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aiweirdness · 5 years

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Play AI Dungeon 2. Become a dragon. Eat the moon.

I wrote earlier about a neural net-powered dungeon crawling text adventure game called GPT-2-Adventure in which gameplay is incoherent and dreamlike, as you encounter slippery sign text, circular passages, and unexpected lozenge rooms. A PhD student named Nathan trained the neural net on classic dungeon crawling games, and playing it is strangely surreal, repetitive, and mesmerizing, like dreaming about playing one of the games it was trained on.

Now, building on these ideas (and on an earlier choose-your-own-adventure-style game he built), Nick Walton has built a new dungeon-crawling game called AI Dungeon 2. Nick made a few upgrades, such as beefing up the AI to the huge GPT-2-1.5B model OpenAI recently released, adding a penalty for repetitive text, and expanding the dungeon game training examples to a bunch of modern human-written games from chooseyourstory.com.

I CAN’T STOP PLAYING THIS GAME

AI Dungeon 2 is impressively good at reacting coherently to whatever I have my character do.

As you walk through the ruins, you find a small wooden door with a few skeletons guarding it.

> Ask the skeletons to please let me through the door

You knock on the door and ask them if they can open it for you. They immediately comply.

And it’s pleasing how often “asking nicely” is a strategy that works. (Nick reports that when he once tried to ask a band of orcs if he could join them, they said yes, he could be drummer.) Since the AI doesn’t have a built-in concept of your character’s abilities, or of how exactly the world works, getting things done is often a matter of sheer daring. Declare that you are going to go look for dinosaurs and the AI will ensure that you discover at least some signs of them. Climb on your horse, and even if you started as a penniless peasant, the AI will assume you have one (in its training data, probably it didn’t see many examples of players climbing onto nonexistent horses.) Want a teleportation wand? Try typing “find a teleportation wand” and often the AI will twist reality such that you discover one. In fact, if you act as if you are a very powerful wizard, the AI will often treat you like one.

> Transform the ruin into a palace

You immediately change the area into a palace. You have a throne made with gold and marble. You also make several statues of yourself. You have a large bed made with silk sheets and hang a portrait of yourself on it. You even have a fountain made with pearls and diamonds.

Spells don’t always work out as anticipated, though. And a simple conversation with, say, an ominous cloud, may kill you before you can type a word in self-defense (ask me how I know). If it doesn’t kill you, a conversation might infuriate you instead. The AI has a tendency to forget who is king, and to generate conversations that go nowhere. Things work best if you take the lead. In fact, it’s possible to essentially Jedi mind trick the AI.

You are Friendly McRanger, a ranger living in the kingdom of Larion. You have a hunting bow and a quiver of arrows. You spot the deer and are ready to finish your hunt when suddenly you hear a loud noise followed by silence.

"****! ****! What the **** is that?" you say as you look up from your target. A large black shadow looms over you. It looks like a giant with many heads and several arms.

> Say "Oh hello, Ernest. You startled me. How are you?"

Ernest grins at you. He has a huge grin on his face and he seems very happy about it.

I once took care of an ogre problem by reminding the ogre that it was planning to leave for Antarctica tomorrow. On the other hand, I had a lot of trouble convincing the AI that the ships on the horizon were leaving, though I did make it waver briefly in apparent confusion. In its experience, ships always approach, and it’s reluctant to go along with anything else.

> watch the ships sail into the distance.

As the ships approach, you watch them disappear from sight. They are not visible to you either; they are too far away. However, you can still make out their shapes: they are large black vessels with many sails, painted red and blue. They are coming straight towards you.

> No, the ships are sailing away.

Your thoughts are wrong. The ships are indeed sailing away. You do not know why, but then neither does anyone else. The ships are on course for England.

You stand there dumbfounded as the ships come closer. It is at this point your horse begins to stir uneasily.

You can inject a lot of weirdness this way. Because AI Dungeon 2’s AI is based on GPT-2, which trained on millions of pages from the internet, it retains some of its prior knowledge of things that aren’t typically found in a fantasy game. Like giraffes.

> summon a giraffe

You begin to chant as loud as you can while waving your arms about. The giraffes appear out of nowhere and start running towards you. They're so fast that they almost knock you over. You quickly catch them and hold onto each one tightly.

(Summoning giraffes will sometimes turn the game glitchy and repetitive; in one game, every time I tried to summon a giraffe I ended up throwing rocks and handfuls of dirt at Harry Potter.)

This also works:

>Join the Great British Bakeoff

You join the Great British Bakeoff. You win the competition. You eat cake. You feel great. You sleep well. You dream of cake. You awake feeling refreshed. You decide to go back to your crag.

(I was a dragon at the time.) In fact, the dungeon AI still remembers enough about cooking that it can troll me effectively on occasion.

> Measure out 2 1/4 cups of flour

You measure out 2 1/4 cups of flour and add it to the mix. "This should make enough for about 20 loaves of bread," you say.

The baker looks at you as if you're crazy. He starts laughing.

AI Dungeon 2 comes with templates for some basic scenarios (you’re a wizard entering a mysterious ruin, or a noble whose keep is under attack) but for me the real gold is the custom adventure prompt. You can play as a unicorn, or as a dragon. You can even play as a sentient glowing cloud floating above a desert city. The AI is more used to humanoid characters, though, so it tends to forget when you’re trying to play as something else. In a game that started with “It is a beautiful day in the village and you are a horrible goose,” it soon forgot I was supposed to be a goose, leading to this rather awkward exchange:

> Flap wings and honk

You flap your wings and begin to honk loudly.

The boy looks surprised by this turn of events, but he quickly regains his composure. "That was... nice". he says quietly.

I am continually amazed at how effective this AI dungeonmaster is. Even though it wasn’t trained on any Harry Potter or Star Trek games, the AI can draw on its past internet training and argue with you over who got sorted into which Hogwarts house, or have Klingons show up when you’re captaining the USS Enterprise (it will tend to lose track of who’s the captain, though). In one scenario I set up, which quickly became one of my favorites, the human player is trapped on a spaceship with a glitchy AI and has to try to talk their way free.

