Grab a packet with a character that looks interesting and one d20 die

John Arcadian •

12 th Level Game Designer/5 th Level Monster tamer

John Arcadian •

12 th Level Game Designer/1 st Level Responsible Adult

• • •

CEO/Lead Developer for Silvervine Games roleplaying game system Blogger at the 3 time Ennie Award winning Gnome Stew Freelance Author/Art Director (Eureka: 501

Adventure Plots, Masks: 1,000 NPCs, Never Unprepared, - Engine Publishing)

Tabletop Role Playing Games:

How Constant Collaboration Changes A Medium

 Tabletop Role-playing games are basically story telling exercises.

 But they are unlike any other story telling medium, because they have this aspect of immediate collaboration.  Even though they share so many elements with books, movies, video games, comics, and other mediums for story-telling, that immediate collaboration makes them unique.

Explaining RPGS It’s kind of like… except it’s not  A board game, but the rules are more complex and the players tell a story as well as playing the game

Explaining RPGS It’s kind of like… except it’s not  A book or comic book, but the main characters are played by your friends and the author has no control over them, just the rest of the world.

Explaining RPGS It’s kind of like… except it’s not  A video game, but without graphics and you your character can attempt ANYTHING.

Explaining RPGS It’s kind of like… except it’s not  Acting in a movie or a play, but the audience is only 3 or 4 other people and they’re the actors and director as well.

RPGs are people!

RPGs are people!

©Christopher Grant Harris CC by-ncc-sa

RPGs are people!

The Basics and History Of Roleplaying

If You Fail (your roll was below a 15)

The Start Of RPGS (You got tolkien in my wargame …)

D&D (1974)

Gary Gygax (up) & Dave Arneson (right) Co-creators of D&D

And then it spread…

Boot Hill (1975 ) Western Tunnels and Trolls (1975) Fantasy En Garde! (1975) Dueling Bunnies and Burrows (1976) Bunnies Metamorphosis Alpha (1976) Sci-fi Traveller (1976) Sci-fi Villains and Vigilantes (1978) Superheroes Bushido (1979) Samurai

And kept spreading

 Sci-fi - Stark Trek – Licensed RPG (1978)  Fantasy – Rolemaster (1980)  Secret Agent - Top Secret (1980)  Superhero - Champions (1981)  Horror - Call of Cthulhu (1981)  Scifi - Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game (1982) (Again)  Scifi - Star Frontiers (1982)  Dimension Hopping - Lords of Creation (1983)  Fantasy - Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game (1983)  Secret Agent - James Bond 007 (1983)  Sci-fi Humor - Paranoia (1984)  Licensed - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (1985)  Giant Robot - MechWarrior (1986)

And spreading…

 Giant Robot - Robotech (1986)  No Setting - GURPS (1986)  Magic User - Ars Magica (1987)  Cyberpunk - Cyberpunk 2013 (1988)  Cyberpunk - Shadowrun (1989)  Angels and Demons - In Nomine (1989)  Dimension Hopping/Apocalyptic Rifts (1990)  Supernatural - Vampire: The Masquerade (1991)  Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game (1991)  • • • • • • • • • Fudge (1992) Fantasy - Earthdawn (1993) Sci-fi - Jovian Chronicles (1993) Ghost - Wraith: The Oblivion (1994) Undead West - Deadlands (1996) Rabbit Samurai - Usagi Yojimbo (1998, Gold Rush Games) The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1998) Pirate - 7th Sea (1999) Zombie - All Flesh Must Be Eaten (1999)

And spreading……….

