#in this case it was someone on Reddit making maps for rpg stuff

[baronfulmen]

You ever see someone advertising their Patreon and it's just super amateur stuff that's absolutely not worth paying for and you don't say anything because you don't want to be a dick but I'm your head you just know this is going to be a disaster and they're going to get discouraged whereas if they'd been more patient and practiced longer maybe it would have worked out?

[bttnbsh]

Ten A Penny

This week I wanted to talk about ideas, and how I landed on Effing & Blinding, and the wasteland of former projects that started off as good ideas but soon got away from me. After all, ideas are ten a penny: it's the execution that matters. ​I'll start with the old stuff ...

DEAD PROJECT 1: 'BEDROOM DEV'

There were many projects that came before 'Bedroom Dev', but none that I thought were good, marketable ideas. Also none that I kept the projects for, so this is where we start. I spent a lot of time on r/gamedev looking for advice and following tutorials and getting extremely jealous about the folk who had released games already. But i wasn't very good at anything - terrible at pixel art, needed my hand holding with programming, barely touched music and sound effects, and my game designs were MOSTLY just reskins of other games, though I guess the majority of things are nowadays. But on r/gamedev, I found a great list of games to build in your chosen engine (mine's Godot in case you're wondering). Each subsequent game added something to your knowledge, beginning with Pong and then maybe progressing to Pac-Man, with its moving enemies and collectibles, before you try your hand at Space Invaders, with waves of enemies and different enemy types. I worked my way through a few of them and then got the idea for Bedroom Dev: why not turn my learning process into a game in and of itself?

So the concept was that you're playing as a solo dev, someone doing this in their bedroom like I was at the time, hence the name, who's trying to make it in the world of IndieDev. While your skills and money are low, you can only make basic games with bog-standard graphics, terrible SFX and poor game design - all my fortes at the time. But the twist was you'd actually be able to play the games that you make - think GameDev Tycoon by Greenheart Games, but with more than just unlockables in a menu. ​As you released more games, you'd make more money, be able to improve your skills and then release better and better games. But that's when the difficulty started - I didn't have the necessary skills to show a game even as simple as Pong progressing from a level 1 art style to a level 5. Not to mention the complexity of keeping all the permutations straight in my head - all skills had five levels and you could choose to make a game at any of the levels for each skill, so for each of the 10 games there were something like 3125 possible combinations (there's a sixth skill that doesn't affect how the game plays if you're analysing the screenshots). It was too much for my tiny brain to compute.

The screenshots actually show my second attempt at this project, and I'm not horrified by most of it, but the scope was far beyond what I could achieve on my own.

DEAD PROJECT 2: 'PLAYGROUND TACTICS'

After my first attempt at Bedroom Dev, I looked for something else. I was back on Reddit searching for inspiration and found two common themes among a lot of the posts - 'work on something you're passionate about' and 'please don't make your passion project as your first game'. What does that second group of probably seasoned professionals know?

I thought I would be the exception to the rule of course, so I started to build my own tactical RPG. I'd always loved the genre, ever since I played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on GBA, I've lapped up almost everything the genre has to offer; XCOM, Chroma Squad, Hard West, Wargroove, Into the Breach, and so on. My game was going to be set in the real world, with kids playing make-believe to create the classes - think FFTA-meets-Costume Quest.

I did SO much for this game. I had the nuts, guts and bolts sorted out, from an overworld map and a handful of mission types, to a fully scripted story with cutscene dialogue and hours spent balancing skill powers and health limits. But an isometric TRPG is NOT a clever first game to pick. It took me weeks to get my head around non-Cartesian coordinates, tilemaps, pathfinding, and Y-sorting characters against the various components in a level.

​My main issue was the art. I've never been artistic, and pixel art is about all I can muster on a good day, but isometric pixel art?! Not a chance. And i couldn't decide on a scale, which is why there's one heifer being chopped in half by a fence. See the results for yourself above ...

I did have a friend helping me out at one point (they're the half-decent aliens in the turn order bar, as opposed to the reskins of FFTA characters elsewhere), but with eight different character classes, each with 10 skills, and something like 15 different levels, it was too much to ask someone to do for free in their spare time and I tried to do it all myself. And the sheer weight of the work that lay before me made me think it wasn't such a good idea to go it alone if I wanted anything released before 2025. So I moved on with a heavy heart, hoping I'll get a chance to get back to it one day.

