Dungeons and Dragons: The Review Edition

So these are my final thoughts on the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. I've already covered how I've felt about the diversity of the core book and if you've read the basic rules then you have a good handle on what this book is offering. Rules wise there isn't much new that you hadn't already read. The Dungeon's Master Guide will have more rules crunchy stuff to consider when it releases in October. That leaves multiclassing and feats as the only new crunchy stuff (oh and of course an expanded spell list).

What the PHB does is gives you more opitions on what you already got from the basic. So you are getting an additional five races. Considered uncommon you are picking up the Dragonborn (which I do like), Gnome, Half Elf, Half Orc and Tiefling. I'm left wondering why the Aasimar were not included. I think if you're going to have Tiefling then you really need to have the Aasimar. It adds symmetry in my opinion.

There are eight new classes to chose from as well and this is where the meat of the book comes in. You get the Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer and Warlock. The Warlock is by far my favorite class, mostly due to the fact that I can realize the concept of Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series. This alone makes the game worth playing. The other classes from the basic rules also gets more archetypes.

My next character, a warlock.

Archetypes are the new way in which the classes can differentiate themselves. Overall I like it. This means that two fighters don't have to be the same. The only problem I have is that the classes themselves feel pretty lean. Most of the classes have two or three archetypes to work with. I am sure that more will be coming in future books but having 3 choices feels light. The only classes that felt complete based on just the core book was the Cleric, the Fighter and the Wizard. Everyone else I feel could have used more, especially the Sorcerer. I was also not pleased with just about every class gaining access to spells. It makes magic feel far to common. These additional casting archetypes for classes like Fighter and Rogue aren't powerful per se, far from it. Just I would liked fewer magic options for classes not devoted to magic.

Multiclassing is pretty straight forward. Each class has ability score prerequisites if you wish to multiclass into it. Otherwise its very straight forward. Proficiency level is determined by character level and since everyone moves up the same track it makes combining classes easier. It only gets tricky when you're adding casting classes.

I liked the feats. Feats are powerful and useful. Gone are long feat trees and chains. Instead for the most part its just the single feat. Since you are swapping out an ability score improvement to have one it's good to know that you aren't losing out. This is also good for Human characters as I was unsure of their bonuses were worthwhile. With the Human variant option you can gain a starting feat and overall I feel that makes the Human race more appealing. I didn't have that feeling when during my first read of them from basic.

I'm not sure if this game will regain the audience it lost to Pathfinder but I do think it has enough merit to create it's own niche with new players. I think overall those coming over from 4th Edition will be happy with it as well as many people who played 2nd Edition. The mechanics are straight forward and dare I say elegant.

With all that said I am left somewhat underwhelmed. To be frank the book is just too light on material. While the Appendixes are useful (they cover such issues as conditions to the planes and pantheons) there isn't much else to sink your teeth into. There is no advice on running a game. Nothing for creating your own adventures. No world building advice or hell even a world to toss players into. No real listing of monsters. It just feels incomplete with out the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Masters Guide. If you're new to gaming overall you almost have to buy the adventure books and the starter set.  And this shouldn't be the case.

Most other games have long adapted to making the core book the only book you really need. Pathfinder core is a huge book in comparison and it's filled with a lot more useful stuff. Yes they sale you a DMG and an MM but you can get by with just the core. The same can be said of 13th Age ( a game I don't even like). 13th Age gives you everything you need to run a game in just it's core. Setting info, gaming advice, monsters, magic items etc etc. Take a look at Edge of Empire, Age of Rebellion and Shadowrun (all games recently released with in the past two to three years) and you can see that these games are all selling you a complete experience.

For all the good of the rules themselves Wizards of the Coast falls flat on providing a complete and full game. For this reason an otherwise fun and awesome game is reduced to something that I feel is a mediocre product. I don't think it had to be this way which is sad. So overall I would rank it at 3 fro's out of a possible of 5. If you're just player then the PHB is a nice book. If you're a GM (and a new one at that) then you are gonna have to buy two other books. And I feel we are now in an age of gaming where a publisher should strive for providing you with a full experience in the core book and use its other books to develop on the idea's all present in the core.

Cosplaying Drow

Cosplaying Drow

The Drow. Oh the Drow. This isn't a discussion about whats wrong with the Drow, though I will touch on that some. No this is about why cosplaying Drow is a bad idea. Now when white people see a Drow and they decide to cosplay they see this.









But what black people see is this.

Although we are more likely to see this

         
        Two drastic images to be sure. So how do we get such different ideas on what cosplaying Drow means. Most of it comes down to the lived experience for people of color (black people in particular). As last Halloween showed ,when Julianne Houghe darkened her skin to look like her favorite character Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black, black people take the idea of black face very seriously. Even when it's not done to insult black people we still feel slighted. This has to do with racial scares that have never quite healed. I know on an intellectual level that a lot of time has passed between when black face was done as a way to degenerate an entire people and now. But as the events of last week show, sometimes we have not made as much social progress in regards to race as we like to think we have.