2000s Star Wars Roleplaying Game (2000, Wizards of the Coast) Hero Wars (2000) Enothril (2000) Pavillon Noir, la révolte (2000) Frankenstein faktoria (2000) Anno Domini Adventus Averni ad Terram (2000) Name Keeper (2000) Barrio xino (2000) Fanpiro (2001) Fulminata (2001) Exalted (2001) Gear Krieg (2001) Little Fears (2001) Mummy: The Resurrection (2001) Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine (2001) The Metabarons Roleplaying Game (2001) De Profundis (2001) Sorcerer (2001) Mochos: Ziquitaque Nau (2001) Action! (2002) Silver Age Sentinels (2002) Mutants & Masterminds (2002) Steve Perrin's Quest Rules (2002) The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (2002) Juego de rol del capitán Alatriste (2002) Victorian Age: Vampire (2002) Demon: The Fallen (2002) Godlike (2002) Outfan (2002) The Burning Wheel (2002) InSpectres (2002) octaNe: premium uNleaded (2002) Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium (2002) Black Flag: Piracy in the Caribbean (2002) Spaceship Zero (2002) Transhuman Space (2002) Discworld Roleplaying Gamel (2002) Sláine: The Role Playing Game of Celtic Heroes (2002, d20 system) Donjon (2002) Star Trek Roleplaying Game (2002) Alkaendra, los sueños perdidos (2002) Orpheus (2003) My Life With Master (2003) Diana: Warrior Princess (2003) Unisystem (2003) D6 Adventure (2003) Victoriana (2003) Tri-Stat dX (2003) Savage Worlds (2003) Silhouette CORE (2003) Sine Requie (2003) Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game (2003) HeroQuest (2003) Pirates! (2003) Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game (2003) High Adventure Role Playing (2003) Castles & Crusades (2004) Arkeos (2004) Lone Wolf (2004) Xtraídos (2004) Redención (2004) Conan (Mongoose Publishing) (2004) The Shadow of Yesterday (2004) Dogs in the Vineyard (2004) Vampire: The Requiem (2004) Espada y brujería (2004) Lacuna Part 1. The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City (2004) Primetime Adventures (2004) the farm (2004) Fireborn (2004) Quidam (2004) Wyrd is Bond (2004) Tibet: The Roleplaying Game (2004) Atlantis: The Second Age (2005) Werewolf: The Forsaken (2005) Cyberpunk V3 (2005) Anima: Beyond Fantasy (2005) Factory: La Geonova Libre (2005) The Mountain Witch (2005) Mage: The Awakening (2005) sLAng, a quemarropa (2005) Usagi Yojimbo (2005, Sanguine Productions) A Game of Thrones (2005) Lances (2006) Unidad Beta (2006) Promethean: The Created (2006) The Original Flatland Role Playing Game (2006) Shab-al-Hiri_Roach (2006) ) Dice & Glory (2006) Cold City (2006) Don't Rest Your Head (2006) Blood & Honor (2006) Mazes & Minotaurs (2006) Rápido y fácil (2006) Necrorama (2007) Grey Ranks (2007) C-System (2007) As Crónicas de Gáidil (2007) Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier (2007) Septimus (2007) 99 espadas (2007) Inocentes (2007) Sláine: The Role Playing Game of Celtic Heroes (2007, RuneQuest system) Fábulas, historias de la sociedad de cuentacuentos (2007) A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying (2007) Roleage (2008) Bakemono (2008) Trail of Cthulhu (2008) RyF (2008) Last War (2008) Mouse Guard (2008) CthulhuTech (2008) Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay (2008) Houses of the Blooded (2008) Los esoterroristas (2008) Starblazer Adventures (2008) Black Crusade (2008) NSd20, juego de rol genérico multiambiental (2009) Arcana Mvndi (2009) Eclipse Phase (2009) Eyes Only (2009) Eoris Essence (2009) Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (2009) Slasher Flick (2009) Swords & Wizardry (2009) Witch Girls Adventures (2009) Los Ichar (2009) Yggdrasill (2009) Roll&Play! (2009)

2 Things Caused the Explosion of RPGS Collaboration

 When we sit down to play Role-playing games, we are collaborating with our friends and fellow players to make the roleplaying game. It only makes sense that since we collaborate to build a shared experience when we game, we collaborate as an industry.

The Primal Want To Be In The Story

 We love to be participants in the story, and we all love different types of stories.

So what makes an RPG an RPG?

 Role-playing – The roles you take on (You are part of the story)  Mechanics – The rules of the game (You can affect the story)  Story - The narrative (There is a story for you to affect)  Social group – The group of people (There is an audience and they make the story too)

Social Dynamics and The Story

Our characters are our gateways into the world of our narrative

Why this?

The story is always fluid and changing itself to suit the audience.

 The Story of the game must be fluid enough to incorporate the players’ goals and character personalities.  The Game Master looks for opportunities to insert or create (on the-fly) situations to put the spotlight on individual players.

The story is always fluid and changing itself to suit the audience.

 This makes the story cater to individual players, for at least a little bit of the total time.  And since the players are the audience as well, it produces incredible results.

 Can you imagine what static media creators would give to have this ability?

Story/group unity often trumps party conflict

Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

Clip 1 – Inter party character conflict

Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

Clip 2 – Different Character Goals

Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

Clip 3 – The Paladin Gives In

Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

Clip 4 – And Now Shenanigans are the norm

Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

Clip 5 – But the rest of the group modifies itself too

Every player plays for different reasons

This can’t possibly lead to anything bad…



Every character has different ways of tackling the same situation, but every player might play that way out differently and do something different with the same character type.



Since the stories and options in tabletop role playing games are so fluid, players have an infinite number of ways to tackle situations, and everyone plays for a different reason.



Types of Gamers

The Power Gamer

wants to make his character bigger, tougher, buffer, and richer.



The Butt-Kicker

wants to let off steam with a little old fashioned vicarious mayhem.



The Tactician

wants chances to think her way through complex, realistic problems.



The Specialist

always plays. favors a particular character type, which he 

The Method Actor

strongly identifies with the character she plays and gets inside their head.



