A Dialogue

Recently, Alexis claimed to be a D&D snob.  He also claimed that people who play the Red Box edition are “probably retarded or possessing of some other mental deficiency.”  In a later post, he claimed to have said those things “in order to instigate a dialogue.”  Anyway, prior to that later post, Alexis and I engaged in a dialogue.  Alexis has deleted this dialogue from his blog comments.  There's nothing wrong with that; it's his blog and he certainly doesn't owe me anything.  However, for the sake of posterity, I present said dialogue.

I said:
Lack of desire to play 4e is not snobbery; it's a matter of taste. Snobbery is treating as inferior people who enjoy a different style of play.


Alexis said:
Defining the Red Box as a different "style" of play is like comparing T-Ball to Baseball.

Just so we're clear on the treatment of inferior I'm defining.

You know what else is snobbish, O Perdustin? The insistence that one's choices are somehow made more "noble" because they are a choice. I'd like to see one of you "stylers" defend your choice upon some better principal than the fact that you have one.

Choosing to do something moronic is a choice too. Doesn't make it laudable.


I said:
I don't think that the T-Ball/Baseball comparison is apt. T-Ball is intended for a narrow age range (5 – 8) while the Red Box edition is intended – as you said – for ages 10 and up. Monopoly is for ages 8 and up. I find that game to be insipid, but I don't consider adults who play as “probably retarded or possessing of some other mental deficiency.” Nor do I consider their choice to play any more 'noble' or 'laudable' than my choice not to play or your choice to drink vodka.

Why would people choose to play Red Box? Perhaps they feel that the Gygaxian morass of AD&D is largely unnecessary for what they consider to be an enjoyable game.


Alexis said:
So, basically, in attempting to come up with reasons, you've actually managed to come up with a bunch of opinions that still say, "Because I wanna ... wah, wah."

Remember what I said in the post about the DM using that lack of rules to fuck over players? Without situational rules, the players are at the mercy of the DM's personal whim, which means less player agency and therefore a greater degree of Storytime Play, Jurisprudence, Railroading, etc. By having MANY RULES that I have to adhere to as a DM, my players know that I am not fucking them over.

That's why AD&D was necessary. I think the T-Ball comparison is Dead Fucking On ... all the more evident in that you're only response to it is to say, "No its not."

Like a child.

Guess what. You're playing the game that is at your level.

I don't consider rules to be a "morass." Not in D&D, not in the law, not in physics, not in medicine, not in any endeavor that requires EXPERTISE. EXPERTISE always is complicated and difficult, and butt fuck morons who know nothing about such things ALWAYS think it's an incomprehensible morass.

Guess what, dummy? You're just not smart enough.

Here is the response I submitted yesterday morning which Alexis declined to post:

Let us assume that your personal attacks against me are true (other than that I run the YDIS site – I’m not smart enough for that).  That way, my limited cognitive abilities will not be distracted.

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments about rules and EXPERTISE, except when it comes to D&D.  Law, physics, medicine, et al. have profound real-word implications.  The real-world implications of D&D are limited to a group of people sitting around a table, rolling dice, and pretending to be elves.  I believe the difference is significant, perhaps you don’t.

No set of rules can cover every eventuality, so players can never be invulnerable to “the DM's personal whim,” as you put it.  In fact, no one plays AD&D by the book – not you, not even Gygax.  So we can drop the pretense that the rules for a game are inviolate scripture that must be memorized and followed blindly.  Once we accept the notion that the rules are not perfect, we are faced with the task of paring down the rules so that they are efficient and effective.  As JDJarvis states, “no version of published D&D was good enough.”

One of Gygax’ more cogent quotes was, “The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.”  He didn’t churn out rulebooks to establish an “ideal” to which “real players” should commit themselves; he churned out rulebooks to rake in the cash.  Some people like what the rulebooks have to offer; that’s fine.  Some people would rather not be bothered with ‘alignment languages’ and similar Gygaxian nonsense.

