Subj : Re: Gamelists
To   : All
From : mbottorff@sprintmail.com
Date : Fri Dec 08 2000 04:25 pm

From: mbottorff@sprintmail.com (Michelle & Boyd Bottorff)
Subject: Re: Gamelists
Organization: |



> BTW, as far as the interface between computer games and "tabletop" 
> roleplaying goes, has anyone heard anything about the Vampire: The 
> Masquerade computer game that came out and its mode for "GMing" a game?
> The way I understood it, in multiplayer the GM can generate monsters,
> levels, etc. but can also facilitate player interaction and storytelling
> through the text, and this leaves the computer to handle other 
> mechanics.  While I imagine there are limitations to what you can do, it
> sounds closer to a "real" roleplaying experience in a computer game than
> anything I've heard of before.

I would imagine there are severe limitations on it, especiall since V:tM
is so freeform a game.  I can't picture it doing much beyond being a
mechanical dice roller.  Well, basic combat might be put into it, but if
your group does any serious imagining, there could be problems.

I think it all goes back to the troll test.  You're facing a troll, you
don't have much in the way of fire, so you pull out your lighter and set
your hair on fire, then head-butt the troll.  You're playing a werewolf
character, so you actually have a chance.

Game comes back, asks for the relavent skill or stat and difficulty
level, because there's *no* way that's programmed into the machine.  GM
probably choses agility, with a real low chance of success, followed by
stamina with a reasonable chance, to tell if you're in shock from
personal pyrotechnics.  Click, click, scrollscrollscrollclick, click,
click.

Might as well have used dice.  Like I said, basic combat could be
programmed in, but V:tM is a very freeform game.  Players *should* be
making impromptu stakes by breaking chair legs.  Players *should* be
making strategic use of nearby furniture, terrain, and passerbys.  In
short, players *should* be doing things that no programmer could have
either anticipated or easily put into the program.

And if you have a "learning" database ("New situation:  do you want me
to learn the requisite stats and difficulty levels?") then you're going
to end up with a *lot* of new situations, enough that you won't want to
scroll through them all:

        impromptu stake, basic kitchen chair
        impromptu stake, wooden roadside signpost
        impromptu stake, picket fence
        etc.

-- Boyd


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