Ok, so I had a guide for non-roleplayers, so now it's time for a guide for roleplayers, so... if you aren't a roleplayer... um... I dunno, go read a magazine or something... us gamers gotta talk. :)
Today we're going to talk about becoming a better roleplayer. Before we get to that, though, we're going to define a few types of roleplayers and discuss why you might or might not want to be that type of player.
First up, we're going to cover the Casual Gamer. This type goes by various titles, but we're just going to call him Casual. Casual is the guy who came to your game because that's what his friends do, or he had nothing better to do. Casual usually doesn't get too into it, but he at least participates when he should, but he's liable to get distracted.
So, what are Casual's good points? Well, in a combat-oriented game, he provides an extra pair of hands in battle. Where he shines is the fact that Casual usually doesn't care too much about what kind of character he plays, so he doesn't mind picking up whatever character type the group needs to balance it.
Why shouldn't you be Casual? The simple answer is because Casual isn't really following the story, and as soon as he finds something better to do, he'll probably stop showing up altogether. Casual can be inattentive until it's his turn to do something, too.
Next up we'll talk about the Rules Lawyer. Judging from the name, you can probably guess what this guy is. A Rules Lawyer knows the books forwards, backwards, inside out, upside down, can quote stats in his sleep, and won't hesitate to let you know when you're wrong. It is easy for Gamemasters to become Rules Lawyers when they play in someone else's game.
The good? Well, if you ever need to reference an obscure rule, it is often quicker and easier to ask the resident Lawyer than to look it up and read through a page of text to figure out how to handle the die rolls.
Why shouldn't you be a Rules Lawyer? Well, first of all, the GM's word is law, and GMs typically don't like to be contradicted. Also, in some game systems, there are spells and abilities some enemies could have that let them get around certain situations in the rules, and the Rules Lawyer wouldn't be aware of these special situations, so questioning the GM's apparent disregard of the rules in this instance is actually a result of being ignorant of a rule-bending ability the enemy may have that the GM doesn't want to divulge yet.
Alright, let's look at Power Gamers, Min-Maxers, or Munchkins. This type of player likes to build characters that "win". In a combat-oriented game, that means this guy is going to play the party tank or artillery. The name Min-Maxer comes from the tendency to build your character focusing only on a few stats you think are most useful for your win condition and ignoring the other stats. If this means you're playing a tank, you try to maximize your strength and stamina, if you're playing the party sorcerer, you buff whatever stat your magic is dependent on to the exclusion of most others.
Why do we like Power Gamers? Well, honestly, because the fights become a lot easier when you have a character or two built around destroying the enemy as fast as possible.
Why do we not like Power Gamers? Because a Power Gamer builds his character around one task, usually combat, the PG often gets bored when not performing that task, which usually leads the PG to become a Casual Gamer as well. Some PGs will get distracted with their cell phones, perusing through a book or something until they need to do something in combat.
The last group we're going to talk about is Actors. I can't really think of a better name for this group. Actors sit attentively at the table and enjoy interacting with NPCs and solving puzzles and avoiding traps just as much as fighting the bad guys. Actors try to design their characters around a theme or a concept as opposed to trying to max a particular set of stats. That doesn't mean that Actors don't design their characters for combat, but that isn't their sole objective.
What is so great about being an Actor? Actors are attentive to the story and the NPCs. They love the details and like to feel that they're part of an imaginary world. They will participate openly throughout the entire game and usually end up becoming the party leaders because of this.
Why would you not want to be an Actor? Um... really, I can't see a downside to this one. Unfortunately, though, not everyone can be an Actor right off the bat. Some players can jump into their role and get immersed in the story easily, and some end up as one of the other types, but may gravitate towards being an Actor later.
Alright, now that we've covered the different types of players, let's discuss ways you can become a better player.
First of all, respect your GM and your fellow players. When you come to the table, you came to play, and your GM probably put a lot of work into designing his world and writing his story and, if he's anything like me, he wants to share it with you. You should leave all distractions behind. You came to participate in the story. If your cell phone rings, don't answer it, it can probably wait. When you get to a point in the game where the action has slowed down, request a break from your GM and return the missed call. Obviously, if it's from your spouse, fiance, parent, or maybe sibling, if you feel it may be urgent, excuse yourself from the table and take the call in another room. Your GM won't make you miss anything important. Oh, and above all else, don't text during the game! You may be able to pay attention while texting, but your GM won't know that. Texting, in general, not just during a game, sends a message to everyone around you that what you're doing is more important than what they're doing, so don't text while you're with friends.
