Hobby #7: GURPS

Generic Universal Role Playing System, or GURPS for short, is the “role-playing game” that I prefer to play over such things as Dungeons and Dragons or Alternity. Put simply, it’s the most flexible roleplaying system out there. There are no “classes”, no certain list of monster races, no set in stone spells or weapons or races or anything. Everything (or most everything, they still have books upon books of rules for the game, but most rules are optional) is limited to your imagination, sort of.

For those poor souls who have never heard of Role-playing, here’s a sample scenario involving one person as the game master (explained in a bit, his words are in italics) and two “player characters”, or PCs, named Jad and Kyle (when the PCs are doing something it will prefaced by the PC 1 or 2, just for example). The parts that are done by the game’s rules and system, like the rolling, are in grey.

You all enter into the forest, where the fabled Amulet of Yonder has been told of, hoping to find it or some other treasure.
PC 1: “So, Kyle, what was it you were about to say before we had that run-in with a group of monsters?” Jad inquires as they walk slowly at a northernish direction. “It seems that you almost cut off purposefully.”
PC 2: Kyle seems to flinch as he walks. “N-none of your business,  Jad…”
PC 1: Jad finds this strange, and prods more with his average laid-back demeanor. “Woah, what’s with the hostility? I was just askinga question. Ease up, you can tell me anything, buddy!”
PC 2: “I said I don’t want to talk about it. I mean, I didn’t say that… you know what I mean…” Kyles greenish hair seems to deflate and cover his eyes as he speaks.
Here, the GM makes a secret roll with 3 dice (the normal) against both the characters’ “Sense” skills. Since Jad does not have the “sense” skill, he counts that roll as a failure. Kyle’s Sense skill is DX+1, and since his DX is 12, the the GM rolls 3 dice against Kyle’s Sense skill. 4, 5 and 1 are the outcomes of each die for the roll. Since the total of those is 10, which is lower than his Sense skill of 13, Kyle succeeds to sense something – but the GM doesn’t tell the PCs any of this. Now, we get to find out what Kyle sensed but Jad didn’t…
Suddenly, Jad feels a sharp pain in his back, and falls to the ground face-first. Kyle, turning quickly enough to see a robed figure lunging at him with a weapon of some kind (he didn’t manage to make that out in the rush), dodges to the side.
PC 2: Kyle pulls out and readies his blade, ready to dodge the blow he knows is coming. “Who are you!?” he manages.
The hooded, robed figure makes a roll against his weapon’s skill of 10 (with three dice as usual, this is done by the GM in secret) – a 3, 6 and 2, which is 11, higher than the weapon’s skill – he misses.
The hooded figure lunges once more at Kyle, too quickly for Kyle to dodge, however he misses him by a hair anyway.
The hooded figure is exactly one hex away from Kyle after his lunge.
PC 2: “You’re going to pay for this!” Kyle says, putting on an unusually angry face.
Kyle rolls three dice against his weapon’s skill of 12 – 5, 5, 1. Total is 11, which is less than 12, thus a hit.
Kyle then rolls 1d6-1 (which means 1 6 six sided die with 1 subtracted from the outcome). 5, which totals to 4.
PC 2: Kyle swings his blade at the figure’s right leg.
4 damage, enough to cause minor leg injury – the figure starts to favor his left leg and limp with the other.
The figure has 8 out of a maximum 12 Hit points left (once he runs out, he dies).

I think that should suffice for an example, eh? If you don’t know, by the way, a PC is a person that participates in the story as a made-up character. They usually have a “character sheet” which is basically everything that defines the character they play as a being. A “game master” is basically the narrator, and explains what the characters see, hear, taste, etc. Also, he makes most of the rolls, and like in the example sometimes

It’s a very in-depth system, soooo much more than walking, talking and stabbing and lunging wildly at your foes. A system full of magic, strategy, narraration and much much more. I’m not exagerrating when I say it’s limitless.

Also, general rule: if you’re having fun, you’re winning. And there hasn’t been a GURPS moment where I haven’t had fun.

Pros of the system:
It’s very fun and limited pretty much to your imagination
Even my Role-playing game DESPISING brother loves it (also, I just recently found him playing an RPG video game on the internet o_O)
No preset dungeons, monsters, races, classes and more! Yay not-D&D!
Like I said, flexible
It’s a roleplaying game, so it’s more fun the more friends you have playing with you
The books give you plenty of ideas for spells and such
You can be creative too, like in a building trapping your enemy against the wall with a spell, then throwing aa dagger at a loose brick on the ceiling so the building collapses – but you’ve got to escape from the building, too!

Cons:
If your GM is mean or extremely bossy (they have to be somewhat bossy, though), it won’t be especially fun

Overall score – 10/10 – better than any roleplay system I’ve tried, and believe me I’ve tried a lot

You buy the books at http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/, or maybe your library, but remember to get the Basic Set book if you’re a beginner!

Hobby #6: Sonic Robo Blast 2

This game is awesome. And it’s freeware. And open-source. Now, no matter how bad the graphics of the game are I want you to know this: it is still, deep down, just another Sonic fangame. But to me, it exceeds all the rest.

Sonic blasts ahead with his "Thok" ability

 Sonic Robo Blast 2 (or SRB2, which it is most commonly called) is a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame presumably with the goal to return somewhat to the series roots, which it does in glorious 2.5D. It certainly acheives it’s goal – though not exactly what I’d call side-scrolling, the premise is that you basically go through two of the same-ish sort of levels, both very long and fun and sometimes even tough, destroying robotic enemies and collecting rings, touching checkpoints, solving minor puzzles, gathering hidden gems called “chaos emeralds” and finally reaching the goal. Oh, and let’s not forget racing around at a generally high speed. And then after blasting through 2 levels of doing things of that sort, you come to face sonic’s arch-nemisis, “Doctor Robotnik”, who uses various sorts of vehicles and traps and attacks to try to hurt you, all the while you’re jumping at him like crazy, trying to avoid his attacks and hurt him. Once you beat him, you go into the next “zone” and do the same thing all over again. Repetitive it may sound, but believe me it’s not. In fact, it’s a wonderful and timeless genre, but this time without the holding right on the D-pad to win the level, what with it being almost 3D. I have grown to like this. And one more thing: like I said earlier, it’s completely open-source.

 

Yellow-knuckles in Zone 2-2

What this means is that it’s completely editable. If you get really really tired of the same old Sonic-Tails-Knuckles trio, you can add new characters you get off of websites and the SRB2 forum and such. And not to forget new stages. Also, some people make “mods” for the game which, instead of changing the characters or stages, change the game directly. SRB2JTE is a good example because of the bots, SA city, etc. And in addition to downloading things, you can make your own characters and stages too with the help of the right tools. Also, I almost forgot to mention, there’s a really really fleshed out multiplayer mode that includes both splitscreen and wireless play.

• Pros:
  A purely fun system
• Open-source
• User-friendly
• There’s just something about speeding through the game as sonic that most other games can’t match
• Lovely Multiplayer
• Cons:
• Kinda hard to control the character’s usually
• A bit tedious to go through the game and collect all the chaos emeralds and such at the same time, though that’s still optional
• Overall score: 9.5/10 – Has one or two minor flaws, but is true the the classic Sonic games and retains their fun

You may download Sonic Robo Blast 2 here: http://ssntails.sepwich.com/srb2/

Hobby #5: Neverball

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. Today my hobby to show you is a little gem called Neverball. To describe this game, think Super Monkey Ball, but without the monkeys, and the bananas are coins. Something like that. It’s been forever since I’ve played one of those games.

On a red ring in outer space

Anyway, Neverball is a wonderful game, built off of an incredibly basic system (tilt the gameworld with a mouse, joypad, etc. to make the ball roll where you want, collect coins to unlock the goal, then make a mad dash for it before your time runs out). However simple it may sound, though, put it into practice and it can be unfathomably challenging with the right level design, and sometimes even brutal (like when you use many techniques you’ve learned on your own just to collect that last coin, but wait- the timer’s on 10 seconds and the goal’s all the way over there! You tilt the world like crazy, but you’ve tilted too much, and you miss the goal and fall off the edge! That was your last life, because you didn’t collect enough coins to get a 1-up, and now you must re-do the whole course again… Rather long example, eh? Well, it happens a lot). But this challenge and wonderful system combined with the 75 included levels makes for a seriously fun game, believe me.

You thought that would be the end of the post? No, not quite. Or should I say, Never! Neverputt, that is.

A comparatively simple Neverputt course

Neverputt is a game that comes along with the Neverball package, and uses the same engine, though instead of Super Monkey Ball-esque gameplay, it resembles the classic game of minigolf. The courses can be just as crazy though, but crazy at a slower pace. You use the mouse to aim a ball through the course and try to get it into the hole usually situated at the far side of the course. The game includes But you have go through many obstacles, usually, to get there, such as teleporters, walls, giant moving blocks, escelators of sorts and much more. These can sometimes get frustrating. At least it gives you time to think before you act, unlike its partner.

Pros for Neverball:
Very fun and addictive gameplay, as usual
Easy to learn, near-dang-impossible to master
Fast paced and action-y in a different way than most action games
Plenty of challenge
For both non-gamers and hardcore gamers

Cons for Neverball:
If you have trouble with motion sickness in general, you can’t play it. Period.
If you don’t think you have motion sickness, this game will make you re-think that
Can be extremely frustrating

Pros for Neverputt:
Easy to learn, somewhat tough to master, all it takes is getting your putt strength, distance and direction down, and even though that sounds easy, it’s not
Much variety in terms of obstacles and gameplay
Fun for anyone who likes golf (and it’s putt-putt version) even the slightest
If you can’t handle the usually rather fast, race-agaisnt-time gameplay, but want something similar, try this

Cons for Neverputt:
Definitely not for the impatient type, though I suppose the same could be said about Neverball because of the difficulty

Pros for both:
They’re open-source! Whee!

Overall rating for Neverball: 9/10 – Though it can be tough, it’s hooks you the moment you start with it’s immense fun
Overall rating for Neverputt: 7/10 – While it is a wonderful engine and game, it just lacks some of that necessary fun, but that’s probably just me
Overall rating for both: 9/10 (not an average) – They both run on a rich and addictive system

Download them both at http://icculus.org/neverball/#download - don’t worry, it says Neverball but it comes with Neverputt too

Hobby #4: Roguelikes

There’s a lot to say about this one. Roguelikes are, possibly, the best genre of games out there. They also have the worst graphics other than, say, Interactive Fiction (which I will be writing about soon). What are Roguelikes, exactly? Let me explain…

An example of a roguelike

In the late-ish 70’s, the game “Rogue” graced personal computers, which were still pretty much just coming into being. It was a simplistic game, consisting of a main character (the @ symbol) trying to plunder the depths of an infinite dungeon that was randomly generated. This dungeon consisted of nothing more than walls (- and |), floors (.), monsters (various letters such as D for a dragon), items (more or less just symbols like { or /) and you. At that time, your goal was to loot the randomly generated dungeons while managing your health and hunger. Yep, you heard me. I said randomly generated. That essentially means you’ll never explore the same dungeon twice, ever. Thus the element of exploration is added in addition to survival and strategic thinking. “Strategic thinking?” you may ask. Well, to defeat monsters, you must consider many things, including but not limited to:

• What items are you wearing and which ones are in your inventory?
• What is your position in the corridor/dungeon compared to the monsters’?
• If you throw, say a harmful potion at the monsters, will it hit them from where you are?
• What about nearby traps? Any you could lure monsters into?
• What are the monsters’ resistances? What is there speed compared to yours? Their defense? Strength?

Not only does this quickly discovered strategic layer apply to monsters, but to the corridors and secret passages and etc. And one more thing: things in the dungeon, like monsters, only move when you move. Thus you may or may not consider it something of a “turn-based game”. Which reminds me: there is treasure galore in the dungeon, including but again not limited to: staves, weapons, armor, food, false items, potions, and most importantly: money. Money is your score in Rogue. If your second character got 75 levels deeper than your first characters, but picked up less money, they would be in second place on the high score list. Thus adding even more thought to this massive thought process, in addition to the many, many keyboard commands necessary to do specific things.

