Exploring Tekumel

And now for something completely different...

I have been immersing myself in the world of M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel for the last few days.    It's been around as a sci-fantasy setting since the early days of white box D&D (Empire of the Petal Throne) and crossed over into miniature gaming early on.  Ral Partha used to have a range of wargaming figures specifically for Tekumel and there have been various army books and battle rules over the years.  I have seen large 25mm games at various conventions over the years, usually involving a Sakbe Road (similar to the Great Wall of China).
If you have not heard of Tekumel until now it's one of the classic settings used for gaming. It ranks with Glorantha as one of the oldest and most widely developed, being the setting of several games, several novels and a multitude of fan produced material, mostly available on the web. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and Eberron are of course other game settings that have very large followings and much available material. Tekumel is probably the most alien of the big settings, way more alien than any of the TSR/WotC settings which are all pretty much based on medieval Europe.
Tekumel is a pocket universe consisting of a sun and five planets. Once part of our universe Tekumel was discovered and teraformed by space faring humans way in our future.  Then it became a pocket universe of its own...no stars, nothing but the sun, five planets and their moons.  On Tekumel, that's ancient history. The inhabitants of Tekumel, human and other, live a medieval type existence having lost both the knowledge and use of higher technology. They do have magic, as the laws of their pocket universe/dimension differ from our own. They have also discovered higher beings who can act much like the gods of our ancient human mythology.
If this is starting to sound like a fairly typical RPG setting, the similarity pretty much ends here.  There are no elves, dwarfs, etc. The non-human intelligent species are mostly six-limbed, as are many of the fauna.  The flora is a mixture of plants brought to Tekumel during the teraforming and indigenous plants which are mostly poisonous.
M.A.R. Barker was a professor of languages much like J.R.R. Tolkien, except where Tolkien studied Old Anglo Saxon, I believe Barker studied Indian and south east Asian languages. The worlds they created show this influence and Prof. Barker, like Prof. Tolkien invented languages specifically for their made-up peoples. The human culture of Tekumel more closely resembles ancient southeast Asian and Mesoamerican cultures than traditional western models as a result.
One doesn't have to read far into the history of our hobby before stumbling on the name "Tekumel".  My one-and-only experience with Tekumel, however, was about 35 years ago playing EPT.  I remember some of the uniqueness that I am now rediscovering, but obviously one game was a very brief involvement with the setting. EPT has a unique mechanism for introducing the new player to Tekumel (which was used in my introduction), and one I think I will use if I ever referee a game set on Tekumel. The players all start as "barbarians" from an undefined culture, just arrived at a major trading port, and new to the Empire and its ways. The outlander is quickly told they are only allowed in the "visitor" district of town. Clan membership and citizen status are everything in the Empire and the PCs have neither. They do have a future in the Empire however, because the clans and temples hire "outsiders" to do much of their more exciting work, such as dungeon exploring and treasure seeking. Who knows, working for such employers might even lead to adoption into a clan and eventual citizenship?

Dungeon as Milieu

"Just beyond the border lies an old castle, once a stronghold of the evil empire. The dark lord was defeated long ago and the castle abandoned in ruins, but legends say there were dungeons beneath the evil castle. Everyone knows wealth poured into that castle for decades before it was destroyed. Who knows what may still lie at the bottom of those dungeons, just waiting to be found. Now an expedition of stout warriors, and maybe a caster or two, might venture in and come away rich. Or end up dead!"
The words above could be spoken by most any referee beginning a dungeon based adventure. It could also have been from a never written follow-up novel to the Lord of the Rings. The white box has been described as a game written for dungeon adventure. While I think it is much more than simply that, the white box was certainly written with that in mind and works quite well for dungeon adventure type games.
World creation can seem a huge undertaking for a referee, therefore starting out a campaign with a single dungeon may seem like a good alternative. Draw some tunnels and rooms, fill with a selection of monsters and traps, add some treasure all taken from the white box rules and you are ready to run. Simple and manageable and for years that's the way my friends and I played the game, hand-waving any "in-town" activities such as equipment purchases, healing, etc. That was treated as book-keeping and rarely part of "roleplaying".
Unless the referee and players specifically address the cleric and deities this dungeon approach to play can leave the cleric in religion limbo. Which, by-the-way is exactly how we played white box back then. No deities, except bad ones worshiped in the dungeon. How you played your cleric was up to each player with respect to deity (or not) and any religious practices (if any). Adding a near-by town with a chapel, a friendly priest (who can resurrect?), an inn for rest and recuperation, picking up rumors and recruiting, and a store that sells most everything on the equipment list is the beginning of world-building.
Realistically, that's about all a referee needs for a fairly good campaign. Gaming in this manner makes the dungeon the centerpiece of play and it is the dungeon that defines the milieu.To support an interesting game the dungeon has to be more than a collection of rooms, monsters and treasure. It should be a memorable "place". Something should set it apart from other dungeons so that the players recognize it and recall they have been someplace worth visiting. Give it a name, some character. Make use of special places within the dungeon, architecture, history, inhabitants and treasure which all have a uniqueness to them.
"Thousands of years ago there was an ancient civilization here. They buried their mummified kings with gold and gems so that they would be wealthy in the afterlife. To protect these royal tombs they designed elaborate structures with hidden entrances and other defenses to detour would-be robbers."

