Ye Olde Staging Point

I stopped by the local Toys R Us today this afternoon to pick up some model paints--I've finished painting my Moria goblin miniatures and am eager to start on some Riders of Rohan. Unfortunately, the local Toys R Us carries no model paints--apparently little boys don't assemble and paint models anymore. However, you will all be happy to know that there was an entire shelf full of Decapitating Action!® Spawn© Collector's Edition Action Figures on prominent display.

So, disheartened by the absence of models or model paints, I decided to look for a bag of those green plastic army soldiers that have formed an integral part of the earthly possessions of every male child ever born. (Hey, I want to use them for a WW2 roleplaying game--a lot cheaper than actual metal miniatures!) But alas, those too are a thing of the past; the Toys R Us did not have any.

How depressing.

The only positive part of the Toys R Us trip turned out to be the GI Joe action figures there. I was pleased to see that they're apparently revisiting the 1980s-style little poseable action figures, and they actually looked pretty cool. I noted that they are also now selling Cobra foot soldiers (the generic blue ones) in packs of five instead of individually. This is a worthy solution to a problem I ran into as a child--how do you represent Cobra's teeming hordes of faceless troops when you only have one Cobra soldier? Fortunately, today's generation of GI Joe-playing boys will never face the horror of that question.

Posted by Andy at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was thinking today about some of my favorite roleplaying game rules systems (with Rolemaster predictably vying for the top position) and realized that there aren't very many percentile game systems out there at the moment. That is, relatively few games--and none of the most popular ones--use a 1-100 percentile dice roll as their primary mechanic.

Who out there is still using a percentile mechanic? Let's see:

• Call of Cthulhu (the Chaosium version) and a handful of other games that share its rules system
• Unknown Armies
• HARP/Rolemaster/Spacemaster from Iron Crown Enterprises
• ...anyone else? Is RuneQuest still around? That may have used a percentile system; I don't remember. Harn, maybe?

That's not a very big list. While most of those games are good ones, only Call of Cthulhu is sufficiently popular that there's much of a chance of finding it on the shelf of your local gaming store. And what's more, several of those games use the percentile system only selectively--that is, they use a percentile roll for things like skills but not for the basic stats that define a character.

I wonder why nobody's using a percentile mechanic? It's so straightforward and easy to grasp. It's not the fact that it's a linear (as opposed to bell-curve) mechanic--if people had a general problem with linear systems, D20 wouldn't be so popular. The only other issue I can imagine--and maybe this is the fatal flaw--is that in some cases it can result in having to do double-digit math on the fly. Although Rolemaster, for instance, usually stuck with multiples of five or ten, there were times when you ended up having to do moderately difficult math during games--"Let's see, my attack roll is 78, plus my Offensive Bonus of 34, minus the goblin's Defensive Bonus of 25, plus a +10 terrain modifier..."

Not being terribly math-inclined myself, I can see that being a problem. My old gaming group always had calculators on hand just in case the math got too scary, and having to occasionally whip out the ol' number-cruncher never seemed to slow the game down much. Other percentile games I've played, such as the old Top Secret/SI and Call of Cthulhu, never really got complex enough mathematically to require a calculator.

Alas for a fallen-from-favor gaming mechanic.

Posted by Andy at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I just read this rather damning critique of Noam Chomsky (it's a rationally constructed article and worth reading--it's not a hysterical right-wing rant). The article does a good job of supporting its argument, summarized in the concluding paragraph (skip this if you'd prefer to read the full article first):

Chomsky has declared himself a libertarian and anarchist but has defended some of the most authoritarian and murderous regimes in human history. His political philosophy is purportedly based on empowering the oppressed and toiling masses but he has contempt for ordinary people who he regards as ignorant dupes of the privileged and the powerful. He has defined the responsibility of the intellectual as the pursuit of truth and the exposure of lies, but has supported the regimes he admires by suppressing the truth and perpetrating falsehoods. He has endorsed universal moral principles but has only applied them to Western liberal democracies, while continuing to rationalize the crimes of his own political favorites.

I happened to spot a book by Chomsky on a bookstore display the other day and found myself wondering anew why he is given the degree of respect he enjoys. I've never really understood his popularity. I can understand when someone makes a historical "mistake" out of naivety, ideological blindness, or simple lack of access to the facts--such as those who voiced support for Soviet communism before its full horrors had been catalogued by historians--but when someone turns up on the "wrong side of history" repeatedly over the course of many decades, doesn't there come a point when you reject said person's views as, well, fundamentally flawed?

It's quite possible to construct rational left-wing positions and arguments without resorting to Chomsky's lunacy--so why do I see his books around and his name quoted by commentators as if he had something worthwhile to say? If I were the archetypal American liberal, I'd be tripping over myself trying to erase any connection between Chomsky's views and my own.

Posted by Andy at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Wow, it's been a slow month for posting here. I've had no shortage of inane opinions lately, but for some reason I haven't felt motivated to blog them--just not in the mood, I guess. Then again, I've been battling the usual array of winter sicknesses for the last couple weeks, a period of time during which I haven't been in the mood to do much of anything except lie around and pray for the sweet release of death. But now I'm back.

What, then, has been going on lately in my life, aside from life-threatening illness? Let's see:

Church: Michele and I finally completed our new members class at church. The next step is some kind of mentoring scenario in which we work with another couple at church to review a book detailing Reformed theology. The idea is certainly sound. However, a glance at the book confirmed our suspicions that I already know everything therein more or less by heart--not because I'm super holy and religious, but because it's been pounded into my subconscious by countless years of Reformed private education. Michele, while she hails from the stygian depths of the Arminian Heresy, is familiar with this all as well. But I think we'll do the polite thing in this case and feign ignorance of TULIP (er, that's FAITH now, I think, or some other hideously saccharine acronym). Am I a bad person? Don't answer that.

Movies: earlier this month, Michele and I treated ourselves to the 10-hour Return to Treasure Island miniseries, which I originally watched (and fell in love with) back in my childhood. While your natural instinct might be to dismiss any attempted "sequel" to such a classic tale, don't let that keep you away from this show should you happen upon it at the video store: it's incredible. Brian Blessed is the best Long John Silver ever. That's the truth, and no mistake.

Gaming: the big news here is that the UT2k4 demo is out, and it's amazing. Also, I played through and finished No One Lives Forever 2, which was excellent--in my opinion, the best first-person game I've played since Deus Ex. Not much paper-and-pencil gaming has happened this month, however.

Society: is it just me, or is Ralph Nader somehow in the news again? Huh.

Carry on, citizens.

Posted by Andy at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, the roleplaying book I helped to edit is available! It's called The Lost Paradise and is a setting sourcebook for the Darwin's World post-apocalyptic roleplaying game. It's available for purchase in PDF format (print version to come later) here, where you can also find a map and short excerpt from the book.

The Lost Paradise describes the Northwest (Oregon, Washinton, parts of Canada) part of a North American continent ravaged by nuclear holocaust. To get the most use out of the book, you'll need a copy of d20 Modern (or its freely downloadable open rules) and the basic Darwin's World rules. The Lost Paradise could be pretty easily used without either of the other books, but if you don't have the main DW rules you'll be missing out on some important rules (character classes, mutations, etc.).

I edited all but one chapter. I had a lot of fun working on this, and definitely hope I'm called on again for more such work.

Posted by Andy at 7:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)