D20 versus 2nd ed.

     "Lis I have a problem with my players." My brother mentions on the phone while talking with me to fill the silence between my work and my apartment.  "They're all Munchkins*."  I roll my eyes a little at this only a little jealous that my younger brother has been running a campaign in Dungeons and Dragons and I have yet to run something in anything.  But he did have an older sister to guide him into geekdom.
     "Well that's what you get when you play 3.5." I put in my normal jibe at his choice of game. To which he replies, exasperated "that's what they said."

     It should be noted I don't play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 or D20 system (both copyright Wizards of The Coast.)  I have played one extensive D20 Star Wars campaign and I once, long ago, played one 3.5 campaign that I dropped out of.  My overall impression of the system is blandness.  Not that they don't have good points.  The GM's and groups I was playing with were fun.  The Star Wars game was where the weird intergame intragroup trope of me playing small fuzzy things came from.  Yet overall I just don't have a lot of love for the system.
     Some good aspects of 3.5: its adaptability. There are many D20 system books out there for almost anything you are a fan of and they can be effectively combined. Want to play a game where a Stargate team goes to a planet where Darth Vader is currently pitching a battle against Cthulu? All you need is those three D20 books (all of which exist). If you are looking for more firm rules in your role playing experience D20 gives you what you need.
    Mostly I play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd ed.  There is the fact that this is what the people around me run (or run slight alterations of).  I still have to agree with my friends' reasoning for running this system. One of the first is you can make choices as you go. Now I know there are 3.5 players who will say that you can definitely change your mind about a character as it evolves but so many skills have such weird prerequisites that you need to plan everything perfectly in advance half the time.  With 2nd ed there are no feats to get prerequisite feats in. The skill system is very simple.
    Another problem with D20 is topending.  In 2nd ed most rolling for skills is dependent on rolling under your stat. So the higher your skill the more likely you are to roll under it.  In D20 all skills have a skill check that you have to get by adding your skill to a d20 die roll.  There are examples of why this doesn't work too well. The first example is that it is very easy to just make an unpassable check.  A DM can simply set a check so high that a player can't possibly make it.  The other end of the scale I like to use a personal story to tell people about.  In the starwars game I played I was a tech specialist.  All of my skills were maxed to mechanic repair, astrogating, piloting and computer use.  At one point we were doing something that involved breaking into a computerized lock. I made a roll of like a 4 and had enough skill points that when I said what my final roll was (I honestly can't remember it was somewhere in the 30s I think) the GM just said there was basically no way I could fail this roll as the challenge ratings were all below my skill numbers. I couldn't shoot worth a damn (all combat skills were hard to get with my class I wasn't trying to minmax but it just happens) in combat my best bet was hiding which I sucked at. But if we had to fly somewhere or hack something there wasn't even a brief moment of "oh maybe she won't make this" tension. I just automatically did it, rolling was a pointless action that I took to make it feel like I as a player had some contribution.
    The third and final problem I have with D20 is it is hard to take what you want and make the game you want to play (aside from setting information.) Original Dungeons and Dragons was made to be modular. A GM could take rules that he or she felt made a good game and expand on them as they wished.  With D20 if you take something out there is always a fear that the tower will go tumbling down.
     I prefer to play my games with a certain amount of give and you-can-mess-up-ness.  I like to get to a point where I can go. You know what my character is changing or hey we are in a different environment and I need this new skill.  So for me 2nd ed is the better choice for Dungeons and Dragons.  I really don't have a lot of fun with D20 systems.

*Munchkins are a term for players who try to make the "best" character in a competitive manner. Usually this involves downgrading certain traits to make others better (known as minmaxing). Many of these players think that one type of character is superior to others and are interested in "winning" a game that at its very core is a cooperative game.

The Srewn

Ok This one takes a little bit of explanation. To start with a Sloon is a lizard creature from the D&D campaign Land of Ruin, created by Josh Sterns. They were a super advanced society with magic and psionics to rival the most advanced races. I thought it would be fun to have a call forward to Persephone's adventures in Ya. 