WHAT HAVE I EFFING LEARNT?

So that's two projects down the tube, death by overscoping for the most part, and a lack of skills, particularly in the pixel art department. So why is Effing & Blinding going to be different? What lessons did I learn that will help me out this time around?

Firstly, scope control. I have a limited amount of time to finish this game, and it needs to be shortish. There are eight levels planned, a main character with limited actions, probably two dozen more characters with even fewer actions, 200ish items and objects, a typing minigames and all the extra GUI/menu mumbo jumbo. That sounds like a lot now I've typed it out, but it's less than a quarter of what those other ideas would've required, and it's also not all necessary to hit a milestone. I just need to finish and polish one and then I have a demo! Something out in the wild, even if it isn't a full game.

Pixel art is also still one of my weaker suits, but I've simplified by going top-down rather than iso, and I've been practising whenever I can. I know already that i'm going to have to redraw most of what I'm using at the moment because it's all very rough, but it's a starting point from which to improve!

Finally, the most important thing is time! The other two projects I was making on the evenings and weekends, letting it eat into my free time that should've been better spent elsewhere. This time, I have no job to distract me, and no excuse not to make a big dent in the project, even if I don't finish before I need the pounds pouring in again.

THIS WEEK I'VE MOSTLY BEEN ...

Last but not least, a little update on what I've been up to this week. Last week was all washing machines and making items do things with objects, but this week I did a bit of work on NPCs and the main character. Take a look at this video!

I'm embarrassingly proud of that, though do respect your elders. I hope that gave you a bit of insight into the path that led me here, and where that path will hopefully end. For more sweary antics, come back next week, or even sign up for the mailing list. Thanks for reading! Craig BTTNBSH

[gamerszone2019-blog]

How to Start Playing Dungeons & Dragons

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/how-to-start-playing-dungeons-dragons/

How to Start Playing Dungeons & Dragons

Having just celebrated its 5-year anniversary, Dungeons & Dragons finds itself being more popular than it has in decades. From DnD’s inspiration for Stranger Things and countless video games to being the basis of one of the most-backed Kickstarters of all time, there’s never been a better time to jump into the hobby than now.Well… maybe a few years ago. But this is definitely the second-best time, for sure. Regardless, here’s everything you need to get started in the world’s most popular tabletop role-playing game, and our recommendation for the best DnD starter set on the market.

What You Need to Play D&D

While there are a ton of great books, tools, and toys out there that all help take a DnD game to the next level, you don’t actually need a whole lot to get started. What you will need is:

1. The Rules

You can find the full ruleset for D&D 5E in the Player’s Handbook, or you can get the short version of the rules if you download the DnD Basic Rules for free. If you want to expand your tool kit, you can also pick up the Dungeon Master’s Guide, which has tips for running the game as well as additional, optional and variant rules that you can use.

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D&D 5e Player’s Handbook

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2. Some Dice

You’ll also need at least one set of polyhedral dice, though I recommend every player have at least one (and maybe get a few spares for the table). A full set of D&D dice contains (at least):

1 d20

1 d12

1 d10

1 d8

1 d6

1 d4

You can find RPG dice in almost any color or material you might want online – or you can probably get them by the scoopful at your local hobby shop! You can also use digital dice rollers online, though there’s nothing quite like the feel and sound of actual dice hitting an actual table.

3. Some People to Play With

Whether you want to run the game yourself, or if you’ve hoodwinked a friend into doing it for you, you can’t have a game of D&D with just one person. You can play with just two, now that they’ve released the “two-player rules” with the new D&D Essentials Kit, though (in our experience) the best group is a DM (“Dungeon Master”, or often “Game Master” in games that don’t have Dungeon in the title), who adjudicates the rules and helps guide the story, and 3 to 5 players to make up an adventuring party.

You can, of course, have a group full of as many people as you like, though too many players at a table can make things exceptionally complicated – doubly so if you’re all new to the game. If you’re having trouble getting a group together on your own, there are some great resources out there for finding party members. You can join the official D&D Adventurer’s League, which often hosts games at local hobby and game stores and helps link people up online (though they do maintain strict adherence to the rules as written, so no homemade content/rules can be used), or find groups through sites like Reddit, D&D Beyond, Roll20 and more.

