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Fellow Paizonians,
I am proud to announce that Pen & Paper Gaming in the 21st Century, the 2009 GamesU Keynote address by Erik Mona, is now live on YouTube. Whether you missed it at the show or were not able to attend Neoncon/GamesU 2009, you can now watch the entire presentation here:
In the months to come, we will publish one presentation a week, including one by none other than Paizo’s own Joshua J. Frost. All of this content is completely free.
If you like what you see, visit us on the web, follow us on Twitter and friend/fan us on FaceBook. Links to all of these resources can be found below.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you at PaizoCon 2010, GenCon 2010 or Neoncon 2010. Until, then have a great time at the table.
Warm Regards,
Doug Daulton
Executive Director
Neoncon/GamesU
WEB: www.neoncon.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/neoncon
FACEBOOK: Fan Us! :: Friend Us!
Thanks, Doug!
Interesting and thanks for doing this you all!
Wow Erik really likes the words um and uh a lot. I think he said both of them about 6 times a minute. :D
Aren't you a cruel one? :P
Wow Erik really likes the words um and uh a lot. I think he said both of them about 6 times a minute. :DAren't you a cruel one? :P
No. Cruel is the podcast that had him on and then stripped out all of his ums and turned it into an entire song. Did Ryan Macklin do that one? I'll try and scrounge up the link.
Really, Rone! That would be too great.
I'd um and uh with an audience that stiff, too. Where was the audience interaction? At all the points I would have clapped, cheered, huzzahed, muttered under my breath, etc, that audience just sat there in stony silence. Tough crowd.
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I'd um and uh with an audience that stiff, too. Where was the audience interaction? At all the points I would have clapped, cheered, huzzahed, muttered under my breath, etc, that audience just sat there in stony silence. Tough crowd.
With this being the first year of GamesU the crowd was small and somewhat reserved. Now that folks know what to expect from GamesU, expect a lot more interaction in 2010 and beyond.
Doug, were you the organizer of this? So GameU is going to be a regular part of NeoCon? Man, I really need to make it to PaizoCon and NeoCon. I've got to admit, PaizoCon is my greatest desire, but it looks like you're doing good stuff in Vegas, and it would be an easier sell to the wife.
Great idea and great choice of speaker. Also, it was well-taped. Again, thanks for making it available.
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Doug, were you the organizer of this? So GameU is going to be a regular part of NeoCon? Man, I really need to make it to PaizoCon and NeoCon. I've got to admit, PaizoCon is my greatest desire, but it looks like you're doing good stuff in Vegas, and it would be an easier sell to the wife.
Great idea and great choice of speaker. Also, it was well-taped. Again, thanks for making it available.
Yep. I am the executive Director of Neoncon/GamesU. There are 19 more sessions from GamesU 2009 which will be making it up to YouTube over the next few months. So, you may want to subscribe to the channel. I'll make announcements here as well.
As for GamesU in the future, it will be held every year at Neoncon and each session will be filmed and later released online. A lower quality stream will also be available during the show as well. We experimented with that this year, but had tech difficulties which will be sorted out well in advance of the 2010 show.
I'll be at PaizoCon 2010 and we'll have a booth at GenCon this year as well. Be sure to look me up at either show and stay tuned for more details on Neoncon 2010.
Doug
Very good recording about a topic I find fascinating. Kudos to all!
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Very good recording about a topic I find fascinating. Kudos to all!
Thanks Lilith, the speaker is 80% of the quality. Our job is to get good audio/video and put it all together. (BTW ... I hope you have some of those AWESOME cookies you were handing out at GenCon last year!)
Yoda - Yep. At the moment, I am recording Sean's mini's painting seminar and Corey's cartography seminars. I'll record anything else Paizo OKs and I have time for, but I am primarily going to PaizoCon for fun! I missed playing Erik's Spire of Nex game at Neoncon because I was working the show. I would like to play in it this time! :^D
I will also volunteer to collect any video other folks shoot. I'll take it back to the office, edit it together and give everyone credits in the final mix for any footage we use. All edits will be made freely available on our YouTube channel.
