Mad Brew Labs

If you haven’t heard about OneBookShelf’s (RPGNow! and DriveThruRPG) charity bundle for the Haiti relief effort then you must only be reading my blog or you have just climbed out of your dungeon.

OBS and the small press publishers they partnered with, like my own Nevermet Press, are doing a great thing. And the gamers that have contributed, well, I am simply in awe at what we’ve been able to do. Besides crashing the OBS sites with our massive response, we also managed to raise more than $50,000 dollars in a single day. As I write this, OneBookShelf, publishers, and gamers have raised $85,560 that will go to Doctors without Borders. That’s damn impressive!

OBS is matching $5 and $10 donations but have also supplied a charity bundle for those who donate $20. The bundle retails for $1,481.31 and consists of more than 150 products.

Even if you’re not the charitable type, how can you pass on a deal like that?

DONATE NOW!

Gamers Helping Haiti

Listening to: In Flames – Clayman – Only for the Weak

Games & Tavel Carnival

The Gamer Traveler is hosting this month’s blog carnival, Games & Travel. I don’t have much to say about travel within a game, except that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. However, I do have a lot I can say about traveling as a gamer, because I have probably traveled more than the average gamer. As many of my readers know, I am a former Marine, having spent four honorable years in service to the United States (and another four on inactive reserve).

During my enlistment I visited more than 40 major cities in more than 20 countries from Amsterdam to Tunis and from Sevilla to Manama. I was stationed in Southwest Asia (aka The Middle East) for more than a year and I also did a 6 month deployment in the Mediterranean, so I have had the pleasure of experiencing a diverse amount of culture.

It was a grand adventure, in the way that real adventures are truly awful bouts of torturous events interrupted by short intermissions of cool and awesome. A lot of my time in service was in no way what most would consider fun, if they actually had to do it themselves. It is this reality of adventure that I experienced along my travels that has given me some important insight for my games.

Adventure is Horrific

Most gamers never truly appreciate what we put our imaginary characters through. This is because we really don’t have anything at stake (besides needing to make a replacement character). This is a good thing; otherwise, roleplaying games wouldn’t be much fun. Believe me, combat (epic or not) and exploring dangerous locations is not fun, it’s horrific and terrifying and when you are done you are mentally and physically drained.

The promise of riches might draw a few naïve adventurers once, but I bet 99.9% of them would retire after their first adventure. Which is why in most of the games I run, I try giving characters a motivation beyond untold riches. While I love the freedom of old school influenced sandbox style of exploring hexes, the reality of a sane individual exploring dangerous locations for the sake of exploring and amassing wealth is absurd to me.

Culture Shock

I also find that many gamers don’t fully comprehend what it is like when their characters must function in a strange locale where the inhabitants’ social mores, or customs, are vastly different from their own. Not to mention the communication barrier from not being able to speak the native language. Sure, many settings have given us an easy, if a bit unbelievable, way out through the Common tongue.

English might be the closest thing we have in the real world to Common, but it is still very difficult to function abroad when that is the only language you know. Add to this that the average fantasy setting has not evolved like our own world has (with global conquests, technology, and widespread commerce), which led to English being so widespread.

RPG Blog Carnival

Not Simulations

Though my travels have shown me that most gamers ignore (or don’t understand) that roleplaying games don’t truly reflect what adventure is really like, my experience has strengthened my appreciation for roleplaying games. How can that be? Well, roleplaying games are not meant to be adventure simulators. They are vehicles for the imagination that allow us to share experiences with our friends. They are games that encourage people to connect with each other. And my travels and experience has taught me that RPGs ability to facilitate these connections is very important.

Listening to: Rammstein – Liebe ist für alle da – Pussy

Washburn Dimebag Signature Guitar

Zach from the RPG Blog II asked for some assistance in gathering data about gamers’ favorite rock bands and whether or not they use their favorite music for inspiration (at or beyond the table). So our mutual blogger pal, Michael Wolf of Stargazer’s World, and I have agreed to the word out about his short survey.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the definition of rock is pretty fluid, so please fill out the survey even if you don’t consider your preferred genre as actually being rock. My current favorite band is probably Fear Factory, which isn’t exactly mainstream rock,  but that’s what I answered the survey with anyways.

