14.12.21

Using CraftWork to Make NPC Groups

I needed a group of rangers or scouts for an encounter, one of those times where you think the NPCs are going to hang around for a while so you want them a little more fleshed out than you might otherwise. I began to use CraftWork in a more deliberate way, using the crafts as ingredients for the group that I envisioned in this particular area. This pushes the procedural piece farther down the decision tree, so that the randomization is adding flavor to a structure rather than providing the framework itself.

I started with level and figured three level three characters. Each one will have one level of Wildcraft, with one of them adding in at least another. The second will have a layer of Thiefcraft and a layer of Warcraft. The third will have a level of Seer and one of Sorcery. They'll all start with some sort of missile weapon, with skills and spells rolled randomly.

What I ended with was a trio well acquainted with this bit of country, and with a variety of skills that would serve the party in their time of need. It is a dangerous passage for the group, so any of the three could be a substitute character if one of the player characters fails to make it, interesting enough to be fun to play for a short period of time, and maybe someone they would want to be for longer.

9.12.21

Broadened Accessibility

I listened to a nice interview with Brian from Dungeons on a Dime, and, while most of the interview was focused on various products, he offered up a lovely, expansive view of accessibility that resonated with my own. Funnily enough, it is similar to the view some folks in the disability community are taking with regard to Accessibility and Intersectionality.

Some Questions
Is the work available in a wide variety of formats? 
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If it is a video work, is there close captioning? Audio descriptions?
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If it is a written work or PDF, is there a plain text version? Are the photos or illustrations tagged and described? Have the producers checked it themselves for readability with regard to screen readers?
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Are there free or community copies available? If not, what are your thoughts or plans to help folks who can't afford the product access the product?
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Thoughts about translation to other languages?
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Are you, the creator or publisher, accessible to those who purchase or access the work to answer questions, hear feedback, etc?
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Paper source? Printing? Other materials? Are they easily accessible? Easily sourced? Recyclable? Low impact?

2.12.21

Growing up With D&D

Thinking about my history of gaming after listening to Trying to Be Kind (Season 2, Episode 2), especially a bit Fiona put forward about learning the game in the early days of D&D. As related in another post, I started playing with friends the year it came out and we developed our own interpretations and play styles in response to the loose system presented in the three books. 

However, it wasn't too long before we began joining other games, with older players, both college students in Urbana, Illinois, and older gamers, early adopters, friends of TSR, college professors, etc. It was at once an intoxicating scene for it's interest in the games we played, and to be in that orbit was amazing! But it was also one where we were marked outsiders: young and, more critically, playing The Game in what was clearly becoming a non standard way. We were outsiders, not on the mailing list, too young to attend any but local conventions, to drive, to fully engage in the expected ways. 

So, the 'OSR', whatever it is, is, in some ways, referencing a conversation or frame we were two steps away from. We played all the games, voraciously, but rejected, in many ways, those that pushed us and our playstyles aside. We moved quickly towards punk and anarchy in an era of massive RPG growth. All those convention goers and box set purchasers of the late '70s and early '80s were symbolic of capitalism's worst excesses and seemingly a betrayal of our game's roots.

Gaming was about taking the slimmest of seeds and constructing an artifice of imagination around it. The premade adventures, the dueling iterations of advanced versus basic, and the artifice of the right way to play, well, that was as alien then as it is now.