This character views the entire world as a reflection of himself. If he wishes to make a change in the world, he makes the change in himself and the world around him follows suit. If a certain aspect of himself is harmful, such as a vampire attacking his friends, he could burn that aspect away, which might manifest as using force magic to destroy the vampire. To resolve a less black and white dispute, he would bring dueling aspects of himself back into harmony, such as by using mind magic to help people see both sides of an issue and come to a compromise.

Then there are all the groups of people in the world that represent different parts of himself. Vampires represent that which is dead inside, werewolves are his wild side, unawakened humans reflect the progress he still has to make in using awakened magic, changelings remind him of the part of him that looks for the fun in everything, and awakened mages represent the part of him that has come into his power to effect and change the world. Just to list some examples.

The overwhelming darkness in the world is reflective of the darkness within him, and when he manages to conquer this darkness, he will be successful in bringing the world back to the light. Of course, being the World of Darkness, I don’t expect to ever reach this goal in a campaign, I simply intend to use this as a driving goal for my character to pursue personal improvement and improvement of at least his corner of the world.

Since the overwhelming goal of this character is the healing and reconciliation of himself and the world, I would look at getting life, mind, matter, and spirit as his first spheres, probably starting with life and mind, unless my storyteller gave me good reason to go with something else. This is still something I have to think about more though, but I have the time, so it works out. Keeping with this theme though, I’d likely choose to specialize in social and introspective abilities, with a smattering of abilities to help my character with observing the world around around him to learn his next personal challenge.

I expect this will be a challenging character to play, but also a ton of fun. I’m used to focusing on combat after one foray into a non-combat campaign was derailed. This will be another try at a non-combatant character, though I do have some combat backup in the concept in case it becomes necessary, as it usually does at least occasionally in most games. Now I just need to flesh out some more  details and wait for the next game to start that I’ll be able to make on a regular basis.

J presents Gears of war 3 – Fans decide story direction posted at Gamers Lounge. Pretty sure I saw this submission in a previous carnival I posted, but as this came in through the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers, I decided to give it a rerun since I’m still doing the whole transition over. The basic info? Purchase electronic product to determine the fate of a Gears of War character. Info inside.

Chris presents If Street Fights Were More Like “Final Fight”… posted at Martial Development. Basically, Chris takes a look at some of the more ridiculous aspects of the way fighting happens in Final Fight (and to be fair, many other brawlers of the  time). Most of these were simply limitations of the time the game was made, though some were also just oversights as the genre was coming into its own. An amusing read, so check it out.

dswtor presents Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta posted at dailySWTOR, saying, “We are a dedicated fan site to BioWares Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Here’s a quick blurb on some well-known info about SWTOR, as well as how to sign up for the beta test. (Can people still sign up for the beta test?)

Chris Cox presents Top 5 Most Annoying Gamer Personalities posted at Psytechology. He goes over the five gamer types he finds most annoying here. I really can’t say any of the ones listed really bother me. Ignore is easy enough for those you don’t wish to interact with. Still, I imagine this list carries some weight with people who spend a lot of time online, and either way it’s worth a read.

Michael Kotson presents How to Buy a Laptop posted at Test My Geek Stuff, saying, “An overview of the things to look for when buying a laptop.” A bunch of tips for choosing a laptop. Directed at all home users, most gamers will likely know these tips already, but if you’re new to PC gaming, this is some good starting advice. Veteran PC gamers may still find a useful tidbit or two as well, so don’t be shy in clicking on over.

Mark Graybill presents A Simple Java Video Game Kernel posted at A Beginning Programmer’s Guide to Java, saying, “A simple video game kernel in Java that new programmers can use to start writing their own video games.” This is a cool look at an aspect of video game programming, definitely of use to starting programmers, and I would say also interesting to those who are just curious about what might be going on under the hood of the games we play.

RateMeister presents [VIDEO GAME] Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 PC Review posted at RateMeister. A quick review of Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 here, the author seemed to think the game is ok, but with lots of annoying quirks. Which is too bad, since he also seems to think it will be the best PC soccer game to look forward to out of this year’s crop.