Alexis favors complexity in D&D for two reasons (if I understand him correctly):  (1) more rules mean less “DM's whim” and (2) world-building and rule-making enhance the play experience.

With regard to reason #1:  Rules are not going to protect players from a bad DM.

With regard to reason #2:  World-building and rule-making absolutely enhance the play experience; it's all a matter of degree.  Alexis decries the lack of 'investment' among DMs and players.  Perhaps they're lazy, perhaps they're not very intelligent, or perhaps they have different priorities – they choose to 'invest' in their families or careers or other interests at the expense of a make-believe world of wizards and unicorns.  I suppose such people aren't 'serious' enough for Alexis, yet somehow they manage to enjoy themselves.

Acting Conditions

In the World Action and Adventure role-playing game, the type of character that an actor (i.e., player) chooses to play determines the actor's 'acting condition' (explained below).  SHIELD traits were discussed last week. Have a safe and happy Halloween.

 

A Visit to Mousehole

(No, that's not a euphemism)

As mentioned in an earlier post, Wizards' Realm describes a sample town – complete with map and a building-by-building listing.  The name of the town is Mousehole (pronounced muz'l) and I provide the map here for your delight and edification.

The script along the right side is 'Realm elvish' for Mousehole.  For those of you who choose to enlarge the image, the elvish script beneath the bar scale reads “So it is written = Darkmoon.”  Darkmoon is the wizard character of Niels Erickson, the sole editor, who is also credited as an author and illustrator.  I can only suppose that the map is Erickson's doing.

With regard to building listings, the town is divided into five sections:  a central section and one section for each of the cardinal directions.

The central section consists of two buildings, the Municipal Offices and the Guild-Hall.  Included in the Municipal Offices are “the Lord Mayor's Office, The Municipal Courts, the Constabulary (all eight of 'em). the Town Gaol, the Reeve & Tax Collector, Customs and the Department of Sundry Works.”

To the west of the Mystic River are such locations as:  the cemetery, the mills, the brickyard, the lumber yard, the shipyard, and Barnacle Bill's Boathouse (“Bildor 'Bill' Splayfoot, a hobbit, proprietor”).

East of the river, there are a variety of establishments.  Among them are:  two liveries, Chuffy Fussock's Ropes & Nets (Chuffy is a hobbit), Parkyn Hammersmith the Armourer, Prospero the Potter, Fograk Facewrecker's Bakery (Fograk is half-orcish), and market stalls “where farmers...as well as fishermen...bring fresh edibles.”

In the northern section of town we find such noteworthy personages as Umma Childlove (midwife), Meldu (undertaker), Demelza the Wise (fortune teller), Olog the One-Eyed (jeweler), Wort (cobbler), and Hultz (barber).  An open-air theatre, the banking house, and the town watch barracks are also located in the north side of town.

The large building at the southern tip of the town is the local Infinity Store.  (The warehouse for the Infinity Store is across town.)  Also in the south side of town are The Three Fates Inn (“The largest and, reputedly, the best public house in Mousehole”), The Chantry and Monastery of the Revered Order of Istys, and the Lazar-House.

It just so happens that – in the real world – there is a town named Mousehole.  It would seem that the real Mousehole inspired the Wizards' Realm Mousehole.  I present a map of the genuine article below.  (Sadly, I could not locate an image with greater resolution.)  The real Mousehole looks more interesting than the 'fantasy' version.

On the reverse of the (fantasy) Mousehole map, there is a “Campaign Map” (shown below).  The Wizards' Realm setting is known as the Middle Kingdoms – “the realms once under the High Crown.”  The book explains:

Only certain major areas are identified on this map, including major terrain features.  The reason for large open areas here is two-fold:  Not only does it give some idea how little a traveller setting out from one familiar part of the world might know of lands beyond his own, but it also provides the GM and players alike with more latitude in shaping the world in which their characters will move.

