* Our initial impressions of D&D 4e.

* Some general discussion about what’s new in the PHB2, and what we expect that it will do to the game.

* Problems, issues and general comment about the system.

*** This episode is not our usual type of episode. It is a one-system, 45 minute discussion.

* We can finally wank about Watchmen

* Shaky cam fight scenes and fish islands

* It’s just a penis. Get over it.

* Villainy, alignment, and being evil

* Evil campaigns

* Evil characters in non-evil campaigns

* Advice for playing evil characters

* Number of times we talk about Burning Wheel: 4

* NERD RAGE!

* How to design online content and not suck

* 4e, its successes and failures, a business prespective

* When can a company be a jerk?

* Where’s Waldo (by Waldo we mean Matt)

* Wanking about Joss Whedon is awesome

* This XKCD strip is the show’s thesis

* Joe talks about the graphic novel Serenity: Those Left Behind in the Hodge (Live!)

Since Adam didn’t want to run both games, I’ll be taking over D&D after we’re done with the Keep.  I’m very excited!  I haven’t run D&D for years because I grew tired of the massive preparation time that third edition carried with it.  4e fixes that problem  so I was more than happy to put on my cape and step back into the role of DM.

Like any excited gaming group, everyone immediately began discussing exactly what they were going to play.  Since D&D’s creation, the proper balance of classes in a party has always been an important part of the metagame.  The concept of having your niche on the battlefield was one of the cornerstones of the game in those early days.  As editions came and went, the importance of these niches began to fade as rules for multiclassing allowed for characters to account for their own weaknesses instead of relying on a party member to compensate for it.  This seems like a small thing, but it really changed the way the game was played.

Third Edition was the biggest offender when it came to lack of niche protection.  With both multiclassing and prestige classes designed to let your character specialize, generalize, hypnotize, and hypothesize, the idea that a class had well-defined weaknesses to go along with its strengths was out the window.  This is actually one of my big beefs with Third Edition but it really just comes down to a matter of taste.  There are lots of folks out there who love the wide array of options presented and don’t enjoy the more restricted versions of classes that other editions, including Fourth, offer.

In Fourth Edition, the concept of niches comes back as one of the foundations of the game.  Instead of hiding the concept within the rules for the players to eventually figure out, they instead opened the curtains and made it very explicit that classes are grouped into certain battlefield roles.  The four roles in the game are striker, defender, leader, and controller.  Each class specialized in one role and can usually build in such a way to dabble with another.  The roles all complement one another and when a party has each role filled it is fun to watch the gears turn together to become a well-oiled machine.  This is one of the better concepts that the designers yoinked from MMOs (though MMOs yoinked the idea from older edition of D&D).

Playing through the module Adam is running now, we have every role filled with the fifth player being a defender (a party makeup we have found to be very effective).  When we made characters, no one wanted to play the wizard, currently the only controller in the game, so I filled that role. It’s probably the most complained about class in the game, if you pay attention to message boards (and I wouldn’t), because it doesn’t seem as focused as the other classes.  Even the designers admit that the wizard is like that because even they hadn’t really decided all the things a controller should do.

As someone who’s played one for a few sessions, I’m loving it.  So don’t believe the hype, I guess.

It turns out, I’m the only one who was loving it, though.  Nobody wanted to play the wizard in the upcoming game and since that’s the only controller in the game until Players Handbook 2 releases, the party is going to be short a role.  I sounded like a broken record that night as I made sure to emphasize that lacking a controller is going to be a weakness for the crew.  That didn’t change any minds, but at least they’re aware of it.

While I love the  focus on roles, now we see the downside.  With one role missing, the monster-bashing machine is going to be missing an important gear.  This is by no means game-breaking, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the party holds up when they’re not following the strong suggestions of the rules.

Next time I’ll talk a bit about the specialty weapons in 4E.  See you then.

*Economies in RPGs

*D&D:  “Don’t Ask Questions”

*D&D’s Implied Setting

*Obfuscate!

*Burning Wheel: “Now You Don’t Have Pants”

* An Archon reminder

* Ghost Hunters Redux

* Min/Maxing and Powergaming

* 365 Days of Sex

* Secret Code Contest: We’ve teamed up with four other gaming podcasts to give you a crack at $250 of gaming goodness. Listen to find out how you can participate.  Participating podcasts are

Atomic Array

Brilliant Gameologists

Ogre Cave Audio Report

The Podge Cast

The Tome Show

Each winner will receive one of ten $25 gift certificates from Noble Knight Games.

Entries must be submitted to secretcodes@moonstew.com by 17 OCT 2008.

* Worst. Ending. Ever.

