Just, y'know, games and stuff.
Useless attack powers, Gaming Discovery #1, and Toothless Skating Hillbillies
Posted 28th June 2008 at 08:54 AM by Wik
So, I've decided to join the packs of others, and try out this new "blog" feature. I've been meaning to start up a gaming-related blog for some time - probably through Circus Maximus, I suppose - but never got around to doing it. But, with ENWorld 2 coming to light, and the fact that I'm starting up two new 4e campaigns... well, the timing just seems right.
Like many other blogs, this one will have game-related info, but it is mostly just a random collection of thoughts from a gamer that is hardcore, but not *that* hardcore.
***
So, this week has been a fun one. Definately illuminating on game theory, at least.
Tuesday was the game with the "regular" group, consisting mostly of people I've known since high school, at least. There's my brother, who I've known considerably LONGER than high school, as well as my best friend Squee (name taken from the comic book), his brother Russ, Russ's girlfriend Carla, my age-old friend Shelley, and whoever else can drag their sorry butts down for a tuesday night game.
Lately, we've been playing a homebrewed system designed by Russ, which he calls the QUEST system. This system is really an amalgamation of second edition D&D, mussed in with a whole slew of "improvements" that slow down gameplay and don't add a whole helluva lot. I'm not much of a fan of the system, but a game is a game - and Russ is a fun Gm who makes the world work.
One of the imbalances of the system is in how combat works out - essentially, each class has seperate powers that can be used in the game, and some classes are more focused towards combat than others. This would be fine, were noncombat skills really useful outside of a game... but in reality, they are not. If you are supposed to get the macguffin item, it doesn't matter what skills you have - you'll get it.
After much gentle mentioning of this, Russ got my point and modded the classes, to give my rogue and my brother's wizard some neat stuff to do in combat (until this point, my rogue could only deal 1d4-1 in combat, and my brother fared even worse, being able only to summon gusts of wind and to lift creatures very slowly into the air). However, while I got a slight damage boost when making sneak attacks and some two-weapon fighting skills that made my darkling able to at least kill a cat in a fair fight, the neat abilities I got were, well... useless.
Most of them fit in the category of "instead of dealing damage, inflict a -2 penalty on your opponent". Or, "instead of dealing damage, opponent cannot do Y". The second was by far the worst of the abilities, since "Y" was usually something optional in combat, like grapple in 2e. Imagine blowing your action (currency, in tactical games) on negating your foe's ability to potentially do something. It's like saying "I've just wasted my whole turn to deny one of twelve equally viable options available to you! Ha ha... hey, stop hitting me with that stick!"
the -2 penalty idea would seem much better, and it could even be something that would work in other games. But the nature of this game is based around many "mook" fights (minions, to use the 4e parlance). In any case, even against 'boss" fights, combat rarely lasts more than four rounds. And herein lies Wik's First Gaming Discovery.
Wik's Gaming Discoveries, #1:
Any Ability that applies a penalty to an opponent's actions becomes less useful the shorter the encounter is.
Essentially, if I fight a foe for two rounds, and waste an action to hit him with this ability, I'm really only applying a -4 penalty in total. But if I hit him with that ability in a combat that lasts ten rounds, the net effect of the ability is much higher: -20. It may seem an obvious rule, but it is one that really crystalized in my mind when I was picking out abilities for Cestis, my Darkling Rogue, to pick out.
Now, in fourth edition D&D, most abilities that apply a -2 have a save that can end the effect at the end of the round - a good thing, because that -2 penalty that is so weak in a two round fight can change the tide of the combat if the fight lasts on for twenty rounds (just ask the player of two resurrected 4e characters who had to vie with a -1 on all d20 rolls wednesday night!)
So, instead of pleasing my developer DM by picking out these "neato" abilities, I instead spent my hard-earned character points on something useful - boosting my dex so I can get a higher initiative total, and deal that all-important first strike that is my only true way of dealing damage in a fight.
