As many of you know, most of the writers for this blog live in Australia. And for that fact we have been subjected to one of the most backward and condescending ratings systems for computer games in the developed world. Whereas movies can receive classification up to R18+ – restricted to individuals aged 18 or more – the maximum rating allowed for computer games is, at present, only MA15 – that is, restricted to people above the age of 15. Anything which might breach that limit is therefore refused classification, and hence is banned from our shores. This has seen the watering down or total ban of various supposedly wonderful computer games in the last few years, having us local computer gamers disappointed and angry.

Continue reading Australian Government puts R18+ Rating for computer games on the table

One of the more exciting features of the iPhone’s new OS 3 was the ability to use your device as a modem for your computer. Unfortunately, companies like Optus in Australia and AT&T in the US have seen this as an opportunity to further gauge their customers out of their hard earned cash.

Continue reading iPhone tethering in Australia – which carrier to choose [Updated - 3 Mobile]

The time period referred to as ‘evening’ starts at 6pm and ends at 10pm. It is official.

In other words, a friend and I have declared it so.

Matter closed. (And no, don’t ask. Or you can. If anyone is interested, you can ask in the comments, otherwise, don’t bother…)

With the launching of the Large Hadron Collider there is a lot of speculation about Mini Black Holes emitting Hawking radiation and destroying the entire planet and maybe even the entire universe (that’s right – take that God, we created you, we can destroy you… oh wait…). The scientific community however is in consensus that nothing will probably go wrong. And if something could go wrong, its like a 1 in 50 million chance that it will.

Anyway, if you want to look at a live webcam of them testing the setup you can watch here (look for the red lights flashing, it means they are sending protons around)…

Also check out xkcd’s take on it…

XP. The humble experience point. A core concept in many role-playing games, and lately leaking into other genres. Used as an abstract way of representing how a character develops their skills, the core question is: how and why does a character gain the XP?

Well, many RPGs feature combat. So why not award XP for winning combat? Yeah. Okay, you get people who get better at picking locks by killing orcs, but hey. No worries.

What else? Well, there’s always the Quest. Yup, capital Q. As true as in the epic tales than spawned them, RPGs always have the Quest. Well, surely, if you drop the magic ring in the volcano, your character should learn and be rewarded for it. It’s an experience, so you get Experience Points!

But then… the association comes. XP = reward. Reward = XP. So both the Game Master, who want to reward certain actions, and players, who desperately want that sweet XP that means so much, they start making more connections. It’s a Role-playing Game, yes? So, you should get XP for Role-playing, yes?

And thus, role-playing XP was born. Now fairly common, it has reached the point where people expect it. And, well, it’s not a bad idea. But where does it lead?

This design article for 4th Edition D&D raised this point:

“I’ve seen a lot of games (both in early RPGA and home games) that gave XP for good role-playing. By good role-playing do I mean the quality of your character acting? The problem with the role-playing reward is this: You’re almost always going to give out the maximum to everyone at the table. Why? Because telling someone that they didn’t do a good job of role-playing in a game where everyone is there to have fun seems overly judgemental, can create hurt feelings, and is… well… just downright crappy. It’s also so very meta and arbitrary that it begs questions about other forms of bonus XP. Why not give similar bonus XP for rule knowledge? Playing well with others? Bringing the most snacks?”

Heh. Well, I know I, as GM, have given out snack XP before. But, rule knowledge? Playing well with others? They’re just as good as the others. Rule knowledge is the Game part of Role-playing Game. Teamwork is undeniably an important aspect, so XP for that makes sense, if you’re going down this path.

So perhaps we should go back to the first one: XP for role-playing. Why do we need this? Does role-playing need a reward? Surely the reason we play an RPG, over, say, chess, is because it is an RPG?

Perhaps role-playing should be its own reward?

Update: The situation has improved immensely since this post was written.

While I don’t think that dice rollers on your phone will ever replace the tactile awesomeness of rolling a handful of dice, I have investigated the growing number of dice roller’s available in the App Store. By and large they have been either free or only a dollar or two, which is, in most cases, too much. Of all the things that you would think would be easy to get right, an application that actually rolls the dice how you would on a games night would be one of them, surely.

