Turing Test in Games

In my AI For Games class, we've been instructed to read Turing's original paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", in which he describes what is now widely called the "Turing Test" for judging the quality of an artificial intelligence, and describe how we might apply such a test to game AI. I thought this was a pretty interesting idea. Our responses to this prompt were not supposed to be particularly long or formal, so I thought I might post mine here and my readers may enjoy it.

Summary of the Paper

For those who don't know, Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician and scientist active in the 1940s and 50s, and is widely considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. In his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", Turing makes the case that not only will machines one day be able to learn and think, to have intelligence, but also that the best measure for this intelligence is to compare the machine behaviorally with a human. I personally am not sure I agree with this as a good measure of a machine's intelligence, but for now we will take it as a given rather than delve into the definition of intelligence.

In the paper, Turing describes a method for comparing a human and computer which he calls "The Imitation Game". A computer and human will interact with a third party, a human judge. The judge will be able to neither see nor hear the computer and human, but will communicate via typing. The judge asks questions of both the human and computer, and must decide which is the computer. The computer's goal, therefore, is to act as human as possible so as to convince the judge. The current time limit for this test is 5 minutes, though of course fooling a judge for longer would be ideal.

Though Turing expected it would be possible at the turn of the century, at this time, no one has been able to programme a computer such that it can fool a judge for the full 5 minutes.

My main issue with the Turing test is that rather than judging a computer's ability to learn things from experience and grow and change based on them, or have unique individual "thoughts", it instead judges a computer's mastery of a human language and ability to manipulate said language in a way similar to a human, in addition to its actual responses. I don't feel that the ability to use a language well is necessarily evidence of human-like intelligence, nor that it will always be present in an intelligent machine. However, I do understand the reason Turing used such an approach - the definition of intelligence is a tricky thing, and using a behavioural test is much simpler and cleaner way to judge AI.

Turing Test as Applied to Games

Games are an intriguing instance of machines interacting with humans, because AI within a game has a much more limited way to interact. For now, let us consider only the case where AI is controlling a "player" entity (either opposing or helpful), which might alternatively be controlled by a human player. This is the situation which makes the most sense to look at from a Turing test point of view.

In this situation, let us further stipulate that in-game chat systems are not being utilized, neither voice nor text based. Now the ways that players can interact are limited directly to the game mechanics. A Turing test in this situation would involve a third party judge player playing the game with two other players (either at once or in separate instances, as the game allows), one a computer AI and one human. The judge must then determine which was the computer and which was the human.

This seems fairly straightforward, and actually somewhat uninteresting. By limiting interaction so severely, is the test actually meaningful? Are we only judging how well the computer can play the game, and not how well it can respond and react like a human? The answer would greatly depend on how interactive the game is and how much on the fly strategy changing a human might be able to do in said game compared to a computer.

In my description of the game-based Turing test, note that I specified "playing the game with" rather than "playing the game against". Certainly in many cases the latter will apply, but I don't believe such a test need be exclusive to opponent AIs. Helper team members are a notable example.

When thinking about the ways in which players interact without using language, I immediately thought of the game Journey, released earlier this year for the Playstation 3. In Journey, the player moves across a desert toward a distant point. Occasionally players cross paths - but rather than allowing speech between players, the game limits interaction to visual movements of the player's avatars, ability to charge up each-other's items, and to using a series of different musical sounds. What these sounds mean is not defined - it is a language created each time two new players interact, by the two players themselves.

While there are not AI players in the game, it seems like an intriguing idea to create an AI who might be able to pose as a player in Journey and see if it could interact in such a constrained environment well enough to fool a judge in the Turing test. This puts both the player and AI on the same foot when it comes to "language" yet still allows a very organic interaction compared to typical game mechanics.

Other Reactions

In addition to his discussion of the test itself, the final section of Turing's paper was devoted to discussing ideas about machine learning. One analogy he made struck me: picture a mind (be it human, animal, or machine) as fuel for a nuclear reaction. A stimulus to the mind is like a neutron being fired into said fuel. If the fuel is sub-critical, the reaction will carry on for a brief time and die away - or, as another simile of Turing's poses it, "like a piano string struck by a hammer". This is similar to how a typical machine "mind" might act - a stimulus is supplied, it's programme runs in response, but eventually runs out of new instructions to execute (even if in a loop, it's the same instructions over and over). Turing posits that most of the time, human brains also act in this way - and animals always do. But if the fuel is in super-critical concentration, the reaction won't stop - it will grow and grow. The example Turing gives is, "An idea presented to such a mind that may give rise to a whole 'theory' consisting of secondary, tertiary and more remote ideas." A stimulus causes the mind to come up with a poem, a mathematical theorem, a new invention. In other words, this super-critical mind can be inspired rather than just effected by it's environment. A single idea becomes a springboard for more ideas. The question Turing then poses is, can we create a machine mind that can act in this "super-critical" fashion?