After Rogue came a game called Moria, which was basically its duplicate child, from what I’ve heard. I don’t know, I’ve never played Moria. But obviously it was popular enough to spawn…

Angband. Boy, this was a popular game in its time, which wasn’t exactly that long ago. Angband introduced, with the addition of things like new commands, items, monsters, “unique” monsters, and a “final boss” of sorts, a town level. This town included some random villagers that were moderately fun to practice-kill to get used to the very slightly revamped battle system that now included races and classes (like a mage with spellbooks and such!), and various all-purpose shops that would supply you with what you needed. IIRC, this was the starter of the “word of recall” scroll, one of the most useful items in all roguelikes.

A screenshot of Zangband

Angband was popular enough to spawn many, many successors including what may be the most popular of the bunch, ZAngband (Capital A is no mistake). Oh, boy, to this day it is still one of my all-time favorite roguelikes. In addition to having a huge overworld in comparison to Angband’s rather-pitiful-in-comparison town level, it feature over 15-20(!) new races, and some great classes like Warrior-mage and Paladin, it also introduced many other things like the ability to make monsters into your loyal companions (Yay! I can have a Knight Archer be my friend!), and different “realms” of magic that most mage classes choose from inlcuding Nature, Chaos, Life and Arcane. Also, the newer versions of ZAngband have things like a randomly generated overworld (very fun) with random quests (can be tough but fun) and 100’s of different kinds of shops with a random inventory. Kind of in-depth, eh? Anyway ZAngband was popular enough to spawn things like…

ToME. A very popular variant of ZAngband which is a variant of Angband which is a clone of Moria which is a clone of the game that started it all. ToME rules, to say the least. It and it’s currently rather few variants such as Furyband (which I am playing right now as a race I programmed) are just too in-depth and fun to explain in a couple of paragraphs.

Pros of the genre:

Very fun

In-depth

Loads of character customization, especially in games like ToME
Very fun

On top of everything else, massively addictive

Cons of the genre:

None that I can think of :/

Overall score: 10/10 – These games reign supreme in dungeon exploration and IMO in RPGs in general.

Links:

Play Rogue online (must have Java): http://www.hexatron.com/rogue/ Warning: start with this game, but I am not responsible if the addictiveness causes you to ignore the other parts of your life. This applies to all Roguelikes.

Angband: http://www.thangorodrim.net/download.html

Angband variants including ZAngband: http://www.thangorodrim.net/variants.html

ToME: http://www.t-o-m-e.net/download.php?tome_current=0

Furyband (my fave ToME variant): http://www.furytech.net/furyband/furyband.php

Hobby #3: Poke

This isn’t quite a hobby per se, but more or less a fun little device that works universally. What does it do? It allows you to cheat on any game in existance. And it uses the peek and poke system. Fun. Now, take a look:

After choosing your application, and pressing “add”, enter the number of, say, the gold in your game here.

That may take a couple of tries, but after it’s done enter the name of the location here

Change this number to whatever you want. It says 9999999 cause I wanted maximum money.

And here’s the results in ND 2! (see below post)

That’s basically all there is to it. Well, so it doesn’t work on *every* game out there (eg. it won’t work on multiplayer games, sorry), and FYI I’m not a “cheater cheater pumpkin eater” (cheating usually takes the fun away), but it is a handy and fun device. I can’t exactly review because it’s not a game or anything, but I give it a score of 8/10 for good integration of peek and poke and a handy interface. Some newer games, however, just won’t take it, and it was meant to have more features but was never finished. Oh well, it’s still awesome. It’s free, and the link to download is here: http://codefromthe70s.org/poke.asp

Hobby #2: Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 & 3

Thing with this one is, if you live outside of Japan (which I do), there’s about a 95% chance that you missed these wonderful gems. They’re for GBA, and just like, say, Tales of Phantasia for the SNES, were never translated. Oh well, guess that’s why we have patches!

