Joe Gamer

Our weekly gaming group will, within the next couple of weeks, start to play the new 4th Edition D&D version of the old setting Dark Sun.  Redone for the newer edition, I think I can speak for each of us to say we’re excited about playing something of a darker campaign then what we are used to playing.  So, in preparation and celebration, I am using the next couple of posts to give some cursory information that could be useful when determining a character.

First up are the Themes.  Themes are character templates that describe an aspect of the character’s background, personality or training and provide skills and powers based on said theme.  However, the theme does not define the character in totality.  For example, if a character picks “Templar” as a theme, that does not mean that character is a templar (though it might).  What it means is the character has been a templar, is a templar, or has trained at some point to be a templar.  He or she could have recently quit, finding the work abhorrent.  Maybe they sympathize with the lower citizens or slaves or even members of the Veiled Alliance.  The point is, just because you take a theme does not mean you “are that” thing.  Hopefully it will be clearer in just a moment.  Here is the list of themes with a small description of what they mean:

1. Athasian Minstrel: “Civilized” Athas has a long running tradition of talented minstrels, proficient in distracting the nobles from the plight of the commoners, and the commoners from the harshness of the world.  However, because it is considered extremely rude to refuse a minstrel from one’s home, minstrels are often covers for spies, assassins or theives that are looking for wealthy marks.  Anyone who likes to strike out against the wealthy and priviledged might be an Athasian Minstrel.

2. Dune Trader: Traders brave the wastes of the Athasian desert to bring goods to the scattered City-States and nomadic tribes, making them essential to life across Athas.  Independent traders stand next to the wealthy Merchant Houses in crowded streets, while Elves fence contraband and junk to rob unsuspecting and naive customers.  Anyone who travels the world looking for more valuable products to buy and sell while increasing their own reputation as a merchant might be a Dune Trader.

3. Elemental Priest: There are no gods on Athas, having been destroyed in time immemorable.  Some Sorcerer-Kings are worshipped as gods and many people are more concerned with survival then the veneration of anything.  However, most peoples of Athas revere the Primal Spirits of the earth, sometimes focusing on a specific elemental spirit (such as the all-important water) while others venerate all spirits equally.  An Elemental Priest is anyone who has a special connection with the spirits, often a village chief, shaman or nomad.

4. Gladiator: Violent games of combat are one of the most prominent forms of entertainment in the many city-states.  Those gladiators that are talented achieve fame, status and fortune while those that  fail are but bones beneath the victor’s feet.  Most that participate in the games are slaves, but many are seasoned fighters that use what skills they have to make money through violence.  Anyone with a desire for combat and fame can be a Gladiator.

5. Noble Adept: Psionic power is rather common amongst the peoples of Athas.  Few people have the ability to formally develop such power… except the nobles within each City-State.  Every city has a psionic school created by the Sorcerer-Kings to develop those with psionic power under his or her own thumb.  A displaced or disaffected noble, or a particularly adept psionic practitioner are likely to be Noble Adepts, though this kind of formal training tends to be afforded only to the exceptional or wealthy.

6. Primal Guardian:With most of the world a defiled waste, the few oasis or wooded areas on Athas are precious and few.  There are people that cross the deserts that have dedicated themselves to protecting the last healthy vestiges of the world.  Many choose a single location to defend, while others readily travel across the world, fighting against those that would defile the world.  Anyone who has a reverence for the natural world and will stand against the evils of defiling could be a Primal Guardian.

7. Templar:Every City-State has a stable of Templars, guardians and agents of the Sorcerer-Kings.  They have absolute authority over the common people, acting as judge, jury and sometimes even executioner in their home.  In order to act as the agents of their particular King, the Sorcerer-King bestows a bit of his considerable arcane power on each individual Templar.  Many Templars are as corrupt as the general populace sees them, but many truly fight for the good of the people and their home, using their status for what good they can do.  Anyone who is, was, or has trained as a Templar could have received the bit of power from their Sorcerer-King.

8. Veiled Alliance:Hiding in the shadows, far from the eyes of the Sorcerer-Kings and their Templars, there is a group called the Veiled Alliance that fights against the Master Defilers and their agents.  Members of the Veiled Alliance tend to hate arcane power in general, but look more favorable and even employ those that “preserve” (holding back as they cast magic so as to not defile the world).  They are Revolutionaries, spies and assassins that fight against defiling across the world.  Anyone can be a member of the Veiled Alliance whether warrior or wizard, provided they despise the rule of the Sorcerer-Kings.