This really stuck with me as a much better description of my view of true machine intelligence. Not aping human behaviour but instead the simple yet extraordinary ability to take in a stimulus of some sort and produce something, not based directly from that stimulus, but some product of all the previous stimuli the machine experienced as well as the one just taken in. Whether this has direct application to games is questionable, but it could be assumed that an AI with this kind of ability would be a more engaging opponent or ally in any game.

Turing goes on to discuss how we might develop an intelligent machine - and talks about creating a "child" machine instead of a full-fledged intelligent "adult" machine. This child machine would have the ability to learn based on positive or negative responses, and to take in direct instructions in some form as well. While again this may not directly effect games, it describes a learning machine which would make a far more challenging opponent or ally than one using a pre-set list of strategies.

Conclusion

I feel that games suit themselves well as a possible application of the Turing test due to their constraint on methods of interaction between players. It would be more difficult or even impossible to use the Turing test to measure the AI of non-player controlled entities in games, however, as the entire approach is based on comparing human and non-human control - if no human control is possible, the computer can't possibly convince a judge of its supposed humanity. For these types of entities, other tests must be developed, or temporary human control must be allowed.

Journey to Scotland

Well everyone, I've finally arrived in Dundee and am all moved in to my room at Opal! You probably won't get to read this until tomorrow, though, because dork that I am I forgot to pack an ethernet cord and everything closes at 5pm here, so I won't be able to buy one until tomorrow. I should have been here at 3, but the trip didn't go exactly as planned...

It started off well enough. Andrew and my parents drove me to the airport at 5 am Friday morning, sending me off with many hugs and then waves as I went through security. The trip to Dallas, where my first layover was, was fairly uneventful. The seats were too small for someone of my noble girth, but I was used to that - it still put me in a foul mood by the time I got to Dallas, though. Luckily I had a 4 hour layover to improve my outlook - I spent a full hour in TGI Fridays eating tasty chicken and relaxing. I changed over my money in Dallas, since I wasn't sure I'd have time in my later stops - it was so exciting to get UK currency! Did you know their bills are all different sizes depending on the amount? It helps visually impaired sort their bills, what a great idea! They also don't use bills for anything under 5 pounds - there are 1 and 2 pound coins though.

Finally it was time for the trans-Atlantic flight from Dallas. The plane was HUGE - 9 seats to a row! Every seat had a little TV and you could choose from 10 or so movies as well as current tv shows and documentaries. Pretty slick! The seats were also much more comfortable. And best of all, I got some really nice seat partners - a small family from Bologna, Italy. I sat next to the mother, and we chatted in broken English off and on for the flight. Thank you for making my flight much better, random Italian family!

I was able to sleep a little on the plane, but was still feeling pretty tired when we pulled into London Heathrow airport. That's when things started going terribly wrong. First of all, our flight was a little late arriving. We then sat on the plan for about a half hour while we waited for them to manually set up the boarding ramp since the auto machinery was broken. I began to worry about my transfer, but only a little. I still had an hour, surely that would be enough.

As soon as we got off the plane, there was a woman waiting to give us some sort of express pass - seems they were worried we would not make the connecting flight. I speed walked at this point - and I speed walked a LONG way, just to get to the terminal transfer bus. Heathrow is HUGE! The transfer bus had a really long line, so I didn't get on the first one that came. It also ran very slowly compared to the little train in Dallas. Finally I ended up in Terminal 5, where my new flight was. The woman meeting us there didn't bother with an Express pass. "You won't make it." She said. I look at her incredulously - I still had half an hour, I was at the correct terminal, and I didn't have a chance to make it?

She ran with me anyway, to an area I would learn was the border entry area - another LONG distance, and one I did not run with ease. The woman behind the counter shook head at us. "You'll have to get on the next flight."

My plans started falling apart. The next flight? I'd miss my train! And my appointment to check in to my apartment! In their emails, my apartment complex Opal had seemed very adamant that you must check in during you allotted time. But I calmed myself. I would call them and figure it out, it would be alright. Still, my stress level began rising.

I was taken over to a customer service area. Funnily enough, my Italian family that I made friends with on the plane were also here, having missed their flight as well. A very, very kind woman at the service desk hooked my up with a flight two hours later, and allowed me to use her phone. I called and changed my train ticket, paying almost 4 times again as much as I had for the first ticket. It was still only 22 pounds, not the end of the world, but it irritated me. Then I called Opal - no answer. I left a message explaining the situation and asking if I could check in at 5 or 5:30, my new arrival time in Dundee, and if not, if I could check in the next day - I figured if worse came to worst I could stay at a hostel in Dundee that night.