Zach mentioning his idea for a survey was very timely, because I myself had been thinking about music and gamers. For much of my gaming career, particularly before the last few years, most everyone I played with listened to some form of heavy metal or derivative. I can only really think of two people who I gamed with regularly that didn’t listen to metal.

Of course, I broadcast my musical interests at the bottom of [most of] my posts, so my regular readers are probably pretty aware of my preferences. I think I’ll revisit music and gaming in the near future, but for now I encourage everyone to participate in Zach’s short (3 questions) survey:

Favorite Rock Band Survey

Listening to: White Zombie – Astro Creep: 2000 – I, Zombie

Social Networked RPGs

What would the architecture of a social media enhanced roleplaying game look like? This article attempts to answer that question as well as provide some ideas on how to implement comparable controls across many dissimilar social networks. This is a continuation of the discussion initiated by Jonathan Jacobs with a post at The Core Mechanic^[1] and my response^[2] from yesterday. If you haven’t read the first two articles, I encourage you to read them before continuing.

• RPGs, SMGs, and the Shared Fence
• Bridging the Gap: RPGs and Social Media

In Bridging the Gap, I explored the possibilities of how to embed a roleplaying game into social networks while still maintaining the elements which define roleplaying games. Today, I wanted to look at the technical hurdles of actually implementing such a game.

Core Technology

There would need to be a central hub where users would create accounts (and register the social networking accounts of their choice). This would ideally be a website (with a mobile version) that would offer the most powerful and comprehensive tools available for the game: character generators, virtual table top, chat, audio/video conferencing, campaign wiki, searchable databases of resources (rules, monsters, character options), etc. It would be the DDI^[3] that should have been.

Network Penetration

One of the goals of a social media roleplaying game (SMRPG) would be to hook into as many social networks as possible. This has two large advantages: presence and accessibility.

Wide network penetration would establish a highly visible presence that can help draw users in. Game data presented across networks would obviously be branded (think about an “updated from SMRPG 5 minutes ago” tag), so anyone playing the game would be advertising it for free. Even though the platform would have at least some monetization, the goal is not about money, it is about building a user base (the money comes a natural by-product).

The accessibility means that players can retrieve information in the fashion which most suits their current online behavior. It means they don’t need to create yet another account or buy into the latest cell phone fad or purchase expensive data packages. Chances are they will already have something that works with the platform.

There are also a number of social media networks that would not necessarily enable player participation but rather could be used as tools to enhance the game itself. Examples include embedding custom movies you have uploaded to YouTube for introduction or cut scenes (like a custom Star Wars Crawl^[4]), taking advantage of Pandora^[5] or Last.FM^[6] for mood music, or using Flickr^[7] to host maps. These social media networks can be instrumental in offloading both functionality as well as storage space, making the platform cheaper to host.

Functionality Limitations

Of course, the more networks the platform hooks into, the problems with maintaining equivalent functionality across those networks. The Application Programming Interfaces (API) will not support the same functions and some networks will be more powerful than others.

It would definitely be a challenge to be able to replicate all the controls that are available on the Facebook^[8] SMRPG widget in Twitter^[9]. For one, there are a few dozen clients that people use to interact with Twitter and asking them to use a new client might not be easy.

Yet, Twitter might be able to be used as a primitive command line interface for an SMRPG. I can imagine utilizing keyword hash tags to accomplish actions that are recognized by the game engine. Of course, Twitter could also just be used as a text dump that the game uses to publish concise descriptions of current game activity. Obviously, the platform would need to understand each network’s strength (comprehensive communication is not one of Twitter’s strong suits).

Platform Components

The diagram to the right illustrates very simplified, top level view of a possible SMRPG platform. Each block is really a distinct architecture that would likely be comprised of several smaller modules. The foundation of the platform would be a massive database which would store all the characters, current progress, adventures, activity logs, images, rules, and whatever else necessary to run and record games.