The only thing I ask is patience with the release schedule. I will be in a production internship in SF from May through June (and possibly July). I am making a special trip to PaizoCon, so the footage may need to wait for editing until I get back to Vegas afterwards.
All - Glad you are enjoying the seminars. It is exciting to see everyone's comments. If you have any ideas on how we might make the program better, please share them freely.
Thanks,
Doug
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you can now watch the entire presentation here
Thanks for uploading this!
I must congratulate Erik Mona on the choice of wallpaper - now that's a nice reference to the background art in the Pathfinder rulebook. Subliminal advertising and all.
;)
One of the (to me) most important observations in the talk occurs around 10 minutes into the talk - when Erik talks about the cultural differences among the D&D gamerbase between the U.S. and the UK. (Something he also raised in one of the magazine editorials in the mid 2000s.) The fact that 3.x is broad enough to cater to such cultural differences is, I think, a decisive factor to explain its enduring appeal to a rather varied audience. 4th edition, by contrast, seems to have had a harder time finding its European audience, precisely because it is much more streamlined with respect to which type of gamer and which type of gamer culture it intends to support. (I say that as a European gamer playing both 3.x and 4E, btw.)
Thanks for this. Very entertaining!
Thanks Lilith, the speaker is 80% of the quality. Our job is to get good audio/video and put it all together. (BTW ... I hope you have some of those AWESOME cookies you were handing out at GenCon last year!)
That is the plan, yes. :D
Any plans to film and make available any of the events at PaizoCon?
Paizo has such plans.
Any plans to film and make available any of the events at PaizoCon?Paizo has such plans.
Why is it that when YOU say that, it sounds deliciously evil? :)
Very interesting talk. Thanks!
-The Gneech
The nicest super villain you'll ever meet for the last time.
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Live The Dream: Building a Career in the Games Industry by Marcelo Figueroa went up last weekend. We should have a new video going live this weekend as well.
Have an awesome weekend!
Anyone else catch the "digital grave" remark? :)
Yeah. I caught a couple of comments regarding WotC's treatment of D&D that struck me as veiled and not-so-veiled snarks. Not that they were in the wrong in any way, but they were definitely there. Gave me a chuckle.
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Making the Most of Mythic Structure by Matthew Grau
In this session from GamesU 2009, accomplished game designer and screenwriter Matthew Grau discusses the monomyth and how to use it to create epic and enduring stories in your games. Popularized by Joseph Campbell in his book "Hero with a Thousand Faces", the monomyth is a powerful tool for story structure. It is taught to aspiring screenwriters and used in mainstream movies today though it is most notably the backbone of the epic Star Wars saga.
LINK: Making the Most of Mythic Structure - GamesU 2009
Have a great weekend!
Doug Daulton
Executive Director
Neoncon & GamesU
WEB: www.neoncon.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/neoncon
FACEBOOK: Fan Us! :: Friend Us!
If this talk was an IPO announcement, I'd invest immediately.
I have a question about the future of the gaming industry/technology.
In my experience nearly everyone has a bunch of house rules (well I know my groups do) when they play RPG's. We just prefer the game when it is a bit different to the RAW rules. In AD&D the DMG was pretty famously a 'Guide' and most rules since seem to say that you should take the rules you like and change what you dont. I pretty early on gave up on character creation programs because they dont seem to allow for these house rules. (For this reason I also dont really like organised play)
So while I drool over the technological options Erik raised for future gaming my question is wont the 'everyone using an iphone with built in rules' or the 'virtual tabletop' stifle these houserules and make the game more my way or the highway?
Isnt that kind of an anathema to the pen and paper rpg style?
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I have a question about the future of the gaming industry/technology.
In my experience nearly everyone has a bunch of house rules (well I know my groups do) when they play RPG's. We just prefer the game when it is a bit different to the RAW rules. In AD&D the DMG was pretty famously a 'Guide' and most rules since seem to say that you should take the rules you like and change what you dont. I pretty early on gave up on character creation programs because they dont seem to allow for these house rules. (For this reason I also dont really like organised play)
So while I drool over the technological options Erik raised for future gaming my question is wont the 'everyone using an iphone with built in rules' or the 'virtual tabletop' stifle these houserules and make the game more my way or the highway?