Back to the Future

Some random thoughts on gaming...
So a friend reminded me that Sword Coast Legends (SCL) was released this week. SCL is a computer RPG carrying the D&D name and is done in an old graphic style similar to Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, two popular titles from the past. I am not a huge fan of computer RPGs (CRPGs), but have played and enjoyed Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights and a host of other CRPGs going even further back to Bard's Tale, the first CRPG I acquired for my old Commodore 64 home computer. Despite the hours I spent in front of the computer, I have always considered CRPGs a second choice compared to tabletop gaming with friends (YMMV).
This week I also read in Maximum PC that the monthly subscription MMO games (WOW, D&DO, am I looking at you?) are dying a slow death, being replaced by free games (that presumably make money selling upgrades?) and I would like to think virtual tabletop play using Roll20 or something similar. "Tabletop" by Geek & Sundry (being a video series about playing games) has taken playing tabletop games (including RPGs) into the realm of online entertainment. "Tabletop" may not be the first such offering, I recall viewing a show called "I Hit It with My Axe" a few years back, but it seems fairly mainstream and recently spawned an RPG offshoot show called "Titansgrave". So watching other people play a tabletop RPG is now a thing.
All this owes its existence ultimately to the humble white box which introduced the world to a new type of gaming, the roleplaying game or RPG. Wargaming was the background hobby for the white box (it pretty much says so right on the box), but traditional wargaming both with miniature figures and with cardboard counters on paper maps (and even similar computer "wargaming") has been declining for decades while RPGs seem to continue to be popular. The existence of Kickstarter and other crowd funding together with widespread availability of accessible desktop publishing software, downloadable PDFs, and print-on-demand services have made it easier than ever to publish pen-and-paper games.
I recently blogged about Dragon Age Core which is a tabletop RPG designed from a CRPG by the same name. The author, Mr. Pramas, points out that there are things that are easily done at the table that are not possible with computer RPGs, such as going outside the designer's box, exploring over the horizon, inventing new in game organizations or whatever on-the-fly. CRPGs are limited by the programming to only offer the choices the designers built into the game. The CRPG definitely has its strengths as well. The combination of lighting, music and color graphics can more easily set the mood for an encounter than verbal description at the tabletop. How many of us tabletop referees have resorted to describing something as "just like we saw in such-and-such!" The old "a picture is worth a thousand words" cliche comes to mind.
As a person who loves his hobby, I find it encouraging that quality new tabletop RPGs are being written inspired by movies such as the Star Wars RPG, TV shows such as the Firefly RPG, and video/computer games and that WotC has released yet another computer game in the D&D line. Regardless of how close SCL stays to the current D&D mechanics, it has the look of the older games and seems to satisfy that part of the market which hungers for more of the old style game. Sounds familiar to me!

