Apparently someone has noticed that I've been placing random labels in my blog posts. Excellent. My plan to conquer the internet is working. Slowly but surely. Muahahaha!
Anyway, I have a topic, Maths vs. The Rule of Cool. For me, this is something that I take very seriously. I love tinkering with systems and rules to get the most bang for my buck. I spent all of last week looking over spell dimensions for Wall of Stone, Stone Shape, and Animate Object to figure out something. I use the Math inherent in the system to do something cool. One of these days, I'm going to post up my plans for those spells. That's me.
My kids on the other hand, are totally different ball of wax. They don't care so much for the math. They want to do cool things, and they want to have cool things happen in their games. That's the great thing about new gamers, they just want to do the awesome thing, not necessarily the right thing in the situation.
So a bit of a campaign update. I had locked them up in a dungeon that they managed to escape from. Now, since the Spelljammer campaign has landed in Forgotten Realms, there were certain things that I wanted to include to make a signature FR adventure.
1. An extraordinarily high level NPC.
2. Drow and the underdark.
3. Zhents.
Now, I had already decided that the people who had captured them were Drow, and one of their fellow prisoners was Drizzt Do'urden. Haven't worked in the Zhents yet. Now, the kids were totally unimpressed with the name drop. Which took me by surprise, but totally shouldn't have, since they haven't read the hundreds of novels that have him as a main character.
So, I missed out on the Rule of Cool for them. My normal group would have been overjoyed. I had an ace up my sleeve though. Looking through the D20srd, I found something neat, an Ettin Skeleton. A two headed skeleton was cool, but not cool enough. Here's where I went against my natural inclination to make a more memorable session.
To make the two-headed skeleton cooler, I decided to extend the rib cage down to the hip bones, with a cage door. Inside the 'rib cage', I put a bunch of dwarves. So the Ettin skelly would open the door, and then throw on of it's captives at the kids. Literal dwarf tossing. It was funny in a horrible un-politically correct way.
Technically, an Ettin Skeleton is a Large creature, and a dwarf is a Medium creature. At best a Large creature could fit ONE dwarf in its rib cage. However, Rule of Cool trumped rules in this one case. It was fun, the kids enjoyed killing it slowly while the NPC Drizzt killed off the other one that was there just for him.
The whole time they kept doing cool stuff. The halfling tried to use a grappling hook to scale the thing, and the elf got grabbed and tossed at his friend. Would this have happened with strict rules intrpretation? Probably not. Would the kids have had as many laughs with it? No, most likely not.
Showing posts with label Rule of Cool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rule of Cool. Show all posts
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
RPG Thoughts: Rule of Cool II
Hello again! I just read over the whole last post, and I realized that I really didn't get into the Rule of Cool thing. I titled it that, but I kinda missed the point.
The Rule of Cool is exactly that. According to tvtropes.org The Rule of Cool is; "The limit of the willing suspension of disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to the element's awesomeness."
That's Spelljammer in a nutshell. Hell, even in the main book it calls out to the Rule of Cool; "How does it all work? Well, the easy answer is 'It's magic.' The more involved answer is 'It's magic and it knows it's magic.' The rules are still there and must be obeyed, but it is a different set of rules from what we are used to in our world. As anyone here will tell you, a fire-breathing, 50-foot-long, flying reptile is impossible, but it can live in our imaginations. The same argument applies to spelljamming ships." -Forward by Jeff Grubb, Spelljammer AD&D Adventures in Space, p3.
If that isn't a cognizant argument for the Rule of Cool, I don't know what is. Also its a pretty good definition of the Rule of Cool as well. With this campaign, I not only wanted to give my kids a grand tour of the old TSR stuff and play some 3rd Ed, I also wanted to do the most off the wall wild stuff that I can think of. I'm tired of naturalism in RPGs, and politics of game worlds. Fuck it. I want neat things to happen, because NEAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Dungeons and Dragons is built on the Rule of Cool. Each different campaign setting does it, and I think that it is funny that the two biggest (in scope) run on this Rule Cool exclusively. Planescape is Rule of Cool in philosophy and strangeness of characters. Spelljammer on the other hand, is running of pure Rule of Cool in the setting itself. Flying boats that go to other planets? Hell yes! Squid head people who eat brains? Yes, please! Floating xenophobic magic eyeball maniacs? Of course! Hippo men with flintlock pistols that dress and act like the height of the British Empire? FUCK YEAH!