Isnt that kind of an anathema to the pen and paper rpg style?
I have been thinking about this a LOT since I read your post. Mainly because I am eager for some more iPhone/iPad aps and better software to enhance the experience. BUT I don't want the experience dictated by the medium.
I believe that as long as the aps/software is open ended enough to allow modification by the user then it will be accepted and embraced. Failure to do so will likely lead to a stagnation in the long run.
To back up that opinion I will point out the nature of the PnP RPG to begin with. We have a rule book, or rather many rule books. Within those hallowed covers are THE RULES . But many players choose to ignore the rules or modify them to suit their own needs.
IF the aps/software allow that kind of modification, allow the end user to adjust the output to suit his/her needs, then I feel it will likely find success. Without that ability I am sure there will be a great initial interest in the digital product, but the interest will fade in time as it does not meet the needs of the end user, the player/GM.
I have limited experience with character creation software, mainly because from blurbs and reviews I believe they do not allow extensive user modification. The only one I use regularly is PCGen. As a user I can go into and modify the library used for rules and character creation. I am allowed to create my own items, spells, feats, skills, races, classes etc. I believe this kind of openness will meet long term success. A closed system that prohibits house rules will eventually find too small a consumer base to stay for the long term.
What do I want to see in aps/software? First, character creation that is robust enough to accommodate unique group changes. Second, a Combat Management System that will track the spell modifiers, rounds and initiative so as a GM I can concentrate on storytelling and not bookkeeping. And Third, I want to see a Virtual Table Top that can take advantage of the high quality maps GMs now see in adventures that players never see. A VTT that can reveal and hide portions of the map as needed, allow touch screen movement of characters, handle light illumination for the GM (come on who REALLY uses the radius of a torch in game? You have a torch you can see...).
Those three things do not replace the PnP RPG experience, but rather are management tools. They manage the easy creation of the character (the page doesn't tear, get stained with soda, get holes worn through the paper, etc), handle the minutiae of combat but allow the GM to be the final arbiter of rules, and replace crappy hand drawn maps on graph paper with high quality maps that immerse the players in the game world.
As an example of how technology has already helped me in running a game I will use the PDF as an example. I can take a PDF of Burnt Offernings, read it and plan my adventure session. I will copy what I expect to play for that session, then edit the text to suit my own needs. I may alter the number of goblins fought, or modify their stat blocks, I may add a new encounter. I will almost certainly get rid of those "see MM page #" references and replace them with the actual stat block copied from the SRD (or now the PRD). Any special rules I know will be called upon can be copied for easy reference. This is then copied to my laptop and ready for play (notes can be typed right into the document for later reference- such as an NPC's name created on the spur of the moment). In the past I carried several books to cover all of the spells, classes, rules I might need to reference, not to mention several monster books. Time at the table was spent flipping through pages in books trying to find that reference to some special rule or monster or class. Now I have almost everything I need already in the document on my desktop. And if I missed something I can do a quick search through the PDFs for the rule or monster I need, which is usually (not always) faster than flipping through the books. But in general the time wasted flipping has been greatly reduced and the sense that the game world is "real" and that the story is "real" is heightened.
So, I see the future of these aps/software as being more management tools, rather than dictating the story. And ultimately RPGs are about two things, collectively telling a story and having fun.
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Pitch to the Pros (Part 1) by Boyan Radakovich
In this session from GamesU 2009, Origins Award-nominated game designer, Boyan Radakovich, walks you through the process of submitting your board game prototype to publishers for publication. In Part 1 of this two-part seminar, Radakovich discusses his game design process, trendspotting, the early alpha and beta stages of playtesting, the importance of documentation and the basic elements of the pitch.
LINK: Pitch to the Pros (Part 1) - GamesU 2009
Have a great weekend!
Doug Daulton
Executive Director
Neoncon & GamesU
WEB: www.neoncon.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/neoncon
FACEBOOK: Fan Us! :: Friend Us!
I have a question about the future of the gaming industry/technology.
