Tag: RPGs

Setsucon Recap, Part 2

~ mellopanther ~ 1 Comment

You might have caught my review while recording Otaku Drive Time, but I wanted to go into detail regarding a couple of things here and there.

As mentioned previously, I mentioned 4th Edition D&D and got an interesting side conversation from two old-school RPG’ers.  The crux of the argument was that the combat was crap and the leveling system was also crap.  Because the main aspects of the numbers side of the RPG were so out of whack, the game itself fails.

Here’s the thing, though. One, I like how 4th Edition was pick-up-and-play ready.  The uniformity of the classes allow people to make new characters in no time flat.  Second of all, an RPG is only as good as its first two letters.  If the group you are in isn’t able to tell or participate in a good story, then it doesn’t matter how the combat system works.  I played 4th edition and Star Wars: Saga Edition for very long stretches–campaigns for each lasted over a year, if I remember right–and our parties had a lot of fun with memorable characters,  In the D&D game, I ended up turning into an Eladrin minivan because I was able to teleport half the group.  In Star Wars, not only was I an ace pilot that ended up putting two over on the GM in the final battle (that’s a great story for another time), our mechanic and our Wookiee were two great and awesome characters that would’ve been great in any system.

So while I understand the resistance to 4E, it shouldn’t have gotten in the way of a good game.  Any game system can work if you have the right story.

On conventions and tabletops

~ mellopanther

A lot of what made me want to start MelloPanther and what will likely continue to drive me is that the programs and events that I do are things that I want to see.  One thing I’d like to see more attention paid to is RPG rooms.  Your standard convention will tend to have a board game room, sometimes combined with the CCG room, and some might have pick-up games of various RPG’s, particular Pathfinder and D&D.  However, while one-shots can be fun (and I’ve been in some hilarious one-shots) one of the appeals of tabletop gaming is getting together and having an epic campaign, spinning the tale of your heroes’ great adventures.  Problem is, if your convention is three days long, how can you fit in a campaign, especially with all the other things that can happen at a convention?

I think I’ve found an answer to that, and it comes from video gaming: a persistent world.  In basic terms, this is a game space that resembles real life in that you can make changes to the game world, and those changes are permanent, and like the real world, the game world can, and most likely will, change when you’re not around and getting involved.  I think a persistent RPG world would be a great setting for a short tabletop campaign.  A well-crafted setting can reward players for playing from the 1st session, but won’t punish those who want just a quick challenge before their next activity.  There are several ways you can pull off a persistent world like this in an RPG, and I’d love to demonstrate it a convention.  I figure I could fit in 4-6 sessions in most 3-day shows.  Why not give me a shot?