O.K. Paizo May be Getting Some of My Money Again Soon

Paizo's Starfinder RPG

I'll admit right up front, my experience with science fiction gaming is limited to a few games of Traveler, a little more Star Frontiers, one foray into Shadowrun, creating characters in Space Opera and after that, mostly Gamma World. This is despite being an avid Star Trek fan in all its incarnations, a lover of Star Wars, Babylon 5, BattleStar Galactica, Dr. Who, Firefly, Stargate SG1, Arthur C Clarke, Larry Niven, Asimov, Bradbury, Poul, Bova, and well ... you get the idea. Why I could never get a long term Sci Fi game going with my gaming buddies is a mystery to me, since we all loved Sci Fi and spent as much time arguing about that as we did D&D.

Then the other day I ran across the ad for Paizo's Starfinder Sci Fi RPG and my heart skipped a beat. Just like when I saw all those other Sci Fi games I mentioned sitting on the game store shelf all those years ago. Would this be the one? Could this game recreate for me the kinds of adventures Kirk, Spock and Bones had on my little black and white TV all those years ago? Would this be my gateway into world spanning rebel alliances? I envisioned all the colorful scenarios I could play out with my own kiddos who consumed Clone Wars episodes as fast as they came out, and could quote Dr. Who dialogue and dressed up as Enterprise red shirts for halloween? Certainly they would be as excited as I felt when I saw this new Paizo offering.

So, to summarize what we know so far: As Charlie Hall's Polygon article states, the game seeks to capture a swords and planets type of space fantasy ethos. And goes one to describe the setting as one in which magic coexists to some degree or other beside technology. The Starfinder universe is also the universe of Golarion, except that Golarion has gone missing and the entire known population of the Universe has amnesia about its past and their current trajectories. Shades of SyFy series Dark Matter?

Dark Matter

Well, probably to some degree, only on a much larger scale ... intriguing? Evidently trhe "Starfinders" are those amnesiac inhabitants of Golarion who make up the heroes of the StarFinder Universe. They are called Starfinders because they are out to "find" in the stars, the answers to the mysterious roots of their past, and the still unknown destiny of their futures. And then there is the novel idea of hyperlight travel through what is evidently called The Drift in StarFinder. Not sure of the details, but the idea of hyperlight travel ripping off huge swaths of Heaven or Hell and adding it to the Drift is enough to make my spec fic heart go flutter!

Space Demon by Pumpkin Pie 92

If you were to press me for my favorite sci fi series of all time, it would be a difficult choice. I am a Star Trek fanboy through and through, but if I could only have one, and one only. I might choose Babylon 5. And what do we hear about StarFinder's main "city" Absalom? Well, here I quote directly from the article itself, "It's a kind of a Babylon 5-style place," Sutter said. "You could play an entire campaign there and never leave Absolom Station, if you wanted to." Well, if you had just gone out and made the perfect Sci Fi game for me it would look an awfully lot like Starfinder is starting to look.

New races are planned as well, so the game is not just a mashup of Pathfinder and Sci Fi. Androids are present as are the ever required and iconic space battles. This is where I hold out hope and am inspired by their design goals. The basic concepts the designers sketch out in the article point out that combat will be based on the highly successful Battletech system, though I'm unsure how much they can even say that. I thought BT was sold by Wizards some time back, but I suppose the basic idea is fairly universal. But the danger of course is to not lose focus on the roleplaying aspect of the game. Here Paizo says the aim is to keep each role in combat important and actively involved in space battles. It's a tall order, but I'm hopeful for them.

At any rate, I'm excited and whether or not a get a long term game up and running, Paizo is likely to get another couple hundred bucks from me within the next year. And that my friends is not a bad thing in this case.

On Being Magnanimous as a Gamer

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Okay, this entry is going to be a sort of fan-boy geek-out essay, so if you don't like that sort of thing, you just might want to go sit in a corner and suck on some persimmons. But one of the most valuable lessons I have been taught over the past decade in my gaming career has been from my current living gaming hero: Jolly Blackburn. He probably would be thoroughly embarrassed by the following ode, but because I think he stands as a shining example of what it means to be magnanimous in a hobby that has more than its share of grognards and grumbling grannies he deserve this nonetheless.

Now, the thing is, I count myself as one of those erstwhile grognards of the more irritatingly vocal type. Hell, my entire blog has been a tribute to critiquing the current wave of gaming as a nostalgic clarion for the preservation of the gaming past. And I have not always been magnanimous in my efforts. Thus Jolly and his character and personality have served as a good example for me to more carefully consider my words about gaming and how they might make others feel; and more importantly how they might negatively effect the hobby as a whole.

