Posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Your Own Personal Deity, Part 2.
I’m still trying to work out a methodology for having the PCs’ deities communicate with them in a number of ways. Going back to the subject of dreams (there’s still omens, visions, and voices to consider, among other things), the obvious choices to me so far were:
1. Occasionally announcing that a character remembers their dream. The players will assume that this announcement must have some larger meaning in the game, otherwise why mention it to them? The advantage with this approach is that we don’t spend a lot of time on the mechanics of actually having the dream and simply deal with its consequences in the game. The disadvantages are many though - we implicitly ignore an ongoing creative potential of dreams in the game as as source of confusion, inspiration, and spontaneity. I would think a medieval setting filled with monsters and magic would imply that characters there would be a much more superstitious lot than ourselves. They’d be more attentive to their dreams, particularly if they worshipped a god (or more than one) knowing that their dreams may be windows into other worlds. They’d also be more likely to share their dreams with one another for help in deciphering them.
2. A more methodical approach that involves randomly determining whether a character remembers their dream and/or randomly determining whether the dream really is of any consequence - a message of some kind from the gods. I say “and/or” because allowing for unremarkable (from the DM’s point of view) dreams to be remembered enlarges the role playing possibilities. Key to this is making mention of the characters’ dreams more often so that they’re seen as a regular feature of the game, rather than as a game hook suddenly dropped like a lead weight. Every time they wake up, they roll dice. Even then, a balance would have to be sought of course, so that the players don’t become overly suspicious or paranoid. I can see the fantasy setting deepening with the surrealism that the greater presence of dreams in the game would bring, but I wouldn’t want them to become a primary focus. It might be best to be open about why the players are rolling dice, and that just because they can remember their dream, it doesn’t mean that it’s a sign from their deity. Of course, the whole discussion so far implies that only those that have chosen a god can play this game within a game - not necessarily so. Sometimes gods or demons make the first attempt at communication.
This happened in our S&W game. We play with clerics having no magic at first level - at this stage they’re similar to mystics; spiritual seekers looking for direction. The cleric character named Agnal began to have dreams where he saw a swirling cloud of darkness. At first, he thought that the swirling dark mist of unknowing might be the actual form of a god he should worship. Eventually, he reached second level. His player expressed some interest in the gods of thieves. Later, in a departure from his regular dreams, the small form of Corrno stepped out of the mist, dressed in his ragged clothes but still somehow managing to awe Agnal and make a worshipper of him.
Since I want the abilities of clerics to include a greater likelihood and ability to communicate with the gods, I’m going to factor that into any random dream calculations. I was thinking something along the lines of any character being able to remember their dream by making a saving throw. This way, as they grow in experience they’ll have a better chance. Since the d12 is so neglected, we’ll use it for our dream rolls - if they make their save and remember the dream, on a roll of 1 in 12 the dream has significance and is some kind of a sign from a god. This chance goes up at each level for clerics, ie. 1-2 on d12 at 2nd level, and 1-9 at 9th level. In the case of clerics, any significant dream remembered is specifically from their god. The degree of the dream’s significance and its content will be entirely the DM’s prerogative.
This seemed all well and good until today when I hit upon the idea of the gods communicating via dreams in correlation to the PCs location and not just random chance. What if dreams were treated something like wandering monsters? In a pantheistic culture, gods have areas of interest and influence. Maybe their presence should be felt by PCs more easily in the kinds of places or situations that correspond to these areas. I could ditch my random chance roll in favor of this, or else I could modify the dice rolls when appropriate. Agnal sleeping across the street from a bank might cause him to be more likely to have a dream where Corrno somehow helps to reveal a key’s location - if only he can remember it when he awakens. Or perhaps if Agnal sleeps across from a bank he’s more likely to remember a dream by making his saving throw, but whether or not the dream is relevant will not be affected.
In the example given, I can see how tactics, role playing, and player discussion might be stimulated by the desire to more fully consider a situation where they find themselves. The benefits of worshiping a certain god might come into play and therefore a player’s more serious consideration when choosing one.
Though I’m tempted just to hand wave the whole thing and make rulings on the fly, I think if I can come up with a fairly quick dice rule about it, I’ll be more likely to take the various possibilities into consideration. The end goal will have been served - the players will be taking a greater interest in their gods and their relationships with them.
1. Occasionally announcing that a character remembers their dream. The players will assume that this announcement must have some larger meaning in the game, otherwise why mention it to them? The advantage with this approach is that we don’t spend a lot of time on the mechanics of actually having the dream and simply deal with its consequences in the game. The disadvantages are many though - we implicitly ignore an ongoing creative potential of dreams in the game as as source of confusion, inspiration, and spontaneity. I would think a medieval setting filled with monsters and magic would imply that characters there would be a much more superstitious lot than ourselves. They’d be more attentive to their dreams, particularly if they worshipped a god (or more than one) knowing that their dreams may be windows into other worlds. They’d also be more likely to share their dreams with one another for help in deciphering them.
2. A more methodical approach that involves randomly determining whether a character remembers their dream and/or randomly determining whether the dream really is of any consequence - a message of some kind from the gods. I say “and/or” because allowing for unremarkable (from the DM’s point of view) dreams to be remembered enlarges the role playing possibilities. Key to this is making mention of the characters’ dreams more often so that they’re seen as a regular feature of the game, rather than as a game hook suddenly dropped like a lead weight. Every time they wake up, they roll dice. Even then, a balance would have to be sought of course, so that the players don’t become overly suspicious or paranoid. I can see the fantasy setting deepening with the surrealism that the greater presence of dreams in the game would bring, but I wouldn’t want them to become a primary focus. It might be best to be open about why the players are rolling dice, and that just because they can remember their dream, it doesn’t mean that it’s a sign from their deity. Of course, the whole discussion so far implies that only those that have chosen a god can play this game within a game - not necessarily so. Sometimes gods or demons make the first attempt at communication.
This happened in our S&W game. We play with clerics having no magic at first level - at this stage they’re similar to mystics; spiritual seekers looking for direction. The cleric character named Agnal began to have dreams where he saw a swirling cloud of darkness. At first, he thought that the swirling dark mist of unknowing might be the actual form of a god he should worship. Eventually, he reached second level. His player expressed some interest in the gods of thieves. Later, in a departure from his regular dreams, the small form of Corrno stepped out of the mist, dressed in his ragged clothes but still somehow managing to awe Agnal and make a worshipper of him.
Since I want the abilities of clerics to include a greater likelihood and ability to communicate with the gods, I’m going to factor that into any random dream calculations. I was thinking something along the lines of any character being able to remember their dream by making a saving throw. This way, as they grow in experience they’ll have a better chance. Since the d12 is so neglected, we’ll use it for our dream rolls - if they make their save and remember the dream, on a roll of 1 in 12 the dream has significance and is some kind of a sign from a god. This chance goes up at each level for clerics, ie. 1-2 on d12 at 2nd level, and 1-9 at 9th level. In the case of clerics, any significant dream remembered is specifically from their god. The degree of the dream’s significance and its content will be entirely the DM’s prerogative.
This seemed all well and good until today when I hit upon the idea of the gods communicating via dreams in correlation to the PCs location and not just random chance. What if dreams were treated something like wandering monsters? In a pantheistic culture, gods have areas of interest and influence. Maybe their presence should be felt by PCs more easily in the kinds of places or situations that correspond to these areas. I could ditch my random chance roll in favor of this, or else I could modify the dice rolls when appropriate. Agnal sleeping across the street from a bank might cause him to be more likely to have a dream where Corrno somehow helps to reveal a key’s location - if only he can remember it when he awakens. Or perhaps if Agnal sleeps across from a bank he’s more likely to remember a dream by making his saving throw, but whether or not the dream is relevant will not be affected.
In the example given, I can see how tactics, role playing, and player discussion might be stimulated by the desire to more fully consider a situation where they find themselves. The benefits of worshiping a certain god might come into play and therefore a player’s more serious consideration when choosing one.
Though I’m tempted just to hand wave the whole thing and make rulings on the fly, I think if I can come up with a fairly quick dice rule about it, I’ll be more likely to take the various possibilities into consideration. The end goal will have been served - the players will be taking a greater interest in their gods and their relationships with them.
Labels:
Theory/Design
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox (3rd edition) Available Now
The 3rd edition of Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox is now available in soft and hardcover on Lulu (as well as the free, updated PDF).Use coupon code WINTER305 to receive 25% off on orders up to $50 through Jan. 5, 2011.
"Prepare to be introduced to the old style of free form gaming! Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox is inspired by the original 1974 fantasy role-playing game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. These rules are flexible and open to interpretation - designed not to cover all conceivable situations, but to allow good Referees and Players the freedom to create and play games of their own design."
The most up to date errata I could find from the second edition is available here. If you've already used the above coupon code, you can use RESOLVE355 instead for 15% off (expires Jan.5).
Labels:
Everything Else
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Your Own Personal Blipdoolpoolp. Part 1
Shifting gears a bit today, I thought I’d share how I’ve been wanting to develop a way to create and grow a player’s relationship with their PC’s deity, and to have a plan for this generally in my game. Initially, I wanted to do this just with clerics, but the more I’ve thought about it the more I can see opportunities for non-cleric PCs to have personal relationships with their chosen gods as well.
Towards this end (with apologies to any religious readers!), I first thought it would be interesting to examine delusional insanity, or "progressive systematized insanity". If I compared a character’s growing relationship with their deity using progressive insanity as a framework, I thought I might be able to extrapolate a usable outline for how to measure a PC's progressive ability to communicate with their gods (I know, a little crazy itself). If there was a fairly clear, symptomatic line, I thought I might be able to devise level breaks at which various things were possible. So for example, if only late stage loonies hear voices in their heads or experience full blown hallucinations, then correspondingly only very high level characters would have their god speaking or appearing to them directly in some manner. I’m no psychologist though, so if this is possible I’ll leave the task to someone else. Also, the fact that Joan of Arc was credited with having experienced divine visions as a petite fille of only 12 years old seems to deter any notion of PC level progression necessarily relating to the ability to commune with the gods.
I still think of Bruce Galloway’s take on all of this and how logical an approach it is to something so irrational. I had also hoped to standardize the ways in which communication between PCs and their gods occurs in order to set player expectations and hopefully meet their demands for fairness in such exchanges. Now though, I’m not sure that this is possible or even desirable. After all, the gods work in mysterious ways. Though not all gods are as fickle as those in the Greek mythos.
So stepping back from that goal a bit, it still might be useful to devise and prepare some techniques to convey the occasional message from above. The prerequisite to this, of course, is knowing how the gods speak to us, or rather, to our PCs. It seems nearly anything can be attributed to being a sign from above. It would be useful to outline a number of ways in which people have traditionally been said to experience communication from or even with their deity. I won’t presume to try and address the entire subject properly here - I’m just hoping to get the ball rolling by writing some ideas down and maybe stimulating some further thoughts of my own on the subject.
A subtle method of communication from a deity can be found in the form of a dream. Intangible and easily forgotten upon awakening, a dream allows for the possibility of divine communication in any of the more concrete forms found in a wakeful state and more. That is, a dream may be of a simple scene, a recreation of the days events, or a fanciful but possible future event. It can also be filled with fantastic or magical imagery.
The problem with dreams in our games though, is that merely mentioning to a player that their PC had a dream implies that it holds some meaning worth noting. This is the exact opposite of how we know dreams to work - that they probably don’t mean anything and that they’re certainly not worth mentioning to anyone else. Except perhaps to a shrink or lover. If I’m going to be using dreams as a resource in my game, it might be best to understand them as only worth mentioning precisely because they must be portentous.
I don’t like this. I would prefer a dream’s appearance in the game to not be so predictable, but the only way to mitigate the problem this sudden appearance raises would be to make reference to them more frequently, closer to how we experience them outside of the game. It could be a lot of fun, requiring myself to make sure that every so often I mention to a player what their PC dreamt last night. Oh the random tables I could make. The players might even begin to assume that all of their characters’ dreams have meaning. Maybe they’d be right - maybe all dreams do.
Towards this end (with apologies to any religious readers!), I first thought it would be interesting to examine delusional insanity, or "progressive systematized insanity". If I compared a character’s growing relationship with their deity using progressive insanity as a framework, I thought I might be able to extrapolate a usable outline for how to measure a PC's progressive ability to communicate with their gods (I know, a little crazy itself). If there was a fairly clear, symptomatic line, I thought I might be able to devise level breaks at which various things were possible. So for example, if only late stage loonies hear voices in their heads or experience full blown hallucinations, then correspondingly only very high level characters would have their god speaking or appearing to them directly in some manner. I’m no psychologist though, so if this is possible I’ll leave the task to someone else. Also, the fact that Joan of Arc was credited with having experienced divine visions as a petite fille of only 12 years old seems to deter any notion of PC level progression necessarily relating to the ability to commune with the gods.
I still think of Bruce Galloway’s take on all of this and how logical an approach it is to something so irrational. I had also hoped to standardize the ways in which communication between PCs and their gods occurs in order to set player expectations and hopefully meet their demands for fairness in such exchanges. Now though, I’m not sure that this is possible or even desirable. After all, the gods work in mysterious ways. Though not all gods are as fickle as those in the Greek mythos.
So stepping back from that goal a bit, it still might be useful to devise and prepare some techniques to convey the occasional message from above. The prerequisite to this, of course, is knowing how the gods speak to us, or rather, to our PCs. It seems nearly anything can be attributed to being a sign from above. It would be useful to outline a number of ways in which people have traditionally been said to experience communication from or even with their deity. I won’t presume to try and address the entire subject properly here - I’m just hoping to get the ball rolling by writing some ideas down and maybe stimulating some further thoughts of my own on the subject.
A subtle method of communication from a deity can be found in the form of a dream. Intangible and easily forgotten upon awakening, a dream allows for the possibility of divine communication in any of the more concrete forms found in a wakeful state and more. That is, a dream may be of a simple scene, a recreation of the days events, or a fanciful but possible future event. It can also be filled with fantastic or magical imagery.
The problem with dreams in our games though, is that merely mentioning to a player that their PC had a dream implies that it holds some meaning worth noting. This is the exact opposite of how we know dreams to work - that they probably don’t mean anything and that they’re certainly not worth mentioning to anyone else. Except perhaps to a shrink or lover. If I’m going to be using dreams as a resource in my game, it might be best to understand them as only worth mentioning precisely because they must be portentous.
I don’t like this. I would prefer a dream’s appearance in the game to not be so predictable, but the only way to mitigate the problem this sudden appearance raises would be to make reference to them more frequently, closer to how we experience them outside of the game. It could be a lot of fun, requiring myself to make sure that every so often I mention to a player what their PC dreamt last night. Oh the random tables I could make. The players might even begin to assume that all of their characters’ dreams have meaning. Maybe they’d be right - maybe all dreams do.
Labels:
Theory/Design
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Last Minute Gift Idea...
Or they're ornaments... (see last post). Just scale them up. Punch a hole through opposite sides on the "top", run a wire through, and there you have it. Here's mine:
Um, we actually don't have a tree this year. This Mother-in-Law's Tongue plant will have to do. :^P
Um, we actually don't have a tree this year. This Mother-in-Law's Tongue plant will have to do. :^P
Labels:
Fun
Friday, December 24, 2010
Download Yer Dice (d10's)
I'd give you all real dice if I could, but these are the best I can manage. Click the thumbnail above to download. Open in GIMP or Photoshop and personalize beforehand if you like (there's another version here with circles around the numbers for better readability)... Construction instructions:• Print on index card or heavy weight paper. Do not scale/make sure scaling is at 100%.
Dexterity checks:
• Cut out with scissors and/or razor.
• Lightly score with razor on lines and where black flaps attach to die faces. Gently fold your new cut out model along these scored lines.
• Glue larger black folds on either half first. Place small amount of glue on smaller black flaps. Take a deep breath and close the two halves of the die together, making sure the small flaps are tucked in and are each touching an adjacent edge. Hold for several seconds (exhale). Blow on completed die for a half minute to make sure it'll hold. Voila!I used the plasma effect in GIMP and they came out looking like this:
Rather festive I thought. But how would they hold up to those Gamescience dice to the left of 'em? In my quick, non-scientific 100 roll test, the variance was 26 again - same as the last time with my slightly larger prototype (Chessex was 24 and GS was 22). It was kind of fun to test with some eggnog and bourbon on the side. Happy Holidays everyone! Party on.Updated 12-25-10: I put a bunch of colored examples up here.
Labels:
Fun,
PDF,
Tools/Resources
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Do-It-Yourself D10
Our video chat game was canceled tonight due to a player’s hard drive failure, so I had some time to goof around and made another paper die. I’d been thinking about how to make a d10 - definitely harder than my previous paper d8. I decided to make it a little larger than normal for ease of cutting and folding. It had to have 5 tabs to hold it together decently (the d8 only took 3) and I think the extra weight of these might have reduced its accuracy. It still did pretty well on a quick comparison test of 100 rolls:
Incidentally, greetings visitors from Metafilter, I see there was some interest in a picture I linked to quite a while back of a Gelatinous Cube. You might keep an eye on this seller on eBay if you’re interested in one or two of your own - cheap too. A big thanks to Bliss Infinite for pointing them out, I picked up a couple before they sold out and they’re killer (pic below).