Scores and Ranks

Every so often, your humble host likes to share information from the pages of the World Action and Adventure role-playing game, such as a description of the various Action Guide styles.  Author Gregory L. Kinney's concept of 'Acting Conditions' would be a good topic for a post; however, before taking up that subject, one should be familiar with the notion of the SHIELD traits.

SHIELD is an acronym for the six WA&A primary characteristics – called traits.  These are:  Strength, Health, Intelligence, Endurance, Looks, and Dexterity.  Other than the distinction between Health and Endurance, the traits are self-explanatory.  Health measures a character's resistance to illness.  Endurance, on the other hand, represents several abilities:  patience, movement rate, sanity, resisting physiological and psychological discomforts, need for sleep, and the length of time a character can hold his or her breath.  A character's 'Life Points,' incidentally, are calculated by finding the average of Strength, Health, and Endurance.

Scores for a character's traits are determined by rolling a d20 eight times; any result of 3 or less is considered to be a result of 12.  The two lowest results are discarded and the remaining six are assigned to the traits in the order rolled.  Kinney perceptively notes that “the scale is from 4 to 20.”  However, female characters have their Strength score modified by -2 and their Looks by +2.  Although not explicit, it seems that Strength cannot be lowered to less than four nor Looks increased to greater than twenty.

Scores can be increased with experience, but otherwise remain fixed.  In any event, scores do not measure actual ability, they represent potential ability.  Actual ability is measured by ranks.  Each trait has a 'rank table' where scores for that trait are indexed against a span of age periods.  A character's rank in a trait is based upon her score for that trait along with her age in years.  Ranks range from 2 to 14.

Let's say a character in Age Period 6 has an Endurance score of 15.  According to the table on page 50 of the Official Guide, that character's Endurance rank would be 11.  Such a character could run at 10.5 miles per hour for a maximum of 20 miles.  That character could hold his or her breath for one-and-a-half minutes and is a “short sleeper” for purposes of the Sleep Table in Chapter 9.  Additionally, the character can temporarily endure an “excessive discomfort” for thirty minutes.  Examples of excessive discomforts include “[b]reaking a bone or losing part of the body” and “[b]eing teased and mocked by a group of people.”

“Check-Ups” are an interesting notion, albeit admittedly time consuming in execution.  There are Health check-ups and Intelligence check-ups.

For every year of life, a character undergoes a number of Health check-ups based upon his or her Health rank.  A rank of 2 must undergo 13 check-ups per year while a rank of 14 undergoes only one check-up.  A Health check-up usually means the character suffers some kind of temporary, minor illness such as “slight mental depression” or “diarrhea/ constipation.”  However, it's possible that a check-up may result in a 5% chance of heart attack or a 5% chance of disease.  (A disease list is provided in Chapter 9.)

Unlike Health check-ups, Intelligence check-ups are beneficial.  The number of check-ups to which a character is entitled per age period is based on Intelligence rank.  A rank of 4 provides one check-up per age period while characters with a rank less than four do not receive Intelligence check-ups.  Characters with an Intelligence rank of 14 get five check-ups per age period.  For each Intelligence check-up:  there is a 10% chance of learning 'instrument' (musical instrument?), a 10% chance of learning a language, a 10% chance of rolling twice on the check-up table, a 10% chance each of rolling on three other tables, and a 40% chance of learning nothing.  The three other tables are:  'craft/hobbies,' 'subject,' and 'information about.'  On the 'crafts/hobbies' table are such things as “metal,” “juggling,” and “stunts.”  'Subject' includes things like “reading,” “science,” and “law.”  Finally, the 'information about' table has selections such as:  “A map,” “Something top secret,” and “An important prisoner.”

On page 47, Kinney supplies these helpful observations about intelligence:

The power of intelligence comes from one's mind...A character with weak intelligence is sometimes considered a dunce or knucklehead by others.  Often, he is given less respect than the average person gets.  However, a character with high strength, or high looks score often makes up for the disadvantage of a low intelligence.