Extra Credits, [Insert Another Funny Wordplay]

Review #92 – Online Video Series

Extra Credits, [Insert Another Funny Wordplay]

Games are more than just games. Lately, a lot of effort has been put to making them a community. Extra Credit feels like a nice step towards that.

Staring people inside the game developing cycles, the series not only adressess design theory and game analysis, but also discussion of current events in the medium and offers tools and ideas for aspiring game designers.

You may not leave every video agreeing to every single thing they said, but they do bring attention to really interesting topics. Even if you don't care about working on your own games, it's worth to check it out.

- The Storeman

Disclaimer: I didn’t upload any of the content in the following link. I have downloaded and checked it as I always do. I have even executed it in my own computer and did not experience any kind of problems. But I can’t ensure that it is free of virus and/or malware that my anti-virus programs couldn’t find. That’s the author’s responsibility.

Watch Online: http://extra-credits.net/

https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCreditz

July of Adventure - El Fin

Babbling at the Counter #52 - Blog

July of Adventure - El Fin

Ok, so today, we are closing up our second event, July of Adventure. Hope you all have found it fun, and check out the event page to make sure you didn't miss any post! Until the next event!

- The Storeman

David vs. Goliath

Babbling at the Counter #51 – Pen and Paper

David vs. Goliath

I guess most roleplayers can say they’ve had this moment: Your party and you get into a fight (as parties are wont to do) and after the first round you realize the though brute in front of you can shrug your attacks like they are nothing. So… what to do now?

I’ve already covered unstoppable juggernauts before, but inspired by a recent experience and Aaron's latest Tiny d10 post, I wanted to revisit and add to the idea.

My invincible monsters had a simple but effective rule, to know: They should deal average damage. There were reasons for that (see link), but let’s break that rule and think outside the box. How can one handle a creature that’s really powerful and really dangerous?

A few weeks ago, my group and I (I wasn’t the GM) found ourselves fighting inside a prison. We didn’t had access to our weapons or armor, the mage couldn't perform magic and our rival was a giant crocodile man (so bite and tail club were natural weapons, oh, and he had natural armor).

We were done, we knew that. But given the GM, he clearly expected a fight, and we didn’t disappoint. I don’t like fights, so our most tactical player took the lead. We scoured through our character sheets, looking up any kind of skill trick or combat advantage we could use.

I must say, we feared for our characters. The GM is new to GMing, and the encounter was completely unfair. Still, we survived, and it was awesome!

The thing is, some GMs don’t like killing characters. I know I don’t. When I read the Horror of the Lake for Tiny d10, I kept thinking “Instant Death? That’s not cool”. Then I remembered Power Points could help with save rolls. I started thinking that, yeah, T10 Toughness is a problem, but it’s not impossible to beat. Now I actually want to fight against that.

Yes, this is a delicate art, and can easily be the end of inexperienced or lazy players. That’s the main reason I said no “overpowered” monsters in my previous post. So, while not restricting yourself, thread carefully. And if you have any advice on how to run monsters out of the character’s league, drop by the comments and let us know!

- The Storeman

July of Adventure!

Babbling at the Counter #49 – Blog

July of Adventure!

Now, I, the Storeman, officially announce the beginning of... July of Adventure!

Ok, technically, it began last review with Slayin, but let's roll with it. This, our second theme month, is very important. After all, the Warehouse of Trinkets opened its doors on July, 2013. So, happy birthday Warehouse!

About the theme, well I had it in store for a special occasion (read, anniversary). The first review on the site was about one of my favorite games, and it is of the medieval fantasy genre. So, after finding a suitable tabletop RPG and a few cool games, I just sat and waited for a few months to host this event!

Finally, let's welcome Emma to the site's banner! She's been writing reviews for a while, so she earned that spot.

All in all, a great month for the Warehouse! Thanks for everything to you too!