With new boarding pass in hand, and thanking the customer service lady profusely, I went to the UK Border counter. Here I met my next obstacle - apparently the customs forms I had painstakingly filled out before leaving were not what I needed, and despite what the woman on the plane had told me, I needed to fill out the small blue form they had passed out there. I sighed and sat down - it wasn't much information so I didn't mind too much. I brought it to the counter, hoping I wouldn't have to have my luggage searched. I was surprised I had to do customs here, where I didn't have my checked luggage. The man didn't even ask about what I was carrying. I had worried so much about that, and he didn't even care - guess I could have brought gifts of Oregon jam and such after all!

Unfortunately, I wasn't free to go - the machine refused to recognize my fingerprints, reading not a match even after trying several times. I began to worry. The man took me to another booth with another machine, with the same results. They asked me to sit down while they contacted a superior.

At this point, I must admit, I began to cry. I was exhausted, having been up for 24 hours now with only fitful naps on the plane. I was sweaty from running and not having showered in over a day, and felt disgusting. Every muscle hurt, and I had huge bruises on my legs from the arm rests on the plane. My tow was smashed from my suitcases. I had missed my flight, I had no idea if I would have a place to stay, I couldn't access the internet or my phone and I didn't even know how to dial numbers in this country properly. I was NOT looking forward to wrestling my checked bags from the airport to the train and then to my apartment. I was all alone, and to top it all off, I felt in real danger of being deported. Fingerprints are how they know you aren't a felon in your home country - if they thought my original fingerprints were not run correctly, I could see real grounds for not admitting me into the UK. I also began to worry that even if I was let through, I would miss my new flight as well.

After a little while, the man at the booth called me up and said it had simply been a hiccup in the machine, gave me my passport and boarding pass back, and sent me on my way. He never talked to a superior about me from what I saw, and I didn't have to scan my fingers again. I am somewhat convinced he simply took pity on my crying there, and overrode the machine. But I'll never know.

Next, it was on to security. Yes, the UK makes you go through security again! And if you thought US security was a slow, annoying process, you've clearly never been through a UK airport. The US is streamlined and efficient by comparison. Every bag was stared at for what seemed like five minutes in the x-ray machine. They made me take my box of hard drives out and send it through again, though I didn't really mind - they let me keep it and that's what's important. The metal detectors we had to walk through were hyper sensitive. Everyone ahead of me set it off - and then, instead of using a handheld detector like they do in the US, they frisked the offenders. So with some trepidation I stepped through - but somehow, my bad luck must have taken a break - I didn't set it off. Collecting my bags at last, I headed out only to find that gates aren't assigned to flights until just before boarding. Tired, worried about missing the flights, I waited. I got a water, fumbling with my UK money embarrassingly at the counter. "Sorry, I'm not used to these coins yet..." "That's alright miss, that's a 2 pound coin there. Here's your change." Great, now I had more coins to be confused about. I thought about getting a meal at one of the restaurants, as I was getting pretty hungry, but I was too concerned about missing my flight to chance it. Finally my flight gate was assigned, and thankfully it was very close by. I went to the gate and waited for what seemed like another half hour until the plane arrived.

This plane was much smalled than the last, though bigger I think than the Dallas plane. The seats were very cushy and comfortable, though the seatbelts were too small for someone of my noble girth and I had to get an extender, to my embarassment. I was in a center seat, which I hate, but was just happy to be where I was supposed to be. Thankfully I got on early and had a place for my luggage without trouble - that is one thing I was lucky with the entire trip, as some people were forced to check their carry-on on both previous flights. I was paranoid about loosing my luggage, especially now that I'd changed flights, and didn't want to chance it.

Anyway, it took quite a long time for us to take off. I began worrying that I might be even later into Dundee - but I didn't have to worry about the train, at least, since I had a flexible ticket now that would let me take a later time if needed. Things went better than expected, though. No one showed up for the window seat next to me and I got to scoot over and look out over the UK as we flew. I didn't see much, however, as my exausted body pulled me into a deep sleep as soon as we were at cruising altitude. I woke as we were landing - the flight had taken less than an hour, making up for the long wait before takeoff.

