C.P.D. Harris's Blog, page 31

RPG Building: On Dice Mechanics and Consistency.

I was actually referencing this post for a project I am fiddling with, when I realized that it was better than what I was working on and switched over. That got me to thinking about dice mechanics in general again.

I am also reading Ready Player One, which has a lot of D&D references, so that helps as well.

The player should always know what dice they are rolling. It speeds up play and increases confidence in novice players. It seems like a stupid point, but so many games are bogged down in dice pools (older) or fancy, custom dice (newer) or finicky mechanics.

D&D is a good example of this in action, especially after 3rd edition. Most rolls are resolved with a single toss of a d20. It becomes reflexive at the table. I feel 5th edition actually stumbles a bit with this since you must figure out advantage before rolling, you cant just drop the d20 and be certain that it holds. Minor quibble, but I do think it holds.

Some of the player’s rolls in a d20 game are other dice, but these are fewer and tend to be damage rolls or percentile rolls that the player has control of and are very easy to keep track of. After 3e it is also important to note that all high rolls were positive rolls for whoever was acting. This mean that seeing high numbers on your dice always made you feel good, even before the final resolution.

Contrast this with another of my favourite game systems, Champions. This game dominated my youth, since you could play almost any genre and make very interesting characters if you were familiar with the system.I still have my 5th edition Champions in my book-case, and while the game is complex, it opens up universes of play with amazing depth.

Champions used six sided dice exclusively. The problem is that they vary both in number rolled, how they are counted, and even whether high rolls or low rolls are desired. This is a flaw in an otherwise superb game, it introduces needless complexity for simple dice mechanics in an already demanding system and really does not gain anything for it. Mutants and Masterminds recognized this, snivved some of the ideas and added a simpler dice mechanic, and it does quite well.

Then again, sometime you can simplify too much. The old White Wolf dice pool systems had a variable number to get a hit on each die. The newer ones count a 7+ as a hit, which cuts out a lot of the flexibility in the earlier systems in favour of a trivial gain in ease of use. It is not hard for a player to count successes from different numbers, especially if high rolls are always good, and the number of dice rolled is consistent.

Anyways, I was thinking about this and then I realized how awesome a Yahtzee style dice mechanic would be for an RPG. I’ll be in my bunk.

The Shadow Wolf Sagas: The Whores’ War 3.3

Good evening friends, it is time for another installment of the Shadow Wolf Sagas. This is the third such tale and is written raw and unedited, every Thursday.

Here is the first post of this arc.

Here is last week’s post.

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The Twins stepped forward to address the assembled members of the Doxies’s Union, the doors to guild hall yawned open. Heads snapped back, and people stirred, memories of The Devout attack surfacing and setting them to murmur. My hands snapped to my weapons.

The woman stood in the open doorway, pausing at the edge of the shadows for effect. Even in a room full of people who made it their business to be beautiful, striking, or unique, she stood out. Eyes the colour of a clear winter sky swept the room, dismissive and commanding. Full lips, painted rose red, curled into a smirk as her gaze came to rest on The Twins. Her silver hair, a tangle of curls held in place by glittering ornaments, gave the impression that she was an untamed thing, come from the wild despite the expense and art behind such furious coiffure. As the shock of her entrance, so obviously intended for drama, strangled the room, she stepped forward into the light.

“Fucking bitch,” muttered Eiskra, though I doubt anyone other than me saw her lips move, let alone heard a sound.

A collective gasp went through the room as the light within the hall struck woman’s dress, seeming to set it alight. Diamonds, a King’s ransom worth, worn as a clothing. I was immediately reminded of Lily Gemarkand; who else but the woman who controlled the gem trade in the most important port in the North could fabricate such a garment?

The diamonds twinkled and glittered as she strode forward boldly, her eyes fixed on The Twins. Vethri met her gaze calmly, while Eiskra bristled.

Before she could reach her destination, the woman in the diamond dress was stopped.

“That is far enough,” said Rana, the head doorman of the guild. Tall and strong with a white skull tattooed over her ebony skin, Rana was well known for her ability to defuse violent situations with a snarl and a glare. “Who are you and why are you here?”

“You may call me Diamond Silvermane.”

