P&P Tanking

I am a big fan of pencil and paper roleplaying games. My first one, of course, was Dungeons & Dragons (Third Edition, though I had read the First Edition rules). I played a lot of D&D throughout college, and expanded my horizons to Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Savage Worlds, and more. It was a good time all around, and I became a good game master as well as a good player. In fact, this is how I met most of my current WoW guildies - through a gaming club at my college.

Not too long ago, Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition came out. We played some scenarios with the sample characters that were released, and discovered that it was, in fact, not a terrible game. There were some elements that definitely came from MMO's (WoW in particular), but what goes around comes around (the term "epic", as a gaming term, was first used in D&D).

One of the most interesting concepts to be included in the fourth edition of the classic pencil and paper game was that of marking. Marking is an ability central to the set of character classes known as "defenders". They are the tanks of D&D4E. What happens is, in some way or another, they mark a target. Depending on the class, this mark can have different effects, but these effects usually trigger off of the marked target attacking something other than the defender. When a paladin marks, the target takes some damage. When a fighter marks, the target suffers a penalty to its attacks. This seems like it wouldn't be terribly effective, but it really is. The game master definitely has a choice, but the marks provide a clear advantage in terms of what characters should be attacked by a particular enemy.

I find this interesting because of its difference from WoW (and, I'm assuming, other MMOs as well). In WoW, there is a concrete threat list (most of the time), and whoever is at the top has aggro on that enemy. In D&D, it's really a question of choice. The game master knows that what we really want is for him to attack the tank, and so his instinct is to not attack the tank. But it's clearly disadvantageous to follow through on that instinct, so he continues to attack the tank. I know that WoW doesn't have a concious being behind the raid bosses, but I like to look at this comparison anyway. It's interesting to me how the people who designed D&D4E took a concept from MMOs and made it a fun and interesting mechanic (both for the player and the GM) in their pencil and paper game.

It's also interesting to see how things have come full circle. MMOs took their cues from pencil and paper games, and now pencil and paper games are taking their cues from MMOs. Kind of fun.

In other news...

I ran Kara with a guild called AWOL last night, up through Curator. I originally saw somebody looking for an off tank and two healers for Kara. I joined on Thireas, and after waiting for a little bit, was asked if I had an alt. I replied that I had a 70 warlock, and I was asked if I could switch.

Sure, why not.

I think this was the second time I went into Kara on my 'lock. The first time, I passed all 'lock loot to one of the newer guildies Jurus. He got some good loot that night. This time, there were other cloth DPS there, but I made out like a bandit. First, [item]Shadow-Cloak of Dalaran[/item] dropped off of Moroes. I won it with an 83, replacing a green. Then [item]Bands of Nefarious Deeds[/item] dropped off of Maiden. Nobody else wanted them, so they were mine. Somewhere in this time, I hit honored with the Violet Eye, so on our way to the back door to do Nightbane, I picked up my new Violet Signet. Lastly, Curator dropped [item]Staff of Infinite Mysteries[/item], and again nobody wanted it, so Akhim got it.

At this point, one of our tanks had DC'd (his account lapsed... ironic, sort of), and the other had to leave. I offered to switch to Thireas, and I ended up doing so, but we never found an off tank and another DPS, so we called it. Unfortunately, this means Thireas is saved, so the easy half of Kara isn't an option for him right now.

But four epics and nine badges was awesome for my 'lock. Good times.