Problem One: Crappy graphics…

This is almost universal amongst all of them. Only one as come close to getting it right and it has blatently stolen the graphics from the Chessex website (see our blogroll…). Others show squares that have numbers in them (regardless of the die you actually rolled), and yet others just show text (probably not the worst option in all honesty…). A simple UI that does what you’d expect, and not require obscure gestures just to use the accelerometer and which doesn’t steal from your favourite dice manufacturer would be a basic assumption for something you pay for…

Problem Two: Crappy features…

This is something that I have found most frustrating… You really want the following:

• Ability to roll multiples of one die type
• Ability to add a modifier to that die type
• Ability to roll multiple die types
• Ability to save your favourite combination of die types, multipliers and modifiers

Only one is apparently coming close to this is the D20 Dice Bag Pro ($2.99 USD/$3.99 AUD). They are the only ones who have added features to a point where it is usable (they also stole the graphics from Chessex…).

The Reviews…

After spending nearly $10 what follows is my opinion on what’s currently on offer…

D20 Dice Bag Pro

Top of the list is the D20 Dice Bag Pro. This is the only dice roller that allows you do roll multiple die types and add modifiers. It has probably the nicest UI as well. One thing that was a little annoying was the way that you add multiples of things – it wasn’t as intuitive as I would have hoped. Probably the best thing about this app is that the developer is releasing an update almost weekly, and the future features that he is promising sound quite good (like the ability to keep/drop dice from a roll, and then re-roll).

D20 Dice Bag also comes in a ‘lite’ version which doesn’t allow you to add modifiers or roll multiple die types, but is free at least. (Check out the Chessex dice set Veronica for a remarkable likeness to their images however…)

Dice Bag

This free app is really easy to use, has crappy plastic dice for images (you know, the type you have to ‘beef up’ your collection). You click on the die type you want to roll, and hey-presto, you get a number. The nice thing about this app is that it has included 3d6 and 4d6 drop lowest in the standard list of rolls.

The best part about this app is that it is free…

DiceDaemon

This app is a complete waste of money. Complete waste. The only thing that this app has on the FREE app Dice Bag is that it has ‘borrowed’ a nicer set of images from the Chessex website. That’s it. It might look pretty, but not $2.99 USD ($3.99 AUD) pretty. I don’t know how they expect to sell many copies of this app. Even for a dollar, it would be too much in my opinion.

I will give them an extra point for spelling Daemon properly though…

(Check out the Chessex dice set Translucent Purple for a remarkable likeness to their images…)

THAC0

Honestly… I don’t really know what to say about this app. They had the right idea, but it really hasn’t come together… It really hasn’t. Its difficult to use and annoying, and painful, and well… it just sucks at the moment. Its been updated recently, but still… it… well… The worst part is they charged me a dollar for it… bastards…

Anyway… check out the gallery of screenshots of the various apps in action below.

My favourite race for EVERYTHING has always been the dwarf. Whether it be D&D, Warhammer or Moria, I have always played dwarves. There is something about their grumpy, stubborn and obstinate ways that I personally identify with. There is also the beer…

…lovely *smacks lips*…

But now that I have been playing dwarves for nigh on twenty years, the combat techniques of these venerable warriors has gotten a bit stale. To this end, I started considering alternate combat techniques that I could employ. This is, of course, a topic that has been explored by others in the past. Consider Terry Pratchett’s Dwarf Combat Baking. War crumpets and muffins, I have to admit, are immensely appealing. Food that can kill… fantastic.

Aside from combat baking, there are other characteristics of the dwarf that could be utilised. Those who know me and the characters that I play will all testify to the one thing about dwarves that I tend to either overplay or utilise with wilful glee. Dwarf hygiene.

Putting this together as an all round package, this is what I came up with:

Armour: +2 Natural bonus to AC to account for unwashed socks and underwear.

Attack: +2 Bonus to attack to account for wild drunken swinging rage

Special Attacks:
Flatulence Attack – save DC 20 vs Fortitude or pass out and take 2d12 Damage. Save for half damage.
Urination – The dwarf pees himself. All weapon attacks that hit have a 20% chance of rusting immediately.

Now, I know what you are all thinking. Dwarves are supposed to be clean and proud and very very not stinky. But honestly, where’s the fun in that?

[thanks to Trent for the idea]