The name was unfamiliar to me. She did not seem intimidated at all by Rana, or the sea of potentially hostile Doxies surrounding her, continuing “I am the new boss at the Pink Pearl.”

“Welcome to the Union Diamond,” said Vethri,making a valiant effort at congeniality. “We would love to show you around after we attend to tonight’s business.”

“That will not be necessary,” said Diamond. “I won’t be staying. The Pink Pearl will not be joining the Doxies’s Union. The City Council has granted us a permit of operation. Anyone who is beautiful and talented and tired of sharing their hard earned money with cut up old bitches is welcome to join me.”

The room erupted into anger, but Diamond Silvermane walked past a roiling sea of sneering, angry Doxies as if she were taking a stroll on a pleasant beech. By the time the anger subsided she was gone.

I exchanged glances with The Twins. It appeared that The Whore’s War was not finished.

Teaser Tuesday

This week’s teaser is from Bloodlust: Will to Power (Domains of the Chosen #2)

An intense rivalry over the greatest prize imaginable.

“Why are you doing this Karmal?” said Sadira. Her body was battered, but she too was full of power. She saw now that Gavin and Giselle and Vintia and Cleothera had all been right; Karmal was no longer her fiery rival and fierce friend. She had become a monster, inside and out, a woman who had given up her friends, principles, and humanity to be the next Chosen.

“Because I am better than you,” replied Karmal.

They circled. This time, when Sadira’s eyes met Karmal’s there was no give in them, only hurt and defiance. Karmal saw this as a weakness.

“Why prove it in a Deathmatch?” asked Sadira.

“It’s all about power, you dumb bitch,” sneered Karmal. “You are the only one standing between me and my rightful place. Valaran is old news. He got soft and I took his place. You should have backed out when I declared Ut Nex. I’m the strongest now. I might even have saved a place for you and Gavin in my Hearthbound harem. But you stayed in my way, hogging the spotlight as always, all flash and no substance, and now I am going to FUCKING KILL YOU AND CARVE YOUR SKULL INTO A CROTCHPIECE…, and just so you know, I wasn’t exactly rooting for you, even back in Dreadwood.”

 

Big News in Gaming: Fantasy Flight and Games Workshop Part Ways.

Rumours have been circulating in gaming circles for some time now. Games Workshop, the dominant company in miniatures gaming for decades. Lately GW has been a favourite subject of my ruminations, especially in regard to their treatment of The Old World, the most popular grimdark fantasy setting in gaming.

Fantasy Flight is a relative newcomer to the field. It was started in 1995 by Christian T. Peterson and rose steadily in prominence over the last decade or so, often through clever use of licensed IPs, including Warhammer and other GW properties. After a merger with Asmodée in 2014, Fantasy Flight has arrived at the pinnacle of the tabletop gaming industry.

Fantasy flight knocked Warhammer 40k, GWs most reliable miniatures line out of the top spot in the coveted US market in 2015.  This is kind of a big deal, especially after GW has dropped Warhammer Fantasy Battles in an effort to retool their fantasy lines to greater profit.Leveraging the Star Wars license is just the latest and most successful foray for FF Ginto the miniatures space. For years their boxed sets have been fantastic collections of figures while GW charges 40+$ for a single space marine captain.

It seemed inevitable that as FFG rose, its relationship with GW would change. GW has met with success in its re-opened specialist games division, boardgame-like products that it has abandoned for years, that compete with FFG. Then at Gencon 2016 Fantasy Flight announced Rune Wars, a tabletop miniatures that moves directly into the space vacated by GW’s defunct Warhammer Fantasy Battles. This signals that the parting of ways is less than amicable (Though not necessarily sour) and that the two former allies will now be competing directly for market share.

It is hard to speculate exactly what precipitated the parting of the ways, but it is very interesting news.

Here are some of my thoughts on this.

Fantasy Flight will ‘win’ this confrontation, at least in the short term. FFG has a good market strategy and holds the upper hand with the star wars license. The real winners will be gamers I think, because both companies will step up under increased competition. GW, in particular, is going to have to take a serious look at the price point of their miniatures — FFG offers much better cost per figure than they do (although Cool Mini or Not
The real downside to these two companies parting ways is that some very good games will just disappear. These include Chaos in the Old World by the amazing Eric Lang, one of my personal favourites as well as an extensive list of Board Games and RPGs.
Rune Wars is not an especially strong entry into the field (The IP is underdeveloped and pretty generic), but it comes at a time when few companies, none of them with clout comparable to FFG are in the space of making big class of armies miniatures games. Their timing is good here, people are excited, and if they capitalize on early successes and release new content intelligently they will still dominate for a while.