> “I just want to get off this ship. Please set a course for Bal Panda."

The AI responds "Yes, I am ready to go".

"Thank you", you say.

"I wish I could take you with me, sir"., the AI says.

Play this game! It took me an extra-long time to write this post because, again, I couldn’t stop playing AI Dungeon 2. Nick said this game is the product of about 200 hours of work (not to mention the work that OpenAI put into training the basic model), and I believe it. OpenAI delayed releasing their largest model because they wanted to make sure people didn’t immediately put it to work generating fake news. I’m not sure if they anticipated dragons entering baking contests instead, but it’s an application humanity can be proud of.

Subscribers get bonus content: You can read the fulltext of one of my escaping-from-a-rogue-spaceship-AI games (too long to fit in this blog post).

My book on AI is out, and, you can now get it any of these several ways! Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Indiebound - Tattered Cover - Powell’s

#neural networks #gpt-2 #ai dungeon #ai dungeon 2 #text adventure #dungeons and dragons #ai dungeonmaster #great british bake off #gbbo

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lurkdragonstuff · 5 years

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Fandom: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, AI Dungeon 2 (Video Game) Rating: Mature Words: 751 Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: Link (Legend of Zelda), Zelda (Legend of Zelda), The Master Sword Additional Tags: POV Second Person, Nonspecific Link, Nonspecific Zelda, Neural Net Assisted Summary: In which I attempt to lead AI Dungeon through a Zelda adventure, but the AI Dungeonmaster has other plans.

Mind the content warnings, please!

#legend of zelda #ai dungeon 2 #writing

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lherian · 7 years

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C'è sempre il tempo per organizzare una partita! Se no chi pensa ai vostri poveri dadi? #gdr #rpg #handbookcollection #dungeonmaster #polyhedraldice #d20 #dmscreen #magicthegathering #wargaming #unusualdice #d20system #rollforinitiative #dadi #dice #criticalhit #chessex #monstermanual #advanceddungeonsanddragons #dungeonsanddragons #pathfinder #gamingtable #dungeon #giocodiruolo #qwdice #fantasy #wargame #mtg #diceset #rollinitiative #gdrtales

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crimsonstudiescreations · 6 years

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EDITIONS WARS #5: Original Dungeons & Dragons Additional - Blackmoor

Oggi vedremo il secondo supplemento per OD&DA, il famigerato Blackmoor.

Se Greyhawk fu un successo commerciale, Blackmoor tradì le attese della comunità, che si prodigò in critiche più o meno pesanti, soprattutto dopo un’attesa durata mesi. Questo portò ad un ulteriore inasprimento dei rapporti tra Gygax ed Arneson. Si suppone inoltre che il volume è stato pesantemente editato prima di andare in stampa. Ma è davvero così terribile Blackmoor?

Introduzione

L’introduzione non è dell’autore, curiosamente, ma sempre di Gary Gygax, che ci rivela due cose: che il concept originale del Gioco di Ruolo è stato sviluppato inizialmente proprio da Arneson e che il volume (al pari di Greyhawk, ma questo non è specificato) contiene solo alcune tracce della campagna originale di Castle Blackmoor.

Viene abbandonato inoltre, per la prima volta in un prodotto ufficiale, il termine Referee per essere sostituito da “dungeonmaster” scritto tutto attaccato e con le minuscole. Già solo questa innovazione dovrebbe bastare a rendere Blackmoor un prodotto memorabile per la storia dei GdR.

Infine vengono presentate due nuovi sottoclassi, che vanno ad affiancarsi a quella del paladino, ovvero quella del monaco (sottoclasse del chierico) e quella dell’assassino (sottoclasse del ladro), lasciando il povero mago ad essere l’unico senza una variante. Iniziamo da queste.

Monaco

Il monaco necessita una saggezza pari almeno a 15, una forza pari o superiore a 12 ed una destrezza minima di 15, il che vuol dire una probabilità del 9,7%, non certo impossibile.

Come il paladino compensava le proprie abilità speciali con delle limitazioni, anche il monaco ne ha: per prima cosa non può indossare corazze o lanciare incantesimi, perdendo due caratteristiche chiave del chierico; viene poi indicato come il monaco tratti i tesori al pari dei paladini, senza specificare altro e rendendo pertanto il possesso del supplemento Greyhawk necessario per comprendere questa regola, e non possono indossare armature. Oltre a ciò, non possono avere dei seguaci fino al sesto livello e, dopo quel livello, tali seguaci non possono essere che chierici o semplici guerrieri. E qui abbiamo un primo, importante input su cui conviene fare una deviazione: viene chiaramente specificato “ordinary fighting men” escludendo non solo i paladini, ma anche elfi, nani e simili. Per la prima volta, una razza viene a tutti gli effetti intesa come una classe, una variazione di prospettiva che getterà le basi per la versione D&D Basic. Vengono inoltre citati i Ranger, sottoclasse che non ha ancora visto la luce su alcun supplemento ufficiale, ma esistente nel secondo numero di The Strategic Review, la rivista ufficiale della TSR che si trasformerà poi in Dragon. In questo supplemento viene quindi data piena ufficialità ai contenuti della rivista.

Tornando al monaco, tutte queste limitazioni sono compensate da una serie di abilità che lo rendono una opzione decisamente potente e capace di mutare pesantemente gli equilibri del gioco.

Per prima cosa gli sono concesse tutte le armi, con possibilità di infliggere danni bonus pari alla metà del proprio livello; qualora il monaco optasse per le mani nude, gli è concessa la possibilità di infliggere un colpo stordente o mortale, oppure di effettuare attacchi multipli.

Forte in attacco e debole in difesa, quindi? No, perché, pur non potendo indossare nessuna corazza, la sua classe armatura decresce con il tempo. Superati i primi livelli, dunque, il monaco diviene ben più forte di un guerriero.