- The Storeman

Slayin, Arcade Monster Hunting Madness

Review #49 – Free Video Game

Slayin, Arcade Monster Hunting Madness

With this post, July of Adventure has officially begun! More information about the event will be available on this week’s Babble.

Opening our second theme month ever, I present Slayin. In this arcade title, you take control of a hero slaying hordes and hordes of monsters. But your character is so... let's say “inspired”, that he cannot stop!

You can change your hero's direction and make him jump, but that's all. The characters move constantly, and enemies also continue spawning until you kill enough to gain a level. Get coins, buy upgrades, and kill bosses.

You have three characters to unlock, and after you defeat the final boss, the game enters a non-stop wave after wave of baddies. Maybe that too has an end. I haven't seen it.

So, go ahead, hero, and get this kingdom rid of the horrible monster menace!

- The Storeman

Disclaimer: I didn’t upload any of the content in the following link. I have downloaded and checked it as I always do. I have even executed it in my own computer and did not experience any kind of problems. But I can’t ensure that it is free of virus and/or malware that my anti-virus programs couldn’t find. That’s the author’s responsibility.

External Download Link: http://www.pixellicker.com/games.html

Play Online: http://www.pixellicker.com/games/games_slayin.html

Seeking the Truth

Babbling at the Counter #37 – Pen and Paper

Seeking the Truth

This is an idea for Mystery Investigation that I have been toying with for a while now. It’s incomplete, and it may not work, but maybe getting it out there will help develop it.

I remember a blogger (I'm now pretty sure it was Robin Laws, author of the GUMSHOE system, thanks to Aaron on the comments section. If I eventually find the original post I’ll link to it.) saying that the problem with using skills and dice rolls to run a mystery was that a single failed roll would stop everything on it’s tracks. He made this comparison (I’m paraphrasing): Imagine this. You enter a room, there is a monster there. If you miss your attack, then you can never go into the next room. You are trapped.

That was meant as a parallel with missing a clue in a way that made it impossible to go to another scene. But it got me thinking about something else.

When you fight a monster, you make a few rolls to attack it, until it’s dead or defeated, thus solving the situation. Now, you could do exactly the same thing with any other obstacle, including a mystery.

Instead of making each and every clue a challenge by itself, you could treat the whole mystery as a single “entity”. Every roll, you are “damaging” it, only you don’t stack damage until it’s dead, you take away some of the mystery until it’s solved.

As I said, it’s a pretty unfinished idea. I still don’t know how you can run a whole session with a single “entity” to defeat. But I think this can be used in smaller doses for a lot of other things.

A single scene, like a dance contest, for example, could be treated as a fight. Each move damages your opponents “image”, until one of you is humiliated and defeated.

So weird idea today. Hope at least it gets you thinking about alternatives to single roll resolutions. See you soon.

- The Storeman

Atta boy!

Babbling at the Counter #36 – Blogging

Atta boy!

Sometimes the goal is not an actual reward, just the work itself. I don't write this blog to earn money, or as a platform for my other projects. This Warehouse is my goal with the Warehouse.

Now, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a little incentive every once in a while, does it?

At your right you will find a badge I got as contributor to the Tiny d10 RPG. And you know what? I love it!

Even though it was a simple gesture, it means a lot when someone tells you they like your work. Working with Aaron is fun, and I love to seeing where Tinyd10 is going. I know he knows it.

Don't think this is some kind of self promotion, please. I'm not calling myself a game designer now. All I wanted to say today was this: Tell people when you like their work.

Post a comment, give a “thumbs up”, or just click “+”. Seeing any of those things on one's page is rewarding enough. And it doesn't cost you anything (like the content itself).

- The Storeman

Guests Welcome

Babbling at the Counter #35 – Blogging

Guests Welcome

This weekend, the Warehouse's first guest column was published. Emma, from my RPG group (she was the zombie witch on this game), decided to write a fun review about Jetpack Joyride. Go on and read it before continuing.

This special post was my way of closing Dazzling March, the first non-monthly special event of the site. Hopefully, many more will soon follow.

And I'll also like to take this opportunity to extend the invitation to write to anyone interested. There may be free games I have missed up, or from a genre I don't usually play, and it would be awesome to help bring a little attention to them, too.

I can say I'm really proud of the work that has gone into the Warehouse this past few months. Thanks to all the people that have dropped by, and specially to all the regulars that keep showing up.

Make sure you check out our stock. Remember, new items arrive every week.

- The Storeman

Lessons from the arcade

Babbling at the Counter #32 – Video Games

Lessons from the arcade

Arcade games had three very important things that I feel got lost along the way. Modern games like Endless Forms Most Beautiful are bringing this stuff back:

They where easy to learn:

Simple controls that don't change through the game.

I see the appeal in mastering a complicated set of combinations to get the best results and perform awesome maneuvers, but sometimes I just want to sit down and play a game without having to look for information online or having to practice the aforementioned combos before I'm ready to actually enjoy my game.

Arcades were simple because they needed you to get hooked up easily. Watching someone else play or the helpful hints displayed during the “insert coin” screen had to be enough to get you started.

Just because we can make extremely more complex games today, it doesn't mean we should ignore how nice it is to just start a game and be able to play it. No online study, no long tutorials. Just a game.

They exploited every Detail:

This is more of a wake up call to prospective game designers than anything else.

Some games change your character as you progress. So, new obstacles are avoided with new powers. That doesn't make the game actually hard, mind you. It just means the player has to learn a few more tricks, and the designers can use new basic traps instead of improving the old ones.

And that's my point. Take EFMB. As the best way to move around is using the teleporting platforms, most of the traps are built around them. Putting spikes on them, having a floor completely devoid of them, giving enemies the ability to use them too, etc.

If halfway through the game you got, say, the ability to push blocks, then gameplay changes completely. From that point on, you start finding easy block puzzles so you can get used to them, instead of finding new (and tougher) platform puzzles.

This kind of stuff makes the game longer, but not in a way I find nice. You shouldn't be saying “I died because I forgot how gliding works”. The character is your avatar, controlling it should be intuitive after only a few rounds.

They had replay value in mind:

This is the aspect of replay value I want to talk about today: Coffebreak Games.

You can sit down, play something between fifteen minutes or half an hour and then get back to other things. Here's more information about the coffebreak concept. Arcades have that.

But to be a good coffebreak game, it has to have both simple controls and be short enough to be beaten in less than an hour.

Closing Up:

I know there are a few negative aspects to this old games that we don't want to see anymore. Inflated difficulty to keep you hooked, and having to play until you memorized the level in order to survive it are not features I remember fondly. Those are not what I'm talking about.

I'm not talking about pure nostalgia, either. It's not about making old games, it's making games the old way. Why make a fifty-hour long game if it's chock full of filler? Why not use fewer different abilities in the same game and use them to make other games?

I know the answer, money. Big companies won't get much from this ideas. Good luck we don't work there, then. I guess our projects can actually do some things those big names can't.

- The Storeman

I realize this post has a lot in common with Locomalito's philosophy.

“Lessons from the arcade” was already written when I found that on his site, so I decided to keep mine and just link to him.

What’s Dazzling March?

Babbling at the Counter #31 – Blogging

What’s Dazzling March?

Ok, so, I thought it was time this little Warehouse got its stuff together and started improving as a blog. That’s why this month is Dazzling March!

Now, what’s Dazzling March? It’s a themed event focusing on the bizarre and brightly colored. It’s the first of what I hope can be a long line of wacky themes. It’s the Warehouse growing.

I decided to prepare this for two different reasons:

First, as I said, to work more on the blog. Instead of just using a list of games and stuff that I like, I had to hunt for content that could work with both NeonPlat Adventure and the game I’ll talk about next week (those two inspired the Dazzling theme). That was fun.