Jolly's example, however, is less about pontificating this fact than living the life of what I would consider a gamer who lives by and honors the old guard while eagerly and openly embracing the new media, movies, books, games and talent that serves the industry we love so much. In other words Jolly is old school. About as old school as it gets. But Jolly is also on the cutting edge, enjoying, celebrating and reveling in all the new talent and creativity that is serving the speculative fiction industry has to offer. So in him I have a role model that I can identify with as having come from the same old school roots as myself -- AD&D 1e and 2e, while boldly championing the evolution of gaming and its offshoots in all directions.

When I first came to KODT, and later Hackmaster--my preferred in-print game--Jolly struck a chord with me because he was so clearly steeped in an old school ethos. However, one cannot read KODT or the current iteration of Hackmaster and not appreciate how he and his fellow designers at KenzerCo also are keenly aware of and sensitive to the new wave of gaming as well. I know Jolly gets a lot of the lime-light in regards to Hackmaster and KODT, but he is quite clear that Dave Kenzer, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansen and his wife Barbara and others deserve much of the credit, power and creativity behind both products. Another sign of his magnanimity; and, I'm sure, of his much more public profile in social media circles. Jolly is immanently approachable in that sense.

In addition, having listened to numerous podcast interviews and video segments, Jolly is always self deprecating, humble, and refuses to be drawn into edition wars and criticism of other companies, other games, and especially other designers. He is just a nice guy. I have also watched as he interacts and listens to others on his Facebook page, on KCo's, now somewhat quieter, forums, and other outlets where he is willing to engage old friends and new comers alike with the same open, honest and welcoming attitude that endears him to so many. In this way, and I am not sure he has simply taken this role because he is a natural at it, if he really likes it, or he drew the short straw at KCo, Jolly has become the "face" of KCo to the public. When one thinks of Hackmaster and KODT, one cannot help but have Jolly spring to mind. Though I know the other designers are as every bit as involved as he is. And this in no way is meant to steal any of their thunder, skill or importance as I have watched interviews with them and video snippets of their play as a group as well. I also greatly admire Dave Kenzer for different reasons, but this post is meant to communicate how inspiring and important it is to be magnanimous as a gamer in today's world. I hold Jolly in that esteem.

And while we're on the subject of Jolly, if there's anyone who knows gamers, gaming culture, tropes or gaming psychology any better they are certainly not making it known like Jolly and the KODT crew. I simply can't communicate how important KODT is to me. I'm not going to say it's more important than gaming, but KODT has kept me going when there has been no gaming in my life. In a world where my gaming past seems to hold itself up as a golden age that cannot be reclaimed, KODT is there for me, like a breath of rarefied air of an age of gaming that, to me, represents the Camelot of the gaming world. It makes me laugh, smile, nod knowingly and hang on every cursed cliff-hanger each issue. I don't know how Jolly does it, but he captures something for me that is the very essence of gaming. Something rooted not altogether in the games, but the gestalt of the games, and the unique and priceless gaming community of which we are all a part. My hat goes off to him, my heart goes out to him and I pray the magic never ends.

But Jolly's magnanimity doesn't just end at gaming. I have seen him be a proud champion of movies, books, TV series and the like which sometimes get too much negative press and add a bit of positivity, humor, practicality and support. The most recent Ghostbusters re-make was a prime example. Before it was even out, fan-boy haters were griping because it wasn't the original cast, it wasn't funny enough, they were all women, and one actress in particular singled out for being "wrong" in even more ways. The fact is, many of the critical comments were misogynistic, racist and just plain bull-headed. But Jolly not only defended the film as a reaction to those prejudicial negativities, he championed the film to give it a chance. And he did. And he was in a camp of numerous distinguished critics who also found the film funny and engaging. Was it different from the original, yes. But a good film re-make or update does not have to be a copy of the original in tone or detail. I'm a fan of the new ST movies. I don't quite like it as much as TOS or TNG, but I did enjoy them. And by all critical accounts the second was worse than the first but I liked it better! I think, and this is just my take, that magnanimity requires that we extend to new efforts in speculative fiction of all types, games, and entertainment that caters to what could be called the nerd-geek-gamer culture a benefit of the doubt and a fresh open mind and perspective. The fact is we live in a world awash in superhero/heroine movies, Sci Fi, games, tabletop and video, and even comics are seeing a resurgence, or at least coming back. We should rejoice that what started long ago with Tolkien, Stan Lee, R.E. Howard, Carter, Lovecraft, and yes Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson has become the de facto entertainment industry of the world. It is a good time to be a gamer. And if we become too bitter, critical beyond reason, or just plain nasty we not only hurt people, we hurt the industry and ultimately ourselves. I think Jolly does a good job of modelling how to be a positive force in teh gaming world.

