Dragon Age II

I haven't painted since Monday. I feel guilty. What have I been doing you may ask? Watching Twitch. As much as I was opposed to Twitch in the beginning, I'm now kind of obsessed. I watch it while I paint and I've really enjoyed Azure's channel. It's a good-sized following so the chat isn't out of control and the broadcaster is really involved with his viewers. Recently, he started streaming Mass Effect 3, a Bioware RPG series which has been extremely popular over the past few years. I personally love Bioware games. I played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic so many years ago that got me hooked on the BioWare franchise. Watching Azure play ME3 made me want to go back and replay one of my favorite game series-- Dragon Age. Since there's been so much buzz about the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition game release, I decided I'd pop the Dragon Age II disc into the XBOX 360. 

While I usually play a mage or ranged-weapon characters, I decided to try something I've never done and play a rogue character. As far as personality, I'm usually a straight-and-true, goody-goody Paragon in BioWare games. I always do the right thing throughout the quests & stories. I always just felt too guilty when I role-played a jerk character and hurt other people's feelings. Yes, it's true, I feel bad even when I hurt fake people's feelings with my fake character's responses. In my first play-thorugh of Dragon Age 2, I was a goody-two-shoes Mage. However, I've decided to finally try something new. I'll play my newly-created character as an impatient, practical, sarcastic woman. (I'm also going to crush Anders the second he starts to flirt. Seriously, I have no sympathy for that guy). My character will also have a somewhat-unhealthy obsession with moody Fenris. I'm liking this plan already. 

For those of you who are less familiar with BioWare RPGs, the games give you dialogue response options throughout the storyline. The available responses usually fall into 3 categories: Nice, Sarcastic, or Rude. The player's choices will affect the course of the story and  certain responses with different characters will open and/or close doors throughout the game. That concept alone makes these games attractive because of the high replay ability. I remember the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that were so popular in the early 90s-- it's basically like that but better! 

One of my favorite parts of BioWare games is the character creation aspect. As with tradition, I attempt to design a female player character that looks like me. It's not everyone's preference, and I like to indulge in a bit of narcissism in this regard. Dragon Age II face options are varied, though I find it's hard to find an exact match for my own big, oval head. The character inevitably turns out cuter. Oh well. Without further ado, meet "Mocha Hawke":

Mid-character creation

Yep, I'm pretty happy with how she turned out!

Last night I drank wine and played this until 3:30am. Needless to say, today's been a bit rough... 

Character Building

Four years ago, a group of mutual friends decided we'd get together every few weeks to play tabletop games. More specifically, we decided to play Dungeons & Dragons (4th edition) and it stuck. Over the years we've acted out, stumbled through, and laughed our way from levels 1-14. One of our friends dropped in "just to watch" during the last few game nights and has since showed a continued interest in joining our game. Last Sunday I decided to help build a character for my friend Anna. 

It helps that I have the Wizards.com subscription and I lean on the online Character Builder tool quite heavily to create the final character sheet. However, we always start with a fun, "Get To Know You" brainstorming session before deciding on any races/classes. My approach is fairly simple: I start with the premise that each person in our group must love their character. Since there's so much improvisational dialogue in D&D, I think it's important for each person to view their character as the protagonist in their own narrative. I compare it to the process when actors are "getting into their character". I've personally suffered from making a player character that I can't identify with or care about-- it's awful. Because of that, I wanted Anna to love her character and (ideally) have a great tabletop gaming experience with our D&D group.

In my opinion, the worst mistake new players can make to create an exceptionally deep & self-involved character with an overly complicated backstory. The best thing to do? Keep it simple. It's somewhat counter-intuitive, but creating a one-dimensional character that has one or two personal focuses means the character will be easier to play. Three things that she'll need to know:

[1] What does this character value? (Money? Material goods? Fame? Political Prestige? Power? Social Status? Friendship? Religion? Knowledge? Travel? Adventure?)

[2] What is his/her personal motivation? 

[3] How do these things (along with past experiences) affect their personality & everyday interactions with people?

Such broad questions can be intimidating for a new player, and many feel pressured to over-think their character, so I kept it casual and fun. While this approach won't work for all people, we basically played the "20 Questions" game. I presented her with situational questions and, from Anna's responses, I was able to narrow it down to certain class/races that I felt would be a great fit. I asked her questions like:

"Imagine your character is at a party. On the other side of a large ballroom, she sees someone she knows there, what does she do?"

"Your character has just earned some money. Later that day, you see a person dressed in rags begging for money across the street. What do you do?"

"Would your character rather sleep at an inn or out under the stars?"

"Would you rather argue with a person who disagrees with you or try and persuade them? How would you go about arguing with/persuading them?"

"How does your character feel about dogmatic religion?" 

"You notice a person being bullied in a crowded tavern. What's your first reaction?"

We started with several options that I thought would be a fit. We dug into the D&D books, looked up information online, and read descriptions until she exclaimed, "Yeah, that one!". We joked that character creation is like a blind tasting (and since Anna's a ninja, her identity is kept a secret):

Anna wanted her character to be unique in both physical appearance and origin. She identified her character as a protector who valued close friendships above all else. She's proud, impulsive, curious, and extremely naive due to her character's current situation. Very recently, she was summoned to this plane during a spell-gone-wrong, with no memory of who she was before the event. She'll be actively discovering the fascinating world she's found herself in once she's introduced into our ongoing storyline. We'd found the perfect fit: a (wind/storm) Genasi Warden. Here's a bit more about the race & class: 

GENASI

Genasi were human-derived planetouched infused with the power of the Elemental Chaos, most often as the result of crossbreeding between humans and the powerful genie races or other elementals that dwell in such planes. Physically powerful and cunning, genasi were a varied race with abilities that varied depending on their lineage and individual experience.
— Forgotten Realms Wiki