Second, if you're going to be a Rules Lawyer, be a respectful RL. Don't contradict your GM at the table. If you feel the GM has made a major mistake, and it may happen, despite what they want you to believe, GMs aren't perfect, speak to the GM during a break or after the game. Nothing breaks the flow of the game like having to stop and look up a rule because there's a disagreement between the GM and the RL. Remember, within the GM's game, his word is law. If it turns out he was wrong about a rule, and it didn't drastically affect the game, he may just decide to go ahead and follow the rule correctly in the future, or if the misinterpretation had a major impact, he may decide to rememdy the situation right away.
Third, pay attention, especially during combat. I feel that the GM is well within his rights not to repeat something if you weren't paying attention, especially if you're at the table, and even moreso if the information is regarding an enemy in combat and you're using miniatures on a map.
Fourth, if you're thinking about using a rule that isn't used often, or casting a spell you haven't cast before, look it up before your turn so you don't have to slow down the game while everyone waits for you to make your decision.
Finally, when it comes to combat, tactical planning is the best form of power gaming. You don't have to min-max your character to optimize him or her for combat. Using good tactics can go a long way towards winning a fight. For example, the wizard may be able to deal 15-20 damage with a blast spell to 2-3 enemies in one turn, but he might be able to cast a spell that gives all of his teammates a bonus to attacks or damage that last multiple turns. That one spell could easily add up to much more total damage than that single blast, especially if the enemies have a chance of negating or reducing the damage from the blast. Power Gamers playing tanks would do well to wait until after being buffed by the party caster before taking their turn. Look for chances to gang up on a single opponent and take it down before engaging the other enemies. Try to identify the major threats first. Eliminating easy targets early in combat could prevent them from ganging up on you and becoming a major threat later. Party healers... remember that an ounce of defensive magic can prevent a pound of healing spells.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Dyrian's Guide to Roleplaying for Non-Roleplayers
If you're reading this, you likely know someone who plays roleplaying games, or you just want to know more about them, possibly considering joining one yourself. I hope I can shed some light on the subject for you and you leave with a better understanding of just what an RPG is.
The first question we're going to answer is "What is roleplaying?" The answer is very simple. Split the word into two parts and swap the order. Roleplaying means playing a role. What does this mean? It means every Hollywood actor, every kid in a school play, everyone who has performed a skit in a talent show, is a "roleplayer." Ok, not really in the gaming sense of the word, it means you're an actor, but every actor has played a role. So, what is a roleplaying game? It's a game in which you play a role. Simple, huh? What do I mean by play a role? I mean you adopt the persona of another character, you play the part of someone other than yourself.
That is the most basic definition of a roleplaying game. In order to learn more about it, let's take a look at one of the most popular, in fact, probably the single most popular, RPG available, Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D as it's commonly called amongst gamers, began in the 70s when Gary Gygax and some of his gaming buddies were playing wargames and one of them had the brilliant idea of keeping track of their army's heroes and having them improve as they gained experience on the battlefield. This soon led to them developing rules in which they played as a small group of heroes instead of entire armies, and finally the first version of D&D came from this concept. Since then, D&D has gone through a few different versions as the rules improved and the product changed hands from one company to another. Even though the game has changed a lot since its origin, it is still based around the same principle: playing a single character.
Before we go any further, there's a second question we need to address, and that is "Are roleplaying games evil?" In the late 70s and early 80s when D&D was becoming mainstream gaming amongst nerds, it began to get a lot of negative press. One of the biggest sources of negativity was when Irving Pulling, a D&D player, committed suicide in 1982, leading his mother, Patricia to file a wrongful death lawsuit against TSR, the company that owned D&D at the time. The suit was dismissed, but it lead Patricia to form a one-person advocacy group called BADD (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons). When Patricia died in 1997, BADD died along with her as she was the only member. James Dallas Egbert III committed suicide in 1980, after having disappeared the year before and failed a suicide attempt. It was speculated at the time that D&D may have been the cause of his suicide, that the young man failed to distinguish reality from fantasy, but it was later determined that depression and great stress was the cause of the boy's suicide, and the detective hired to find him after his initial disappearance speculated that his domineering mother had more to do with his depression than fantasy gaming did.
The biggest issue at hand here lies around the fact that during the 80s when D&D and fantasy gaming in general was catching all this flak, the media purportedly stated that D&D included witchcraft, occult, wiccan, demonology, and satanic rituals. Patricia Pulling stated all this and more, but let me ask you this: do you think she ever played the game to find out?
Some of the D&D sourcebooks may look evil, such as the Draconomicon, Necronomicon, and Book of Vile Darkness. These may sound like occult tomes, but in reality, they only contain rules and story ideas for using some new stuff in your games, specifically new options for dragons, undead, and just really bad bad guys. People who report negative press about D&D probably don't want you to know that in addition to the Book of Vile Darkness, there is a Book of Exalted Deeds. Does that sound like an evil tome? No. It's just the counter-point to the BoVD. The Book of Exalted Deeds contains information for playing really good good guys.
Alright, so let's get to the nitty-gritty here. Since I've played D&D for the past 5 years or so, I'll tell you just how evil it is. First of all, when you open the Players Handbook (the first book new players are likely to open) you'll find instructions for creating your character. Well, that doesn't sound too evil yet, so let's move on. You'll see options for playing good or evil characters. Ah-ha! There we go, you can play an evil character! You'll see rules for using various skills and abilities your character possesses, and even how to cast spells. Oh, there we go! The game does encourage witchcraft! There are entire chapters just about spellcasting. Yes... in-game spellcasting. Let's take a look at a particular spell. How about, Fireball. The spell lists a material component, specifically, bat guano. Um... ok, I need poop to cast this spell. It also says I have to speak some magic words. Wait, there are no words listed. What do I have to say? It also says I have to perform some sort of gesture, but it doesn't say what. So, how exactly do I cast this spell? Well, if you recall, this is a GAME. Your character is assumed to know the word and gesture required to cast the spell, assuming you're playing a spellcaster and the spell is one of the ones you know. Wait a minute, did I just say that right? Did I say that the game designers don't actually provide words and gestures so you can try this out yourself? That's right. Now, granted, some of the really powerful spells in the game do include some sort of ritual your character must perform, but these were included so that you couldn't just cast the spell anytime you felt like it. You're required to actually have the time and be able to put forth the effort to cast the spell. One other thing, in the chapter on magic, particularly arcane magic, it mentions that most spells are written in, and cast by speaking, Draconian, the language of dragons. Do you know anyone who knows what language dragons speak? Wait, have you even seen a dragon? Um... so, the designers didn't intend for any real person to actually know how to cast a spell.
Alright, so maybe you aren't given enough instructions to try to cast spells in reality, but this game still promotes spellcasting! Well, yes, but so does J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. One of the main characters is a wizard and is seen casting a few spells in the story. So, are you telling me it's evil to read or watch Lord of the Rings? Hopefully not. Anyone with any sense should realize that it's just a story about a fictional world. Well, that's all D&D is. Wait, didn't I mention before that you could play an evil character? Well, yes I did, but doing so is extremely difficult. Out of all of the source material available for D&D, somewhere close to 90% of it assumes you're playing a good guy. Take a look at the Monster Manual. It includes rules for pretty much any type of enemy you could think to include in your game. If you take the time to read each monster's entry from cover to cover, you'll find about 90% of them are evil. So, if you actually plan to play a bad guy, be prepared to face the same monsters over and over again until you get sick of them.
I think I've gone on enough about this. How evil is D&D? Well, no more evil than the players make it. That's the real answer. Any parents reading this, my advice to you is this: There's no reason not to let your kids play. If you have good kids, and you know the people they're going to be playing with, then you're alright. If you have bad kids... well, wouldn't they be doing something bad anyway? Also consider that the time spent playing D&D could also be time spent going out drinking, or running with some gang. At least playing D&D is done indoors, usually around a table, and (at least most of the time) there's no drinking and nobody's getting into any real trouble. If you want to read more about the issue and see where I got some information, you can check out this article.
Ok, so getting back to roleplaying in general. We've had a rather long discussion about morality, so what about some positive aspects of roleplaying? Well, consider that your average roleplaying game involves 4 or 5 people, all sitting around the same table. This requires direct face-to-face interaction with your fellow players, something you're not going to get from X-Box Live or internet gaming. In fact, roleplaying is proven to improve your social skills. Most games involve the rolling of dice and adding and subtracting numbers. I've seen living proof that roleplaying can improve your math skills. One of my players used to have to count on his fingers to add or subtract from his roll, and now he's able to give me his total much quicker, without using his fingers. Roleplaying also requires a lot of imagination as many gamers can't afford game mats and miniatures to represent their characters, so you have to picture the battlefield in your mind as it's changing. Also, most gamemasters don't lay out a diagram of every single scene they describe, so even if you do have miniatures and a game mat, you will likely still have to use your imagination a lot. Let's also not forget that you have to read the rules, you don't have a program running the game for you, so reading skills are important. Most games involve a group of heroes fighting for a common goal, which encourages teamwork, so roleplaying games can teach players to work together. Also, some of the challenges in the game can be made a lot simpler when tackled a certain way, which encourages creative thinking and strategy.
