Second installment of Q&A thread. This time with TonyLB. The general idea is still the same - you ask questions, Tony answers them.

Please respect the nature of the thread and try not to derail it from its Questions & Answers nature. If you want to comment, do it elsewhere.

So Tony here is the first volley:

1) Why do you deserve your own Q&A thread? Tell us something about you, who you are (in relation to RPGs) and so on.

2) Traditional question... Do you think, there is a war between say Forgies and say the rest of the RPG gaming world, or traditional players or whatever is the proper name?

3) How does it come, that I haven't heard about your game till today? And yet you claim, you are in same league with Dogs in the Vineyard?

4) What was your motivation for publishing it? There are plenty of games out there, why to make a new one? Why bother?

That will do for now.

Quote from: Alnag1) Why do you deserve your own Q&A thread? Tell us something about you, who you are (in relation to RPGs) and so on.

Well, I made Capes, which takes on the question of how necessary a GM is in pretty definite terms.  Plus, I talk about theory a lot, and I tend (if I may toot my own horn) to be one of the folks who talks about it in ways that let me understand folks who disagree with me, and sometimes let folks who disagree with me understand me in turn.  Sometimes.  On my good days.

Quote from: Alnag2) Traditional question... Do you think, there is a war between say Forgies and say the rest of the RPG gaming world, or traditional players or whatever is the proper name?

No.  I think there is the persistent belief in a war, and I even have some ideas about how that belief arises without anyone seeking to create it.  But I don't think there's really any war.

Quote from: Alnag3) How does it come, that I haven't heard about your game till today? And yet you claim, you are in same league with Dogs in the Vineyard?

Shit, I dunno ... I guess I need to be more pushy about mentioning my game, or something.  Apparently the little line at the bottom of my messages was not enough to catch your eye.  It's all probably a sign that I've gotten lazy in my marketing

Quote from: Alnag4) What was your motivation for publishing it? There are plenty of games out there, why to make a new one? Why bother?

I wrote it because I wanted to play it.  Having written it (and tested it, and all that jazz) I thought some other folks might want to play it too.  After all, I think it's pretty damn cool, and my tastes aren't so eccentric.

Plus, I love the process of taking something from an idea to a physical artifact.  It was such a "zing!" to actually hold the finished book in my hands.  So much wonderful stuff has sprouted up in the past decade to let people make their ideas reality for, really, practically no money at all ... it's like a great big wonderful toy-shop for me.  I know a guy who has managed to figure out how to print the rules of his cave-man game on the skin side of furry animal hide ... or maybe fake animal hide ... I dunno.  Don't want to get blood thrown in his face by some protester, I'm just sayin', as a physical artifact, how cool is that?

Alnag, if you haven't heard about Capes, you're just not paying attention. I don't claim it's got D&D level name-recognition, but it was discussed quite a bit on RPG.net, Malcolm Sheppard's mentioned it briefly on his blog, and it comes up in any discussion of superhero games. It's not that obscure.

Tony> Why do you think so many independent RPGs are rules-light? There's a heavy slant towards them, even amongst people who aren't Forgers.

Quote from: TonyLBNo.  I think there is the persistent belief in a war, and I even have some ideas about how that belief arises without anyone seeking to create it.

5) Well... how that belief arises than?

6) Do you think, you are "swine" in that local "Pundit-sense"? Why or why not? How do you understand that term?

7) What is your relation to "traditional games" such as D&D? Do you play them? Why or why not?

Do you think that "forge games" or better say "theme-focused" games are superior to traditional games in any way?

Quote from: PseudoephedrineTony> Why do you think so many independent RPGs are rules-light?

Oooh, nice question.  I think there are a lot of factors that go into that.  I really don't have any sense how much weight to give which ones, either in the general "What's up with this community?" sense or the particular "What motivated this particular game?" sense.  But here's some things off the top of my head:

• Deep and detailed rulesets are hard to convey across the internet.  In a community where a lot of the feedback designers crave (both criticism and the ever-essential "Keep at it!  It'll be great!" motivationals) comes by way of fora, light rulesets get more feedback.
• Small rulesets are easy to quickly write, quickly prototype, and quickly playtest.  Lots of designers I know discard many, many complete (but light) rulesets before getting the one they want.  That's a bear to do with a substantially deeper ruleset.
  
• Large rulesets are often the result of long-term revising and tweaking of a smaller core mechanic, often due to extensive playtesting.  Maybe people aren't playtesting as much as they should.
• Maybe it's just herd instinct ... people do it because it's what everyone's doing.
• Certain styles of small rulesets are very easy for the end-user to tweak into something powerful and different.  There's a lot of desire to give fans outlets for their excitement about the system, and these types of rulesets can facilitate that.  Wushu, for instance, has lots of people modding it to do all manner of fun stuff.  I know that some designers are very deliberate about wanting to build that potential into their games.