In Edinburgh airport (much smaller than Heathrow), I headed to baggage claim. Unlike at PDX, they offered baggage carts without charge. I grabbed one and waited for my luggage to come around. To my relief (tempered by my knowledge that I would have to deal with the bags without a cart at least for a short time at the train station) both of my gigantic checked bags arrived. I wrestled them onto the cart with the help of a kind bystander, and headed to find out where the shuttle to the train station picked people up. But, staring at the huge pile of luggage on my cart, I decided I'd rather pay more for a taxi whose driver would help me load and unload the luggage, rather than try to bring it on a bus. I waited in line and eventually got a cab, the kind driver helping me with everything and chatting as we drove to Haymarket train station in downtown Edinburgh. He had an extremely thick accent, and I began to reallize how difficult it would be to understand some people in my new home. Still, I got through the conversation well enough. "Your going to have trouble with your bags at Haymarket," he mumbled from the front seat. "The road's closed, I'll drop you as close as I can but you'll have to walk a block to the station." I smiled and said I would figure it out, but inwardly groaned. My worst fear, reallized. One block isn't much at all, but with more bags than hands to carry them, it's quite a long way.

The cabby was true to his word and repositioned the cab once in order to get me right next to the walkway to the station. I thanked him profusely after he unloaded my bags, and wished him a good day. In turn he wished me luck and headed out.

Staring at the long walk to the station entrance, with no luggage carts in sight, I sighed and turned to my bags. I pulled up the handles on my largest case, picked up my carry-on roller bag, and set it on top of the case. It was precarious, but if I leaned the case forward to drag it, the smaller bag stayed in place. I hefted my shoulder bag, grabbed a handle in both hands, and scooted slowly backwards down the walkway. I'm certain I looked absolutely ridiculous, but I discovered that walking forwards was simply not an option. After several stops to rest, I finally arrived at the station entrance. Awkardly maneuvering inside, I checked in and got my tickets. There were still no luggage carts in sight, to my extreme dissappointment. One of the station employees helped me through the checkpoint, since my bags made it impossible to go through the turnstyle properly. I found my platform, staring at first increduslously at the stairs leading down, then happily discovering a lift nearby. Then it was time to wait again.

About a half hour later, the Dundee train arrived. I move toward it, but the doors closed just as I got to them. Worried, I looked around. "Are you boarding, miss?" A train crew member asked in a very thick accent. Not having understood him properly, and also distressed and not thinking clearly, I just stared and held up my ticket. "Yes, this is the Dundee train, but you can't take that luggage on here, come on." He led me to another door and helped me get my luggage on board the train. "You have entirely too much luggage," he scolded. Feeling rather raw, this nearly brought me to tears, but I forced myself to ignore it. I stowed as much of my luggage in a rack nearby as I could, though one bag had to stay in the entrance area of the train as it was just too big for the rack. And at last, we were off to Dundee.

The train ride should have been very enjoyable. The seats were comfortable and it afforded a gorgeous look at the Scottish countryside. I'll have to ride it again when I'm not fuming with irritation, exaustion, pain, and worry. As it was, I actually fell asleep occassionally on the two hour ride, to my surprise. The train was nearly empty. I woke up in time to stare out happily over the Tay bridge, seeing the larger and prettier driving bridge further downstream, and all of the city of Dundee laid out on the shore ahead. It was a truly welcome sight.

I gathered my luggage and clamored off the train once it stopped in Dundee. There wasn't a large hurry this time as this was the final stop. Resigning myself to the horror of dealing with my luggage again, I began setting my bags up as I had at Haymarket station. This is when everything started going right again. "May I take one of your bags for you, miss?" asked a man who had just gotten off the train. He wasn't an employee, just a kind looking middle-aged gentleman. I smiled up at him "That would be a huge help, that's very kind of you."

He helped me to the main station, where I got another pleasant surprise. After asking a station employee for help getting through the turnstile, he asked bewilderedly, "Why aren't you using a stroller?" I stared at him in confusion, never having heard that term describe anything other than a baby stroller. He pulled a luggage cart out from behind the desk to clarify. I smiled again, even larger this time. "That would be wonderful!" I sent my mysterious helper on his way with a thank you, and piled my luggage once again on a rack. This one I had some trouble with at first until I discovered you had to push down on the handle to release an automatic break. The station employee directed me to a public phone and the taxi pick up area, both upstairs.

I got to the lift and almost had another difficulty - at first I couldn't get the luggage rack into the lift - then, I couldn't get it out. Finally I managed to do so, accidentally ramming into a "call for help" button in the process. Oh well. I made it to the pay phone, inserted my money, and tried to dial the number for my apartment complex. However, I'm unfamiliar with UK numbers and I guess I didn't dial correctly. I tried several times in several different ways and couldn't get it to work. But I didn't despair - my mood was much improved by the help I'd gotten so far here in Dundee. I went up the ticket salesman and explained that I was having trouble dialing, being from out of country. I showed him the number. Rather than showing me how to dial it, he just used the station phone and dialed it for me, for free. I nearly wept in relief as someone answered on the other line. It was very quiet, and the station was loud, so I had to confirm that it was the right number. But it was! "Can I come check in now? My name is Sarah Herzog, I missed a flight connection in London and I'm very late, I was supposed to check in between 3 and 4." "Of course, come on over!"