* PodgeCast Overtime: Matt and Joe further explore today’s topic, Charlie Rose style.  If Charlie Rose had very lax quality control standards. This conversation is not part of the podcast mp3 but is available for download at podgecast.com /episodes /TPC_011_Overtime (dot) mp3

*Introductions Stuart Robertson (Stuart on the forums) and Rich (rmckee78) on the forums. If you think these guys were great (and I do), jump on the forums and let them know!

*The Dungeons and Dragons talks of yore

*Stuart mentions Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid Games

*Stuart plugs Robertson Games. Go check him out!

*Rich is awesome.

No imaginary exercise has ever been more vivid for me than the brief time I played that character. It planted the seed, and no matter how long it was until the next time I played, I was destined to be a gamer. As gaming has become a more defined industry and companies produce more rules sources with more complex designs, it can be difficult to separate those rules that create an immersive world for adult players from those elements necessary to introduce young children to the game. Below are suggestions on how to present role playing in a fashion accessible to children ages 5-10. (Note that you know these child gamers better than I do and should scale these age ranges as appropriate.)

Young Children (ages 5-7)
Role playing is a safe and valuable exercise for young children to explore social interaction. At this age, plots and NPCs should be straightforward. Good guys are good. Bad guys are bad. Present to them challenges and ask them what they want to do to overcome those challenges. The goal for both the player and the DM should be for the player to win. If the player is making a mistake, explain to them the likely results of their decision and compare it with other decisions available to them and what results those might lead to. Combat is a staple of these types of games. The monster is evil and needs to be slain. If you succeed, you are rewarded. Dice are unnecessary for either social or combat encounters. Present the child with a challenge and ask them how they want to overcome it. Once they make a decision, adjudicate what happens. Wounds, fatigue, and the like can all be described in more abstract terms, “the orc is limping,” “the orc looks weak,” “the orc is almost dead,” etc. Reward them with treasure and levels. Counting is an exercise they understand from school, so advancing in a manner they understand is rewarding. It’s helpful to equate the worth of those levels. Explaining that they can fight stronger monsters or survive more grievous wounds because of this advancement helps.

Gamers at this age have an incredibly vivid imagination. It does not take a lot to paint them a robust picture of the world they are adventuring in, but offering a little can accomplish a lot. Work in archetypes: dungeons are cold and damp, etc. They’ll fill in the rest. Be mindful also of not overdoing it. The more gory elements—skulls, blood, sacrifices, etc.—can have a more potent effect than they might on an adult and are more likely to linger. Children in this age range don’t always separate fantasy from reality as well as older kids and adults. Most importantly, find what is fun for them and pursue it (keep in mind their attention spans). It won’t be hard to tell.

Children (ages 8-10)
I have shared many a table with children in this age range that are capable of handling a full rules system, but I’ve found it’s rare that they need that system to enjoy themselves. Left to their own devices, they’ll normally take the most basic elements of the game they understand the best and abandon all the rest. This type of game can be much like that for Young Children but you can introduce a higher level of complexity. Succeeding in a mission may earn them a continuing enemy or lead to another consequence that they have to overcome. While it’s still great for the player to win, they are at an age where failure doesn’t require quitting. They can learn from their mistakes or try again. They may even be able to understand that a challenge is too much for them (although since few adults are capable of this, there’s no reason to expect this of children ).

One way to add complexity is to add a d20 to the mix. Now, when the player tells you what they want to do to overcome your challenges, have them roll a die and add their level and see if they succeed. Easy challenges have a target number of 10, moderate challenges 15, hard challenges 20, and so on. Adjust as circumstances warrant.

You can also make treasure a more defined element of the game. Rather than wielding a magic sword, perhaps that sword helps them hit better. They get to add +2 to their die roles. It may not be a +2 bane, holy, vorpal longsword, but watch the pride your player has in his magic sword and tell me it’s not the same. Don’t feel constrained by the rules you’re used to playing with. Little trinkets and major relics all have something in common, they’re unique and they belong to the player.

So without limiting the influx of gold or magic items into a party, how can a DM create circumstances in which death is something to be avoided at all costs rather than something to merely be momentarily disappointed in when it happens? How does he do this without pushing the pendulum too far the other way so that spells such as raise dead are worthless and death means that it’s time to make a new character.

Below is a chart for physical complications that may affect a body once the spirit is magically returned. These effects are unnamed penalties and thus cumulative for each death and resurrection. Regeneration, wish or miracle spells cast with a successful DC 25 caster level check can successfully reverse the penalty.

Roll d%
01-50 Revived with no ill effect
51-60 -2 Dexterity
61-70 -2 Intelligence
71-80 -2 Constitution
81-90 -2 Constitution and -2 Dexterity
91-99 -2 Constitution, -2 Dexsterity, and -2 Intelligence
100 Permanent Death