Fifth edition preconceptions

This is second post in the Lurking series. This post's topic is...

"What s/he (Nymie the Pooh) thinks about the upcoming 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and which edition is its favorite. (Note: Pathfinder is also an acceptable edition.)"

I have been through a few renditions of the beta rules. I have also looked through the free starter pdf available from Wizards of the Coast. I have not played the game. I will be joining in a 5e game next week.

I like what I read. I have not looked at the rules in depth nor have I any practical experience. The concepts I am reading sound great. I can not really speak to fifth beyond that.

As for versions, the edition I played the most was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition. I played so that much DMing AD&D 2e reached the point where it was the easiest game I ever ran. There was a time friends would invite me over to play. After arriving I would find out that not only was I DMing, but they had already made new characters I had never seen at a level they wanted to play in a setting of their choosing. My familiarity with the system was at a level where I could get the information from them then start on a fresh cigarette. The game would be up and running before I was done with the first cigarette. I quit smoking 16 Sep 2002 so that gives you an idea of the time frame I am talking about here. Yes, I forget my own birth date. No, I do not forget the day I quit smoking.

Alternity is my favourite edition. It's my article, deal with it. Alternity was my bag for a couple of years. There were way too many skills in that game, and there were fiddly bits, but overall I liked it. For those not acquainted with Alternity, it was a science fantasy game written by Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker. The publisher was Wizards of the Coast but they were still placing the TSR logo on products at that time. There were other noteworthy names that contributed to Alternity, but this is a post about D&D editions, not Alternity itself. I believe Alternity is important not only because it is a decent game, but also because it bridges the gap that was created late in the lifespan of AD&D 2e while preparing some of the ideas to come in third. Many contributors to Alternity were also contributors to third edition.

Third edition is my favourite edition if Alternity is not permitted by the made up rules I may or may not hold myself to. If WotC had not made the rule set available for everybody to sell content for, third would still fall where it does form me. Third was a good transition from previous editions. In spite of the vast amount of time I spent with AD&D 2e I can see it was a hot mess. I had a lot of familiarity with the system and even I do not remember today how exactly THAC0 works. I know I could figure it out and pick it up again, but there is no need. THAC0 however is just one example, and probably the most obvious one, of why third wins me over when compared to previous editions.

I have not played much Pathfinder. Most of the local Pathfinder players I know are playing Pathfinder Society. The concept seems neat, but I like the idea of the party being able to tell whatever story they want. The idea that a character I have been leveling in one game can be slotted into a game somewhere else and taken around the country like that is a novel one. I can't help but wonder though what kind of impact my character has on the world when those decisions are out of the hands of anybody sitting at the same table I am at. How is this different from a video game where the quest hubs are at set locations? One of the local GMs runs the same packet four times a week as he goes to different locations. I admire him as he is a super nice guy and I do not think my frayed sanity would continue to hold if I attempted to do the same.

Fourth edition is the version I have played the least discounting Pathfinder. I have spent more time with the latest version of Gamma World which was based on the same rules as fourth edition than I have playing real fourth edition D&D. I do not think it is a bad game. It has it's problems such as the time combat encounters require once a few levels in. Like many, it does not give me a D&D vibe. It reminded me quite a bit of games like Warhammer Quest and Descent. Many say it reminds them of video games. I guess I can see that. My friends used to refer to Warhammer Quest as Diablo the Board Game. I think it was mostly how time was handled in relation to powers. Warhammer Quest also had actions that could be used once per turn, once per encounter, or once per dungeon instead of day. The time spent in combat once monsters started to become hit point sponges was the main reason I did not seek out games specifically to play fourth edition.

Since Pathfinder was permitted, I am going to expand on that concept a smidge. True20 is a reworked version of third. I give the edge to third here, but if you like third edition it might be worth your time to take a gander at True20. I like all three versions of Mutants & Masterminds. I was on a small team that got approval to use the license in an Norse mythology themed supplement. About a week after we got the okay to use the license Green Ronin announced second edition would be released at that year's Gen Con two or three months after the announcement. There was a lot of back and forth amongst us as we tried to figure out how we wanted to handle it. The group fizzled as we were not looking forward to redoing the work we had already done, and would not know what would need reworked for a few months. Second edition was very strong however with a very active community. Third edition is the furthest removed from traditional D&D, but still an amazingly versatile system. I highly recommend it if you enjoy d20 systems and want to try your hand at a super hero game. It really is a great choice. If you can find it, there was a fantasy supplement for second that is fabulous. I think both second and third editions of M&M are better than D&D third, but they build upon D&D and would not exist without D&D.