I smiled broadly at the man behind the counter as I hung up. "Thanks, you saved me!" Cheerily I brought my luggage to one of the waiting taxis. The driver was a curmudgeonly old Scotsman, with a thick accent just like the last driver. We loaded in my luggage and I showed him my address. "It's just north of Abertay University," I explained. He nodded, and we were off. This one didn't try to engage me in conversation, for which I'm rather glad - I just wanted to get where I was going and collapse. We pulled in and I saw people running around everywhere, with Opal employees greeting new tenants. The cabby helped me unload at the curb, then headed out. A woman with an Opal badge walked up to me. "Oh, we'll get some strapping young lads to carry these bags up for you. Follow me, we'll get you all checked in." I sighed in relief and abandoned my bags with another Opal employee, and went to pick up my electronic entry key and mail key, as well as paperwork. I got into the lift to head up to my flat, discovering that not only did this building not use US numbering for its floors (obviously) it also didn't use typical UK number. -1 was the ground floor, then 0 was what the US would call the second floor. I was on floor 1, the third floor for US folks.

My luggage had already arrived outside my room. I happily pulled it inside, closed the door, and collapsed on the bed. I was in my new home!

Pictures and description of my apartment coming soon!

Audio Novel Review: Naamah's Curse

I've recently purchased a platinum membership on audible.com in order to catch up on some good fiction. I seldom have time or energy to read these days, so audiobooks are ideal for me - I can listen while doing menial tasks or traveling, as well as anytime when I would normally be able to read. Additionally, audiobooks won't cost anything or be a bother to transfer when I head to Scotland in the fall.

My most recent listen was actually the second book in a series, and the third series set in the world of Terre d'Ange, an alternate/fantastical history series by Jacqueline Carey. I'll own upfront that I love the setting and the series so far, and was quite looking forward to this one. This is the first book in the series that I listened to on audio, however - and it did not disappoint.

Carey's books are beautiful and also very sexual in nature, but often also capture a high adventure feel without the ridiculousness of high fantasy. The setting of Terre d'Ange's world is one very like our own, even in the geography, religions, and languages - it's very clear that Terre d'Ange is meant to be France, Alba is Britain, and so forth. The difference is that in this world, the gods have a much more active and direct presence in the lives of the people, and magic is real - though not in the high fantasy style, with all it's fun yet unbelievable showiness. Instead, the magic in this setting tends to be subtle and quiet. Which is why I was surprised at first that this newest series follows the adventures of a bear-witch of Alba, with druid-like powers including the ability to make plants grow and to vanish into a magical Twilight. That said, this series still manages to capture the subtle, low-magic and high-wonder feel of the previous two in this setting.

Going into this book, I wasn't sure what to expect next. The main character, Moirin, was swept into a strange series of events in the last book that left me somewhat less engaged than usual for Carey's writing. I hoped this book would take a turn back to the gripping, page-turning interest that previous installments had provoked in me, and I wasn't disappointed. I think the main difference was that things were very personal for Moirin from the beginning of this story. In the previous book, she took it upon herself to help a Chinese princess who was possessed by a dragon, but it wasn't really about Moirin herself. In this book, she begins by searching for her love Bao, and is dragged through all sorts of hardships in order to reunite with him, meeting a horde of interesting and engaging characters along the way.

As usual, Carey takes us on a journey through many lands and religions, showcasing a fundamental Christian Russia, the nomadic Tartars, and both Hindu and Buddhist Indians. We see a much darker side of Christianity than was shown in previous books, when Moirin is captured and persecuted as a witch in Russia - but as usual, Carey's reverent treatment of all faiths brings the message that while some people may bend religion to suit their not-so-noble purposes, the gods themselves are full of love an acceptance. Through it all I was very impressed that while Moirin was a woman of strong beliefs, her personal fears and desires still often compelled her to make rash or unwise decisions, rather than becoming a glorified moral mouthpiece for the author.

The narration of the audio format for this novel fit the story well. Anne Flosnik, the narrator, was able to bring characterization to Moirin that I had been unable to feel from Carey's writing alone. When I read the first book, while I knew on the surface that Moirin was quite different from Carey's first heroine Phedre, I couldn't help but hear the story in my head in what I'd come to think of as Phedre's voice. Flosnik immediately remedies this with a pleasant Scottish accent that crystallizes Moirin's voice in my mind, and manages to pull off a Chinese and Indian accent where appropriate in the books. She performed voices for most characters, though many sounded rather similar, in particular the men's voices. Despite this, her reading is precise, elegant, and very suitable to the style of the book.