9. Wasteland Nomad:Life on Athas does not lie solely behind the walls of the City-States.  Thousands of people live as nomadic tribes across the desert wasteland.  They live in villages, small cities or as literal nomads trudging across the harsh desert.  Anyone who has spent a great deal of time living amongst the sands of the deserts is a Wasteland Nomad.

10. Wilder:Not every psion has the benefit of the Sorcerer-Kings’ psionic school.  Many lowly commoners who have psionic power develop them by themselves, using their own will to produce the psychic effects.  As such, they tend to be controlled by their own emotions, their psionic fury born from rage or passion.  Anyone who has developed a set of psionic (or wild) talents is a Wilder.

So that was a brief description of the Themes available for character creation.  Let me know what you think and what you might use for your characters and if you aren’t playing I’ll still be happy to hear opinions!

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

With that grand title, I begin my mini-review of Starcraft 2!

Starcraft 2 has been a long time coming.  The original Starcraft was released on PC way back in 1997 and continues to be one of the gaming world’s giants.  People still play the multiplayer game.  South Korea holds tournaments that rival NFL games in the US.  There are TV channels that show replays of games!  Easily one of the most anticipated releases of the year, Starcraft 2 does not disappoint.

I will admit it, I suck at RTS games.  Real Times Strategy games (or RTS’s) involve management of troops and resources to outmaneuver the other player.  On a minor level (like the one I play at) this involves building buildings, amassing troops, and throwing people at the opponent until one or the other gives up.  On a more professional level this involves macros (button combinations that do multiple things at once) and a nice stat I like to call “apm” or actions per minute.  Yes, professional Starcraft players measure how many actions they can perform in a minute.  When I say “enough” they say “200″ or some other number I can’t imagine.  Thinking on that as well as my… 5:4000 win/loss ratio (similar to most anything I do), when I say I enjoy Starcraft 2, I really mean it.

I have played a great deal of the single-player Vs. AI segment.  Wanting to get better in multiplayer, I figured I would attempt to practice against the computer.  Let’s just say I haven’t been able to eke out a win on “medium” yet (but I feel like I’m improving!).  Other than the new units and buildings, the three races of Stacraft, the human Terrans, the buglike Zerg, and the technological Protoss, all play just like they did back in 1997.  The beauty of the game is in polish and production values, though, which really shine in the single player campaign mode.

Unlike the original Starcraft where you play through all three races, Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty have you playing as Terran renegade Jim Raynor as he fights the evil Terran Dominion and its leader Arcturus Mengsk.  Lasting around 30 missions, the single player missions provide various objectives that tend to go above and beyond “kill the other player” and often give you a choice that effects the outcome of the story.  Between missions the player can explore Raynor’s ship, play minigames and experience entirely optional exposition on the story that a singularly bloody-minded player may ignore, but a more story-focused player would definitely enjoy.

I have certainly enjoyed my time sucking at Starcraft.  The single player (both against AI and story mode) have been excellent so far and I want to continue in order to get the full experience.  When I get in to the multiplayer aspect, they actually have a 50 round “training bracket” for losers like me that are either terrible enough to warrant some training time or people who are new to the game.  I’ll let you know how I do with that as soon as I start playing multiplayer for real, but it may be a while before I gather up the courage!

I entirely recommend Starcraft 2 with a 9/10.

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

So as those of you who read Joe Gamer on a regular basis know, I fight real hard for the acceptance of 4th edition as a suitable form of D&D.  Fighting against cries of “it’s just a wargame” and “might as well play World of Warcraft,” I sometimes get exasperated and flustered trying to make sure people know I’m not just a “pretend” gamer, but someone whose opinion matters in the public square (good luck on that, eh?).  Well today, while picking up the Campaign Guide for 4th Edition Dark Sun, I saw a new book from Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood!

For the whole 2 of you that don’t know, Forgotten Realms is the premier Dungeons and Dragons setting.  It is an idyllic world of high fantasy and magic, often beset by evil deities, monstrous creatures and vile masterminds.  The Realms had always been protected by its legendary heroes, such iconic fantasy heroes as the wizard Elminster and the drow (dark elf) Drizz’t Do’Urden.  However, with the release of 4th edition D&D the mechanics of the game changed a good deal and (to the developers) required the Realms to change.  Thus a catastrophe called the Spellplague erupted with the death of the Goddess of Magic, Mystra.  Now the world is scarred and the massive amount of deities vying for power has been cut down drastically.  Faerun (the continent most of the Realms’ stories take place on) is a darker place, the roads between the cities much more dangerous.  Needless to say, many people were upset with the changes to their beloved setting, and it was one of the many reasons people bring to me against 4th edition.

