What is D&D: Indiana Jones v. Superman

Professor Jones or Clark Kent?

I have been thinking about this basic question quite a bit, which brings me back to the opening question of the series, “What is D&D?” Are players heroes or just explorers looking for lost treasure? When designing adventures, this is really a fundamental question. Without a doubt, players often become unlikely heroes, in that over the course of an adventure they disrupt the BBEG, but is the focus of the game really about heroic actions? Recent adventure design would seem to indicate that the latter is where the game is headed, but is that really the right direction? Is there a right direction?

To go back to my opening question and compare and contrast Superman to Indiana Jones, there are some subtle differences that are interesting in this debate. Superman is a hero by definition. He has answered a higher calling, and has dedicated his life to being the hero. There is no question to which side of the fence he is on, regardless of what the writers plot out for him in any given episode or plot arc. He is the classic example of a traditional hero. There are no selfish motives on his part, and he always answers the call of the hero. He is not an accidental hero, but rather he is the shining example of the hero.

Professor Jones is a bit different. His past is a bit checkered, and he has not always acted out of an altruistic higher purpose. He is first and foremost a college professor of archaeology. When opportunities present themselves, he becomes something of a treasure hunter. Now I am going to assume that early in his career he was a more traditional archaeologist, but as time went by, he become more interested in more eclectic archaeology. The character is clearly a throwback to the old serial and pulp adventures of the early 20th century. While one can argue that he is heroic in nature, I would say that he is more of an accidently hero, rather than someone that is out to save the world as a full time gig.

I can remember the first game I played, which was using the Holmes rule set, and the dungeon that I went through was B1 In Search of the Unknown. I rolled up a fighter, and I can remember that his stats were nothing special, yet I ventured forth looking for the unknown, as I had no idea what to expect. The first monster I encountered was a fire beetle, which I was able to defeat easily. It was shortly there afterwards, I was attacked by several bandits, and that was the end of my first character. In the creation process and as I was going through, I had no thoughts of saving the world or defeating some BBEG, but rather I was an explorer in search of treasure and the unknown.

Fast forward some twenty five years later, give or take a couple of years, I ran a bunch of folks through my Ptolus campaign, and the concept of characters as heroes, factored strong in the design of the adventure. The characters were hired to confront chaos, and the underlying assumption of the campaign was that they were heroes. When I was running the campaign, I did not give much thought to the question of hero v. treasure hunter. It was only some time after the end that I started to give this some serious thought. In my next campaign, I am going back to the concept of players as treasure hunters in the vein of Indiana Jones.

One of the trends that I am seeing more of is the concept of adventuring guilds that are built into campaign worlds. This concept has a lot of appeal for me. In Monte’s Ptolus, he built in the Delver’s Guild as a place for characters to start their career. In Paizo’s Golarion, they have the Pathfinder Society, in which their members are described as, “.. part archeologist, part historian, and part foolhardy adrenaline addict.” There is a pulp fiction feel to these adventurer guilds that resonates well with me, and I would like to work that into my next campaign, and I might even stick in both of them.

However, even though the stated theme for my next adventure is characters as adventurers, I still ponder a bit on the central question of the series, ‘What is D&D?” Is it save the world or is it exploration for the sake of exploration?

While I have not directly answered my opening question, I will continue to explore it more in my next blog entry.

Review: Chaositech (Malhavoc Press)

Background

Prior to 3rd edition being published, Monte Cooke was developing and play testing what would become Ptolus, which was the test bed for 3rd edition. Shortly after 3rd edition came out, Monte left WotC, and started his own company, Malhavoc press, which according to his website specializes in,” ... unusual magic, monsters, and evocative elements that go beyond traditional fantasy,” and I would agree with that statement. Out of his work on Ptolus would come a number of supplements and adventures that were published under the Malhavoc Press imprint. Eventually Monte would release his masterpiece Ptolus, which ties these earlier works together. I remember when he released Chaositech, back in 2003, and I was seriously considering buying it at that time, but for some reason I did not. When Monte released Ptolus in the summer of 2006, Chaositech was one of the bonus products included in the CD that was attached to the big book. This was an unexpected find, and I was very glad that it was included. Just recently I printed it out and after looking through it again, I could not resist writing a review on it.

Layout

In general, the layout is very good, and I am going to gush a bit about it. Malhavoc Press benefits from having Sue Cook as the editor (as she is a very good one) and she is the one that ensures that everything hangs together. There are a number of elements that I think separates this product from similar products done by other companies. I have always been critical of other third party products that have no table of contents or incomplete ones. In my opinion, there is no excuse for not having a good table of contents. Malhavoc’s tables of contents sections are always very complete. I bring this out as a general example of the care and attention that goes into their products, and this one is no different. Another point that I will bring out is the number of sidebars with insightful information. When reading through this product, one gets the feeling that the author is speaking directly to the reader, and sharing in the behind the scenes look at the product. I am just a big proponent of sidebars, especially insightful ones..