Now, here's the thing. Spelljammer is pure Rule of Cool. That's great in and of itself, but it doesn't help make things happen. What makes a great game is the stuff that is around. Did up the NPCs, and I gotta say, they are real Rule of Cool type guys. Granted, I already elaborated on the captain, but I got some others. I have a real thing for those quirky shows about small towns. Right now, I am almost finished watching Northern Exposure, which is about the a small town in Alaska. Quirkiness abounds. I find nothing more Rule of Cool then quirkiness.
Sir Captain Reginald Dawntree: 6th level Half Elf paladin, going to the stars in a quixotic quest to win the approval of his potential father-in-law.
First Mate Juan Obi: 7th level Elven Monk, best friend of the captain. He's rather exasperated and the most level headed of crew.
Navigator First Leftnenant Monticello: Giff navigator, prone to fights and takes things rather literal. As in when asked to go to the 'coolest' planet in the system, he plotted a course to an ice planet.
Ship's Cleric Helmsman Father Ishmael O'Flanigan: A 5th level human cleric of a sea god who looks like the Gorton's fisherman. He's at home on a ship even in the roughest weather, but gets spacesick.
Man-at-Arms and Ship's Butler Bigglesworth Mount Veracci Gucci Jimmy Chu: The gnome butler who works for Sir Dawntree. He's the stereotypical butler with a bowler hat, cane, and monocle. The thing is that he has a nasty temper. What the PCs don't know is that he's a 12th level barbarian. The bowler hat is a Keen Vorpal Throwing Bowler Hat +2 (1d2 damage, critical range of 14-20). He's there to be the 'dues ex machina' in case the kids get over their heads, BOOM Bigglesworth to the rescue! He is the epitome of Rule of Cool.
Ship's Wizard 'The Boy': a first level human wizard. The Boy is the former apprentice of the previous ship's wizard (who blew himself up by casting a maximized fireball in the phologiston). So The Boy has all the magic items of his former master and very little idea of what to do with them. The other main thing is that the Boy isn't actually a boy, but a girl who was posing as a boy so that she could get onto the ship (since women at sea are bad luck).
Siege Engineer Ironfist: 3rd level Dwarf rogue. He keeps going on about how he's too old for this shit. Even though he's only 45, barely out of his teens, and his beard is only 7 inches long.
Quartermaster Whose Name I already Forgot: 12th level dwarf aristocrat. He's there to make sure that the 'quest' of Sir Dawntree goes according to Hoyle. The fun thing about him is that he's slightly corrupt and slightly incompetent. So when told to get food for the journey, he'll buy a ton of escargot instead of hardtack or something.
A big group of quirky people. They are not in and of themselves an adventure, they are there to add some background and flavor. With the NPCs in place I can start working on the really cool stuff. I'm thinking of some Gith pirates riding pterodactyls. That's cool. Minotaur vikings in a spelljamming longboats (horned helmet on top of horns!)? A magic item powered version of the Justice League (Capes of Flying anyone!)? Rock'em Sock'em Golems? Getting caught in the cross fire of a beholder and Illithid battle? An Immoth Bard Rock Band playing heavy metal via auditory illusions? Wolfmen on the moon? Ninjas? Any other suggestions for Rule of Cool encounters?
The Rule of Cool is exactly that. According to tvtropes.org The Rule of Cool is; "The limit of the willing suspension of disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to the element's awesomeness."
That's Spelljammer in a nutshell. Hell, even in the main book it calls out to the Rule of Cool; "How does it all work? Well, the easy answer is 'It's magic.' The more involved answer is 'It's magic and it knows it's magic.' The rules are still there and must be obeyed, but it is a different set of rules from what we are used to in our world. As anyone here will tell you, a fire-breathing, 50-foot-long, flying reptile is impossible, but it can live in our imaginations. The same argument applies to spelljamming ships." -Forward by Jeff Grubb, Spelljammer AD&D Adventures in Space, p3.