The next layer up from the database is the business logic, which in this case is the game engine which validates of all the data coming in and out of the database against the rules and saved user preferences. The logic makes sure Suzie’s action resolves before Larry’s because she has the better initiative (or waits for GM approval before continuing).

The layer above the game engine is dual interpreters; one that handles incoming traffic and one that handles outgoing traffic. These interpreters ensure that the data received from the client interface is formatted in into something the database will understand and vice versa.

Everything up to and including the interpreters would most likely be built within the database itself using a combination of stored procedures, triggers, and data transformations all reacting to inbound and outbound data. The next layers would most likely be services or daemons that wait to relay information to the appropriate destination(s).

The client interface communicates with the social networks asynchronously, sending and receiving information as needed. The interface would likely be comprised of processes that interface with network APIs. Finally, the very top layer is the social media networks themselves which may or may not need additional front end user interfaces (most like things like Facebook widgets).

Conclusion

My possible SMRPG platform is essentially a product of quick and minimal brainstorming and I thought of additional detail and design improvements as I was writing the article. A project of this scope really would entail a lot of work and starting capital to really apply the support needed to launch such a platform. Thus, I wouldn’t expect to see anything like this realized from with the traditional roleplaying game industry.

The Core Mechanic continues the discussion of social media and roleplaying games in Social Media Role Playing Minigames.

References

[1] Roleplaying Games, Social Media Games, and the Shared Fence. The Core Mechanic. 2010-01-12.

[2] Bridging the Gap: RPGs and Social Media. Mad Brew Labs. 2010-01-14

[3] Dungeons & Dragons Insider, an online suite of tools available for subscription.

[4] Ten Minute Star Wars Crawl. Mad Brew Labs. 2008-09-21.

[5] Pandora, automated music recommendation and Internet radio service.

[6] Last.FM, an internet radio and music video site.

[7] Flickr, an image and video hosting site.

[8] Facebook, a social networking site.

[9] Twitter, a micro-blogging service.

Listening to: Tyler Bates – 300 OST – The Hot Gates

Social Networked RPGs

The Core Mechanic proposed^[1] that an opportunity exists for RPGs to utilize the technology that popular social media games (SMGs), such as Farmville or Mafia Wars^[2], employ today and by extension make RPGs more accessible. The objective is the ability to roleplay around the clock without needing to wait for game night.

While I think Jonathan and I have some different ideas about what constitutes a roleplaying game^[3], and how well one can be managed through social media, I do agree that there is a ton of opportunity that begs to be exploited. Also, I’m tired of seeing what your gangster vampire grew on the farm to feed his endangered species pet whenever I check my news feed on Facebook.

My only concern is providing the accessibility, the interactivity, and social media penetration without the roleplaying game reduced to a mere SMG or massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). The human element needs to be preserved; it is probably the most important aspect of roleplaying games.

Assuming the integrity of what is a roleplaying game is maintained, there are still many issues to overcome. For the remainder of this article, it is given that the following exists:

• The platform is built around a single game system
• Human Game Masters supervise games
• Many rules are automated, but may be selectively overridden by a GM
• Game Masters may list their games publicly
• Player characters have some sort of advancement
• Players may interface with the game through many clients (browser, Facebook, iPhone, etc.)

The Accessibility Hurdle

Probably the biggest issue facing an infrastructure that allows the level of accessibility that social media games provide is maintaining a consistent experience for players (including Game Masters). Jonathan had mentioned in the comments that “The game is always moving forward, and there’s never any point in which a player can’t “poke” the game and participate.” ^[1]

This is where the entire platform breaks down when I try to visualize it in my head. The idea, as I understand it, is that a player should be able to engage with the game at will and without any expectations of commitment. What about when a game is half-way through an important combat or a serious interaction with a prominent non-player character (NPC)?

Accessibility raises a few questions about what behaviors are acceptable or encouraged:

• Do you want players to enter or leave important scenes at will?
• Can players use the same character across many games and enjoy all the benefits?
• Are players free to perform actions without waiting for approval or consequences?
• Are players allowed access to any and all options?
• Is everyone at once both a player and a Game Master?

