Ultron, Artifical Intelligence, and Emotion

So I only got, like, 7 views on my last article…WHATEVER! PERSEVERANCE! I DON’T FEEL THE SHADOWY CLAW OF A DESPAIR DEMON CLENCHING MY HEART, SQUEEZING THE JOY AND KINDNESS FROM ME LIKE DIRTY WATER FROM A SPONGE! I’M HANDLING IT, OKAY!?

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to catch a screening Avengers: Age of Ultron a night early, and it was awesome.

SPOILER WARNING: I reveal an aspect of a character from Avengers: Age of Ultron below. It’s not even really a spoiler, honestly, but I know people will bitch if I don’t include this.

 The best part of the movie—for me, anyway—was Ultron. He was just so fun to watch and James Spader did such an amazing job of bringing him to life. The best part about the character, I thought, was the sheer amount of emotion in his voice.

Yup. Emotion.

See that emotion? That's judgment.
He's judging the shit out of you.

The trailers have done a very good job at hiding this aspect. The closest thing we’ve come to is his “there are no strings on me” speech, and that doesn’t nearly sell just how human the character of Ultron is. He feels anger, sadness, loneliness, snark. He has a full range of emotions. And that’s something that is all too often neglected when an Artificial Intelligence is written into a story.

A.I. is nearly always written as cold and emotionless. Whether it’s HAL 9000 from 2001, the Geth from Mass Effect, or various robots from Isaac Asimov’s writings, they tend to be focused on the “artificial” aspect more than the “intelligent” aspect. Sure, these characters are intelligent. But they lack the one thing that makes truly intelligent creatures what they are. Emotions. Feelings. True wants and needs.

I always felt that A.I., if we created it, wouldn’t end up being like Skynet. It’d be more like…Futurama. If we truly create something with intelligence, with a real, genuine consciousness, then there is no doubt in my mind that it will have the same kinds of foibles and emotional failings as any person. It will feel jealousy, anger, love, hatred, joy, and even loneliness. Because it is intelligent, and intelligence comes with a lot of baggage.

Now, how does this relate to D&D? This is a D&D-themed blog, after all.

I’m not sure it does. I guess I could complain that the Android race in Pathfinder focuses exclusively on this idea of cold, emotionless intelligence and, therefore, completely misses the point of A.I. This is in stark contrast to the Warforged of Eberron, who are fully fleshed out characters—but aren’t necessarily “machines” in the traditional sense.

Honestly, though, I think this is just more of a story-telling memorandum. Too many villains I read about in modules are more artificial than the Terminator. They’re designed as simple monsters whose only goals are committing evil acts for the sake of evil acts. If there are any DMs reading this, then just keep in mind that if you include real villains in your campaign—whether they be A.I. or flesh-and-blood, Remember that they can be real characters as well, with ideals, bonds, and flaws. There’s a reason that those three foci are the ones chosen by the creators of this edition of D&D.

Being a villain isn't just about ruling with an adamantium-vibranium-alloy fist.
It's about WHY you rule with said fist.

Until next time, folks.

Kick Ass,

Take Names,

And Always Loot the Bodies.

Leveling Up in Legend of Zelda

I am currently writing a Legend of Zelda-based campaign. Because I hate myself, and I like a challenge. One of the questions I have been asking myself for a while was, “how do I handle experience in a Legend of Zelda-based game?”

An intriguing question to be sure. Legend of Zelda, as a series, has so many dramatic themes and through-lines that it really makes choosing one style difficult.

I think this is the the thematic style I'm looking for.

Unearthed Arcana: Modifying Classes - Content Review

I was hoping to have a super-special project done today, so that I could share it with all of you!

But screw that! A new Unearthed Arcana came out, and it has rules on new class options. I gotta talk about that shit!

Link to the document in question: Linky-Link

So…an Unearthed Arcana on class design? With specific examples of class options people have been asking for since…well, since the game came out? I’m in! Let’s dive in, shall we? Follow along, if you like.

Accept no substitutes...except for this one.