Labels:
Fun,
Miniatures,
Tools/Resources
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Bittersweet Symphony
So I read this paragraph the other day in Daniel Mackay’s book:
“I see this moment, when the increasing aestheticization of the war gaming narrative finally culminated in the development of the role-playing game performance form, as a reaction to the poverty of the imagination that emptied the architecture of everyday life of any meaning and the scarcity of vision that burdens contemporary philosophy and literature. The imaginative faculty is a built-in function of the human organism - the equivalent to pulses of the heart of the respiration of the lungs. If a people do not find that faculty fulfilled in the world they have been handed, they will build their own.”
My immediate response was something along the lines of “Yeah man… we role-playing gamers are taking back our right to live in a world that inspires us!” I felt pretty good having read that, really validated you know? But then a few hours later I started thinking about it again and began to disagree with some of what he said.
This time of year I can get a little depressed. I’m sure there’s a number of good reasons for it… the usual self-destructive and rampant consumerism in high evidence, the fact that my nearest relatives are 2000 miles away, maybe even just the lack of sunlight. Boo hoo, woe is me. I have to laugh when I think about it because I really have it so well that to be depressed about anything is absurd.
I also have a birthday soon, and there’s something about having turned forty that makes me want to catch myself more quickly when I find myself thinking more cynically and humbugging. When I hear my peers speaking badly of the “younger generation” I’m trying to stop myself from going along with it and really question this type of behavior. Maybe I think I can stop myself from growing old if I can at least remember to remain an advocate for the young. It’s not always easy for a grognard to do. I mean, look at the crazy games kids are playing these days! They call that D&D?!?
But to return to Mackay’s paragraph above, I’m having a problem with his assertion that we live in a time of poverty of the imagination… That “the architecture of everyday life” is “empty of any meaning”… That there’s a “scarcity of vision that burdens contemporary philosophy and literature.” It’s funny to hear this from someone who I assume is younger than myself (his game was 2nd edition). The fact that he lives here in Eugene makes me take his point more personally as well… Is it really that bad? Maybe I should give him a call about it and see how he’s doing. Maybe it’s just that some of us feel a greater need to exercise our imaginations. I can live with that.
Anyhow, if I forget to thank you all for reading or to wish anyone happy holidays, please allow me to do so here and now. In closing, a reminder to myself: Illegitimi non carborundum! Winter solstice is just a couple of days away and things are only going to get brighter. Cheers.
“I see this moment, when the increasing aestheticization of the war gaming narrative finally culminated in the development of the role-playing game performance form, as a reaction to the poverty of the imagination that emptied the architecture of everyday life of any meaning and the scarcity of vision that burdens contemporary philosophy and literature. The imaginative faculty is a built-in function of the human organism - the equivalent to pulses of the heart of the respiration of the lungs. If a people do not find that faculty fulfilled in the world they have been handed, they will build their own.”
My immediate response was something along the lines of “Yeah man… we role-playing gamers are taking back our right to live in a world that inspires us!” I felt pretty good having read that, really validated you know? But then a few hours later I started thinking about it again and began to disagree with some of what he said.
This time of year I can get a little depressed. I’m sure there’s a number of good reasons for it… the usual self-destructive and rampant consumerism in high evidence, the fact that my nearest relatives are 2000 miles away, maybe even just the lack of sunlight. Boo hoo, woe is me. I have to laugh when I think about it because I really have it so well that to be depressed about anything is absurd.
I also have a birthday soon, and there’s something about having turned forty that makes me want to catch myself more quickly when I find myself thinking more cynically and humbugging. When I hear my peers speaking badly of the “younger generation” I’m trying to stop myself from going along with it and really question this type of behavior. Maybe I think I can stop myself from growing old if I can at least remember to remain an advocate for the young. It’s not always easy for a grognard to do. I mean, look at the crazy games kids are playing these days! They call that D&D?!?
