Where To Next?

 What's the next stop on this Long Strange Trip?

I'm not entirely sure but the meter is running and decisions need to be made. 

Where to Mac?

It's February of 2021 and my birthday is coming up. I get really bummed out around this time of year as February holds memories good, bad, bittersweet, and I'm one of those people for whom a birthday puts me down in the dumps. 

Add to this the continuing Pandemic conditions, the fact that my gaming has been good but not...not...that level of good I'm always striving for, and I am tempted to just have the driver take me home or drop me off here. Anywhere. 

All is not lost however and this isn't meant to be a downer of a post. Quite the contrary. The purpose of this entry isn't to tell you where my head is at but rather where I intend it to go. 'Further' is the answer I'm focused on. Further into the future. 

For a long while now I've been wanting to do several things and this year, do them I shall!

First, I am working on several self-publishing game products including Barkley's system-agnostic Sci-Fi travel series, 'The Barking Alien Guide to...', each of which will provide information on several star systems and planets in a particular area of space for use with whatever Space Adventure RPG you happen to prefer. From flora and fauna to the best place to buy Steamed Gumlets (Sweet or Spicy!), The Barking Alien Guides will give you an experience the average tourist will surely envy. 

Second, it is my intention to start a Podcast or Youtube channel based on this blog. I must be honest, this one excites and terrifies me. I don't know a damn thing about the technical side of this and while I have no fears about speaking before large groups of people (I've done it many times), the sound of my voice recorded electronically annoys the heck out of me. I guess I'll have to adopt one of my many character voices! Heheh. *Insert nervously scratching my head with a large Anime sweat drop going down the back of it*

Anyway...

There are some other things in the works which I will discuss as they come closer to fruition. I've always wanted to type 'fruition'. That's such a fun word. 

My main concern right now, one bit I don't have fully worked out, is what my next game idea will be. I am having a lot...wait, let me correct that...A LOT...of difficulty coming up with an idea that really grabs me.

This would be for my Sunday Evening group. We've played some really good games together - specifically and especially Red Dwarf / Yellow Sun - but have recently gone through a bout of short campaigns (or attempts at such) which were a bit harder for me to get into. Part of it was the mechanics of these games, part of it the style/approach (which I may discuss in a future post), but really I think I just want to get back to GMing. I've been playing in these as a player and I can only take so much of that before I get antsy. 

What to run, what to run...the eternal lament of multi-interest Gamemaster. Oh to be one of those referees who only runs one thing over and over but no, that is definitely not me. 

I have been particularly interested in all things Japanese again lately. From Japanese tabletalk RPGs to Anime and Manga (the visuals, energy, and style more than any one series), I seem to be drawn to that 'mental aesthetic' as it were. 

Hmmm. Barkley, let me off at the corner of Mecha and Yokai. I want to stretch my legs and look around...

AD

Barking Alien

I Want to Believe

If you're a fan of Dungeons & Dragons and you aren't following Zee Bashew's YouTube Channel, your are cheating yourself out of a very fun experience. 

Zee produces a variety of short, animated episodes that discuss various aspects of D&D, such as how to spice up monsters, thoughtful analysis of spells, and alternate rule mechanics that even I - someone who has little interest in or affection for Dungeons & Dragons - find creative and interesting. The art and animation add to my enjoyment of his videos considerably, as his style is at once humorous, raw, and charming. 

In a recent post for his Animated Spellbook series, while in a discussion with Jim Davis from the channel 'Web DM', Zee brought up and even played a recording of a statement by Jerry Holkins, the writer of the comic strip Penny Arcade - Whew. That's a lot of name dropping! - that has shaken me to my core and explains so much of why I don't always see eye to eye with many of my gaming peers. 

Please check out the video to hear the statements and discussion in full (it's only a small portion of the larger discussion about Tenser's Floating Disc) as I am only going to paraphrase here. 

Basically, Holkins proposes and Bashew elaborates upon the idea that for many gamers it is the rule mechanics and their predictable method of determining outcomes that allows players and gamemasters to accept the fantastical world(s) they find themselves exploring. 