Regarding Loot The Body, and a Few Magic Items

So, I’ve started spreading my wings, as it were, and surveying the vastness of D&D podcasts, articles, and websites; and I learned something…

There’s about 400 BILLION blogs, columns, and podcasts that use some variation of “Behind the DM Screen” as their moniker. Seriously! There’s anofficial D&D Column, a podcast under the Tome Show, and that column on Tribality! Why did nobody tell me!? And I thought I was being clever…

Well, shit. Guess it’s time for a change.

The Curious Case of Detect Magic in D&D 5e

NOTE: This blog post was intended to go up several days ago. However, I had to go into surgery, and therefore had to delay the posting of this entry. It also prevented me from properly editing it...there aren't any images, clever captions, and it might come off choppy. That said, I hope you all enjoy.

I think my last post betrayed the fact that I have a deep and abiding love for cool magic items. I love peppering enemies' inventories and weapons-stores with neat little trinkets.

I think the designers of D&D 5e love them, as well, based on some of their design decisions. Traditionally, you see, discovering and identifying magic items boiled down to, mostly, a single spell. Detect Magic. This was the case all the way back in AD&D, and remains the case in modern games like Pathfinder. A group of adventurers comes across a chest full of treasure, and they immediately cast detect magic to see if any of it glows with the light of potentially-cool powers. D&D 5e changed this. In 5e, everyone knows that a magic item is magic as soon as they pick it up. It radiates an aura that can be felt by anyone, like a magical sixth sense.

So, then...what's the point of detect magic? Why does it still exist?

Regarding Magic Item Glut

I am currently suffering Magic Item glut in my 5e campaign. I would blame the fact that I've been running a modified Pathfinder module (Pathfinder being a game where magic items are not just prevalent, but necessary for character power), but really it comes down to me and some poor choices I've made. I've over-powered certain items, under-emphasized others, and overall kicked myself in the ass on this.

Before I talk about how I plan to solve the problem of Magic Item Glut in my current campaign, and a few methods to avoid it in other campaigns, let me define what I mean by Magic Item Glut in general.

Dragons in the Age of Heroes, Part 1: The Dragon Gods

All too often, my games tend to end this way...

The first arc of my first 5^th Edition campaign has come to a close. My players faced off against their first ever dragon, and came out victorious, in the end. Sure, two of them rotted into piles of stinking flesh (Poison breath, man...), while another survived with only 4 remaining hit points, but they beat the beast. And they saved a town in the process.

And, as is tradition, as they begin the next leg of their potentially-endless quest, those who perished will make new characters. One of these characters wanted to play a Dragonborn. I have never taken issue with dragonborn, as a race. I think they're a nice compromise on characters playing Half-Dragons without actually playing Half-Dragons. And they have a nice, lore-friendly place in my homebrew world.

However, he didn't want to play just ANY dragonborn. He wanted to play the spawn of one of Tiamat's children. Specifically, Mordukhavar the Reaver.

The Archfey in the Age of Heroes

I've got a player who's potentially making a Warlock who has made a pact with the Archfey. In doing so, he wanted to know about the Archfey of my world, since he knew that I have very specific Archfey working in the background. Well, rather than just tell him, I decided to make it into a writing exercise on my part. So, here it is! A basic overview of the Archfey of Ascalon.

The Narrative of Feats in D&D 5e

I've been planning on reviving this blog for a while now. Lots of ideas in the works, but one of the things I really wanted to do was create longer-form posts regarding aspects of RPGs that I find great or less-than-great. And, well, I was thinking on the topic of this blog post recently, and decided to just go for it.

So, without further ado, let the re-launch of Behind the DM Screen begin!

The New Engineer (v4.2)

So, it's been a long time since I posted here. But I do have a bit of an update. The Engineer has a new version! And this one definitely feels a little different than the others.

As usual, it's viewable via Google Docs.

The Engineer v4.2

Enjoy!

-Chris

Chrisfinder II: Fighting Man

So...obviously I haven't posted anything for a while. Life gets in the way of things like this.

However, I have been working on a new project: a continuation of my Monk revamp. This time, I've remade the Fighter in my own image.

The Fighter v1.0

Peace,

-Chris

Closing Out the Year With a Win

So, it's December 31. Tomorrow, it shall be 2012, and I just found out that the story I submitted to Wayfinder Magazine was selected! I'm officially a published Author!

Link here.

