I have read countless SF novels, short stories, watched almost every SF TV series and movie I could get my hands on and played quite a few SF computer games. And as you can imagine I was always trying to run or play in any SF roleplaying game. It’s probably no surprise that the first roleplaying game I ever bought was Marc Miller’s original Traveller.
But for some reason I played a lot more often in Fantasy or Horror games than I ever played in SF games. From time to time I just wonder why that’s the case. And when you have a closer look at our hobby you’ll notice that it’s totally dominated by Fantasy roleplaying games.
Putting my (hypothetical) money where my mouth is!
8June 14, 2011
It’s an old adage (and yes I do love that word, I’ve used it often enough) that it’s not the system; it’s the Game Master that makes the role playing experience enjoyable. As a result of recent discussions with friends about which system to use for a possible sci-fi game (a topic I’ve mentioned often before here in the blog), and the wonderful interview Game Knight Reviews did with our fearless leader Michael, specifically question 8 about Michael’s favorite games to play, I’ve been thinking about this a lot…
I have heard variations of the idea, but it basically boils down to the concept that an able (and what THIS constitutes can be a whole other subject open to discussion) GM can make any system entertaining. In effect a good game master can turn a turd into a gem! I have been guilty of saying this myself, often without giving it much though. If we think about it, this is not completely true. There are some systems that are really not salvageable. Be it because they way the rules are written (the intent or the actual use of language) makes them incomprehensible, or the mechanics are so confusing or nonsensical, that no one can really play the game. And I’m not discounting attempts at humor or parody in RPG form, which may not be meant as actual games at all, and can be fun.
Follow up Castles & Crusades Unboxing (Now with Moving Pictures!)
9June 13, 2011
The above video and this post are a follow up to a post I wrote titled: Castles & Crusades Unboxing. It was particularly about the shipping and the conditions of the Castles & Crusades books when I received them.
I am going to take some time here to clarify my thoughts and opinion on a couple of other issues I had with the Castles & Crusades books that I did not bring up in the video due to time.
“Spanish, Spanish, Spanish saving throw, Spanish”: Role-Playing in different languages
11June 6, 2011
Recently I had a tweet exchange with Shaun and Michael about which language we role-played in, and Shaun wrote an excellent post about languages in RPG games here in the blog last week. However our exchange made me think about languages on the other side of the equation, or the screen so to speak, the language we speak as we play.
I am well aware that role-playing is an international affair. While I knew this to be a fact, writing in the blog has confirmed it as I have met people from all over the world. I also know that games have been created, written and played in many countries, but (to the best of my knowledge) they first appeared in the United States of America and have spread to the world.
The first RPG games I read where all in English and it was years before I actually saw games in my native Spanish. I became aware they existed, but did not see one for years. I live in Puerto Rico and our socio-political situation means we are very close to the US so it is not surprising that RPG games would become available in English here. When I finally found RPGs in Spanish it was actually cheaper for me to buy them in English. That did not stop me and I have a few Spanish RPG books in my collection, the gem being a Traveller boxed set and the main rule book and some supplements for Aqularre, an excellent RPG from Spain.
Despite this, the majority (99%) of my RPG collection is in English. Shaun asked (and I paraphrase here so forgive me in advance for any mistake) whether we played in Spanish and only used English for certain terms, thus the title of the post: “Spanish, Spanish, saving throw, Spanish, Spanish”. Michael chimed in and confirmed that was the case when he games. Of course in his case its, “German, German, attack of opportunity, German German”. Like I told Shaun, that was not the case for me…
My thoughts on PDF pricing and print + PDF bundles
14June 2, 2011
In Youseph’s recent unboxing post the subject of PDF pricing came up again. He criticized that Troll Lord Games doesn’t provide free (or at least cheap) PDFs with the purchase of the hardbound books. In his reply (Editor’s note: the thread the reply was in got deleted, so the link is not working anymore) to that, Troll Lord Games CEO said, that in his opinion “publishers are realizing that giving away material is costly and pricing (is) beginning to change to reflect a more realistic digital MSRP.”
I has to respectfully disagree. What I – as a customer perceive – is the contrary. Slowly it’s becoming more and more common that publishers offer Print + PDF bundles where the PDF is for free or you just pay a few bucks. If you haven’t heard from the Bits & Mortar initiative yet, you really should check out my post about them.
I don’t expect publishers to give PDFs away for free, but don’t expect me to be willing to pay full price for the PDF either, especially when I already paid for the hardcopy. When it comes to PDF products I am willing to pay up to 15$ without any gnashing of teeth, but when it’s more than that, I have to be really, really sure it’s the only option.
I don’t think it’s very customer-friendly to ask them to pay the same or something like 3/4 of the hardcover price for a PDF. This may work in regular books but not so much in RPGs. In the case of roleplaying PDFs, you almost always have to print them out to use them properly. So in the end you may end up paying more for the PDF plus your own print costs then what you would’ve paid for the hardcopy in the first place.
I can understand that some publishers see it differently. And of course that’s ok. But as a customer I am more likely to support a publisher that offers attractive print + PDF bundles than a one who expects me to pay almost full price for the PDF.
Of course I don’t have any deeper insight into the publishing industry and I may actually be totally wrong. But I know that a couple of RPG publishers are reading this blog and perhaps some of them would be willing to comment. It would be great to read your side of the story. Do you offer free PDFs with the purchase of a hardcopy? Or do you think this is sheer folly? Your insight into the matter is highly appreciated.
P.S.: I had a discussion with @rdonoghue and @robertsongames about commodity pricing and RPGs, that made me thinking about what I have written here. I think some of my points are not as clear as I would have hoped and sometimes I sound as if I wanted to treat RPGs like a commodity, which is not the case.
Ask The Readers: What is your favorite “noir” RPG?
10May 25, 2011
Last weekend I have played L.A. Noire the latest video game created by Rockstar Games and Team Bondi. The game tells the story of LAPD detective and WW2 hero Cole Phelps. It’s set into the late 1940s and shares a lot of tropes with movies from the “film noir” genre.
And as it is often the case playing the video game made me think about the “noir” genre in RPGs. Of course there’s “Thrilling Noir Stories”, the rules-light game I wrote last year. But there are surely more games along those lines.
What would you consider a “noir” game and what are your favorite games of this genre? I also faintly remember that there is a game that combines the tropes of classic noir stories with urban fantasy, but alas I have forgotten the name. Could you guys help me out?
As with all the “Ask The Readers” posts I am very interested in your opinions. Please post your thoughts in the comments below. Please share your favorite “noir” games with us!
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