So, is my reason for posting this just to point out how awesome Jolly is? Well, maybe a little. But truthfully the reason for this post is that I'm sharing a bit of a vision for myself and my blog. What I would hope to do is be excited about all gaming, all facets of it. D&D has spawned so much of the current interest in and products of the current spec-fic craze. It is not alone of course, Comics, literature, and film all synergistically work towards the present day. I hope to do so with graciousness, with serious discussion, with humor and with magnanimity. I say we sit back and enjoy it some. As my brother said, it is a good time to be gamer. Let's all complain less and be a little more magnanimous. I'm certainly going to try.

~Important end-note: The above post in no way represents the opinion of the owners of this blog or the gamers it represents. That one "weak-kneed", mamby-pamby, pansy dice caresser can't buck up and own what real gaming is, and denounce the rest is not our problem. Sure he may deserve some kudos for being all soft and friendly with those imitators and wannabes that are gaming diceless and playing inferior systems, but we certainly know where the truth lies. And, if he really is such a devoted fan of KODT, as he claims to be, then he would realize the magazine itself makes known in no uncertain terms that anyone who is out there suffering through Pathgrinder, wasting their time behind a screen playing World of Hackcraft, or challenging other gamers to tournament sessions of DAWG the roleplaying game should cash in their dice bag and go take up shuffleboard. Respectable gamers everywhere have a duty to be the gatekeepers of quality and true old school gaming ethos in film, in literature and at the gaming table. And we all know what that means--if you don't play Hackmaster, you're not gaming. And if you aren't using officially licensed product, your not playing it right. We are sure this Jolly fellow is a nice guy in as far as that goes, but don't let yourself get all fuzzy over some guy who can't tell the difference between diceless roleplaying and superior Hard Eight products. And yeah, the new Ghostbusters wasn't all that bad, but H8's upcoming SpookHackers the RPG will give you a much closer experience to the original, classics films. 

-- The management

The Man Himself
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D&D 5e Review (ArborDale I)

So, my kids bought me the books for 5e for Christmas! Pretty cool since they are pricey and I would have eventually bought them anyway. I had played 5e during the playtest a couple of times and was not unimpressed by it's ability to play quickly, with little to bog down in the way of mechanics. The action in a 5e game stays pretty rapidly paced. I was not overly fond of the power level difference between monsters and players but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Well, since the kids bought them I decided we would try and play the game in a campaign instead of our old Castles & Crusades standby. I thought, since we are now about seven or so sessions into a campaign of sorts, I would review the game in the same manner I did Hackmaster when we gave it a whirl about a year ago or so.

So without further ado, and in the same style as my last review here is my ratings for the new and re-tooled iteration of D&D.

Overall Impressions

So I use a four star system from * (1) to **** (4) Stars to rate the game where one star is the lowest rating and four stars is the highest. I broke my analysis into a total of 5 areas. My opinions for ratings were as follows:

Ease of Play: ***

Speed of Play: ****

Realism: ***

Fun: ****
Old School Sensibility: ***

It is important to know that the current age of gamers in this group is 24, never gamed before, 16, 15, 14 and 11 have all gamed several times, with myself as GM. This has undoubtedly affected my feeling of the game and general gameplay.

Introduction
We have been playing a relatively straightforward homebrewed mega-dungeon set in the kingdom of ArborDale. The PCs were enlisted by a local friar to investigate some mysterious lights that had begun appearing on the top of a distant volcanic monadnock called The Broken Finger by the local populace, The rumors were that it was haunted, but those long circulated ghost tales had remained unsubstantiated for as long as anyone could recall. However, with the appearance of the strange nighttime lights the local peasantry were becoming concerned and pressing the Friar to do something to allay their growing fears. The Friar, however, upon some investigation over the past month has become increasingly troubled that there might be something even more sinister than a distant haunting afoot, though he has kept the particulars from our innocent PCs. The PCs include, a Tiefling Monk named Calei, devotee of the Goddess of Dance and practitioner of a rare dance-like martial art form. She had been raised by "dark fairies" as a child and so has a chaotic streak which causes her no end of troubles in her studies in the monastery. There is also a Silver lineaged Dragonborn Ranger from the distant ruined forests of The Broken Lands to the West. The outlands are a mystery to most as they lie beyond the border kingdoms of which Arbor Dale is one. Rhogar the Outland Ranger, has undead as a favored foe and tells of the forests of Broken Lands being rife with the remains of the living from the long ago Time of the Dead. He, now at third level, travels with a ghost-like White Wolf as a companion. The Dwarven Fighter Bones McGreedy, is a grumpy sort with an grumpy battle-axe to match often itching for an argument the two of them. Bones, due perhaps to his irascibility, has made fast companions with the party's guide obese and overly sweaty Uncle Fester the Donkey Husband. Bones has lent Fester his hand-axe, as Fester has become a less than willing companion since the party endured capture by hobgoblin/cultist slavers and he was forced into the heart of adventure. Magic power is supplied by the party's sorceress, an Elven Outcast named Adryha. She, for reasons unknown even to herself, was cast out of Elven society and raised herself in the company of wild beasts. Whether through her own resourcefulness and inner need or from birthright she began to manifest strange powers which aided her in her survival and yet also nearly spelled her doom. She was rescued in her young Elven teen years by the spirit of a Blue Dragon that resided in an ancient set of ruins deep in the wilderness that had become her home. This ancient spirit sensed in her some level of kinship with the dragonkind and thus tutored her in the ways of mastering her inner power and leading her into successful sorcerership as well as the other necessitites of culture such as her oen Elven tongue as well as draconic and common. She has grown suprirsingly close to Kiedis, the half-orc rapier wielding lute strumming bard, as she has no real prejudices against orc-bloods having been raised alone and away from her kind.
This party of adventurers have passed through a two session wilderness romp followed by an infiltration into the ancient ruins atop the Broken Finger. They have since escaped from the capture of the cultists and humanoid forces within the ruins and fled to the lower level of the finger. Having explored most of that level they finally met the visage of the First Necromancer Nividian whose, ancient spell-trapped visage has sent them to be imprisoned in a distant pocket dimension called Averoignne from which they are now questing their way back.