Roleplaying is starting to look better and better all the time.
Alright, so, think about this: if you're a parent, or if you're not, pretend for a moment that you are, would you rather your child spend two hours sitting in front of the TV being a couch potato, or would you rather him/her be sitting at a table with friends for two hours pretending to be a great hero in some long-forgotten realm, learning to be a team player, improving valuable skills that can actually be useful later in life?
It's about time to bring this guide to a close. So, what is a roleplaying game? Ultimately, it's a game of the mind. It requires the use of your imagination, it requires creative thinking, and it requires teamwork, and if you don't want the game to drag on for two hours longer than you planned, it requires quick thinking. I hope I've been able to shed a little light on an unfamiliar subject. If you want more information, I'll be covering some aspects of roleplaying games more in-depth in future guides.
The first question we're going to answer is "What is roleplaying?" The answer is very simple. Split the word into two parts and swap the order. Roleplaying means playing a role. What does this mean? It means every Hollywood actor, every kid in a school play, everyone who has performed a skit in a talent show, is a "roleplayer." Ok, not really in the gaming sense of the word, it means you're an actor, but every actor has played a role. So, what is a roleplaying game? It's a game in which you play a role. Simple, huh? What do I mean by play a role? I mean you adopt the persona of another character, you play the part of someone other than yourself.
That is the most basic definition of a roleplaying game. In order to learn more about it, let's take a look at one of the most popular, in fact, probably the single most popular, RPG available, Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D as it's commonly called amongst gamers, began in the 70s when Gary Gygax and some of his gaming buddies were playing wargames and one of them had the brilliant idea of keeping track of their army's heroes and having them improve as they gained experience on the battlefield. This soon led to them developing rules in which they played as a small group of heroes instead of entire armies, and finally the first version of D&D came from this concept. Since then, D&D has gone through a few different versions as the rules improved and the product changed hands from one company to another. Even though the game has changed a lot since its origin, it is still based around the same principle: playing a single character.
Before we go any further, there's a second question we need to address, and that is "Are roleplaying games evil?" In the late 70s and early 80s when D&D was becoming mainstream gaming amongst nerds, it began to get a lot of negative press. One of the biggest sources of negativity was when Irving Pulling, a D&D player, committed suicide in 1982, leading his mother, Patricia to file a wrongful death lawsuit against TSR, the company that owned D&D at the time. The suit was dismissed, but it lead Patricia to form a one-person advocacy group called BADD (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons). When Patricia died in 1997, BADD died along with her as she was the only member. James Dallas Egbert III committed suicide in 1980, after having disappeared the year before and failed a suicide attempt. It was speculated at the time that D&D may have been the cause of his suicide, that the young man failed to distinguish reality from fantasy, but it was later determined that depression and great stress was the cause of the boy's suicide, and the detective hired to find him after his initial disappearance speculated that his domineering mother had more to do with his depression than fantasy gaming did.
The biggest issue at hand here lies around the fact that during the 80s when D&D and fantasy gaming in general was catching all this flak, the media purportedly stated that D&D included witchcraft, occult, wiccan, demonology, and satanic rituals. Patricia Pulling stated all this and more, but let me ask you this: do you think she ever played the game to find out?
Some of the D&D sourcebooks may look evil, such as the Draconomicon, Necronomicon, and Book of Vile Darkness. These may sound like occult tomes, but in reality, they only contain rules and story ideas for using some new stuff in your games, specifically new options for dragons, undead, and just really bad bad guys. People who report negative press about D&D probably don't want you to know that in addition to the Book of Vile Darkness, there is a Book of Exalted Deeds. Does that sound like an evil tome? No. It's just the counter-point to the BoVD. The Book of Exalted Deeds contains information for playing really good good guys.