So, I guess I get to close this year with a win.

Yay, me!

Design Day: Prestige Archetypes - The Duelist

A while ago, I presented the first of my series of "Prestige Archetypes". Essentially, they're prestige classes translated into archetypes. I started with the Arcane Archer (a magus archetype, link), and today I'm presenting the Duelist. It's an archetype for the Fighter.

Design Day: The Artificial

Last week on Design Day, I presented a new, shadowy race known as the Shadowkin. This week, I'm still on a races kick, so I decided to throw something else together...well, not exactly that. I'm actually updating an old race I designed: The Gearman.

Except these guys got a pretty major face-lift. They've been re-designed from the bottom-up, right down to the name. In addition, they have some new flavor that I hope you'll enjoy. I've been meaning to adjust them for a while now, since they're one of the player races in my home campaign setting. So here it is:

Flavor Friday: Muira the Monk

Well, as you can all tell by now, I haven’t really been “on the ball” when it comes to the Flavor Fridays. Sometimes they’re there, and sometimes they’re not. And I’ve come to the decision that I’m going to keep it that way. I’m planning to, from now on, try to put out a Flavor Friday every 2 weeks or so. And, in the spirit of that, I’ll begin today by presenting one of the iconic characters from my personal campaign setting: Esperim.

And, since I just rebuilt the monk, I figure I should put forth my iconic monk: Muira.

Design Day: The Shadowkin

I HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR THE LACK OF A FLAVOR FRIDAY AND A DESIGN DAY ON TUESDAY.

So the Bestiary 3 is coming out soon, and Paizo has been doing for the last month or so, posting monster stat blocks and previewing pictures of the monsters in the book. I actually collect Paizo art every time something cool comes up on their blog, so I’ve been snatching all of these pictures up as they came. And, well…there was one that inspired me to make something.

Design Day: Anatia, the Witch Queen

Today, we’ll be taking a break from rebuilding the monk, and we’re going to move into the realm of the dark arts… In honor of Carrion Crown, I thought I’d try my hands at building a haunt. But just building a haunt wouldn’t be enough for you guys, would it? Nah, you deserve more than that. So…instead, I present…

Anatia, the Witch Queen!

Design Day: Rebuilding the Monk, Part 4

For the last week, I’ve been working on a near-total monk rebuild. This isn’t just a few fixes (like I did with my house rules), it’s a whole new version of the class. Last Tuesday, I went over the problems with the class, then on Thursday  I talked about how I planned to fix it. Then, on Flavor Friday, I talked about the new Paths I’m introducing.

And now I’m bringing it all together. That’s right. Without any further ado, I present the New Monk.

Flavor Friday: Rebuilding the Monk, Part 3

And Flavor Friday is back! This week, we’re continuing with our rebuild of the monk. Wait, what’s that? We’re doing design work on a flavor Friday? Blasphemy! Nah. I’m just kidding. This is part of the monk’s rebuild, but, in fact, I will include (next to) no design work today.

One of the things I ran into while I was working on the new monk was that I was going to have to accommodate all (or most) of its archetypes. And, instead of completely rewriting the archetypes to fit with the new system, I thought I’d create a system within the class itself that would accommodate switching out all of these abilities. To find inspiration, I looked to other classes that had similar systems. Classes like the sorcerer and its bloodlines, or the wizard and its schools, or the cavalier and its orders.

And so I came up with the idea of Paths. At level 1, the monk selects a path—a set of beliefs and practices by which the monk lives his life. He then gains set abilities at set levels based on that path. Remember yesterday, when I said that the Still Mind, Purity of Body, Diamond Body and Timeless Body abilities would all be rolled into one thing? That would be the…

Design Day: Rebuilding the Monk, Part 2

Hey there, everybody! Well, last time, we took a look at the monk, and some of the problems with its current design. Today, we’re going to take those problems and start a-fixin’ em! Keep in mind that this is all in preparation for a brand new monk build (which is almost complete, but I though I’d go through the whole process). That said, some of the “fixes” I’m about to propose wouldn’t really fit in with the standard monk. I’ll note the changes that work and the changes that don’t as they come. Just keep in mind that each of these will be incorporated into the final monk next week.

Let’s start with the basics, just like we did before.