Emulation
By The Warden
Before I begin, I should warn you: there is nothing about D&D Next on today’s post. There was supposed to be, it was part of my plan to include it in today’s topic, but I’m easily frustrated at incomplete links, encircling sign-ups, and repeated error messages. If I want to hit my deadline for the week, I’ll have to do without.
OK, deep breath, Warden. Focus on what you can write. So where were we?
Ah, yes. Emulation. The act of simulating the feel of a particular setting, genre, or event in an alternate medium. In this case, roleplaying games. It’s one of the crucial elements of any roleplaying game, to emulate the act of battling hordes of goblinoids in times of war, travel through the void of space, invoke the power of magic, or chase down a wanted fugitive through the streets of Hong Kong using dice, character sheets, and good friends. Each game has its own source to emulate and a certain degree of emulation appropriate to the material. For example, there is no comparison for the act of casting a spell, so it’s not as if anyone’s “getting it wrong.” But how does it feel compared to swinging a sword, an event we can understand and attempt in real life?
Every game tries to emulate something to create its perfect version of the game through a combination of mechanics and presentation, even if the game isn’t based on any existing material. They can be made to emulate existing games, the basis for the entire Old School Revolution attempting to “bring back the feel of 1st edition D&D” and the slogan for Necromancer Games (“Third edition rules, first edition feel.”). They can also mimic the thrill and excitement of our favorite movies, books, or video games, like the Song of Fire and Ice Roleplaying Game from Green Ronin drawing from George R.R. Martin’s novels or the recent Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game representing the exploits of Marvel Comics.
Today, we’re going to focus on the mechanical considerations for these adaptations. Our interest, of course, pertains to how the game’s mechanics help players assume the role of their beloved heroes or enter the world of science fiction, fantasy, or factual history. It’s a careful compilation built to replicate so many essential components of the original source in a more open and varied format suitable to a roleplaying game. While there’s no absolute system for emulation, there are certain standards up for consideration.
CHARACTERS
From a mechanical standpoint, it’s the first thing we turn to in any game, let alone an emulation. Do the character options represent what we would expect from the original material and do they work in such a way we can expand on them and go beyond the original source? From racial options to backgrounds to character classes or builds, these are the core fundamental of any emulation because if the player characters can’t appear to share traits and abilities from the original material, nothing else matters.
At the same time, these options must go above and beyond what’s already known to incorporate the best aspect of roleplaying games: imagination. Players in an emulated game need to feel the same sense of control over their characters as the original author while still honoring the original material and not be bogged down by such an unnecessary limitation, as “it’s never been done in the series, so you can’t do it here.”
For example, every Star Wars game on the market has provided options for playing Jedi (or Sith for those so inclined). Aside from lightsaber duels and Force powers, successful games allow for more than what’s been in the films (or books or the animated series). For example, the old Star Wars d20 RPG provided Force-based feats allowing you to resist energy damage and heal wounds.
Game balance and honoring the original material can be a delicate performance. Novels, films, and other fictional sources are not restricted with the same conditions and core factors as roleplaying games are. In the original Star Wars films, it’s acceptable for Luke to be exceptionally overpowered compared to the rest of his friends because they can be separated through cut scenes between Luke battling Vader on the Death Star while Han, Leia, Chewy, and the droids deal with Stormtroopers on Endor. This is not always an option in RPGs and results in one of the biggest taboos: don’t split the party. Hence emulations have to rely on character levels and learning curves to keep characters at an even keel so all players have their own part to play without a central PC dominating the game.
RELATIONSHIPS
With all of these character options collected into a single volume, how do all these people get along? Though this is generally considered a setting concept rather than a mechanical one, there have been a few games making use of character relationships through interesting mechanical additions.
Every game in the Cortex System (and the Cortex Plus System) published by Margaret Weis Publications allows players to establish connections to various supporting characters by spending Plot Points. The Dragon Age RPG from Green Ronin provides brief material on dogs and their role in common society, thereby making it possible for nearly every character to have an animal companion; a minor touch, perhaps, but one experienced fans of the original video game greatly appreciate.
VIOLENCE
Are the characters of the original source constantly involved in vicious fights with monsters or armed mercenaries? If so, are they rapid-fire blood spewing orgies of destruction or carefully executed ballets of death where every hit bring dire consequences to hero and villain alike? Or are these moment rare and short-lived?
Every roleplaying game requires combat resolution, but the detail of that system is only as mandatory as the original material. When Wizards of the Coast released a couple of supplements supporting Diablo II, they were easily able to use their existing D&D 3rd Edition rules as the video game pitted heroes against swarms of vicious beasts and demons in encounters nearly similar to the D&D combat encounters. Blue Rose, the d20 variant released by Green Ronin and the system used in the original A Song of Fire and Ice RPG, takes the same mechanics with a greater emphasis on gritty realism and character relationship to keep pace with its source. While both games use the same core system, each of them has been tweaked to suit the wildly different sources of a computer game and a series of intense novels.
A game’s opponents can become a predominant sign of its faith to the original material rather than the mechanics of combat. Using the examples sources given above, there is a considerable difference between the opponents of Diablo II (demons) and A Song of Fire and Ice (other mortals). Introductory adventures in worlds based on video games commonly feature wild animals and slowly step their way into more humanoid enemies, while those developed on novels pit their central characters against opponents divided by territories.
PACING
Related to violence, the pace of a game mirrors other factors represented in each player’s turn and the formation of rounds in the game. How many actions can each character attempt on their turn? How quickly does the resolution mechanic take place? How does initiative work? Each of these considerations and more can match the tone of the original material’s pace when assembled correctly.
In the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game, for example, all characters are able to complete as much action as can be described in a single panel of a comic book. (This also means dialogue is not limited at all by any realistic boundaries as some characters can pitch an essay on morality while throwing a single punch.) It’s an incredibly simple and effective tool for pacing requiring the player to keep the source material – comic books – in mind when declaring their action.
MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY
Depending on the timeline of the original source, the application of magic and/or technology in emulations can become a huge factor. Either area carries its own weight in every game, from how spells are cast to the impact of technology in a setting. Does everyone know how to pilot a spaceship in the books? Can anyone use magic to one degree or another in the films? These two questions alone can have massive impact on the mechanics of a game and, more importantly, so does the opposite. As with character concepts, the use of magic and technology in any emulation must weigh the pros and cons of game balance any original source material can simply write their way around.
MECHANICS AS TOOLS
When it comes down to it, like everything else in your favourite RPG, the mechanics are just a single step to representing an exciting representation of a best-selling novel, hit TV series, or popular video game. Yet without this first step, the remaining pieces can fall apart and leave the players feeling empty. There’s never a guarantee every game can bring to life the original source befitting to every fan, but a solid foundation with room for flexibility and interpretation is always a good start.
