In my last two posts (here and here), I've discussed some of the benefits that MMOs could have on Tabletop RPG Design, with my most recent post discussing the benefits of having multiple classes that do similar things in different ways. Today, we're going to dive into actual gameplay a bit more, and get some ideas about tactical combat.
Status Effects are Good Tactics: One thing that's very nice about World of Warcraft (WoW) is that classes all have different methods of fighting that aren't just direct attacks. Direct attacks are generally all that is available to melee or ranged combatants in Pathfinder / 3E Dungeons & Dragons, which leaves their contributions to a fight merely at "hit it", which can get very boring to players after a while. While feats like Bleeding Critical do allow you to apply some status effects, the player has little to no control over when and how the status effect is applied.
Warriors in World of Warcraft can hit quite hard with their various physical attacks, but they definitely have their share of status effects that make them more interesting to play. A warrior can inflict Bleed damage by using the Rend attack (deals no initial damage but causes the foe to bleed out for a period of time), and can stun their foes with attacks like Concussion Blow, and slow their foes down with Hamstring, or stagger them a bit with Shield Slam (which slows their movement slightly and interrupts spellcasting).
This was one of the best things about the Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords, which was released towards the end of the 3.5 D&D printing run. While many meta-game tests were done that concluded that the core 3.5 D&D classes could out-damage the classes available in the Tome of Battle more often than not (the iconic examples being Barbarian and Warblade), the classes from the Tome of Battle were just simply more tactical, and to many, much more fun. You adapted your combat routine to the here and now, and could run interference for your group (in other words, you could hold an enemy off while your team got into position).
Damage Prevention: One mechanic I've really enjoyed looking at in World of Warcraft is the priest's "Power Word: Shield" spell. For discipline priests, this is a staple of their healing routine; but it's a very new concept in terms of RPG healing. It's effectively preemptive healing. Casting PW:Shield creates a "bubble" around the target for the duration of the spell. This bubble then absorbs incoming damage, similar to Temporary HP from spells like vampiric touch in D&D and Pathfinder.
In fact, a properly played Discipline Priest actually heals very little over the course of a battle, but is considered an invaluable healer. When they do heal, their healing is very efficient in terms of resources spent versus health gained, though the amount of health healed is generally kind of low (with the exception of their iconic spell, Penance which strongly heals an ally in a quick burst, or alternatively harms an enemy for about half the damage it would have healed. Very nice.
I've become a bit fascinated with these kinds of mechanics, so I will probably be toying with similar concepts in some of my upcoming pdf books for Pathfinder; which will be something fun to look forward to. ☺
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
MMOs and Tabletop RPGs - Sharing Ideas Part 2
In my last entry, Part 1, I touched lightly on the evolution of online RPGs like "World of Warcraft" (WoW) and their relation to their tabletop brethren. I also mentioned that modern tabletop RPGs can learn some things from this newer genre of RPGs that can improve the fun and mechanics of our favorite RPGs. Today we're going to talk about that a little more.
Games Within the Game: I've often noted that one of my favorite things about playing Pathfinder or 3E Dungeons & Dragons is that each class has the potential to play very differently. A Fighter, Druid, and Sorcerer all play very differently, for example (at least in Pathfinder where sorcerers get sorcerer bloodlines); but a number of classes often don't feel different enough to some players; or too different.
Games like WoW could teach us a lot about game design from a class perspective. As of writing this, World of Warcraft has 10 different classes (warrior, mage, priest, rogue, hunter, paladin, warlock, shaman, druid, and death knight) and 3 major specializations to each of these classes (think archtypes) for quite a few options. While I'll touch on this diversity a bit more later, I would like to draw attention to class roles for a moment.
Like in traditional fantasy RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, you have four major roles: The warrior, the healer, the spellcaster, and the skill user (traditionally the fighter, cleric, wizard/mage, and rogue/thief). Generally the warrior deals physical damage and protects his allies; the healer casts beneficial spells for the group; the mage casts offensive spells; and the skill rounds out the group by tag-teaming with the warrior and using various tricks to outwit obstacles.
WoW has these sorts of roles too (though due to the nature of that game, the 4 primary roles are adjusted a little, into damage dealer, protector, crowd controller, healer). However, most of their classes can preform at least two of these roles as their primary focus; even though the two classes play nothing alike. For example, the Warrior vs Paladin.
Warrior
Two classes that preform the same functions while working completely differently. Both are rewarding to play for different reasons, and both allow a player to try different games within the game itself. This allows players to pick and choose the classes that feel the best to them, while being a source of new interest for those who like to try things that are different. A game within a game.
In my own games, I allow players to play Wizards, Sorcerers, and Psions (essentially a spell-point caster). All of these classes fulfill similar roles, and can do similar things; but each plays a bit differently than the other, and some of my players love one, and dislike the others. The moral is, everyone has something they can find that they like, and that way everybody wins.
Games Within the Game: I've often noted that one of my favorite things about playing Pathfinder or 3E Dungeons & Dragons is that each class has the potential to play very differently. A Fighter, Druid, and Sorcerer all play very differently, for example (at least in Pathfinder where sorcerers get sorcerer bloodlines); but a number of classes often don't feel different enough to some players; or too different.
Games like WoW could teach us a lot about game design from a class perspective. As of writing this, World of Warcraft has 10 different classes (warrior, mage, priest, rogue, hunter, paladin, warlock, shaman, druid, and death knight) and 3 major specializations to each of these classes (think archtypes) for quite a few options. While I'll touch on this diversity a bit more later, I would like to draw attention to class roles for a moment.