Exploring the dungeons in ND 3

The Narikiri Dungeon series are usually plentiful when it comes to characters. I’m not so sure about the very first one (never played it, probably will sometime though), but they always a huge amount of characters from other games, and most importantly, the costumes!!! Costumes in these game are basically the “classes” for your characters, and your two main ones can be anything from a swordsman/woman to a mage to a handy archer to a chef… there’s many, MANY different costumes in both games. And the boy and the girl are barely different expect for their looks. On the subject of looks, in ND 2, the “elements” of the certain costume are mostly there for a) cosmetic reasons and b) to make the roster look bigger. Aside from having slightly different skills (keyword: SLIGHTLY) and being weak/vulnerable to certain elements, there’s not much difference between each element of the costumes. The elements are removed in ND3, but in their place are awsome new classes, more skills and spells and TONS of cameo characters (and costumes for them!) from the other Tales series games! The battle system in both of these is almost the exact same same thing that you saw in Tales of Phantasia (IF you saw it). Basically, (A) sometimes along with holding the D-pad does physical attacks, and the (B) button along with the D-pad does special attacks or spells.

You may think mashing (A) repeatedly will win you the battle, and while that is some

The female Hail Knight attacks!

times the case, usually you have to strategically use skills and jumping and guarding (oops, forgot, guard with [L]) and such to win, say, boss battles. Overall the system is great and timeless, and is, IMO, even better in ToS and the new PSP TotW versions. In case you were wondering, the story of the game is like most of the stories of Tales games, and by that, I mean rather unoriginal and overall meh (but nothing is as bad as Tales of Symphonia’s story and voice acting. Nothing.). C’mon people, if you play the Tales series for their story, then switch to something like Kingdom Hearts. Final verdict: I love the Tales series :3

Pros:

Highly customizable characters

Addictive Tales gameplay

Discovering new costumes is always great

The cameo characters are very playable and true to the games they come from

Addictive Tales gameplay

Cons:

If you can’t read japanese and just have to know what the characters are saying, most of the time you’re out of luck

Elemental costumes are just roster fillers, though some are moderately useful and different like the Holy Knight

I liked the Quest format in ND 2 better than the mission one in ND 3

Overall score: 9/10 – Just slightly lacking in staying true to the Series’ roots, especially in ND 3, what with the missions and all, but overall fantastic games

Hobby #1: M.U.G.E.N

What is Mugen (or MUGEN, or M.U.G.E.N), you may ask? Mugen is a wonderful fighting game system that is a) for the PC and b) 100% free!

Fight as or against characters from almost anything!

If you’ve ever played a fighting video game before, and were dissatisfied with the characters, the amount of characters, the overall style, the stages, etc, you will probably love Mugen. I, for one, usually despise fighting games and stink and them overall. However I really enjoy Mugen, not only because it is one of the best fighting games out there (as far as I’ve played), but also because I enjoy playing as anything I want, pretty much. You heard me right: there are thousands of characters out there on the internet made for Mugen, and while at the time of writing I only have a couple hundred in my game, the ones I do have are enough to make up quite a huge assembly. Also, there are many “stages” that can be downloaded. If there’s a certain character that you’re absolutely sure no one has made for Mugen, you could try your hand at making your own, though that’s pretty confusing and also

The character select screen is small to start with, but you can make it as big as THIS!

extremely time consuming, it’s worth a shot and is worth it once you have a character you can call “your own”. If you don’t like the style of Mugen when you download it, then you can download a “screenpack”, which is the style of your Mugen. Warning: the screen pack you start out with only comes with slots for 10 characters! Mugen can be downloaded at http://m-u-g-e-n.en.softonic.com/.

Pros:
Very fun, each character plays differently usually
Easy to learn but hard to master
Completely customizable, everything from characters to stages to screenpacks sound files can be changed
Co-op mode is especially fun, you can even do it without another player
Versus mode is not as fun with a lot of characters being broken (see below)
Most characters have good AI and present a challenge
 

Cons:
All the “arcade”-like modes ar a bit lacking
Single-player can be dull
Some characters are extremely powerful and are no challenge to play as but are impossible to beat

Overall score: 8.5/10