In my experience nearly everyone has a bunch of house rules (well I know my groups do) when they play RPG's. We just prefer the game when it is a bit different to the RAW rules. In AD&D the DMG was pretty famously a 'Guide' and most rules since seem to say that you should take the rules you like and change what you dont. I pretty early on gave up on character creation programs because they dont seem to allow for these house rules. (For this reason I also dont really like organised play)
So while I drool over the technological options Erik raised for future gaming my question is wont the 'everyone using an iphone with built in rules' or the 'virtual tabletop' stifle these houserules and make the game more my way or the highway?
Isnt that kind of an anathema to the pen and paper rpg style?
There are VTT programs that allow you lots of customization. Hell, in Maptool you have to provide all the scripting to do anything other than move tokens, roll dice, and chat. The trick is, if you want house rules to be represented, you will need to learn to script.
Now an example of what could be done, is someone might take maptool as a base and simplify the user interface, add macros, make the installation a breeze, and make an experience more specific to their way of playing and SELL it. It might even be made in such a way that you can pick and choose what macros you want, based on what rules you want automated. Then you could skip stuff that you have house-ruled.
Expanding on Anburaid's comments above...
The nerdiest people are never going to settle for a lack of control in their RPGs. For these people, the systems that will evolve will be modular, object oriented affairs where you can change the rules and still use the tool. Neverwinter Nights (1) is a good example of this kind of tool. Maptool is certainly another.
Maptoolis basically a web browser for player RPGs. This means if you're comfortable making your own website, you likely have what it takes to make a fully functional maptool campaign. If you're not good with coding or webstuff, you can still use a "website" that someone else made to play.
I'm not saying that hard-nosed official tools won't be worthwhile, but I'm not particularly worried about the death of the house-rule in online play. Heck, I am on the bleeding edge of VTT play, and my game is very heavily house ruled.
Expanding on Anburaid's comments above...
The nerdiest people are never going to settle for a lack of control in their RPGs. For these people, the systems that will evolve will be modular, object oriented affairs where you can change the rules and still use the tool. Neverwinter Nights (1) is a good example of this kind of tool. Maptool is certainly another.
Maptoolis basically a web browser for player RPGs. This means if you're comfortable making your own website, you likely have what it takes to make a fully functional maptool campaign. If you're not good with coding or webstuff, you can still use a "website" that someone else made to play.
I'm not saying that hard-nosed official tools won't be worthwhile, but I'm not particularly worried about the death of the house-rule in online play. Heck, I am on the bleeding edge of VTT play, and my game is very heavily house ruled.
What's more, companies like paizo have created a business model around facilitating RPG play. If you don't want to go through the work necessary for creating a whole new game world from scratch, then there is Golarian. If you don't have time to write an adventure campaign then there are adventure paths. There are also the game mastery tools, crit cards, etc, designed to enhance the experience.
Its going to be the same for VTT. You might DL a token pack premade tokens and images designed to populate your maps with beautiful NPCs and props. Or it might be a PDF map pack, or even premade campaign files that have things like premade vision blocking layers set up (thats an invisible set of "walls" that block what a players token can see and helping to simulate light and darkness. For example the vision blocking layer of a map will block the player form seeing through the cavern wall to the goblins in the next room, or constrain his lantern's light radius when up against a wall).
VTT is becoming more and more popular even among groups that meet face to face. If Erik's prediction that we will soon all be playing off tablets is anywhere near correct, expect VTTs to replace the graph paper and DM screen in a lot of cases. It won't totally replace them, but when you can use full color maps, special effects, the ease of all being on one program managing all the details, that is going to be a major draw away from just using the traditional tools for PnP.
I pretty early on gave up on character creation programs because they dont seem to allow for these house rules.
So while I drool over the technological options Erik raised for future gaming my question is wont the 'everyone using an iphone with built in rules' or the 'virtual tabletop' stifle these houserules and make the game more my way or the highway?
That's pretty much the same reason why if I want a DM tool to assist with my game, I've pretty much always had to make it myself.
