Calling All Dungeon Masters

Well, this is not really in Slashdot's main focus, but heck, it's a rare nerd who hasn't at least dabbled in D&D. Wizards of the Coast is looking to build a new campaign world, along the lines of Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms, and they're offering cash prizes. Their document (.doc file; Abiword reads it; try here if that link doesn't work) sums up the contest. Comments in this thread suggest they're looking for medieval fantasy settings. Show some writing flair and creative ability and take home enough cash to buy literally dozens of lead figurines AND a few new D30's... Update: 06/07 20:38 GMT by M : WOTC has the contest on their site now.

Comments

Wizards of the Coast

[funkhauser]

WotC seems to have a refreshingly player-centric attitude lately. From a player-designed D&D campaign setting to player-designed cards and player input on the next edition of Magic: the Gathering, it really is good to see a gaming company actually realize that players like to get involved in the games they play. Kudos to them.

Re:Wizards of the Coast

[Asprin]

WotC seems to have a refreshingly player-centric attitude lately. From a player-designed D&D campaign setting to player-designed cards and player input on the next edition of Magic: the Gathering [magicthegathering.com],

IF WE'RE DOING ALL THE WORK, WHAT THE HELL DO WE NEED THEM FOR?!?!grin

Re:Is M:tG still going?

[funkhauser]

They haven't dumbed the game down, really. What they have done is broken the game down into three "levels." There's Starter, which is more or less dumbed-down Magic. Then There's the Basic Sets (Equivalent to 4th Edition, 5th Edition, Revised, etc.) They've simplified the Basic Sets, too, but not to the extent of Starter. Then they have the Expert Level expansions. This is where the new cards come in, and the card interactions are just as complex (maybe a little more, if you ask some people) than older sets.

Interrupts are obsolete. They restructured the rules so that distinguishing interrupts and instants is unnecessary.

Actually, the rules restructuring of Magic has been excellent for the game. The rules aren't just kludged together, there's a unified system for spell resolution, which puts the focus on the card interactions where its supposed to be.

SlashWorld

[David E. Smith]

In which many valiant warriors battle an army of trolls.

Obviously it'll need to be expanded a little bit, but I think it can be turned into a setting easily enough.

Auto Generation for Consistancy

[codemonkey_uk]

Well, shit, isn't the timing magnificent. I've been playing an AD&D game run by some friends of mine, and there have been some problems with consistency, which got me thinking about automatic generation of realistic worlds for use as settings for rollplaying games.

I think there is a lot that can be done. Fractal terrain generation is a well understood area. Developing on that you can use social evolution heuristics to determine the locations of settlements, and teh development of towns, and cities. You can use historical demographic data to determine what might be found at each settlement. From there its only a short step to generating a population for those settlements.

Which is about where I started thinking about writing some code. Last weekend I actually put some of my ideas into action. Its far from complete, but this serverside script demonstrates the beginnings of what can be done. There are problems with execution time - PHP isn't my usual language, and the 30 second limit is preventing it from working with populations larger than 750, but you can see where I'm going with it - generation of random populations, assignment of possitions within the community based on ability, and the code is in place for the generation of familiys with inherited genetic traits. Of course, the source code is available (via a link at the bottom of the page), so you can run with the idea if you can't wait for me to develop it further.

Once all these details are handled computationally, the designer can focus on the most important aspect of the game world - the plot!

Re:Auto Generation for Consistancy

[pubjames]

Personally I think these games are all about people and imagination, and could do without computer involvement of any sort, but that's just my view.

If you are having execution times of over 30 seconds for a PHP script, then it is likely you are doing something wrong. If your a newbie, try asking questions on phpdeveloper.com.

Re:Auto Generation for Consistancy

[Rogerborg]

This is a superb start, many congratulations.

Some positive criticism:

• You'll want to make it clear that the default profession is farmer, and that these people make up the vast bulk of the population. Indeed, they are so vital to everything else that "farmer" is too broad a term. I know it seems dull, but it might be useful to know if a region produces a lot of arable crops, pigs, sheep, cattle, fish or fruit.
• I'm a little sceptical of a chart that is apparently based on 12th-14th centuries, but has doctors separate from barbers (barber-surgeons were around right up to the 19th century), and misses out midwives altogether.
• Guardsmen/watchmen and lawyer/advocates are more of a 15th century than a 12th century phenomenon. For that matter, tailors are practically unknown in pre-14th century Europe except in the very largest cities. This seems to represent the very largest mediaeval Europe, cities, and seem (to me) more like 15th or 16th, which is admittedly the favourite period of most fantasy worlds (whether they realise it or not).
• You missed undertakers, bone and antler workers, potters, glassblowers, boatmakers, shipwrights, reed cutters, market traders (as opposed to specialist mercers, wholesale importers and travelling merchants), miners of various sorts, and minters (where do you think all those gold pieces come from?). You also forgot the seedy and distasteful side of mediaeval city life: dung collectors, trash scavengers, whores, pimps, burglars, cutpurses, muggers and bandits.
• The ages need to come down a lot. The age of majority for men crept up from the 9th to 14th centuries, but we really need to stop thinking of it as 18 or 21 and more like 13 or 14. "Men" as young as 11 were called up to serve in the Æthelredian fyrd, and like it or not, that's still common in some third world countries today.
• Mediaeval population centres tended to specialise, so instead of having a representative selection of trades, you'd have a town (or region) that specialises in making (e.g.) pottery, glass, or even a particular colour of cloth (with all the necessary supporting trades), and that exports its wares over a large area. Besides being realistic, this avoids an identikit feel to towns, and gives convenient plot hooks: how would adventurers respond to the blockade of the town that produces most high quality sword blades?
• It would be useful to have degrees of specialisation. Bear in mind that the trades on this list represent those found in the very largest mediaeval towns and cities. In smaller towns, you wouldn't necessarily have a separate glovemaker and a pursemaker, but you might have a general "small leather goods" maker.
• The idea of trades breaks down altogether in smaller communities, where most necessary skills for day-to-day life can be found replicated inside each household. So in any given household, you'd find someone who can make shoes, clothes and hats, but perhaps not particularly well, and you'd also find a competent butcher, weaver and woodworker. It's important to note that the vast bulk of the population live on the land, and so any group doing a lot of travelling are going to spend most of their time interacting with farmers or local thegns or knights rather than city types, so don't just skim over the small communities. Perhaps you could have degrees of competency, so that a large town might have a good tailor, while a small village might have a single individual who is both an adequate tailor and a poor cobbler?

Other enhancements that I can think of would be a "retail price index" based on the supply and demand of goods. For example, a town with a lot of armourers would pay well for iron, and swords would be (relatively) cheap. Wool will be cheap in an area with a lot of sheep farmers, and meat would be expensive in an industrial centre. Prices also vary sharply depending on the season: the value of a cart is more or less constant, but the value of a horse to pull it is much lower just before winter (when you have to feed it) than in spring (when you can make use of it).

Keep at it; this has the potential to become an extremely useful tool. Incidentally, how about trying it in Java?

Re:Auto Generation for Consistancy

[goliard]

Guardsmen/watchmen and lawyer/advocates are more of a 15th century than a 12th century phenomenon.

??? Ah! You must study English history. Because all those Troubadors and Trouveres writing albas mentioning watchmen ("gaitas") in the 12th/13th centuries would sure surprized to hear they don't exist.

In the 12th/14th century what you have is in towns (any area thickly settled enough) small numbers of people who stay up all night to watch the town for attack or, more importantly, fire. They carry trumpets and sound an "alls well" periodically all night. This is not the standing garrison familiar to D&D players, but they are the NPCs most likely to notice your 3rd level thief plying his trade in the wee hours; they won't try to apprehend them himself, but rather raise the entire town (won't that be a nice surprize. :)

(English dude: "Gaita" eventually became "Wait" across the Channel, and by the 15th century the duty had evolved to being a mostly musical job. But even through the 17th cen, the Waites of English cities carried badges ("cognizances").)

As far a laywers and doctors go, you forgot the idea of the university town. By the end of the 13th century Europe was pocked with not only university towns (Paris, Salerno, Oxford, e.g.) it was swarming with roudy students. Town/gown riots go back that far. Defitely a flavor of specialization you want to allow for.

Not completely off topic

[night_flyer]

seems someone at WoTC is in some deep doodoo...

Hasbro Fires Exec, Claiming Embezzlement

Legalese

[4thAce]

After reading the lawyerese on that form, I just like saying:

"Do not breach a contract with Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to litigation."

offtopic but still WOTC related

[sckeener]

www.gamingreport.com and www.enworld.org posted the following rumor. It's not offical, at present, but there has not confirmation or denial from WotC as to the truth of it all.

Well, Wizards of the Coast seems to of take some interesting turns as of late. We have received several tips from readers and have now received several confirmations about some stunning changes at Wizards of the Coast. Here is the break down of all the tips from reliable, anonymous sources.

Recently there was in an internal investigation at Wizards of the Coast which allegedly unearthed a massive fraud operation within the employees. This resulted in the firing of several high level executives. It is alleged that Sr. VP of Production Tom Federline had setup a funneling operation to pipe money out of Wizards' production department and into his own personal accounts. In addition, to the revelation concerning Mr. Federline, the Renton, Washington police department is reportedly filing, or filed, a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Mr. Federline. The investigation apparently did not uncover any misdealing concerning Vince Caluori, however, in an internal company memo Vince announced his departure. Apparently, Vince' is being replaced by a Hasbro representative from the main office and Loren Greenwood, former VP of Sales, is now taking on the duties of COO. The new CEO is based in Rhode Island so what that means for WotC's Washington State future is uncertain. We were passed Vince's internal farewell letter by a tipster. This email is posted below in its entirety.

