Savage Worlds, RPG Review

This is part one of a review originally printed in Utah Geek Magazine. Part two was posted to their website. I will publish the web part of the review on my next publishing date.

Savage Worlds role playing game (RPG) has been around for a while. I had heard very little about the system, simply it was a good system, so I picked up the basic book, recently when I had the opportunity. What I was told was correct, and here is why.

The first words after the table of contents are, "Fast! Furious! Fun!" And, with that as the motto for their RPG, it delivers. The concept of the system is to get people past the rules and into the storyline of the game. Savage Worlds' basic game book is less than 150 pages. Within the space provided you get the basic rules for creating characters, adventures, etc. for any genre.

Character creation is simplified. There are 5 attributes to work with and the attributes are based on the common dice gamers use. Everything starts at a 4-sided die (d4). Players then have 5 point to spend on improving their attributes—1 point for 1 die, a d4 to a d6, etc.—a d6 is considered average, and no attribute can go above a d12.

After attributes you have 15 points for skills. They're based against the attributes and work in the same progression. Skills are presented in broad scope so you don't have to maintain a long list of skills some systems require. Then you can choose hindrances end edges. These are balanced out for beginning characters, you can't get an edge unless you have a hindrance. These flaws and innate traits are common to other games, some of the edges have prerequisites in rank, so you can't start with them.

Characters advance in levels, using a two-step approach. All characters start out in the rank of novice and advance up through four other ranks. Each rank effectively has four levels (except the last, legendary, which is open ended). With each level advancement, you choose between several ways of improving your character.

You don't need this many, but we wants them

One aspect I like about this system is you don't need to figure out conversions to determine success. Everything is based on the die your attribute or skill are at. There are modifiers based on your edges and conditions, but to determine success you roll the appropriate die and if it is a 4 or greater, you succeed. Main characters (on both sides) have additional benefits because they are heroes.

Initiative is done by using a deck of playing cards, including the two jokers. The highest card decides to go first are holds their action for later in the round. Jokers are wild cards giving special advantages for the round.

The system also provides guidelines for followers and doing larger miniature style battles.  This provides the ability to run a mass combat with the characters involved, or on the sideline of the adventurers, which they could still effect.

Savage Worlds, from Great White Games/Studio Publishing, developed by Shane Lacy Hensley strives for, and delivers, a quick learning, and quick play system. For more, check online at Utah Geek Magazine for more (or hold on until my next article).

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstGmng).

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The Forgotten Planet, Game Review

Throughout history mining has always been an important part of building civilizations. The ores and minerals have provided the material for developing new a greater things. As we have expanded throughout the galaxy, mining has become no less important. And now, the energy crystals are more important than just about anything else ever mined. A new source of the minerals has been discovered, and the race is on.

The Forgotten Planetpits 2–4 players in developing a mining operation on a distant world on the edge of known space. The environment is harsh and the planet is unstable so you have to use robots, which creates its own concerns.

Players start with one each solar collector, robot, and each energy crystal resource. There is a limited area available for mining, which eventually puts you and the other miners in conflict. Your strategy needs to include collecting power to run your robots; mine; and build more robots, bases, or walls; which in turn allow you find new mining sites where you can collect the crystals you need to sale to the merchant guild or use to build. There are options open to you, and the other miners, so you have to plan ahead for success.

Three of us sat down with The Forgotten Planet, without looking at the rules beforehand. At first, the rulebook looks imposing. However, the rules are presented in four languages, so they are easy to get through. As one person started reading the rules the other two of us started sorting the pieces. In a short time we had the basic concept of the rules and were starting our first turns.

The rules are easy to understand and the game is recommended for ages 12+. During the first game of the two we played, we referred to the rulebook a few times. For the second game we only used the book to choose a different layout for the board. We had the concepts and were willing to give our strategies a second chance.

The game is well balanced. The first game was decided by a tie breakers based on the number of crystals players had. The second would have probably ended with a different winner if there had been one or two more turns, the rules allow a way to push to an end game, which I did. Both games we played completed in the time frame presented of 75 minutes.

The Forgotten Planetfrom giochix.it, and designed by Michele Quondam, is a good strategy game. I come to this conclusion based on two aspects. First, how close both games were to determine a winner, Second, I, and the other two players, were discussing strategy options the next day. When a strategy game doesn't get you thinking about the strategy, it isn't intriguing enough to play again. This is one game that is not going to be collecting dust in our group.

Thanks to giochix.it for a copy of The Forgotten Planet.

This article was first published in Utah Geek MagazineSept/Oct 2016.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Fighting School and Slave Market in the City, The Flesh Golem

At the furthest end of the wharf district, where most consider the edge of the city is the The Flesh Golem. A gladiatorial training school and slave market owned and operated by Geshwin, a women who made her way first as an adventurer, and on the sand. Her business caters to a number of different types of people who and what they are looking for.

Services

As a gladiatorial training ground Geshwin, or one of her trainers, offer lessons in combat styles and techniques. Between them there are very few styles, techniques, or weapons they do not know. Their training can be useful for adventures, would be gladiators, or typical city residents.

There are almost always a couple adventurers, or would be adventurers, training at The Flesh Golem. Because there are usually people training here Geshwin has contacts with a number of adventuring companies and mercenary guilds. With her contacts, she is also able to direct people to those who may be interested in hiring their particular talents.

For city residents the training is useful for personal safety and for advancing one's career. A number of personal guards are regularly sent to train at The Flesh Golem by members of the affluent. These men and women are trained in how to provide safety to their client. Freelance warriors and others who rely on their martial skills also are regular customers at the training grounds.

Self-defense is also taught to those who desire a basic understanding of protecting themselves. This training is not as involved in mastering a weapon, but in how to limit the attack until a body guard or city patrol can provide help. The techniques taught are simpler maneuvers of incapacitation and escapes from holds.