But to return to Mackay’s paragraph above, I’m having a problem with his assertion that we live in a time of poverty of the imagination… That “the architecture of everyday life” is “empty of any meaning”… That there’s a “scarcity of vision that burdens contemporary philosophy and literature.” It’s funny to hear this from someone who I assume is younger than myself (his game was 2nd edition). The fact that he lives here in Eugene makes me take his point more personally as well… Is it really that bad? Maybe I should give him a call about it and see how he’s doing. Maybe it’s just that some of us feel a greater need to exercise our imaginations. I can live with that.
Anyhow, if I forget to thank you all for reading or to wish anyone happy holidays, please allow me to do so here and now. In closing, a reminder to myself: Illegitimi non carborundum! Winter solstice is just a couple of days away and things are only going to get brighter. Cheers.
Labels:
Everything Else
Friday, December 17, 2010
Unengraved Gamescience Dice
After reading all the answers to Cyclopeatron’s query, I thought I’d give Gamestation a call to ask them something I’d been wondering about recently: Are there now or have there ever been Gamescience dice available that weren’t engraved? I first thought of this after making my little paper d8 the other day and being surprised at its accuracy. Why, I thought, aren’t there polyhedrals that are pipless/without engraved numbers if pipless casino dice are so esteemed for their random results?
Jay at Gamestation says they’re in the process of retooling and that they expect to have a full set of unengraved Gamescience polyhedrals at some point next year. They currently carry unengraved d10’s which are only available in the translucent gem design. These aren’t listed on the website or advertised anywhere but can be bought in quantity. If I heard him correctly, he also said that Gamescience produced a number of unengraved sets at one point in time and included stickers with them that you could use in lieu of marking their sides, and that they still have some of these.
I’m kind of curious to run some tests on an unengraved die of theirs but since I haven’t yet decided if I can make a decent d10 out of index card paper, I’m not in a rush. :)
Update: Edited to read less like an advertisement for Gamestation..
Jay at Gamestation says they’re in the process of retooling and that they expect to have a full set of unengraved Gamescience polyhedrals at some point next year. They currently carry unengraved d10’s which are only available in the translucent gem design. These aren’t listed on the website or advertised anywhere but can be bought in quantity. If I heard him correctly, he also said that Gamescience produced a number of unengraved sets at one point in time and included stickers with them that you could use in lieu of marking their sides, and that they still have some of these.
I’m kind of curious to run some tests on an unengraved die of theirs but since I haven’t yet decided if I can make a decent d10 out of index card paper, I’m not in a rush. :)
Update: Edited to read less like an advertisement for Gamestation..
Labels:
Tools/Resources
S&W Sessions Journal: To Domme for Popkins
Warning for players: Possible spoilers ahead, please stop reading.
At the start of the session, there was some discussion as to whether the PCs would do best to go back to the goblins’ cave and take their chances there (with the slim pickings last time) or whether they should try to find some other type of gainful employment. With the departure of the dwarves some time ago and with the addition of Gulch and Kitoth, the party has taken on a decidedly chaotic perspective. Infiltration of the local guild hall was discussed, as was kidnapping. Bounty hunting for popkin poachers was also on their mind, as well as popkin hunting themselves. Wagstaff somewhat creatively began to formulate a plan that would involve hiring a popkin hunter on the druid’s lands and then subsequently turning him in for a reward. It was at this point that through a lucky roll of the dice he noticed what appeared to be the shadow of someone standing outside of the closed door to their room. He quickly changed the subject to that of procuring hops for beer making and tried to stealthily approach the door. The eavesdropper must have suspected his own detection however, for when they threw open the door they found no one on the other side nor in the hall.
After this they decided to take a closer look at a jobs board one of them had spotted near the stables. There were three items there from my dubious job board listings. One sounded interesting to them, which read “Enjoy meeting your neighbors and working outside. Our product sells itself! See Trer in Domme.” They thought this sounded like it might have something to do with popkin fairies and that they should go there to investigate.
Domme lies on the very far side of the valley from where they were. I was a little surprised that the players decided to make for Domme (they had a map after all) and frankly a little disappointed too. I was personally hoping for some more hack and slash at the cave. Still, it’s cool to see them latch on to this idea of the popkin fairies.
