Now, let the games begin! For the curious, here's what happens in a gaming session...
First we create our player characters (PCs). These are fictional heroes with well-defined (indeed, quantified) abilities and skills. Dice determine the abilities (strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.), while the player "purchases" a PC's skills by "spending" a set pool of skill points.
These details are recorded in a document called a character sheet, along with information about the PC's appearance, class, origin, etc. Above is a portion of my own character sheet for my Dwarf cleric, Vargard. (A cleric is a fighting priest, a sort of chaplain/medic for the party of adventurers.)
Brian likes to sketch out his PCs, and does a pretty good job of it, even if viewed upside down. His PC is Barak, a Half-Elf paladin. (A paladin is a religious knight, like a crusader, who fights for honor, righteousness, mercy, and all those other chivalrous virtue thingies.)
If they're available, players choose minis to represent their PCs. This is the mini I bought to represent Vargard. That's a rather intimidating warhammer/axe thing he's carrying. I like to think this pose indicates he's delivering a sermon--probably about the Dwarves' sacred duty to smite Orcs.
Here's the whole party in minis. Most of the minis match their PCs' descriptions, but a couple don't. From the left, Glenshadow the Elf sorcerer, Barak the Half-Elf paladin, Tyrone Whatley the Half-Orc fighter, Blackwing the Half-Elf rogue, and Vargard the Dwarf cleric. In all, a nice, well-rounded band of heroes.
Once the PCs are made, the adventure begins! The Dungeon Master (DM) first sets the stage for the story, telling the players about their current situation. The DM is a sort of narrator/referee in an RPG: he invents or assembles background information, describes scenes, fills the role of every character the PCs meet, and determines what rules apply to any given situation. DMing is hard work but an awful lot of fun.
Regularly the story will reach a point at which the players are not allowed to simply declare their actions. For instance, if Blackwing the rogue wants to scale a wall, there's a chance he'll fail, perhaps even fall and injure himself. Situations like these, in which success is not certain, call for a roll of the dice, usually a 20 sided die. (Indeed, 3rd edition D&D's basic rule system is called the "D20 System," "D20" being gamer-speak for "20 sided die.") The die on the left is what every player wants to get: a natural 20, an instant and overwhelming success. The die on the right is feared: a natural 1, or "critical failure" in gamer-speak.
Eventually, the PCs will get into a fight. That's what happens in adventures, right? This usually calls for the drawing of a scale map of the immediate terrain, upon which players can shift around the minis representing their PCs. Here Brian G. maneuvers Barak the paladin into position for some serious righteous smiting. Deus vult!
Finally, a closeup of the action as our mighty heroes prepare to lay the smackdown on a bit of currency. The Tennessee state quarter, I believe. As Brian R. said, it seemed pretty tough, but "we still beat it down like a bad, bad dog."
First we create our player characters (PCs). These are fictional heroes with well-defined (indeed, quantified) abilities and skills. Dice determine the abilities (strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.), while the player "purchases" a PC's skills by "spending" a set pool of skill points.
These details are recorded in a document called a character sheet, along with information about the PC's appearance, class, origin, etc. Above is a portion of my own character sheet for my Dwarf cleric, Vargard. (A cleric is a fighting priest, a sort of chaplain/medic for the party of adventurers.)
Brian likes to sketch out his PCs, and does a pretty good job of it, even if viewed upside down. His PC is Barak, a Half-Elf paladin. (A paladin is a religious knight, like a crusader, who fights for honor, righteousness, mercy, and all those other chivalrous virtue thingies.)
If they're available, players choose minis to represent their PCs. This is the mini I bought to represent Vargard. That's a rather intimidating warhammer/axe thing he's carrying. I like to think this pose indicates he's delivering a sermon--probably about the Dwarves' sacred duty to smite Orcs.
Here's the whole party in minis. Most of the minis match their PCs' descriptions, but a couple don't. From the left, Glenshadow the Elf sorcerer, Barak the Half-Elf paladin, Tyrone Whatley the Half-Orc fighter, Blackwing the Half-Elf rogue, and Vargard the Dwarf cleric. In all, a nice, well-rounded band of heroes.
Once the PCs are made, the adventure begins! The Dungeon Master (DM) first sets the stage for the story, telling the players about their current situation. The DM is a sort of narrator/referee in an RPG: he invents or assembles background information, describes scenes, fills the role of every character the PCs meet, and determines what rules apply to any given situation. DMing is hard work but an awful lot of fun.
Regularly the story will reach a point at which the players are not allowed to simply declare their actions. For instance, if Blackwing the rogue wants to scale a wall, there's a chance he'll fail, perhaps even fall and injure himself. Situations like these, in which success is not certain, call for a roll of the dice, usually a 20 sided die. (Indeed, 3rd edition D&D's basic rule system is called the "D20 System," "D20" being gamer-speak for "20 sided die.") The die on the left is what every player wants to get: a natural 20, an instant and overwhelming success. The die on the right is feared: a natural 1, or "critical failure" in gamer-speak.
Eventually, the PCs will get into a fight. That's what happens in adventures, right? This usually calls for the drawing of a scale map of the immediate terrain, upon which players can shift around the minis representing their PCs. Here Brian G. maneuvers Barak the paladin into position for some serious righteous smiting. Deus vult!
Finally, a closeup of the action as our mighty heroes prepare to lay the smackdown on a bit of currency. The Tennessee state quarter, I believe. As Brian R. said, it seemed pretty tough, but "we still beat it down like a bad, bad dog."
2 comments:
I'm wearing Boots of Escaping.
Cool. I've got the Boots of Dance-Dance-Dance 'til the Sun Comes Up.
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