Full combat training at The Flesh Golem is harsh, but no non-slave gladiators have ever died in training. A person taking fighting lessons will most likely get hurt. Geshwin believes a fighter will get hurt, and most likely die, in a fight. Therefore, getting a person used to the idea of what it means to get hurt and to get beaten in a fight is the only way anyone can become a better fighter.

Additionally, fighting skills are taught at a much more intense level to slaves destined for the fighting sands of the arena. The fight trainers working for Geshwin work with the gladiators, allowing Geshwin to work with the paying clientele. This training is provided for the property Geshwin owns and to those others have hired her to train.

There are more injuries and a higher level of intensity to the training for gladiators. Geshwin knows the ring holds death, even when the fights are not scheduled to be deadly. The slaves are trained to be able to survive the situations that can arise in the arena. Most of these fighters are trained in techniques designed for one-on-one combat and small party fights.

Gladiator combats are usually performed by slaves, but there are times when the celebration requires additional participants. The rules of the city arena require free-lance gladiators to have fulfilled some level of evaluation of skill at one of the training schools. The Flesh Golem provides this service for the city. Before an untested person can enter the city arena one of the senior trainers watch the fighter to rank their ability to allow for solid pairings in the arena.

The final service The Flesh Golem provides is an auction block. Slavery in the city can be dictated by the government as a means of paying for crimes committed, most of these people are prisoners of the state and are put on work crews, but there are a few times they are sold into the service of others. This is usually done when the individual has a skill making them more valuable on the block than as menial labor.

Along with those dictated by the state people can sell themselves or their children into slavery. This indentured servitude is one way people allow for additional benefits in their own life, or for someone else.

All terms of slavery are for a specified period of time. A person can buy their way out of slavery, but the price is determined by the owner.

Description

The reason The Flesh Golem is located at the edge of the city is because of its size. Along with a training area that is gated for the slaves there are several other training areas for paying clients. Most of the areas are walled with rough wood to provide privacy for those who want it. The main house is for Geshwin, her trainers, and her house retinue which consists of slaves and hired help. There are a couple of low, long buildings housing the training gladiators, attached to a common area for them.

The training areas are designed to provide individual practice areas and group areas. The weapons are practice weapons, wood and blunt. There are also training areas for building stamina and strength. The gladiators in training spend most of their time in one of these areas.

The brick and stone main house is well furnished and taken care of. A person visiting Geshwin will note her home is clean with a lot of open space. The furniture is comfortable and practicable. There is very little in the furnishings that would be classified as art. Instead of art there are weapon displays throughout. Within the displays are functional weapons that Geshwin and her trainers are knowledgeable of. Each trainer has a private room and Geshwin maintains a suite of rooms as her private quarters. The live-in house servants also have their own rooms, albeit smaller ones, which includes the trusted slaves.

The wood gladiator/slave quarters are also designed to allow one person per room. Gladiators who have been successful also have been allowed to provide some of their own furnishings. Some have even been given larger rooms.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstGmng).

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Thanks a (five) million!

The PDE blog has this week just tipped over five million views.

I started it in November 2010 with the following message:

I should have got this blog up and running when Pedigree Dogs Exposed was first broadcast in August 2008. Guess I hoped there wouldn't be a need... And anyway, I fully expected to have moved on to pastures new by now...  

It is now more than two years since PDE. I could never have guessed that the film's subject would have turned into such an ongoing passion. But passion it is, along with running Black Retriever X Rescue and living with my own dogs - trying not to count but there appears to be at least seven of 'em at the moment, plus two fosters. 

Inherited disorders and welfare issues related to conformation affect millions of dogs all over the world and much of the problem is due to an antiquated breeding paradigm promoted by a kennel club system founded in England and exported to more than 100 countries. The price is paid by the dogs who suffer unnecessarily and by their owners seduced by a certain look unaware of the welfare cost that often comes with it.

Almost six years and 600 posts on, the blog is more popular than ever - with well over a million hits this year already (due in no small part to the fuss over the German Shepherd at Crufts this year. The post showing the footage that the KC had edited out of the Channel 4 broadcast is now the most popular post of all time, including garnering 250,000 page views in a single day. (Links to all the most popular posts are in the sidebar on the right).

The blog is still most popular in the UK, followed by the US, Canada, Germany and Finland.

As I hope most people realise, the blog is a labour of love. I am not paid to write it and continue to refuse any offers to "monetise" it. 

I write it because I hope and believe it is effective in drawing attention to specific issues and in galvanising those who are in a position to effect change.

Thanks to PDE (the films and this blog) there is a great deal more awareness of the problems and a large community of researchers, welfare bodies and vets focusing on them - absolutely key to drive through reforms.

Today, we have a Kennel Club that acknowledges that inbreeding is an issue and has given breeders tools to tackle it - something that was unthinkable before Pedigree Dogs Exposed when first-degree relative matings were considered acceptable and there was zero awareness that breeding profligately from one top-winning sire might be a bad thing to do.

Today, we have a Kennel Club that is much more aware of phenotypic excess and has taken steps to address them (and quite big steps recently in respect of the German Shepherd).

But we still don't have a Kennel Club that acts without outside pressure. Oh how I long for the day when the KC issues a release saying it is taking action on a particular breed because an internal review has revealed a specific problem. I know there are people at the Kennel Club who would like to be more proactive, but sadly they are often thwarted by those at the top, where the batten-down-the-hatches mode prevails.  

I had a good laugh this morning at a BBC report highlighting vets' concerns about flat-faced (brachycephalic breeds).  It contained this gem:

Sean Wensley, President of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) said: "Prospective owners need to consider that these dogs can suffer from a range of health problems, from eye ulcers to severe breathing difficulties." 

"We strongly encourage people to choose a healthier breed or a crossbreed instead." 

The BVA’s warning has been backed by the PDSA, Royal Veterinary College, RSPCA and the Kennel Club.

Almost blogged it with the title: "KC urges puppy buyers to avoid Pugs, Frenchies and Bulldogs; choose a healthier breed or a crossbreed instead".

Of course it's just bad wording by the journalist who doesn't realise that the Kennel Club would never tell people to avoid a breed - or buy a crossbreed - on health grounds.

I hope the KC will find it too embarrassing to demand a change.

In fact, the BBC piece does go on to include this frustratingly-predictable (and somewhat garbled) deflection from Caroline Kisko:

Caroline Kisko, the Kennel Club secretary, said: "The breed standards were set many years ago. If you look back through history there are some dire things that went on, and undoubtedly we would accept all responsibility for that." 

"But I would say that in the here-and-now, after all of the changes to the standards that were made in 2009, we would expect dogs to be far healthier if they are winning prizes at dogs shows."

Mrs Kisko said the problems with brachycephalic dogs were being perpetuated in the main by disreputable puppy farms. 

She said: "If we continue to allow dogs to be brought in from central and eastern Europe where there is no concern for how these dogs are bred, it is inevitable that pet owners will end up with dogs they can't deal with." 

"These are breeds which aren't hugely suited to pet homes. If you want a pet that will run around and chase a ball and so on, don't go out and buy any short-faced breed based on what celebrities are walking around with under their arm."

And this is why I continue to give up time I don't really have to write the PDE blog. General journalists simply don't have the time or the interest to dig beyond the deflection and easy reassurances uttered by the Kennel Club.

• It is, of course, in the show-ring that you will find the very flattest of faces. In fact, show dogs' faces are flatter now than they ever have been as a direct result of show-ring selection and the pursuit of prize-winning rosettes.  It is important to not be in any doubt about that.

• The KC continues to resist the introduction of minimum muzzle lengths into their standards.

• The standards still include demands that are counter to good health.

And then there's the small matter that all the recent surveys looking in detail at the health cost of having a flat face have been of of KC-registered dogs.  These studies agree that at least half of all Pugs, Frenchies and Bulldogs struggle to breathe (and some have put it a great deal higher than that). Remember, too, that this is looking at just one consequence of being brachycephalic. There are many others, including eye, oral, dental, mating and whelping issues.

Bottom line... Kennel Club-registered dogs are still being bred and shown under the auspices of the Kennel Club in a way that perpetuates suffering for many breeds - and which, unless things change, will lead to their extinction.

At the end of the day, that's what this blog is about.

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RPG Location Backstory—Building from the Beginning

From Unepic

As I was getting deeper in to the articles on world building a warning kept popping up in the back of my mind. So I am going to touch on that first, then continue with some ideas of how to build a backstory for locations.

What I am presenting are ideas you can use, or not. For me the larger the backstory I have, the easier it is to know what will happen in an unscripted situation. Whatever notes, changes, and additions I make during play are incorporated with what was already created and everything grows over time.

I also only have rough notes about areas not yet important to the campaign. Don't feel you have to do everything before you can start gaming. Your players will help guide you to what they feel are important parts of the setting, then you work on those areas. The notes are for you. And not everyone needs to know everything about your world—I don't think there is anyone alive now who knows everything about our world.

Back to building.

The location has been determined for the town, city, or castle. You know why the location was originally chosen to be settled. Now, you are working on how to take that place and advance it forward in time to the setting you want to be using. The place might have grown, it might be the same size, it might have even gotten smaller. This is a consideration for developing a location in a role-playing game (RPG), especially when you want this area to be a focal point in a campaign. So, where do you start to determine the changes from the beginning to the now?

Remember why the location was originally chosen. Almost always the main reason why a location was settled remains a reason why it has continued, or changed over time. The camp area at the crossroads started out as a place to stay by the caravans because they could meet other caravans, trade, and take goods to the markets they are more familiar with. This would save the caravans time and money on their travels. Other travelers start using the campgrounds because they know it is a place to be able to buy and sell. After a while an inn is built, nicer rooms, already cooked food, and a place to corral the animals. After that a blacksmith sets up shop, followed by a general merchandise store. And, a town is growing.

This has happened all over our world in basically the same way. This is a pattern that easily repeats itself. The types of settlers in the area might vary from one location to another depending on who the major travelers are and why they are traveling through an area.

There might be limit or no growth in the area. If the resource that brought the original settlers are limited, then more competition for the resource leads to people leaving—either some or all. If an area is unable to support the growth in the original resource, then there needs to be another reason the location would grow. If the location is short on the resources to keep a community at its current size, then the supplies needed must be imported. Rome was importing a large amount of food on a daily basis and built harbors just for that reason. To give a better understanding, I found a report on food imported for the New York City area. It was estimated in 2002 that 300,000 thousand (300,000,000) tons of food were imported.

There are usually other means of dealing with limitations. When you are dealing with historical situations you are limited in what was real for the time. However, when you are dealing with a fantasy setting there are usually other means of dealing with limitations. You can use these means to address the limitations, magic can cover a lot of ground.

Growth also brings other resources to an area. Our little crossroads is growing because there is an influx of money and people like to spend their money to improve their place in life. If a desire for something arises, you can plan on someone coming up with a way to fill the need. These changes will influence the growth of the area. For example, along with the inn and the blacksmith our crossroads intrigues a free farmer who sees the opportunity of growing alfalfa a short distance away by the river. Now the caravans have a place to replenish their feed and part of the countryside is being changed to fit the needs of the people living there.

You can also work this process backwards. In my large gaming city I know what I have in the present and slowly have been filling in the city's history with how one thing or another came into place. The more backstory information you have the fuller the feel of the location, but it is not an absolute.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstGmng).