The rest of the session involved their travel to the next town and fortress along the river, the great castle Beynac of Lord Beringer. They approached it at dusk after passing a guard station half way there. Both at the guard post and at Beynac itself there was some inspection of their belongings and tax collection which seriously irked Wagstaff in particular. Their funds are running seriously low again, and Wagstaff may find himself in the position of money lender to the rest of the party if things don’t improve soon. Approaching the inner bailey, they attempted to arrange an audience with Lord Beringer himself. The men-at-arms said that there might be a possibility in three weeks and to come back then. None of the party heard the snickering behind them as they took their leave.
Labels:
Session Journals
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The Rusty Battleaxe's Beer Ooze
Beer Ooze
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1-6
SIZE: S
HD: 1 (d6)
MOVE: 10'
AC: 10
ATTACKS:Slosh (1d2)
SPECIAL: Nausea; Intoxication
SAVES: P
INT: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
TYPE: Ooze
TREASURE: Nil
XP: 10 + 1
Beer ooze forms when barrels of beer are stored for exceedingly long periods near magical locations. They appear as foamy puddles on the floor near kegs or barrels of beer.
Combat: A beer ooze will attack those who come close to it. It has the ability to form appendages that slosh its opponents for 1d2 in damage.
Nausea: The beer ooze has a nasty odor that causes nausea in those creatures with a sense of smell. Creatures coming within 10’ of the beer ooze must make a constitution saving throw or be stricken with nausea for 1d4+1 turns. The nausea causes a 1d4 temporary loss of dexterity and a penalty of –4 on all attack rolls.
Intoxication: A successful attack by a beer ooze has the potential of causing intoxication in its opponent. The victim must make a constitution save or "suffer" slight intoxication. A slightly intoxicated opponent who is struck again and fails her constitution saving throw will become moderately intoxicated and a moderately intoxicated opponent will become greatly intoxicated upon a saving throw failure. A greatly intoxicated opponent will become comatose when struck by a beer ooze attack and failing her saving throw.
SIZE: S
HD: 1 (d6)
MOVE: 10'
AC: 10
ATTACKS:Slosh (1d2)
SPECIAL: Nausea; Intoxication
SAVES: P
INT: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
TYPE: Ooze
TREASURE: Nil
XP: 10 + 1
Beer ooze forms when barrels of beer are stored for exceedingly long periods near magical locations. They appear as foamy puddles on the floor near kegs or barrels of beer.
Combat: A beer ooze will attack those who come close to it. It has the ability to form appendages that slosh its opponents for 1d2 in damage.
Nausea: The beer ooze has a nasty odor that causes nausea in those creatures with a sense of smell. Creatures coming within 10’ of the beer ooze must make a constitution saving throw or be stricken with nausea for 1d4+1 turns. The nausea causes a 1d4 temporary loss of dexterity and a penalty of –4 on all attack rolls.
Intoxication: A successful attack by a beer ooze has the potential of causing intoxication in its opponent. The victim must make a constitution save or "suffer" slight intoxication. A slightly intoxicated opponent who is struck again and fails her constitution saving throw will become moderately intoxicated and a moderately intoxicated opponent will become greatly intoxicated upon a saving throw failure. A greatly intoxicated opponent will become comatose when struck by a beer ooze attack and failing her saving throw.
I was a fan of this creation and thought it deserved a re-post so it didn't become extinct (The Rusty Battleaxe's original post is now long gone and the google cache dead.)
Labels:
Bestiary
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Skunk Ape and Rudian Fruit
The Skunk Ape
A strange ape of reclusive and solitary nature dwells in the southeastern jungles of Zirthus. The creature gets its name from the horrible stench it exudes due to its diet, which consists entirely of fruit from the rudian tree. Usually avoiding any conflict, it can become very aggressive if it feels its food source is threatened.
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 2 hands (1d3), 1 bite (1d4)
Saving Throw: 13
Move: 12
CL/XP: 4/140
Special: 30’ radius odor causes -3 on opponents’ “to hit” rolls. Can hide in dense foliage and surprise on a 1-3.
Rudian
The fruit of the rudian tree is well known to the primitive human tribes that share its tropical habitat. While the leaves of the tree can be rubbed on the skin as an insect repellent, the fruit itself is usually left alone. It's edible and said to have a foul flavor, but be strangely addictive. Those that consume it exude a very offensive odor, so powerful that it can cause dizziness and headaches in those nearby (though its undetectable to the consumer).
In times of war, a tribe’s best warriors will consume rudians just before battle. This is the only time its acceptable to eat the fruit in their society. Their legends speak of men who became addicted to it - over time these men turned into hideous apes, their war paint permanently etched into their skins and their stench causing men to weep and run for their lives.