Hope that helps!  The short answer, as I said above, is "I'm really not quite sure."  But this is what I've been thinking on the topic.

Tony: Addressing the 'GM-less play' of Capes...

Melingor right here on the RPGsite some months back posted about his roping some players into playing Capes with him. All well and good, but one thing that struck me most about his depiction of the AP was just how very like a typical GM he was acting like. He put together the game, the group, he lead the conflicts and explained and mediated the rules.

While Capes certainly put a lot of GM like power into the hands of all the players, it certainly didn't sound like it eliminated the basic social functions of a GM in any meaningful way.  How does this pan out with your expirences and intentions?  Is there a value to removing official support for a 'job' that is going to get filled at the table by basic human social dynamics?


Follow on question: Do you think that GM-less is superior to GM lead play?  Or was this done to 'broaden your horizons'?

Tony,

If you could do one thing to put the idea of a war to rest, what would it be?
Do you believe that GM Fiat is inherently corrosive or objectively weak design?

Thanks,
Jim

Quote from: Alnag5) Well... how that belief arises than?

Okay ... I heard this interesting story from a friend last night.  Apparently someone sent a letter to be published that was purely saying positive things about men.  "Men are strong," "Men are rational," "Men can control their emotions."

This prompted a vitriolic response from enraged feminists.  "How dare you say that women are weak, irrational and emotional?  HOW DARE YOU?"

When someone says something positive about X, especially if there is an implied contrast with Y, then it's very, very easy for folks to believe that they are saying that Y does not have that positive trait.

I say "Man, I played a whole bunch of indie games this weekend!  It was so fun I just about wet myself!", and I've just made a statement that is very easy to interpret as saying "non-independent games are not fun."  Wasn't my intent, but that's how the human animal reads that.

You get a little of that, and people start feeling like they need to defend their loves.  So they say really positive things about Y.  "Women are nurturing," "Women are patient," "Women are diplomatic."

You see where this is going, right?  "How dare you say that men are cold, impatient and tactless?  HOW DARE YOU?"

It's a train-wreck waiting to happen ... over and over again.  I think that the only thing that puts the brakes on it is trust, and our communications with each other have well and truly stepped beyond the limits of the people we trust, so ... there's a problem.  Not quite sure what to do about it, but I'm thinkin'.

Quote from: Alnag6) Do you think, you are "swine" in that local "Pundit-sense"? Why or why not? How do you understand that term?

Well, I play games in order to enjoy myself.  I don't play games in order to convince people that I'm artistic or special.  So I'm pretty sure I don't meet Pundit's definition of Swine.

Quote from: Alnag7) What is your relation to "traditional games" such as D&D? Do you play them? Why or why not?

My gaming group won't play D&D.  I asked them and they said "Too many rules"   I've heard good things about Castles and Crusades though, and I'm trying to sell them on that for an upcoming slot.  I want some old-fashioned fun bashing skellies and crawling into a lost crypt.  It's been too long.

Quote from: Alnag Do you think that "forge games" or better say "theme-focused" games are superior to traditional games in any way?

Saying "X is better than Y" without any further context is usually pretty silly.  I try not to do that.  Saying "X is better than Y for the following specific purpose" is much sounder.

Now if you ask me "Is game X superior to game Y in any way" then my answer is usually gonna be "Yes."  I can find some thing that X does better than Y.  Toon presents humor more naturally than Sorceror does, for instance.  Spirit of the Century does over-the-top pulp heroism more naturally than Cyberpunk 2020.  

I'm hoping this idea isn't controversial.

Now, if you're asking me "Is there some purpose for which any forge-influenced game is better than any traditional game?" then all I can say is "No single purpose that I can figure out."  Neither forge games nor traditional games are so uniform that they line up in that way.  They're both all over the map, doing different things for different reasons.

I get the feeling I'm not ... I dunno ... addressing the emotional subtext of your question.  Sorry about that.  FWIW, I don't think that Forge games are "better" than traditional games.  I just think they do different things ... not better, or more important, or more valuable or more artistic things ... just ... different.

Quote from: SpikeHow does this pan out with your expirences and intentions?

I've seen the same thing happen with some groups, notably at conventions.  It lines up with my experiences just fine.  My intentions too, actually ... I never intended to rip out any alpha-whatever role.

Quote from: SpikeIs there a value to removing official support for a 'job' that is going to get filled at the table by basic human social dynamics?

Well, the value to me is that when I'm playing that way, and everyone lines up to be pushed around by me, I can push as hard as possible without fear of overpowering them.  I don't have so much power that cutting loose is unfair.  I don't have to restrain myself.

Quote from: SpikeFollow on question: Do you think that GM-less is superior to GM lead play?

What ... for everything?  Oh hell no.  I'm not even sure what purposes it is better for.  Well, the aforementioned "Everybody gets to cut loose at full power" thing, I suppose.  It does a good job of that, very naturally.

