The good ol' RPG days...

by Angie
My first Dungeon Master

I was first introduced to Dungeons and Dragons as an imaginative 5 (6 maybe?) year old by my ultra cool Uncle Rob. I think he was babysitting my cousin and I and I guess decided it would be fun to take us on an adventure. We were enraptured. We had the attention of a grown-up, fistfuls of dice, and got to use our imaginations. Win! Our games were really just interactive sotrytelling, and complex rules were not a part of it, but that is what made it so amazing for our young little minds. For years after we begged and begged Uncle Rob to play D&D with us at every opportunity, always wanting to "pick up where we left off". As we grew, our experiences deepened. More rules, more devious dungeons, cooler treasures. We got caught in an endless paradox due to a misuse of a Wand of Wishing. We went to "dinner" at Castle Ravenloft and met with Count Straud and his minions. We explored, we mapped out vast dungeons, we fought, we laughed, and we cried. We begged and pleaded and bargained for more more more.

The making of a lifelong gamer

And then came the books! Rob started giving me my own D&D books. "Old" hand-me-downs as new editions came out were amazing and new to me. I would read and read and imagine all the worlds we'd "seen", and all the worlds still out there to explore. I would ponder over the maps and treasures and dream of grand adventures. A few years later, I had the good fortune to find myself living in the same town as my "favortie DM EVER" and he let me read all his books. Even the new ones! We started a little routine where we would walk down to the bookstore together and pick up the new Gazeteers as they came out. Gazeteers were supplements for the world of Greyhawk that were coming out in the late 80's-early 90's, and each one would be dedicated to a specific culture and region of that world. I remember excitedly looking at maps and pictures and talking about the history and culture of the various peoples of the world. The Elves of Alfhiem, The Grand Duchy of Karamekios, The Five Shires, Northern Reaches, Principalities of Glantri, The Dwarves of Rockhome... and many more. I think there were maybe 14 in all? Anyhow, this world came alive on the pages, and each new Gazeteer would bring hours of enjoyment and oodles of inspiration just in the reading of it. The thing I particularly liked about them was the focus on world-building, maps, and culture. Each one attempted to bring to light a unique region and it's people, and this felt like I was peeking into a living, vibrant world. In my opinion, they succeeded in a way in which very few since have.

Bring it back!

What I would like to see brought back into modern gaming is the wonder of exploring a new world through the pages of an ongoing world supplement. Give me rich histories, detailed cultures, more maps than I know what to do with, cities full of interesting and unique characters. Each Gazeteer was like a piece of the world, and that sense of discovery and intrigue of each new one was one of the prime influences on the development of my own worlds and style as I grew up and learned to "play by the rules". It seems like to me that many game supplements now are focused so heavily on the rules and character builds and new player options and less on revealing a world bit by bit. The campaign settings I've read over the past 10 years or so seem to try to give so much and come in with such little depth. I'm sure some people love that, they have all thier own ideas of how to populate the world and it's denizens and don't want detailed in-depth cultures. For me though, I love it when a game product is focused on one thing; some great examples I can think of are Freeport, City of Adventure and Sharn, City of Towers, but those aren't ongoing series' that round out a world, those are supplements focused on exploring a single city. Althought they do that well, what I'd really like to see brought back into modern roleplaying games is an ongoing detailed, rich world that I can look forward to the next installment of. Something I could spend hours looking over maps and discussing histories of fantastic peoples. I really loved that experience of discovering a world with my Uncle Rob, (thanks for all the memories!) and can't wait to pass along those experiences to my own children. Although I've since taught many younger relatives how to play D&D and various off-shoots, I'm really looking forward to exploring new worlds with my own kids, and would love to have a series as detailed and diverse as the Gazeteers were 'back in the day' to discover with them.

This post is part of an ongoing series of shared topics between our blog and Cool Factor 5, so pop on over and see what roleplaying game feature Julian would like to see brought back into games. And as always, feel free to leave a comment, share your experiences, ask questions, or just chat us up. We love you readers, share your thoughts with us!!!

Game Changer: Heavy Rain (Spoiler Free)

Introducing Game Changers! This is a new segment we’re trying out in which we talk about games that have changed the way we think about games. The idea is to highlight some innovative, thought-provoking, idea-generating, interest-renewing, fascinating, or unique games that have in some way had a big impact for us.  

How far would YOU go...?

Heavy Rain is a story-driven video game for the PlayStation 3 that has you taking on the roles of four characters that are trying to investigate a serial killer. Just thinking about this game makes my heart race a little even now, and it’s been almost a year since I’ve played it. The game has a gripping emotional storyline that exemplifies the tagline “How far would you go to save someone you love?” It’s a resonant theme, and one that challenged me to really consider my own strength of will. Would I be strong enough to do what I’m asking my characters to? Could I save him?

Heavy Rain is not for the faint of heart, it pushes you to think past your typical video game choices and really get into the lives of these characters. No matter what you do there is a story and an ending, not a “game over” screen. Think about that for a minute… if a character dies the story goes on without them, and you know that it’s your choices and actions that decided their fate. If they ALL die, there is still an ending. It’s an awesome feat of interactive storytelling to make such a thing possible, and it’s heavy. I found myself wanting to try to make things go differently sometimes, but it was the type of regrets you have in real life rather than those gamey moments where you just want to back up to your last save. The story in Heavy Rain bought me into its world enough to live with my mistakes. It was a solid 10-12 hours of gameplay that I don’t think I will ever forget, and after 1000’s of hours of entirely forgettable games this “short” game really delivered on experience, impact, and insight. 

This game changed my opinion about what makes a character feel real and important. I always thought that player created characters were an essential component to an immersive role-playing experience, but the characters in Heavy Rain feel more personal and three-dimensional to me than any characters I’ve made over the years in video game worlds. I got to step into the lives of those people, make the hard choices, and live with the consequences of my actions.

Heavy Rain changed the way I look at how games can deliver an experience and engage the player in a story while creating a sense of ownership in the characters.  It is not the perfect game, and it’s certainly not for everyone, but all I can remember when I think back on it is that overwhelming feeling of being "wowed". For me, playing Heavy Rain was like all the best parts of a good book, an impactful movie, and a deep role-playing game experience wrapped up in one tidy package.

Your Turn!

What games have changed how you think about gaming? Have an opinion or insight about this post you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you, and we think we've made commenting a little easier... so let's talk it up folks!