In my opinion, the wiki's defect is presentation, not content. In the past year, I've had a couple of people say it is hard to find things. It is my intention to build more complete sub-index pages (expanding the player character links this month), and ultimately a massive link page for every page in the wiki. I'm not sure the shape that will take; perhaps both alphabetical and by category.
In the past month, since February 22nd, I have written 29 posts on this blog, discounting repeats from the wiki. I've added 45 new wiki pages. And I have updated 20 more pages on the wiki, most of which have been rewritten from scratch and, as I said, tidied. All told, that is 94 pages, with 74 of them being completely new content.
In that time, I've accumulated about 40,000 page views. That's not much for some people. But it tells me people are watching.
This is how productive I can be when I'm in a sound mood and fairly comfortable financially. Before I was laid off, we prepared for the possibility of lean times. We've had some windfalls. Patreon has been a godsend. People stepped up when I said I was unemployed again and my Patreon jumped 33%. Thank you.
I would rather be doing this work ... than slaving in a shop for an employer who doesn't care about me, doesn't appreciate my skills, can't carry me through a month or two of lean times and ultimately did not give a moment to wonder where my writing skills came from. Yet he did pay me nearly $8,000 over six months, so there's that.
I would rather not give another six months of my ability and passion to another thankless employer, in order to spend that time either churning out accounting numbers, invoice receipts, copywritten ads or making soup ... since there is still a recession in Calgary, and virtually everyone I know is living hand-to-mouth, as their hours are cut and their jobs too, I'm almost certain to be working as a cook within the next month.
I'm fine with that ... but the less hours I spend work as a cook and the more hours I can spend doing this, the better. Perhaps noisms is right. Perhaps no one does "owe" me a living. But I don't intend to slag off my time goofing around telling my readers that they should just do themselves. I'm fighting here to be a resource, to be of value, to provide good solid work and to make myself indispensible. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's supposed to be the right attitude.
Because of the exchange rate, every $8 on Patreon is one less hour a month I have to work, shovelling pig food out of a kitchen while I make a grumpy, broke restauranteur vaguely aware that I exist. That's time for one more post and less time I have to heal my run-down 54 y.o. bones following a heavy shift. If the reader has been enjoying this level of output, believe me, it's going to suffer.
I don't in my wildest dreams, for now at least, believe that I can make a living at this. I see some of the dumbest, most cretinous persons in the universe shoveling money in the door for some pretty execrable material ~ but I know that I'm way, way to high-brow for that sort of sweet, sweet gravy train. I'd have to start bashing women, or screaming invented conspiracy theories, then putting together videos of people shitting in their back yards to gain that sort of youtube income. In this day and age, some of us have a long way to go understanding what people do nowadays to "earn" their living.
I'm ready for none of that. I've been making some terrific strides with my book, the Fifth Man. I've had the time. I don't have a 150 minute commute every day, that I had up until the 7th of January. That extra 750 minutes a week is pretty important where it comes to finding the time, and the motivation, to glare into one's soul and find the words to create pure, new content, without research or subject material to lean on. I'm enjoying this. I won't quibble about it.
I'd like to publish the book. Then I could at last hold my head up and stop feeling the shame I've felt for four years, since taking money from readers to finish a book I haven't yet finished. Then maybe I could officially enter my RPG 201 course into kickstarter, to ensure that I was monitored and viable, and thus get the time to research the content more deeply and produce a really solid text.
It's one day at a time, and all the time I can get to work on things I think matter. But that's not for me to say. I'm asking you, dear reader, since you're my employer.
Can I have a raise?
I've seen the filth peddled on YouTube and it never ceases to amaze me that those guys have followers, let alone income from it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need to make vids. Something with whiskey and skulls.
It's always about the skills . . .
One day at a time, man.
ReplyDeleteCurrently unemployed myself (mostly by choice...mostly), so I can’t chip in for the raise; wish I could.
Yes, of course.
ReplyDeleteHey, a while back I think you solicited topic requests from readers. I have a topic I'd be very interested to read your perspective on if you're still taking requests.
I started running a new group a couple of months ago who have been very accommodating as guinea pigs in my rules experiments. Among the rules I'm using is an adaptation of your damage inflicted/sustained-driven experience system. I'm very pleased so very with how it is working empirically. It rewards combat experience with level which mostly translates to improved combat effectiveness.
Mostly, is the word I'm focused on. I don't like that my players' spellcasters, who can't sustain the kind of damage their colleagues can, gain XP a bit slower and yet have a steeper experience curve to climb. More importantly, their level increases impact spellcasting ability more strongly than combat ability (except of course where spellcasting is combat-related) yet is more driven by combat. Non-combat skills/non-weapon proficiencies/sage skills are improved by level and that's even more tangentially related to combat than spellcasting.
The rub is I'm thinking about decoupling combat advancement, spellcasting advancement, and skill advancement to be driven by experience in their respective practice instead of only combat practice. I think I know that you continue to use the combat-driven experience system and assume that characters are studying and practicing their other skills at a level that more or less matches the advancement gain from combat.
Have you previously experimented with the kind of specific experience I'm describing? Is this a topic you are interested in addressing?
Well, it does slow the spellcasters down ... *grin*
ReplyDeleteI don't know how gritty you're getting with your casters. Let me propose a few ways I have of looking a character spells, to see if you're using these:
If the caster augments something about one of the other players' attack benefits (not healing, that's defensive), then the caster is entitled to a percentage of damage caused. For example, a chant or prayer spell gives a +1 damage to everyone of the cleric's religion. If the fighter then does 6 damage, +1 for 7 damage, the cleric gets the 10xp for that last damage and the fighter still gets 60xp. Spread throughout a party, this mounts up. It also works for spells like strength.