WARDEN

As mountains stand fast against the buffeting wind and trees bend but do not break in the storm, wardens are stalwart protectors who draw on the primal spirits of nature to defend the natural world from those who would corrupt or destroy it. Some wardens use the power or earth and store to shield their allies from harm, whereas others summon the primal strength within themselves to increase their ferocity and tenacity. Primal power waits in the ground beneath your feet, surges with every beat of your heart, and flows through your lungs with every breath. The world cries out to you, calling for a champion to defend it. Will you heed its call?
— D&D Player's Handbook 2

After we decided on race, class & personality, we reviewed many feats & abilities and chose those we felt were true to her character (and some that were just downright cool). I took it a step further and added some specific defenses that would make her very hard to defeat when combined with the rest of the groups' character abilities. In the end, here's the final character sheet we created:

Coming Thursday:

Check back on Thursday for my step-by-step process in my Speed Painting Challenge where I went from initial inspiration to painted miniature in less than 3 hours. 

Games Stores · Little Wars

Finally back home! I apologize for the delay. Since I started this blog, I've posted every Monday & Thursday. I haven't always posted super-early in the morning, but I've never missed a day's post... until yesterday. #shame. I've gotten hung up on a requested blog post about how our group goes about making characters for our Dungeons & Dragons game. I wanted to post it by today, but it's clear I need more time to include everything that I want to write about. We're also going to play on Sunday, so that'll make for a great Monday post to include the challenges & successes of our newest character creation. In the meantime, I wanted to share my game store adventure this past Wednesday!

First, here's a bit of mostly-relevant background about me & game stores:

My experience with game stores has been hit-or-miss. Usually, I'm uncomfortable in game stores. It's unsettling to have a room of people turn to look at you with expressions ranging from a confused "Are you lost?" to an accusatory, narrowing-of-the-eyes "You don't belong here". It used to make me super-self-conscious. My neck would heat up and get itchy while I walked as quickly as I could to the paint rack with my back to everyone so I didn't have to interact with anyone "judgey". The last time I went to my local Houston game shop, a guy actually blocked my path with his arm when I tried to walk by the side of his Warhammer game table. He cocked an eyebrow and said, in a patronizing tone, "Careful honey, you wouldn't understand how expensive these are". I wanted to punch him. I thought, "Yeah? Well it's a shame you wasted your money because your Imperial Knight there has a s*** paint job". But instead of being petty, I just turned and left the game shop. I haven't been back since. That was over six months ago. I know it's silly, but things like that really bother me and totally ruin my experience. 

Now, fast-forward to this week:

While traveling for work, I stopped by "Little Wars", a game store in Baton Rouge. I've been before, and each time I would stick closely to the walls of paint & miniatures without asking a lot of questions. I was tired and kind of a mess from traveling and almost talked myself out of stopping by. However, I was relieved to find only two people in the store when I walked in-- Andy (the owner) & Charles (though I didn't ask Charles if he worked there or just visiting). While they were working on re-organizing things, moving product around, and talking amicably in the background, I enjoyed quietly browsing the store.

I like this place. Little Wars is part of an older brick strip mall of shops near Jefferson Highway & Corporate Boulevard. When you walk in, books for popular RPGs line the right side of the store-- plenty for the Pathfinder players! Card games, miniatures, and painting supplies are on the left. In the back right, there's a closet-like nook with tabletop board games-- many stocked primarily because of the growing popularity of the Will Wheaton/Felicia Day "Tabletop" web series. I knew I didn't have much room in my suitcase, so I didn't tempt myself there. In the very back of the store are bookcases with many different game starter sets (including the newest D&D box set), a few shelves of fantasy novels, and of course, Warhammer armies abound. Tables fill out the center of the large room for their group games and events. Lastly, basic accessories including dice, Magic card packs, and magazines are featured in & around the glass case at the front of the store.

In the past, I've bought a few D&D 4th edition books there and I was a little bummed to see that there was significantly less since my last visit-- makes sense I guess, since the new version of D&D was just released. For now, our group will keep playing 4th edition just because it's familiar. I have plenty of books (trust me) and my subscription to online tools at Wizards.com gives us plenty to work with. I was kind of happy Little Wars didn't have the books I usually browse, since and it gave me the chance to ask questions about different games I'd been interested in. 

At first, I talked about just dropping in to pick up some painting supplies and asked if they were going to GenCon (one of the biggest gaming conventions in the US). Andy wasn't, but Charles and his friends were planning a road trip up to Indiana-- it'll be his first time at the convention. After that, we talked a bit about painting as a hobby and I asked what they thought about the new D&D version launch. The best part? They were open to my questions & actively helpful. I didn't get any of the clipped answers, attitude, or (worse) eye rolls & in-depth lectures in that know-it-all tone I've experienced at other places in the past. Our conversation evolved into other topics and I must've spent almost an hour just hanging out and talking. During that time, I asked questions like: 

"What do you think about the Infinity game? I just discovered their miniatures, but I don't know much overall about the game. I know they launched a 2nd edition not too long ago-- is it worth looking into?"

"Have you had any success with synthetic brushes? It's so hard to find the Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes in the US. What do you think of the other options?"

"I still can't seem to completely remove mold lines on my plastic/resin miniatures. What do you use?" 

"Are there any books or magazines you'd recommend that feature painted miniatures more than game strategy?"

Andy introduced me to Warhammer: Visions-- a fairly new monthly publication from the creators of the White Dwarf magazine featuring some of the latest releases from Games Workshop. Perfect. I'd never heard of it, and it was just what I was looking for! I bought some paint and pins too: 

 I'll definitely be back next time I'm in town. I left Little Wars with my new book, painting supplies, and a renewed faith in game stores.