Deep Psi

Side note first:  I fixed a problem that might have been keeping comments from working correctly, so if you’ve tried to leave one lately and failed, you should be able to now.

On to the main post.  Recently, I decided I’d try a subscription to Insider.  Although I didn’t see a lot of purpose to it when I first got the core books, and I’m not terribly moved by promises of exclusive content, I figured it would be worth a try, and if nothing else there might be some interesting stuff in Dungeon that I could lift for my game.  Plus, I’d get access to stuff like the Swordmage, a class printed in a book I have no intention of ever buying.  And the Monk, in which I have something of an interest, if you hadn’t noticed…

I haven’t played around with Insider enough to really comment on it yet.  I can say that I find the character builder fun to tinker with, and probably pretty useful (although I’ve never had problems with creating characters in 4e using pen and paper, either).  Dungeon and Dragon look promising enough that the subscription might be justified, although the Dungeon content looks a little lighter than I’d like.

But the main thing that’s caught my attention is the Psion class, recently revealed.

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Wizards’ Monk Playtest

Although I’m not a D&D Insider subscriber, I got a look at the playtest version of the 4e monk — a class that is dear to my heart.  I’d speculated previously that the PHB3 classes would be more complex than their earlier counterparts, and the playtest document seems to confirm that, to an extent.  At least, this particular class seems fairly complex.

What I didn’t expect:  The monk is a Psionic striker.  Evidently the designers felt that the Ki power source was too limited, and have more or less stricken it from development.  Psionics, as a power source arising from inside, was the next-best fit.  Although it caught me off guard, it makes sense — although I’m sure the “use the Force” jokes at the table will proliferate.  But I can live with that.

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Review: Open Game Table Anthology, Volume 1

I’ve mentioned Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 before, but last week I got my hands on the hard copy and set to reading it.  The long and the short of it:  It met my expectations (and they were high) in every way.

Jonathan Jacobs, of The Core Mechanic, brought the project together quickly and professionally.  He’d probably be the first to tell you he didn’t do it alone, but the time and effort he put into this went way beyond a couple of blog posts — not just collecting the various posts that went into the anthology, but rounding up some artist volunteers, investigating means of distributing the final product, even getting Wolfgang Baur to write a foreword.  That shows in the quality of the finished book.  This is a professional product.  A round of applause here for him.

So, what’s in the book?

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RPG Blog Anthology: Kudos

A long-overdue nod to the Open Game Table RPG Blog Anthology, today.  Jonathan of The Core Mechanic has done yeoman work getting this thing together, and it’s nearly ready for print.  He’s got a cover design now, and it looks… well, it looks damn good.  It looks like a book I wouldn’t be surprised to find on a shelf sitting next to some other roleplaying game books.  Which is, of course, a big part of the point.

Recently Indie Press Revolution picked up the Anthology, meaning that distribution is a possibility.  Which means I might actually see the Anthology sitting on that shelf alongside those other books.

I have three articles in the Anthology (and thank you to my readers for nominating them, and to the judges for finding them worthy), including my version of the Monk for 4e.  Which will have changed at least a little by the time the Anthology goes to print, but it’ll still be gratifying to have it published.

But if you need other reasons to pick it up, I had a chance to preview a draft copy.  I didn’t read the entire thing in depth — I’m saving that pleasure for the physical copy, because there’s just something about a book — but I saw enough to know that the editors have chosen a variety of quality articles on a broad range of topics.  The articles I skimmed are fascinating, useful, or both.  And the artists have done an excellent job of illustrating them in a variety of styles.  It’s an amazing project, and the speed with which it came together, given its scope, deeply impresses me.

The best part?  That “Volume 1″ on the cover.  Given the increase in the RPGBN membership toward the end of last year, and the activity it’s seen this year so far, I can only imagine what a Volume 2 might end up looking like.  I’d love to see it.

The Anthology won’t be available for order for a little while yet, but I encourage all of you to pick up a copy.  To support the project, of course, but also because I firmly believe that the collected posts inside it are easily worth as much as a random rules supplement.  And if you’re like me, it’ll be even better to have it in the form of a physical book, neatly organized for your perusal.

I’ll be posting about it again, once I’ve got my hands on a hard copy.  Until then… thank you, Jonathan, for everything you’ve done to make it a reality.

Gygax

Gary Gygax at Gencon 2007. Photograph by Alan De Smet.

One year ago today, E. Gary Gygax passed on.

He was a lot of things.  Not all of them good, of course; he was as human as everybody, and on occasion, he could come off as a self-important blowhard, a man who at times fervently claimed that there was only one correct way of playing his game.

But then, haven’t we all?

More importantly, there’s the other side of him.  The man who was an inspiration to us all, who co-created (along with Arneson) Dungeons & Dragons, and who prized creativity and improvisation.  The impact he had is, frankly, awe-inspiring:

• Gencon.  He started it, in 1968.  (Or 1967, if you count the small gathering in the basement of his home as “Gencon 0.”)  There are other gaming conventions, perhaps even bigger gaming conventions, but 40 years later, Gencon is still a showcase for gaming.
• D&D.  35 years, numerous editions, various spinoffs (of various quality), and still going strong.  Still the most popular RPG, and it’s achieved pretty broad pop-culture recognition too.
• Tabletop RPGs.  D&D is pretty much the first modern RPG.  The explosion of games that have come out since all owe something to D&D, in a sense.  Some are similar, some define themselves by their differences, some try to ignore the existence of D&D altogether, but the impact is still there.  Might another of these games have emerged without D&D, and become the de facto standard itself?  Sure, it’s possible.  But D&D did it.
• Computer and console gaming.  Dnd, Moria, Rogue, Hack, and the many roguelike variants.  Western RPG series such as Ultima, Bard’s Tale, Might & Magic, and Wizardry.  Japanese RPG series such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.  All of them started out as attempts to electronically capture some of the essence of tabletop roleplaying, and so all of them owe a debt to D&D.  Later games like MMOs, which based themselves on these earlier games, do too.  It’s not that much of a stretch to lay some of the credit for cRPGs in general at Gygax’s feet.  The games would probably have developed regardless, but they wouldn’t look and act the way they do if not for the template of D&D.

And that’s just the directly-related stuff.  And not even mentioning the articles he wrote, the novels, the books.  The way he expanded my youthful vocabulary with words like dweomer and milieu.

He was no great writer, and, according to my tastes at least, not a terribly good gamemaster at times.  But he was definitely an inspiration, and I’m grateful for what he achieved.

Rest in peace, Gary.