Interview with Daniel Griego

Yes, the title of today's post says “interview,” but it's pretty much just a plug for a Kickstarter project.  No, it was never intended for this blog to be a Kickstarter shill, but – for the record – your humble host has not compromised his journalistic integrity by accepting free product.  No, Shadowfist is neither old school nor a role-playing game, but it has the same setting as Feng Shui.  (Created by Robin D. Laws)  Regardless, Shadowfist is a game your humble host happens to like and it does not receive the attention it deserves.  Anyway, Shadowfist is dropping the 'collectible card game format' and, with Combat in Kowloon, it is reinventing itself as a 'dynamic card game.'

I met Daniel Griego of Inner Kingdom Games at Gen Con earlier this month and offered to interview him so as to provide additional (scant) exposure for the project.  Although is is quite busy (as one might well expect), he has humored me by supplying answers to a small number of questions.  The good news is that the project is more than 200% funded.  The bad news is that, by the time I post this interview, the funding window will close in less than a day.  So, without further ado...

Thoul's Paradise: Perhaps you could start by telling us how you came to be associated with Shadowfist and the origin of Inner Kingdom Games?

Daniel Griego: I first learned Shadowfist back in the 90s when it was still being printed by Daedalus Games. At the time, I was a Magic player, so it was a big deal for me that there was a game out there with such a great niche premise that also featured such balanced game play. I was hooked. After Daedalus went out of business, the game went on hiatus for a while, as did many of its players. I didn't come back into the fold until several years into Z-Man Games' ownership, totally unaware that someone had picked up the game and started printing new cards. So from 2003 onward, I was an avid player again, up to and including my deployment to Iraq in 2005-2006. There's actually a very large population of gamers within the military community, and I wanted to capitalize on that by bringing my cards with me to the sandbox. It took off and I recruited more than a dozen new players during my time there. This is also relevant, in that during my deployment, I strategically scheduled my two weeks of leave time to coincide with Gen Con 2006 in Indianapolis. It was my first Gen Con and my first opportunity to meet the key figures in the game, including Zev, Paul, Allen, Josh and Gavin. They were impressed with my passion for the game, and my devotion in taking it with me to a combat zone. So when the time came for Zev Shlasinger to move on past Shadowfist and sell the game, my name kept coming up as a natural successor to carry on the legacy. So in 2009, I partnered up with Braz King and he and I formed Inner Kingdom Games in order to take over Shadowfist from Z-Man Games. Recently, Braz has had to refocus his time and energy, so I've assumed solitary ownership of the game and its properties.

           With that, I'm now working to release the first starter deck set for Shadowfist in almost a decade, while transitioning the game from a CCG model to a non-randomized, standard-release format very much like Fantasy Flight's Living Card Games. I'm calling the new release model a “Dynamic Card Game,” and Combat in Kowloon is the first set for the new game environment.

           Future expansions will feature standardized 50-card expansion packs with no duplicates, no randomization and no rarity schemes. Each expansion pack will be the same, per release.

           It's an exciting time to start the game if you've never played and a great time to get back into it if you've been on a break for a while. The new cards are well-tested and powerful, the reprints are highly-desirable staples and there's something for everyone in each deck, old and new players alike.

TP: You mention the transition from 'trading card game' to 'dynamic card game,' but would you care to explain the rationale?

DG: The rationale in shifting to a non-randomized, non-booster pack model is the awareness that CCGs are on the decline and near impossible to recruit new players, if you're not Magic or Yu Gi Oh. Players looking for a new game want an easy buy-in and an easy new entry point. That was my big motivator in shifting to the dynamic card game model.

TP: Are the Architects [of the Flesh] gone for good?

DG: The architects and their friends lost in time (syndicate, purists, seven masters) are not dead and not completely obliterated from the game. They're simply not being featured for the time being. I'm not 100% ruling out bringing them back one day, if the game takes off and there's support to reintegrate them.

TP: Finally, what's your favorite faction?

DG: My favorite faction has always been the monarchs, with a secondary partiality for the dragons.

Dungeon Sociology

This interesting essay was included in Costikyan and Simonsen's DeathMaze (©1979 Simulations Publications, Inc).  The essay has no direct bearing on that game except as 'color.' However, as color it relates generally to the 'old school' concept of a dungeon as a game setting.  Your humble host presents the essay in its entirety.

Goldberg is, of course, one of the designers (if not the primary designer) of DragonQuest, SPI's fantasy role-playing game.

The Complete Character in High Fantasy

Your humble host previously wrote about the absolutely essential abilities used in High Fantasy.  This post shall be a discourse upon the other abilities that can be used to define a High Fantasy character.

Step five of creating a character instructs the player to determine strength and coordination by rolling percentile dice for each. A low roll (16 or less) for strength confers a negative modifier to offense, while a low roll for coordination imposes negative modifiers for both offense and defense. A high roll (86 or above) for strength grants a bonus to offense and a high roll for coordination provides bonuses to offense and defense. However, only Warrior class characters are eligible for the positive modifiers derived from high strength and coordination.

Strength and coordination are two of the ten abilities called 'the basics.' The score for each basic ability is determined by rolling percentile dice. The score indicates a percentile chance of success for matters regarding that ability. A score of 01-05 indicates an impaired ability while a score of 95-100 indicates a gifted ability. The description of each basic ability specifies the drawbacks of impairment and the benefits of being gifted in that ability. For example, among other drawbacks, an impaired coordination means that whenever the character attempts to draw a weapon, there is a 10% chance that he or she will drop it. Among other benefits, a gifted strength means that the character is “extremely resistant to disease or bad health.” The other 'basics' include appearance, charisma, intelligence, and the five senses: hearing, sight, feeling, taste, and smell. It seems odd to your humble host that taste and smell should be treated separately.