FFG is hit and miss on innovative mechanics. They love custom dice, cards, dials, and movement templates and Rune Wars has them all. Sometimes these work such as the Star Wars games or the Star Wars RPG, and sometimes they fall flat. I’m leaning toward functional.


Talisman is returning to GW. I preferred the old characters to the new, generic take on the game so I am looking forward to a new release.

That’s all I have to say on the matter now, but it is very interesting.

The Shadow Wolf Sagas: The Whores’ War 3.2

Tis Thursday once more and time for some Shadow Wolf!

For those of you who missed last week’s post here it is.

<>

The racket was simple enough. For whatever reason Lily Gemarkand, the ruthless head of one of Myrrhn’s Seven Families wanted control of the Doxies’s Union. Her motive was profit and influence, no doubt. Once upon a time she had been working with her ‘long lost’ sister, a prostitute who went by the name Sapphire, to undermine Madame Glorianna who was the leader of the Union at the time. That plan ended in bloodshed and a clash with The Devout, followers of a mad ideal that placed conquest above all. Sapphire and Madame Glorianna both died ugly deaths. That should have settled the matter.

In her last testament, Madame Glorianna endorsed the The Twins as her best replacements. It seemed reasonable, Eiskra and Vethri knew the Union better than anyone alive, and were greatly respected by their peers. It should have been easy, but this is Myrrhn and Lily Gemarkand was not a woman to give up easily.

<>

The Union Hall still bore the scars of The Devout attack more than a year later. Most were concealed, shattered tiles and broken doors having been replaced with near perfect replicas, but Madame Glorianna’s office had to be replaced entirely after Lord Torvul, the Devout leader, had used his magic to blast it apart. I thought I could still smell dark magic and old blood, but it might have been a trick of the memory. It was a bad time.

“Ragnar, are you ready?” Vethri’s voice broke my reverie.

“I am.”

“Relax, old wolf, you’re just here for decoration,” said Eiskra. “Just stand behind us and look handsome.”

I rolled my eyes. Tonight was a formality. After more than a year of wrangling The Twins had asserted their dominance over the various factions in the Union, enough that they could call quorum and bring the matter of leadership to a vote. I was there because I still had some clout within the Union from my days as a doorman and an agent for Madame Glorianna.

“As if I could do anything else.”

“This is serious, you two,” said Vethri.

“Is something wrong?” asked Eiskra.

“I don’t know,” returned Vethri. “My sources say we have the votes, but someone just bought the Pink Pearl, today.”

“Who?”

“Tell me its not Gemarkand,” snarled Eiskra.

“I can’t say for sure, but few others have that kind of capital, and the timing is very suspicious,” said Vethri.

“What can she do if you have the votes?”

“We’ll soon see, I’m afraid,” said Vethri.

“Relax, Rat-ears, we’ve been through worse,” said Eiskra. “Let’s see what she has in store for us together.”

<>

The Twins were not really twins. In fact they did not really look, or even dress alike most of the time. Vethri was a tall Dark Elf with long ears, which Eiskra swore reminded her of a rat.

They earned the name from the distinct scars that Gentleman Jim had left them with over twenty years ago. Most noticelable were the jagged cuts extending from the sides of their mouth toward each ear, like a monstrous smile. Their necks also bore scaring from a rope garrote, almost like they’d been hanged.

The Twins were Twiceborn, like me. Gentleman Jim had tortured them, raped them, and killed them along with dozens of others than night. The Twins, however, had risen from the ashes like vengeful furies.

<>

The Union hall was full to brimming when we made our appearance. The Twins swept in from the back of the crowd rather than just appear before them, a bit of symbolism that I appreciated. I could sense excitement and some resentment, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Vethri and Eiskra wore neither masks, nor makeup to hide their scars. It was a statement, especially to those who knew they trade. As they took the stage, applause and cheering broke out. It was time to heal old wounds and get back to business.

But then the lady in diamond dress walked in, and everything changed.