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RPG Location Backstories--Context in the Larger Physical Setting

Questions about developing a cultural backstory were presented to me. How did I come up with some of the ideas I use in developing my city and other settings I use in my role-playing games (RPGs). What they were looking for ways of going beyond the charts presented in the books they were using, which provide the skeleton of information. They wanted to flesh out their work to provide a setting their players could have more interaction in and with. Our discussion has been more involved than what can be comfortably covered in a single article, so I am breaking it up into separate subtopics.

This is world building, even if it is only on the scale of a city or a town. I am sure everyone reading this understands that. The reason I am saying it is to make sure we are all talking from the same point of view, because this applies when creating for a story, or for an RPG. This is also something to remember when creating because you need to understand how your creation fits into the larger scale. The society, kingdom, city, town, anything, you are developing fits into a larger picture, even when no one else sees what that grander scene is. This helps in maintaining a continuity of what you develop now and allows for easier expansion later.

The location where people settle was selected for a reason. Historically, many locations in our world were selected for a specific reason or a combination of things making it even more desirable. Some examples are where trade routes crossed, where water was available, where salt was available, or some other resource that society considered valuable.  There are also a number of towns that were started because they provided a central location for groups like farmers and ranchers. Still, other locations were developed because of their defensibility or for their religious importance. Each of these are reasons that fit into a greater picture—food, shelter, accessibility, defense, religion. One way to see how this process works, or not, is through reading.

You may have read books, or maps, people created where there were locations that had no reason for being there. Those types of locations make it harder to follow the story. Even with dealing with a fantasy setting, we have a logical part of our thinking that is constantly looking for patterns. When a place is presented that doesn't fit into a pattern we notice something is wrong, even if we don't know what the problem is. You probably have books you enjoy because there are patterns below the story, supporting it, through the world building the author has done. These great authors go a step further in developing places from the past.

People don't continue to congregate in a location if there is no reason to be there. There might be some lone prospector or a gang of desperados living in the ghost town, but there is a reason it became a ghost town. When the desirability of the location is lost, most people move on. On the reverse, as long as the desirability can support more the town develops into something bigger. This process happens naturally in our societies, but as a creator you have options.

When you are building a world from scratch you have the ability to place the locations based on how you design your world. If you want a port city, you can create a location with a good port and probably access to a navigable river. You might have a location based on the resources available to the people who live in a location. Another place might develop where major trade routes cross, giving access to a lot of trade goods and people. Another place is the oasis where the caravans stop. Finding a simple, logical, reason for the location is all that is needed to start a development.

You can also build the geological world and develop up from there. Many years ago our group had a shared world that several different game masters (GMs) took control over our own section. We started with a map with only geological features, there were no listed places of habitation. We each then decided where, in our section of the world, the towns and cities were located, but we did this as a group so there was some understanding of interactions. Many of the places were selected based on what we have discussed that made sense. Some of the reasoning was done in reverse order—there is this place in the middle of the mountains, but why?

You can also use existing maps (topographical ones can work well for this). You can start with a map showing the terrain and add in the places of habitation. By applying the same reasoning as above you can find the places best suited to having someone living there. I ran a series of adventures using a map of Nevada and it wasn't until later in the campaign that players recognized where their characters were.

This same principle can be applied in settings where ruins are a major part of the adventuring (fantasy). The connectivity can be established by having a reason for why the place developed where it did. Then, why it was abandoned. There are plenty of examples around our own world providing examples. You don't have to have anything elaborate, but having something gives a stronger feel to the adventuring area. The reasons might not even seem legitimate to some of the players because they will be dealing with foreign concepts.

Different races are going to hold resources at varying levels of importance. You might not be populating your world with the typical fantasy races, or the slew of races portrayed in some science fiction settings. You might have a world populated by one race, like what we live in. Cultural differences, however, have always affected what populations do. Those differences reflect in where the people settle, and how they live in those areas.

Any location, living or dead, has a reason for why it is or was there. Archeology, anthropology, and other academic fields look for the reasons and how people interact(ed) with the causes to have the societies develop when and where they did.

You can create unique and interesting places around your world. That is one factor making RPGs interesting to play—you are exploring differences you would never be able to do in real life. The links to the players' reality allows for the jump into the characters' reality to happen much easier and helps to avoid some of those confrontations of "that's not right."

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstGmng).

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Ivan the terrible

***UPDATE 15/9/16***

If you cannot see the photos of Ivan below it's because they were embedded from Ivan's owner's Flickr album. M. Faucheron has now exercised his right to remove them at his end so they will no longer show. 

If you missed them, they showed a "hyper-type" harlequin Great Dane with severe ectropion.

Just in case there is any doubt about how bad this dog's eyes are/were, here is the opinion of one of the UK's most senior veterinary ophthalmologists.

"There is marked lower eyelid ectropion and the dog would benefit from surgery (most  simply as shortening of the lower lids). This dog will not be able to blink effectively and all kinds of rubbish collects in the ventral fornix, so chronic conjunctivitis is also a feature. 

"Great Danes generally have rather poor eyelid anatomy and just look at all the loose skin elsewhere which gives a clue as to why they are so likely to have conformational eyelid abnormalities."

Et pour nos amis français (this dog's breeder is threatening to sue me for defamation - see comments section below):

"Il est marqué ectropion de la paupière inférieure et le chien bénéficieraient de la chirurgie (plus simplement comme le raccourcissement des paupières inférieures). Ce chien ne sera pas en mesure de clignoter efficacement et toutes sortes de collectes d'ordures dans le fornix ventral, la conjonctivite donc chronique est également une caractéristique. 

"Les déformations des paupières graves sont celles associées avec soi-disant 'Diamond Eye', car cela provoque à la fois ectropion et entropion. 