If the caster holds, charms, or sleeps an opponent, that the party then kills, the caster is entitled to half the damage of that victim.
I give experience for armor and phantom armor spells; so if a caster gives himself armor, adding 9 h.p. to himself, and suffers five damage - even if the actual person of the caster isn't hurt, I still award the 100 x.p. for damage taken (and count it towards general party damage), as the caster is taking risks being in hand-to-hand combat.
Straight damage-causing spells always produce x.p. The area effect versions, such as burning hands, will often dump a goodly potion into a mage's pocket, helping to compensate for the dry periods.
I also encourage characters to stop "hanging back" and mixing it up. If they resist risking themselves, they should progress slowly.
I give x.p. for treasure. Treasure x.p. allows the party to self-repair the distribution of the overall x.p. Talk to your party and suggest that if the caster has done something special that didn't award many x.p., a bonus share of the treasure could be awarded or the best single piece given. I give x.p. separately for each large gem and individual piece of treasure, based on who it goes to, rather than piling all the x.p. into one figure and bestowing it equally. [... adding a second comment]
[...continued from 1st comment]
ReplyDeleteI haven't experimented with the specific reward you're considering, but let me go with it and brainstorm.
Small incremental gains for skills used would be best. You could then tweak the system before the players made themselves two levels higher.
I'd think a "notable" use of the skill would be necessary. I have skills like being able to build a fire without a flint and steel. Doing that would be common and hardly worth experience. Succeeding at the skill isn't notable. If you're trained to slip past a guard unseen, and you do it, that alone just isn't enough to make you a better level. You already know how to use that skill. A better level means skills you haven't got yet.
But then, practice makes perfect, yes? So you could assess the risk of the particular incident, or perhaps the overall gain. It's a bit murky, but so long as you're consistent.
If your player runs a caster that chooses spells like "unseen servant" and "rope trick," rather than "magic missile" and "whip," isn't there a bit of logic in their going up a little slower? I'm not sure how you could reward a significant use of unseen servant ... or levitation, for that matter, but I'm sure there's a way.
I've given thought to other "non-combat" rewards; occasionally, I will give a party a flat 10, 15 or 20% boost in experience across the board, because they've survived and accomplished a self-made quest where the final win was not an experience boost. A party of mine spent a year of running to locate, investigate and ultimately enter a complicated tomb to resurrect a king that had been dead 900 years in order to gain his insight into an enemy that was much older. The actual resurrection was x.p.-poor. But actually raising "King Carol of the Avars" was a huge emotional boost for the party; so I gave a 20% increase to everyone's x.p. (80K becomes 96K). Not enough to break the game, but certain appreciated, especially as it applied to every character and every character's henchman.
That about plays me out, I think. I like systems that have numbers in them. X.P. is a number. Damage is a number. Skill use? Not so much a number. I think the solution is finding the number in the caster's spells and counting it.
You know, cantrips like spider and bug cause 1 h.p. of damage automatically to creatures within 20 to 25 feet. My mages and illusionists NEVER fail to take such spells, as it can help them up a level, using it every time there's a combat.
Sterling,
ReplyDeleteSo I play as a mage in Alexis's online game. And I play an odd mage, so I have 0 damage-dealing spells (I took Shield, Armor and Comprehend Languages). And I usually cast Armor on my allies.
I find that, yes, I level up slower than others. But I am also taking far less risk, so I consider this fair. I could get way more XP, but I am a coward, so there is that.
Though, the group XP and treasure XP help quite a lot
I play a system where 90% of that system determines whether you can or can't do something. Like starting a fire in the wilderness with two sticks. Either you can do it, or you can't. There is no roll. Most of the parts of that skill system that include a roll are directly combat related.
ReplyDeleteThe remainder are often hinged on ability checks. I think there are just a few that have incorporated a unique roll designed specifically for that ability.
You deserve a raise. That is for sure. Your fighting to produce good solid work is going strong. Your content is in my opinion among the best that exists. I read How to Run, How to play a Character and The Dungeon's Front Door in the last couple of weeks and they have been the best money I have spent in a long while. I am in a tight space but will certainly look it over and see what I can do.
ReplyDeleteI could not find much information about The Fifth Man. What kind of book is it? Is it TTRPG-related?
XP is one of the biggest issues I've had to grapple with running WFRP - unlike D&D it has never had a clear-cut XP value per monster or for treasure etc. but uses rewards for "goals" achieved (plus some brief guidelines on how to assess these). This has been consistent since 1st edition (released in the 80s) to 4th edition last year.
ReplyDeleteIt goes without saying that, outside of pre-written adventures/campaigns, this is basically XP purely by GM fiat. Despite successfully running a lot of games - including my current campaign - on this basis, it isn't satisfying to do so.
I'm attempting to write-up a system similar to yours where it comes down to damage dealt/received, though I'll probably have to keep some XP on the side for non-combat rewards, too (as it isn't just combat-effectiveness that's improving with XP).
The Fifth Man is a fantasy novel about a 17 y.o. boy thrust into treachery and violence, as he chases the footsteps of his father, amidst the attempt of an exiled prince to murder the king and usurp the throne.
ReplyDeleteThat's the 39-word description, though I think it says too much.