From: Vince Caluori
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 12:39 PM
Subject:

Dear friends and co-workers,

A little over five years ago I agreed to come to work for one year to help get WOTC over the challenge of acquiring and assimilating TSR. With mixed emotions I am announcing that the "year" is up! It has been a wonderful time for me and I hope for all of you. We have accomplished more then any of us could have ever expected and I leave at the end of this month a healthy and vibrant company. We are the best at what we do and no one can ask for more then that! I cannot express how proud I am of our company and each of you.

I could never leave you if we did not have excellent management ready to take over and lead our company forward to even better times. Chuck Huebner will become our CEO focusing on our relationships with other parts of the corporation and strategic leadership. I have worked closely with Chuck over the past several months, and I know he has the drive and dedication to help build this business.

Loren Greenwood will become EVP and Chief Operating Officer concentrating on the day to day operations of the company. I'm confident that his experience and knowledge of our business will keep us focused on our objectives and on an upward path as you go forward.

This a great pair of managers with complementary skills and the ability and desire required to move us to another level of performance. They deserve your congratulations and need your help. Don't let them down!

During this month we will be transitioning to these new roles and I will move away from day to day decision making but I will give both of them my support and will remain available on an on-going basis for advice and consultation to ensure an effective transition. I hope to have a chance to see each of you during this time but if I don't you know you can always find me enjoying the benefits of being a retired employee in the gym, at the go-kart track or at our great golf tournament.

Best to all of you and thanks for being my co-workers.........It has been great!

Vince

We are currently attempting to get an official word from WotC's press department but have only received no comment or no answer. We will continue to attempt to get an official word.

We have also heard of a few other changes that may very well bode the end of WotC in its current state. There are allegedly deals in the works to move the WotC retail stores to new owners as part of a separate deal. The details are a sketchy as the details of the deal are still being worked out. Apparently this change is going to happen within the next few months if not sooner.

We have received information on other changes in process. However, until we receive confirmation from other sources we will not post these. We will keep you informed as we are able.

Fractal terrain generation

[Xouba]

>Fractal terrain generation is a well understood area.

Yes. Karma-whoring, here I come :-)

The best land generator I've found is Torben Mongensen's "planet.c". You can find it here. It's not GPL, but you can see the source and learn of it, at least :-) The results are quite good, though there's a few limitations: it doesn't do erosion and rivers, for example, which is something that could be very, very important if you want to use a map for a RPG setting. Rivers are the places where many cities are built, and crossing of rivers are always fertile lands. Well, anyway it's the only gripe I have about this program. For the rest, I like it very much :-) It can do a lot of different projections, and magnification, so you can really see the world from every point of view.

There's other nice terrain generator here. This does erosion and rivers, and the source is also available. It's for Windows, though the creator says that should compile well in Linux or related. I haven't tried yet O:-) The problem is that, besides not being "readily available" for Linux, I don't like the maps generated by it too much. And it doesn't plenty of projections, as Mogensen's program does (or, to be precise, I think it doesn't; I'm not a expert with this program). It runs fine under Wine, btw ;-)

Another fine tool: TerraGen. Shareware, but free for personal use. Great. The results of this program are awesome. I'm sure that it's easy to use the output of Mogensen's program to renderize it (some small part, I mean) with TerraGen, but I haven't tried a lot and consequently I don't know how :-/ This runs somewhat well under Wine, too.

The program that looks great for all this, anyway, is MojoWorld. And not forgetting, of course, all of ProFantasy Products. But these cost quite a few bucks, so I don't have and can't speak about them O:-)

Fractal terrain generation is something I'm quite interested, though only from the user point of view. I don't know how to even program something to output a simple Mandelbrot fractal O:-) If you know something more about all this, don't make me check for every /. post: mail me at ask4it (at) gpul.org :-)

I have a D1e10

[edremy]

Weighs 16 pounds. I take it out sometimes and throw it at some wooden pins at the end of alley to see what number I get.

Wha?

[EvilNight]

Am I going mad, or did I read "Well, this is not really in Slashdot's main focus" in the topic blurb?

First of all, if Slashdot HAS a focus (main or otherwise) I'd just love to see someone take a stab at describing what it is.

Second, geeks are gamers. Period. There's just no way in hell that those involved in computers and IT technology, especially those born sooner than 1970, haven't been exposed to gaming in some way. Maybe they didn't game, but some of their friends did. Heck, lots of folks cut their programming teeth on quick little apps to make RPGs easier to play.

