jim pinto
First Post
as a game designer, i've had hundreds of debates internally at AEG about what sorts of books would sell, etc.
i've had conversations with gamers at conventions, game stores, parks, and dark alleys where bootleg pdfs are sold and bartered for cheap knock off mountain dew.
in all this time, i've never seen a book for PLAYERS that gave advice on how to be a better PLAYER
there are dozens, nay hundreds, of books, essays, articles, and advice columns for being a better DM. the list is nauseating to look at. no one person's advice is entirely withour merit, but no one book ever challenges the PLAYERS to up their game
and when i say UP their game i'm not talking about looking for better cheats, buffs, or min-max combos.
i'm talking about adding to the enjoyment of the game, not detracting from it. helping the DM tell a better story, not make the DM an advesary.
knights of the dinner table exists not only as an satire of gaming, but also an allegory of those kinds of gamers who walk around saying... my DM is always trying to screw me... well... you might be right that your DM sucks and you might want to stop gaming with him until he gets better... but you might want to consider that ADVERISTY and CHALLENGES are at the root of all story and myth
without challenge, there's nothing to write about or do...
PCs that need to do max damage every round should go the way of the dinosaur and not be rewarded with book after book of broken feats and classes from mongoose and the pdf du jour.
there's a few more things to touch on here, in the vein of book publishing style, but i'll let someone else chime in before i suggest a new method of presenting information in books.
- jim pinto
(fluidsum.blogspot.com)
i've had conversations with gamers at conventions, game stores, parks, and dark alleys where bootleg pdfs are sold and bartered for cheap knock off mountain dew.
in all this time, i've never seen a book for PLAYERS that gave advice on how to be a better PLAYER
there are dozens, nay hundreds, of books, essays, articles, and advice columns for being a better DM. the list is nauseating to look at. no one person's advice is entirely withour merit, but no one book ever challenges the PLAYERS to up their game
and when i say UP their game i'm not talking about looking for better cheats, buffs, or min-max combos.
i'm talking about adding to the enjoyment of the game, not detracting from it. helping the DM tell a better story, not make the DM an advesary.
knights of the dinner table exists not only as an satire of gaming, but also an allegory of those kinds of gamers who walk around saying... my DM is always trying to screw me... well... you might be right that your DM sucks and you might want to stop gaming with him until he gets better... but you might want to consider that ADVERISTY and CHALLENGES are at the root of all story and myth
without challenge, there's nothing to write about or do...
PCs that need to do max damage every round should go the way of the dinosaur and not be rewarded with book after book of broken feats and classes from mongoose and the pdf du jour.
there's a few more things to touch on here, in the vein of book publishing style, but i'll let someone else chime in before i suggest a new method of presenting information in books.
- jim pinto
(fluidsum.blogspot.com)