Those are my general impressions on some of the editions preceded by a short blurb of me talking out of my elbow about fifth edition. I think it is the best edition by Wizards of the Coast since third. It has the potential to be the best edition from the little I have seen. Whether it topples third or Alternity for me remains to be seen. If you would like to try fifth edition then you could do much worse than to read this article about getting started by Scott Martin over at Gnome Stew.

I wish Wizards of the Coast luck and I hope their product line remains both profitable and manageable.

Warhammer 40K in a Boltershell

I had an idea for an article so started to write it. I realized part way into it I might want some basic information about the setting of Warhammer 40,000 as the article would make no sense for someone not already familiar with the background. I started to include a basic overview when I realized it was taking up a lot of space. This is one of those times when I can thankfully squeeze two posts out of one idea. I will be truncating Warhammer 40,000 as 40K a lot as I am lazy. So let's begin with the history lesson behind the Warhammer 40,000 setting.

A long ways into the future, in a galaxy right here at home....

Mankind was in a golden age. A time

that banished the wrongs brought

about by the Dark Age of Technology.

The Emperor had found his

genetically modified test tube babies

ejected out to different regions of space,

the Almighty Space Marines.

The emperor entrusted his son Horus

with leading his brethren on a crusade

to reunite all of mankind which had

become separated amongst the stars.

Horus became disenchanted with the

Emperor and his vision. He led half the

Space Marines in a bitter war against the

Emperor ten thousand years ago. Horus

died in the resulting conflict, and the

Emperor came close to death himself.

The Emperor has been a rotting husk

incapable of leaving his golden throne

for the past ten thousand years. He is

still the beacon that guides mankind as

without him there is no way to navigate

The Warp so no means for faster than

light travel. Should the Emperor perish,

Humanity will fall with him.

In the Grim Dark future, there is only War!

Yes, I know the scroll is supposed to line up evenly on the left, but I am not taking the time to do that.

That in a nutshell is twenty thousand plus years of history. There are a lot of nuances such as there are countless number of Human inhabited worlds. Humans are the most numerous species in the galaxy. Beings live within subscape or The Warp as it is called in the setting. Most warp beings do not care what us material beings do. Those that do care want to either destroy us or have power over us. There are two large sections of space where the material plane is rent apart to expose us directly to The Warp. The Warp is also the cause of most mutations and where psychics draw their power from. Space Marines are honourable sons of the Emperor. Girls in power armour are either nuns or =][=nquisitors. I am fairly certain I am legally obligated to use that symbol for the I in =][=nquisitor.

There are also many alien races. Most never receive a lot of attention. From Humanity's view, none of the Xenos races are good and should be shot on sight. There are Humans that have interactions with other species, but they are generally considered as not being true citizens of the Empire. They are therefore not trusted. Then you have the abhumans. These are Humans who spent so much time in an environment to cause their physiology to change. Some examples include Ratlings (Hobbits), Ogryn (Ogres), and the fan favourite Squats (Dwarfs). They are treated as a part of the Empire and have a place in it. That place is beneath real Humans however.

In addition to the Xenos and Abhumans, you should not trust other Humans as well. They might be hiding a mutation, or worse, be psychic. Both of these are evidence of Warp exposure. Mutants are slightly more tolerated as the less dangerous of the two and can be used for manual labour. The fear with psychics is not so much any mental abilities they might or might not possess, but the risk inherent with using psychic powers. Any time a psychic uses their abilities they are opening themselves up to The Warp. Anything could potentially come through should the psychic lose control or push too hard. Psychics are rounded up and tested. Those found unsuited for reeducation purposes or level of control are sent to Terra. A thousand psychics are sacrificed every day to keep the Emperor alive and power the navigation beacon he transmits into The Warp with his psychic abilities.

The number of psychics is on the rise. There are Xenos everywhere. This new age practically started with the arrival of Starship Trooper alien bugs drifting into our galaxy. Ancient races are waking up. New races are evolving and starting to explore and claim planets of their own.