Ease of Play
5e runs quickly. I will admit to stumbling some as I learn the rules, and still feel as if I am acquiring facility with the rules. There are some rules I am not overly fond of, but they do not inhibit play, and the system is not at all clunky or awkward. Once grasped most rules can be adjudicated quickly and fairly to the satisfaction of all concerned. I would rate the game moderately difficult for new players, and not difficult for players with an experienced GM. Character design can be somewhat challenging the first time, but is not overly complex. I would say new players can be up and running inside of 45 minutes and perhaps as little as 30. With guidance new players can create a PC in 15 minutes, just as can experienced players who need to roll up a new PC. And using the shortcuts--if you know where and what they are for quickbuilds can ensure than 15 minute max in most cases. Oh, and by the way I am talking about the full rules, not the basic rules, which, due to less options can go a little more quickly.

Speed of Play
Actual play in 5e is as quick as any game I've played in the D&D line. I suppose there are some rules hitches that might slow down things if you're not used to how the work, but that is not the fault of the game as it is a learning curve. And even then they only slow it down due to the time it takes to look them up or learn how they work. I wouldn't put it on par with a streamlined version of basic rules such as BFRPG or LoTFP or LL, but it is awfully close. And the added rules of 5e give some flavor that those games don't possess. Most combat sessions run under 15 minutes,

Realism
Not particularly designed to be realistic, 5e does classic high fantasy rather well. It would do better if it toned down the player power levels, but then it would potentially lose some of its appeal and fun for characters who like that. But this power level, though not "realistic" in the sense of more medieval and less fantasy doesn't aim for realism per se. However, a greater equality between mosnters and players might aide the verisimilitude. The area I am perhaps most concerned about is the healing rates and ratios which are based on the assumption of abstract hit points, but to allow full healing each night is in no way realistic, especially when a PC has dropped to zero HP. I understand the lesser renewal of HD for healing kind of gets a the fact that players are "wearing down" as they go--but that represents fatigue better than it does wounds with claws, bites and weapons. This is of course where the gritty rules come in. I haven't incorporated them yet as I don't like any of them perfectly well, and we are just getting used to the game as written right now. But this is the one rule I will likely play with as we go forward. The realism in 5e is sacrificed some for player survivability and speed of play. Not necessarily a bad thing, and not too noticeable in play except for my angst over healing and power levels.

Fun
This is a fun game. I have enjoyed it more than 3.5, 4e or Pathfinder. I would rank it behind 2e for me in terms of preference, upon which I don't think it improves but certainly comes closer than recent iterations have. The game is liked by many players because players have a high survivability and a fair degree of power at lower levels. I haven't played high levels yet, as we are now level 3. We also have yet to have a player death. We've come close, but none so far.

Classic Sensibility
As mentioned above 5e does a better job than recent version at emulating a more classic style of play. I would like to see death saving throws done away with and healing made a tad more realistic. I would also like to see player power level stepped down especially at lower levels. These are not deal breakers, by any means and for what it does 5e is quite nice to play. I am currently testing a favorite old school module in 5e land and we'll see how that goes and plays compared to our play to date. That might give a nice comparison as well as insight into how old school resources play and how much "conversion" is required. Though technically not a part of my review there are opinions a plenty that support the idea that 5e has hit a sweet spot for many gamers and I applaud WoTC and the design team for achieving their goal of bringing people back into the fold and not losing many new converts in the process. Moreover, society seems more aware than ever of those two little letters Dave and Gary first touted so long ago: D&D.