Teaser Tuesday

This week’s teaser is from Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale (Domains of the Chosen #1), my first book.

Cover for Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale.

Ever wonder what Gladiators do on the first date? I have you covered.

This scene, and the Chapter where Gavin and Sadira meets, is admittedly somewhat cheesy. Yet… it still rings true for me. I could re-write it, but I worry that in smoothing the rough edges something would be lost.

The Gladiatrix leapt, shouting in joy, bringing her black blades down toward her soon to be lover’s head. Gavin braced himself for impact, his grip on his spear tightening. As he thrust his shield upwards to meet her swords, Sadira nimbly contorted to avoid his spear’s jagged tip. Her twin blades slammed into Gavin’s shield with the force of a runaway stallion, sending sparks into the air as metal screeched off metal, driving him to his knees in front of her.

“Just where I want you!” she taunted him, exulting in the fight, while unleashing a flurry of swift attacks that rained on Gavin’s bright, lion-headed shield like pounding sledgehammers. Such was the ferocity of her attack that he was nearly undone before he could regain his feet. His shield met her blades as he gave ground. His barbed spear darted out from underneath the shield in answer to her assault, sudden and deadly, and Sadira was forced to dance backwards out of reach.

“Come on, you can do better than that. What use is a man’s spear if he can’t–” She was forced to roll backwards before she could finish her taunt, as Gavin surged forward unexpectedly, swinging his broad-bladed spear in a wide slashing arc that passed within a finger’s width of hitting her.

Gavin smiled as his swift-footed opponent came nimbly to her feet; she answered his smile with a fiendish grin, crimson lips shining through her black veil, and then charged toward him again, her feet kicking up sand as her magically enhanced body pushed her forward well beyond the speeds attainable by the ungifted.

She attacked at a more measured pace this time, her twin swords testing his defences, seeking to find a way past his shield and armour to taste her love’s flesh. He matched her movements with his own, bright shield and barbed spear dancing with her blood-hungry blades. They whirled and clashed, probing and testing each other, looking for weakness.

 

The Shadow Wolf Sagas: The Whores’ War 3.1

At last at last, we return to the city of Myrrhn and our friend Ragnar, twiceborn exile of the Shadow Wolf Clan.

<>

“Sweet holy fuck, Ragnar,” Madame Glorianna’s face was ashen and her eyes were wide and bright. There was blood on her dress, an expensive cream coloured silk affair. I could smell smoke and sweat and fear emanating from her. Four big men and a woman with two swords walked behind her and all of them were wounded. She seemed on the verge of saying more, but trailed off.

Crossing the foyer of the Autumn Blossom in two strides, I looked my patron in the eye, drawing her attention to the present. 

“What is it?”

“Gentleman Jim,” said Glorianna. “He’s retaliated — The Twilight Pearl; the bastard burned it to the ground.”

The Twilight Pearl and the Autumn Blossom were like homes to me. I divided my time between them, earning a living as a doorman for the Doxies’s Guild. I had found acceptance and purpose there, for the first time since my exile began.

“The girls?”

“Its bad Ragnar,” said Madame Glorianna, covering her eyes. “He wanted to teach us a lesson.”

Gentleman Jim was the current leader of the Doxies’s guild; a pimp with a notorious reputation who put the interests of the clients above the welfare of his guild members. He was unpopular, but ruthless, and backed by powerful interests. Madame Glorianna had been quietly gathering support to unseat him at a guild meeting, but it seemed that Gentleman Jim had discovered her plans.

“By Furis’s bloody axe, I will end him myself!”

I strode past them, grabbing my sword. The night air did little to cool my fury as I marched to the Twilight Pearl. Madame Glorianna and her bodyguards followed in my wake, and by the time we reached the pearl we had a sizable mob trailing us.

Jim was there with his men, presiding over the embers of the once proud building like some infernal captain. He turned as he approached and his thugs formed up. He looked past me to Madame Glorianna, and smiled.

“Keep your dog on his leesh, Glory. I would like to give you time to think on this lesson before I dole out another.”

I stepped toward him. Jim’s men were hard hands, but so was I.

He looked at me, and motioned toward a sobbing group of women that I had overlooked. I saw torn clothes and bruises on their faces. There were far too few of them, only a dozen out of scores that worked at the Twilight Pearl.