The Storyteller

is more inclined to the roleplaying side of the equation and less interested in numbers.



The Casual Gamer

tend to be low key folks who are uncomfortable taking center stage even in a small group.

Having multiple gamer types

 Lends itself easily to taking on different, complimentary roles.

 Can cause conflict in the party, but creates a median that most players gravitate towards.

 Enhances the fluidity of the underlying story by making it mold itself to multiple personalities.

Collaboration And The Rules

The Rules Are A New Set Of Laws For the Universe

The rules help to define in-game roles



If we know the rules of the game and what kind of challenges we’ll face, we know what kind of roles will work better.



D&D is combat heavy, so even if the Game Master changes the monster killing paradigm, we know we’ll still face combat in some way.



If we are doing combat, we will be taking damage.



If we are taking damage, we need a way to heal it.

The rules help support roles

 Knowing the rules for your character means knowing the rules for “win” scenarios.

 But you also fit into the overall win scenarios. If you don’t have some way to heal in D&D, good luck. In Vampire, meh. Healing isn’t so important.

 So a common discussion is “Who handles….”  This lets us all be participants in some way, even if we have to make concessions in others.

The rules change based on the players and the group



Having rules doesn’t mean we are strictly bound by them, unless we want to be.

The rules change based on the players and the group



Having rules doesn’t mean we are strictly bound by them, unless we want to be.



The GM and the players can talk about and change the rules.



We’re collaboratively deciding upon a version of reality that we are going to be a story in.



We can do this because we feel it works better.



Or cause it is more fun.

Fun trumps reality and strict interpretation of the rules

Gamers 1 – Clip 1

Fun trumps reality and strict interpretation of the rules

Gamers 1 – Clip 2

The rules change based on the players and the group



Having rules doesn’t mean we are strictly bound by them, unless we want to be.



The GM and the players can talk about and change the rules.



We’re collaboratively deciding upon a version of reality that we are going to be a story in.



We can do this because we feel it works better.



Or cause it is more fun.



And the rules change because we want to include everyone

We Collaborate To Bridge The Gap Between Our Reality And The Game Reality

We Collaborate To Bridge The Gap Between Our Reality And The Game Reality Gamers 2 – Clip 5

We Collaborate To Bridge The Gap Between Our Reality And The Game Reality Gamers 2 – Clip 6

The broader aspects of having an industry driven by collaboration

Part of it is because rules aren’t copyrightable



http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html



Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form.

Drifting Mechanics



D&D has used the d20 roll since it’s first days.



They realized that game designers were going all over the place with different game systems to get different things, so they published the OGL.



It said that you could use the d20 system in anything, so long as you attributed it and noted who owned d20.



There was a glut of d20 products after that and everyone became a game publisher.



Then they made 4e and released a different gaming license without as much freedom.

Drifting Mechanics



4e was a response to the popularity of MMOs like World Of Warcraft (which were in turn heavily influenced by D&D mechanics and themes)



D&D 4e was a flop however. The mechanics were strong and easy, but a lot of the social elements were less supported. You could always add it in yourself, but the rules didn’t support it as well.



The 4e gaming license said you could make stuff for 4e, but not for d20 system anymore.



That didn’t catch on well. Lots of small publishers called it quits, 4e didn’t gain a following.

And then Paizo



And then a company called Paizo, who was till using the d20 system license, decided to just redo the whole thing.



And they are, pretty much, the big dog in the RPG industry right now.

And then there were many games

 Other games started getting bigger market shares  It wasn’t solely because D&D 4 th Ed wasn’t what gamers wanted  Part of it was because people were thinking of new ways to do things. (Independent Games)  Part of it was because there were a lot of d20 developers who wanted to keep working in the industry  And a lot of it was because technology put publishing into more people’s hands

D&D 4

th

ed didn’t work as well…

 But that doesn’t mean wizards of the coast was stupid.

 Part of the reason D&D 4 th ed shifted gears was they got bought by Hasbro.  WOTC decided to do a new game after hearing the gamer feedback  And that brings us back to

collaboration



D&D next (5 th ed.) is being built with a lot of community input, designers of previous versions, and a stated goal of getting something that everyone can play together in

And Now, Let’s Game

Attributions

 ‘Blade Wizard’ by Markus Röncke

is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 License

 'The Barbarian' by Stefan Askernaes

BY-NC-ND 2.5 License .

is licensed under a CC

 ‘The Cleric’ by Stefan Askernaes i

s licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 License .



‘

Large Sword Girl’ by Rochelle Simpson – © Silvervine games, used with permission.



‘

The Mage’ by Stefan Askernaes i

s licensed under a CC BY NC-ND 2.5 License

 The Gamers and the Gamers 2 Zombie Orpheus Entertainment/Dead Gentlemen Productions CC