Unexpected Development part 2: Electric Boogaloo

In light of this post by my friend Ross, I've decided to follow up on last week's post. As both gaming groups I'm in become a bit more consistent, I'd like to start incorporating examples and stories in my blog here, so I feel this may be a good point to start. Last week, I detailed some impromptu character development on the part of my martial artist, Syrinx. This week, I want to break down a few points of the character somewhat in-line with Mr. Watson's post. (Seriously Ross, if you don't have a doctorate, get one so I can call you Dr Watson already.) A lot of his points coincide with my own methodology so we'll break this down by those. 

Anyhoo, after the jump I'll dig into this B.

Unexpected Development

Anybody who knows me knows that I love to make characters. I like to create them, and craft personalities for them. I like to sit and ponder how they would react in any number of situations. I like to plot how they would develop over the course of a story. Role-playing games are a terrific vehicle for me to do this in. For one, I don't have to worry about the story at large because the GM is there to do just that. They provide things and circumstances to react to. And for another thing, the effects of the dice (those marvelous little devils) can be a great cause for good and/or evil by providing a little bit of the unexpected. A few twists of fate as it were.

I am starting to develop the firm suspicion that dice are sentient beings and happen to be gifted with a sense of irony, humor and a certain degree of genre savvyness. In general I know people have their own theories regarding temperamental dice, voodoo hexed knucklebones, minor RNG dieties, pookas, gremlins, and even physics and crit quotas. Mine just like good drama. And making a general fool out of my characters, but mostly drama. Today, I ramble on about character development influenced by dice, or Better Roleplaying Through Roll-playing. (sorry. I had to.)

System Check: Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition

Once again, I'm going to take a look at a system that I have had the chance to play with. This week, that system will be Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. For connoisseurs of gaming, D&D might be considered  required gaming if only for the pedigree and history involved. (I know some would argue this with their dying breath, but in the world of marketing name recognition means a ton.) Of all the editions, however, most will agree that 4e seems to be the bastard child of the bunch. At least until D&D Next comes out, and then we'll see where the Edition Wars go from there. My experience with 4th isn't as thorough as I'd like it to be, given that I've only had a few one-shots in it as opposed to a full-on campaign, so make of this what you will. 

Freaking EPIC

I don't know about you, but when I hear the word 'Adventure' I inevitably start to think of the term 'Epic'. An Epic Adventure. The term by definition means heroic, majestic or impressively great, which in my mind encompasses the very nature of a tabletop campaign. By the end of this thing, we should on some level have an epic poem, assuming someone took the time to write it all down. Not that I'm suggesting that any D&D game is some literary masterpiece, but it's the idea that what you've done in-game is something worthy of note in-game.

To this extent, how do we define 'Epic' in game terms, and how do we achieve that from a gameplay perspective? This is something that I've set as one of my goals from the DM side of the table: make the thing feel Epic. After all  it's easy to say what the PCs do is epic, but how does one get the feeling of Epicness? Feel free to follow along as I try to tackle this idea.