Mix all of this with Gothic architecture, Emperor worship, few understand technology so it is worshiped as they perform the ancient rites as opposed to using technology as we think of it, and throw in some fake Latin. Humanity is a propped up corpse of it previous self. This is Warhammer 40,000.

I Do Love the CoX

Some of the pictures in this post are a little on the large size in full resolution. I am too lazy to change them. Also, all of the art was done by myself once upon a time and are of characters created by other players. The screenshots are of a couple of my characters.

Hex Girl

City of Heroes/Villains, or CoX as we called it once upon a time before ban warnings made that acronym unusable on the forums, was a game that practically consumed my life. The vast majority of the people in my life are either people I have met in the game, through groups associated with the game, or were introduced through people I met because of CoX. If you were to go through my list of Facebook friends, the largest group would be those I know because of this game with a distant second being people I went to school with followed by people that play Marvel games on Facebook, family, and then those I have met locally since moving to Fresno, CA twelve years ago.

Flux

Let's go back to January 2004. My school funding had fallen through in spite of my being disabled and on the Dean's List. I had no job at the time because I was on disability and unable to get around on my own so was taking online classes in hopes I could find some work to do from home. My disability was getting worse so I actually saw my academic career failing as both a blessing and a curse at the time. I am fairly certain now that I would not have been able to keep up, but I did have a strong start and nothing in my academic records at the time showed I was incapable of doing the work online.

Caesura

I was building a super hero themed MUD at the time. It was a project between semesters that I could construct over time and possibly use as hands on experience in game design and team management. I did not want a MUSH or a MUX or a MOO. I wanted a game where people could craft their own powers from hard coded bits instead of by simply describing what a power did every time it was used.

So I was working on some code when a friend asked me yet again over ICQ (digitized smoke signals) if I had tried World of Warcraft yet. I responded that I did not have the time, but promised I would get a copy. I then proceeded to spend the next couple of weeks hunting down a copy of World of Warcraft as it was apparently sold out everywhere.

 

I was in a local Walmart that February on another failed attempt to track down a copy of the elusive World of Warcraft. Sitting there on the shelf was a collector's edition copy of City of Heroes. Basically this meant a copy of the game with an included Heroclix figure, black and white comic book, a real manual, and in game glowing pink slide run power. Throw in the fact they were offering a free monthly comic with the subscription back then and I was sold. I told myself I was getting it for research purposes to make certain my MUD was not doing anything too closely related, but the real reason is I have been a comic book fan since before the time I was permitted to be a comic book fan.

Fraggle

For the next two years I did not buy another video game, miniature, or role playing product. I did not go to the theatre. I saved a metric bankton of money. My acrylic paints literally went to brick form in this time as I did not touch them and they were mostly the Citadel black flip top paints that never sealed properly. I continued to play CoX for many more years after that, but during those two years I played nothing else.

Yes, the game was fun, but it was the connections that kept me going. Even when I was not playing the game I would log into either the game or the forums to talk with people. I met so many wonderful people and the various little communities were vibrant with lives of their own.

Scurvy Dog and Scurvy Princess

CoX shut down in November of 2012. I do miss it even though I was not playing it much at the end. There are people still trying to resurrect it, recreate it, or build a spiritual successor. Some celebrities stepped forward publicly as having played the game in hopes that their influence might help the game remain open. Mercedes Lackey was particularly visible during this time, although she was far from being alone amongst all the voices.

I did join in the torch holding ceremonies at the end. The community I used to be a part of embraced me once again for a short time as I was again a part of it. This was a community that in the end came together not to protest the closure, but to remember what the game meant to them. It was our vigil for the end of our home and community. I do not hate NCSoft for their decision to close CoX. Neither do I understand it, but they did give us a few months to say goodbye.

Irresistible Force

Many people that played the game still share screenshots they had taken. Some of them seem to have hard drives full of screenshots. Going through my collection of pictures, I have one screenshot of my level fifty from the character select screen, a few of the second character I made for the game (the first was deleted early on), and a smattering of shots of other characters. I have some CoX art I have drawn, but most of it is of other people's characters. I am happy I took the time to make something for friends, but kind of wish I had taken the time to record some of my own memories as that is all they are now. Memories.

