I got a message on Obsidian Portal today from a user called DissenterKnight. He found my Gotham Nights page and wrote to me. I’ve included his message so you can see what he said. I wrote a pretty lengthy response and I wanted to share it with all of you too. I talk a bit about getting into Smallville (a story I’m sure you’re all very familiar with), a bit about party-conflict in gaming, and the strengths of Smallville. I also do some shameless promotions for good measure. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments.

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I find myself asking why so many table-top role-playing games start you out a first level. Why so many games limit or control your character advancement. It seems like there is an idea that says you need to barely have any unique abilities until you’ve “earned” them. Then you have to spend a few sessions to gain that privilege. How would you feel about a video game that makes you wait multiple hours before you get anything new?

I want to elaborate on why I think this is a terrible idea. After the break, I’m going to talk about how Arkham City made me realize that character advancement in table-top role-playing games is broken.

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Version One
Cira GenCon 2011

Designed by Fraser Ronald
and Rob Justice

Your Game is really simple. It is designed to foster a sense of well-wishing and camaraderie… while being a total dickbag about it.

The goal of Your Game is to be the last person to wish someone a good game. It starts out as a simple dialog between two gamers heading towards different games.

Rob: “Have fun at your game, Fraser.”
Fraser: “Yeah! Have fun at your game too, Rob.”

The game has now begun. After the initial volley the game can be reduced to simply saying “Your Game” back and forth but not while within line of sight..

Rob now has to wait for Fraser to break line of sight before he can run back up to him and say, “Your Game.” Fraser can then fire a “Your Game” back at Rob, but only as long as Rob is within Fraser’s line of sight. If Rob manages to duck out of sight before Fraser can reply, it’s up to Fraser to hunt down Rob for his turn. If Rob can’t escape then he needs to break line of sight and try to catch Fraser off guard again.

The game only ends when both players simultaneously say “Your Game” to each other. It’s a lot harder than you’d expect, but it’s totally possible. At the end of the game whoever successfully said “Your Game” last is considered the winner.

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I normally have a really hard time remembering my dreams. Even when I do they usually fade out as soon as I wake up. Last night, however, I had a dream that I remember in very vivid detail. At least the parts of the dream that I could remember. There are a few dream logic points in it, but that’s dreams for you.

Anyway, after the break is my dream. I’m assuming no one’s really interested in it. I’m posting for my own personal amusement.

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According to the mouse-0ver on today’s XKCD comic:

Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article, click on the first link in the article text not in parentheses or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at “Philosophy”.

I wanted to test this. So I swung over to Wikipedia and hit the random article button.

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I’m about to get all political up this here. I’ll save it until after the break as to not offend the main page.

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