I’ve long since wondered what Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Realms, thought of the new version of the setting.  Despite being on the cover as an author of the updated setting, there were rumors he was unhappy that his beloved world had been harmed.  I am here to tell you, this is not true!  He has recently begun writing articles for Dungeon and Dragon magazine called Realmslore, where he describes an event, person, group or item in the new Realms.  By that I mean Ed Greenwood not only created the Forgotten Realms, but he was integral in the newest update as well as continues to support this new product!  I read this interview relating to his newest novel, Elminster Must Die! that shows just how not angry he is with the new setting:  http://www.flamesrising.com/elminster-must-die-greenwood/

I’ve heard people say the new edition in general spits on the traditions and ideas of the past, but Greenwood’s continued support of the Realms gives me hope for the future.  It’s nice to know I am not the only fan of the edition or at least the background info that accompanies the edition.

Am I completely off base?  Is Greenwood just pretending?  Have I made a good point?  Tell me in the comments!

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

I’ve just started playing a paladin in a Pathfinder game my friend Shaphan runs. Every time I play a paladin I have this theme music playing in my head. So I thought I might as well adjust it slightly to fit. Enjoy.

Sung to the theme of the 50′s/60′s western, Have Gun Will Travel.

© 2010, Joseph Little. All rights reserved.

Sweet, unassuming slacker Scott Pilgrim recently had his heart broken.  The 23 year old Canadian has lived in a slump for nearly a year, but things are looking up!  His band doesn’t suck as bad anymore and he recently brought home a 17-year old Chinese-Canadian girlfriend, Knives Chau.  Things are easy and life is simple… that is until the vibrantly fashionable Ramona Flowers rollerblades her way into his dreams, literally.  Suddenly confronted with true love, Scott has a choice: grow up and date the woman of his dreams or continue to be the lackluster slacker he has always been.  However, dating Ramona has a caveat: Scott Pilgrim must fight and defeat Ramona’s Seven Evil Exes!

Combining a cute 20-somethings romance with insane video game references and off-the wall humor, the Scott Pilgrim series by Canadian cartoonist Brian Lee O’Malley is one of the biggest surprises this year.  A few months ago I had never heard of the quirky graphic novel.  I happened upon it while watching the movie Kick-Ass in the theater where I saw the trailer for the movie adaptation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, named after the second book.  I was a little taken aback; the trailer began as a sweet, breezy romance about a normal guy and a girl with pink hair… until the guy flies in from the roof during Scott’s first concert and challenges him to a battle.  Yes.  He flies in.  Literally.  Not only that but sound effects are emoted like the old Adam West Batman series (thock! smack! pow!) as well as an announcer that bellows “KO” at the end of a fight!  It seemed a little too goofy and I put it in the back of my mind.  I steadily started to see more about it and after the second trailer that shows Chris Evans and Brandon Routhe as Evil Exes, I was sold.

I purchased the first two graphic novels and read through them both in an evening before proceeding to do whatever I could to get my grubby hands on the others.  I don’t read many graphic novels due to the cost and length of many series but I certainly made an exception for Scott Pilgrim.  I now own all six volumes and do not regret it, not one bit!

The series is pretty light-hearted with good moments of mature themes as Scott matures into his ill-conceived relationship with Ramona.  Video game references litter the stories, from a “pee” bar when he uses the restroom to the name of his bands (old band is named after an old Sega Genesis game “Kid Chameleon” and his new band is “Sex Bob-omb”).  Logic is thrown right out the door with Japanese roboticists and vegan psychics and all with a kind of tongue-in-cheek reality that seems to ask the reader “What?  Your world isn’t like this?”  It’s all really funny and spastic but the author does not let the witty banter and pop culture references get in the way of telling the story of young love.  Young, stupid, wonderful love.

I admit I liked Scott Pilgrim because I can relate to him.  He’s my age with my sensibilities.  I’m not as lazy or stupid as him, but I get the references and humor as if he were a good friend of mine.  I’ve read that people over the age of 25 would not like it because it feels like an “ADD induced MTV product” but since I neither have ADD or any love for MTV, I don’t really get it.  Instead I would say anyone who enjoys funny stories about the humor of love written by a nerd for nerds, please please give these books a try.  Besides, I know several guys over 25 that love the series anyway!

Comments?  More Scott Pilgrim reviews and previews to come!

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.