If that isn't a cognizant argument for the Rule of Cool, I don't know what is. Also its a pretty good definition of the Rule of Cool as well. With this campaign, I not only wanted to give my kids a grand tour of the old TSR stuff and play some 3rd Ed, I also wanted to do the most off the wall wild stuff that I can think of. I'm tired of naturalism in RPGs, and politics of game worlds. Fuck it. I want neat things to happen, because NEAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Dungeons and Dragons is built on the Rule of Cool. Each different campaign setting does it, and I think that it is funny that the two biggest (in scope) run on this Rule Cool exclusively. Planescape is Rule of Cool in philosophy and strangeness of characters. Spelljammer on the other hand, is running of pure Rule of Cool in the setting itself. Flying boats that go to other planets? Hell yes! Squid head people who eat brains? Yes, please! Floating xenophobic magic eyeball maniacs? Of course! Hippo men with flintlock pistols that dress and act like the height of the British Empire? FUCK YEAH!
Now, here's the thing. Spelljammer is pure Rule of Cool. That's great in and of itself, but it doesn't help make things happen. What makes a great game is the stuff that is around. Did up the NPCs, and I gotta say, they are real Rule of Cool type guys. Granted, I already elaborated on the captain, but I got some others. I have a real thing for those quirky shows about small towns. Right now, I am almost finished watching Northern Exposure, which is about the a small town in Alaska. Quirkiness abounds. I find nothing more Rule of Cool then quirkiness.
Sir Captain Reginald Dawntree: 6th level Half Elf paladin, going to the stars in a quixotic quest to win the approval of his potential father-in-law.
First Mate Juan Obi: 7th level Elven Monk, best friend of the captain. He's rather exasperated and the most level headed of crew.
Navigator First Leftnenant Monticello: Giff navigator, prone to fights and takes things rather literal. As in when asked to go to the 'coolest' planet in the system, he plotted a course to an ice planet.
Ship's Cleric Helmsman Father Ishmael O'Flanigan: A 5th level human cleric of a sea god who looks like the Gorton's fisherman. He's at home on a ship even in the roughest weather, but gets spacesick.
Man-at-Arms and Ship's Butler Bigglesworth Mount Veracci Gucci Jimmy Chu: The gnome butler who works for Sir Dawntree. He's the stereotypical butler with a bowler hat, cane, and monocle. The thing is that he has a nasty temper. What the PCs don't know is that he's a 12th level barbarian. The bowler hat is a Keen Vorpal Throwing Bowler Hat +2 (1d2 damage, critical range of 14-20). He's there to be the 'dues ex machina' in case the kids get over their heads, BOOM Bigglesworth to the rescue! He is the epitome of Rule of Cool.
Ship's Wizard 'The Boy': a first level human wizard. The Boy is the former apprentice of the previous ship's wizard (who blew himself up by casting a maximized fireball in the phologiston). So The Boy has all the magic items of his former master and very little idea of what to do with them. The other main thing is that the Boy isn't actually a boy, but a girl who was posing as a boy so that she could get onto the ship (since women at sea are bad luck).
Siege Engineer Ironfist: 3rd level Dwarf rogue. He keeps going on about how he's too old for this shit. Even though he's only 45, barely out of his teens, and his beard is only 7 inches long.
Quartermaster Whose Name I already Forgot: 12th level dwarf aristocrat. He's there to make sure that the 'quest' of Sir Dawntree goes according to Hoyle. The fun thing about him is that he's slightly corrupt and slightly incompetent. So when told to get food for the journey, he'll buy a ton of escargot instead of hardtack or something.
A big group of quirky people. They are not in and of themselves an adventure, they are there to add some background and flavor. With the NPCs in place I can start working on the really cool stuff. I'm thinking of some Gith pirates riding pterodactyls. That's cool. Minotaur vikings in a spelljamming longboats (horned helmet on top of horns!)? A magic item powered version of the Justice League (Capes of Flying anyone!)? Rock'em Sock'em Golems? Getting caught in the cross fire of a beholder and Illithid battle? An Immoth Bard Rock Band playing heavy metal via auditory illusions? Wolfmen on the moon? Ninjas? Any other suggestions for Rule of Cool encounters?