Quote from: SpikeOr was this done to 'broaden your horizons'?

It was done because I wanted to kick people's asses as hard as I was allowed, but instead everyone kept saying "You're such a good GM Tony, we need you to GM this!" and then I'd have to restrain myself.  AGGGH! :mad:

Quote from: James J SkachIf you could do one thing to put the idea of a war to rest, what would it be?

Man, if I knew one thing that would do that I'd have done that one thing already.

I dunno ... maybe the one thing could be figuring out what would help? :confused:

Quote from: James J SkachDo you believe that GM Fiat is inherently corrosive or objectively weak design?

Oh hell no!  Thanks for the softball, though ... I actually feel a little bit embarrassed swinging on it

Quote from: TonyLBMy gaming group won't play D&D.  I asked them and they said "Too many rules"   I've heard good things about Castles and Crusades though, and I'm trying to sell them on that for an upcoming slot.  I want some old-fashioned fun bashing skellies and crawling into a lost crypt.  It's been too long.

X) What is the traditional fare of your group?

X+1) Is Capes in any way a response to something you feel is missing from that traditional fare? Or does your traditional fare somehow inform or inspire it? Or was Capes and its contained ideas more born from internet discussion

X+2) Any intimations of any other publications in your future? Or any non-published adventures?

Quote from: TonyLBOkay ... I heard this interesting story from a friend last night.
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[snip]
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It's a train-wreck waiting to happen ... over and over again.  I think that the only thing that puts the brakes on it is trust, and our communications with each other have well and truly stepped beyond the limits of the people we trust, so ... there's a problem.  Not quite sure what to do about it, but I'm thinkin'.

Tony,

While your description of what can happen is accurate, do you think there have also been statements that do not just provide positive comments on on style of gaming, but, instead, call into question the validity of other styles?  If so, could you provide an example of what you believe goes beyond mere positive statements and crosses into explicit denigration of gaming styles - from both sides of the "war"?

Quote from: TonyLBMy gaming group won't play D&D.  I asked them and they said "Too many rules"   I've heard good things about Castles and Crusades though, and I'm trying to sell them on that for an upcoming slot.  I want some old-fashioned fun bashing skellies and crawling into a lost crypt.  It's been too long.

I would have loved you to stop at "an upcoming slot." This is one of those instances you describe (accurately) above wherein someone who has used D&D or C&C for a more immersive or story-focused style could interpet what you're saying as "D&D and C&C are realyl only good for old fashioned fun playing hack and slash."  Just to let you know...

Quote from: TonyLBOh hell no!  Thanks for the softball, though ... I actually feel a little bit embarrassed swinging on it

I'm here to serve.  I wanted people to be able to quickly delineate your position from others.

It's these kind of emphatic statements, IMHO, that will help end the distraction. And look! I didn't have to mention any people!

Quote from: Caesar SlaadX) What is the traditional fare of your group?

Pretty much anything that anyone picks up and wants to play.  That means a lot of novelty-value stuff:  lots of indie games, natch, since we're pretty well threaded into that community.  But also stuff like Sengoku, Amber, Stargate, Villains and Vigilantes, Castle Falkenstein, etc.  And we playtest each other's games and stuff.

We've also been doing Ticket-To-Ride: Europe recently, which is a hell of a game, albeit not roleplaying.  Then last night we played a lovely little escape-movie thing:  We played the Scooby-Doo gang, in a story where Old Man Withers didn't go along quietly, shot the sherriff and started hunting them all across the booby-trapped length of Spooky Castle Island.  Fred and Shaggy died horribly.  Daphne, Scooby and Velma got clear, although there was some ... ahem ... friction in the remaining team.  

Quote from: Caesar SlaadX+1) Is Capes in any way a response to something you feel is missing from that traditional fare? Or does your traditional fare somehow inform or inspire it? Or was Capes and its contained ideas more born from internet discussion

"Missing"?  The games that don't do what Capes does weren't meant to do what Capes does.  It's sort of like asking whether a kangaroo was created because a bear is "missing" a pouch.  I guess some folks might be motivated by that, but for me?  Uh ... no.  That wasn't my motivation.

I will say that I wanted to cut loose in an unrestrained way, but still have all the big narrative powers I was used to having as a GM.  There's probably a game out there that would have done the trick, but I designed something new.  To make it fair, I gave everyone the unrestricted powers.  Seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but it wasn't because I thought that other games were missing that element.  I just wanted to do something different than what I felt they were built for.

Quote from: Caesar SlaadX+2) Any intimations of any other publications in your future? Or any non-published adventures?

I'm making a game for people who like shoujo manga ... because I am, like, 100% addicted to Kare Kano.  I do this as homage and worship of Miyazawa and Arima ... I love the characters that much.  It's really tres geeky.

I figure it'll either sell a bazillion copies (if the anime community takes it up) or ... like ... twelve (if it doesn't spread beyond gamers).  Heh