Steve presents ABC Monday Night Football posted at Every SNES Game, saying, “I play and review every SNES game ever released.” Another sports game review, and this one looks to be pretty bad (the game, that is, the review is quite funny). Anyone care to play as the “Dallas Dollar Signs”?

Robert Chapman presents Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “I started a gaming/television blog recently, and this is only my second ‘gaming’ related article. It’s on Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game.”  I still need to get out and see this movie, but this is about the game review. As Robert lays it out, we may just have another good beat ‘em up game this year. And in a licensed game no less. Seems like those seem to be getting better.

Martin Watts presents The depiction of terrorism in video games: where should we tow the line? posted at The Gaming Enigma. Martin takes a look at how we view terrorism, and what role video games might play in our understanding of terrorism depending on how they handle their depictions of it. Looks most closely at Medal of Honor, as they’re the ones in the hot seat right now. Definitely a good read, and provides something to think about both in terms of gaming, and politics.

Don Salva presents Fraps & VirtualDub: How to save disk space and enjoy good quality, small file size HD video clips | The Don’s Craptastic World posted at The Don’s Crapastic World. Here’s a guide to getting a lot more out of Fraps and VirtualDub while recording your gaming, without killing your frame rate. Good info for those looking to make videos out of their gaming.

Robert Chapman presents Fallout: New Vegas posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “This is an article about the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas.”  A quick look at some highlights of New Vegas makes this game sound like a winner. Of course, I expect nothing less from Bethesda.

Mark Graybill presents Pathfinder RPG by Paizo posted at An Infinite Number of Cats on Keyboards, saying, “A look at the Pathfinder RPG from the perspective of a GM who has in the past kept going back to OD&D from newer rule sets. This may finally be the game that displaces OD&D for me.” In here, we see that Pathfinder continues to convert gamers to it’s sleek, sleek rules design, pulling all lovers of D&D to slightly better balanced gameplay and rules that are far more intutive than old editions, while still maintaining that classic feel.

Jeremy Rooney -Detroit Performance Car Examiner presents Racer simulator combines RC cars and arcade games posted at Examiner. Ever wanted to drive an RC car? Well, you can’t, but you can get the same experience with this new arcade cabinet. Looks pretty sweet.

Robert Chapman presents Final Fantasy gearing up to go online… again posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “This was my first post of my gaming related articles I’ve written. It’s all about Final Fantasy XIV and my thoughts on it. As well as some helpful links to other sites I found interesting related to Final Fantasy XIV.” Some thoughts on FFXIV, MMORPGs, and links to info on FFXIV. Take a look if you want to know more about Square-Enix’s new MMO.

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. Join us next month for more great gaming info. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on September 30, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

So along with an insane archmage, a beefy bear warrior, a warlock, and a druid of questionable moral character, we were off to adventure. Like any high powered D&D party, we wiped the floor with our enemies and sought out ever harder challenges. After stomping on some enemies more than a few CR above our level, as happens in the higher levels of D&D, we sought out a dragon for appropriately epic battle and succeeded in bringing it down. And then the fun began. Most of the party had been drifting toward evil for quite some time. Upon meeting demons looking to do battle with us, the party attempted to negotiate terms of an alliance, and the broker their way to leadership of an army of demons and abominations. Me, being good, would naturally have none of it. So I snuck away to inform the future victims of the impending invasion that they should make preparations.

Being a kender though (and woefully unfamiliar with the cleric spell list at the time), I couldn’t actually convince anyone to take me seriously by any ethical means I could think of. I got written off as telling kender tales. Naturally. So, being a kender and having a woefully underdeveloped survival instinct, I went back to try to pull the invasion apart from the inside. Failing that, I would return to the city to stand with whatever army could be assembled in the time they had once they learned of the invasion for themselves. It never got to that point though. The rest of the party knew I was up to no good, and a few choice divinations told the rest of the story to the wizard. At this point, the wizard told me OOC that he was planning to kill my character, which we agreed made sense given what was going on. He started with spell traps that were mostly ineffective, and certainly failed in their goal of ending the life of a blissfully ignorant kender. Eventually, he settled on assassination. I was hoping to get a good old spellslinging contest between us (I would have lost, but it would have been awesome fun to play such a battle.) Unfortunately, despite his ineptitude at sneaking around, I was asleep and therefore unable to hear his approach. Yes, I had a chance to hear, I just rolled bad. So a quick coup de grace of fire to the face and I was done.