Rules analysis aside, the game was pretty good. Cestis had a chance to shine, RP-wise, and was even given a pretty cool Augury-like power that let him see the outcomes of his decisions. I have a pretty good feeling that I'll be using this power to annoy the DM for months to come. Heh heh.
Wednesday worked out probably a bit better, as I was DMing a system I sort of trusted, even if I'm still not too familiar with it (4th edition D&D). I was even playing with a group I'm mostly unfamiliar with - Blargney from ENWorld (Who I've played with a few times before), his lovely girlfriend, and a friend of his who has the coolest guitar amplifier I've seen in years. Blarg would tell you the coolest feature of this guy's house was the plethora of beautifully (as in, award-winning) Warhammer minis, but I'm here to say that the guy's best feature was the shrine to Stoner Rock on his music shelf - albums from High on Fire, Kyuss, even Unida. I was in Stoner Rock heaven, man.
The session involved an Eladrin Warlord (Tongs), a Minotaur Fighter (Hammer), an unnamed Drow Rogue currently known as "Cousin", and an Elven Ranger named Laith. Since Eladrin are Seelie Elves, and Drow are Unseelie Elves (with Elves being "Low-born") in my campaign, it was pretty close to being a one-race party. Which was pretty cool.
The group was up against a series of encounters as the tiefling empire of Kael Turgath invaded the coastal community of Bronze Shore. There were a series of fun fights, including an uphill battle against goblins that was fun (rangers can deal damage, boy!), and a spectacular group against a goblin/hobgoblin contingent on a chain bridge above the mouth to a harbour.
That fight was a good 'un, mostly because the goblin hexer that lead the group really used his powers to mess with the group (blinding the minotaur for several rounds, forcing him to withdraw from the combat, and forcing the Eladrin to teleport away due to the goblin's use of a "Don't Move" effect). The rogue tried to solo two minions, and failed spectacularly at this, and the ranger couldn't decide on a target, waffling between the well-armoured hobgoblin Phalanx soldier and the goblin sharpshooter that was being a real pain in the butt.
To make a long post slightly shorter, we had a lot of fun. It was one of those "skin of your teeth" encounters that I think the group will be talking about for a long time.
However, it isn't in an iteration of D&D that I've had the most fun "gaming" lately; instead, it's been in a video game. And a very "ungamery" game, at that.
I've just picked up a copy of EA's NHL 2008, and I'm thoroughly in love. Let me just say, it's a difficult game, and it actually sort of feels like hockey - as opposed to most hockey video games out there. I started playing almost immediately, playing my beloved San Jose sharks against the lamest team in the NHL - The Nashville Predators.
Seriously, why does nashville even HAVE a hockey team? I think of Nashville, I don't think of hockey players. I think of hillbillies with names like "Cotton" and "Billy Ray Jimbob Crawdad". About the only thing the two groups of people have in common is a lack of teeth. Between one hillbilly and one goalie, you might have enough teeth in there to form a British Smile. But I digress.
I should have seen it coming. First game, the Sharks lost 6-1. In the second, it was 4-0. In the third, 3-1. It wasn't until the fourth game, when I realized that simply setting up one-timers was not going to get any goals, that the Sharks barely won a game - a shootout victory over Nashville, 3-2.
From that moment on, I've been hooked. The players move on the ice in defensive formations like hockey players, and many of the features that have to be manually controlled in most games (like skating backwards) are automatic in this game, so your players actually MOVE like hockey players.
Goalie Saves look amazing, players block opponents fairly accurately, and the announcers actually give fun facts about interesting players (for example, I never knew that Evgeni Nabokov is only the 7th goalie in NHL history to score a goal; he did it on a power play).
I don't know why I'm surprised by this, but I guess after a long time of playing games like NHL 2K7, I was resigned to hockey games feeling more like interesting arcade games more than... you know, hockey. Though, 2K7 has some really cool features that NHL 08 lacks - the ability to "fantasy draft" teams in a regular series, truly customizable penalties and gameplay experiences, and more visceral body checking.
But still, 08 is pretty good by my book. It should at least keep the hockey withdrawal pangs away until - good god - early October.
Like many other blogs, this one will have game-related info, but it is mostly just a random collection of thoughts from a gamer that is hardcore, but not *that* hardcore.
***
So, this week has been a fun one. Definately illuminating on game theory, at least.
Tuesday was the game with the "regular" group, consisting mostly of people I've known since high school, at least. There's my brother, who I've known considerably LONGER than high school, as well as my best friend Squee (name taken from the comic book), his brother Russ, Russ's girlfriend Carla, my age-old friend Shelley, and whoever else can drag their sorry butts down for a tuesday night game.
Lately, we've been playing a homebrewed system designed by Russ, which he calls the QUEST system. This system is really an amalgamation of second edition D&D, mussed in with a whole slew of "improvements" that slow down gameplay and don't add a whole helluva lot. I'm not much of a fan of the system, but a game is a game - and Russ is a fun Gm who makes the world work.
One of the imbalances of the system is in how combat works out - essentially, each class has seperate powers that can be used in the game, and some classes are more focused towards combat than others. This would be fine, were noncombat skills really useful outside of a game... but in reality, they are not. If you are supposed to get the macguffin item, it doesn't matter what skills you have - you'll get it.
After much gentle mentioning of this, Russ got my point and modded the classes, to give my rogue and my brother's wizard some neat stuff to do in combat (until this point, my rogue could only deal 1d4-1 in combat, and my brother fared even worse, being able only to summon gusts of wind and to lift creatures very slowly into the air). However, while I got a slight damage boost when making sneak attacks and some two-weapon fighting skills that made my darkling able to at least kill a cat in a fair fight, the neat abilities I got were, well... useless.
Most of them fit in the category of "instead of dealing damage, inflict a -2 penalty on your opponent". Or, "instead of dealing damage, opponent cannot do Y". The second was by far the worst of the abilities, since "Y" was usually something optional in combat, like grapple in 2e. Imagine blowing your action (currency, in tactical games) on negating your foe's ability to potentially do something. It's like saying "I've just wasted my whole turn to deny one of twelve equally viable options available to you! Ha ha... hey, stop hitting me with that stick!"
the -2 penalty idea would seem much better, and it could even be something that would work in other games. But the nature of this game is based around many "mook" fights (minions, to use the 4e parlance). In any case, even against 'boss" fights, combat rarely lasts more than four rounds. And herein lies Wik's First Gaming Discovery.
Wik's Gaming Discoveries, #1:
Any Ability that applies a penalty to an opponent's actions becomes less useful the shorter the encounter is.
Essentially, if I fight a foe for two rounds, and waste an action to hit him with this ability, I'm really only applying a -4 penalty in total. But if I hit him with that ability in a combat that lasts ten rounds, the net effect of the ability is much higher: -20. It may seem an obvious rule, but it is one that really crystalized in my mind when I was picking out abilities for Cestis, my Darkling Rogue, to pick out.
Now, in fourth edition D&D, most abilities that apply a -2 have a save that can end the effect at the end of the round - a good thing, because that -2 penalty that is so weak in a two round fight can change the tide of the combat if the fight lasts on for twenty rounds (just ask the player of two resurrected 4e characters who had to vie with a -1 on all d20 rolls wednesday night!)
So, instead of pleasing my developer DM by picking out these "neato" abilities, I instead spent my hard-earned character points on something useful - boosting my dex so I can get a higher initiative total, and deal that all-important first strike that is my only true way of dealing damage in a fight.
Rules analysis aside, the game was pretty good. Cestis had a chance to shine, RP-wise, and was even given a pretty cool Augury-like power that let him see the outcomes of his decisions. I have a pretty good feeling that I'll be using this power to annoy the DM for months to come. Heh heh.