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
RPG Thoughts: Rule of Cool
Well, hello, again wide world of blogging! I realize that sometimes I'm just talking to an empty theater, and my hits go up with the vitriol. I don't like being that guy. Seriously, I don't. It comes too easy for me, I am by nature an angry person, and dear god does GW bring it out in me sometimes. This is why I love to write about the type of stuff that I am about to write about.
I like to play RPGS, (dur), and my kids are starting to get into them as well. Eldest child has a fairly regular D&D 4th ed game that he's involved in (gah!), which has nothing to do with me. Which is both a blessing and a curse. The kids started the group and I was contented to stand aside. Eldest child and his friends needed to get their games in without a meddling old dude. My dad was never a gamer (even though he did introduce me to all the stuff that lead to gaming), and it is a tad creepy with an old dude playing with a bunch of middle schoolers. That's my thoughts on it. However, Eldest Child's best friend had an uncle who disagreed. So he's running their group, which is why they play 4th ed. That's fine. I really have no problem with that, especially since he brought in some more kids around the same age to play. So bigger group is a good thing.
So here I am trying to not to be the only adult in a room full of kids, and boom! They go get an adult to run the game anyway! Now, here's the thing. I can deal with the not being the adult, I can deal with the not being the DM, I can even deal with them playing with 4th ed. So, what's my problem with it? I'm not too sure. See? Like I said, anger comes easy. Regardless, I wanted to play a game with my kids, and just my kids.
So I've been looking over stuff to play. I finally decided on the one thing that could really keep a campaign going for a long haul and not get too caught up in the long term adventure.
Spelljammer.
They both rolled up rogues. Halfling and Elf respectively. One focused on talking, one on actual stealing stuff. Dropped an anchor on them from the sky, they climbed it and now they are on the Rock of Bral. Which is an excellent starting place.
Where I plan on taking it, though is the best part. I'm going to do the Grand Tour of the old TSR stuff. Hit all the major campaign worlds, giving them a 'signature' adventure in each place. I'm not sure where they'll go, or in what order, but I'm going to make up some good stuff. The point is to capture the feel of each game world.
So right now, I'm just spit balling ideas before I send them anywhere. Listing things that make each world special. Here's the list so far;
DragonLance: Krynn. Kender, draconians, dragon riders. That scenario practically writes itself, doesn't it?
Forgotten Realms: Toril. Drow, Zhentarim, and ridiculously high level NPCs. Might take a bit more thinking.
Dark Sun: Athas. Technically not accessable by Spelljamming, but fuck it. Psionics, Thri-Kreen, Gladiators, and life destroying magic. What's not to love?
Greyhawk: Oerth. Old School. I'm thinking a dungeon with lots of death traps.
Birthright: Aebrynis. Yes, I had to look it up. I owned this game, and I couldn't remember it. Though a bit of intrigue, politics, blood lines stuff, and those weird halflings and elves they got.
Mystara: Mystara. Well, that's a good question. Mystara was a big melting pot of everything. I could literally shove anything in here, and it would fit. Going to think a bit to get something signature.
Ebberron: Ebberron. Damn, I know nothing about this game except for warforged. That should be easy to work in, though.
That's a good start. I might expand it a bit. I mean Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Al-Quadim are now technically part of Forgotten Realms, but I think that with a bit of spin, they would be fine to use as a base for a different planet and do something.
Now, the really fun part, I've created the crew of the ship they will be traveling on. The Lady Danielle Ashley II. The Captain is a half-elf paladin who went to the stars because of the following conversation;
Paladin; Milord! I wish for your daughter Lady Danielle Ashley's hand in holy matrimony!
Lord: Go to hell!
Paladin: Verily! I shall go to the place that evil dwells to smite it!
1st Mate: He's being a dick, that's not a real quest!
Paladin: Is this true, milord?
Lord: Fine. Go to the stars and bring me some stardust!
Paladin: Verily! I shall go to the stars themselves and bring back the glittering majesty that is the firmament of the universe!