See I understand that white people see the Drow as cool. I personally don't. I think Drizzt is one of the biggest mary sue's ever. But I do understand that other people feel differently. The only problem is, what you guys see is cool is constantly being portrayed with in the setting as an evil and despicable race. The Drow (no matter the setting) are prejudged to be evil due to the color of their skin. Even Drizzt has to deal with people distrusting him because of the actions of his people. But what you guys see as cool, we interpret as something that plays to close to what we as people of color have to live through. Because I live in a reality in which I am prejudged by society based solely on the color of my skin. And as the past week has shown this can happen with deadly consequences. While you see something that is cool and awesome we see something that is an in game reminder of the challenges of being black in America. Worst yet, you can escape into the role and drop it whenever it suits you. Me, I don't get such an escape.

But what about intent you say. We aren't intending to be harmful with our cosplay, we are just portraying a character and race we really love. Intent does matter. But it doesn't matter the way you think it does. Intent matters in so much as it helps us separate what we see as a racist action from what could be a racist person. Because we know that you aren't intending harm we believe you aren't racist. But the insult is still there. And it still upsets us. I knew Ms. Houghe intent was not to do harm but to honor a character she cherished from an excellent show. That's why I never thought she was racist. However I did feel her choice was in bad taste.

Qapla!!

Well what about Klingons you say. White people cosplay as Klingons and no one gets upset. And you would be correct. However ... and this is big and important Klingons are not in the same boat as Drow. The Drow are irredeemably evil. There is only one good elf among them. The embody so many negative characteristics in the setting that I tend to loose count. The Klingons aren't like that. They aren't used that way in Star Trek. For starters its important to remember that early Klingon weren't black. They had a more olive tan to them. And some were even white. Furthermore Star Trek worked very hard to make sure the audience understood that Klingons were not all evil. They were different to be sure. With a way of life that
we may not all agree with. But the Klingon race as a whole were not as a whole portrayed to be evil. There is also the evolution of the Klingon look. Klingons look sufficiently alien that when a random black person on the street sees one they know its a character. We can separate ourselves from that look. It also helps that Klingons aren't often cosplayed in coal black, which was the look of many black face minstrel shows. Most people in Drow cosplay still look human. So the shock is a lot more visceral.

Well Drow aren't African Americans you say. This is true. The Drow are not a real world parallel to black people. However the fantasy genre is very bad about diversity. We know humans come in any color but what about the demi human races? Fantasy rpg games have a tendency to have all white hero with all white heroic races. The evil races (who are often genetically evil I might add) on the other hand come in all shades of color, the worst being the Drow. So while we know they aren't a real world parallel we can see many aspects of hatred and racism reflected in how fantasy gaming as a genre treats people who are different from the core races. And it is this parallel that causes us to feel very uncomfortable when seeing people cosplaying as Drow. It's an association that too closely mirrors our lived experience. And in an environment where we are meant to feel welcome seeing that black face makes us feel less welcome.

Well cosplaying isn't black face you say. Technically you're right. But in application what you're doing is black face. The idea of black face isn't static. While yes it originally was meant to be white actors doing minstrel shows the concept of what black face is has grown. That's just how culture works. For instance the word gay is now taken to mean someone who is homosexual. However when I was growing up gay was just another word for stupid. And before that it was another word for happy. That's why when you're listening to the Flinstons theme song they say "have a gay old time". They are inviting the viewer to have a happy time, not a homosexual time. And when the Christmas carol Deck the Halls says "and now we dawn our gay apparel" they aren't inviting you to dress in drag. They are asking you to put on the cloths that make you happy. But now, now gay means homosexual. So using it to mean stupid is insensitive to homosexuals. It was a word I had to drop from my vocabulary for that reason. Even though to me, growing up, it had nothing to do with sexuality. The same is true of black face. It is no longer limited to minstrel shows and is pretty much taken to mean anytime someone dresses in black skin. We will never be cool with black face.

So whats to be done? Well in an ideal world I would love the Drow to just disappear. But I recognize that Drizzt and the Drow are a cash cow for Wizards of the Coast. But it would be nice if other gaming companies kinda recognized the issue and publicly made better attempts at diversifying their demi human races, both in art and story direction. In the meantime if you feel you must cosplay as a Drow then please please consider doing the purple skinned Drow. The coal (or obsidian as WotC now describes them) black Drow isn't the only shade they've been depicted in. They've also been purple at times. And cosplaying as a purple Drow gets the point across with out offending a segment of the gaming community. But the black skin Drow is always going to be perceived as black face, no matter how you slice it.

Black gamers want to feel welcome at events like Gen Con and DragonCon too. We want to feel like we are members of the community. Hell we want to cosplay as elves with out people assuming we're an evil elf. So before you put on that black make up for your Drow costume, just remember that black face image tells a lot of gamers who are different from you that we aren't welcome.

Dungeons and Dragons Basic

So I’ve finally gotten the chance to finish reading the D&D Basic rule set. For those who haven’t followed the new iteration of Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Basic is a free rules pdf that allows you to create characters from level 1-20 from a handful of classes and a handful of races. For a deeper experience of D&D you’d need to buy the full Players Handbook, but for people unsure of if they want to get into D&D then this pdf is ideal for introducing them to the game and how it works.

            So the rules for the game are pretty straightforward. It has a very slimmed down and streamlined feel to it. And I know normally when someone says that they mean it to be an insult but in this case I do think this was done for the better. The game doesn’t come off as overly complicated and seems to be ready made to pull in new members. You can see this in the class description when they make recommendations on how to quick build a class. Something I hope they do in the Players Handbook as it’s nice to sometimes be able to do a five minute build for someone.

            You get your standard character classes of Fighter, Cleric, Wizard and Rogue. The rest of the classes will be in the core book. You also get some basic races, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings. So you can very easily replicate the Lord of the Rings experience (well with the exception of no Ranger but otherwise). Instead of massive list of skills and bonus everything gains proficiencies bonus if you are skilled in that area. Each class offers a bonus that scales and as your character develops you gain more proficiencies in more things, such as different skills and weapons groups. So you have less math to keep track of overall. You just basically need to remember what things your character happens to be proficient in and its corresponding bonus.

            The races are pretty simple and straight forward. There is the basic race description. This is then followed by sub races which add a bit more to the core race. I get the impression that everyone is meant to be a part of a sub race since the basic races in many cases kinda suck compared to their sub race counterpart.  The racial descriptions are also a bit more open, though this isn’t a new thing as I’ve seen them do this even in 3^rd Edition. I’ll comment more on that later though.

            The classes themselves look fun. And they make you curious about the other options that are avaible to them. Many of the classes choose an archetype which defines the type of character your class is. So for instance if you play a Rogue you have the thief archetype to pick. There are of course more in the Players Handbook and I think this is where the pdf falls short. I get wanting to hold back material so that people buy the book but I do feel that each class should have been presented with two choices on archetypes. This would then give potential buyers a chance to see how different the same class can be. So in some regards this lack is kinda a letdown and does make the classes feel kind of stale.

            The game adds in some role playing touches though that I haven’t seen before in a D&D product. There is less emphasis on combat and more emphasis on developing a character. I see this as a good step since Wizards of the Coast is aiming to make this the beginners’ game. Players are even rewarded for playing their characters flaws and quirks by Inspiration points. I’m not a fan of the concept as I do feel role playing should be its own reward but I like the effort they are putting into encouraging people to explore character growth.

            I also feel the design of Advantage and Disadvantage was elegant. Basically if you’re in a satiation where you’d have an advantage you get to roll 2 d20s and keep the higher of the two. Flip side if you are disadvantage in a situation you roll 2 d20s and keep the lower of the two. It’s sweet and simple and has less clutter than other editions of the game.

            So overall I’d have to say I am impressed with it as a rule set. I’m still waiting to get the final book though to see some of the things left out and of course to see how inclusive of a game it really is. Which brings me back to something I mentioned earlier in the article. The game does make attempts to be more inclusive. There is a discussion on how sexuality and gender work in the new D&D world, in which the game explains that it doesn’t have to be a binary male/female relationship. Wizards of the Coast also previewed a picture of a black character that you’ll see when you open the Players Handbook. This in addition to some very tastefully done artwork of some of the female characters. 

            And I want to stress something here, this is a good sign. My current reservations are mostly in regards to how far Wizards of the Coast goes with it. It’s one thing to show an occasional black face and make mention of different sexualities and gender identity. It’s another to follow through on that commitment. The bar for this was set very high by other companies, so it does take a bit more than just the one image to make me happy. For instance, while they say elves come in different shades do they depict this? Or will the only time we see an elf that isn’t a shade of white be when we’re looking at a Drow? These are things I don’t know but I’m very interested in seeing.

            So I commend Wizards of the Coast for taking those first few steps forward. I just want to make sure they follow through and we don’t celebrate before the battle for diversity in the hobby is won.

Diversity circa 1993

Diversity circa 1993

            Mage the Ascension is one of my favorite games, hands down. And one of the things that made me overwhelming support White Wolf back in the day was its approach to diversity. This was very refreshing for someone who was just getting into the hobby and wanted to play characters like him. So this gem of an article was reposted by Satyros Phil Brucato (one of the brilliant writers of that game) in regards to a conversation online about diversity in gaming and the Drow (which one day I’ll write about). This article was written by Travis Williams (another great author on Mage working at White Wolf at the time). This is reprinted with the permission of Mr. Brucato.

In the Howling at the Moon column in White Wolf Magazine #39, Travis Williams wrote:
________________________________

I'm confused. I’m looking at my game shelf here at White Wolf.

I’m disgusted.

A number of black people approached me at GenCon and
asked about the cover of Mage: “Hey, did you have something to do with that?“

“Do with what? A black man on the cover? What do you think?

I think it’s about time black people were represented in the game industry. As a black man who has scarcely found any people of his kind in roleplaying’s grand clique, it gives me great pleasure to start my own clique. Wanna join? The membership’s free.

