TechgnosisWeb ReBoot

… or “Why I can’t keep my local gaming store alive, even though I’d like to”.

So, I bought myself the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition boxed set today. The one that includes all three basic books: the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. I grew up with D&D, as I often tell people, I actually learned to read with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Ed. books (thanks, Dad!). I’ve bought every edition since then: 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, and now, 4.0. One thing is different, though, about today’s purchase. Up until the last one, I had always bought my gaming books at, well, a gaming store. Well, not just a gaming store: a comic book/gaming/card/collectibles store, but you get the idea. Almost by necessity, these types of stores are always small ‘mom and pop’ types of stores, run by geeks, for geeks. This is the place where you go and the dork behind the counter knows your name and has a bag with your weekly stash of comics already ready to go, the store where the employees know what your game is and tell you that the newest expansion just came out. The place where you can still get into an argument about who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman (pro-tip: Batman would mop the floor with Supes) with the guy behind the counter, and still leave happy.

It’s also a place that is doomed, and while it is within my power (and that of countless other geeks) to save it, we won’t. Why? Because as nice as the idea of the place is, the fact of the matter is that the ‘mom and pop tax’ has become unbearable. Case in point: the D&D 4th Ed. set I bought today. The local gaming store had it for approx. $105 (plus tax). Amazon had it for $66, with free shipping. Do the math, that’s nearly $40 in difference.. that’s a couple of expansions right there.
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… just pretending to be a fox.

Sorry to dissapoint, but I’m not quite dead yet, folks. I do apologize for the lull in postings, however. Looking for something to blame? I got just the thing: role-playing. Not, not *that* kind of role-playing. We can discuss that later.

I’m talking about good old-fashioned swords and sorcery, ‘I swing my sword and I cast a fireball’, role-playing. I’m also talking about angsty, pathos-laden ‘I am a horrible monster which society will never accept’, role-playing. And I just *might* be talking about ‘I think I broke a nail while staking that vamp’ role-playing.

Yes. I’ve regressed into total dork-dom. Well, you all knew this already: I’m a dork. I play RPG’s pretty much exclusively on both consoles and PC. I’ve been hooked on MMORPG’s like WoW and CoH. Sure.. but those aren’t really *role*-playing games. As Lord Absu once said: they’re more like Massively Multiplayer Online *Grinding* Games. Only 27 more rats to kill ’till I level, and then I can take on the Slightly Bigger Rats! Gets old, fairly quick. I mean, if you find good groups that you get along with, then it’s not so bad that you’re Raiding Instance X for the third freakin’ time this week, but for me, I just don’t get into those groups easily. Might have to do with my general hatred of my fellow man. Also, I have *nothing* in common with the average MMOGG player.

So, there I was, sick of the Eternal Grind, and wishing there was a little bit more RP in my RPG. And then along comes an old friend from one of the MUSHes I used to play on, and mentions that they’re accepting applications for Fae players again. Perfect timing. Offer an old junkie some of his favorite juice just when he’s jonesing the most for old times.

– INTERLUDE — What’s a MUSH? Let’s steal from Wikipedia a moment:

A MUSH (sometimes said to be an abbreviation for Multi-User Shared Hack, Habitat, Holodeck, or Hallucination, though these are backronyms) is a text-based online social medium to which multiple users are connected at the same time. MUSH are often used for online social intercourse and role-playing games, although the first forms of MUSH do not appear to be coded specifically to implement gaming activity. Today’s two major MUSH variants are descended from TinyMUD, which was fundamentally a social game.

Well, that makes everything clear, right? Right. Think IRC, onlince chatting, all text-based, except in a system that’s mainly designed for role-playing. So, if my character, Katsushiro the PimpNinja, wants to make a dramatic entrance, I type in ‘:leaps out of a cloud of smoke, landing with his katana out and ready for battle.’. Everyone else sees:

Katsushiro leaps out of a cloud of smoke, landing with his katana out and ready for battle.

And then I, Katsushiro’s player, want to point out that my character has a high level of the ‘Kick Your Ass’ ability, then I use the Out-Of-Character command to point that out, and type in ‘ooc :points out that he has 5 levels in ‘Kick Your Ass”, and everyone else sees:

<OOC> Katsushiro points out that he has 5 levels in ‘Kick Your Ass’

I’m sure you get the idea. There’s usually +roll commands coded in for making the appripriate rolls when a character uses an ability or attacks another one, but for the most part, the focus is on describing and ‘posing’ your character’s actions, and reacting to other people’s poses in return.

It’s a lot more addictive than it sounds.

So now I have a couple of characters going on, Urich on MedNights, and Thomas on Shadowed Isles. And I’m seriously considering applying for a character on one MUSH based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, if only because of the Drama Point system.

Add to all this, the fact that my friends have just started up a game of actual, honest-to-goodness table-top Dungeons and Dragons (we made characters this Monday, I’m a Cleric!), and you can see where all my creativity and energy has been spent lately.

So, don’t worry, my fine, feathered friends. I’m not dead. I’m just busy pretending to be someone I’m not.
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