Of course, it all depends on how far accessibility is taken. If the goal is truly to provide players the ability to game at their convenience, without taking others’ stakes in the game into consideration, I think the game then crosses the line into SMG territory.

However, if the goal is to merely provide multiple lines of communication and methods of accessing the game, then I am on board. Then the next question is, “Would placing a ShareThis^[4] feature on MapTools^[5] accomplish most of our goals?”

Mini Games Option

One approach to lightly embed a roleplaying game into social media is to implement mini games that do not require moderation by Game Masters, but could be amended by them and add value to the actual game. These mini games might include tasks normally glossed over in most games such as researching inside a great library which could yield access to rituals in game. The majority of crafts could be given this treatment as well stronghold building.

Virtual LARP Option

Another method that possibly maximizes player accessibility while minimizing interruptions during critical play is treating the platform like a Live Action RolePlaying (LARP) game in the spirit of White Wolf’s Mind’s Eye Theatre (MET)^[6] series of games run by the Camarilla^[7].

Using the LARP option would most likely utilize two modes of play, structured and unstructured. The structured mode is the traditional roleplaying with a Game Master moderating the session. The unstructured mode would essentially be one or more players engaging in self-moderated roleplay. An option might even be available that allows players engaging in unstructured play to request a GM to moderate when necessary.

Only by participating in the structured mode can players receive new objects (treasure) and progress through official storylines. However, players may always trade objects they already acquired when participating in either structured or unstructured modes.

Like the Camarilla, the platform would be a shared world where you can travel from game to game (mostly) freely. Limiting GMs to only official modules (or stories, adventures, etc.) would allow a modicum of control over balance and power creep (which will no doubt be a constant struggle to maintain). Placing restrictions on when players can enter structured mode play and wait periods to join after bailing from structured mode play could also help maintain consistent experience.

The LARP option actually begins to sound like a very advanced MUSH^[8] and there are probably a few things that such a platform could heavily borrow from such established technologies.

Conclusion

I’m not sure my vision of possible implementations concurs with Jonathan’s vision, but I think we can surely agree that there are opportunities for roleplaying games to take advantage of social technologies. Tomorrow I plan on taking a look at how one might develop an infrastructure that actually interfaced with popular social networks.

Articles that continue the discussion:

• Social Media RPG Platform — Mad Brew Labs
• Social Media Role Playing Minigames — The Core Mechanic

I should also note that using footnotes is a great idea and I actually tried to make a habit of using them a year ago with my Roleplaying Philosophy series^[3] but failed to maintain the discipline to use them.

References

[1] Roleplaying Games, Social Media Games, and the Shared Fence. The Core Mechanic. 2010-01-12.

[2] Social media games for Facebook created by Zynga Games.

[3] “A roleplaying game is a dynamic form of play, structured by rules with human moderation, where players assume and develop virtual roles of sentience and overcome opposition by freely improvising character actions in order to achieve a possibly infinite number of goals.”
RPP-101: Defining Roleplaying Games. Mad Brew Labs. 2009-01-15.

“The only requirement is that you play a game where you assume the role of a PC/avatar. The medium doesn’t matter – it’s the role that matters.” ^[2]

[4] ShareThis is a plug-in that allows you to post content across several social networks.

[5] A virtual table top (VTT) created by RPTools.

[6] Mind’s Eye Theatre is the LARP imprint of rules for White Wolf’s Word of Darkness setting.

[7] The Camarilla is the official World of Darkness fan club that also doubles as White Wolf’s organized play arm.

[8] A Multi-User Shared Hallucination, or MUSH, belongs to a family of text-based social games also called MUDs and MOOs that date back to 1975.

Listening to: Opeth – Ghost Reveries – Atonement

Fantasy Brewmasters

Forget about Dungeons & Dragons themed sodas and grab pint of fantasy inspired beer! Fantasy Brewmasters aims to provide “incredible beers based on fictional worlds.”  They are a community of artists, writers, and craft brewers that cater to the roleplaying gamer crowd.

They currently have two project beers in development: FrothBeard and HogWort. The best part is that the creation of these beers are community driven. The community can give their input on the recipes (which are “open source” and released), art, and story (yeah, each beer has a story) via their forums or through contests.