Second, while playing next week’s game, someone said to me “you play such childish things”. And I thought: “Yes, they have quirky music and are colorful, silly, and nonsensical, but childish?” Then I realized. It’s not that they are childish, it’s that they remind people of old games. Simple games. Games we played when we were younger.

So, that’s Dazzling March. It’s the same reason I opened the Warehouse on the first place, to celebrate simple to understand and simple to play games. See you all later, we still have a whole month to go!

- The Storeman

Mysterious - Cont.

Babbling at the Counter #30 - Pen and Paper

Mysterious - Cont.

Last week's Babble wasn't what I wanted. I mean, I said what was wrong with Investigation Plots, but didn't offer a solution. So today, I'll talk about how to actually run a mystery.

The Layout of this post will be this: I'll use the same sub-titles as last week, but instead of whining about a problem, I'll offer an alternative. Then, a little example. As supernatural investigation is one of my favorite genres both on TV and to run as GM, I'll use it.

Too Many Moving Parts:

To make clues more fun, make getting them the challenge, not understanding them. Getting a peek from the crime scene, stealing the files from the police station, finding the witnesses, these are all nice challenges for a game. Players can come up with creative ways to overcome them and the character's stats will be used.

Now, once they have the clues, make them obvious. After all, the characters know what they are doing, they should figure them out easily. This way you make sure the players won't get stuck. The characters should know their city pretty well, and even if they don't, sitting around to read is something you shouldn't roll for. They will have actually accomplished something (getting the clues) and the game can keep moving.

Ex: There's been a mysterious death at the piers. To get a shot at the crime scene before normal police officers have a chance to mess the supernatural evidence up, two of the characters decide to dress as the CSI team to collect evidence.
They botch their rolls pretty badly, so a veteran sergeant recognizes them and tries to get them arrested. Even though they all get away, now the characters have to come up with another approach.
Meanwhile, another player decide to have her character talk to all the street vendors and hobos nearby, in case someone saw something. Luckily, they did! They describe the creature as a fish-like man, with razor sharp teeth. After mangling the poor soul that stumbled in his way, it jumped into the water and disappeared.
Now the characters have a clear path to the creature (it may live or at least travel through water), but a lot of ways to get to it. They could wait around for the next attack, or actually go after it with cameras, scuba gear or even a water breathing spell or submarine (if it's that kind of game). They even have witnesses, so they could take one back to HQ and show him pictures of sea monsters till he identifies it.

Less Talk More Rock:

Research is a vital part of investigations, and different series devote different amounts of time to these scenes. Here we are going for an action/investigation kind of story. So action comes first, priority-wise, and we'll set aside just enough time for research.

We are looking for something like Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Even though there was investigation on the show, it was mostly one of two kinds (and there was at least a fight scene per episode, if not more):

What is it: Maybe the characters got a good look at the creature before it got away, or maybe it has a particular way of killing, but after this scene, the characters already know it's name, what it wants, and more often than not, how to kill it. This is usually a quick scene at the library, with a few jokes before someones finds the right book.

How to stop it:  Sometimes, it's easy to know what it is. Is you find an empty sarcophagus and people from Egyptian descent are the target, it doesn't take a genius to think "mummy!".
The question then are what does it want and what does it fear. Any of those things could work to stop it. The characters can set a trap for it, or use it's weakness to design a weapon. In some cases, like the mummy, it's motive and weakness could be the same thing. The mummy might need the blood of the pharaoh's descendants to return to life before the minions of Anubis drag it back to the Underworld.

Ex: Not to be denied, the characters decide to steal the lab results on the crime scene  from the police station. They stage a big distraction outside, while the most agile character sneaks in to take a peek from the file.
They learn that the creature left behind some kind of oil, and that it deteriorated quickly when exposed to sunlight. Now they know the creature is nocturnal (to help predict it's movements) and that sun is a handy way to kill it (maybe a tanning bed could have the same effect).