After that, they helped me put together another character more in keeping with the new direction of the party, along with a tad more power to deal with all of the power creep, and we all had fun going through the rest of the campaign.

That doesn’t mean everyone at the table has to be best friends. However, everyone at the table does have to trust everyone else to create a fun atmosphere for the game being played, and everyone at the table also has to be deserving of that trust from everyone else. They also have to be willing to contribute to the game to the best of their abilities.

This means the GM enforces rules fairly. How a GM does this is up to the GM, it just needs to be done in a way the players understand is fair. The players then trust the GM when a ruling isn’t always obvious, because they trust the GM will do the right thing. This way, when the GM has to make an on the fly ruling, the game can continue on without breaking the flow and without people worrying about what the book says, since everyone trusts it’s fair, and then it can be checked out later.

Likewise, the players need to trust and respect each other. Without that, games fall apart quickly. This isn’t to say all the characters have to do so, what the characters do is up to the players’ comfort levels. But this conflict should be restricted to the characters, and not the players. Generally speaking, with more trust there is among the players, there can be a larger amount of character conflict without bringing the game to a screeching halt. But in short, know boundaries of players, and be sure everyone is on the same page. This also goes for the smaller things, like loot distribution, secrets among select party members, and similar situations.

Most of the time, players are all on the same page and know the boundaries of the game. In some groups though, everyone has a different idea of what to expect, and when they all start playing the game differently, it causes problems if they don’t have that basic level of trust. If they do, they’ll likely talk it out and make the game work within the playing styles they all have. This works when everyone is willing to give and take a little. If they don’t have that trust for each other though, it can seem like everyone is trying to pull a fast one on everyone else.

The most important part of any game is in the relationships you have with everyone else at the table. With a little fairness and trust, things roll on smoothly when the game comes to areas that are minor, usually unnoticed bumps. Without that trust, those minor bumps become giant potholes that cause the game to veer off course, limiting the fun had by all. Making sure everyone has the level of trust and respect for the kind of game you want to play will make things a lot more fun than if it is missing.

Let’s start with character creation. If your players want to play a certain kind of character, it’s generally a good idea to let them play that character. The reason to not allow a particular character to be played is if it will reduce the fun everyone else is able to have. Having a character who constantly antagonizes the group is one such concept (unless the group likes such party conflict), as is having a character who can do everything the other characters can do, better than the other characters. Ideally, this will be worked out while letting the player stick with his concept, but the fun of the whole group has to come before the needs of one player. Compromise is useful here, and your job as the GM is to try to find the middle ground, or the house rules needed to accommodate everyone. Some concepts are inherently antagonistic or too powerful, and they might have to be shot down. Also, there is also a clause of sticking to things that are within reason. No, you can’t play a dragon in D&D. You can play one when we get to that World of Darkness game though. Still, character creation is a small part of this. An important part, since it effects the rest of the game, but still a small part.

The bigger part comes in once you’re actually playing the game. If a player wants to try to do something, let them. There are some things that are impossible (in most systems, casting a spell without training comes to mind), but they sure can try it if they want to. That said, most of the time, you should come up with some reasonable mechanic that lets them have a shot at success. If you aren’t sure what that is, ask the player what they think. They can probably tell you what they had in mind. Then you can run with it, or modify it as necessary. Using Pathfinder as an example, if someone wants to swing from the chandelier, leap off, and stab the bandit leader across the ballroom, you have a couple options. One, you could just say he succeeds on swinging across the room on the chandelier and lands next to the bandit… make an attack roll to see if you lodge your sword in the bandit or in the floor. Or you could pull out an acrobatics check of dc 15-25 depending on how hard a leap it is to make before the player gets an attack roll, if you prefer to add more crunch or make sure skills get lots of use. In either case, you’re giving the player a chance to do what he wanted. That example is easy, but there are others that might be more challenging. It’s up to you to get a system up quickly that will make it work.