Should you listen?

Assuming you enjoy romantic (okay let's not kid ourselves, borderline erotica) fantasy, you can't go wrong with Carey's work, and this book is no exception. The audio format is clear and does not distract from the story. Better in my opinion than its predecessor Naamah's Kiss, readers of the Terre d'Ange series definitely won't be disappointed. If you haven't picked up anything by Carey before, I do recommend starting with Kushiel's Dart, the first chronologically in both the setting time period and in Carey's career. However, if you prefer a bit more magic (and a bit less S&M) in your reading, Naamah's Kiss (the first in the more recent series following the bear-witch Moirin) may suit your interest.

Have any recommendations for books to read, or thoughts on this or similar titles? Share in the comments!

Life of Jiya: Pokemon, Scotland, and Summer

Life sure has been awesomely busy for me lately! I haven't had much time to post here, what with work, school, and various other projects. Now school is done but I feel as though my life is still getting busier!

Scotland Preparation

One of the things taking up most of my time these days is getting everything in order for heading to Scotland. I've sent in my Visa application and am eagerly awaiting a decision. I've secured lodging in Scotland and have researched plane tickets, though I'm waiting to buy them for the final word from the UK Border Agency. I'm nearly bursting with excitement, and can't wait to start my adventure across the pond in September.

Summer of Busyness

Until then, however, I have about a million things to do back in the good ole USA. Preparing to move overseas is bad enough - unfortunately I will have to move out of the apartment that I share with my boyfriend two weeks before I leave for Scotland, so I'll be living out of a suitcase for that time. In addition, I have activities planned throughout the summer, including my normal gaming groups every other weekend, two conventions, a week-long trip to Arizona, a trip to say goodbye to my old house and visit my parents, and a ren faire. I'm also helping a friend create a video game, working on my own projects, and trying to play some as well. Oh, and still working full time at Intel. No rest for the wicked, I suppose!

Pokemon 4e

One of my biggest (and most fun) time sinks lately has been modifying the D&D 4e system for the world of Pokemon. This has been a huge and awesome undertaking, and luckily I'm receiving a ton of support from my friends. When I'm done, I'll be releasing the finished product out into the internets for all to share. Look forward to it!

I'll try to post here once a week with some summary of my activities, a review, a sneak peak at something I'm working on, or a guide.

Diablo III - Act I - The Legacy of Cain

Diablo III - A Completionist Guide

Act I - The Legacy of Cain

These guides are not intended to teach you how to play the game, but are instead full documentation of where all of the completionist goodies can be found. This includes finding all of the dungeons, events, conversations, and lore books. We assume this is not your first playthrough, and don't recommend trying to get everything the first time around as you'll need multiple map resets to get everything - and you must have played through Act II to get all of the blacksmith and jewelcrafter's conversations anyway. Enjoy!

Act I - The Legacy of Cain  is the second quest of Act I. This guide will walk you through the quest in order to find each dungeon, conversation, lore, and other goodies. Completion will certainly take multiple map restarts.

New Tristram

Talk to Leah to begin the quest. There are a few new things in New Tristram to explore before setting out.

Lore Books:

• Book on a table inside Cain's House - "Deckard Cain's Journal, Part 1"
• Leah's Book in Leah's Room inside the Inn - "Leah's Journal, Part 2"

Talking to Leah

Conversation:

• Leah (right-click her portrait) - "Tristram"
• Leah - "Adria's Death"

Adria's Hut

Take the waygate to the Old Ruins. follow the road north and east to Adria's Hut. After the fight talk to Leah and you'll receive the lore "Adria's Journal" automatically.

Lore Books:

• Received when progressing the quest with Leah after defeating Captain Dalton - "Adria's Journal "

Cathedral Level 1

Continue down the road to the Cathedral.

Dungeons:

• Along Old Tristram Road on the way to the Cathedral, a big hole in the ground with hanging bodies over it - "Mass Grave"

Monster Lore:

• Kill a Carrion Bat - "Carrion Bat"
• Kill a Grotesque - " Grotesque "

The Scribe's Lectern

Lore Books:

• Scribe's Lectern - "Lachdanan's Scroll, Part X" - Parts 1-5 can be found here depending on what your character has previously read. You can also find them throughout the cathedral.

The Black Mushrooms

Other:

• In one of the rooms, Black Mushrooms occasionally spawn. Right-click the object to obtain "Black Mushroom". This is a component for the "Staff of Herding", used to open a portal to the Unicorn Level (aka the new Cow Level)

This is also a good place to work on the following challenges, due to the low enemy health and proliference of chandeliers and other environmental hazards.