Aside from the 'basics,' there are ten optional 'talents' designed to help provide background for characters. The value for each talent is determined by rolling percentile dice; each range of 20% indicating a different level of proficiency. Generally, the different 'levels' can be described as follows.

In play, the talent values are not used by themselves; instead, they are averaged with an associated 'basic' ability to determine a chance of success.  The ten talents (and their associated 'basic' abilities) are as follows:

• Acrobatics (Coordination)
• Business Sense (Intelligence)
• Climbing (Strength)
• Diplomacy (Charisma)
• Language (Intelligence)
• Musical (Hearing)
• Nautical (Intelligence/Coordination)
• Riding or Driving (Coordination)
• Running (Strength)
• Swimming (Strength)

Characters “can temporarily add up to 10 points” for as many as three talents via training.  The player rolls one ten-sided die to determine the number of points that may be added.  (Your humble host presumes that the points are divided among the talents as the player sees fit.)  Switching to other talents “takes at least two weeks.”  Throughout this time the points are slowly transferred from the old talent(s) to the newly studied talent(s).  At the discretion of the judge, permanent increases to talent values are possible provided a character “studies long enough” or if a character “uses a specific talent over and over again” during a given adventure.

The D&D Next Playtest at Gen Con

I was optimistic.  Really.  Sadly, it turns out that the glass is less than half-full and, regardless, the Kool-Aid doesn't taste right.

At Gen Con, Wizards of the Coast offered a suite of activities under the rubric of the ‘D&D Experience.’  Two of these activities, ‘Sorcere’ and ‘The Clawrift,’ pertained to the D&D Next playtest and were coupled into a single 1.5 hour event.  I attended this event and was subject to conveyor belt regimentation that dampened my optimism somewhat.  A host of D&D drudges maintained a playtest bureaucracy, strictly enforcing time limits on activities as well as grouping and ungrouping participants as necessary. For the most part, these drudges were merely performing their responsibilities and I appreciate that Wizards was attempting to engage with as many of its (ostensible) consumers as possible.  Such a situation does not lend itself well to individual interaction and were that my single vexation, I would have little cause for complaint.  Alas, my experience at Gen Con with D&D Next is discouraging.

‘Sorcere’ is listed as “D&D Next Introduction/Character Creation.”  I sat at a long table with eight or ten other participants supervised by a drudge.  (To be fair, this particular drudge was personable and enthusiastic given the circumstances.)  We were given character sheets and encouraged to create characters using the playtest materials.  Copies of the relevant portions of the materials were provided (except for the 'How to Play' document, containing the rather important ability score modifiers).  In addition to the playtest materials released on Monday the 13th, two additional character classes were provided – sorcerer and warlock.  This caused some consternation among the drudges since – evidently – the decision to introduce these classes to the playtest was made at the last minute and the drudges (understandably) felt ill-prepared to discuss these late-comers.  I mean, what's the rush?  The playtest is supposedly going to last another two years.  Anyway, the drudge was available to answer questions but, for the most part, we were left to our own devices.  Of course, in order to get the 'drow-themed' d12, we had to present a complete character to the drudge.  'Sorcere' lasted half-an-hour; that was the extent of the 'introduction' and 'character creation.'

Let's take a look at character generation.  Suppose someone wants to create a thief.  Well, the appropriate class would be 'rogue.'  When creating a rogue, a player chooses a rogue scheme; two such schemes are listed in the playtest materials – thief and thug.  It would seem that, to be a thief, a character should be a rogue with a thief scheme.  Easy, right?  Oh, wait, did you want the thief to be able to do things traditionally associated with thieves?  Like, you know, open locks and disarm traps?  Well, those are skills and characters obtain skills via a background.  Although backgrounds are supposed to be optional, there does not seem to be any other means for a beginning character to obtain skills.  By the way, there is a thief background and a thug background.  These backgrounds are distinct from schemes, so it's possible to have a thief scheme with a thug background or vice versa.  That shouldn't be confusing to new players at all!  You can also choose a specialty (previously known as a theme), but that's optional too.

Here's how your humble host would handle things.  First, get rid of 'fighting styles' and 'rogue schemes'; those should be subsumed into specialties.  Then, each class should have a built-in background and specialty by default.  The possibility of switching to a different background and/or specialty would be optional.  This would make character generation more streamlined and less burdensome for inexperienced players.

'The Clawrift' is listed as “D&D Next Adventure.”  I and five other participants, with our freshly made characters, were assigned to a drudge DM.  I wasn't expecting a masterpiece of storytelling; just a simple scenario showcasing fundamental game mechanics (via railroad if necessary).  Our drudge DM didn't like the sudden addition of the sorcerer and warlock classes to the playtest.  Our drudge DM didn't like that, during the course of our character creation activity, we had not been taught the finer points of turning undead.  In the brief hour we were alloted for the adventure, we did not accomplish much (according to our drudge DM at least).  The really sad part was when our drudge DM employed (human) racial caricature when providing the voice of an orc.  Someone more principled than myself would have left the table at that point, but I stayed around to get the 'drow-themed' d20 (for a pal – not for me).  I don't think that the drudge DM acted out of malice; he was just oblivious.  Regardless, Wizards should make certain that anyone representing them has undergone rudimentary sensitivity training; after all, we're in the twenty-first century.

In closing, I think that 'Sorcere' and 'The Clawrift' should have been two distinct events.  'Sorcere' should have included an actual introduction to D&D Next and an overview of the character creation process.  After signing up on-line (computers were available for this) participants could have received a cheap booklet of the latest playtest materials (at least those materials pertaining to character generation).  Would a solitaire adventure have broken the budget?  'The Clawrift' should have used pre-generated characters with the DM allowing original characters at his discretion.