Editorial RPG Codex Report: PAX East 2015, or How Chris Avellone Called the Codex Unprofessional

[bonescraper]

Thanks mindx2 for the great interview. And thank you DarkUnderlord for helping me restore my account here. It has been a while.

 

[vivec]

Shannow
I had a similar issue as they did in a PnP game I played in college. I wanted to be a trip focused dexy spring attack fighter guy (which the system supposedly suported) and the DM killed him off in a fight with a multiarmed sword wielding snake woman thing and told me just to make a Dwarven Defender because nothing else would survive in his campaign in melee range. So, I just didnt play with them again. It has nothing to do with story vs power gaming or whatever. It is about being able to realize a wide variety different reasonable character concepts or being pigeonholed into a fewer 'necessary' build types.

I am sorry, but I am going to be a bit vitriolic here. Asking forgiveness in advance.

I think this indicates your critical fail at identifying the stupidity of the DM here. You did immediately understand that something was wrong. But you attributed that to the game mechanics. While DnD 3.5 is OBVIOUSLY full of exploits, it is the job of the DM/game designer to allow for flexibility in the build that can fulfill requirements of the campaign.

In this case, if I were the DM for the game, I would have changed the challenge to suit the party and not the other way round. The same applies to video games. The game designer needs to design the gameplay to suit the character builds and not the contrary. One way to accomplish that is to simply restrict the gameplay options. This is the crude way; Cut things down until a reasonable level of rail-roading can be achieved. This is what your ex-DM did. The proper alternative is what games like AoD do. They create a world where diametrically opposite builds have simply diametrically opposite paths in the game. This is probably why AoD type gameplay will never be parallelled by other games.

 

[Zed]

Thanks mindx2 for the great interview. And thank you DarkUnderlord for helping me restore my account here. It has been a while.

I love the Fallouts and Troika's games. Looking forward to playing PoE in nine days!

Not sure if you remember, but the Codex is a peculiar place. Never take anything personally. Hope you stick around!

 

[Shevek]

Shannow
I had a similar issue as they did in a PnP game I played in college. I wanted to be a trip focused dexy spring attack fighter guy (which the system supposedly suported) and the DM killed him off in a fight with a multiarmed sword wielding snake woman thing and told me just to make a Dwarven Defender because nothing else would survive in his campaign in melee range. So, I just didnt play with them again. It has nothing to do with story vs power gaming or whatever. It is about being able to realize a wide variety different reasonable character concepts or being pigeonholed into a fewer 'necessary' build types.

I am sorry, but I am going to be a bit vitriolic here. Asking forgiveness in advance.

I think this indicates your critical fail at identifying the stupidity of the DM here. You did immediately understand that something was wrong. But you attributed that to the game mechanics. While DnD 3.5 is OBVIOUSLY full of exploits, it is the job of the DM/game designer to allow for flexibility in the build that can fulfill requirements of the campaign.

In this case, if I were the DM for the game, I would have changed the challenge to suit the party and not the other way round. The same applies to video games. The game designer needs to design the gameplay to suit the character builds and not the contrary. One way to accomplish that is to simply restrict the gameplay options. This is the crude way; Cut things down until a reasonable level of rail-roading can be achieved. This is what your ex-DM did. The proper alternative is what games like AoD do. They create a world where diametrically opposite builds have simply diametrically opposite paths in the game. This is probably why AoD type gameplay will never be parallelled by other games.

Lol, of course I blamed the DM. Thats why I didnt play with them again.

 

[Bubbles]

Thanks mindx2 for the great interview. And thank you DarkUnderlord for helping me restore my account here. It has been a while.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Thanks mindx2 for the great interview. And thank you DarkUnderlord for helping me restore my account here. It has been a while.

 

[Bleed the Man]

Thanks mindx2 for the great interview. And thank you DarkUnderlord for helping me restore my account here. It has been a while.

I'm all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[Sacred82]

mindx2 completely changed my view of Codexers!


I thought all Codexers were chronic masturbaters.

 

[Sensuki]

The Church of Cain doth rejoice, he who walketh behind thy rows hath returneth

 

[Viata]

The interview was so good, mindx2 was even able to ressurect Tim Cain.