“What have you done?”

“Insubordination has a price.  We are not savages here and order must be maintained. These whores defied me. They killed some of my men, who were only here to take their due.”

“You mean rape?” said Madame Glorianna, standing beside me, angry now.

“You can’t rape a whore, Glory.”

“We have the right to refuse service.”

“Is that so? My men came here, on my orders, looking for a token of respect. I heard that you might be seeking to challenge me, and wanted to know where these ones stood. They answered with violence, and we answered in kind, as is our right!”

“You cut them!” shouted a woman behind us.

“I did. I tried to let them off easy,” said Gentleman Jim, twirling his knife. “A few scars, lowers their earning power, nothing more. Sadly they did not see reason and tried to resist. They brought it on themselves.”

I took another step toward Jim.

“Careful Nordan. You would not want these poor girls to get hurt in the Chaos, would you?”

I stopped. It occurred to me that there was no watch here, and no bucket brigade. Jim was no fool, he had planned this as a demonstration of his power. If I attacked more would die.

“That’s right, cur. I hold all of the cards. You’re little rebellion is over, Glory–“

There was a disturbance at the back of Gentleman Jim’s brigade. Several men let loose shouts of alarm. He turned toward the burning wreckage of the Twilight Pearl.

And there, framed by burning timbers, risen from the ashes were the women that would become known as The Twins.

Gentleman Jim ran, but he did not last long after that.

Tuesday Teaser

This week’s teaser is from Bloodlust: The Blades of Khazak Khrim (Domains of the Chosen #5).

Bloodlust: The Blades of Khazak Khrim Cover

This scene if from the battle under the spires. Imagine two armies clashing over a huge underground chamber, rapidly filling with the dead, magic slinging back and forth, and the sheer claustrophobic terror of such a fight.

Durekk struggled to keep in formation with his brothers. He was on the left side of The Blood holding the centre of the chamber. Their battle hymn was ragged now, and the air in the chamber was worse than that of the forges in the Seventh Hall combined with the tepid swamps of the Niyiki. Keldin was down, struck by some Krassian magic that shocked him right through his armour.

Up ahead he saw the Hundath hurl themselves at the Chosen wielding a sword of light. Flanked by towering forms and backed by Legionnaires, she seemed invincible as she cut down a trio of muscular warriors with a single swipe of her weapon and then sent a beam of light flashing into the ranks, turning more of the fearless warriors into ash. Durekk actually felt pity for the Hundath, but also pride at the courage that they showed. He hoped that some of them earned a place among his brothers in their next life.

The man he was bracing fell, and Durekk found himself on the front lines. A lithe figure faced him, the spears of the Phalanx thrusting out from behind him like a crown of war. Those spears did not give Durekk pause: the Hoplites of Kirif were no match for The Blood. The lithe figure, however, was one of the thrice-damned Krassian magic-users.

Elf-like, pale skinned and red-eyed, like one of the servants of the Adversary, the figure faced their lines. Durekk steadied himself, shield-up, sword-ready, shoulder to shoulder with his brothers. Then the figure gestured, and lightning leapt from his hand into the ranks of The Blood.

Durekk cried out through locked teeth as his limbs seized. He thought of the cold waters closing over him in the last test. Luckily his stance was steady and he kept to his feet despite the crushed mass of bodies underfoot. Somehow he drew breath. The man to the right was not so fortunate, and he stumbled.

Instantly the lithe Krassian darted forward, thin sword darting at the warrior’s exposed Heaume. So deft was the strike that Durekk barely registered the movement. The thin tip of the blade slid through the tiny eye-slit, piercing eye and brain. As the sword withdrew, a string of blood stretched away with it. Durekk felt a shiver run down his spine as the blood continued to run into the sword, now being sucked out of the warrior’s helm and absorbed into the blade.

The lithe figure smiled, revealing sharp fangs.

Durekk righted himself, locked shields again, and prayed that he would survive.

Durekk is one The Blood, essentially the pinnacle of a caste system that believes in racial and religious superiority. Despite his abhorrent beliefs he has some positive qualities and is closer to a normal soldier than the inhumanely powerful Chosen.