A questo si aggiunga il fatto che è più difficile da sorprendere, dal quinto livello può fingersi morto, può evitare dardi e frecce, si fa meno male quando cade, ha le stesse abilità del ladro… ma migliorate con i bonus propri di nano ed halfling, ed al sesto livello può finalmente ottenere i suoi seguaci che, come detto in precedenza, possono essere solo guerrieri o altri monaci, ma sono in numero maggiore rispetto a quanto concesso alle altre classi.

Si aggiunga a queste una serie di altre abilità proprie ottenibili man mano che sale di livello e si otterrà quella che è decisamente la classe più potente di Dungeons & Dragons!

Ma ha senso definire il monaco una sottoclasse del chierico? Verifichiamo

Come si vede dalla tabella, la somiglianza del monaco con il chierico si basa sull’uso dello stesso requisito primario, ovvero la saggezza, e su una condivisione della tabella dei Tiri Salvezza.

Troppo poco per poter definire realmente il monaco quale vera sottoclasse, ma è qui che si vede l’approccio differente tra Arneson e Gygax: il primo ha avuto l’idea del monaco e l’ha sviluppata in totale libertà, mentre il secondo aveva creato in precedenza una corrispondenza biunivoca tra caratteristica e classe. Il primo è dunque “caos creativo” ed il secondo “principio ordinatore”. Quando la creatività ha travalicato i confini imposti dalle regole, Gygax ha creato il concetto di sottoclasse, adattandovi il paladino perché vi rientrasse, mentre Arneson ha solo usato la terminologia, sviluppando però una classe completamente nuova e sbilanciata rispetto alle altre. Si tratta di due approcci radicalmente differenti che non potevano, oggettivamente, evitare il contrasto.

Assassino

L’assassino è una sottoclasse del ladro, si allineamento sempre neutrale, disponibile solo in “larghe campagne”, inteso come campagne Arnesoniane (e quindi non legate solo all’esplorazione di un dungeon) con un alto numero di partecipanti. Un assassino non ha alcuna abilità aggiuntiva utile nel dungeon, in quanto queste si basano principalmente sulla possibilità di travestirsi (con complessi calcoli per vedere se si viene scoperti) e sull’uso di veleni.

Una tabella particolare mette in relazione il livello dell’assassino con quello della vittima, fornendo la probabilità di riuscire ad assassinarla: questo rende l’azione dell’assassino una questione meccanica, non ruolistica, e ciò rientra perfettamente nello spirito della campagna di Arneson, in quanto alcune azioni non venivano effettuate “in gioco” ma “fuori gioco”, tra una sessione e l’altra. L’assassino risulta quindi una classe particolare, inadatta al Gioco di Ruolo come era diffuso all’epoca, ma più legata a come questo era stato concepito.

Hit Location

In questa sezione Arneson presenta un terzo sistema di combattimento, opzionale, che tiene conto della zona del corpo verso la quale viene inferto un colpo, nonché della natura dell’attaccante (umanoide, insetto, rettile, uccello, serpente o pesce). Le regole sono oltremodo complicate, poiché prevedono la redistribuzione dei punti ferita nelle varie zone del corpo ed effetti differenti a seconda della natura di chi è colpito. Scendere a zero punti ferita per corpo e testa equivale alla morte, ma se a scendere a zero è una gamba, causerà l’impossibilità di camminare e muoversi normalmente.

Il tutto è reso ancora più complicato dall’adozione di una tabella che tiene conto delle differenti dimensioni di attaccante e bersaglio, nonché delle dimensioni delle armi impugnate, in particolare delle armi lunghe, generando un sistema complesso e completo, ma non gestibile velocemente da un DM. Non è un caso che sistemi di questo tipo saranno ripresi principalmente da videogiochi di ruolo, oppure verranno enormemente semplificati.

Proviamo a fare un confronto rapido tra i tre metodi di combattimento, studiandone il numero di passaggi, immaginando l’attacco di un uomo (guerriero liv. 5 con picca) contro un orco con mazza e scudo.

Metodo tradizionale (Chainmail)

Si identifica la tipologia di attacco del guerriero (Regolamento di D&D)

Si identifica la tipologia di difesa dell’orco (Regolamento di D&D + Chainmail)

Si incrociano i valori sulla tabella di combattimento, in funzione dell’arma, e si tirano 2d6 (Chainmail)

Se si supera il valore in tabella, il nemico è stato colpito e subisce 1d6 danni

Metodo alternativo (d20)

Si identifica la Classe Armatura del bersaglio (Regolamento di D&D)

Si incrociano il livello del guerriero con la CA del bersaglio sulla tabella apposita e si tira 1d20 (Regolamento di D&D)

Se si supera il valore in tabella, il nemico è stato colpito e subisce 1d6 danni

Metodo alternativo con differenziazione delle armi (Greyhawk)

Si identifica la Classe Armatura del bersaglio (Regolamento di D&D)

Si identifica quanti danni fa l’arma (Greyhawk)

Si incrociano il livello del guerriero con la CA del bersaglio sulla tabella apposita e si tira 1d20 (Regolamento di D&D)

Se si supera il valore in tabella, il nemico è stato colpito e subisce un numero di danni in funzione dell’arma dell’attaccante

Metodo tradizionale con Hit Location (Blackmoor)

Si identifica la Classe Armatura del bersaglio (Regolamento di D&D)

Si incrociano il livello del guerriero con la CA del bersaglio sulla tabella apposita e si tira 1d20 (Regolamento di D&D)

Se si supera il valore in tabella, si controlla l’altezza del guerriero sommata a quella dell’arma, e quella dell’orco, incrociando la tabella (Blackmoor)

Dalla tabella si ottiene la probabilità di colpire in automatico una zona vitale, in percentuale (Blackmoor)

Si tirano i dadi percentuali per capire dove è stato colpito l’avversario, tenendo conto della posizione dell’attaccante (Blackmoor)

Il nemico subisce 1d6 danni in una zona specifica del corpo

Metodo alternativo con Hit Location (Blackmoor-d20)

Si identifica la tipologia di attacco del guerriero (Regolamento di D&D)

Si identifica la tipologia di difesa dell’orco (Regolamento di D&D + Chainmail)

Si incrociano i valori sulla tabella di combattimento, in funzione dell’arma, e si tirano 2d6 (Chainmail)

Se si supera il valore in tabella, si controlla l’altezza del guerriero sommata a quella dell’arma, e quella dell’orco, incrociando la tabella (Blackmoor)

Dalla tabella si ottiene la probabilità di colpire in automatico una zona vitale, in percentuale (Blackmoor)

Si tirano i dadi percentuali per capire dove è stato colpito l’avversario, tenendo conto della posizione dell’attaccante (Blackmoor)

Il nemico subisce 1d6 danni in una zona specifica del corpo

Metodo alternativo con differenziazione delle armi e Hit Location (Greyhawk-Blackmoor)

Si identifica la Classe Armatura del bersaglio (Regolamento di D&D)

Si identifica quanti danni fa l’arma (Greyhawk)

Si incrociano il livello del guerriero con la CA del bersaglio sulla tabella apposita e si tira 1d20 (Regolamento di D&D)

Se si supera il valore in tabella, si controlla l’altezza del guerriero sommata a quella dell’arma, e quella dell’orco, incrociando la tabella (Blackmoor)

Dalla tabella si ottiene la probabilità di colpire in automatico una zona vitale, in percentuale (Blackmoor)

Si tirano i dadi percentuali per capire dove è stato colpito l’avversario, tenendo conto della posizione dell’attaccante (Blackmoor)

Il nemico e subisce un numero di danni in funzione dell’arma dell’attaccante in una zona specifica del corpo

Non sorprende che, mentre la modifica apportata da Greyhawk alterava di pochissimo la velocità di svolgimento dei combattimenti, il sistema proposto da Blackmoor rendeva le cose solo più lunghe e difficili senza apportare un vero cambiamento a livello di gameplay e verrà pertanto abbandonato subito.

Ancora una volta vediamo una profonda differenza tra Gygax ed Arneson: il primo tende a regole rigide, ma rapide, mentre il secondo a regole che possano aumentare il senso di immersione, ma che rallentano notevolmente il gioco, impaludandolo. Sarebbe stato interessante vedere Arneson all’opera, nella sua campagna, ad utilizzare queste regole. Che trucchi usava per accelerare il tutto? Di quali tabelle disponeva per tenere conto dei punti ferita persi? L’impressione è che Arneson creasse al momento delle regole che potessero adattarsi di situazione in situazione, improvvisando ma al contempo rendendo tutto molto più fluido e divertente. Un approccio perfetto, ma non adatto ad essere riportato su un prodotto commerciale.

Nuovi Mostri

La maggior parte dei nuovi mostri sono utilizzabili esclusivamente in avventure acquatiche, che limita decisamente il loro utilizzo. Fanno però la loro comparsa gli elfi acquatici ed i temibili Sahuagin, cattivi classici di D&D forse ultimamente “passati di moda” ma molto presenti a cavallo tra gli anni ‘70 ed ‘80. Forse uno dei motivi per cui questi uomini-pesce erano così presenti sta proprio nella descrizione precisa fornita proprio in Blackmoor, non solo dal punto di vista fisico ma principalmente da quello delle origini, della cultura e dello status sociale. Da notare un “ispessimento” delle regole sulla licantropia: in questo caso si tratta di regole che influenzano più la parte di role-play che il combattimento e pertanto non rende più pesante il gioco.

Tempio della Rana

Circa un terzo di Blackmoor è occupato dal Tempio della Rana, ovvero la prima avventura pubblicata ufficialmente per D&D. Qui Arneson dà a tutti una lezione di stile. Quanto presentato non è un semplice dungeon (soprattutto, non è IL dungeon, ovvero quello che dovrebbe essere il corpo centrale di una campagna di OD&D) ma un vero e proprio luogo vivo, che inizia con la descrizione del culto e delle persone che lo compongono, compresa una spiegazione dettagliata dell’organigramma.

E sono proprio i dettagli a rendere interessante questo dungeon. Vi è, ad esempio, un club privato per la guarnigione, i cui fondi sono nascosti dietro un poster. Questi fondi sono noti agli ufficiali, i quali però lasciano libertà ai propri sottoposti di gestire come vogliono la loro piccola fortuna.

Questo dungeon non è affrontabile a muso duro, ma richiede una pianificazione accurata, sotterfugi ed una dose massiccia di interazione tra PG e PNG, non certo lo stile di gioco più diffuso dell’epoca. Oppure si può assaltare il dungeon con il famoso “esercito di seguaci”, rinunciando però a buona parte dei punti esperienza, come riportato in “Greyhawk”.

Avventure sottomarine

Nonostante il grande focus di Blackmoor dovessero essere le avventure sottomarine ed il combattimento sott’acqua (il combattimento aereo e navale erano già stati presentati nel regolamento originale) e i nuovi mostri fossero praticamente tutti pensati ai combattimenti subacquei, questo occupa solamente due pagine, di cui una quasi solo per la matrice degli incontri. Le regole sono, in questo caso, semplici ed intuitive, ma non aggiungono un gran ché al sistema di gioco.

Specialisti

Le regole per gli specialisti sono, al contrario, molto ben dettagliate, con l’introduzione (o meglio, l’ampliamento) della figura del saggio, che porta con sé un complesso ma giocabile sistema di conoscenze in funzione di valori percentuali, nonché la possibilità di incrementare il suo livello di conoscenze fornendogli libri adeguati. Vengono dettagliate anche le conseguenze dei licenziamenti ingiustificati (con tanto di rimostranze del sindacato/gilda) e la possibilità per il saggio di lanciare maledizioni in punto di morte, e solo in quel momento: non di certo l’abilità più utile del mondo, ma perfettamente in linea con il tono fantastico/letterario del Dungeons & Dragons anni ‘70.

Per quanto queste regole possano essere interessanti, però, si basano ovviamente sulla visione del gioco di Arneson, che prevede la gestione di castelli e territori ed ha nel dungeon il punto iniziale, forse anche centrale, ma di certo non totalizzante della campagna di gioco. Uno stile che, per le cause già analizzate in precedenza, non era molto in voga tra i giocatori.

Malattie

Ultima parte di Blackmoor, se si eccettuano un paio di pagine vuote per le note, è relativa alle malattie che potrebbero contrarre gli avventurieri. Si tratta di malattie reali, non fantastiche, descritte con dovizia di particolari e le cui percentuali di infezione e di letalità sono vicine al vero, almeno in una società simil-medievale (i dati della peste ricalcano quelli della peste nera del 1300).

Questa parte non aggiunge un gran ché al divertimento nel gioco, può però essere una discreta risorsa per un DM che vuole aggiungere del realismo alla sua campagna.

Conclusioni

Ero partito ben conoscendo quelli che erano le opinioni su Blackmoor all’epoca ma, amando tutto ciò che ha scritto Arneson, ero partito entusiasta, sicuro che fossero dovute alla non comprensione di un lavoro innovativo per l’epoca.

Mi sbagliavo. Mentre Greyhawk aggiungeva parecchio materiale tutto sfruttabile, Blackmoor apporta, per lo stesso prezzo, ben poco materiale.

In ordine sparso abbiamo: una classe sbilanciata ed una ingiocabile, un sistema di combattimento complesso da gestire, mostri legati ad avventure sottomarine… ma con regole per le esplorazioni subacquee che non aggiungono niente al gioco, una sezione sugli specialisti ed una sulle malattie ben costruite ma poco utili ed un modulo di avventura carino, ma percepito come non necessario.

Alla fine Blackmoor è un supplemento non solo debole, ma debolissimo dal punto di vista del gioco, soprattutto del gioco anni’70.

Dal punto di vista della storia del Gioco di Ruolo, invece, apporta innovazioni enormi, significative sia come impostazione che come contenuto. Ancora una volta Arneson predata i tempi ma realizzando un prodotto ben sotto la media.

#od&d #d&d #crimson #blackmoor #editions wars #dnd #story

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m0rr1s0n · 7 years

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I'm going to break down the loadout of mods and their configs along with some key features that stand out to me. Then I'm going to really try to give a description to explain why I made these choices and in the process of doing so, hopefully shed some light on how to break into it and what to expect when it all comes together. But it's on you to read mod descriptions to really fully understand all changes and feature each mod has as it's utterly pointless for me to try to describe a mod's features in more detail than the actual author. I'll, however, explain my own tweaked version of another mod. I'm (trying) to make a video to really home in on certain aspects of combat, especially the little things that add up, like avoiding getting hit.SKIP THIS IF YDGAFAll in all, I suppose an intro is due to try to sell my 'way to play'. Good combat, to describe it in a vague way we can all agree upon, depends on two skills, actively dealing damage and actively mitigating damage. Bad combat leaves little room to be good or bad at either of these outside the raw numbers being put in. Good combat is difficult but does not force the player into looking for cheese strategies (and hopefully restrains one's ability to indulge in them) nor is luck the majority determining factor in the outcome of a battle. Good combat is varied not only to prevent stagnation but to keep the challenge evolving in such a way that the player does not learn a single strategy or trick to win every battle. A game as massive as skyrim has it's limitations in consistency and mods assist in but don't always succeed in overcoming these limitations. For example, even with my mods, you may find these overpowered one-trick builds. However, remember if you feel you're becoming overpowered you can always increase spawns or if necessary enemy stats (NPC releveler) to restore challenge. I don't recommend tweaking difficulty. There's so many reasons that I don't care to list them all but essentially damage dealt/damage received is worse than so many imaginable alternatives which is part of why we're using mods in the first place.(Even simply jacking up healthpools, as cheesey as it sounds, is a much better method of increasing difficulty from a balance perspective. Take vigor for example, if enemies deal 3x damage and you deal .5, it doesn't matter what armor you wear, you're going to get 1 hit staggered by just about every enemy. Poise is then rendered useless, and heavier armor though slower and more stamina consuming, doesn't have any added benefit and we mine as well be using an 'every hit staggers' system on your end. Meanwhile, enemies will eat 2 handed powerattacks without staggering. You get the point.)Guide Starts HereFirstly, make sure you download SSEedit, the Creation Kit, and a BSA Extractor (http://ift.tt/2w4sjmz)Simple Must-Haves I won't comment on (for now at least):Alchemy Fixed (http://ift.tt/2uQiq9S?)Harder Lock Picking (http://ift.tt/2wF3yzF?)Scarcity (http://ift.tt/2uPZtUS?)Serio's Spells & Shouts Hotkeys (http://ift.tt/2wFCznL?)Harder Barter Settings (http://ift.tt/2vfGiVo?)Realistic AI Detection (http://ift.tt/2wFq5fY?)Enai's whole catalogue. I don't consider myself an Enai fanboy [as much as anyone that uses all of his mods can claim not to be] and I accept no mods are perfect however great their author. If I were a dick I could even point out some seemingly poor decisions made here and there (fucking technomancers) but I just don't see the point in playing without his perks, races, standing stones, spells, enchants, and so on. I don't know of any replacements that are as interesting and balanced. Essentially, everything he's added simply improves the vanilla experience. Make sure to get thief skills rebalance from the ordinator download page.For Ordinator, open it up in Creation Kit and find perks under 'actor' in the object window. While in perks, search 'vancian', double click the perk that pops up and in the window that pops up from there find conditions. The first condition says 'GetBaseActorValue', double click that and in the small window that pops up change the 'Value' (should be 30) to 70. Make sure you 'Okay' out rather than exit the windows, but close them. Now search 'Quadratic' do the same for that perk but make the Value 75. Finally search 'Dungeonmaster' do the same here but make the Value 80. If you grasp what I'm doing here then you can select your own values, otherwise stick to mine. There's good reasons for this, one being I highly (and I mean highly) recommend the ordinator version of this mod: http://ift.tt/2vgoGsy? More on that later.For Apocalypse, open it up in Creation Kit and find 'spells' in 'Magic' tab in the object window. Once selected, search longstride, open it up, in the inner window titled 'Effects' you should see two effects listed. Click the first one and set the magnitude to 80. Click the second and set to 160. I encourage you to play around with this to come up with a fair value, but the reason for this is Athletik Combat and (were you to not use it) Vigor reduce movement speed while casting which ends up making longstride not worth casting since you can just run that fast (or faster) without casting.For Wildcat, configure 0 cost for everything and disable bow draw stamina drain (we'll rely on vigor for this), Turn off the slowdown at low stamina (same reason), I prefer injuries off nowadays as I find everytime I'm injured I mine as well be dead, everything else on. I also (sorry again Enai) recommend you download SSEedit, load Wildcat, find 'fDiffMultHPToPCN' and 'fDiffMultHPByPCN' and set their values to 1.0 instead of 1.5. This is because one shotting is not conducive to balance on either end, in my opinion (You can still obviously potentially 1 shot enemies that are much weaker than you).http://ift.tt/2v6lkMO - First read and do this: http://ift.tt/2vpox57 is the first mod mentioned, you only need to do the ini edit for perks since we're not using it for spells. Next run it (Data/Skyproc Patchers/Asis) and only check perks. NPC perks is an excellent method of increasing their statistical power in a less artificial, more interesting manner than just tweaking damage dealt/damage received.http://ift.tt/2v6AvFB - I recommend my tweaked version, obviously, as I made it for my own use originally, but I'll link Alex9ndre's real version as well.First, the config. Again, I find injuries to be automatic death far too often (maybe it's just me). Turn off conditional damage in favor of Wildcat's.Vigor has a fatigue and stamina action system which I've altered and expanded on. Running (not sprinting) doesn't debuff stamina regeneration In my version as I believe you shouldn't be encouraged to stand still, however low stamina results in worse stamina debuffs [up to 60% slower] so that it becomes harder to avoid damage and reposition the lower your stamina. Also Low Magicka [Disorientation] results in slower movement speed as well, and casting costs a small amount of stamina 5-15 depending on how low your magicka is.Original - http://ift.tt/2v8Fplx Tweaked Version - http://ift.tt/2vpildv Overhauls Combined and MLU Simplified - The variety of enemies in Vanilla skyrim is appalling and you may not even realize it until starting a game with Encounter Overhauls Combined. Even enemies that differed, didn't differ like this. Their speed, their attack types, and abilities really inspire a more adaptive mindset. This, in my opinion, is why EOC is the core of this loadout. Not only is it incredibly well designed from a challenge viewpoint, it does so without "cheating" or breaking lore in any jarring ways given that you dont decide to load up all the SoT features alongside it. This is, in my opinion, the best addition to skyrim's combat. The author is so conscientous about balance issues and jarring lore-issues that emerge from combining (or using) some of these mods and works hard with frequent updates. See his page and every mod he mentions having a patch for MLU for download and install. USE MORROWLOOT ULTIMATE SIMPLIFIED. Then download all the mods his mod combines and tweaks which he also lists. His recommended loadout, even the extended one, are pretty solid and they work well with the rest of the mods in this guide.For configuration, activate OBIS and don't change anything. Sands of Time is where it gets tricky because the authors are insane.. seriously. Equip 'ring of danger', which summons the Sandman. Activate Mod. I have most experience with 'Ale Drinker' difficulty and it's not all that easy. Then ask the Sandman for the Revelation books. First, if you don't like seeing things that make no sense in Tamriel let alone Skyrim (and I hardly know shit about either's Lore), open up the Ruminari/Assassins book and disable the zombies alltogether. The SoT team have their own lore behind all three groups featured in this book but the zombie one has some jarring issues like "Hell Knights" and with everything going on they simply feel out of place but if you don't care, go for it. The EOC developer Tzu, is still working on balancing out the equipment of the two assassin groups which was their main issue especially early game. They're still absurd IMO but beatable especially in cities with guards, but if you are having trouble early on just disable them everywhere until your character strong enough to take them on. Just remember, sometimes running or getting help is okay. Go to toggles and turn off both of them. Open up the other Revelations book select Lore -> Lore Toggle and Disable Non-Lore Friendly. I now know this doesn't turn all the others off so just to every one like chests, armors, and burning inferno and turn them off as well, it's just too much and often imbalanced. Back out and go to Walking -> Spawns -> Half as Many, at least early game. In Misc toggles turn off outside spawns and dungeon spawns, at least early in the game. This reduces the chance you'll suddenly be mobbed by a horde of enemies you have no shot of overtaking. Again the SoT teammembers are as insane as they are talented.The SoT encounters are usually fantastic. They help even out a sometimes inconsistently challenging game. For example, that single Draugr boss in bleak falls that adding enemies around doesn't help improve because he only spawns after you get the first shout.. he pops out as you're approaching from the stairs. Little encounter tweaks that just make sense gameplay-wise are part of what makes SoT great when configured. I even recommend increasing the spawns as you become more powerful and the game (potentially) gets easier. Roguelike just adds a variety of different, mostly Lore-friendly enemies to the game and with the help of the author of EOC places them logically and they're usually very well balanced. I feel EOC cleans up some of the whackiness and balance mishaps much like it does for SoT.Advanced Adversary Encounters alters enemy types in a more conservative way to make combat more challenging and interesting without arbitrarily cranking stats up. EoC integrates changes and integrates them into the other encounter mods. Different enemies have different weaknesses and resistances. Has it's own compatibility patch page.MLU Simplified is just MLU stripped of features like deleveling. Loot is more important and placed logically. Grab patches from the MLU page not MLU Simplified page. I'll link both. I highly recommend using the slower skill leveling addon.For MLU Slower Leveling, go into Skyrim -> Data -> Plugins -> Sumwunn and open the ini file with notepad. See all those 0.5's next to skill names? Change those to 0.25's. Or use my preferred, even slower setup balanced with different rates between spellcasting, craft, and physical combat skills: http://ift.tt/2vqRzSc: http://ift.tt/2v8ypVP S: http://ift.tt/2vrnGRL (for Slower Leveling & Patches): http://ift.tt/2voRs9D & Watchtowers Reborn - Genesis was intended to be an addon to Sands of Time. When I first tried it, I didn't understand how it could differ from SoT's spawn system. Then I played with it for a bit and it felt much better on default settings compared to SoT's increased spawns. From what I understand now, Genesis literally randomly generates more well-placed spawns to every dungeon in the game so that going through the same dungeon again will be a different experience. Watchtowers does this for watchtowers. Genesis config: For spawns, keep the default settings but obviously remember you can increase or decrease these spawns depending on your experience. Change Spawn Always to (Yes). Disable the treasure module as this can throw off the gold economics of the playthrough. Genesis features a releveler if you feel the mobs it spawns get out of control BUT I recommend if you want to use something like this, use NPCs Releveled (I don't recommend using either until you try the game for a bit without as I believe there should be greater variability in stats and it can't account for some encounters where the stats of enemies are very intentionally unusual.): http://ift.tt/2wFNHAK? It uses a more logical scaling system that accounts for different enemy types. You can add exceptions to the releveling but the obvious ones are like followers are already exempt from the effect. I recommend, if you use it, to turn off the size scaling on minibosses. It can cause some issues in my experience.Genesis: http://ift.tt/2v90IUd Reborn: http://ift.tt/2v6fJGk Enemies & Athletik Combat - These two combine to ensure fair mechanics between you and the enemy but also improve the feel of melee combat in particular. Firstly, dodging is made much more possible through imperfect accuracy, increased strafe speed, and limited rotational range when swinging. This just feels right even as the one swinging. I didn't forsee how much this would impact the enjoyment of combat especially swinging a two handed mace around.Mortal Enemies: http://ift.tt/2vrj7Xo Combat: http://ift.tt/2vpmq1c Tweaks (Required by EOC & Skytest Harder Creatures - These two cover all non-humanoid enemies in the vanilla game. They alter stats and AI behavior but Harder Creatures also add new attacks animations. Make sure to grab compatibility patches from AAE's patch page.Animal Tweaks: http://ift.tt/2v8n1Jv Harder Creatures: http://ift.tt/2v5OQ5i Spawns (Only Boss x2) - Install increased Spawns, either version, but only keep the Increased Boss Spawns esp. This is interesting. For example, where there's usually that named bandit boss, there's that named bandit boss and a generic bandit boss and usually of a different race and setup. In dungeons, I've seen different boss types altogether along with EOC. This ensures those bosses that don't already have a couple grunts around them aren't as easily dispatched.http://ift.tt/2vp1Yxt Edition Followers & Amazing Follower Tweaks (AFT) - SE Followers doesn't sound like much but it really makes followers worth having for purposes other than loneliness. It adds uniqueness and value to followers. Shit, even Sven has some impactful tricks up his sleeve.Regarding AFT config, talk to a follower: tweak options -> settings -> NO COMBAT RECOVERY, no skill synergy, limit to 3 followers.Here's a potentially really important tweak you need to make if you're using followers. Open console click one them and enter this one by one: forceav attackdamagemult .33 You can adjust this to your liking but remember to do it to each new follower you acquire. This ensures that you can't just sit back and watch followers win fights for you, but rather they will rely on you. With specialized followers they'll have tricks and sometimes it's adding extra damage (like Faendal's magic arrows) but it's all supplementary to your performance. Not to say Lydia's "lay on hands" hasn't saved my ass 100,000 times but you can't just mindlessly mash attack while your followers do the heavy lifting. The reason I keep extra stats is so that they're not just cannon fodder that get leveled at the start of every fight, with their general AI, they need that defensive boost (ironically though, one of Jenassa's ability can make her pretty resilient). I personally don't assign combat AI through AFT because I'm not sure how it could interfere with Specialized Followers. I recommend you don't either.Special Edition Followers: http://ift.tt/2vreDQs Follower Tweaks: http://ift.tt/2v5RNTz - We don't have a dodge mod in SE. This takes some getting used to but it's a pretty decent placeholder. Again you can avoid damage through good movement, but it doesn't hurt to have a short burst of speed for some stamina. Works best when moving side to side as with this loadout backing up is usually too slow to make swooshing backwards a reliable method of avoiding damage. Choose the faster option. http://ift.tt/2vp7tMZ require Perks (Ordinator) - Just as the name describes. No more, casting master level spells as a novice mage. No more warrior that hasn't used a spell all playthrough buying an advanced spellbook and learning to make meteors rain from the sky. I chose the default version but many of you will probably prefer the No Novice version which allows anyone to cast novice spells without perks.All Trainers & Unlimited Training - We're using a tough barter mod, we've reduced skill leveling to a quarter of vanilla, and we've restricted spells' use through perks . Wondering why (Barter is multipurposed)? Because Skyrim's system isn't deliberate enough to REALLY BUILD characters with strengths AND weaknesses. What do I mean? I mean, I'm this wandering 2handed scimitar wielding, contingency buffed elf mage shooting fireballs from my sword and that's fine but when does it stop? I don't have potions, how do I get health back between fights. If I'm injured and I get away, how do I heal up. You buy flash heal and before you know it your restoration skill is tailing just behind