Another thing is giving players control over the little things in your world. If a socially motivated character wants to visit his contacts in town, don’t say he has no contacts. Have contacts that help hook the players into your plot. They don’t have to have the answers, but they can certainly provide a hint to the hint you originally placed in the game if they don’t. And there’s nothing wrong with the contacts having a more direct answer either, if it makes sense they would. Go with what makes the game move forward best, rather than sticking to exactly what you planned. If the D&D/Pathfinder style sorcerer wants to be descended from a great dragon, why not let him? It fits the fluff easily enough, and if the dragon is well known, this can give him some benefits and challenges not normally faced. He may be perceived as being more powerful, but he’ll have a name to live up to. Furthermore, powerful people who dislike his ancestor may target him for revenge as he is related, but not nearly as strong, making him an excellent target or even hostage if the ancestor is still alive. Basically, use your players contributions to build out the story.

Now, in the end, you may have to deny some things your players want. If the earlier mentioned sorcerer, for example, wants to know more spells, or have higher ability scores due to his heritage, you may have to explain that while the background is good, the extra powers can’t happen because of game balance issues. Besides which, his magic already comes from said dragon. However, you could then recommend the dragon disciple (if playing Pathfinder and not 3.x) as a way to get those ability scores up, though he’d miss out on a few spell levels.

It’s your job to make sure everyone (including you) enjoys the game. This means a lot of talking and compromising, figuring out what people want, and integrating it into your game. It also means making sure nothing gets in that ruins everyone else’s fun. That can be a difficult line to walk, and I’ve crossed it both ways in my gaming. Usually, if you get it mostly right though, everyone will have a good time and feel like they’ve contributed meaningfully to both game and story.

Meg put in the first submission of the month with her post Silkroad Society at Simpson’s Paradox. In it, she takes a look at a problem that plagues MMO’s that I actually haven’t spent a lot of time on here: the lack of politeness in many MMO chat channels. Noting that Silkroad Online is currently attempting to combat  this problem, she goes on to examine some reasons why people act like this as well as talking about some solutions, all with their good and bad sides.

Luke Geraghty has two pieces for us today at Luke Geraghty.com. First up is 101 Classics: Diablo 2. From Luke himself, “With Diablo 3 looming on the horizon, I take a look back at its predecessor and argue that it should be heralded as a classic in the RPG genre.” This one is a slam dunk. My friends and I still play Diablo 2 to this day, Blizzard continues to run the ladders and people still flock to play, the newest balance patch was released two days ago, and the game came out nearly ten years ago. Going strong for ten years sounds like we’re headed to classic territory to me. Next he tells us what he thinks about The Future of ‘Tomb Raider’. In his own words, “‘Tomb Raider’ is a gaming megabrand with its heroine perhaps outshining the video games themselves. With the latest title ‘Underworld’ in mind, I dissect the past and present games in the series and ask: ‘What exactly lies in store for ‘Tomb Raider’?'” While I was never a fan of the series myself, I recognize it as an important series. The new action game idea does intrigue me though, and I may have to check it out.

Redmongoose would like us to see Mistwalker Releases Concept Art for New Wii RPG at Red Mongoose. I have to say, the concept art for Last Story is looking good to me. Here’s hoping it turns out to be a good game. With a name like Last Story, if it turns out to be an excellent game, we could see this become the next Final Fantasy, going on forever despite a name that implies this should be it. Doesn’t bother me, but it can be amusing when people take the name too seriously.

Douglas Byrd takes a look at the tightrope a GM walks between challenging PCs and survivability in his post DnD: Keeping the game safe, but challenging for new players at Novacorp. This is a common problem GMs face, and it’s good to have a look at ways to deal with it. He has some good suggestions for starting GMs so they can get a feel for the game, so you should check them out. Covers both combat and puzzles. I think the puzzles are something many GMs could use a lesson or reminder in. Myself included at times.