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I’m bitter. The fact that a race of people is absent from a pastime seems asshckward. Wouldn’t you agree?

Let me take you back a year or two, back to when I joined the White Wolf staff. (They had to hire me, see; I hung around too much.) I remember talking to my friend Darryl. He said,“Travis, since you’re in the biz now, do me a favor and ask TSR a question.” I said sure, what the hell. Boy, did he make me think. He asked me to find out why Athas, a fictional planet with
an elevated temperature, the setting of AD&Ds Dark Sun, didn’t have black people on it. Seems bizarre that there are no real black people on Athas, just whites with tans. I never really thought about it until he mentioned

When I attended a convention where TSR was represented, Of course, they had no answer. I didn’t really expect one. Which brings me to my point - where are the black people in RPGs?

Let’s set a few things straight. I don’t think black people deserve a bigger place in RPGs than any other race. But the fact that they’re absent makes me wonder about people’s perception of the world. Most fantasy games are modeled after Europe. That’s fine, but Africa is closer to Europe than Japan is, and the Orient appears in more fantasy games than Africa does. Come to think of it, I can’t even think of a fantasy game that portrays
blacks in a “respectable light.”

The point can be argued that only white kids play roleplaying games, so why bother depicting blacks? If that’s so, I’m really confused. Sure, the market’s made up largely of whites, but there are blacks out there playing (there are even some black women in roleplaying - I’ve met two, and I’m dating one of them). Why aren’t there more blacks, male or female? I have a theory: representation.

Ever see a black person on the cover of a rulebook, module, sourcebook or novel? Maybe once or twice. But it doesn’t make up for the multitude of whites that do appear.

Hopefully, thanks to some socially aware folks, the times are a changin’. Mage has my character,

Dante, on the cover. Shadowrun and Earthdawn (FASA’s games) have many black characters in their scenarios. Vampire and Werewolf have their share of black people, and Mage will too. I think this industry needs to realize that if it wants to keep growing, it had damn well better broaden its audience, and that means making more people comfortable in it.

To all those RPG companies who don’t have a clue, here’s a free one. Where are the black people? I’m still wondering why Amber, a place of “cosmic perfection,” has no blacks in it. Why are they excluded? Do they think blacks are going to bring crime with them? Help me out, Phage Press. I know it’s Roger Z’s world, but do somethin’.

It occurs to me that representation in games may be white because designers are commonly white. However, Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk has no black people in its rules. So much for that theory. I wasn’t on the staff at White Wolf when Chicago by Night 1st edition came out. However, I made sure there was plenty of color in the Windy City. I’m still wondering
why the Followers of Set (real evil vampires) are for the most part black. Paranoia?

I have never played a white person in an RPG. When I did play fantasy games, I played a member of a nonhuman race, usually an elf - perhaps because elves were the only AD&D race that had black skin. I wonder why the Forgotten Realms’ only black race- the drow - is also the one hated by all the other races? If it sounds like I’m singling companies out, respond and refute me. Better yet, show me a black paladin and I’ll gladly shut the hell up.

If you think I’m being extreme, put yourself in my shoes. If you opened a game and found only black people depicted, how eager would you be to play?

Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps I’m overreacting. The fact still remains that RPGs don’t seem to cover the racial spectrum. Comics have learned that representation of black characters works (look at Milestone Media). The movie industry has learned as well (John Singleton, Spike Lee, Bill Duke). And this representation shouldn’t stop with black people. We should represent all races and lifestyles: blacks, Asians, Hispanics, gays ... the whole nine yards. Maybe then this industry will have a wider audience.

You know why minorities aren’t big in RPGs? Say it in writing.

Or maybe I’ll continue to be confused.

Peace.

Name

              In a conversation a few weeks ago I posted some idea’s I had on 5^th Edition D&D and it’s representation of minorities to a gaming page on Facebook. During the conversation one of the posters commented that having an organization (or group) with race in the name only contributed to the problem. I immediately dismissed the man as racist because who hasn't heard that line before? In my day to day life the only people who typically complained about race being in the name of an organization where the ones who refused to admit that there were still problems of race in this country. Such is the state of the post racial world we live in.

            Then my friend Mike asked me a similar question. He felt that I couldn't be as inclusive as I wanted to be if I placed blackness first and foremost in my mind. My friend Mike is French and lives in Asia so coming from him I can understand why he didn't understand why I felt the remark was racist.

            But this isn’t a post about why the comment was racist. It’s a post to explain why race figures prominently in my mind. I think when you’re a minority and you’re used to being in the out group you inherently understand how favoring your group doesn’t mean you want to exclude others. I think when you’re in the majority you tend not to find the need to be around people like you so you can draw upon a collective strength of the group as a whole when dealing with adversity.

            For many minority groups, race may be a part of the name but it is far from the total objective. When I was doing my undergrad degree I was part of an Asian Students Association. They took great pride in their Asian heritage, but they were a group that was open to all. My brother used to be a member of a Mexican American student society when he was in school. They took great pride in their Mexican heritage but they were also a group open to teaching anyone about Mexican heritage and allowed anyone to join.