So what brought on this bout of nostalgia? There are screenshots and talk about the game shared to my Facebook feed practically every day. No, the trigger for this post was a spammer selling sunglasses that tagged a friend of mine I met in game.

Alt for Irresistible Force

This friend was shot in the back multiple times in 2011. As far as I am aware the police still do not know who shot him nor why. His family never attempted to take down his Facebook page and leave it there for those of use who knew him online. Some of my other friends have met him in person. Muad Dib could be an angry, yet passionate person that would speak up for anybody or against anything if he felt the need. We butted heads sometimes as we could both let passion blind us at times, but he had a good heart. Heck, he was practically all heart, both the good and the bad. He never tried to hide who he was when online and always, and I mean always spoke his mind.

My Oldest Character

It got me to thinking about other friends that I only met through the game or forums that left us before the game itself ended. I do not know how many people actually remember Malibu Sally, and most seem to hate her, but that bitch sure knew how to have some fun. Ascendant is another that is no longer with us. I never met Coyote as he was a member of the community before my time, but I did have the good fortune to meet his brother who only joined the community after hearing about the tribute to his brother in game.

My Level Fifty

It is all a bitter reminder that life is too short. I need to get out there and find new communities. I need to make some new friends. I need to live a little again. Thank you random sunglasses spammer for making me angry enough to wake up and think about life again.

Welcome to the Kibitz Knook

Salutations. I am the host of the Kibitz Knook, Nym Squee Pimpley. The Kibitz Knook is a personal blog with a focus on a variety of gaming topics. In time it should host posts ranging from table top wargaming to pen and paper role playing games to video games. Along the way I will spew out theories I have on gaming along with posts about related topics such as miniature painting and what exactly is the best tool for removing a spear after your cat leaves a model laying next to your bed in the middle of the night.

There may be personal information about myself from time to time as this is a personal blog. This post is one such example as I felt it was prudent to introduce myself along with the blog. I will endeavor to keep any in depth personal information to their own posts so they are easy to skip over should I ever feel the need to post such.

Speaking of myself, I am a wheelchair bound individual. I currently reside in Central California with my three cats and roommate/caregiver. Sometimes her daughter and grandkids along with their cat lives with us. My health waxes and wanes, but even with that I haven’t been able to sit up on my own for about five years. It’s been a slow but gradual degradation that has been taking place since the 1990s. The doctors do not know what exactly is occurring with my body. The most recent theory is Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), but they do not know for certain. I have controlled Type 2 Diabetes and bad cholesterol. Both are nearly to a level of control not worth mentioning, but I’m attempting to be thorough yet brief in case anybody does decide to read this. My health has actually been in a bit of an upswing starting roughly a before writing this. I am able to get to my computer with greater regularity and have been getting out more. Part of the reason for this blog is that I want to write about gaming or flesh out one of the many disjointed game ideas I have while I am able.

My experience with video game consoles includes the Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Gamecube, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, and the first generation Gameboy DS. The one really comfortable chair that can accommodate me is sitting in front of my computer so I have had little desire to spend much time in front of the television. My first pen and paper roleplaying game was the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. I did a lot of bartering building up from my lunches to buy it and then had to smuggle it to and from school. Smuggling is wrong kids.

So far I have played and run many different RPG systems including Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Palladium, Gurps, Old & New World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, and Savage Worlds among others. The only CCG I’ve spent any real time with was Magic: the Gathering, but I haven’t played in years. I own a bunch of the Marvel and DC VS system cards, but never played. I have an interest in just about any miniatures game I can get my hands on. Steam says I currently own 123 games through that service while Origin has about twenty and over fifty on Good Old Games and yet there are still CDs and other games I have no clue what I have done with them. I used to cycle through MMOs. City of Heroes, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and World of Warcraft are the ones I have played the most, and in that order. The most recent MMO has been Defiance. I just haven’t put in much time with any MMO lately. I’ve also been playing Facebook games lately. One of the ideas I have for a feature is to start a new game for Marvel Avengers Alliance and catalogue what it is like going through with a fresh account since I started mine right before Spec Ops 1.

I think that is more than enough about me for now. Hopefully that will give those of you interested some insight into what you might find here. This should cover all the basics and give me one post to point people at if they ask about me.