Matt Willard has Today’s Really Kick*** Moment – Excalibur Sonic at Giant Robot Invasion! Click on over for a for the video. An amusing take on Sonic and the Black Knight. Not sure how I feel about the game since I haven’t played it. I kind of like the mystical tack the series has taken, at least when the gameplay stays fun. Others, such as Matt, disagree, but still see the good that exists.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on April 29, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

There seems to be a prevalent idea that if you can find a rule, class, variant, feat, or anything else in a splatbook, you can use it in a campaign being run by another GM. Usually brought up by the dark side of rules lawyers, this entitlement almost always comes from people who believe it’s their right to break the power curve of any campaign they play in. Sometimes, it also comes from players who just want to be cool, but these players are usually much easier to work with and can be very easily negotiated with to hit their concept while giving them a good amount of power but not breaking the entire campaign world.

There are many problems with this train of thought though. The first is that I, the GM, don’t always have access to the splatbook while planning a campaign. Many GMs tailor challenges for the PCs, not because they demand a particular solution, but to make sure they know of a solution that can be used while still keeping the game challenging. This is usually my approach, though I also throw in some arbitrarily powerful npcs intended for the endgame. Usually, if a PC comes up with an unusual solution, it’s good fun, but if a PC has an obscure power that solves everything that’s been planned for, it gets boring fast. I can’t plan for this when I don’t have the splatbook while making campaign plans, and most people only bring the splats to a session, they don’t leave them with the GM. Being willing to let your GM review the splatbook and hold onto it might help with this, but it’s still only a first step.

Something else I consider when allowing various rules from splats into play is the power level. I also don’t allow splats themselves, but rather approve every item from a splat on an individual basis, whether it be a class, feat, spell, or anything else. I try to use a core spellcaster as the top power level of any campaign I run. So, if you’re playing spellcaster, I’m far less likely to allow things from splats than I am for the melee classes that need some help catching up in versatility. That doesn’t mean spellcasters can’t have nice things though. There are plenty of noncore things that are cool, and even seem powerful, but really aren’t, and these can come into play easily. Divine metamagic and persist spell comes to mind as something that will never see the light of day in a campaign I run. Makes the cleric way more powerful than it already is, and it’s already one of the most powerful classes in the game. On the other hand, scintillating sphere is just a lightning based fireball, and easily allowable. Sure, it might up the power a little, but it doesn’t do so in any appreciable way. Everything is looked at case by case, and a judgment call is made.

Whenever I allow something from a splat, I always make sure a player knows that if it turns out that it can be abused in a way that makes them too powerful (i.e. more powerful than a core spellcaster), I reserve the right to ask them to rebuild, though I will do what I can to help them keep the feel of their character.

The thing about allowing any and all splatbooks is that new rules often combine in weird ways to allow really crazy things to happen. Consider the orb of energy reduced metamagic or ubercharger builds that can deal 10,000+ damage a hit. Pre-epic. No, you can’t do that in my game. One-shotting everything isn’t an rpg, it’s an action game. Even death spells allow a saving throw, and those are limited by castings per day. Low level death spells allow two saving throws, or a touch attack and a save. Death spells also have options that allow you to become immune to them So, seeing how this can happen, it’s always best to check the rules you allow into the game, instead of just saying anything goes.

Now, reading this, you might think I’m a horrible person who doesn’t want my players to have fun. This is actually not the case. First, there’s lots of fun to be had playing by the core rules. Second, I actually do end up allowing a lot of things from splats into my campaigns. It’s just up to my players to go over what they would like to do with me and let me review it so I know they won’t be doing something that doesn’t fit with the world (though in 99% of cases the world can be adapted), and more importantly so I can see it won’t break the game. I’ve had players happily playing Crusaders from the Book of Nine Swords, Dwarven Paragon Legendary Leader Mystic Fighters (only one of those classes is core), and Spellfire Wielders from the Forgotten Realms, among others.