Challenge:

• Light Entertainment - Kill 666 enemies with a falling chandelier.
• Situational Awareness - Kill 1,000 enemies using the environment

After exploring, head down to Leoric's Passage. Save Cain. There is an achievement for killing "Headcleaver" (the rare) before killing any of the other skeletons. 

Challenge:

• Cut Off The Head - Kill Headcleaver before killing any of the Royal Henchmen who arrive with him in Leoric's Passage. 

New Tristram

Go through the secret passage, and take the waygate back to New Tristram. Speak to Leah to complete the quest.

See "Diablo III - Act I - A Shattered Crown" for the next quest (coming soon)

Diablo III - Act I - The Fallen Star

Diablo III - A Completionist Guide

Act I - The Fallen Star

These guides are not intended to teach you how to play the game, but are instead full documentation of where all of the completionist goodies can be found. This includes finding all of the dungeons, events, conversations, and lore books. We assume this is not your first playthrough, and don't recommend trying to get everything the first time around as you'll need multiple map resets to get everything - and you must have played through Act II to get all of the blacksmith and jewelcrafter's conversations anyway. Enjoy!

Act I - The Fallen Star is the first quest of Act I. This guide will walk you through the quest in order to find each dungeon, conversation, lore, and other goodies. Completion will certainly take multiple map restarts.

New Tristram

Head into town, accept the quest from the guard at the gate. There is an achievement for killing the dead in under 15 seconds.

Challenge:

• Gate Crasher - After speaking to Captain Rumford, kill all the zombies that attack in under 15 seconds during the Fallen Star quest.

Conversation:

• Haedrig Eamon (the blacksmith) - "New Tristram"

A History of New Tristram in the inn

Lore Books:

• A History of New Tristram just inside The Slaughtered Calf Inn - "New Tristram"
• Leah's Book in Leah's Room inside the Inn - "Leah's Journal, Part 1"

Talk to Leah and get her quest. Complete the quest. Head out to talk to Rumford. Kill the mobs.

Monster Lore:

• Kill a Wretched Mother - "Wretched Mothers"

Head up the road.

Old Tristram Road / Old Ruins

Continue up the road to the Old Ruins.  Kill the Wretched Mother, then explore. You may find several things of note in this area. 

Monster Lore:

• Kill a Risen - "Risen Dead"
• Kill a Quill Fiend- " Quill Fiend "

Lore Books:

• Adventurer's Corpse - "Traveler's Journal"
• Old Keepsake Box - "Cain's Old Journal, Part 1"
• Old Keepsake Box - "Cain's Old Journal, Part 2"
• Old Keepsake Box - "Gillian's Diary, Part 1"
• Old Keepsake Box - "Gillian's Diary, Part 2"
• Old Keepsake Box - "Despina's Journal"
• Warriv (next to some flaming wagons) - "Warriv's Journal"
• Old Keepsake Box  - "Lost Journal"
• Old Keepsake Box  - "Old Tristram Journal"

The Cave Under the Well

Dungeons:

• In a well halfway down the road - "The Cave Under the Well"
• Next to a farm house right at the beginning - "Musty Cellar"
• Next to a farm house halfway down the road - "Dank Cellar"
• Next to a farm house near the Old Ruins - "Damp Cellar" 
• Near one of the houses in the Old Ruins - "Dark Cellar"

The Anvil of Fury

Other:

• An object called "The Anvil of Fury" will occasionally spawn. Clicking it gives a sword called "Griswold's Worn Edge", with flavor text. This is a reference to a quest in Diablo I.

New Tristram

Take the waygate back to New Tristram. Talk to Rumford to advance to the next quest.

See "Diablo III - Act I - The Legacy of Cain" for the next quest

Mouse Guard the RPG

Recently, I had the privilege to play a game of Mouse Guard, the RPG. My current gaming group, which normally plays Dark Heresy once a month, decided to set up an alternate gaming day once a month. This month we tried out the Mouse Guard RPG, which is based on the Mouse Guard comics.

Mouse Guard has a premise similar to the popular Redwall novel series. In this world, humans don't exist. Instead, mice and several other creatures are sentient. As I'm sure you can imagine, this makes for a plethora of cuteness that is beautifully charming without being toothache inducing. The RPG sets the player characters as the warriors of the mice world, the Mouse Guard, who are in charge of protecting other mice from predators and the enemy weasel army.

