Opinions About Video Games and Roleplaying Games
Archive for August, 2008
Setting the Stage of a Game With Music
Aug 21st
Posted by Eclipse in Roleplaying Games
I want to once again talk about music, but this time set in tabletop games rather than video games. For a video game, it’s an integral part of the experience. For tabletop games, it’s strictly optional, but it can help to set the mood very nicely.
I’ve found that music tends to be most effective when used sparingly and at important dramatic moments. There’s no need to have a theme for everything and music for every battle, though I know some people actually enjoy that. For me, I think it’s much more effective to save an epic score for a large, important battle, and use it there. Perhaps a jovial theme for the main stronghold or hideout. Maybe one or two other songs used sparingly.
Having a sound effect or song for every room tends to be too much for me. This is mostly because some sound effects and music can be grating, as can the pause from room to room or scene to scene as the GM looks for the sound file or cd he needs. Balance is key. If the game is slowing down, or the sounds are unnecessary, then perhaps it’s time to trim them down a bit. This is still a roleplaying game after all, and player imaginations can fill in what’s missing. The point is to add to the game, not slow it to a grinding halt, and some players prefer to use their imaginations most of the time anyway.
The first campaign I experimented with music in, I used Queen of the Dark Horizons by Rhapsody for a giant, possibly world ending battle between five dragons and the world’s most powerful wizards. For those who don’t know, the song is very heavy, and has some orchestral qualities to it as well, along with lyrics that certainly imply evil is on the rise and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I was pleased with the outcome, and my players told me it was one of the most intense battles they’d been involved in, which was my goal. Unfortunately, that campaign later began to unravel, though it still finished. That battle was the capstone of the game for me though.
For another campaign, I tried having theme songs for all the players and most of the important npcs. It didn’t really work as well as I’d hoped it would. It was too much to manage, and the music got in the way of the game sometimes. The same was true when I tried to have music for almost every battle, and even when I had it for every boss battle. I’ve decided from now on, it might be best to save it for the world changing battles that tend to occur once or twice a campaign. Perhaps I can work one in for the death of an important character or PC if it’s appropriate. Of course, this is a highly personal choice, and one that different roleplaying groups will have different preferences about.
But if you haven’t tried using music in your games and your players are game, give it a shot sometime. It might surprise you how well a well placed song can set the mood.
How to Get My Help While Playing a Game
Aug 17th
Posted by Eclipse in Computer Games
I’m enjoying a nice run through the first room of Relics, the first major dungeon in Rappelz. I’ve just hit the point where I can solo it, and I’m earning insane amounts of job and experience points. It’s a great feeling.
Then, the bane of every cleric’s existence.
“Buf plz.”
Naturally, I’m out of mp. So I explain this and ask him to wait a minute. He does, and I buff him as soon as I have the mp to do so.
“Buf pet too plz.”
At this point, I’m slightly irritated, since I need my mp for healing and buffing myself and my own pet, but I try to be a nice guy, and once my mp charges up again, I go ahead and buff his pet. At this point, he sends me a party invite, and we get even more xp and jp working together than we did alone. I feel a lot better about this whole situation now. Clerics do have all the luck when it comes to forming parties.
Then he kills my character.
Now I’m really irritated, but maybe it was an accident. Not that that’s at all likely since you have to consciously activate pk mode, but I’m a benifit of the doubt kind of guy. I give him a chance to res me, and he doesn’t, so I respawn in town and he disbands the party.
I run back to the dungeon on my own, rebuff myself and my pet, and proceed to solo some more. It’s still great xp and jp after all, and I still feel good about things.
“Buf plz.” It’s the guy who killed me earlier. I can’t believe the guy is this dumb. He’s asking me for buffs after he killed me.
I ignore him. He persists. I’m not sure if I should be amused or angry. I’m a little of each. I tell him, “Why would I buff you after you killed me? You intentionally make things harder for me, I’m not going to waste my time helping you. That’s not how it works.”
I don’t really get why he thought I’d help him after he attacked me, but apparently some people really think clerics are healing and buff machines for their personal use, not other players trying to have fun. I really don’t mind buffing people, particularly when I have the mp to spare. If I have lots of mp, I buff pets too. Otherwise, I don’t… though if someone were to give me an mp potion for the buffs, I’d definitely do it, regardless of my mp. They would, basically, be reimbursing me for the mp I’d be spending on them, and then it doesn’t hurt me at all to hand the buffs out. Helping out the person who’s buffing you, even if it’s just to keep them breaking even, goes a long way to getting you buffed faster.
And if you attack me, you can be sure I won’t help you for all the mp potions in the world. Though I’d consider it for a Pixie. Or if the attack was unintentional and you took steps to rectify it, such as money, a useful item, a res, or partying with me to help me get back the xp I lost, I’d be more than willing to help out. Doing any of this is also a good way to get your buffs sooner, especially partying with me. See, I think that’s perfectly reasonable of me.