            And this is a very common thing to see in many minority organizations. Not everyone in the NAACP is black. Furthermore the NAACP doesn’t just fight for black rights. Sure that is their primary focus but they stand in support of the rights for other minorities. NOW (National Organization for Women) primary membership is women but they don’t discriminate against men either. The organization itself has had male membership as well. Or take a look at most LGBT organizations. Their sexuality will figure into the name but these groups are not just for LGBT people, straight allies are always welcome in such groups.

            So the use of your minority status is a fairly common thing. It doesn’t denote an attempt to create more problems but to acknowledge how they are different. It also helps to recruit like minded individuals. By having black in the name of my group I make it easy for other black gamers to find and identify with the group.

            But also just as importantly, when I write I write from my own perspective. I can not claim to know or understand the difficulties in being an Asian gamer or a female gamer. But I can tell you what it’s like to be a black gamer. And my thoughts on gaming are in part informed by my experiences as a black man. And I think that my message will probably resonant strongly with other black gamers who can likely relate to similar experiences.

            I’ll always support the efforts of other types of gamers. I may talk from the perspective of a black male, but I do 100% stand for a more inclusive gaming space for everyone regardless of skin color, gender or sexuality. But I think I do my best work when I’m writing from the places I know.

            So until next time enjoy one of the best songs about names.

Why?

Why?

            So recently I was asked “why bother” as in why is any of this important. After all, as the person indicated, this is a make believe game we’re playing in which the characters are whatever race, color or creed I as a player or a GM deems fit. Thus whether or not the art shows me people like me it shouldn’t matter. And on a certain level there is some truth to that. Nothing stops me from playing a black character, or a Jewish character or a Latino or Asian or any other kind of character I could possible think or dream of.

            But that doesn’t change the simple fact that how the hobby presents itself influence how welcome I feel with in the hobby. When you market a product with only white faces you tell the non white faces that they aren’t welcome. Or maybe that you’re money is fine but we don’t value you enough to represent you in art. It would be a kin to going to a restaurant and being told that “yeah it’s ok to eat here but you have to come in through the back.” It creates this atmosphere that you are not welcome.

            For people who have representation I’ve noticed that this feeling is kinda a hard concept to grasp. People who see pictures of them don’t really link up to the idea that not having those pictures actually maters. But most minorities express a desire to be represented in any medium that they take an interest in.

            Take the comic book industry for example. Another place with fictional characters. As the comic book market went more mainstream and people other than white males started buying the comics they expressed a desire to also be equally represented with in the pages of the books they were buying. It didn’t matter if you were black, Asian, female or gay. All minorities have expressed a desire to be represented in the pages of the comic books they like to read and collect. We see the same thing in video games too.

            Representation also builds a link to the game. I know I’m personally more connected to games that I feel represented in. I have founder memories playing WoD than I do of playing D&D. It’s not due to any difference in the rules. Or even the games styles. I just have a deeper connection to WoD (classic WoD I should say) than I do to D&D because WoD has characters like me to identify with.

            In a perfect world none of this would really matter. But sadly we don’t live in that world. This is

Morgan Freeman if he were playing D&D

important to me because I want to feel that connection to the games I buy. It is my money after all. And I know other minorities want that connection too. They want that tie. They want to feel valued by the gaming companies they spend money on. Just this afternoon I went from thinking “meh I’ll get the Advanced Classes book at some point” to feeling like I needed to preorder the book all based on the revelation that the new icon for one of the new classes was a young Morgan Freeman (ok not really but he bears a resemblance).

            Now don’t get me wrong, at the end of the day I do know that there are bigger evils in the world. I hold no delusions that I am the Malcolm X of gaming or anything like that. But gamers/nerds/geeks are a passionate bunch. We are characterized with feeling strongly about our hobbies. For showing passion. So when I talk about these things I am just as passionate about it as I am when I’m pitching a character idea to a GM or talking about why Stargate SG1 will still be hands down better than any kind of movie reboot.

            At the end of the day I want to feel connected to the products I spend my free time with. And oddly enough others do too.

5th Edition Woes?

            It’s been awhile since I’ve had the time to sit down and write. But now that the semester is over I hope to be able to get more opportunities to write. Today I want to talk about DnD Next or 5^th Edition, or perhaps simply called Dungeons and Dragons. 

            I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the new Dungeons and Dragons over the past few weeks. With its release only a few months away one can’t help be curious. I was reading an article on the minis that WizKids are going to produce when something caught my eye. None of the minis were black. Well they had a Drow (and don’t get me started on why the Drow are so bad) but the main line up was very monochromatic.

            So I decided to do a google search of images related to the next iteration of DnD and discovered that in all the images released for the game none of them depicted a person of color. Now I could have missed one, it is possible, but I found that idea to be very troubling. If one were to do a google image search of Pathfinder you would be able to easily see the diversity that the game promotes. The pictures of their iconic characters (the Middle Eastern cleric and the black paladin) are easy to find and show off what makes Pathfinder such a great game.

I am digging the logo though

            This is a big problem for Dungeons and Dragons. One I hope they seriously address at some point. DnD is the biggest name in tabletop rpgs. As much as I love Pathfinder and their work on diversity DnD is the go to game I use when I’m trying to describe what gaming is to non-gamers. DnD is a house hold name. Just about everyone knows what it is.

            With Wizards of the Coast trying to make the game appealing to both the causal/new gamer as it does the old gamers it becomes vital that DnD is upfront about diversity. You attract people of color to your game by making them feel included. And you make them feel included by including artwork that depicts people like them in the setting.

            Now there may be more to the artwork than I’ve seen so far. I may have missed a few things. Which is why when the game comes out I’ll give it a fair shot. But keep in mind I already own Pathfinder. I picked up Pathfinder last summer after I decided to chip in for a Thunderscape Kickstarter. All in all the game wasn’t that different from 3.5. But what impressed me was that there was a Middle Eastern cleric and a black paladin. It was that feeling of inclusion that prompted me to buy 9 more Pathfinder related products. All because Paizo did something new and different with their iconics.

            Wizards of the Coast you want that same effect. You want someone to open your book, see their ethnicity depicted and be inclined to go out and buy 9 more books. I’ll give you a shot come August. But whether or not I want to play Dungeons and Dragons will be dependent on, not only the rules, but whether I feel, as a customer,  like Wizards of the Coast wants to include me in their game.

Minorities in Gaming podcast

It’s been awhile since I had a moment to update the blog. The end of a semester combined with holiday cheer and then getting sick has kept me away sadly. L At the beginning of the month a site named Black Girl Nerds did a podcast on rpg’s. The guest speakers were all black gamers and I was initially going to be on the show myself until I got sick and needed to tend to some health needs.

Still the show was excellent and they are lining up to do a part 2, of which I’ve been invited to be a guest on again. In the meantime though I thought I’d go back and answer the questions that were asked on the show, if for no other reasons than to offer up a bit more about me. If you want to listen to the show follow this link. 

What got you into table top gaming?

My friend Andrew, I was in the 11^th grade and he asked me if I had considered gaming before. He was putting together a new table top group and he thought I might be interested. So it was Andrew as the GM and my friends Lance and Robert (who also happened to be black). We gammed for about a year and then stopped around the time we became seniors. To much was going on at that time to be able to get much gaming done. So I continued the hobby when I went off to college finding both some online groups and an offline campus group to play in.

What was your first rpg?

My first rpg was Rifts, done by Palladium Games. We were adventuring off into the vampire infested lands of Mexico. Andrew allowed us two characters (so that the overall party size was about 6). So my first character was a Ley Line Walker (who happened to be black) and an elven merc (which Andrew seemed to enjoy tormenting). 

We were also briefly introduced to Shadowrun that first year of gaming. When I went off to college I had also become a huge World of Darkness fan.

What are your favorite role playing games and are there any that you would recommend?

I have two favorite rpg’s. My first is Mage the Ascension, which I started playing in college. The game offered an amazingly level of freedom when it came to designing a mage. Wizards were my favorite class to play as, so an entire game based on the concept of having magic was right up my alley. Over the years I’ve come to love the Technocracy most of all when it comes to mage, mixing enlightened science with modern tech. I had the privelage of playing the game one last time before leaving for graduate school when my friend Peter ran our World of Darkness group through a series of adventures. Mage happens to be one of his favorite games too.

My second favorite rpg is Legend of the Five Rings. It’s a game about samurai drama, or what passes for samurai drama for us poor westerners. It has an interactive storyline which was very appealing to me at the time I started playing it. One of the friends to get me into the game, a guy named Jacob, used to tell me stories upon stories of how the players of the game shaped the overall canon story. L5R is also the game where I’ve been most involved in the rpg community as a business. I’ve gotten the chance to play test for the game, submit NPC’s and once even put together a web expansion for two books.

So it has a warm place in my heart.

If there was a game that I would recommend (outside of my favorites), I would have to go with Pathfinder. Basic western fantasy style rping, building upon the 3.5 ruleset. So it's not that hard of a transition if you've played 3rd Edition DnD. Also I love the way the company that makes the game Paizo supports both alternative lifestyles and minority characters in its gaming lines. 

Do you do any larping?

I have from time to time. I don’t anymore as it’s been my least favorite form of rpg. I think what turns me off is that the larp games I played in never technically ever stopped once the game ended for the night. People would spend their entire week plotting and planning and organizing for the next game and for me, once the game was over I was ready to do other stuff with my week.

What kind of diversity do you find in your gaming groups and how often is there a person of color in the game?

Somewhat small. With a few exceptions I find myself the only minority at the table. I find that even odder when I look back and consider that that was the case for the online games I was involved in too. There are notable exceptions. My current GM is Asian, and my last GM was Mexican. I only got the chance to game with him once even though we’d known each other for years and often talked about gaming.

I often find that if I’m not playing the minority then nine times out of ten there isn’t much diversity in the games I’m in. So I sometimes feel compelled to represent the other side. Not always black characters mind you.

Have you had an experience where a person responds to you and not your character?

I think the most common experience of people responding to me and not the character is when someone is playing a racist and they and everyone around them are constantly trying to assure me that the racist views of their character do not reflect their real views. As if I didn’t understand that already about role playing.

Though there was this one time where me and my friends really felt it was getting dangerous for me. We were gaming with this guy that I had briefly gamed with before. So when a new group got started I invited him to game because he offered up his place to game at and free food. I didn’t really think he was racist at first but then he slowly became more and more aggressive towards my character (where were playing L5R at the time). At first we thought he just didn’t agree with how I was playing the character. So I made a new one and he still was aggressive towards my character.

As the weeks went by I began to feel he was being directly aggressive towards me and several of the players also agreed. The breaking moment came when we were taking a small break from the action and we looked at the books on his mantle to notice that they were all Nazi related/themed books.

Needless to say I stopped gaming with the guy, as did the rest of the group after that discovery

You're Not Alone

There’s a conversation happening in geek/nerd culture and it’s a great one, to an extent. See there’s a lot being said about how popular geek/nerd culture is these days. A conversation about how the stigma of being a gamer or enjoying comic books has lessened over the years. And I’m not saying this isn’t true. But there is a theme that arises in a lot of these conversations about the trials and tribulations of growing up a geek when it wasn’t cool to be a geek that I can’t agree with. This theme is one of loneliness and a tough choice between having to be a nerd or dating.

Growing up a geek didn’t mean that I always had a date. Like any teenager or young adult there were times when I did and there were times when I didn’t. But the choice to date, to interact with girls, never came down to me having to choose between the hobby I loved dearly and snuggling up to someone. As a young man I had to develop a skill that has helped me go far in life, time management.

Being a functioning adult means balancing various demands on life. This idea holds true for nerds as it does for anyone else. As a young lad I had to decide when I wanted to spend my Friday night rolling dice or eating popcorn with a pretty girl. Some Fridays I’d game. Others I’d go to the movies. Or I’d schedule gaming related events in the early afternoon so that I’d have my evenings free to be sociable with other people.

Next came developing multiple interest. I was never afraid of being a nerd. These days most of my friends know that if I’m causally reading on my Nexus 7, odds are strong that I’m reading an rpg supplement. But before the implementation of pdfs and tablets I used to carry good ole fashion rpg supplements. You know how heavy those get in a back pack after awhile!!! But that wasn’t the end of my personality or the scope of my interest. Yeah I could go on and on about why THACO sucked, or why Mage was better than Vampire, or why the X-Men combined would never in one million years be as cool as Batman. But I could also hold a reasonable conversation about politics. Sure I didn’t play any sports but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be caught dead at a college football game (as an fyi they can be a lot of fun). I not only watched Star Trek The Next Generation but also The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In short I developed a varied set of interest and this variety of interest allowed me to have something to say in the company of gamers and in the company of non gamers.

I make mention of this not to understate the difficulties faced by gamers, nerds and geeks growing up. Instead I bring this up to serve as a reminder that not every nerd had a difficult time growing up. Your teenage years and into your young adult years is a very hard time for everyone. Regardless of your hobbies and interest. It’s a time of self discovery. It’s a time when you desperately want to fit in. It’s a time in your life where you start to figure the kind of person you want to be when you “grow up”. I placed quotes there mostly because we never really grow up.

It’s important to remember that everyone faces these basic challenges. And we all adapt differently. It’s important to remember that everyone faces these challenges so that we can come together as people. Focusing on that period of our lives as being some how negative because you had to make a hard choice between gaming and dating is misleading. It’s a choice we all make no matter the hobby. It also scares away people who may otherwise self identify as a geek or nerd. No one wants to be alone. And no one wants to get involved in a hobby that may make them feel alone.

Now I’m not going to claim it’s easy. It takes a lot of work balancing the various aspects of life and my personality. But it is equally rewarding.

Being in this hobby doesn’t condemn you to a life of solitude.

Rally the Troops

You ever need a speech to inspire your players with? Or are you a bard who needs to stand up and Any Given Sunday. You'd need to make some minor adjustments but this speech is too good to pass up on. I will have to use it at some point.

offer words of wisdom to the party before going off into the major game ending battle? If you are in need of words of wisdom than look no further. This speech was given by Al Pacino in

I'll include the youtube video at the end as well as a youtube video to the background music. After all an inspiring speech needs an inspiring beat.

I don't know what to say really.
Three minutes
to the biggest battle of our professional lives
all comes down to today.
Either
we heal
as a team
or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch
play by play
till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me
and
we can stay here
and get the shit kicked out of us
or
we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you.
I'm too old.
I look around and I see these young faces
and I think
I mean
I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh....
I pissed away all my money
believe it or not.
I chased off
anyone who has ever loved me.
And lately,
I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But,
you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know
when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team,
or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?