Alright, so let's get to the nitty-gritty here. Since I've played D&D for the past 5 years or so, I'll tell you just how evil it is. First of all, when you open the Players Handbook (the first book new players are likely to open) you'll find instructions for creating your character. Well, that doesn't sound too evil yet, so let's move on. You'll see options for playing good or evil characters. Ah-ha! There we go, you can play an evil character! You'll see rules for using various skills and abilities your character possesses, and even how to cast spells. Oh, there we go! The game does encourage witchcraft! There are entire chapters just about spellcasting. Yes... in-game spellcasting. Let's take a look at a particular spell. How about, Fireball. The spell lists a material component, specifically, bat guano. Um... ok, I need poop to cast this spell. It also says I have to speak some magic words. Wait, there are no words listed. What do I have to say? It also says I have to perform some sort of gesture, but it doesn't say what. So, how exactly do I cast this spell? Well, if you recall, this is a GAME. Your character is assumed to know the word and gesture required to cast the spell, assuming you're playing a spellcaster and the spell is one of the ones you know. Wait a minute, did I just say that right? Did I say that the game designers don't actually provide words and gestures so you can try this out yourself? That's right. Now, granted, some of the really powerful spells in the game do include some sort of ritual your character must perform, but these were included so that you couldn't just cast the spell anytime you felt like it. You're required to actually have the time and be able to put forth the effort to cast the spell. One other thing, in the chapter on magic, particularly arcane magic, it mentions that most spells are written in, and cast by speaking, Draconian, the language of dragons. Do you know anyone who knows what language dragons speak? Wait, have you even seen a dragon? Um... so, the designers didn't intend for any real person to actually know how to cast a spell.
Alright, so maybe you aren't given enough instructions to try to cast spells in reality, but this game still promotes spellcasting! Well, yes, but so does J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. One of the main characters is a wizard and is seen casting a few spells in the story. So, are you telling me it's evil to read or watch Lord of the Rings? Hopefully not. Anyone with any sense should realize that it's just a story about a fictional world. Well, that's all D&D is. Wait, didn't I mention before that you could play an evil character? Well, yes I did, but doing so is extremely difficult. Out of all of the source material available for D&D, somewhere close to 90% of it assumes you're playing a good guy. Take a look at the Monster Manual. It includes rules for pretty much any type of enemy you could think to include in your game. If you take the time to read each monster's entry from cover to cover, you'll find about 90% of them are evil. So, if you actually plan to play a bad guy, be prepared to face the same monsters over and over again until you get sick of them.
I think I've gone on enough about this. How evil is D&D? Well, no more evil than the players make it. That's the real answer. Any parents reading this, my advice to you is this: There's no reason not to let your kids play. If you have good kids, and you know the people they're going to be playing with, then you're alright. If you have bad kids... well, wouldn't they be doing something bad anyway? Also consider that the time spent playing D&D could also be time spent going out drinking, or running with some gang. At least playing D&D is done indoors, usually around a table, and (at least most of the time) there's no drinking and nobody's getting into any real trouble. If you want to read more about the issue and see where I got some information, you can check out this article.
Ok, so getting back to roleplaying in general. We've had a rather long discussion about morality, so what about some positive aspects of roleplaying? Well, consider that your average roleplaying game involves 4 or 5 people, all sitting around the same table. This requires direct face-to-face interaction with your fellow players, something you're not going to get from X-Box Live or internet gaming. In fact, roleplaying is proven to improve your social skills. Most games involve the rolling of dice and adding and subtracting numbers. I've seen living proof that roleplaying can improve your math skills. One of my players used to have to count on his fingers to add or subtract from his roll, and now he's able to give me his total much quicker, without using his fingers. Roleplaying also requires a lot of imagination as many gamers can't afford game mats and miniatures to represent their characters, so you have to picture the battlefield in your mind as it's changing. Also, most gamemasters don't lay out a diagram of every single scene they describe, so even if you do have miniatures and a game mat, you will likely still have to use your imagination a lot. Let's also not forget that you have to read the rules, you don't have a program running the game for you, so reading skills are important. Most games involve a group of heroes fighting for a common goal, which encourages teamwork, so roleplaying games can teach players to work together. Also, some of the challenges in the game can be made a lot simpler when tackled a certain way, which encourages creative thinking and strategy.
Roleplaying is starting to look better and better all the time.
Alright, so, think about this: if you're a parent, or if you're not, pretend for a moment that you are, would you rather your child spend two hours sitting in front of the TV being a couch potato, or would you rather him/her be sitting at a table with friends for two hours pretending to be a great hero in some long-forgotten realm, learning to be a team player, improving valuable skills that can actually be useful later in life?
It's about time to bring this guide to a close. So, what is a roleplaying game? Ultimately, it's a game of the mind. It requires the use of your imagination, it requires creative thinking, and it requires teamwork, and if you don't want the game to drag on for two hours longer than you planned, it requires quick thinking. I hope I've been able to shed a little light on an unfamiliar subject. If you want more information, I'll be covering some aspects of roleplaying games more in-depth in future guides.
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