So, after I sent them an email, Triond sent me an email telling me that Saga would, in fact, be published via their service. So I guess they’re not so bad after all.

I’ve always wanted to know what GWB does to unwind. Now we know why he’s so concerned about zombies.

I just found Triond, and thought it might be a good way to get Saga distributed. After signing up and submitting Saga, however (in .doc format, because they, for some reason, do not accept .pdf files), I was notified about twenty minutes later that my request to publish it was declined, as it was copyrighted material. The fact that Saga is copyrighted to anyone but me is, of course, news to me. And I’m inclined to think that, if they had spent more than 20 minutes looking into my system, they would have seen it my way. As it is, I think they probably found SAGA System, or perhaps SAGA System, or even SAGA GIS. A simple search combining ‘saga system’ and my name, however, reveals this link, which might have tipped them off.

Over at Treasure Tables, there’s a post about describing the death of a PC. The gist of the post is that when a PC bites the dust, it usually comes as a surprise to the GM and the group as a whole, and thus the GM probably has some trouble doing any kind of justice to the character’s death when put on the spot. Now, I’ve never actually killed a PC (though I’ve killed major NPC allies before, both intentionally and not), so I can’t really speak from experience on this issue. I do know what I’d probably do in that situation though. I’d let the player handle it.

My reasoning is thus. As the GM, I have a strong connection to and investment in the world, the supporting cast, the allies of the PCs, and the villains, since they’re all under my control and, in many cases, I’ve created them all by hand. When something major and dramatic happens to an important NPC or group or feature of the setting, chances are I can do it some kind of justice in describing its demise because of that connection and investment. The thing is, while I might like the PCs, and while I may be secretly rooting for them to win, I don’t have that same connection with them because I didn’t create them and they aren’t under my control. I’m not invested in the PCs. The players are. Especially if a player has been playing a character for a while, he/she is invested in that character and likely thinks about that character a great deal more than I do. A player often knows how his/her character will behave in a given situation, what that character wants out of life, what his/her hopes and fears are. The player may even have given some thought as to how he/she wants the character to die eventually (or even how the character wants do die).

Given that the player has a much stronger connection to the character, why not capitalize on that when it counts? A PC’s death is arguably one of the most important things that will ever happen to that character. It only seems right that the player should be able to decide how that happens. Obviously the circumstances surrounding the PC’s death will color the description somewhat, but I’d much rather let the player have that moment than take it away and make a mess out of it. It might even make the death of a well-loved PC easier to take.

Recently I purchased Puerto Rico: The PC Game, and I haven’t been able to stop playing since. I’ve only played the physical game a couple of times, mainly because I don’t own it (my friend Chris does), and it’s difficult to get everyone to agree on the game sometimes. The PC game isn’t quite as good as sitting down with your friends, but it satisfies that board gaming itch well enough, and it’s really quite a lot of fun. I’ve heard complaints that the AI isn’t that great but really, for a beginner like me, it’s fine. I may outgrow it eventually, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

What it’s gotten me thinking of is how I wish more PC translations of board games were out there. There are a few out there. Over at AsoBrain.com you can play pretty faithful online translations of Carcassonne and Settlers of Cataan. You can even play BattleLore online with your friends using the Vassal Engine. And of course there are things like Magic The Gathering Online.

Still, I wish there were more. I’d love to be able to play the HeroCard games, or Munchkin, or Arkham Horror on my computer when I can’t get my friends together. Or, better yet, with my friends, online. It would be awesome.

My buddy Dean just posted this really interesting explanation of how Viking culture can be applied to the ‘points of light’ model that I discussed earlier. Some of this I’m not sure I can reconcile with what I have in place right now (such as it is), but other things intrigue me.

The idea of “Sea Kings” (or, in Wild Blue’s case, “Sky Kings”) is a good one. I like the idea that, while the Demesne is the major power, there may be a number of nomadic pirate lords, or even warlords in control of entire city-states, outside the purview of either the Demesne or the Folk. This could even feed into the concept of one people selling high-quality weapons to another, only to have them used against them somewhere else. Perhaps some of the border towns manufacture high-end swords or guns, sell them to a neighboring city-state in order to appease their warlord, and said warlord sends out pirate ships to raid the Demesne’s merchant vessels. Along these same lines, Dean inquired about the relationship between the Demesne and the Folk, and whether or not it would be conducive to trade in border areas. The answer is, probably not. The issue isn’t necessarily one of animosity (though there’s no shortage of that), but of the fundamental differences between the two peoples. The people of the Demesne are human. The Folk are very much not. Many of them are ageless, a number of them have vast amounts of power at their disposal, and they are almost universally inscrutable and unknowable by human beings. They are the Other, in every aspect of the term. Some trade might be possible on an individual basis, but such trade would likely make no sense to humans, with the Folk offering bits of worthless junk (toadstools, bits of string) for valuable tools, or vice versa.

This threw me for a loop last night. Apparently, Saga has been deemed one of the top five free RPGs by Associated Content. Cool.

Recently I read an article in the electronic version of Dungeon Magazine that talked about a new philosophy present in 4th Edition: Points of Light. This is not a mechanical idea, but an idea that affects story and theme. It goes like this: the world is a dark place. Civilization is comprised of tiny settlements and the occasional large city, mostly isolated from each other and separated by vast expanses of wilderness. They are, effectively, points of light in a sea of darkness. This philosophy is present, they say, to provide more opportunities for adventure, and to make creating your own setting, one point at a time, easier.

It’s an idea that speaks to me, largely because I’m using a similar philosophy in Wild Blue. The Demasne is a new territory, and most of it is unsettled. The capital, Bastion, is a sprawling metropolis, a point of light that burns particularly brightly. There are a few other smallish cities, as well, but most settlements are villages, towns, hamlets, isolated from all but their closest neighbors. The presence of the Folk, a mysterious and frightening race of beings, enhances the feeling of isolation, because a trip through the wilderness is that much more dangerous. The only reasonably safe ways to get from place to place are with a merchant caravan (strength in numbers) or on a skyship (fast, and high above most of the danger).

Wow, it has been a long time since I’ve posted, hasn’t it. Alright, a quick update as far as thing that you can look forward to seeing on my site in the near future.

1. HeroCard Orc Wars: TableStar sent me the Ranger and Sorceress expansion packs a little while back so I could more thoroughly review the multiplayer aspects of the game. I’m going to do this, but I just moved to a new area about a month ago, and I don’t know very many gamers in the area. I’m going to try to get something going in the next few weeks, and if I can, this will be on the menu. Suffice it to say, the artwork is just as good on these cards as in the core game, and I’m excited to try it out.

2. HeroCard Nightmare: TableStar also sent me this game for review. This will happen, with the same provisos as above: time, location, et cetera. The mechanics in this one look interesting, and it’ll be neat to see how the card battle system interacts with the deduction mechanic at the core of the game.

3. Three-Dragon Ante: I just picked this up a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve played a couple of two-player games with my wife and really enjoyed them (though I lost both times). I’m anxious to get a larger game going, as it supports up to six players.

4. Wild Blue: Things are still progressing here. I have some mechanics ideas that I really want to fiddle around with before I put too much of the setting on paper, but I’m still pretty excited about this project, and I fully intend for it to see the light of day. I may ask if people want to do some playtesting sometime down the road, but that’s a bit premature at the moment.