tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post7148639929078648738..comments2024-03-14T07:11:37.650+00:00Comments on Porky's Expanse!: Do gamers need help?Porkyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00604351052444947490noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-8169683733083972732012-12-06T12:29:59.559+00:002012-12-06T12:29:59.559+00:00I'm not sure I believe it's in the labour ...I'm not sure I believe it's in the labour either. Many of us don't think of preparation as labour at all, generally at least, although building a force for games like 40K these days is getting to be a major undertaking, maybe even a fairly dull one depending on what exactly you're aiming at.<br /><br />We probably all put in a lot of hours, whether on the miniatures, terrain, worldbuilding or scenarios, or just for the love of thinking about it, but with the right tools and familiarity and similarity of expectation in the players, that can be reduced right down. Even if miniatures are used, games don't have to be big, or necessarily need much in the way of terrain, while balance is optional for many people if compensated for by factors like a clear narrative, and the world can even be generated as the inhabitants explore it. Some of the games I've played in recently have been stunningly impromptu, and panned out in very different ways than usual because of it, to the extent they might not have seemed able to support the fun if we'd thought about it harder in advance.<br /><br />I think the time the game itself is seen to take or supposed to take is interesting. Miniature-based wargames could need to be quicker playing because of the number of miniatures involved in the case of the fuller-package brands, that the business model - for now - seems to demand ever increasing numbers of miniatures sold, while smaller producers still tempt with greater breadth and freshness, encouraging us to build those metal, resin and plastic mountains that given the time involved in modelling and painting then almost demand to be used. With all the unpacking, setup, moving and repacking, the game needs to be quick, and maybe decisive to make it seem worthwhile.<br /><br />What we think of as roleplaying, especially without grids and miniatures and when lighter on rules, can be more convenient. You can go at it for half an hour, or eight hours, and just pause at a convenient moment, then pick up again at almost any real-world time and place. An exception here is the one-shot, but the essential malleability of the more concentrated form means reorganising and telescoping on the hoof is fairly easily done where needed or preferred. Combine some of that with approaches like <a href="http://psychicmayhem.blogspot.com/2011/09/tales-of-guerilla-roleplayer-imperial.html" rel="nofollow">guerilla gaming</a> and even <a href="http://theporkster.blogspot.com/2012/09/ambient-random.html" rel="nofollow">ambient random</a> and who knows where we'll be?<br /><br />There's some loosely-related discussion going on in response to <a href="http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/12/open-thread-boardgames-and-gateway-grugs.html#comment-727630399" rel="nofollow">this comment</a> at BoLS.Porkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00604351052444947490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-5052167894570451352012-12-05T06:17:25.624+00:002012-12-05T06:17:25.624+00:00I wonder how much of it comes down to wanting a di...I wonder how much of it comes down to wanting a distinction between the kind of labour that is done for work, and the kind of labour that is done for hobbies? No, I'm not sure I believe that. Having the points values doesn't eliminate adding up and weighing options and considering; having a pre-made campaign doesn't eliminate the inevitable tailoring that you'll have to do for people's actual collections, play space and preferences. It can't be anything that simple or misguided.<br /><br />I deliberately haven't responded to quotations three or four there, because I think there's an unaddressed difference in the expectations of how long experiences should last.<br /><br />Many wargames are expected to be short and decisive, particularly if you're trying to play five rounds of a skirmish game in one day or seven rounds of WFB across two. Each game experience is supposed to be over and done with in the time between getting home from work and last orders being called (which I think was Rick Priestley's original criterion for how long Warhammer should take to play, and Warhammer's influence on contemporary wargaming can be over-estimated, but not by much). Board games too appear to have an expected couple of hour lifespan - certainly there exist some that take longer and are still deemed good, but many of the serious board gamers I know are appalled at the idea of playing a game for four hours, never mind all day!<br /><br />By contrast, an RPG takes a while to get going. By the time a pair of wargamers are onto turn three and their game's just getting good, a group of roleplayers are just about over the initial 'pretending to be elves' awkwardness and are actually settling into role and purpose and deciding what they're going to do with themselves in this session.<br /><br />A wargame that takes eight hours to play has dragged. A board game that takes eight hours to play is frequently deemed badly designed. An RPG that takes eight hours to play is... almost par for the course, an indication that things are going well and the experience is enthralling and immersive and worth continuing.<br /><br />And finally: for what it's worth, I have yet to have a compelling RPG experience at a table where the paraphernalia of wargaming - the miniature, the board (hex or otherwise), the template or the terrain piece - has been present. I do not disdain such things in the gaming of others - I merely note that they don't seem to do <i>me</i> any good at all. Vonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12583821960347555993noreply@blogger.com