White Box Player Agency

It's All About Style
"The referee is god, at least when it comes to his game..." and it mostly was a "him" back in the day when this phrase was often heard. Obviously there was and maybe still is some truth in that pronouncement. Over the years popular thinking has come to recognize that the game belongs to all the players and not just the referee, however. Empowerment of players can take many forms, some of which I am more comfortable with than others.
One method used to empower players is to make the rules more comprehensive so that the referee is confined to being strictly guided by adherence to predictable, fair rules, thus eliminating as many potentially arbitrary (unfair) rulings as possible. Another approach seen more often in games published independently (indie games) is to make the players equal partners with the referee in everything from world design to developing session storyline at the game table. These are all valid approaches to having fun with the hobby.
White Box has its own brand of player agency, not so much built into the rules as written, but in the flexibility of style of play. I like to be entertained and surprised when I referee and encouraging players to get involved in all aspects of the campaign is one way for me to stay entertained. My "world" or setting is bounded on top and bottom by tall mountain ranges, to left and right by wide seas and what lies beyond is largely undefined. PCs in my world can hail from one of the local, defined cultures or come from outside the known world and therefore their background can be just about anything humans can imagine. Racial choices are set, but cultural choices are limitless. I love asking the question, "What's it like where you come from? Tell me about your home."
White Box being what it is encourages a referee to add to the rules as written, to make stuff up (it's part of the flexibility). I like to try several ways of handling situations at the table and I often ask my players what way they prefer. So the way we handle jumping across a pit in one session may be different than the way we do it in another session based on player input. Consistency within the group and session seems more important to me than across groups, so with one group I may have them roll a simple d6 for success, but with another group at a different table and at a different time may be asked to roll a d20 hoping to roll a number equal to or under their Strength score.
Choosing to roleplay rather than roll dice is another way to empower players to make non-routine choices. Even when dice are involved I like input from my players. After bringing an enemy to zero hit-points with their attack, I frequently ask the player to describe how they defeated their enemy.
We didn't call it a sandbox in the old days, but the concept is as old as the white box itself. I run my game sandbox style in that I present the players with a world and ask them "What do you want to do?" The players decide if they want to explore the dungeon known to be located just outside of town, travel to the sea-port where they hear trouble is brewing, hunt down the local bandits to collect the reward, get involved in the local commerce struggle or what-ever. This style of play requires of the referee both preparation and improvisation, so it may not be the best place to begin. There is always the classic dungeon crawl and with some determination and creativity there's a lot the referee can offer dungeon crawlers.
Whether it's a campaign or a one-off dungeon crawl the white box lends itself to a number of different styles of play, largely dictated by the referee (remember that god thing). The game relies a lot on the referee and a good referee makes all the difference. I think this is true of roleplaying in general, but perhaps more so with the so-called rules lite games. Am I a good referee?  I try to be and that means looking to my players for input, watching for signs that they are having fun and trying to give them the game experience they want.

White Box Innovation

Filling In The Gaps
"What do you want to do?" the referee asks. The answer is often something not covered by the rules found in the LBBs. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, no rules are necessary because the player's response involves no risk to their character and little chance of anything unusual happening. Often roleplaying a conversation or two makes everything clear, such as discovering information, or haggling for a price. White Box being a game of imagination invites the players to be inventive, and they will often come up with unexpected responses, unusual approaches and innovative solutions to situations described by the referee. Some of the proposed actions involve risk and an in-game mechanic seems to be the way to resolve the outcome.
The referee says, "Your way ahead is blocked by a deep fissure, the sides are steep and slippery.  There is an old plank placed across the fissure, but it looks mossy and deteriorated. There are some roots showing through the crumbling ceiling above the fissure. What do you want to do?"
After asking a couple questions and finding out the bottom of the fissure is "out of sight" deep and the width is some 10' the players may decide to try swinging on a dangling root, jumping across or walking the plank (or any number of other creative solutions). The referee may decide all are risky behavior that might result in a fall, none are really covered by specific rule mechanics.
In the above situation an innovative referee will probably go outside the rules as written and ask the players to make dice rolls to determine success.  This can be a simple random roll on say a d6 with a chance of success based on the referee's judgement of the difficulty of the task..."Roll me a d6 and don't roll a one." Alternatively if the referee (perhaps influenced by player argument) decides some skill/attribute may be involved they can call for a die roll based on that skill/attribute. White Box PCs have six attributes which indicate the character's relative abilities in various spheres of activity. Perhaps a dexterity roll is called for.  If the referee likes the idea of using the bell curve percentages, three d6s may be rolled and compared to the PC's dexterity score. Alternatively a d20 can be rolled and compared to the dexterity score. Situational modifiers can be used as the referee sees fit.
In my own game I like to let players assign backgrounds to their characters, often at char-gen, but sometimes during early play. The PC background can be just about anything and as specific or general as they like. I then encourage them during play to argue that their background would help their PC in doing certain tasks, which if I am in agreement, gives them a bonus to succeed.
This is just a small discourse on innovation limited to just one aspect of game play, but it hopefully begins to illustrate the possibilities of adding to the rules as written. For me it comes down to preference. I would rather make something up and see how it works than look up the rule and take several minutes away from the game to do so. In life and play, timing is everything and keeping the game flowing is very important at my table.

Trouble with Thieves

A Game Changing Class

Supplement I introduces two new options for Greyhawk players, the paladin subclass of fighters and the class of thieves. The first thing I would like to point to in this post is that Supplement I is the Greyhawk campaign supplement for the white box. I think this is an important distinction and not to be overlooked.  I see the Greyhawk material as optional because even though it is often treated as core material it really pertains to the Greyhawk campaign. The material presented in Supplement I often alters and occasionally contradicts white box rules, often in ways that significantly alter gameplay. Take for example ability bonuses where under Greyhawk a strength  score of 13+ gets the player character a bonus to Hit Probability, Damage, etc. and 18 strength qualifies the fighter to a percentile roll that can result in as much as a +4 Hit Probability and +6 Damage. Other abilities get bonuses for high scores as well.

Inclusion of thieves in a campaign not only shifts the character of the campaign by adding to the “cast of characters” and providing non-human characters with a path around class limits, but also implies a drastic change in the abilities of the other classes. “What do you want to do?” is perhaps the most frequently asked question in roleplaying and the most important. One of the more appealing aspects of white box is the openness with which this question can be asked when using only the LBBs as your guide. Almost anything is possible in response to the referee asking, “What do you want to do?” The mechanics do not specifically present a mechanic to resolve many potential player actions, but an imaginative referee can come up with something often involving a random roll or a die check against an attribute using a little logic and innovation. The white box doesn’t spell out what the PC can do so much as assumes the PC can attempt most anything setting up a "can do" rather than "can't do" dynamic.

Supplement I lists the thieves’ special abilities which include open locks, remove traps, pick pockets, move silently, hide in shadow, hear noise and climb at starting percentages as low as 10% thereby implying that other classes do not possess the capacity for these activities. I find this implication particularly limiting and troublesome as it denies other PCs the chance to perform these tasks and is especially inconvenient when the party finds itself without the services of a thief. In several cases the percentage chance for the thief to accomplish the task (such as remove traps and hide in shadows) is so low (10% each) that logic prohibits a non-thief, who is presumably worse than trained thieves in this ability, any reasonable chance of success.  

The inclusion of thieves as a player class does help shape the milieu in a certain way and can be desirable in some campaigns such as Greyhawk.  I am inclined to alter the class however, so that the class abilities function as adds to those thiefly skills above and beyond ordinary ability levels assumed for other classes. Rather than switch to percentiles for such checks, I prefer a mechanic using the six sider(s). Increasing the success chance of thieves of all levels can mean non-thieves may still attempt those actions, but with less success chance than thieves. Otherwise the poor fighter, magic user and cleric have no chance to sneak and hide, etc. and a locked door may spell the end of an evening's adventuring. Thieves can add a lot of flavor to a campaign milieu, sneaking about, picking pockets and stabbing folks in the back, all in the name of good fun of course. It's hard to imagine urban adventure without thieves, but for my taste the Greyhawk thief needs a bit of "fixing".