That’s it! If you want to add some tactical complexity to your games, you can pick up some miniatures and battle maps, but really the only thing you need is your imagination!

And some dice. And that other stuff we said earlier.

The Best D&D 5E Starter Sets

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get into Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the Coast has released a few versions of the “introductory experience” for DnD 5e.

The D&D Essentials Kit

The most recent starter set for D&D is the Dungeons and Dragons Essentials Kit, and in my opinion, it’s currently the best option for players who are just starting their D&D adventure.

This box, currently exclusive to Target but available at more retailers starting in September, contains six pre-generated character sheets, a DM screen (with helpful info on the DM’s side and artwork on the player side), perforated player handout cards for quests, conditions and magic items, plus one of the best “starter” dice sets out there (with 2d20, 1d12, 2d10, 1d8, 4d6, and 1d4).

Our Pick

D&D Essentials Kit

On Target

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It also contains a unique rulebook that sits somewhere between the free Basic Rules and the full Player’s Handbook, as well as the The Dragon of Icespire Peak encounter book, which can be run as individual encounters or strung together into a full campaign for characters of first to sixth level.

2014 Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set

Then, of course, there’s the classic Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Starter Set. This box, currently retails (officially) for $20 – but can usually be found on sale – comes with a copy of the basic ruleset, a set of 6 RPG dice (one of each), five pre-generated characters for your players to choose from, and the introductory adventure The Lost Mine of Phandelver.

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D&D Starter Set

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This is a great adventure to start new players off on, as it introduces them not only to the mechanics of exploration and combat, but also eases them into role-playing in various situations. As a set, it isn’t the most robust offering out there, but the Phandelver adventure is a great place to start and leads handily into the Tyranny of Dragons storyline should your group choose to continue playing.

Stranger Things D&D Starter Set

If you want to try Dungeons and Dragons but think you aren’t ready to go full High Fantasy Nerd™ just yet, why not give the Stranger Things-themed starter set a shot?

Our Pick

Stranger Things D&D Starter Set

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It’s a sparse set, with a 6-piece dice set, character sheets and an adventure based on the boys’ D&D game in the show and a pair of miniature Demogorgons (Stranger Things’, not D&D’s; the D&D Demogorgon is a giant tentacle-monkey-lizard demon lord).

Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks

If you know you’re going to be diving deep into the D&D world, your real best bet is to pick up a full set of core rulebooks. It doesn’t come with any pre-made character sheets or published adventures, but the Player’s Handbook covers character creation in-depth and the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual have more than enough helpful tips and information to get you on the way to writing your own adventure.

Our Pick

Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks Gift Set

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You can purchase each book on its own, or pick up the D&D Core Rulebooks Gift Set, which comes with one copy of each plus a DM screen and storage case. There’s also the Limited Edition D&D Rulebooks Set with beautiful alternate covers and a unique DM screen, though the price tag on that is considerably higher.

Your First Session

When you’re ready to actually get down to the business of dungeoning up some dragons, there’s always a few first-time hiccups. It could be questions that always pop up, like Do we build characters together or should I come with one already made? Will we just pick from a pile of pre-rolled characters instead of making our own? Is someone actually going to play a healer or are we just going to be a group of DPS murderhobos?! Or there might be players who are surprised when they find they’re expected to talk to an NPC, or a DM caught off guard when a player decides to do something they hadn’t anticipated.

Ultimately, there’s no way to avoid a few bumps along the road, but the most important thing you can do – whether you’re running the game or playing a character – is to make sure that your group talks to one another about these things. Some groups like to make these discussions a session all their own, a “Session 0,” to create characters and set expectations, before you actually start playing. Not only is it helpful for working out logistics like “how are we going to create characters,” but it’s also important that your group have the chance to talk about what type of D&D campaign you’re all looking to participate in.

How much roleplay (speaking in-character to other players or NPCs) is desired in the game? Is your campaign more combat-focused or exploration-based? Are there topics or subject matter that the group wants to avoid dealing with? Or maybe something that you especially want to see? Do you want to play a long, overarching story, or a series of short one-or-two-session adventures? All of these are important questions for a D&D group to answer, and the best way to ensure everyone at the table is having a good time is to ask them early on. Communication is key.

Because, really, that’s what Dungeons & Dragons is all about: having fun with your friends and making new friends – if you’re in a party of random people you found on the internet. Either way, once you get to your first session, the most important thing to remember is that everyone is there for a good time. You’ll probably want to introduce your characters, let your DM explain the setting a bit, and then you’re on your way! The most important thing to remember is to dive in with an open mind and an adventurous spirit.