 

 

 

Arkham Origins

Arkham Origins

            What’s to say about a game that is likely to receive 9’s and 10’s from most magazines that review it? A lot actually, seeing as how I’m currently playing Mass Effect 1 again as opposed to completing my game on Batman Arkham Origins. Now that’s not to imply that Mass Effect is a bad game (though the first one hasn’t aged as well as the second one did), but I have beaten this game 2 times already and I’m only playing again because a good friend told the Tali romance brings out a lot more character from her and is highly amusing.

            Now I’m a huge Batman fan, so much so that I’m taking one of the lithographs that I got from buying the strategy guide, framing it, and placing it on my desk in my office on campus. But this game does have some flaws. But first lets cover what it did well.

            The game has a pretty interesting story. Black Mask is a semi big villain in the Batman universe. He was one of the villains in Batman: Under the Red Hood (an excellent movie I might add). And while the Joker does seem to play a big role (remember I haven’t beaten the game yet) having the Red Hood play a major part of the story helps to keep the game about something other than Batman and the Joker. I love the Joker, but I don’t need him to be the only thing we see in a Batman game.

            And another point in favor of the story is that it is an origin tale. So we get to see the Joker become … well … the Joker. A pre Oracle Barbara Gordon is also a nice touch. Toss in Jim Gordon as the not commissioner yet and well you have a nice set up to see where things are going later on down the road. It was nice to see the tension between Batman and Jim and for Batman when he has to deal with a corrupt GCPD.

            The combat and the gadgets are pretty much the same as the last game. So controlling Batman isn’t a new learning experience. This is good as it allows you to jump right in and get straight to the action. If you had mastered combat in the previous game then you’ll have no problem here. Though I do miss the electro gun. That thing was crazy fun to use in combat.

            And finally I have to say that I did enjoy the addition of the multiplayer. It isn’t enough to sale the game alone. But it is an interesting diversion, much like the multiplayer for Mass Effect 3 was. It could use more gangs, and I hope that they even add more hero’s to play as, but overall it was fun. The fact that there were three teams each match is an interesting approach to multiplayer play. It’s not just about killing the other team but also avoiding Batman and Robin who are out to mess up both teams.

            On the flip side, as an origin story I question Batman’s gadgets. He starts the game with almost everything he needs. If this is a Batman that is younger and more rookie then shouldn’t he start with less equipment? I would go so far to suggest that maybe some gadgets may have been left off entirely. I haven’t decided which ones I would have removed from the game entirely but I lean heavily towards the sonic batarang and your decoder. In the very least a device like the decoder should have been an item that he picked up from someone else. With that in mind I think the game missed out on a chance to maybe add a development aspect to becoming the Batman that we see in Arkham City and Arkham Asylum.

            Also while it was nice that the game play and fighting was unchanged from the previous game it also made it somewhat boring. Again, this is an origin tale, so I think to some extent Batman not being the combat master that he is in later games would have been justified. I feel that it may have been more fun to build up to being the master and bad ass that you know he will one day become. A combat development path would have added a new aspect to the game. I admit it may have been something tricky to balance, but you already have Batman buying moves with his experience.

            The city of Gotham is also very bland. You’re playing in the same part of Gotham that you played in during Arkham City. Now I’m not asking for a large sandbox to play in. But typically the entire city of Gotham is crime ridden. There isn’t much of a reason to focus on just the part of the city that was featured in the last game. Thus I don’t feel compelled to truly explore the city like I did the last time. Which is sad, because that was fun in Arkham City.

            Also game play wise I feel the game took a step backwards by not including a second character to play as. Being Catwoman last game was incredible fun. It offered up a different style of play that was also integrated into the overall story of the game itself. While I wasn’t looking to play as Catwoman again I had hopes that something like that would return for the next game. Perhaps the chances to play as Nightwing, Batgirl, or Robin and have that play tie in to the overall story being told. Perhaps even having their missions be little side quest that they take up to free up Batman’s time. Now with it being an origin story you can’t exactly go that route with a large number of the possible characters. But perhaps a young Dick Grayson as Robin would have added a bit of depth to the play experience. It wouldn’t have hurt. More so if you consider that you play as Robin in the multiplayer part of the game. Hell you could have had Robin going to get parts for a new gadget for Batman to use and having him bring it to the Dark Knight.

            And finally, no Poison Ivy. You lose points for that automatically.

            Overall this isn’t a bad game. It has its strengths and it has its weakness. The biggest fault of the game I would have to say is that it just doesn’t stand out enough from the second game in the series. That’s what harms it the most, same city, same moves, same bat gadgets. The biggest new thing of Arkham City, the inclusion of Catwoman, wasn’t carried over to the third game and I think that hurts it a lot. I really wish I could give this game a perfect score but sadly when you compare it to the experience I had with Arkham Asylum and Arkham City it just doesn’t overall stand up. So I give the game 3 and half afro’s (out of a possible 5). If you’re a Batman fan get the game. But overall you’re not gonna miss much if you pass on it or wait till it drops in price in the used game market.