In order select the art and story for their beers they run contests. While I missed the boat on the current story contest, Monday they announced the winners of the Dwarven storyline, Dave Martin and Robert Lee. The winners,  got to took home $500! (EDIT: Ahhh, made the rookie mistake of not writing the post according to the time when it is scheduled to go live.)

Anyways, I hope Fantasy Brewmasters keeps the beer flowing and becomes a success. Because beer and gaming is a recipe for awesome in my cookbook.

Listening to: Otep – Smash the Control Machine – Sweet Tooth

Open Game Table, Vol 2

You have five days left to enter submissions for Jonathan Jacob’s second volume of his RPG blog anthology, the Open Game Table. The nominations close this Friday.

The editors and peer reviewers have already been chosen, but if you are aware of an RPG article that deserves some recognition, hurry over to the Open Game Table Nomination Form and submit the URL of the post (not just the site). In fact, I encourage every blog author to submit their best article for review.

The inaugural Open Game Table was an important milestone for RPG blogging and I am glad to see Jonathan forging ahead with a new volume. It is also an excellent opportunity to get your work published, so enter your submissions now.

Listening To: Fear Factory – Mechanize – Fear Campaign

KQ's Adopt-A-Soldier

It is no secret that I am a veteran, having spent four honorable years as an active duty Marine. So whenever I see programs that help bring a little piece of home to the troops, I try to support it as much as I can.

Kobold Quarterly has the Adopt-A-Soldier program that allows people to sponsor our airmen, marines, sailors, and soldiers stationed all over the world. Trust me when I say that receiving items like this when you’re deployed really makes a difference. It allows you to remember why you made the commitment and the people that are safe at home (because of your service) really do appreciate what you’re doing.

The best part is that KQ is running the AAS Holiday Contest which allows sponsors or just people who want to spread the word to win prizes for their efforts. It’s what we call a freakin’ win-win situation.

So help out our service members by sponsoring a subscription to Kobold Quarterly or by spreading the word through your website or Twitter account.

Portrait of a Villain: The Desire

I am proud to announce that Nevermet Press released our first PDF last week. We took the system agnostic web content for our first villain, The Desire, and turned it into a resource for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.

While I designed the villain’s concept, the talented crew of Nevermet Press really took the ball and ran with it, creating some fantastic encounters, magic items, and organizations that can easily be plugged into an existing campaign. Not to mention all the hard work done by Jonathan Jacobs to organize and layout out a pretty damn good looking book.

I waited a week to announce it here so I could post some links to some nice people that took the time to review our book. So, if you’re interested, read what everyone has to say about our first outing or go ahead and pick yourself up a copy of Portrait of a Villain: The Desire today ($9.95).

Reviews:

• Uncle Bear: Nevermet Press Debuts with The Desire
• Altern8: What Should We Play – Portrait of a Villain
• Gnome Stew: The Desire, The City’s First Mistress
• D20 Source: Product Review: Portrait of a Villain – The Desire
• Examiner: Review: Portrait of a Villain – The Desire
• Newbie DM: Review: Portrait of a Villain

Listening to: Lollipop Lust Kill – Motel Murder Madness – Knee Deep in the Dead

There is no doubt the current version of Dungeons & Dragons is very popular at gaming tables. This also means that 4^th Edition has a strong presence among roleplaying game blogs as well. I want to take the time to recognize a handful of blogs which I believe represents the best that the 4e D&D Blogosphere has to offer.

My criterion does not concern popularity even though these blogs are certainly well read. Nor do I make my choices based upon design and eye candy. I made my decision because the following blogs have actually written material that I have, or want to, use in my own games. I do not like to read content with empty calories, so these blogs deliver the goods.

I present the following five blogs in alphabetical order because I was spending too much time trying to pick which one was better, so readers can effectively consider them all tied for 1^st place in my eyes. I also offer the blogs’ categories (where available) to give a quick idea of the types of content provided. If you think I missed someone that should be on this list, speak your mind in the comments.