This is one of my favorite stories I've written I would mostly write it by hand before class it took a while to finish it.

“Give it back!” Persephone lunged at her sister grabbing at the small doll that she had carried with her since it was given to her by a soothsayer in sigil.

            “You don’t even know what it is” replied Florentine, jumping lithely away from her sister’s grasp. She looked at the strange lizard creature. It didn’t look like anything she had seen in the plains.

            “Yes I do! It’s a Srewn and it’s mine. Give it back!” Persephone jumped at ther sister and the two rolled back and forth trying to grab the doll. Persephone was bigger but Florentine was better at dodging out of the way and quicker with her hands.

            After about five minutes of this Cyrus, their father, stepped in. “You two stop now!” he grabbed both his daughters and lifted them from the ground. “You are going to give away our position.” He grabbed the doll and handed it to Persephone. Then he turned a reproachful eye on Florentine. “There isn’t much point in taking something if they can tell you took it right away. I expect better of you.”

            “Cyrus get back here,” Shir’tha, the girls’ mother, hissed. “There is a cave down that way I think that looks like a good place. I need you to look for me.”

            Cyrus rolled his eyes but quickly set to work almost entirely disappearing before their eyes. Florentine watched in awe as her father moved out of sight, completely silent. He could still always catch her when she tried it.

            “What is a srewn then?” She asked her sister as if they had not been interrupted by either the fight or the scolding.

            Persephone looked at her sister warily as she clutched the doll to her chest. She didn’t answer but squeezed up closer to the rock at her back and just stared suspiciously at her sister.

            “I bet you don’t know.” Florentine said teasing. “You say you know all these things but you don’t.” She crawled a little closer, whispering in order to avoid being told off again. “You don’t know anything. I bet you made up the word. Srewn doesn’t even sound like a real thing. I bet the magic lady didn’t even give it to you it looks like something you found in the dirt.”

            Persephone threw her precious toy to the ground and launched at her sister. This time the fight lasted barely a minute as Cyrus deftly picked them both up. Holding the two struggling girls by the waist one in each hand he looked at his wife. “The cave is clear and I found a good path that is hidden in shadows.”

            Shir’tha looked at the two squirming masses her husband was holding. “Then we better get going soon before the sparks start flying.” She grabbed her older daughter and said to her “if you are going to start fights you are going to have to learn to do it properly.”

            Persephone calmed down enough to walk on her own. “Can I have a sword momma?” a gleam entered her eye at the thought of a big beautiful sword like her mother’s.

            “Well you obviously can’t have one right now. Now be quiet until we get to the cave.” Shir’tha took her daughter’s hand as they walked down the path following Cyrus.

********

“Daddy my Srewn!” Persephone was inconsolable. It had been a good three hours since they had arrived in the cave and she had discovered her most treasured possession was missing. Cyrus looked outside worriedly. The path they had taken had become much better lit since they had travelled it.

            “Dearest I would gladly go and get your doll but I can’t hide in shadows that aren’t there.” Cyrus tried to calm his daughter.

            “No daddy now!” Persephone stamped her foot and Cyrus nervously looked around for any fires that could be amplified by her abilities.

            Shir’tha looked at her husband. “How long until you can?”

            Cyrus looked at the entrance trying to judge the strange sun. “Three hours, maybe four.” He looked at his daughter who was on the verge of another fit then said quietly to his wife “are you sure we must? She has to learn about loss sometime.”

            Shir’tha looked at her husband. They normally were in accord on how to raise the children despite different upbringings but sometimes he just didn’t understand. “It’s all she has. She can’t steal whatever she wants like you and Florentine. She has no hoard of trinkets like you two.  No wonder she clings to it. With as much as you speak of wealth she thinks she is the poorest of all of us.”

            Cyrus pondered for a moment. “Well I suppose if our pursuers had seen her with it it may lead them here.” He knelt down and looked his eldest daughter in the eye. “I can’t go now but as soon as I am able I will fetch your doll. For now you two should have supper and try to sleep.”

            Persephone sniffed and nodded. As her father went to take watch her mother unpacked rations for dinner. Within an hour both of the girls were fast asleep.

********

            Later that night the menacing form of Cyrus made his way back into the cave. Checking to make sure the girls were asleep he looked at his wife and shook his head. “It wasn’t there” he said with a look of apprehension.

            Shir’tha looked at her husband quizzically. “Someone took it? Even if we are still being followed why take a ragged childs doll?”

            “No one took it.” Cyrus shook his head. “No one had been there.” He looked at his wife. “You never sensed any magics about it did you?”

            “No I’d have said.” Shir’tha matched her husband’s confused look. “Why?”

            Cyrus sat down next to the entrance looking out. “Well the gods know I haven’t your expertise in spell types. But when I looked where it should have been I could sense something. It felt like it had just disappeared.” He looked over where the bedrolls were laid out. “If you can cast a guardian perhaps we can both get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

********

            Sometime later Florentine woke to hear quiet crying from her sister. She turned over and saw Persephone was awake trying to hide her tears. “What’s wrong Pers?” she asked with genuine concern.

            “It’s gone. Daddy came back but he didn’t give it to me.” She spoke with the voice of a child trying to be brave.

            “Maybe he just didn’t want to wake you.” Florentine tried to reassure her sister.

            Persephone shook her head. “I can feel it. It’s not here. It’s not anywhere.” Her mournful tone struck through Florentine.

            They lay in silence for some time though Florentine knew her sister didn’t sleep. Florentine stared at the ceiling. She knew the desire to posses things but there was nothing she owned that meant so much to her. She rolled over onto her side. “Persephone, what’s a srewn?” All mocking had left her voice.

            Persephone looked at her sister suspiciously then smiled. “They were lizard men but they were more like dragons. But instead of breathing acid or fire or lightning they were so powerful they could breathe magic…”

Selena of Riverfork

After Persephone died I made a bard. She was OK. My GM is particularly adverse to sonic, song, and music attacks so I made a poet bard. She actually isn't dead I lost the character sheet and then found it again so I may play her again sometime.

This story refers to the game world that was created by our GM, Josh Sterns of Winter's Riddle. The Opallus was a macguffin that we were looking for and boy when we found it did we find it.
 
Selena of Riverfork
Selena crouched down next to a rare desert flower in the ruinous landscape.  She attempted a quick sketch and then gave up and plucked the flower, squashing it between two pages of her book.  It would not be the source of an epic poem but it may make an interesting piece for her group to listen to.  That is if she ever found a group. Bards did not do well travelling alone, especially in this wasteland.

“The Last Survivor,” that was the epic she was working on.  The title was deceptive, the story was not her own but that of her group and the search for the Opallus. Selena had been working on the piece one member at a time ending each section with their tragic end in this horrid land. Checking her notes Selena carefully put her book away and recited the last section she had written to herself.  “The brave Paladin Shola, had taken up her mighty spear/ and with her mighty battle cry drove it straight into the heart of Feyr.” It would be a living testament to their glorious battles.

The slight framed girl climbed over a rock and gazed into the distance. She had seen the tower from far away and was sure it must hold some secrets of the ancient Sloon.  Selena couldn’t wait to write all she found within the tower. The Opallus was the quest she had started on but the Chronicles of Ya were her true goal.  Looking up at the sky, Selena judged that she had at least a few hours before she needed to make camp.  She wasn’t sure if she could make it to the tower before then but she would definitely be there before nightfall tomorrow.  With that thought to push her on, Selena stepped off her rock and walked onward.

Enasan

This was the first wizard I ever played in D and D this story refers a lot to the setting as this character came from the native people of the prime world we were on. So again lots of thanks to Josh Sterns (author of Winter's Riddle)

I also just remembered this was the other character that saved the evil priest. 
Enasan
They would bring back books. Those braves who came back at all. They would take them to the treasure pile as offerings to Collu'qan. Later, Enasan would sneak out and take the books one at a time. The dragon and his hero never seemed to mind.

She spent months, sometimes years on a work, deciphering the tomes little by little from the time she was young. She hid her studies from everyone, her parents, her elders, the chief, until the day she practiced her first spell. She didn’t realize just how loud the shout would be.

She spent the next three days in the isolation lodge. Finally the decision was made that if Enasan gave up her pursuit of forbidden knowledge from the Time of Nightmares she would be allowed to stay. Yet knowledge was the only joy she had, so she left to make her way through the mysteries.

She spent her first days sneaking into the ruins across the lake. Managing to barely survive she amassed enough knowledge to learn more spells and there she also found even more texts had on healing arts unknown to her people. When she had found as many spells as she could she studied the medical texts until she was an expert in the art.

After learning all she could from the ghostly ruins she turned to the forest and studied the creatures there. One day while watching some giant beetles a group of strange people attacked them. The group fought bravely but Enasan felt she had to step in. Using the first spell she learned she made the sound of the Rocs which hunted across the valley. Hearing the cry the beetles ran off.
Finding that the outsiders wished to meet the Strange One in the tower, she decided to follow them. The chance to learn was always the driving force in her life.

Florentine Ov'Cyrus

Florentine was my next character. Her life was so short that her history wasn't written until after she had died. But there was one aspect that made some in the party groan and others loved, she was Persephone's sister. A funny aspect of this story is that some people, who didn't know me well, noticed I was upset. They thought that Florentine (who everyone called Persephone Junior) was the cause. I can't remember what I was upset about but I was all about making new characters especially when my characters died in weird ways so yeah, that wasn't the deal.

Also this refers to another character who was played by someone who has now become a great friend (cause he is such a cool guy.) Since our characters entered at the same time we decided we were pulling the same scheme in Sigil, cannot for the life of me remember what the scheme was.

Florentine Ov’Cyrus
“There are never enough Berks in sigil,” Florentine remembered her father’s favorite phrase. “Fresh meat abounds there but you aren’t ready to tell the difference.”

The memory flashed before her eyes. Cyrus grabbing a purse off the elderly woman walking past. Florentine watched in awe. She had been training in masteries of 12 chimes with her father. She could pull something out of almost any pocket in almost any normal garment but she had not even begun to master the casual way her father could walk past an unsuspecting mark. He said having a seven year old with him helped, though she doubted her father’s appearance could ever be looked at without suspicions. He still had both his wings and an eight foot tall tiefling even in Sigil was an intimidating sight.

As her life bled from her Florentine remembered a later point. “The lawful plains have easier marks but the punishments for getting caught are worse. Remember Persephone?”

Florentine laughed “well primes are easy marks too right?”

“If your sister was interested in profit she may have a chance there. Though it was probably some barren place full of barbarians. Those poor barbarians.”

Now as Florentine was being dragged away from those very barbarians her last flash of memory was sitting around the fire with her dad before running off to start her own adventures that brought her to her partnership with Nuqyryn and led her to this place. She remembered her father’s last piece of advice.

“My daughter you are most like me and therefore my favorite so I will give you my most important advice.” As her consciousness fully left her she could hear in her head the last words from her father.
“Never get killed and dragged off by skeletons to their master.”

The Death of Persephone

This is an add on to the Persephone story Persephone died trying to save another party member from a fiery death. This character would be saved by other characters of mine and he was an ass. It became a theme for me to the point of the other player getting mad at me for saving him. I really liked this description of Persephone's parents.

A small demon ran against the winds of Pandemonium.  Cyrus the Liar should not be hard to find.  Soon the young servant of darkness saw the characteristic single green batlike wing of his mistresses first husband.  The tiefling thief turned around quickly, knife in hand.  The demon shrank miserably at the sight, Cyrus was not known for waiting for explanations before he started killing.

“I bring a message from my mistress Shir’tha of Hgrath.” He spat it out as quickly as he could. Bdus did not like his mistress, he had reason to suspect she had been cheating when she won him and took him away from his home in the Abyss. He would follow her orders though since she always knew when he did not and, though her wrath was sporadic it was often cruel and strange even to a native of the pits of hell.

Cyrus looked down at the small figure holding up a scroll defensively.  He laughed his signature laugh that caused the demon to shrink even further, this only caused more terrible mirth from the scarred and ragged figure. He took the scroll in one sharp movement. “You better scamper off to your mistress I hear she has developed a habit of feeding bad little demons to her newest husband.” Bdus did not disbelieve this at all even coming from the mouth of a liar. He quickly scampered off to find a portal back to Limbo.

Chuckling to himself, Cyrus unrolled the scroll and read its contents.

“Cyrus, I write to inform you of an amusing story that one of my contacts recently told me.  You should remember that our first daughter Persephone recently got herself banished to some prime plane after her attempts to teach the trees of arcadia to rebel against their Lawful masters. Well my friend who is a great source of information on the movement of souls has given me his word that she managed to get herself killed while trying to find a way back to some less friendly climate.
           
Apparently a companion of hers managed to light a cursed object that caused a denizen of the Plane of Fire to leap forth.  While many of her companions (mostly primes) left her and her friend to play with the object she stayed in some silly attempt to defend him from whatever came forth from it. At least this is what my contact managed to glean from her he is a master of speaking with souls in transition.  I personally suspect she stayed in hopes of speaking with the elemental, you remember her obsession with that particular inner plane.
           
Anyway apparently she did not even die at the hands of her attacker but was left to bleed and according to her was almost saved by her travelling companions. Knowing our daughter I’m not sure how hard they were trying she often was a little hard on Primes.
           
I do not know if anyone is interested in resurrecting her at this time but I certainly hope she has learned something about the worlds if she is.

Your favorite wife
Shir’tha”

Cyrus’ acid tears burned his face as his howls of laughter caused several nearby rodents to flee in terror.  Oh, Persephone, he thought. He was sure Shir’tha was in fact proud of her daughter, her side of the family tended to have a bit of a noble streak in them.  He was sure his younger daughter Florentine would not have been so foolish.  Then again he had not heard anything of her in a while, she was probably in prison somewhere like Sigil, she always had lacked his finesse though she tried to follow in his footsteps.  Ah well, he skewered a nearby rat to stupid to run away.  Thus was the nature of the Planes.

Role Playing Games 101 part one

Over the past few years most of my friends have been the people in the SciFi club at college. Most of these people know the basic ideas of role playing even if they don't actually play. Recently, however, I have been spending a lot of time around people who don't know what a pen and paper RPG is. I usually try and fail to explain what RPGs are to them so I think I will dedicate a few posts to that goal.

The basic idea of pen and paper role playing games is the same as the games we used to play as little kids. You know those games, the ones where you pretended to be space men or princesses or wizards or sometimes normal people just someone who wasn't you. When we are little we all love to pretend to be someone else so we do, a lot of times we are encouraged to do this. At some point though it stops. We are discouraged from spending so much time in idle fantasy and start playing games with clearly defined limits and squares and rules.

(Now I won't say that role playing games aren't like that at all or that all different games/groups/scenarios are the same. This post is really just about the general idea behind the games I will probably get into more of the particulars in later posts in this series.)

Role playing games are a chance to break the mold, to BE that wizard/princess/spaceman/other person again. Of course since we are older we have to make some boundaries so that we don't spend all our time arguing about whether our spell or attack was effective on our opponent. There are rules set out in advance either by some company that made the game or by the person who is running the game.

So the end result is that you can pretend to be pretty much whatever you want and usually pretend to fight monsters or evil scientists or something (as I said I will have more on the mechanics of RPGs at a later date.) The best part is probably hanging out with friends while doing it but the games themselves are pretty dang fun if you have the imagination to go with it.