The Clue Conundrum:

Don't be too strict when it comes to giving away the clues. The players can't read your mind, so they'll do what makes sense to them, not to your plot. Taking a sample from the crime scene to analyze, stealing the lab results, or even getting the lead investigator hammered at a bar to loosen his tongue, are all possibilities and should be equally useful. In the previous example, the characters stole the lab files because they couldn't get into the crime scene. It doesn't matter, they get exactly the same information either way.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating: don't expect the players to connect the dots. You may leave a few things for your players to figure out, as long as they are not vital parts of the plot. I'm not saying everyone is too dumb to figure out the clues, what I'm saying is...


It's not a job:

People at the gaming table want to have fun. Some of them have just gotten back from work, or have spent the whole day studying. Others may just be looking for awesome stuff to happen to their characters. Other just want to hang out with friends. More often than not, though, they are not looking the acquire the real abilities of a detective.


Bottom Line:

Playing an investigation can be a blast, but for most groups, it means laying the investigation down a bit and making the action central to the story. It's not only about fights. Chases, climbing dangerous places, sneaking past enemy lines, having a stressful negotiation, that's what players are looking for. Things that get the blood pumping and that make great stories.

- The Storeman

Party Games

Babbling at the Counter #25 – Video Games

Party Games

This overlooked category has a lot of room for development. What do I call a “party game”? Well, and example would be Uberleben, from last week. A simple short game, that can accommodate multiple players and with great replay value.

Let’s see each one of this points and why they are important:

Multiplayer: This one is obvious. In a party, there will be more than 2 players, so a game that can be played by more people at the same time is good.

Replay value: This ties to the “short” part of the definition. You won’t play this game once, but multiple times with multiple people. And it should be fun to play even after you have seen someone else do it.

Short: If the game can’t handle more than two people, you will want turns to rotate fast. And even if it does have room for three or more people, it’s best if each game round is short. So everyone gets a turn, mainly.

Simple: Up to this point, lots of games would qualify for a party game. What sets them apart is this very idea. Fighting games, for example, are multiplayer (two people), with short rounds and with replay value. But they are so complex that an experienced player can go around undefeated and that’s not fun. When designing a party game, keep an eye on this one.

This may be one of the most rambling babbles I have ever written. Some time I could try and organize it better. We will see.

- The Storeman

Tiny d10 – My First Playtest

Babbling at the Counter #15.5 – Pen and Paper / Tiny d10 Playtest

Tiny d10 – My First Playtest

What’s Tiny d10? Well, it’s a free RPG system that’s in its early stages of development. As such, its author is asking for some feedback about what’s been published so far.

As the game is “Absolutely free… forever”, it’s right up the Warehouse’s alley. I, as the Storeman, had to give it a try. So here are my impressions with the system, after testing it with a friend.

Note: This isn’t a weekly review because the game is not complete yet, but it’s actually playable. If you give it a spin, please let the author know your opinion, so the game can continue growing and improving.

Tiny d10

Core Rules: The rules are well-written and are easy to understand and follow. They are simple right now, but I expect to see more specific rules when the Setting Supplements are published.

Character Creation: It’s fast and simple. Once you get it, it takes a minute to create your character. You have four stats, and between them they cover every kind of action: Power (physical strength), Reflex (quick feet and readiness), Intelligence (mental ability and knowledge) and Aspect (social skills). You choose what you are great at (+3), good at (+2) and the rest gets +1. There will be character classes, but they are incomplete right now. As my player didn’t used the special abilities we made (following the guidelines on the site), I can’t say how they would have worked.

Conflict Resolution: Here’s where I fell in love with this system: single d10 + Stat + Skill (if you have a useful one in the situation). The target numbers used are 6, 8 and 10, and they work great. You easily know which stat to use and then creating a difficulty is fast, too. Combat is treated exactly the same way (redundancy in rules is good design, as it helps learning and remembering them).

The game offered a lot of creative freedom. My job as GM was very relaxed. It was obvious which stat we should use and it was better to play to your strengths, but the character wasn’t crippled if he tried something weird.

The Luck System: This is one of the weakest points of the system. I loved the idea “ask for something and see if the dice give it to you” but, as the chances of luck actually happening were so low (1 in 10), there was no suspense. When he used his luck ability, neither one of us was expecting it to succeed. And it didn’t.

I’d rather give players a more direct control over the narrative, like “Destiny points” or “Plot points” if you’d like. Something to “spend” to catch a break instead of a gamble that will most surely fail.

Action Points: Something like this (read Luck System if you skipped the paragraph and have no idea what I’m talking about). Action Points can be spent to increase your odds of success on any given throw. They are simple and nice. I just would offer the chance to use them as “plot tools” instead of relaying on the separate Luck Mechanic.

One unexpected twist here is that your Action Points come from the same pool that your Health Points. At character creation you have 10 points to split between the two. It’s not a bad twist, though. I see it as having two polar opposites: a lucky bastard that can make explosive moves but goes down with one hit; or a tank that plays it safe. You can make anything in between, favoring Action or Health, or maybe looking for a balance between the two. It’s new and unusual, but in a good way.

Bottom Line: I enjoyed Tiny d10 and plan on playing more of it. It’s the kind of simple game we look for here in the Warehouse. It gives both players and GM freedom to work with, and its rules are explicit enough that no one feels cheated.

I can’t wait to see more from it, and you can expect to see more here. I’ll try to keep you updated, but don’t forget to check the official site, too.

External Link: http://tinyd10.wordpress.com/

- The Storeman

Know when to stop and how to get back

Babbling at the Counter #15 – Pen and Paper, Blogging, Game Design, anything really.

Know when to stop and how to get back

I don’t have the time to make a complete post today. It's been harder to squeeze my hobbies between my obligations. Is that so bad? Not really. Sometimes, life gets in the way. Be it your blog, your campaign or the game you are working on, sometimes you just have to stop.

Just don’t let the spark die. If you miss a deadline, make completely sure to hit the next three ones. Even try to make up for the time lost if you can.

It’s easy to get discouraged at the first sing of trouble and throw everything away, but if everyone did that we would have nothing around. Keep it up.

I’ve really got to go now. Be back next week, and the ones after that.

Don’t let the spark disappear. You started for a reason, right?

- The Storeman

Welcome to The Warehouse of Trinkets!

Well, this is the first post of my first blog and I’m pretty exited about it. The idea behind The Warehouse is to provide a place to look for free stuff, mainly video games and pen and paper Rpg material, but there might be a post about a web show or something else from time to time.

I know there are specialized lists of free content on the web, so that’s why this isn’t going to be one. I’ll post reviews, not just a name and a link, and they’ll only be about games I’ve personally played and enjoyed.

This may seem limited but this way I’m ensuring some sort of quality threshold for the content stored here. These reviews will be posted every Sunday night. There will be only one review each week.

Also, there will be opinion columns, called “Babbling at the Counter”. They’ll be mostly me thinking out aloud, and will usually talk about something I found interesting in that week’s game and wanted to analyze further, but that didn’t seem right to include in the review.

Being no expert in game theory I don’t expect to be treated like one. While the reviews will be informative and as objective as possible, this columns will just be my opinion and my take on a broad concept.

“Babbling at the Counter” will appear at least once a week, on Tuesday nights. There may be an extra post another day, but those will be an irregular feature.

And as my final note, I wanted to say that English is not my first language, but as most of the content I’ll talk about is only available in English I think the site should also be. Fell free to point out any grammar or syntax mistakes you find, as it will be appreciated. I’m just going to ask that you don’t do it in the comments section, so it doesn’t turn into an autocorrect feature. Use a private message, please.

Ok, I think that’s all. So after this long and boring explanation, why don’t you start reading my first review? Hope you enjoy The Trinket’s Warehouse and find it useful. Feedback is not only appreciated, it’s also encouraged.

- The Storeman

Note: Sorry about the disclaimer before the download links. I just want to make everything nice and clear.