The point of all this is you should make sure your players know that you’ll be reviewing anything they bring in from outside core. This is so you have an idea of what’s coming into your games and can make the game more fun for everyone, as well as make sure nothing obscenely powerful comes in to break your game. D&D balance will never be perfect, or even all that good, but you can make sure it doesn’t become worse. In essence, treat all splatbook ideas as potential house rules, and then allow the good ones into your games as desired by you and your players. It makes the experience a lot better for everyone involved.

Group character creation is what a lot of people start out with. Many times, everyone is learning the game for the first time, and players and gm alike will be helping everyone pull together the character they want. Everyone will probably take on a different role in order to have a balanced party, and eventually a group of adventurers will be formed. Players may or may not think of ways everyone is connected, but it probably won’t matter. Since it’s the first game, they’ll likely do an easy meet-up, such as meeting in a tavern or everyone will start out in jail or something along these lines. Fun will be had by all.

Of course, what might also end up happening is that one player may get shoehorned into a role he’s unhappy with for the sake of party balance. Typically, this is someone who plays the cleric in a game of D&D, before everyone realizes just how powerful clerics are. Using this example of the cleric, in a good scenario, this player will actually find out clerics are a lot of fun for him to play, or players will realize it’s okay to go without a healer and the player will choose a role he’s happy in playing. In a bad scenario, he’ll stick it out and not have a whole lot of fun with it.

A clever gm might even realize that it’s not necessary for all party roles to be filled for everyone to have fun. In this case, he might take each player aside to build their characters separately, so each player builds what is fun for him to play. In this case, the players don’t worry about party balance, and just play what they want. This has the added benefit that characters randomly meeting up don’t just happen to fit the mold of “standard adventuring party,” which can help preserve verisimilitude for people who care about this.

However, this method has it’s own issues. Some players like a well balanced party, and would fill a less fun role before having a skewed party. Additionally, if players don’t talk about their characters ahead of time, it’s harder to establish relationships between the characters. This can be done in game, but by the time gms are pulling this trick out, players are often used to establishing relationships ahead of time, so it feels clunky to do this in game for some people. Finally, if two or more people are fulfilling the same role, it may lead to one player handling the role much better than the other player, so the weaker player feels overshadowed and like he’s not contributing to the party’s success.

Now, you might have guessed this by now, but I prefer to take elements of both methods and put them to work, though I favor the group method in this blend. So, I ask players to build characters in a group, but also stress it’s absolutely not necessary to fill every role unless that’s the way they strongly prefer to play. I’d rather see them all have characters they enjoy playing themselves. Furthermore, if it looks like one player will overshadow another in a similar role in a cooperative game, I’ll ask them to help the other player bring his character up to snuff if he’d like the help. Some players do have roleplaying ideas in mind that work better when they are a weak link, and they always have the option to go that route, but I’ve found more often than not they’re happy to have some help in optimizing. Finally, I make sure players establish some relationships within the party so they have a reason to stick together. They can worry about any other backstory later, but having some established in-party relationships really makes the starting sessions of a campaign run smoother.

The hardest part of this third blended approach is getting players to buy into the idea that every role doesn’t need to be covered. So, I tend to explain that this party weakness can lead to creative problem solving when they don’t have the typical solution on hand, as well as good roleplaying opportunities when seeking help outside the party. Or, using another example from D&D, perhaps a player might find leadership a good feat to cover these weaknesses via a cohort and some followers, which also leads to good roleplaying opportunities. Similarly, taking the allies or contacts background in World of Darkness might provide similar help in overcoming obstacles not handled directly by the characters, though likely not quite as directly. Once I’ve laid these thoughts out, players usually buy into this idea. If not, or if they still strongly prefer a traditional party structure, they’re certainly welcome to play that way. I just think it’s good to stress it’s not necessary to do so to have a great campaign.

For Pathfinder, these skills can be used untrained, which means you can make a roll, add your base ability, and use that result. This means anyone can do it, it’s just easier for people with training. In World of Darkness, any ability that falls under a knowledge (like computer) can’t be done unless you’ve actually learned it by purchasing at least one point in said ability. An ability like drive takes a penalty on top of being untrained.