Getting back to the overall organization of the book. The book has six chapters, an introduction, and an appendix. The book starts off by describing what chaos is, and then goes into three different kinds of Chaositech, and then wraps up with character templates, monsters and Chaositech items. It is a very logical flow, and very easy to follow. There are other third party publishers that could learn a thing or two

Artwork

The artwork is done in the typical Malhavoc style. I write that because the products produced by Malhavoc have a very distinct style about them, with a color cover and black and white interior, that is very different than the earlier versions of D&D. The cover is done by RK Post, and his style reminds me of Brom’s work. The interior art does hang together very well, as the style is consistent throughout. The interior has pencil sketch feel to it, as some of the pieces look incomplete, but it still works with the rest of the book. Some of the art is very solid, and I would say that it has an evocative feel to it.

Key features

There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. Three different flavors of Chaositech

2. A number of character options, including templates, classes, equipment, and augmentations.

3. A number of new monsters, secret organizations, and options for how to use them in one’s campaign.

4. While this source book was designed around Ptolus, it is still generic enough to be used in any campaign setting or in any edition of D&D.

Final notes

In recent years, I have seen a number of supplements make use of fluff that was originated in the early years of D&D. When D&D was first developed, good and evil were not specifically called out; rather alignments were Lawful and Chaotic, with the implication that Chaos was evil. While I am not a hard core Warhammer (or WH40K player), chaos is clearly evil. In Monte’s Ptolus world, Chaos is evil, and he goes as far as to name his secret organizations, chaos cults. As I read through the old school blogs, there is more and more of this movement to chaos as evil, rather than just calling it evil. This means that a product like Chaositech fits right in to this trend.

While I can understand the reluctance of some folks to accept technology into their campaign, I am one that likes a little bit. Chaositech gives the GM options of adding this strange technology that is different than magic and it not outright Sci-Fi. What I like about Chaositech is the role playing choices that it creates. It is clearly evil stuff, but it gives power, and creates a bit of a dilemma for the player. Even the most Puritan of players can eventually slide a bit to the dark side if exposed to choices of power.

My final comment is that even though it is written for 3rd edition, there is plenty that can be harvested for use in any edition of play. The book is loaded with interesting ideas, evocative artwork, and oozes flavor that begs for use. My last campaign was in Ptolus, which this material was specifically written for, but I am planning on using a number of elements for my next campaign

Rating: 4 1/2 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

This is one of the more interesting source books that provides more than just a rehash of the same old stuff. This book contains much darker and sinister stuff!

Interesting stuff

First thing in the mornings, I usually check on a couple of blogs before starting to look at my near infinite supply of work emails that never end. This morning, I was flipping through the various blogs, and I hit Monte’s blog that was hysterical. The topic in his blog was about the way folks mispronounce words. He starts out telling a story about the pronunciation of “nuclear,” which continually gets mispronounced, and then proceeds to blog a bit about this. In the comments that follow, there are a number of folks telling stories on words that they have had trouble pronouncing, and there are some very funny ones. I am glad to see that the professional writers, who make up words, also struggle a bit with some of them.

I think there is a natural reaction when someone points out a word that you have just totally missed on, and having that question pop into your head, “I hope I did not sound like an idiot.” Of course the answer is, “yes you did,” which is why people are laughing.
Two quick stories:

1) On Planewalker there is a file that you can download that has a number of wav files that go through the pronunciations of common Planescape words. I remember listening to a bunch of them, and I think I was probably massacring about half of them. This probably explains why I do not run Planescape campaigns.

2) When I was back in high-school, my buddy’s little sister, who was 5 years younger than me, would continually bust my chops on the pronunciation of “helicopter.” What is amusing is that after college, I flew helicopters for the Navy, but we just called them “helos,” which was probably a good thing for me.


Anyway, it’s good reading for a chuckle or two!

What is D&D?

I want to kick off a short series on, What is D&D anyway? I am continually amazed about the number of message boards, blogs, and 3rd parties that are involved in our hobby that did not exist prior to the 1970’s. Some folks call this a fad, as its popularity is down from its peak, but there are still a large number of folks that are still in the hobby in one form or another, so I can hardly call it a fad. GenCon continues to attract a large number of folks every year, and it does not show signs of slowing down. So back to my opening question, so what is D&D, and why do we engage in edition wars, and argue passionately for one style of play over another?

Over on the Necromancer boards, the question was asked, what is the D&D brand, and that question morphed a bit in the comments that followed. I am enclosing a modified version of what I wrote about a year ago on this topic.

I personally think its about the shared experience and the creation process, so the question is, “what is the D&D experience?"

To me it’s the chance to be a part of the adventure. When reading a book, you are enjoying reading about someone else's adventure. But with D&D you are the hero, and you have people around you that:

1) Recognize your heroic nature
2) Become bards to your heroic journey
3) Provide a unique shared experience

In a sense D&D gives you a chance to answer the call to adventure. When a game hits on these elements, it is very powerful, and that is why I play D&D.

There are a couple of follow on topics that I want to hit on, to address style, setting, playing, and creating, but I will save that for tomorrow’s blog.

Six is good!

Normally I just focus this blog on game stuff, but the Superbowl is a game..right? Its just a really big game.

Superbowl 43 wrap.

Steelers make it 6! Pretty amzing considering there are some teams that have not even made it to one. On my other blog, I have typed up a couple of notes on my Shanghai experience watching the Superbowl. It was a little different, but still a good time.

http://mrbaron-bps.livejournal.com/32050.html

Highlight videos.

Enjoy!