Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Cyberqat Feb 18, 2015 8:31:06	I've had the opinion for a long time that modern CRPGs are not roleplay games, as we pen and paper players understand the term.   The fact that they lead you through a fixed and pre-generated story about your character is, to me, anathema to true roleplay-- which is all about creatign your own character and story.  Modern CRPGs, in the end, are D&D inspired action games with stats and an inventory management component. But what is interesting to me at least is that this isn't where they started.  All the way back in 1992 Looking Glass studios was attempting to present not fixed stories, but a simulated world for you to have your own adventure in, in the Ultima Underworld series.    The technology was a limiting factor back then but even with those constraints, those games were more "sandboxy' then most modern CRPGs. What any game player has on his or her desk today would have counted as a "super-computer" back then.  Looking Glass is back, as Otherside Entertainment, and they have just released this update on Kickstarter that speaks to wanting to return to that style of play with all the advantages of modern hardware and software. Take a look!   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts
#2 Cyberqat Feb 18, 2015 9:14:35	"Our designers lay out an encounter; setting up the monsters, traps, the physical layout, and the like.  Then the world simulation is turned on.  A set of fairly complex interactions and dynamics take place of their own accord.  The player comes into this dynamic mix, and can permeate this situation in whole range of ways, some of which the designers may have never imagined.”     http://www.incgamers.com/2015/02/the-underworld-ascendant-team-on-the-improvisation-engine   To me, this is the essance of what a good Gamemastre does.  I stopped even trying to predict my players' solutions a long, long time ago.
(Reply to #2) Cyberqat	Cyberqat wrote: