tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post8385475743451457450..comments2024-03-26T02:31:48.024-05:00Comments on Trollsmyth: New Dogs and Old Trickstrollsmythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-78460797488094136312011-02-15T01:52:45.332-06:002011-02-15T01:52:45.332-06:00I think divorcing treasure from the game goals is ...I think divorcing treasure from the game goals is silly. Think from the perspective of your character: if a shiny pile of money is available, wouldn't you want it? That's the traditional motivation for D&D. Not the slaying of monsters, and to a lesser extent the saving of villagers from Dickwolves, but going after the loot. <br /><br />Note too that a typical D&D dungeon has loot in it and monsters but it's possible to get the loot without killing all the monsters. You rarely see decent loot carried on a monster. Instead it's hidden behind a secret door, or under a trap, or in a locked treasure chest, or in a pile beneath the dragon. If a dragon is flying over and you kill it, guess how much loot you get? Exactly zero, ever. A smarter dragon-hunter injured his prey until it flees and follows it home. An even smarter one lays out bait (a cart full of pigs traveling down the road, or a gilded coach) and follows without the dragon noticing him. Point being, there is no reason to make the game world aim for less than verisimilitude. Why aim for a scrawny and pitiful consolation game world? <br /><br />So yea, bandits attack the town instead of just spawning in and standing around in the meadow outside. Yea, you actually have to defend the buildings and people and crops and animals instead of just returning with 15 Bandit Testicles while more bandits spawn outside. That's progress. But it's nowhere near where it should be. I expect to be able to do the following: <br /><br />* Sneak in and poison the bandits' stew, wait until they sicken, then leap to attack. <br />* Infiltrate the bandits with my own soldiers who pretend to be deserters from the wars in the south. <br />* Fly over on my magic carpet and Fireball the bandit camp until it's a smoking crater, actually damaging buildings and preventing the bandits from recovering for some time. <br />* Tunnel beneath and undermine a wall with a summoned Earth Elemental, opening a gap for my mercenaries to pour in. <br />* Hire a unit of archers to fire flaming arrows into the bandit camp. <br />* Beseige the bandit camp and catapult rotting meat into it to sicken them. <br />* Divert a river using a Wall of Ice to flood them out. <br />* Call for a parley with the bandit leader and hire him, bribe him, fail negotiations, or suddenly spring a surprise attack - and maybe he has set up his OWN surprise attack!<br />* Use my speechcraft skills to rally the townsfolk into following me to fight the bandits. <br />* Lure the bandits be feinting with a mob of peasants, and when the bandits come out completely devastate them with a unit of Elves hiding in the woods. <br /><br />And that's just what I came up with off the top of my head. When a game can give that level of freedom, THEN let's talk about whether a CRPG is actually an RPG in the tabletop sense rather than the scrawny and pitiful shadow it is (albeit with better spectacle).1d30http://1d30.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-57035471208238694632011-02-04T11:52:02.446-06:002011-02-04T11:52:02.446-06:00BTW, I've been Beta testing Rift from Trion. ...BTW, I've been Beta testing Rift from Trion. I've played several games that were as good as WoW, IMHO. But none that would make me try to persuade my friends to move over and were worth throwing away the investment in WoW. Rift isn't changing the wheel, but its, for me, better than WoW. You build your Class with 3 Paths & can adjust your Role in the game as well.<br />YMMV, of course.Cross Planeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258583245202567276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-49861301280515337492011-02-04T11:50:04.481-06:002011-02-04T11:50:04.481-06:00Here's a link for his role at Arenanet.
http:/...Here's a link for his role at Arenanet.<br />http://wiki.gtm.guildwars2.com/wiki/Jeff_Grubb<br /><br />Ree got my looking, Jeff kept me looking.Cross Planeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258583245202567276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-80307466845908387192011-02-03T19:05:14.768-06:002011-02-03T19:05:14.768-06:00It's not really video games that have taken a ...It's not really video games that have taken a separate path from traditional D&D, rather its the attempt to use AI to create an artificial GM that is, and always will be lacking in computerized versions of role playing adventures.Joseph Gambithttp://www.rolepages.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-18926542847202167192011-02-03T17:25:43.771-06:002011-02-03T17:25:43.771-06:00Anonymous: The Diku heritage of the modern MMOG ru...<b>Anonymous:</b> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DikuMUD" rel="nofollow">Diku</a> heritage of the modern MMOG runs a bit too deep for them to make that sort of shift anytime soon. I suppose <i>Second Life</i> kinda comes close.<br /><br /><b>Sunsword:</b> Jeff Grubb? Now that is interesting. I'm curious what sorts of aspects were due to his influence.trollsmythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-11430459951193444722011-02-03T17:12:06.489-06:002011-02-03T17:12:06.489-06:002 bonuses to me for Arenanet: Jeff Grubb & Ree...2 bonuses to me for Arenanet: Jeff Grubb & Ree Soesbee are working on it. Ree is a very talented writer who worked for AEG & WotC.Cross Planeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258583245202567276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-2094359227719210732011-02-03T16:54:47.381-06:002011-02-03T16:54:47.381-06:00Very interesting. If they ever get the idea of th...Very interesting. If they ever get the idea of those loot rewards not being the main motivation to complete a task in the game world they may be on to something. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com