As for the contest... well shit, doesn't sound too bad. They're basically allowing some very smart and creative individual a shot at making it into the gaming industry. Sure, they're saving a ton of development costs. Sure, they'll use a lot more of the stuff they get than just the finalists. Just remember that nobody's holding a gun to your head forcing you to give them your ideas.

Wizards has always cared more for their playerbase than the majority of the gaming companies out there. TSR treated folks like dirt, chasing all over the internet shutting down anything even remotely related to their products. Wizards releases a 3rd generation dice system free uner a license that isn't too dissimilar in spirit from the GPL, and allows the fan work to flourish. Small wonder they resurrected dungeons and dragons after TSR ran it into the ground.

TSR never should have dumped Gygax...

Re:Wha?

[grytpype]

>First of all, if Slashdot HAS a focus (main or otherwise) I'd just love to see someone take a stab at describing what it is.

It might be easier to define what Slashdot is NOT focused on:

1. Sports.
2. Clothes (wearable computers excepted).
3. Grooming and dating tips.

Basically, Slashdot is the complement of GQ.

Makes you wonder

[Prof.Nimnul]

As others have pointed out, the cynical side of me wonders if this is just WOTC looking for a cheap way to develop a new game, rather than having to hire someone on full time. After all, ever since Hasbro slashed WOTC budget, they have to start finding new (and cheaper) ways of doing things.

But I honestly doubt this is the case, for several reasons:

--WOTC, as I mentioned, has had their budget cut tremendously. The odds that they could hire on more people on a full-time basis isn't too likely. The consultant-based contest approach might be the best way to still get decent products developed.

--I hate to break this to any aspiring game designers, but these positions are not six-figure incomes. One of my friends works for what remains of West End Games, and even when the company was doing well (i.e. before the went bankrupt), she was only making around 30K a year or so. The prize money really seems comparable to what an actual salary would be. Where WOTC saves is that they don't have to provide benefits, insurance, etc., that they would with a salaried employee.

--WOTC has recieved some pretty hefty bashing over the years, particularly for their handling of GenCon. Their customer base of Magic players has lost a lot of its power, and the remaining gaming communtiy, in general, just doesn't trust WTOC enough to buy their products. If they don't want to crash and burn like TSR did, they have to win those customers back -- this is probably a good way to go about it. Putting the power in the hands of the players will at least give them some better P.R.

Overall, I think it's an interesting idea. What I find most amusing is that this is similar to an actual project, in that the deadline is only a couple weeks away. I'd better get started on my submission.

Matt

Re: execution times

[Skidge]

Or use this function at the top of your script:

void set_time_limit ( int seconds)

as described on php.net

Official Confirmation

[Tikiman]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx200 20606a

Explanation face-the-gazebo-alone dept. bit

[rtos]

I can't believe that the from the you-must-face-the-gazebo-alone dept. bit hasn't drawn more comments and explanations. It's really pretty funny in that special D&D geek way. For your pleasure and information, here's the scoop from the rec.games.frp.dnd FAQ. Blockquoth the FAQ:

E15: What is the Gazebo story? And what's the Head of Vecna?

Both of these are gaming stories that have been told and retold so many times that they have taken on the air of urban legends--where the original DM is a "friend of my sister-in-law's uncle's second cousin" and if you track that path down, it turns out to be just that, a story. However, in both of these cases, the original tellers are known, the original versions are archived on the web, and both stories really happened!

The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo, by Richard Aronson, is about a player who didn't know that a gazebo is a hutlike building typically found in parks, and had his character attack one. The story was originally written in 1986, and various versions of it can be found all over the web. One such place is the rec.humor.funny webpage; another, with some background into how the story spread, can be found at DreadGazebo.com.

Whereas the tale of Eric and the Gazebo is about how lack of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, The Head of Vecna, by Mark Steuer, is more of a morality tale about how greed can make you stupid. Most *D&D players have heard about the Hand and Eye of Vecna, powerful artifacts which require the owner to cut off his own hand or eye in order to gain the powers. In this case, the characters found what they thought was the Head of Vecna, and ended up with several headless--and thus very dead--characters. The full story can be found at on the web at Stan Berry's webpage.

There you go. Classic D&D humor no self respecting geek should be without. :)

Re:Small prize for winner, bigger prize for WotC

[Allen Varney]

Forgotten Realms which, if I recall correctly, Ed Greenwood still owns the rights to

Untrue. Ed Greenwood sold all rights to the Forgotten Realms to TSR circa 1986-7 for $100. I have this information from Greenwood himself and from one of the TSR marketing execs involved in the purchase.

It's easy to shudder and say, "What a maroon!" But Greenwood says he knew exactly what he was doing, is happy with the decision, and would do it again. By selling the Forgotten Realms, he bought himself an entire career writing novels and modules for TSR/Wizards, has travelled the world as a guest at gaming conventions, and has made countless friends. No, the Realms hasn't made him rich, but he feels himself rich in other, more important ways.