"Dogue Allemands ont en général assez pauvre anatomie de la paupière et il suffit de regarder toute la peau lâche ailleurs ce qui donne un indice quant à la raison pour laquelle ils sont si susceptibles d'avoir des anomalies de la paupière conformationnels."

(PS if the pix still show it is because you have visited before and your browser has cached them.)

The above picture is one of the first in a series of photographs by French Great Dane owner Arnaud Faucheron. The dog's name is Ivan de la Grisonniere (from a famous French show kennel) and the pictures below follow him from two months to about three years old.

That this dog is loved and has an amazing life in a beautiful part of the world shines through in these pictures - as does Ivan's spirit.   But of course, it is overshadowed by how head-shakingly awful it is that anyone could think it was a good idea to breed a dog that looks like this.

The tragedy is that there are thousands of dogs like Ivan (and some even worse) being bred, shown and sold in Europe, where the "hyper-type" predominates.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see how you can help stop this.

There is a petition calling for urgent action on the Great Dane.  You can find it here.

Please, please sign it - and share this post as widely as possible. 

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The Cult of The New—Game

Our culture relies on the desires of people to have the latest, greatest, next best thing—the cult of the new. We like to have the next thing available to share (and to show off) to our friends and family. It's an ego stroke helping us show we are achieving our goals, moving forward, and doing something with our lives.

These don't have to be big things.  And, as gamers we do this. We share a new board game, and role-playing game (RPG) source book, the new card we found to flesh out our deck, or even a new set of dice. We come together in the sharing of the new. We create competition for finding the new so we can be the first to show it off. We also do this in finding out information, "Have you heard about..."

Conventions are great places for finding the new. Here is a place that the developers, companies and independents, are sharing their latest and greatest releases. They are pumping up interest in the games they have. They are willing to teach games so you can take them home to your friends and family and share them further. There are also suppliers of supporting material like dice, boxes, and art. All of these creating a new experience at the convention. A new experience for you to bring new people with you the next time.

Having the new is a great drive for innovation. If no one went looking for the new, nothing new would be created. We would still be playing what? Mancala? Hounds and Jackals? But, they were even new at some point in the past. As gamers we push our developers to come up with new ideas, new twists, new stuff. Those of us who are developers of games, writing, art—to me these are all different art forms—respond with enthusiasm for coming up with something new and unique.

Every year there are so many new things being created there is no way for a single person to keep up with it. How many new games can we gather onto our shelves, then spread out on the table. I know I would like to spend a lot more time playing the games I want to play, and writing about what I would like to write about. However, I have my job, my family, and my other responsibilities. I can't take the time out to do all of that (yet). I also can't afford to buy all of those games. Then there is learning the new games.

I have a great gaming group that likes to play all types of games. We introduce new games to the table on a regular basis. Even then, there are games we have that have been purchased and not yet played. There is the time needed to learn the games. And, some games take a long time to play. Choices have to be made of what we are going to play and when because there are times when we know we can't break out the game that sounds most interesting for the session. We have even talked about setting aside a specified session just for playing new games.

Learning a new game requires a different level of attention. There are new rules to digest. They might be like something else, but they are new to this game, this setting, this strategy. If they weren't, it wasn't a new game and we might as well go back to the one we were playing before that we enjoy.

Which brings me to the flip side of the new, the old. Having a set of games you can go back to has a comforting level of enjoyment. Recently a couple of my gaming group and I got together for a short evening of entertainment. It was a Friday night after a long week for all of us. We were going to play a game, but we were really there in providing a level of social support and relaxation. We decided instead of jumping into a new game we would play something we were all familiar with.

Older games provide a level of familiarity that allows for more social interaction. After a long week devoted to the day jobs we wanted to slip into something comfortable. The game everyone is familiar with allows that comfort in not needing to think about if the rule is being applied right, or what does that emblem mean. It means everyone can help set up because everyone knows where everything goes to start. It means that a break in the game for socializing doesn't intrude (as much) into the game play because everyone knows what needs to happen next. Older games are comfortable.

Mix it up. Bring out the new game you are interested in, ones you know the rest of your group might like if they would try it. Or, break out something you have really no knowledge in and give it a go. Then at another time break out the familiar, where people have their desired strategies, shared knowledge of the rules (and house rules). Both can provide a level of intensity if you are looking for competition. Both provide for socializing and having fun.

The cult of the new runs deep. It's not going away and I'm glad of that. There are always new things to discover, learn, and share. There will be experiences to be had, even when experiencing something old anew.

Break out a game and invite over some friends.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstGmng).

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UC Davis challenge: prove your Bulldog is healthy and we'll diversity-test for free

The Bulldog world has gone tonto following the publication last month of a study from a team at UC Davis which found that there was so little diversity in Bulldogs (or English Bulldogs as they're usually called outside of the UK) that there was little hope of being able to improve the breed.

On social media, the comment above is about par for the course. In case it needs to be said, it is also at best untrue and at worst defamatory. Professor Pedersen and the team at the UC Davis VGL Laboratory are leading researchers in the field. The paper was published in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology (a journal in fact financially supported by the Kennel Club ).

In truth, the paper was wincingly blunt about the extent of health issues in the breed:

The health problems of the English bulldog have been well documented and start with conception, fetal development and parturition. Severe conformational changes have necessitated a high rate of artificial insemination and Caesarean sections and litter sizes tend to be small. The breed ranks second in congenital disease and associated puppy mortality, due mainly to birth defects such as flat chests with splayed legs; anasarca (water babies) and cleft palate.  Although some English bulldogs enjoy reasonable health, their longevity is definitely affected by the degree of conformational change and inbreeding, which is reflected by lifespan estimates ranging from 3.2 to 11.3 years with a median of 8.4 years.  Individuals requiring extensive veterinary care at a young age rarely live beyond 5–6 years of age, leading to a bimodal mortality curve for the breed. 

The brachycephalic syndrome is a leading cause of ill- health and death in the breed. However, the syndrome is not caused by brachycephaly per se, as brachycephalic breeds such as the boxer do not suffer the syndrome to the same degree. The bulldog tongue is excessively large at the base, the palate is large and easily obstructed by the base of the tongue, the lower jaw is pushed forward (prognathous), and the nares are frequently stenotic and the trachea hypoplastic. This leads to loud panting during physical exercise, stridor during rest and slobbering; sleep apnea, hypercapnia and hypochloremia/hypomagnesemia; exercise intolerance, cyanosis and collapse; and choking fits manifested by gagging, retching, vomiting, aerophagia/ flatulence and aspiration pneumonia. The breathing difficulties of English bulldogs also make them very sensitive to overheating and heat stroke.

Chondrodysplasia, a heritable skeletal disorder that has been incorporated into the phenotype of many dog breeds, predisposes English bulldogs to skeletal disorders such as hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, luxating patella and shoulders, intervertebral disk disease, cruciate ligament rupture, hemivertebra, torsional pelvic deformity and problems with normal copulation and parturition. Prognathism predisposes to dental disease, while excessive folding of the skin, especially on the face, is associated with skin fold dermatitis, muzzle acne, folliculitis, furunculosis, and eye conditions such as entropion, ectropion, and eversion of the third eyelid. The cork-screw tail can result in tail fold dermatitis. Other heritable conditions that are related to loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding include cataract, various heart valve defects including pulmonic stenosis, hydrocephalus, cysteine urolithiasis, and hiatal hernias; immunologic disorders that include a propensity for severe demodectic mange indicative of immunodeficiency, allergies associated with atopic dermatitis and ear infections, and autoimmune diseases such as hypothyroidism; and cancers including glioblastoma, mast cell sarcoma and lymphoma. Although the bond and affection between English bulldogs and their owners is strong, the cost of treating health problems is often prohibitive and many of them end up in shelters or euthanized. 

Now, in response to the widespread upset from Bulldog lovers, UC Davis has posted a challenge on the university's website:

We believe that this paper accurately portrayed the current genetic and health problems of the breed, but we did mention that there was still phenotypic variability among bulldogs and that there are bulldogs that breathe freely, move freely, reproduce naturally, and that are free from skin and eye problems, allergies and other immunologic disorders. We did state, however, that it might be difficult to find a single dog that met all of these criteria.  

Therefore, we are offering a challenge to bulldog breeders and owners from around the world to provide us with proof that their dog is a purebred (registered) English bulldog and to include a narrative and photographs/videos that supports their health status.  Please email us at: healthybulldogs@vgl.ucdavis.edu with this information and if we feel that this is indeed a dog that meets the criteria listed above, our Veterinary Genetics Laboratory will provide you free of cost with a DNA collection kit and from this a genetic profile of your dog that can be compared with the information provided in our genetic assessment paper.   

We will also add genetic information from your dog to our genetic profile database for the English bulldog. Hopefully, this information will allow us to identify a genetic profile that is conducive to greater health. We may share your information online, but like the email alone any personal information regarding the owner, the dog and the breeder will be either redacted or changed.  We do not make personal information public. 

The UC Davis team says the impetus for the challenge came from an email from a Bulldog owner who sent them these pictures of their Bulldog 'Spike' (born and registered in India but now living in the UK).

Spike, said his owner, is as an active, healthy dog who loves to play. They admit he doesn't have the widest nostrils and that he snores a bit,  but overall reckon he's fit as a fiddle. He's certainly lovely and lean - always good to see in Bulldogs. And I'd agree that Spike looks good for a Bulldog - although I don't think he'd be considered show material (he is not undershot enough and he doesn't have the correct 'layback').

You can read the whole of the UC Davis statement/challenge here.

Bottom line, I do have some sympathy with the Bulldog folk on this one.  I do think there is a bit of wiggle room in the UC Davis paper.

Here's why:

The study drew its conclusions after studying DNA samples from 139 Bulldogs in total.

• 37 DNA samples were collected from dogs submitted for various diagnostic tests at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospitals (ranging from breathing, eye, skin and joint disorders to cancer)

• 102 DNA samples came from dogs submitted mainly to test for for coat colour or HUU (hyperuricosoria) (i.e. the tests done by breeders before breeding so presumed healthy). 87 were from the USA, six from Finland, three each from Canada and Austria and one each from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Argentina.

Now that's a reasonable spread and the researchers found almost no discernible difference between them, hence their conclusions. But of course there were no dogs, for instance, from the breed's country of origin (UK). There has also been concern expressed by some Bulldog breeders that the coat-colour samples represent "colour" breeders who they think are more likely to inbreed (ergo less diverse) and thus are not representative of "responsible" breeders.

Of course, there were dogs being tested for HUU too (a sign of a "responsible" breeder) too and I would be surprised if colour-bred dogs are more inbred that your average show-bred Bulldog. But it's fair enough to question it.

So Bulldog owners... please do rise to the challenge!

I also think it would be a great idea for Bulldog owners in general to get together to send in more DNA samples  - and not least because the current price of just $50 a dog (around £37) per dog is a bargain.

If nothing else, wouldn't proving the UC Davis team wrong be worth it? Even if they're right and you're wrong, you'd still get useful diversity info about your dog - a tool that many breeders in other breeds are now using to breed better dogs.

More info here...

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Kennel Club identifies "priority" breeds for new conservations plans

The KC has finally released more information about its new breed health and conservation plans (BHCPs).

The plans will, it claims, take a "holistic" approach, embracing genetic issues, conformation concerns and population genetics.

As revealed in today's Dog World (see here):

"To help determine the impact and importance of the health concerns in each breed, a number of evidence-based criteria will be used. Each health concern identified will be assessed and prioritised, based on welfare implications, proportion of the breed affected and likelihood of the concern getting worse in the future. The bespoke nature of these breed-specific health plans will include monitoring and review, to ensure they are up-to-date and remain relevant."

The KC has identified the following as its "priority" breeds for 2017:


Basset Hound

Bloodhound

Bulldog

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Chow Chow

Clumber Spaniel

Dogue de Bordeaux

English Setter

French Bulldog

German Shepherd Dog

Mastiff

Neapolitan Mastiff

Otterhound

Pekingese

Pug

Shar-Pei

St Bernard
This comprises all 11 Category 3 breeds (defined as "Breeds where some dogs have visible conditions or exaggerations that can cause pain or discomfort") and six others that regularly feature on this blog. 

I am, of course, delighted that the Kennel Club has seen fit to take my advice regarding the introduction of conservation plans  - as I proposed in this post just over five years ago.

The devil, however, will be in the detail....and also key will be how influential the breed health co-ordinators will be allowed to be. As the KC says:

"Breed Health co-ordinators will continue to be central collaborators in the identification of health concerns and risks."

Unfortunately,  many reading this will know that while there are some decent health reps others are abysmal, essentially seeing their  role as defenders of the status quo. 

Most of the BHCs for the above breeds would fiercely oppose any meaningful changes to the breed standard or any proposals to outcross (outside of the breed) to inject some much-needed genetic diversity - with one or two exceptions perhaps.  Three of these breeds have seen outcrosses - the Clumber to a Cocker (the descendants of which are now being shown in the UK); the Bloodhound and Otterhound to non-registered working dogs.  All have caused a fuss, though.

The KC, however, maintains that the project will involve collaboration across a broad spectrum of stakeholders including breed clubs and the veterinary and research community so hopefully it won't be possible for an in-denial BHC to have too much influence.

In fact, the Dog World article includes this: 

The KC has asked for any health information you have collected through health surveys or health schemes. This can be e-mailed to mateselect@thekennelclub.org.uk.

I am pretty sure that's aimed at the Breed Health Co-Ordinators, but I would urge anyone with useful observations/research about genetic, conformation or diversity concerns in any breed (not just the ones listed above) to take this opportunity to contact the Kennel Club, with "BHCP - [breed]" in the subject line. That should ensure they are included when the discussions start in earnest.

It would also be a good idea to forward relevant papers as I am astonished at how often breeders appear to have never heard of key health surveys/published research on their breed.

That address again: mateselect@thekennelclub.org.uk

Please feel free to copy/blind-copy in on any emails you send to the Kennel Club.  I am very happy to act as a back-up repository of breed-specific information -  in complete confidence of course unless mutually agreed otherwise. 

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Cavalier challenge exposes fundamental flaws

Want me tomorrow? Order by 4pm

Dog World columnist Sheila Atter tackles health-testing in this week's issue (see here), broadly supporting cavalier campaigners' demand for an official heart-testing scheme for the breed.

She writes:

Many of us have been urging the formalisation of heart testing for many years. There is already a panel of recognised cardiologists and several breed clubs make use of their services, so it really can’t be too difficult to regularise this can it?

But Sheila has infuriated the campaigners by her lack of enthusiasm for a mandatory testing for the breed's other big problem: syringomyelia:

The problem with syringomyelia is far more complicated, not least because the geneticists can’t really come up with an accurate explanation of the mode of inheritance of the condition. There are many breeders who have been scanning for years, and still cannot predict with 100 per cent confidence whether their pups will be SM free. 

Instead of haranguing all Cavalier breeders – and in particular those who show their dogs – critics such as Emma Milne would do more good by throwing their support behind those breeders who are health testing, nearly always the same it’s show breeders who get all the flak. If the general public were continually urged to steer clear of unregistered puppies, virtually none of which come from health tested parents, some progress might be made.

It has prompted a sharp response from cavalier owner and campaigner Charlotte Mackaness, who has posted in the Comments section:

I read with alarm the suggestion that testing for Syringomyelia was somehow less pressing because of the condition’s complex inheritance. Just like MVD, SM is polygenic with no simple test that can give a guarantee puppies will be unaffected but studies have shown that their chances are greater if their parents are clear. Surely this makes scanning worthwhile because doing something to improve the odds is better than doing nothing at all and simply hoping for the best? Playing that kind of Russian roulette is morally indefensible. 

In my book, any Cavalier breeder who truly has the breed’s future and well-being at heart is scanning and putting the results through the official scheme so, even if for no other reason, researchers have more information with which to learn about SM and the KC may stand some chance of establishing Estimated Breeding Values. 

Ms Mackaness then goes on to tackle Sheila's assertion that the consumer must take some of the blame for buying puppies from untested parents:

Undoubtedly the consumer wields a great deal of power but finding a puppy from properly health tested parents can be a difficult task for even the best-informed and patient of puppy buyers. While many breeders and breed clubs talk a good game when it comes to health, my experience is that very, very few walk the walk.  

And she issues this challenge:

I wonder whether you could find 10 litters registered within the last 12 months bred following the MVD protocol (heart tested clear at 30 months or older with parents aged at least five and heart clear), eye tested, DNA tested and with BOTH parents complying with the MRI breeding guidelines?

I appreciate this might be quite a task given the absence of an official heart scheme and so few MRI scans going through the official CM/SM scheme but it might also lend an appreciation of the barriers and difficulties facing puppy buyers. Perhaps starting with Cavalier Club committee members might save some time as it would be sensible to assume that such people follow the highest possible standards when breeding.

Well, I'll happily save Ms Atter some time in telling her that it is impossible - Cavalier breeders at the very highest level are simply not complying - in no small part because they don't have to.

But the challenge raises a really key issue. We need to make it a whole heap easier for consumers to buy better dogs. Currently, we are asking them to do way too much work - ridiculous in an age where we can order a fridge off the internet with the full expectation that it will work and that we can secure redress if it doesn't.

We've got to stop being disappointed with consumers for not doing the research and opting for instant fixes like the one offered by the peddlers of the puppy in the pic above.

 My suggestions:

• a centralised resource,  offered ideally by the Kennel Club,  where puppy buyers can:

- review best practice for that breed
- see the compliance to this best practice for every litter advertised on the KC's website

• every puppy to be sold with a 2-yr warranty (extendible at the buyer's expense) against preventible genetic defects. Plain and simple and an added value something every consumer would understand.

• speed up the puppy-buying process so that people are not being asked to wait for weeks for a new dog.

• customer reviews: we do this for absolutely everything these days: hotels; sellers on eBay; goods on Amazon. 

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Kirby: Planet Robobot Review

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Publisher: Nintendo Developer: HAL Laboratory Platform: 3DS Players: 1 (Story, Arena, MKR, K3DR), 1-4 (TKC) Release: 2016 Genre: 2D Platformer / Action Rating: 8.7 \ 10: Fantastic

Above is Kirby battling a boss in the Robobot armor.

Kirby: Planet Robobot isn't a particularly unique game. It doesn't do much to differentiate itself from its predecessoors, but it does surpass the games that came before it in one way: It manages to be one of the most consistently fun platformers I've played in quite awhile. If you're in search of a deep plot, you'll want to avoid a large number of Nintendo games, but there is a tad bit more complexity here than in previous Kirby titles; Everything is well and good on Kirby's homeworld Pop Star until a fleet of alien ships arrive and start to industrialize the entire planet. Unsurprisingly, it's up to Kirby to defeat the head of this operation and restore peace to Pop Star.

Gameplay wise, Planet Robobot is hardly distinguishable from Triple Deluxe before it. As you might expect, the game plays like a combination of Kirby's Adventure and Kirby Super Star with a few neat twists including new copy abilities, creative sequences where you jump between the foreground and background of a level (just like Triple Deluxe), and the all new Robobot armor. This powerful suit doesn't appear in every stage, but when it does, it's an absolute blast to use. Just like Kirby, the armor is able to scan enemies and absorb their abilities, making the machine practically unstoppable. These power trip sections are in my opinion more fun then the Hypernova and Super Ability sections from previous games in the series due to armor abilities which add a lot for variety and a larger number of puzzles and increased interactivity. Wreaking havoc with the aforementioned power ups in the previous games was fun, but you often caused all the destruction with very little input and mostly watched the chaos unfold. With the Robobot suit, overcoming the obstacles that lie before you hardly ever involves simply holding down a button or watching a cutscene unfold life before. Whether or not you're using the Robobot, the levels are as entertaining and creatively designed as ever.

As I said before, KPR includes some fun new Copy abilities. These include Doctor, which equips Kirby with deadly pills and syringes (Rated E for Everyone!); ESP, an ability inspired by Ness from Earthbound which enables you to control a deadly ball of energy using telekinesis; and my personal favorite, Poison, which grants you the power to spew and surf on lethal purple liquid and breathe out small toxic clouds. While these new abilities are great, two of my favorites from Triple Deluxe, Beetle and Bell, have sadly not returned.

Presentation wise, this is easily one of the strongest games in the franchise. Industrial-themed areas usually look incredibly dull, but Planet Robobot uses this theme to its advantage by adding adorable cyborg enemies and colorful areas amidst the metal and machines, making for a game that looks fantastic by 3DS standards. It's also well worth mentioning that Robobot easily has one of the best soundtracks in the series so far, which is quite a feat. The score features tons of catchy new tunes that span a decent number of genres, as well as plenty of excellent rearrangements of old fan favorites. The references to the series's past don't appear exclusively in the music, either -- there are also numerous references to Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby Super Star which I won't spoil here which are sure to bring a grin to the faces of longtime fans.

In addition to the main story, the game also features a few other modes that can be unlocked. The first of these is Team Kirby Clash, a co-op RPG-lite mode in which you battle bosses using one of four Copy abilities with a team of AI or human-controlled Kirbys. While the mode is plenty of fun, the progression is shallow, and there isn't much replay value. Next up is Kirby 3D Rumble, a brief but entertaining top-down sub-game where you rack up combos by defeating enemies without taking damage. Two more modes are unlocked upon completing the adventure: The Arena and Meta Knight's Revenge. The Arena has barely changed at all since its previous iterations; You select your favorite Copy Ability and face every boss in the game with limited health items to use in between. In the Meta Knight's Revenge, you play through the main game as Kirby's frienemy Meta Knight. The prospect of playing through the game of the iconic antihero is made is better by the inclusion of several powerful moves that can be unleashed by collecting M-shaped coins.

As much as I enjoyed this game, there are a few issues that must be addressed. While the game runs at a very smooth 60 frames per second most of the time, I occasionally experienced brief slowdown (I played the game on both the original 3DS, and the New 3DS and there were no differences in performance despite the faster processor of the newer system). I was also mildly disappointed by how similar the game was to Triple Deluxe (as great as that game was), and it doesn't always feel like its own unique title.

Regardless of these minor issues, I highly recommend that any 3DS add this title to their library. It may not be very different from its predecessors, but any fan of the Kirby franchise is quite unlikely to be disappointed.

Ups
Creative level design
Robobot segments are great fun
Charming and detailed visuals
Fantastic music
Entertaining extra modes
Tons of fan service

Downs
Team Kirby Clash is fairly shallow
Occasional framerate drops
Too similar to Triple Deluxe

ESRB: E Content: Cartoon Violence Price: $39.99 (Retail / Download)

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