Musings on user reviews

Reviews are the lifeblood of e-commerce. Without the ability to actually examine the product for themselves consumers are forced to make a judgement based partly on the description of the product, the reputation of the vendor, and the reviews of the item. Yet often these reviews are rife with ideological crusaders, reviews for sale, and odd design choices in the review systems themselves.

As an indy author this is painfully obvious for me at the moment. I have to solicit reviews on amazon because most people who read my work prefer to review it on Goodreads. I have even been tarred and feathered by fake reviewers looking to lower their average score in order to seem legitimate when they give 5 star ratings to their clients. The review system is annoying, and yet I need it to move books and reach potential readers.

The first and largest problem in the review system is that it often reads like any other comment section anywhere else in the internet. I am not popular enough to have this problem yet, but it does annoy the heck out of me when I am reading reviews of games or books and people are using the review system for popular products to push their personal views rather than actually review the product. This can be a fine line, to be sure: should Lovecraft be docked stars because he is racist? for example. Mind you in most cases it is not. I’m sure you have all seen reviews like this, if not go look at the reviews on your favorite (non classic) popular computer game or book. Some are legit, some are lazy, and some people are there to make a point that has little to do with the product itself. I’m not sure how to fix this, yet.

Fake reviews are more sensational. There is a thriving cottage industry in selling fake reviews of all sorts of products, as well as companies putting up their own fake reviews of their products. Since reviews still help drive sales, there is a real economic incentive to cheat if you can get away with it. As I noted these ‘reviewers’ often give crap ratings to low profile indy authors in order to even out all of the five star reviews they give to their clients so that they look like a tough reviewer.

The review systems themselves are sometimes even more of a problem. Amazon, the most important reviewer for my career, has some quirks that annoy the crap out of me. They do not amalgamate reviews from all of their secondary sites on my book, even though the product is exactly the same on amazon.com as it is on amazon.ca or amazon.uk. People who have written reviews for me sometimes do not get them approved from various reasons (some are legitimate I suppose, sorry mom!). Even worse is that Amazon owns Goodreads and could easily show the goodreads reviews on a particular title, like Steam shows the metacritic score, but they do not and thus compete with themselves for reviews. I don’t know too many people who are willing to review a product on multiple sites without prodding. This is not to mention the problems with the scoring systems themselves and even how ratings drive searches.

One solution is professional reviewers, people whose job it is to review a product for a trusted third party. Unfortunately in many arenas Professional reviews are missing in action, or lost in the noise. Even if they are easy to find, a professional reviewer often wants different things than the average reader. This can lead to authors skewing their work to solicit favourable opinions from elite reviewers. This is nothing new, but it is still annoying; authors should be free to write for their intended audience, ideally, rather than jump through hoops for publishers and reviewers. Still, hunting down high profile reviewers who will like your work has been a piece of advice that many of my peers have given me.

For now, I rely on fans and organic growth while examining other possibilities.

The Rune: Wrap Up Musings/Links

Last week I finished my Rune short story, and before I transition back to the third Shadow Wolf Tale I would like to share a few thoughts.

Here are links to the collected chapters of the Rune

Rune One, Rune Two, Rune Three, Rune Four, Rune Five, Rune Six, Rune Six part 2 , Rune Seven, Rune Eight, and Rune Nine.

My first comment is an oops. As you can see from the list above I used 1.6 twice… so sloppy.

In no particular order:

I’m getting better at writing in first person. I think it is fair to say that these little exercises are paying off.
I like the ending to The Rune. I felt having him return to the cell, rewound, worked very well. It should leave most readers wondering. For bonus points. it is a flexible ending: I could pick it up from there as a longer story or I could leave it as is.
I like the nomenclature of ‘Amy with the Gun’, it is an interesting way to delineate a character and conveys a lot of personality.
My modern action scenes need a little bit of work. I wonder if it comes from the way early RPGs treated guns, which caused me to shy away from them most of the time and then mess up with them when gaming. Come to think of it, the action in my Shadowrun game might suffer from the same problem. Regardless, I think I need to work on gunplay descriptions. I write a decent action scene with other forms of weaponry, but I may need to sit down and really research guns or invent my own gun analogue.

Overall, I enjoyed writing the story, but I think it needs work, especially in the middle.

Stay tuned for The Shadow Wolf Sagas next week.