A Palladin's Hell

Walking the Alignment Tightrope
Introduced on pages 4 and 8 of Supplement I, the paladin is perhaps the iconic heroic adventurer, a pure do-gooder. A subtype of fighting man, or fighter as they are called in Greyhawk, "certain lawful fighters may opt to become paladins" according to the supplement. One way in which a setting or campaign can define itself is through custom character classes. Unlike the other new class introduced in Supplement I, thieves, the paladin doesn't have it's own level progression table, so I assume paladins progress as fighting men/fighters. The wording "may opt to become paladins" suggests to me that this opting may be done at any time in the PCs career and not necessarily limited to 1st level. Of course Supplement I doesn't specifically spell this out, that wouldn't be in keeping with the DIY approach of the white box, so there is room for interpretation. What Supplement I does say on page 8 is that fighters with charisma scores of 17 or greater have "the possibility of paladin status IF THEY ARE LAWFUL from the commencement of play for that character." So, I like to make a number of assumptions or interpretations regarding this statement which are not supported by the way paladins are described in later editions. Being free to do this is one of the reasons I really like the white box! I like to think this means that if the fighter establishes a consistent record of lawful action during play, there may be a possibility to achieve paladin status if their charisma is high enough. The possibility should come in the form of being approached by something like the order of paladins and being asked to join. This may occur at any level, but only after a fighter has proven them self worthy.
Alignment for many characters may mean relatively little, but for the paladin it can be a tightrope suspended above the pit. The root of this situation comes from Supplement I which states that after becoming a paladin "any chaotic act will immediately revoke the status of paladin, and it can never be regained". In other words, that paladin has fallen. Supplement I maintains the three alignment system of lawful, neutral and chaos from the LBBs and there is no good or evil alignment axis as such. The LBBs establish the alignment system of law, chaos and neutral, but don't really define what constitutes law or chaos (although there is some additional insight given in Spplement I, pages 6-7). That is left up to the player/referee and to establish guidelines for lawful, neutral and chaotic behavior. Thus each campaign develops its own unique alignment character. How tightly the referee monitors the paladin with respect to alignment behavior can vary widely from referee to referee.
So besides becoming a member of an elite (charisma 17 or higher) organization, what benefits compensate the paladin for the strict alignment adherence expected of them? The ability to "lay on hands" to cure wounds and disease in others is probably the aid most frequently identified with the Greyhawk paladin. Paladins themselves enjoy immunity to disease and benefit from an improved resistance to attacks other than melee (so basically saving throws). Upon reaching level 8 the paladin gains the ability to detect and dispel evil (what dispel amounts to is not really defined). The paladin gains immunity from magic while in possession of a "holy sword". Paladins may obtain a special horse, but have restrictions on replacing a lost horse and upon the number of magic items and amount of treasure they may possess and upon whom they may associate. On page 8, Supplement I states, "They will associate only with lawful characters." thus inviting some potentially obnoxious roleplaying if paladins try to police the play of other party members in an effort to insure lawful behavior.
According to gamer legend, the paladin class was inspired by the book Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson. If true, Three Hearts and Three Lions may give additional insight into the paladin's relationship with alignment for law and chaos play a large part in the book. The requirement for paladins to have exceptional charisma scores suggests their role as leaders and exemplars. Although not published until 1992 and therefore much later than Supplement I, Elizabeth Moon in her Deed of Parksinarrion offers one interpretation of the paladin as "the sword of good defending the helpless and teaching by example...Because we (paladins) are likable, and other people will follow us willingly. And that's why we are more likely to choose a popular adept for a candidate rather than the best fighters."
The paladin as presented in Supplement I offers a unique set of challenges and restrictions as well as some nice benefits as a class. In my many years of roleplaying I have rarely played a paladin and have refereed with only a few at the table. I do like the idea of the paladin subclass and I think it adds a lot of flavor to the campaign which incorporates it. The player that takes on playing a paladin embraces a set of expectations unequaled. No other class seems as fraught with peril in terms of roleplay, yet the class benefits are not insignificant and the opportunity to play an exemplar is unique in fantasy roleplay. The addition of the paladin as a subclass helps form my "understanding" of Greyhawk because knowing who the actors are tells me a lot about what the campaign is all about. Add in the thieves class and the unique qualities of Greyhawk as a setting start to take shape in my imagination.

