Review of Hellboy 2

Nothing in the world quite gets my inner-geek fired up like a comic book come to life. I loved the first Hellboy, and I eagerly awaited the sequel. Well, it’s here! As a Dungeons and Dragons geek, the inclusion of the elves is a neat touch. Since I never really read much of the Hellboy comic, I was able to come into the theater with an open mind. Whether that’s necessary or not remains to be seen.

One thing that doesn’t remain to be seen is that Hellboy 2 is one hell of a good time!

Ages ago, man in his greed waged war against the elves and goblins (who are apparently good guys…who knew?). The goblins offered to build the Golden Army for the elven king, numbering 70 times 70 (their words, not mine). It was controlled by a crown, and when the kind put it on, he could command the army so long as he was unchallenged for leadership. Obviously, there was no challenge. After the army was unleashed, it was unstoppable. It destroyed any human it came across, forcing a treaty.

While that sounds good, the elven prince Nuada isn’t happy about it. He wants to continue the war, and kill everyone or something cliche like that. Legend says that Nuada will return when his people need him most. OK, so besides the overplayed legend bit (when have we heard that part before? Like, all the time?), this is just a good, fun movie. It has some interesting tension between Hellboy and his pyrokenetic lover Liz for reasons that become quite apparent later in the film, and Hellboy has to deal with his inner demons. No pun intended.

However, for me the highlight scene has to be Hellboy and his fish-like buddy Abe getting drunk on cheap beer and singing love songs. In an incredibly funny scene, there is a deeper meaning that gets missed in the comedy. Hellboy and Abe are both human in most ways. They feel, and while their loves are different (Hellboy’s relationship with Liz is a bit rocky at that moment, and Abe is in love with an elven princess), the emotions are very real and the two quasi-men relate to one another’s plight in a very realistic and touching way. The fact that the scene is funny is pure win in my book.

However, the movie wasn’t without faults. One being the props. In all honesty, they looked like leftovers from Lord of the Rings, and not even the best ones. Prince Nuada’s armor was pretty cool, and his spear kicked ass. But so much of the other elven props looked like Legolas should walk in and smack the hell out of whoever stole his stuff. In addition, some of the acting could have been better, though the returning cast from the first movie was great (and Selma Blair looked hotter than ever…even without the flames). The make-up effects looked a bit cheesy, but that’s really part of the shtick from a Hellboy movie, ain’t it?

Due to the gas prices these days, my local theater has dropped ticket prices to pretty low levels. If yours has as well, then go and see Hellboy in the theater. If it hasn’t, then wait for video. Very little will be lost in the translation to the smaller screen, and you’ll save a few bucks. However, no film ever looks as good on TV as it does in the theater. It’s your call on this movie. Either way, if you’re a geek, you probably won’t be disappointed!

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons – Part 4

For the final post on 4th Edition, I want to talk about the powers. For those who don’t know, each class now has “powers”, though they’re called different things depending on the class. Still, a rose by any other name and such. The powers are, however, designed to be balanced between all classes and all levels. For example, a 20th level wizard is no longer more powerful than a 20th level fighter or a 20th level rogue. In short, 4th Edition has made everyone equal.

Equality and balance are good things, right? Not necessarily. If the game were against other players, then certainly it would matter a great deal that everyone be equal. However, you’re not playing against the other PCs. You’re playing with them, and that’s the crucial difference in my mind. So long as everyone is equal in enjoyment, what does it matter?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t consider the powers to be all bad. Wizard’s powers are now called spells, but a fighters are called exploits, and a fighter can supposedly do nifty stuff in combat with these exploits. That’s not a bad thing at all. Unfortunately, they also depowered the wizard to the point that he’s nowhere near as powerful as before, and no matter what level he becomes, he’ll still only have X number of spells. Same with all the other classes.

With the roles that each class is assigned, a major sticking point for me, the powers are set up to help the character fulfill that function. A fighter’s exploits are often geared toward making himself the target so he can defend the other characters, a wizard’s spells are a lot of area affect spells, and a clerics are about buffing the party. This is not a bad thing necessarily. The problem comes in, when the powers don’t fit the role the character wants his character to fulfill. For example, strikers are the damage dealers to a single foe. But what if I want my fighter to do that? Well, they’re called Rangers in that case, despite the fact that rangers and fighters have different skill sets.

Another problem with the powers is the difficulty in making high level NPCs from a homebrew world fit within the 4th Edition context. While it can be done to some extent, it’s far from a simple conversion. Instead, it can require hours of work trying to build up powers that will work within the context of what your world requires. From what I can tell, many DMs with significant investment in their worlds are passing on 4th Edition.

Me personally? I’ll be passing on it as well. While it may work down the road with the new books to come, it doesn’t work for me now, and I damn sure don’t want to have to spend even MORE money just to play the classes my world calls for when they’re already in 3.5. Some people will disagree I’m sure. But that’s the great thing about our world…we don’t have to agree. Just so long as we enjoy what we’re doing, who gives a damn?

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons – Part 3

First, I want to clarify one thing. A significant amount of this post is going to be about a generic complaint regarding fantasy role playing games. No edition of Dungeons & Dragons has gotten the arms and armor right, so far as I’m concerned anyways. However, there are some specific complaints to 4th Edition that I’ll address, and a few things I actually think they got right. So, without further ado, here’s Part 3!

My pet peeve in regards to arms and armor in almost every fantasy game out there is the nomenclature they use for the various pieces of armor. Chain mail, plate mail, banded mail, scale mail; it all gets downright annoying. The term maille is a medieval term for interlinked armor that D&D called chain mail. This misunderstanding didn’t start in Gary Gygax’s basement or anything, but about a hundred years earlier. Victorian ear historians interpreted the term maille to mean armor, so chain mail was maille, plate armor was plate mail, scale armor was scale mail, etc. This annoys me that TSR continued using it, and WOTC continues. It passes along bad information and I constantly find myself correcting people’s use. Yeah…I can be an asshole at times about stuff like that. Sorry.

In addition, 3rd Edition started this idea of armor proficiency. I’ve personally worn several types of armor and frankly it didn’t take a lot of time to get comfortable in it. In truth, historical armor was custom made for the individual wearing it many times. I have a photograph in a book of a man in 15th century plate armor doing a handstand even. So much for maximum dexterity bonuses, eh?

As for 4th Edition specific criticisms, the first thing regards plate armor. For example, only the paladin is proficient with it without burning a feat. WTF? Since when can a fighter not wear any and all armor on the board? In truth, it makes absolutely no sense, since plate armor was worn by anyone who could afford it. Of course, 4th Edition has made plate armor significantly cheaper as well. Really, it’s just a tease to fighters. Now that they can actually afford plate armor early in their adventuring careers, they’re unable to use it. Go figure.

One good thing I feel WOTC did was streamline the weapon selection. Now, that’s not to say the list is perfect, but all the core weapons are there, along with a few to add some spice to the mix. Most of the exotic weapons in 3rd Edition, while looking cool, were impractical to say the least. The double sword, which gave a PC the chance to play Darth Maul in a medieval-esque setting, is thankfully missing. However, greatsword, long sword, bastard sword, falchion, all there. Pole arms have been cut down to just two, the glaive and the halberd, also not exactly a bad thing either.

The great thing about the weapons is that they do about the same damage as 3rd Edition weapons, so it’s actually one of the rare cases where 3rd Edition converts to 4th edition easily. So, if your character uses a kama, just take the kama’s damage and call it a 4th Edition weapon. Easy enough. Granted, I’d recommend you still play 3.5, but that’s just me.

There’s plenty of things out there that can be used to blast 4th Edition. I can see many flaws in the system myself, and frankly I’m uninspired by the rule set. If this thing didn’t say Dungeons & Dragons on it, a lot of people who are now loving it, wouldn’t have even bothered. WOTC counted on brand loyalty and it’s paid off to some extent. Unfortunately, the community is divided. Personally, I didn’t see this when 3rd Edition came out, although I wasn’t really on the net much back then either.

In time, there will be 4.5 or 5th Edition that will address many of the complaints folks have with 4th Edition. There will always been new editions, and the question is, will people keep spending all their money every few years for a new edition? Well, for what it’s worth, the kid’s money won’t be going to WOTC for a long, long time.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition – Part 2

In Part 1, I discussed my feelings over the changes WOTC felt it needed to change in 4th Edition. However, it’s far from the only issue I have with 4th Edition as a whole. In this post, I’ll talk about classes and issues associated with them in 4th Edition.

First, if you’re a gamer who hasn’t heard anything about 4th Edition, I hope your favorite classes aren’t Bard, Barbarian, Monk, Sorcerer or Druid…because they’re not there anymore. While the monk class is not the most fantasy based class out there and the Sorcerer was introduced in 3rd Edition, the other’s are staple Dungeons & Dragons. Barbarian made it’s return in 3rd Edition, sure, but it was a very popular class. Druids and Bards are two classes that I have always enjoyed seeing played well (and they can be played well), but apparently I’m alone in that assessment.

None of these classes were broken in my opinion, and each had great role play possibilities. It feels as if WOTC has tried to suck the role play possibilities out of the game at the same time they feel the need to “encourage” role play. Now, in all fairness, I must point out that there’s great role play possibilities in all the classes, including several of the new classes in the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook.

The class that got me excited in the build-up was the Warlord class. In the class description, reference is made to the character’s previous life commanding troops, and somehow he finds himself adventuring. This along gives a player something good to build on. However, the way the class is set up annoys me to no end. First, the best armor the character is proficient in is chainmail. Now, despite my pet peeve about the term chainmail (in history it was just called maille, chainmail and platemail came from a Victorian era misunderstanding), it’s just wrong. When in the hell have you ever seen the commander wearing lesser armor than the very best available? And the armor issue is minor. In my humble opinion, the Warlord is nothing more than a martial based bard (as opposed to arcane) with a dash of cleric thrown in for good measure.

Another new class is the Warlock. The character has made a pact with outside forces for tremendous power, and they are certainly bad ass. This is the only class in the entire book that gets me excited. The only way I’d play 4th Edition is if I got to play a warlock. If the DM nixed the idea, then I don’t play. It’s that simple. I can’t dog this class to much. I still haven’t checked out the 3.5 version of the class though, so that may change down the road.

The biggest problem I have is that each class has a “role” assigned to them. Defenders (fighters and paladins), Controllers (wizards), Leaders (clerics and warlords) and strikers (ranger, rogue and warlock). The problem is everything is slanted toward these classes performing these roles. Strikers are the ones who are supposed to deal massive damage to a single target. However, in 3.5 my fighters were often the “strikers” of the group if viewed in this context, and occasionally served as the actual leader. The term leader is misleading in 4th Edition however, since they are not necessarily in command, but instead give buffs and all kinds of spiffy things (much like a bard).

Where much of the “role” thing goes off-track for me is that players can often feel that a class can only fit that role, rather than letting the player be creative with it. In addition to that, the skills (as mentioned previously) are set up so characters are nothing more than a job description. It becomes difficult to tailor a character to fit a specific role. All rogues are, in essence, the same thing. The same is true of fighters, rangers, and wizards as well.

Another thing missing from 4th Edition is multiclassing. That’s right. For the first time in a long, long time, multiclassing is effectively gone. Instead, you can take feats that give you a couple of benefits from a second class, but not to truly multiclass. I keep hearing that multiclassing was “broken”, but frankly I never saw that. Yes, a high level multi-class is uber powerful. However, he’s not unbalancing. He had to earn those levels after all and frankly, but the time he’s a 20/20 Fighter/wizard, he’s still not necessarily more powerful as a 40th level fighter or a 40th level wizard IMHO. Of course, if he is, it’s because of the earlier sacrifices made to reach that level.

In all fairness to 4th Edition, the idea of dabbling in a second class without going wholesale multiclass is a good one. I’m thinking about implementing some of these ideas into my own campaigns. Imagine a fighter who has learned to cast magic missile, or the bard who has a favored enemy. It opens up some really interesting possibilities on many levels, and frankly this is one idea from 4th Edition that I like. It would have been far better, in my humble opinion, to add it to a modified 3.5 rule set than to revamp the whole system, but to each their own.

In truth, I’m not real happy about classes in 4th edition. Even with the awesomeness of the warlock, it’s just not enough to justify the exclusion of the druid, bard, barbarian, monk and sorcerer. Of course, they made the sorcerer redundant with the modifications to the wizard, so that one at least makes some sense. The others? I can’t justify nearly as easily.

Check in again next time for Part 3, which will deal with armor and weapons.

4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons – Part 1

In the last month, the internet has been aflame with news of 4th Edition. Well, I decided “what the hell” and started my geek blog and where better to start running my mouth than on the game system that helped make me the geek I am today. Father’s Day was the day I got all three current core books, and after checking them out, I have formed my opinion, and it ain’t pretty.

First, no suspense. I do not like 4th Edition at all. Some do, and that’s their headache, not mine. Me? I’d rather play 3.5 instead. Here’s the first part of my multi-part series dealing with 4th Edition and why I don’t like it.

One of the big reasons is the new approach to skills. As opposed to the skill point system in 3rd Edition, which was far from great, the new approach lets a character have X number of skills per their class. They can burn a feat for an additional skill that’s not a class skill for them, but that’s about it. Not only that, but the skill list has been chopped worse than Britney Spears’ self-done haircut. Say goodbye to craft and profession skills, and cherry picking thief skills is gone as well (they’re all lumped up into Thievery…a class skill for rogues and WARLOCKS of all people). Also gone are the various Knowledge skills that I was so personally fond of.

Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) apparently wanted to streamline the process, and they succeeded. Unfortunately, I find fault with their approach. First, skills exist as a game mechanic to support the idea that Player X’s character can do Y. They allow a player to add depth to their character by adding in various skills that their character would have, and the mechanics of 3.5 support this. But in 4th Edition, to develop a character with game supported depth, you’re pretty well out of luck. Instead, 4th Edition seems, to me at least, to be supporting the idea of one dimensional characters who are nothing more than Fighter or Wizard.

Then, we have skill challenges. From what I understand, there are groups that actually need something like a skill challenge to get involved in non-combat stuff. The skill challenge supposedly encourages role play. Granted, it bugs me a little that role play needs to be encouraged in a role playing game, but so be it. My issue with the skill challenge is that it gives a false impression, one that says this is the only way to solve an issue. While experienced players will figure out that it’s only needed in certain instances, new players will assume this is how WOTC expects them to solve problems. Yeah, it’s a minor annoyance, but since I’ve never been in a group that needed crap like this, it’s hard for me to grasp that someone needs to be encouraged to role play a role playing game.

Previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons has always built upon the previous editions. 4th Edition, on the other hand, is a complete and total revamp with little surviving the purge. Ability scores remain the same, and there is still Armor Class and hitpoints, but little else remains. To some this is a good thing, to others, it ain’t.

Part 2 will deal with classes.