Then he went to the stars and found out that they are made of dirt, or portals to the elemental plane of fire. Neither of which is actually a great thing to take home to try to impress your future inlaws. So he's still out looking for something that is suitably impressive. I'll have more on the rest of the crew later, after I introduce the kids to them. They are all created and stated out, just waiting to be introduced.
I like to play RPGS, (dur), and my kids are starting to get into them as well. Eldest child has a fairly regular D&D 4th ed game that he's involved in (gah!), which has nothing to do with me. Which is both a blessing and a curse. The kids started the group and I was contented to stand aside. Eldest child and his friends needed to get their games in without a meddling old dude. My dad was never a gamer (even though he did introduce me to all the stuff that lead to gaming), and it is a tad creepy with an old dude playing with a bunch of middle schoolers. That's my thoughts on it. However, Eldest Child's best friend had an uncle who disagreed. So he's running their group, which is why they play 4th ed. That's fine. I really have no problem with that, especially since he brought in some more kids around the same age to play. So bigger group is a good thing.
So here I am trying to not to be the only adult in a room full of kids, and boom! They go get an adult to run the game anyway! Now, here's the thing. I can deal with the not being the adult, I can deal with the not being the DM, I can even deal with them playing with 4th ed. So, what's my problem with it? I'm not too sure. See? Like I said, anger comes easy. Regardless, I wanted to play a game with my kids, and just my kids.
So I've been looking over stuff to play. I finally decided on the one thing that could really keep a campaign going for a long haul and not get too caught up in the long term adventure.
Spelljammer.
They both rolled up rogues. Halfling and Elf respectively. One focused on talking, one on actual stealing stuff. Dropped an anchor on them from the sky, they climbed it and now they are on the Rock of Bral. Which is an excellent starting place.
Where I plan on taking it, though is the best part. I'm going to do the Grand Tour of the old TSR stuff. Hit all the major campaign worlds, giving them a 'signature' adventure in each place. I'm not sure where they'll go, or in what order, but I'm going to make up some good stuff. The point is to capture the feel of each game world.
So right now, I'm just spit balling ideas before I send them anywhere. Listing things that make each world special. Here's the list so far;
DragonLance: Krynn. Kender, draconians, dragon riders. That scenario practically writes itself, doesn't it?
Forgotten Realms: Toril. Drow, Zhentarim, and ridiculously high level NPCs. Might take a bit more thinking.
Dark Sun: Athas. Technically not accessable by Spelljamming, but fuck it. Psionics, Thri-Kreen, Gladiators, and life destroying magic. What's not to love?
Greyhawk: Oerth. Old School. I'm thinking a dungeon with lots of death traps.
Birthright: Aebrynis. Yes, I had to look it up. I owned this game, and I couldn't remember it. Though a bit of intrigue, politics, blood lines stuff, and those weird halflings and elves they got.
Mystara: Mystara. Well, that's a good question. Mystara was a big melting pot of everything. I could literally shove anything in here, and it would fit. Going to think a bit to get something signature.
Ebberron: Ebberron. Damn, I know nothing about this game except for warforged. That should be easy to work in, though.
That's a good start. I might expand it a bit. I mean Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Al-Quadim are now technically part of Forgotten Realms, but I think that with a bit of spin, they would be fine to use as a base for a different planet and do something.
Now, the really fun part, I've created the crew of the ship they will be traveling on. The Lady Danielle Ashley II. The Captain is a half-elf paladin who went to the stars because of the following conversation;
Paladin; Milord! I wish for your daughter Lady Danielle Ashley's hand in holy matrimony!
Lord: Go to hell!
Paladin: Verily! I shall go to the place that evil dwells to smite it!
1st Mate: He's being a dick, that's not a real quest!
Paladin: Is this true, milord?
Lord: Fine. Go to the stars and bring me some stardust!
Paladin: Verily! I shall go to the stars themselves and bring back the glittering majesty that is the firmament of the universe!
Then he went to the stars and found out that they are made of dirt, or portals to the elemental plane of fire. Neither of which is actually a great thing to take home to try to impress your future inlaws. So he's still out looking for something that is suitably impressive. I'll have more on the rest of the crew later, after I introduce the kids to them. They are all created and stated out, just waiting to be introduced.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)