Dragon Age Core Rulebook

Back to Basic
For some odd reason I missed the Green Ronin booth at GenCon this year, so when I saw this hardback in a South Carolina gamestore it was new to me.  Dragon Age as shown in the picture is a tabletop RPG that shares a world/setting (Thedas) with the Dragon Age computer game series. A spin-off game from a computer RPG is not what I normally am attracted to, but I think Dragon Age designed by Chris Pramas (who also did the 2nd ed. reboot of the Warhammer RPG) is something worth writing about. It fits nicely into my white box mentality, partially because it's more of a "rules lite" system and there are some similarities in the three classes (Warrior, Rogue and Mage) and three races (Human, Dwarf, Elf), but that's not what prompts me to write about Dragon Age.
In the first few pages Mr. Pramas writes that Dragon Age is somewhat similar to the computer game game, except that "you do it all in your imagination instead of on a computer." Yeah, imagination, that's what I am all about in my white box gaming. Imagination is a recurring theme in Dragon Age and is one of the things that sets the mortals apart from "spirits". Spirits, who inhabit the Shade and are separated from the real world by the Veil don't have imagination, they can only copy what they see (and do so rather poorly). Spirits can be part of the bad guys when they cross over drawn by negative emotions and feed on the living mortals.
Originally released in three boxed sets which were broken down to cover character levels 1-5, 6-10, and 11-20, reminding me of the old Basic, Expert...etc. Dragon Age is now available in one big 440 page hardback (much like the Rules Cyclopedia). In either format Dragon Age is closely tied to the setting Thedas, but the Adventure Game System (AGE) can be used in other settings and a separate book is soon to be released sans setting titled Fantasy AGE Basic Game.
For anyone who has played the computer game (I have not, but I am think I would like to play this tabletop version), in that format the player starts with a hero called a Grey Warden, the heroes that save the world from the Blight (bad guys). The Grey Wardens are available to join in the tabletop game, but only after one reaches level 6 or above. Yeah, we PCs start as low-powered characters not much better than "normals" and must build our way up to hero, old style! Dragon Age play centers around the DM asking the player "What do you Do?" and players are encouraged to use their imagination to come up with solutions to challenges. The game uses a universal mechanic of rolling three six sided dice (one a different color called the dragon die) and adding the total together with an attribute score and any specific focus or talent the PC might have which applies to the situation. If doubles are rolled on any two of the three dice, the Dragon Die is used to power a stunt, or special action that favors the PC.
Dragon Age is a modern RPG despite my comparison to older games and this is evident in a number of ways (use of a universal mechanic, etc.) including asking the player to develop their PC's personality. Players choose from a number of backgrounds which helps establish the character's personality as well as setting their race. There is an emphasis placed on group activity and dynamics, both the player group and the adventuring group. The GM section describes player types, GM styles and other modern game sensibilities, information that while maybe not new, definitely rings true.
Dragon Age describes itself as Dark Fantasy. What that includes according to the book is that life isn't fair, there is racial oppression, character death and betrayal, a religion (the Chantry) that seems oppressive, especially regarding magic which is feared, actions have consequences sometimes unintended evil consequences and the evil Blights are a result of human pride rather than some supreme baddy. Evil resides in men's hearts, is not the plot of a villain and therefore can never be totally defeated. Giving hope to the world is described as the role of the heroes! ...and the princess pleads, "Help me...you're my only hope!"  Sounds like the start to a great adventure to me.

Some Time with Old Friends

Friends are the best part of gaming
I just spent eight days gaming and visiting with my two oldest friends and am reminded how much I owe to gaming. I met these guys way back about 1975 playing a TSR micro-armor game called Panzer Warfare. The friendly local hobby store owner had asked a group of his customers to exchange names and contacts and we got together for some face-to-face tabletop gaming. Panzerblitz and other historic boardgames and some miniatures like Panzer Warfare and Empire Napoleonics.  When I learned about D&D and acquired the white box, it was these guys, well, mostly the younger ones who were about my age, who worked to figure out the game and fell in love with it.  These were my earliest gaming buddies and great memories I have of gaming with them, sitting round the table, telling stories of other games, joking and poking fun at each other and everything else it seemed.  Over the years I have met many friends through gaming and often those friendships have extended well beyond gaming.  It wasn't long before several of us young gamers found we had lots of interests in common, started hanging out even when not gaming and formed friendships outside gaming.  The two fine gentlemen I recently spent time with have been my closest friends for forty years. Without a shared interest in gaming, we might never have met...probably would not have since we went to different schools.
I wish I could write about the white box games we played on this last visit, but there are not any.  I offered to run such a game, as I always do when we get together (about twice a year now), but what we played were mostly modern boardgames - Zombicide, Runebound, Advanced Squad Leader, Lord of the Rings Living Card Game and others.  We still sat around the table rolling dice, telling stories and joking about everything. We also talk about families, politics and all the rest that old friends do, and not just while gaming. The real value in gaming is the friends we make.