Like in traditional fantasy RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, you have four major roles: The warrior, the healer, the spellcaster, and the skill user (traditionally the fighter, cleric, wizard/mage, and rogue/thief). Generally the warrior deals physical damage and protects his allies; the healer casts beneficial spells for the group; the mage casts offensive spells; and the skill rounds out the group by tag-teaming with the warrior and using various tricks to outwit obstacles.
WoW has these sorts of roles too (though due to the nature of that game, the 4 primary roles are adjusted a little, into damage dealer, protector, crowd controller, healer). However, most of their classes can preform at least two of these roles as their primary focus; even though the two classes play nothing alike. For example, the Warrior vs Paladin.
Warrior
- The warrior has no magic ability. His buffs are limited to battle commands and war-shouts (morale effects, essentially).
- He uses special attacks by using a resource called "Rage" which he generates by actively fighting. As a battle goes on, he generates more and more rage, so as long as he doesn't run out of HP, he will actually get stronger and have more options.
- Has 3 different combat stances: "Battle Stance", "Defensive Stance", and "Berserker Stance" which determine what kinds of abilities he can use, and also provide passive bonuses (battle stance is normal, defensive reduces outgoing and incoming damage slightly, and berserker stance increases critical hit chances).
- He generally is specialized in dealing damage and protecting allies. Has some crowd control (he can shout and frighten enemies back for a moment), and can break out of fear effects, and can apply some negative status effects with certain attacks (he can slow your movement speed for a short time, make you bleed out, etc).
- Wears heavy armor and wields a variety of weapons and shields.
- Is widely considered a powerful but complex class to play because of the need to change stances as you adapt to the battle, as well as having to manage your rage resource.
- Since he uses no magic, he is virtually immune to being silenced.
- The Paladin relies on divine magic. He has a buff that's good for virtually every class.
- His special attacks and/or spells rely on a mana resource which regenerates continuously, but stops regenerating while he's casting or using it, so while he begins frontloaded, the longer a fight goes the less power he will have unless he can recover mana.
- Has several different auras which provide different benefits, and can choose one to be active at a time (one aura improves the armor of allies, one punishes enemies for attacking you, one makes it easier to cast spells while suffering damage, etc).
- He generally is specialized in dealing damage and protecting allies. He has little crowd control (he can only turn undead), and can break out of movement imparing effects, and can apply some negative status effects with certain attacks (he can stun enemies for a short time, or increase the chance of landing critical hits on an enemy, etc).
- Wears heavy armor and wields a variety of weapons and shields.
- Is widely considered a fairly simple class to play because most of the skills/spells are fairly strait-forward. Keeping track of the amount of mana you have left is easy.
- Since most of his power is gained via magic, he is vulnerable to being silenced.
Two classes that preform the same functions while working completely differently. Both are rewarding to play for different reasons, and both allow a player to try different games within the game itself. This allows players to pick and choose the classes that feel the best to them, while being a source of new interest for those who like to try things that are different. A game within a game.
In my own games, I allow players to play Wizards, Sorcerers, and Psions (essentially a spell-point caster). All of these classes fulfill similar roles, and can do similar things; but each plays a bit differently than the other, and some of my players love one, and dislike the others. The moral is, everyone has something they can find that they like, and that way everybody wins.
Monday, April 18, 2011
MMOs and Tabletop RPGs - Sharing Ideas, Part 1
Tabletop RPGs are pretty much directly responsible for the invention of MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) RPGS; and most of the early MMO games show this very clearly. Games like Ultima Online and EverQuest have some pretty obvious tabletop RPG influences (an article in an old Inquest Gaming magazine I had actually said EverQuest was like playing D&D online), and after Gary Gygax passed away, Blizzard Entertainment – the creators of World of Warcraft (WoW) – included a dedication to Gary in one of their patches; and paid homage to the inspirations that they (the creators) gained from traditional RPGs. Several Warcraft Roleplaying Game books have been published by Sword & Sorcery, including the campaign setting and some sourcebooks.
However, those of us who play traditional roleplaying games will often scoff at these online games for their differences. Many complain that they "aren't real RPGs", or use "MMO/WoW" as a derogatory term when describing RPGs. This has been most prevalent in internet forums where people complain that 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is "Too much like WoW" or similar statements. In short, a lot of people think that the two sub-genres of RPGs are pretty incompatible. Let's face it...some of us hobbyists can get a bit anal about things.
But what are we missing that the genres can share with one-another? There's a lot of new ideas that are developed in both fields, and to ignore some of the more innovative concepts in various games, because of their genres, can mean that we're all missing out on things that could indeed be incredibly fun.
Next post dives a bit deeper into the subject with some mechanical stuff. ☺
However, those of us who play traditional roleplaying games will often scoff at these online games for their differences. Many complain that they "aren't real RPGs", or use "MMO/WoW" as a derogatory term when describing RPGs. This has been most prevalent in internet forums where people complain that 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is "Too much like WoW" or similar statements. In short, a lot of people think that the two sub-genres of RPGs are pretty incompatible. Let's face it...some of us hobbyists can get a bit anal about things.
But what are we missing that the genres can share with one-another? There's a lot of new ideas that are developed in both fields, and to ignore some of the more innovative concepts in various games, because of their genres, can mean that we're all missing out on things that could indeed be incredibly fun.
Next post dives a bit deeper into the subject with some mechanical stuff. ☺
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