At-Will

At-Will

I remember when this blog was just one guy and he made his mark by doing skill challenges. Quinn Murphy, At-Will’s owner, and I collaborated with The Core Mechanic’s Jonathan Jacobs on a series called The Skill Challenges of War. We had a pretty good time and the three of us eventually laid the foundation of what is now Nevermet Press.

Now At-Will has several contributors and has expanded their repertoire to include things beside skill challenges. Currently there is a strong interest in articles that talk about utilizing Google Wave as virtual table top. Off the Grid gives examples of how to play 4e without the need of the battlemap. I should also mention that the web design and layout is top notch.

Categories:

• 4e and the Art of the Limit-Break
• How to Design a Skill Challenge
• How to Make a Skill Challenge Fun
• In-Play
• Lore
• Off the Grid
• Path to Victory
• Races
• Skill Challenges
• The New Breed
• The Wave’s the Thing
• Time Stop

Dungeon’s Master

Dungeon's Master

Dungeon’s Master is also a multi-author blog, but ran by Derek Myers (aka Ameron) and Neil Ellis (aka Wimwick). The Dungeon’s Master also has a significant presence when it comes to skills. While many new and interesting skill challenges can be found here, the site also has a skill focus series that provides new ways for players to use skills.

One of my favorite series at Dungeon’s Master is their recently revised original Necromancer class, complete with powers for heroic, paragon, and epic tiers. I love necromancers, but regardless of my bias, Dungeon’s Master deserves to be on your 4e reading list.

Categories:

• Book Reviews
• Class Discussions
• DM Resources
• Eberron
• Editorial
• Humour
• Modules
• Month in Review
• Pearls of Wisdom
• Player Resources
• Skill Challenges
• Technology
• Top 10

Newbie DM

Newbie DM

The Newbie DM blog is obviously focused on providing advice and support to new dungeon masters. Enrique, the Newbie DM, has had some classic posts of the DIY nature, including how to make your own gaming tokens and most recently a series on creating your own battlemaps by guest cartographer, Jonathan Roberts. One of Enrique’s articles was published in Obsidian Portal‘s Guest Blogger feature recently.

The Newbie DM also masterminded the RPGBN Setting, a site where members of the RPG Blogger’s network contribute to a shared campaign setting. I also like his 1d12 Series where he asks a random number of questions (as determined by a d12) of various industry professionals.

Categories:

• 4e D&D
• Advice/Tools
• Cartography
• DM Tools
• Dungeon-Tiles
• Interview
• Tokens

Sly Flourish

Sly Flourish

One of the problems I always hear 4e DMs complain about is their inability to instill the fear of death in their players. Frankly, I think it’s a lack of imagination or a fear of actually killing the players. I’m not burdened with either, but for those DMs looking to get the most out of their monsters, I point you to Mike Shea’s Sly Flourish.

I love his new Monster Optimization series of articles where he creates encounter groups that complement each other while still making sense. The Bodak and Wight optimization is bookmarked for future reference. Mike also does Twitter Tips, tweets of DM tips that might enhance your game. Did I mention Mike also utilizes the ever bad-ass Dwarven Forge terrain? He has pictures!

Categories:

BAH! Sly Flourish must not have friendly categories turned on. Mike, if you read this, I highly recommend adding categories or tags.

Spirits of Eden

Spirits of Eden

Wyatt Salazar, err Dennis Santana, runs the Spirits of Eden, a blog that details his Spirits of Eden campaign setting. Spirits of Eden is basically a setting framework that gives DMs and players enough detail to get started but leaves enough mystery to allow groups to it their own without becoming tangled in a meta-plot or an overabundance of canon.

I should note that Dennis is also a contributor to Nevermet Press, but that had no bearing on my decision to include his site on this list. Dennis is a superior writer and Spirits of Eden is a fine vehicle to show off his design chops too (which makes me happy to have him on our NMP team). Did I mention he licenses Spirits of Eden under a Creative Commons license? That’s cool.

Categories:

You should really check out the Spirits of Eden basic setting & expanded setting for a table of contents of what’s available.

Listening to: Fear Factory – Mechanize – Powershifter