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When I first played Mass Effect, I wasn’t expecting much. I got it at a bargain from Steam, and heard that it is more of a shooter than a RPG. However, when I start the game up, and was wandering throughout the Normandy, I observe that the game was designed to be cinematic. Further on, I realized one thing: Shephard, be him/her a paragon or renegade, kicks ass, commands respect and in a whole, makes it feel great to be a galaxy-saving hero. Nope, it doesn’t feel great all the time to be saving the galaxy, which is why the effect of Mass Effect is so different.

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Apologies for the long break; I had to take some time off to recharge my brain and hopefully come up with new ideas for 101 Forms of a Dungeon. Right, now for number 71 to 80.

1. A forest of executioner’s crosses, where the local law authority leaves criminals to die and to serve a somber warning to others.
2. A prison high atop a mountain cliff, only accessible by a crude ‘elevator’.
3. Wreck of a ship used as a prison. Where have all the prisoners gone to?
4. The ruins of arena designed for trial by combat
5. A half-built pyramid
6. A quarry where half-built statues form of rocks protruding from the hillside are everywhere. Those statues are colossal, from 4 metres tall and 2 metres in width
7. A goblin’s (or insert evil demi-human race of choice here) version of a slaughterhouse…intended for humans.
8. Ruins of a bath-house with technology comparable to what the Romans has…for use by giants.
9. Sites used for judgments by rituals
10. A gigantic “well” (really a deep shaft) which goes deep downward, with wooden platforms and side excavations (think the Money Pit)

Preparing for my second Dragon Age game, I have decided to add in some tactics for NPCs, and allowing the players to discern those with a few Cunning rolls. The reason? To personalize and to add color to what otherwise would be just block-stats and to keep the players on their toes.

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Mouse Guard is a lot of things, and isn’t a lot of things…one thing for sure is that it has taught me how to appreciate RPGs in ways I didn’t notice. I always was worried about in-character presentations and the ‘mood’ of the game, yet Mouse Guard points out one thing. Part of the experience is the table chatter, and there’s whole lot of fun in that too.

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Eventually I have to get down to it. I feel it is unfair to make judgments and comparisons to a game which I have already read about, heard about and have opinions about, but not read the rules itself. So that I know better about the game, I forked out over SGD 150 (that’s about 90 USD I guess) to get the Player’s Handbook, Player’s Handbook II and the DMG. There’s still the DMG II and the Monster Manual, but my wallet is already screaming at the hole. So after reading the rules, the books, what do I think? Man, a 1st level Wizard can totally kick Gandalf’s ass.

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When it comes to physical conflicts, scaling them upward is a no-brainer. We have tests of speed and strength, then followed by a duel between two combatants. Scale that upwards and we have mass combat, and move it up by another notch, we have mass battles and wars. Less said in RPGs are how social conflicts can be scaled upwards. When we think of social conflicts, we think of haggling, persuasion and seduction. However, those belongs to the scale of one-shot physical tests, handled akin to some form of social arm-wrestling. Perhaps to add more nuances to social conflicts, we have to scale it upwards. So here are some suggestions.

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I finally picked up D&D 4th Edition (just the Player’s Handbook) and as I flipped through it, an interesting thought comes my mind. Every class has a well-defined role during combat, be it healing, blostering others, crowd controls (through shifting and pulling), debuffing (marks, combat advantages), area of effect damages and a scissor-paper-rock system (the types of Defenses – Armour, Will and Reflex). It looks like the designers took a page or two out from Game Design Patterns.

This got me wondering though. Who is responsible for building effective characters. This question, however, can be broken down. What do you mean by effective? And in what situation?

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Those monasteries are located all over at the most inhospitable places of the realm. Nested against hills with no villages in mile, upon a storm-wrecked island or sometimes in a wing of a collapsed and abandoned castle. One visiting the place should take some heed and be braced for the sight that would greet them if they step into one. Only the caretaker of the monastery is alive. Inside, hundreds of skeletal monks, still in their robes, tirelessly makes copies of important treatises, tomes and religious texts. What magic keeps them going? Isn’t anyone particularly concerned about this? Why would adventurers need to go to such a place, anyway?

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In the midst of a vast, sprawling city, its architecture dating back to years long ago and showing distictinve heritage of different empires, are ruins where squatters dwelled. And within the ruins, is a long untended gardens, it’s hedge wall overgrown, the smell of rotten fruits spreading from within, and the pavements leading to it cracked and broken apart by weeds and grasses.

No man, it is said, set foot within the garden and goes  into the depth and had emerged alive.

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A kingdom is falling apart because of a prophecy. Ancient ruling houses have began to war with each other. The sons of the king began to plot to overthrow their father, but first have to deal with each other. Meanwhile, merchant houses secretly began a covert war through the use of spies, assassins and adventurers. All are determined that they are destined to stop an ancient evil, become a glorious ruler and other grandiose dreams. What madness have stricken those people?

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