May 2007
- [DESIGN] Developing and balancing a roleplaying system Calvin
- [ADMIN] Bounced Posts? Nick Koranda
- [Offtopic] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Lachek Butalek
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Jacob Cord
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? John Buehler
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? John Buehler
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Tess Snider
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Raph Koster
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Raph Koster
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? cruise
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? John MacQueen
- "The Next Big Thing" (was [DESIGN} Who to design for?) Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Michael Chui
- [DESIGN] Who to design for? Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Tess Snider
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? cruise
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Tess Snider
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Mike Sellers
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Sean Howard
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Mike Sellers
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Sean Howard
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Michael Chui
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Peter Keeler
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Ammon Lauritzen
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Sean Howard
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Lachek Butalek
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? cruise
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Caliban Darklock
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs cruise
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Tess Snider
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Lachek Butalek
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Chui
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Ian Hess
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Ian Hess
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Tess Snider
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Lachek Butalek
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Hartman
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Kiztent
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Jean, Yannick
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Hartman
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Vincent Archer
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Dave Scheffer
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Tess Snider
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Chui
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs John Buehler
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Morris Cox
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Matt Chatterley
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Chui
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Nick Koranda
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Tess Snider
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Cory Cohen
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Matt Chatterley
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Craig Huber
- [JOBS] Areae hiring Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Phillip Lenhardt
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Tess Snider
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Tess Snider
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Matt Chatterley
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
Caliban Darklock wrote:
> Why does it need to have meaning?
>
> Honestly, why? Players risk their characters' lives as a matter of
> course. Indeed, that's the only way to progress in most games. If life
> is so cheap as to be risked on a daily basis, why does death need to
> be in any way remarkable? Why not just have it be along the lines of
> "oops, try again"?
>
> The vast majority of players are not playing out their epic fantasy
> tales in your game. They may THINK they are playing out an epic
> fantasy, but they're not. They are escaping their drab little boring
> lives. When you construct death in such a way that it drops them back
> into the drab little boring game they've already played, your game
> sucks - unless the boring part of the game gets a hell of a lot easier
> AND FASTER with real-world experience.
I couldn't agree more. too often designs rely on the 5 things such as
replacing a character when she dies or trying to make death have
meaning.
The complete opposite approach works well for me. this plays precisely
to what I was rambling on about in talking about a Hackmaster campaign.
Unlike many table top D&D session where the players have all become
attached to their characters and are spending their gaming sessions
trying to craft the next great Salvatore novel, in a Hackmaster campaign
if you live to see level seven you are a celebrated hero!
Death doesn't have meaning other than it is usually accompanied by a
particularly nasty roll on the critical hits table (severed spine FTW!).
Living has meaning!
We often hear "everyone wants to be the hero but not everyone can be the
hero". What if everyone doesn't want to be the hero. What if some of
them are content to hang out in toewn and not fight monsters or be
adventurers at all. What if some of them like to go on nice safe patrols
with decent rewards and low risk. What if those that want to be the hero
get a shot at actually BEING the hero, as long as they can stay alive. I
really think there are compelling designs that can be made of reversing
these assumptions. it probably will be another men in tights game but it
could look refreshingly different. Content as always being the key and
in this case the dilemma (repetitiveness).
Sure, we see these games remade a lot because the formula actually
works. D is right. Formula movies work great too but every once in a
while you can start a newtrend and perma death for me was that new trend
in table top gaming that brought back the fun of rolling the dice as
well as rolling (not role playing but playing the rolls) of the
character. Sure crafting a novel is a lot easier if the main character
never dies but aren't the truly compelling stories the ones where
adversity, risk and the unexpected turn up upon occasion? - [DESIGN] Perma-death Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Michael Chui
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Soy weiser
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Ammon Lauritzen
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Ammon Lauritzen
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Hans Häggström
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Adam Martin
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employeeinterview Morgan Ramsay
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Sean Howard
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Adam Martin
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Caliban Darklock
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employeeinterview Mike Rozak
- Fwd: [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employeeinterview Adam Martin
- [DESIGN] Mechanical support for socializer playstyles Ian Hess
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Alistair Riddoch
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Tess Snider
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Lachek Butalek
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Tess Snider
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Tess Snider
- The Merits of Text Chat (Was: Importance of emoting) Michael Hartman
- The Merits of Text Chat (Was: Importance of emoting) Matt Chatterley
- [Design] Alternatives To Advancement Systems (was Food in MMOs) Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Dana V. Baldwin
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Caliban Darklock
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Richard Tew
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Ammon Lauritzen
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Jeffrey Kesselman