No one in my group had played this RPG before, so it was an adventure for all of us. We rolled up characters the day of - though I use "roll" in a very loose sense since no dice were involved in character creation. The rules allowed for a vast array of choices in background, age, and experience which all affected the type of abilities you were able to bring to bear. Characters would be fairly balanced no matter what rank the mouse is in the guard, but our GM decided to limit us to the first or second year rank simply called "Guard Mouse". Most of the party went with this, though I chose "Tenderpaw", a new recruit, which gave me less combat based abilities but more general life experience as well as natural talents.

Though the first session had all the expected snags of learning a new system, it was an incredibly enjoyable undertaking. Some of the rules seemed a little convoluted, but for the most part they really encouraged a specific type of gameplay, and I believe this is what RPG rules should do. It's become my main beef with Dungeons and Dragons - while it can be argued that role-playing and non-combat interaction is perfectly possible with D&D, when the rules do not encourage and cover these interactions, it really pushes players and DMs to combat even if that is not the intention. I found a bit more of what I was searching for in the Dark Heresy games - all skills are treated equally so investigation and other skill based activities are far more likely to be used.

With Mouse Guard, this is taken a step further. There are two types of checks - those against obstacles, which are unopposed, and combats. Both operate very similarly. Both are extremely story based. For each type of check, the player rolls dice and uses a skill either against a set difficulty or against the GM's roll. If the player wins, they get to describe what happens based on the agreed degree of success. If the GM wins, they get to introduce a complication or impose a status condition on the mice who participated, but in general the goal is still accomplished. However, "combat" encompasses all types of opposed interactions, not just fights. Even in a physical fight, the combatants may specify the types of actions they are taking to be non-lethal or even non-threatening (just trying to escape). Regardless, the same system is used. This puts equal weight on ALL types of interactions, encouraging gameplay that follows. Another interesting twist is that even if the players win the combat, if they didn't win perfectly, the GM can specify a concession the players must make - they achieve their goal, but something else goes wrong.

Example: Catching Caterpillars

During our session, we needed to catch some special caterpillars to use as payment for a guide. Wrangling the caterpillars was a real challenge, and we had almost our entire party working on the challenge. This meant that those helping could add one extra die roll to the main mouse's test. However, we weren't quite able to meet the number of successes imposed by the skill test. The GM imposed a status ailment as a result: we all became angry, a status affecting Will-based interactions. So if later on we needed to have a discussion with someone and convince them to do something, we would have been at a disadvantage. The GM got to describe what happened to us - the caterpillars refused to cooperate, we had to waste a lot of time, and maybe they even bit one of us. The frustration set in and couldn't be shaken for the rest of the adventure.

Example: Fighting a Rat

Though not canon to the Mouse Guard setting, our GM chose to have us encounter a rat. During the encounter, the rat tried to take the object of our quest from us, a bag of special components we were set to fetch by the Mouse Guard. What ensued was a "fight" type of conflict, but we chose to keep it non-lethal since the rat had not tried to hurt us, but was simply being a bully. We pushed and shoved and grabbed at the bag, and eventually were able to cause him to drop it. However, the rat managed to reduce our team's "disposition" (somewhat like hit points that regenerate each combat), so we had to make a concession. The GM decided the rat would drop the bag but grab one of the mice and try to drag him into the rat warren. This started a new combat, this one where live steel was drawn and used. We managed to free the mouse from the rat and escape, and the players got to describe the rat being shoved down the ramp into his own warren.

Threat Level

In Dungeons and Dragons, threat level is something easily abstracted into numbers, but they don't really mean much. Especially in 4.0, threat level is just a way to balance encounters. You can create a huge dragon that is an even match for even entry level characters. Consequently, there's not much fear on the players part. You don't get the feeling of scale even though that dragon's toe is as big as your entire body.

In Mouse Guard, the feeling of threat is everywhere. A mouse is smaller than almost everything. Seeing a snake, an owl, a fox - these are truly terrifying things for a mouse. A black widow, though smaller than a mouse, is a truly deadly obstacle, whereas giant spiders are a common monster in most fantasy games yet seldom feel scary. Admittedly, part of this increased feeling of threat is due to the lack of magic in the game, but a good portion of it is due, I believe, to our instinctual understanding that a mouse is prey and the enemies are predators. The courage it takes for a mouse to deny his nature (actually a mechanic in the game) and stand against his natural predators is far more inspiring and poignant than a warrior fighting a dragon.

The game was a huge success, and I absolutely loved the way the conflict and obstacles were handled. The emphasis on storytelling and the increased threat level were refreshing. Though initially intended to be a one-off session, I think our group had such a great time that we'll be playing this again soon. The experience makes me want to try reading the comics, and I've even been inspired to do a little watercolor painting of my character. I also hope to post a short story of our adventure later on. Look forward to it!