Both of these systems overlook an important issue in this though. Sometimes, there are things that people can just do. In the modern world, just about anyone can drive. Perhaps not well, but they can do it. In normal circumstances, it would be silly to ask a player to make a roll to drive successfully, or worse, tell them they simply don’t know how. Now, if they had no points in drive, it would be fair to say they only know how to drive an automatic, and if they get into a chase they’ll likely have a hard time. Driving point a to point b is still quite doable though. It’s a basic skill people have in the modern world.

Even more pernicious than this is the idea of a perception skill though. Yes, this certainly serves a purpose. However, you shouldn’t have to make a roll to see the door is closed, or that you’re about to walk into a lamppost. This is normal stuff. Rolling to note the well disguised signs of an ambush, or to hear a burglar creeping through your home would be appropriate, as this isn’t something that is common to note. That giant dragon in the sky though? Yeah, we all saw it ten minutes ago, and no, rolling a one doesn’t negate that. It’s too big to miss unless there is a severely mitigating circumstance, such as being blind.

The point here is simple. It’s not always appropriate to stick to the system with these skills. If a player wants his character to do something that could be done by anyone in the room, and the character has no disability preventing him from doing so, just let him do it. Use common sense. Or adopt the rule proposed in World of Darkness: “only ask for rolls when the results of failure are interesting.” Not noticing an ambush is interesting because it changes the dynamics of the battle. Walking into a door you didn’t see even though a normal person would see it and getting a concussion is not interesting, it’s annoying and makes players think the GM just wants to make their characters his playthings.

While mechanics are important, also remember the story. These characters are supposed to come alive, so treat them like they’re people. If something is ridiculously easy for a highly trained person, and something most normal people could accomplish, just let the character do it. Save the rolls for the difficult things, where suspense is needed, or when you need tension. And make sure the result of a success or failure is interesting, instead of just annoying. Keep the story moving, instead of bogging it down with needless bookkeeping because you want the 15th level ranger to make a survival check to find food in a lush jungle setting. He can do it. Don’t waste everyone’s time.

Tony Huynh has Greatest Video Game Trailers, God of War III (3) Release date and cover for us, posted on LimitlessUnits.com. His words say it all: “A countdown to the greatest video game trailers of all time. God of War III release date and cover finalized.” Props to him for including the Gears of War trailer in his list of great trailers. I’ve never played the game, but the trailer is a great one. Of course, he picked some other good ones to include as well, so allow him to take you on a stroll down memory lane while you wait for God of War 3 to release.

Meg gives us Game Review: Funky Farm 2 which she has posted at Simpson’s Paradox. The review is full of personality, much like she says the game is, and if you’re into farm sims like Harvest Moon, you may want to check out this review to see if Funky Farm 2 might also be a good fit for you. Of course, you could also check it out just to support other bloggers who play games or if you’re in the market for something different from your usual.

Curtis has some tips in his post How to Obtain Crop Mastery in Farmville | FarmVilleTime.com at FarmVilleTime.com. As he succinctly put it, “Farmville on Facebook – Tips, Secrets, and Hints”. This is, of course, for those who like the Facebook game Farmville and are looking for some help on obtaining crop masteries. I don’t play myself, but Curtis lays out the process for those who do and are looking to figure out how it’s done.

James Feudo gives us some life advice in his piece Life Lessons From Video Games | Overnight Sensation – Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development posted at Overnight Sensation, telling us, “If you’re looking for evidence that video games help you in the game of life, then look no further.” In this piece, he draws some parallels between life and gaming, using ideas such as playing to your strengths, obtaining power-ups, and managing your growth. It’s an interesting read and you should check it out.

Finally, because I would like to see at least one post on the topic of tabletop rpgs in the carnival, I’m leaving a link to post by yours truly. Leveling by Plot Rather Than XP, posted right here at Gaming My Way, describes some alternative methods to leveling up characters for the purposes of plot advancement instead of just handing over some experience points. While not for everyone, the ideas could certainly be useful for some styles of gaming.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on March 25, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.