Also, healing potions.

Of course, there’s plenty more to Dungeons & Dragons once you do manage to get started – check out these cool accessories, or actor Matthew Lillard’s crazy-detailed premium D&D boxed set. If you don’t think D&D isn’t the game for you, why not see our suggestions for what tabletop RPG might be a better fit.

JR is a Senior Editor at IGN and really really hopes you give D&D a shot. Follow him on Twitter and let him know if you do.

*In my weekly game, I recently planted a few magic beans that we expected to bloom into helpful items or something. I almost got our entire party killed with just two of them. Even the best-laid plans can (and often, will) go awry.

Source : IGN

[swipestream]

Seven (Plus Or Minus Two) Reasons You Should Consider Using Maps in Your Game

Image courtesy of Blue Sword Games:

If you’re like most people, you’re capable of effectively keeping track of seven plus or minus two “things” at a time. This phenomenon is sometimes called “the magical number seven plus or minus two.” We can remember and juggle around seven pieces of information—numbers, words, names—and use them without too much effort. Much more than seven, and we start to lose track, dropping details and never quite picking them back up.

These “things” are chunked together in our minds in ways that make them meaningful as a unit to us, so we can remember a “cat” as “that furry thing that keeps knocking my coffee off of the table” (one “unit” of information) rather than as a collection of cat-like traits, with each trait being its own “unit”.

We’re a tool-using species—when we find ourselves reaching the limit of our abilities or our willingness to expend effort, we find ways to offload some of that work to things we make. When we’re sick of lifting things, we use levers. When we want to move farther than it’s convenient to walk, we use wheels. When we need to remember what more than seven things are, we use lists. When we need to remember where more than seven things are, we use maps.

When we need to remember what more than seven things are, we use lists. When we need to remember where more than seven things are, we use maps. 

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It’s tempting to think of maps as suitable only for huge set-piece battles and aggressively tactical games that linger over detailed rulings on range and movement. There’s nothing wrong with that, but having a physical representation of characters and objects in space is useful for so much more than just dungeon crawls and skirmish games. So with that in mind, here are seven (plus or minus two) reasons why you may want to inject some more maps into your game.

1. Because your players might “chunk” information differently than you do

I’m really, really bad about getting lost when I go places. Not “loses track of routes after two or three turns” bad at directions, but “ends up in the wrong ZIP code” bad. “Donner Party” bad. While I haven’t yet had to eat any of my passengers, I wouldn’t recommend myself as a partner for a road trip through any place that has bad GPS reception or barbecue restaurants with lax supply standards.

Image courtesy of Joseph Carriker:

For me, even the most basic directions are not a matter of “remember this distinct route,” but a string of relationships that require all of my attention to manage. Directions that would be a single “chunk” of information for many (maybe most) drivers instead require all of my memory to keep straight.

Your players may be having a similar problem when it comes to imagining the situations their characters are in. This isn’t necessarily just the case with battles, either. Relative positioning matters in games for everything from picking pockets to genteel but vicious cocktail parties. For some people, keeping track of where all the moving pieces are while also keeping track of the board they’re moving on is a really difficult task.

Players who are spending all of their mental energy trying to juggle what is going on in the room aren’t concentrating on adding to the game; they’re struggling just to keep up with what’s already there. A map—even a simple one—provides an easy reference for everyone at the table.

2. Because maps don’t need to be a big deal

To expand on the pickpocketing example, a “map” can be something as simple as setting up a handful of coins to represent where the party leader is standing while they distract the guard, where the guard is, and where the party thief is sneaking from to try to snag the key to the cell your bard is being held in after yet another disastrous liaison.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can sketch out a couple of lines to represent the alleyway where all of this is taking place in case the thief wants to take the roof approach. It takes seconds to draw two lines and set down three coins, but it saves time, frustration, and confusion when the dice start rolling.

3. Because it helps clarify the confusing

Your players only have the information you give them, and as anyone who has ever tried to give instructions can tell you, there are a lot of wrong ways to interpret a sentence. For instance, take the statement “there are two goblins in the corner of this room.” The GM could mean to communicate this (goblins in green):

Meanwhile, the players are imagining this:

These are two very different configurations, and the difference between them becomes very important when the party wizard says those three words every GM longs to hear:

“I cast fireball.”

4. Because creating stuff is fun

Tabletop RPGs throw a pretty long shadow—almost any skill you can think of has a place somewhere in it.

Tabletop RPGs throw a pretty long shadow—almost any skill you can think of has a place somewhere in it. 

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If you like woodworking, your table is likely to have some pretty neat wooden props. If you’re a writer, your game’s fiction (or your characters’ backstories) are likely to be deeper and richer for it. Even folks who do statistics for fun add to our games in ways that someone without those skills or interests couldn’t.

Maps, like props or probability curves, are a way to bring your creativity and valued skills to the table—it doesn’t take being a cartographer or an artist to add to the game, but more than a few times, making maps for games has awakened an interest in art or cartography.

5. Because it encourages players to engage the details of the environment

There are probably people out there who really enjoy listening to the GM recite lengthy, detailed descriptions of everything in a room from lighting placement to the number and types of pieces of furniture. I have never met any of these people, and I’m not entirely sure I could stay awake in their games.

Practically, there’s a limit to the number of things in the environment that are available for players to remember their characters can interact with (that limit is probably right around seven). But with the details that come with even a simple map, that list expands dramatically, limited only by the detail that the GM or players are willing to add. Tables exist to be flipped over, cupboards are filled with cutlery for hurling, and windows provide curtains for swashbuckling swings. The map provides a concrete reminder of the availability of those things, and prompts players and GMs to use them.

Image courtesy of Blue Sword Games:

6. Because it improves immersion

Theater of the mind is wonderful. I don’t want to downplay it or say that it doesn’t have its place, but not everyone has the creativity or attention necessary to see a masterpiece in every blank canvas. Having details available for players to look at and think about when the GM isn’t directly talking to them invites players to speculate about (and add to) the world that the GM is building, rather than letting their attention wander.

7. Because it encourages the GM and players to add and flesh out detail they may otherwise miss

Drawing boxes for rooms is quick, but boring.  With a few extra seconds, GMs can look at a room and think about details that a verbal description could easily gloss over. Does the room have a door (probably)? What about windows (sure)? A spike-lined pit full of snakes (always)? 

With a few extra seconds, GMs can look at a room and think about details that a verbal description could easily gloss over. Does the room have a door (probably)? What about windows (sure)? A spike-lined pit full of snakes (always)? 

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By seeing all the elements of a room at once, the places where more can be added become more apparent. Even better, it encourages players to add their own flourishes to the imaginary space where the game is taking place.

When players ask “is there a campfire?” if you place a coin or a die or even a piece of pocket lint to represent that fire, it becomes a persistent detail that otherwise may not have existed, and that adds to the options players have to interact with the world, improving gameplay and verisimilitude.

  7+1: There are a lot of cool maps already out there, many of them free

If you’re into quickly providing lots of detail for your players to engage with in your games, there are a lot of maps already out there, ranging from the expensive but awesome, like map packs/tiles put out by Paizo and Wizards of the Coast, to cheap or free options on Patreon or DeviantArt. If you have access to a printer, you can print out and tape even the free options together to add a “wow factor” to any game. Building up a library of these gives you the option of flexibility when your players go in an unexpected direction, and provides inspiration when you’re brainstorming session ideas.

7+2: There are great tabletop crafting and mapping communities out there

There are large communities of people who make maps for fun, sometimes using specialized software and sometimes using more standard office products. If you find yourself going down a deeper rabbit hole than you expected, there’s a whole world of tabletop crafting out there. Some crafters make entire cities out of foam and paint; others use 3D printing, and at least one designer is making animated maps for display on TV screens. Here are few resources to get you started.

Cartographer’s Guild (

Tabletop Crafter’s Guild (

Thingiverse: a free site with files for 3D printing (

DeviantArt (

Final Thoughts

Maps aren’t all gridded excuses for arguments about bonus actions and five-foot steps; they can serve a variety of purposes: enriching the game world and providing clarity so that all players are operating with the same set of assumptions being only two. As a player and as a GM, I find that having visual references greatly improves the experience of everyone involved, but I’m interested to hear if your groups have a different perspective. What do you think; do maps have a place at your table?

Seven (Plus Or Minus Two) Reasons You Should Consider Using Maps in Your Game published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames