tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post2638621398634274358..comments2024-03-28T00:53:49.609-07:00Comments on PLANET ALGOL: Exploration and the death of the HexmapBlairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10884401206802336531noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post-63926125747866012962009-11-10T16:16:33.679-08:002009-11-10T16:16:33.679-08:00@ Badelaire: I've already been doing exactly t...@ Badelaire: I've already been doing exactly that :)<br /><br />@ Norman: If you are sincere, passionate and proactive they will come...Blairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10884401206802336531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post-3548991163035386312009-11-09T21:22:23.222-08:002009-11-09T21:22:23.222-08:00@Blair Definitely the rules are accommodating a do...@Blair Definitely the rules are accommodating a dominant preference, but generally speaking, dominant preferences are not relevant to my interests and hobbies.<br /><br />I would agree with "not relevant to my interests" except my interests encompass playing with others. And unfortunately, the majority of others, as Melan suggested and I have experienced, do not want to be active. They sit dumbfounded waiting for the glowing sign "plot this way".Norman J. Harman Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01319655075997712313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post-42663331640676336292009-11-09T17:24:51.914-08:002009-11-09T17:24:51.914-08:00Why not have both?
Provide the players with an at...Why not have both?<br /><br />Provide the players with an attractive "real" map (which can be as geographically realistic or unrealistic as you like), but which looks like an actual MAP. But the GM has a hex map that has the territory broken down accordingly.<br /><br />Then, when you want players to tell you where they want to go, you can have all your sandbox-y fun, without the need for giving the players what are typically pretty ugly looking maps.Jack Badelairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10932441028544500024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post-53899578412419816362009-11-09T16:22:34.389-08:002009-11-09T16:22:34.389-08:00Melan: "I am not sure if so many people actua...Melan: "I am not sure if so many people actually do want freedom," true, and the evolutions of MMORPG away from Ultima Online shows the market pressure.<br /><br />Bioshock pales in comparison to System Shock 1!<br /><br />A would say GDQ and A1-4 and generally different but equal to the City State and the Wilderlands, although one may get far more long-term utility out of the Judges Guild products.<br /><br />Definitely the rules are accommodating a dominant preference, but generally speaking, dominant preferences are not relevant to my interests and hobbies. It's not that I have better taste, but that I'm a "weirdo."<br /><br />Thomas: Of course there's no reason a map can't be beautiful as well as hexed, the Greyhawk boxed set maps by Darlene as well as the color Wilderlands Southern Reaches map by that otherwise horrible Castles & Crusades artist are perfect examples!<br /><br />It just seems like at some point TSR ditched hexmaps in favor of a more mature presentation?Blairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10884401206802336531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post-78840354479096538402009-11-08T23:24:19.589-08:002009-11-08T23:24:19.589-08:00As someone who has derived considerable enjoyment ...As someone who has derived considerable enjoyment from your Iridium plateau descriptions I am very much in favour of the hexmap approach. There's no reason why they can't co-exist with pretty maps. Mediaeval and ancient cartography was fairly symbolic really, or fairly shoddy. I say give the players something pretty but useless and let them fall afoul of the giant mutant Dimetrodon.Tom Fitzgeraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14893168729760333884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6886547051691715141.post-43423602711529695552009-11-08T23:20:41.614-08:002009-11-08T23:20:41.614-08:00I am not sure if so many people actually do want f...I am not sure if so many people actually do want freedom - open world gaming has always been an option independent of the rules, and we did it without explicit instructions with 2nd edition AD&D. It was the natural thing to do with a "game where you can do anything", just like killing the occasional other party member or just wrecking stuff. <br /><br />Today, the influences are different: computer games have precisely designed and defined quests; as I have read, MMORPGs, which were initially all about creating your own entertainment in a sandbox (Ultima Online etc.), experienced the greatest surge of popularity when they went from openness to carefully measured and engineered raid opportunities and finely balanced quests. For most players, that appears to be a superior product. <br /><br />You correctly note that Bioshock is highly constrained: in a way, so were the two System Shock games, since you had "chokepoints" to get through; nevertheless, in between, you could set priorities, or just roam around to discover things and test your current character's abilities. System Shock 1 was a low seller, System Shock 2 a modest success, while Bioshock sold like hotcakes and got 95+ reviews almost everywhere (except the TTLG.com community, the hotbed of "immersive sim" fans, where it is typically looked down upon as an inferior sequel).<br /><br />But wasn't the GDQ series or A1-4 a similarly superior product over the relative freedom of B2 and the complete freedom of City State and the Wilderlands? It may turn out that most people just don't want that from their entertainment. They don't want to be so active - sure, some interactivity is nice, but don't let that really go off the rails and ruin the experience. <br /><br />Maybe the rules have simply accommodated a preference that has always been dominant?Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.com