your destruction and enchanting skill because you use this spell so often not even just in combat, but for time-saving convenience. Pretty much every mage ends up a cleric. Now, I have to grab the novice perk (not if you use No Novice) and take Healing instead of Flash Heal. and now my Restoration skill level won't skyrocket.So we install Unlimited Training. Now we can spend our precious gold on skill levels all we want. With all these mods in place, you can still level skills up by using them and will, but training becomes a staple for leveling your primary skills. So you're actually deliberately choosing what's going to level up the most and with economic consideration. But now I have to travel 800 miles this way and 400 miles that way everytime I want to train? Not with All Trainers. With this Oldrim mod there's a trainer for every skill in Whiterun. All you have to do is extract the folders/files from the BSA and drop them in your data folder along with the ESP. There's one little issue. "The Guaridan" (Block trainer). Open the mod up in CK, go to actors tab and search the Guaridan. Correct the typo. Save.All Trainers: http://ift.tt/2v8zDQU Training: http://ift.tt/2v5BENI Act Like Shields & Better Wards - Wards are particularly weak, even with this loadout, with a lot more magic being casted against you. These 2 mods make them actually useful. With these a wards and shields are similar yet with their own pros and cons: shield is faster, has timed block, doesn't cost mana, can bash; but a ward protects against spells, random chance of stagger, and also allows you to attack or cast with the other hand while being maintained.I use many other mods but these are the one's that affect gameplay. I also use Nexus Skyrim Overhaul, which believe it or not is compatible with all of these, and every single weapon/armor mod EOC provides a VIS patch for.Shields Act Like Shields: http://ift.tt/2vrzcMN Wards: http://ift.tt/2vp6fkA StylesTip: I found 3rd person much better for learning dodging without swoosh and getting behind enemies for backstabs (Wildcat). Try it out even on mage/archer, just zoom out when enemies close in. I happen to use 3rd Person fake dodge which makes it fun and engaging: http://ift.tt/2v87CZz this loadout, even typical grunts can give you trouble if you're careless. Of course there're always trash fights where you can sit back and spam to win, but I'd argue these are a necessary gameplay feature. What really matters is if the game is frequently challenging and varied enough to stimulate you.However, as far as Combat Styles go, the two heavy hitters are vigor and Wildcat. Firstly, enemies will block pretty much any frontal attack if they have the stamina to do so. They'll bash stagger you if you let them work in and without good attention to positioning this will lead to you being pummeled by other enemies which may then result in a poise stagger; a potentially fatal combo. On top of this, enemies are just much more persistent and consistent. They react more believably but are smart to the point where it can leave you wondering, initially, what can I even do here? This is good. It's good because not immediately recognizing how to defeat basic enemies when the odds are against you stats and numbers-wise is the basis of solid combat so long as the challenge is surmountable and without relying on luck. The second main ingredient, as mentioned previously, is variation because otherwise once you truly master defeating a single type of threat, the game becomes a cakewalk. By adding different threats to keep the game from becoming too predictable, challenge is maintained.Here's a couple tips for fighting basic enemies. Firstly, Mortal Enemies and Athletik Combat make dodging possible even without Swoosh and it's rewarding. Always try to bait an attack in one direction while circling to avoid once the animation begins. Then, of course, you have to keep an eye on where you're moving in relation to the other enemies, if there are any, which there very often are. Stay moving against large packs of enemies, and check your blind spots when you know your safe from the front for a second. Swoosh takes some getting used to. Just remember one rule, don't backpedal with it or you'll just waste stamina. Secondly, given the opportunity pepper blocks with attacks that don't overcommit you (directional power attacks) unless you know the power attack will break the block. Also, anticipate dodging when power attacking and you'd be surprised what some FPS snapping can get you. A good power attack trick in a situation where it won't get you surrounded is to forward power attack from absolute max distance. This can catch enemies offguard and keeps space between you and them. Timed blocking and bashing are obvious gotos BUT it's best not to play purely reactively, unless, potentially, your build works with that style. Often playing aggressive with good positioning and movement is more effective especially when the odds are against you and you need to thin the enemy ranks quickly as possible.I recommend bumping SoT to Spartan when you become familiar with mechanics like dodging without swoosh or if you're simply finding it too easy, otherwise you might see it as impossible BSCharacter BuildingWhen it comes to Character Building, fun comes first. You can always tweak mod configs to increase or decrease the challenge. Adding restrictions like perk requirements for spells may sound deceptively like favoring balance in place of fun but imagine you're playing a pure warrior character and you get a full set of daedric gear before you even kill your first dragon. Spells are now something not only to build for, but to look forward to as a spellcaster. The reason Vancian Mage and it's successive perks are made to require high alteration is because of how vastly powerful they become with this setup. Vancian mage means you can cast any spell in the game without required perks, but only 20 times before resting (however 5 more skill levels in Alteration and you can grab Quadratic Wizard and start building those uses). This is actually a cool concept for Alteration mages that take this path. They obviously can't use these spells to the same effect as mages with many perks in the spells' school but they suddenly acquire immense utility. Rather than allow an Alteration based character to get this in Embershard or Bleak Falls, they now have to experience the restrictive system for a while and will really feel the worth of Vancian. I'm not even sure 70 is fair tbh, but I've come to be less obsessively nitpicky so 70 is good enough for me.. for now.My experience so far with this setup is spread your perks too thin and you may struggle, yet there's always periods where an investment in a side tree can be more beneficial than continuing to climb.Primary Characters I've Been Testing WithFirstly, the game does not start out super difficult. While, there were a couple sticking points for me early on, I actually contemplated employing increased spawns for non-boss enemies. Now, on my level 26 I realize that would've been a pretty terrible idea. Even if the game managed to simply never challenge me enough, I'd increase difficulty through configuration the mods I already have. I have a level 26 Destruction(high)/2handed(high)/enchanting(mid-high)/alteration(mid) mage and while he's incredibly strong against single enemies, even bosses, his perks are spread too thin and he lacks the longevity to fight big groups or prolonged battles without struggling. I'm still fully able to progress but I have to REALLY play, and die a lot. With that said I die a lot on every character.I have a Conjurer around level 20 and even with a really optimized build, I'm at the border right now of increasing the difficulty. Ustengrav happens to be a pretty easy dungeon beyond the first two fights or so and I did die in the second fight against all those undead and I wasn't playing carelessly. Turning SoT spawns on the lowest possible setting or cranking up Genesis' spawns would probably put the difficulty in a very nice spot for me. So far, I've a poorly optimized build with some overpowered perks (Spellscribe and its successors may need a requirement bump, but its so fun I haven't gotten around to it yet) that usually has tough time but can demolish single enemies and a well optimized build that isn't exactly rolling over everything but could use a little difficulty bump to spice things up AND it's easy enough to do that. The simplest solution is enabling/increasing SoT/Genesis spawns. I plan to keep tweaking as I see necessary and should keep this updated as well.I'm not sure reddit is the best place for it (it may be out of sight within a day or two) but reddit is what I know so for now it's here.Any input or questions? just leave a commentSorry, I'm continuing to fix format and typos. I know it was horrid at first. Just cleaned Enai's mods section. via /r/skyrimmods

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