Wednesday worked out probably a bit better, as I was DMing a system I sort of trusted, even if I'm still not too familiar with it (4th edition D&D). I was even playing with a group I'm mostly unfamiliar with - Blargney from ENWorld (Who I've played with a few times before), his lovely girlfriend, and a friend of his who has the coolest guitar amplifier I've seen in years. Blarg would tell you the coolest feature of this guy's house was the plethora of beautifully (as in, award-winning) Warhammer minis, but I'm here to say that the guy's best feature was the shrine to Stoner Rock on his music shelf - albums from High on Fire, Kyuss, even Unida. I was in Stoner Rock heaven, man.
The session involved an Eladrin Warlord (Tongs), a Minotaur Fighter (Hammer), an unnamed Drow Rogue currently known as "Cousin", and an Elven Ranger named Laith. Since Eladrin are Seelie Elves, and Drow are Unseelie Elves (with Elves being "Low-born") in my campaign, it was pretty close to being a one-race party. Which was pretty cool.
The group was up against a series of encounters as the tiefling empire of Kael Turgath invaded the coastal community of Bronze Shore. There were a series of fun fights, including an uphill battle against goblins that was fun (rangers can deal damage, boy!), and a spectacular group against a goblin/hobgoblin contingent on a chain bridge above the mouth to a harbour.
That fight was a good 'un, mostly because the goblin hexer that lead the group really used his powers to mess with the group (blinding the minotaur for several rounds, forcing him to withdraw from the combat, and forcing the Eladrin to teleport away due to the goblin's use of a "Don't Move" effect). The rogue tried to solo two minions, and failed spectacularly at this, and the ranger couldn't decide on a target, waffling between the well-armoured hobgoblin Phalanx soldier and the goblin sharpshooter that was being a real pain in the butt.
To make a long post slightly shorter, we had a lot of fun. It was one of those "skin of your teeth" encounters that I think the group will be talking about for a long time.
However, it isn't in an iteration of D&D that I've had the most fun "gaming" lately; instead, it's been in a video game. And a very "ungamery" game, at that.
I've just picked up a copy of EA's NHL 2008, and I'm thoroughly in love. Let me just say, it's a difficult game, and it actually sort of feels like hockey - as opposed to most hockey video games out there. I started playing almost immediately, playing my beloved San Jose sharks against the lamest team in the NHL - The Nashville Predators.
Seriously, why does nashville even HAVE a hockey team? I think of Nashville, I don't think of hockey players. I think of hillbillies with names like "Cotton" and "Billy Ray Jimbob Crawdad". About the only thing the two groups of people have in common is a lack of teeth. Between one hillbilly and one goalie, you might have enough teeth in there to form a British Smile. But I digress.
I should have seen it coming. First game, the Sharks lost 6-1. In the second, it was 4-0. In the third, 3-1. It wasn't until the fourth game, when I realized that simply setting up one-timers was not going to get any goals, that the Sharks barely won a game - a shootout victory over Nashville, 3-2.
From that moment on, I've been hooked. The players move on the ice in defensive formations like hockey players, and many of the features that have to be manually controlled in most games (like skating backwards) are automatic in this game, so your players actually MOVE like hockey players.
Goalie Saves look amazing, players block opponents fairly accurately, and the announcers actually give fun facts about interesting players (for example, I never knew that Evgeni Nabokov is only the 7th goalie in NHL history to score a goal; he did it on a power play).
I don't know why I'm surprised by this, but I guess after a long time of playing games like NHL 2K7, I was resigned to hockey games feeling more like interesting arcade games more than... you know, hockey. Though, 2K7 has some really cool features that NHL 08 lacks - the ability to "fantasy draft" teams in a regular series, truly customizable penalties and gameplay experiences, and more visceral body checking.
But still, 08 is pretty good by my book. It should at least keep the hockey withdrawal pangs away until - good god - early October.
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