In terms of character generation programs, it also bugged me that the programs I tried in the past (before giving up on them) showed little innovation in terms of layout. When you aren't restricted to filling-in a sheet of paper, there are all sorts of cool context-relevant views that could be employed (i.e. based off what the party is doing), but everyone seems to layout their character generator and Excel sheets to mimic the printable sheets. When you do that, it's pretty much just easier to print it out rather than managing your characters on-screen. :-\
For this reason, I would much rather see Paizo stick to tools that "facilitate RPG play" (as Anburaid put it). Such things could even be standalone apps bundled together for all I care:
- Encounter Calculator: Have a tab that allows you to define the party. You can then create and save new tabs on which you add monsters, NPCs and enemy PCs to build your encounter via the XP Bucket method and works out per-character treasure and XP. Clicking on monster names would open a tab that displays their PRD stats.
- Combat Tracker: The magnetic combat pad is nice and all, but a computer could handle delaying, readied actions, and spell durations much better. Among other features, the interface should have one big button for advancing to the next initiative count. It would be cool if this could output a log of combat to an HTML/XML file.
- Virtual Table Top: For this I'm not so concerned about it keeping track of stats. Ideally, it would be cool if I could use my Droid/iPhone as a sort of "remote control" so that I can just click and drag tokens around, roll-back the fog-of-war, drag-and-drop radius templates, etc. (Essentially the touch-based device would login to the Pathfinder Adventure App™ as a DM client.)
- Messaging System: This would also be a touch-based DM client. It would be used for clicking on a player to open a fly-out for the sort of things you might otherwise want to keep secret at the table: give me a perception check, make a stealth check, etc. Basically, this would take the place of passing post-its at the table or using spoilers in a PbP.
- Point-Buy Calculator
- Dice Roller: Touch-based with a layout similar to a calculator. It should have a log with a scrollbar so you have a record of your rolls. I'd also recommend having a note toggle on it so that you can tell by looking at the log if you just rolled an attack, damage, save, etc. It could also know to automatically adjust the notes when you tell it to make a series of X# iterative attacks and give it a starting BAB.
- Audio Control: iTunes leaves a bit to be desired in this department. Ideally, such a control would have an interface where you select the theme and then see a list of all available MP3 tracks that fit it. (This would need to be a label-based organizational scheme, NOT folder-based.) The selected track could either loop indefinitely, X# of times, etc. It should also have an easy touch-based volume slider or a fade-out option. Once again, a DM client tool for the app server.
In terms of platforms, I would hope that any client software Paizo does will not be tied to a specific platform like iPhone/Pad, Mac, Windows, Android, etc. Simply put, it needs to be able to run on all of these. On the server-side, I could see a Java-based Pathfinder Adventure App™ web server meeting the needs of a dozen or fewer players.
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Pitch to the Pros (Part 2) by Boyan Radakovich
Origins Award-nominated game designer, Boyan Radakovich, walks you through the process of submitting your game prototype to publishers for publication. In Part 2 of this two-part seminar, Radakovich discusses his game design process including the concept, alpha and beta stages of development. Other key points include the "the elevator pitch", "the walkthrough", knowing your audience, submission guidelines and common pitfalls new designers often encounter.
LINK: Pitch to the Pros (Part 2) - GamesU 2009
Have a great weekend!
Doug Daulton
Executive Director
Neoncon & GamesU
WEB: www.neoncon.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/neoncon
FACEBOOK: Fan Us! :: Friend Us!
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From Fiction to Game Mechanics - GamesU 2009 by Randall Bills
Take a far future utopian star traveling game, where your goal is to boldly explore new frontiers. Now, how do you develop a game for this fictional universe? What are the aspects of play that match the tenets of the universe? How do you make the game feel like the movies, shows, or books? In this session from GamesU 2009, Randall Bills, Alternate World Engineer at Catalyst Games Lab, discusses his process for bringing prose to life as meaningful, well-balanced game play.
LINK: From Fiction to Game Mechanics - GamesU 2009
Have a great weekend!
Doug Daulton
Executive Director
Neoncon & GamesU
WEB: www.neoncon.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/neoncon
FACEBOOK: Fan Us! :: Friend Us!