 

[SerratedBiz]

mindx2 completely changed my view of Codexers!


I thought all Codexers were chronic masturbaters.

He masturbates too.

 

[Sceptic]

I know what they're trying to say, but I still feel the need to point out that this is a really bad example:

The reason I think it's a very bad example is that they have it completely backwards. The problem with a ring that maximizes one of your attributes this early in the game isn't that your attributes are unbalanced or that some of the other attributes must be changed to compensate for all the points you wasted into this attribute or whatever. The problem is that there is a ring that maximizes one of your attributes this early in the game. The sane solution isn't to completely redesign your class and attribute system, the solution is to take that item out. It's like noticing the Ring of Wizardry in BG1 and deciding that what you need to do is rewrite the entire magic system (IIRC Bioware did take out the ring in one of the patches, or in TotSC).

Otherwise your post is nothing but

Also, my very first BG1-2 character, going through the entire saga, was a fighter with 18/00 STR, 18 DEX, 18 CON, 18 CHA, and the rest dumped into WIS (I think for the saving throw bonus, but I'm not sure, it's been a while). Getting the big discounts early in BG2 was great for buying all the overpowered items from Adventurer's Mart. Of course in terms of "useless stat" argument you could just replace CHA with INT, but my point of the ring and deciding what actually needs to change (ie, not the attributes) still stands.

Anyway I still don't like the system as much as I would've wanted, but I like it more than I used to.

 

[Jasede]

mindx2 completely changed my view of Codexers!


I thought all Codexers were chronic masturbaters.

He masturbates too.

What? Masturbate comes from "manus turbare" - to create ill with your hand. mindx2 has no hands. Therefore he cannot masturbate.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

mindx2 you just got Tim fucking Cain to post in this thread.

 

[Aenra]

has no hands. Therefore he cannot masturbate.

your lack of ingenuity/imagination is duly noted

tidbits of help:
pillows
mattresses
fluffy items
could go on ^^

 

[Scruffy]

mindx2, come here to be properly brofisted!

Reporting (pun intended) as ordered...

I had an absolute blast this year. Everyone I had an opportunity to interview where generous with their time and answers. I hope everyone enjoys the article and make sure to check out everyone's project. I'm positive there is enough variety presented to peak even a Codexer's interest! Also, be sure to brofist/thank Aterdux Entertainment's own Alex, for his generosity was the reason I even had the chance to interview all these developers.

edit: Now let's see if Chris, Tim or Josh have the cojones to, at the very least, pop in to this thread and say hi...

hey, when you took that MCA pic, did you get a boner?
you can tell us, we'd understand...



edit
oh and as usual, great job there

 

[Azalin]

Thanks mindx2 for the great interview. And thank you DarkUnderlord for helping me restore my account here. It has been a while.

 

[Perkel]

Why does the codex seems unpro ?

Because codex doesn't scale to pro level

 

[Black_Willow]

VIP is touring the building.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

VIP is touring the building.

Quick, somebody lock Roguey in the stationery cupboard

 

[Monocause]

Excellent content, mindx2 is the broest of bros.

 

[Crispy]

Welcome home, TimCain.

And excellent job, mindx2.

 

[mastroego]

Josh Sawyer said:


Chris Avellone commented:


Josh Sawyer said:


Chris Avellone commented:

So Chris Avellone agrees with the talk about "balance"!

Maybe he was just being polite with the guys standing right there beside him.
If he really proves to believe in Sawyerism though, I'll reject Avellone too!

 

[Infinitron]

Codex almost unanimous consensus: Sawyer is using the talk about balance as an excuse to dumb down cRPGs, which is retarded.

I'm not a Randian, but

"Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong."

 

[Viata]

Josh Sawyer said:


Chris Avellone commented:


Josh Sawyer said:


Chris Avellone commented:

So Chris Avellone agrees with the talk about "balance"!

Maybe he was just being polite with the guys standing right there beside him.
If he really proves to believe in Sawyerism though, I'll reject Avellone too!

You know when you friend shows up with his new girlfriend and he is all happy, but you see that his gf is ugly as fuck and yet you can't just say it and instead just tell how luck he is to have her? That's how Avellone act there.