If I am understanding this correctly, the statements mean that gamers are able to suspend their disbelief and accept dragons, floating castles, and Elven Wizards because the foundation of the game, the expected, measurable, reliable, rules are there to give them a solid place on which to stand. 

WOW. A zillion times WOW. 

This, if true (and I feel it is for a great many people), explains so much that I previously had difficulty wrapping my head around. RPG players, such as those that enjoy D&D, arguably the worlds most popular game of its kind, prioritize a knowledge and understanding of the rules because that is what enables them to connect to the fictional world and its narrative. 

If this is why we see so many gamers focus on the rules so deeply I can kind of understand it. OK, not in a 'that makes sense to me' kind of way, but in a 'so that's why you do that'.

My personal viewpoint is diametrically opposed to this. 

In my mind it is the internally consistent depiction of the campaign universe that allows me to believe in the depiction of the campaign universe. Rules, of any kind, take me out of the game.

What I mean by that is that each time we address the rule mechanics in any way, it lessens the immersion I have in the game I'm running or playing. This is why I try so hard to never directly address the rules (rule questions, rule discussions or arguments) in great detail during a session. I greatly prefer waiting until the end of a session or even checking in between sessions, as the best time to clarify rules. 

Also confusing to me is the idea that comfort is found in the predictable nature of die result percentages. I have one friend who regularly brings up, during play, the chance of getting a success on whatever allotment of dice someone happens to be rolling. Based on the dialogue in Bashew's video, this could be because it makes the player feel like he has a firm grasp of the reality he/his character is in. 

To me this has the effect of being more than a little annoying and off-putting. Largely because of what I mentioned above, it taking me out of the universe, but also because I only go to the rules and dice rolls to randomly generate outcomes where the results aren't guaranteed.

The die mechanics of most if not all games use the rules to generate random numbers. True, they are not completely random; we are able to determine the possible results based on probability. However, we don't know the exact result before it happens. 

To focus on the math, on what the numbers might be based on likely, logical percentages of each possible result, means to me that you are not invested in the actual event. In a scene where I am rolling to see if I can catch a falling comrade before they fall off a cliff, I am not thinking, 'Well, based on these dice, I am likely to roll at least one success but unlikely to roll more than two'. Inside I am thinking, 'Holy crap! Hang on buddy I'm coming! I hope I catch him in time!'.

For me, the buy-in, the immersion into the fictional world, is made by committing my mind to that setting. It is strengthened by the GM having places and characters appear and reappear in a logical manner, act and speak in whatever way they have been established to, and in the fact that my character can explore this world and interact with it in a familiar way.

None of that has anything to do with rules. 

As I've stated before, to me the mechanics of an RPG are akin to the floor and beams of a house or other building. They are there, they give it a structure, and I am happy the floor is there so I don't fall into a hole in the ground. However, I don't think about the floor when I enter the building. I don't want to have to think about it or the internal structure of it. If I do, if I have to be aware of it, then I probably wouldn't want to walk into the building in the first place. The only time you should be concerned about a house's floor and beams is if they are flawed and could collapse. 

So all of those who think of the rules in order to believe in the milieu make me nervous. What is wrong with the universe that I need to be meta-aware of the structure behind and beneath it? Why doesn't the universe just run on its own? 

I like studying the science of our world but I am not thinking about the mechanics of weather when it rains. I am thinking of carrying an umbrella.

AD
Barking Alien


Happy Birthday to my good buddy Dave Cotton! Have a great one Dave!

Trust Him, He's a Doctor

Guess who's on YouTube talking to a frog?

Wow. You guessed right. Are you psychic?

I was recently a guest on the Dr. Tom the Frog Show, a podcast discussing Role Playing Game produced by the incomparable +Richard Rogers.

The show is part of the Gauntlet YouTube Channel.

Oh, and it features a frog puppet. Really, what more could you ask for.

It was incredibly fun to do, and I was able to promote my Googly Eyed Primetime Puppet Show RPG, which was essentially the focus of the episode. I was also able to describe some elements of the game, and briefly touch upon some ideas for future products. 

Sometime later this month I'll be doing a Q&A with Dan Davenport in an RPGnet chatroom set-up.

Look at me! I'm nigh-famous!

I hope you'll all give it a listen.

Thanks!

AD
Barking Alien