The stinky rudian can only be successfully eaten by a PC if they make a d20 roll under their Constitution score. If successful, after 3 turns their armor class will improve by 2 points in a 30’ radius. This effect will last for 8 hours. Characters who have not also eaten the fruit will refuse to stay within 30’ of them, although another Constitution check is allowed.
If a rudian is consumed more than twice in a month, a saving throw must be made or else the PC will become addicted. If this is not cured within a month and even if no more rudians are eaten, the character will transform into a skunk ape (save allowed).
A rudian tree is rare - only one will be found in any 5 mile area. At any given time, a tree will have 3d6 fruit hanging from it.
--
I’ve been wanting to write up a skunk ape for awhile, Aaron’s post reminded me...
Text of this post is licensed under the OGL.
Labels:
Bestiary,
Magic Items
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
B2 Gnoll Lair Map and Note Card
I'm still plodding away at these. All that's left is the Shrine of Evil Chaos, which is a bit larger and will probably have to take up one whole side of an index card. I've left out secret doors on all of these, and the missing secret door in the Gnoll Lair (area #50 leading to #63 in the Shrine area) is truly missed here. The idea of a previous adventurer, a thief, being found just inside the doorway in obvious hasty retreat is a nice touch, as would be finding his elven boots. In fact, all the secret doors missing in these dissections are missed to an extent - being able to run away from a group of monsters directly into the lair of another is just cool. I'm still glad to have chopped them up like this though. Our sessions are so short that it feels like they'll mesh well, and having them handy is a nice insurance policy against the party veering off at the last second from where I'd expected them to travel. As usual, click the image above to download or for a closer look.
Labels:
Maps,
PDF,
Tools/Resources
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
OSRIC Sessions Journal: Backstabby & Burning Slime
We found a secret door at the dead end of a passage we'd been exploring last session, which we suspected would lead us to where our opponent was holed up. Demurarg cast invisibility on Gladric, who successfully made his Move Silently roll and crept up behind who he thought was the evil wizard. At the same time, a portion of the rest of the party went back to an earlier location we’d found, where we’d attacked him across a narrow chasm. The ranger abandoned the party, and we had no idea where he went - very suspicious. Perhaps he didn’t like the rough treatment of our captive.
Playing Gladric, I chose to use my once per session d30 option for a backstabbing attempt. I rolled a 29, adding +1 for my DEX bonus, a 30. The DM ruled maximum damage x2, which came to 14 points - the figure collapsed and Gladric became visible. At this point the remaining figure (what we’d assumed was the magic user’s sidekick) threw back his cloak and exclaimed something to the effect that Gladric would now die for having killed his assistant. Gladric took off running back the way he came, as the rest of the party lurking across the chasm emerged to attack with missile weapons. Demurarg cast magic missile which was enough to put the bad guy at the edge of death.
However, the giant yellow slime monster was getting ready to attack. My memory of things is a little fuzzy, but it seems like our cleric Ouze tried to grab the crown from the head of the dying wizard. We knew this was how he controlled the slime monster. Gladric was always a little suspicious of Ouze (maybe because of his name) and yelled “Traitor! Attack him!” It might have been premature or foolish, but in any event everyone else seemed to believe Gladric and Ouze was forced to run away, dropping the crown. The slime monster then attacked, and we allowed the druid to use the crown to keep the thing immobile while we threw flask after flask of burning oil onto it. Finally killing it, we threatened the wizard into revealing his treasure vault location and found a decent haul. I’m a little concerned that the ranger and cleric are in cohoots and waiting in ambush at the entrance to the dungeon. Also that I might have mistakenly made an enemy of a friend. Meh, all in a day’s work for a thief. I offered our captive (Jugarg) freedom and then employment as a porter, and he accepted.
A lot of the session was taken up by discussion of various attack strategies. For me, the funniest part was when Marcus was busted for not paying attention. When it was his turn and asked what his character was going to do, he paused for a long moment and then dropped a d20 into his dice tower. “18” he announced with seriousness. We weren’t in combat and there was no reason to roll a d20. There was another long pause before I burst out laughing as we realized he had no idea what was going on. DM Nick took it in stride though.
Playing Gladric, I chose to use my once per session d30 option for a backstabbing attempt. I rolled a 29, adding +1 for my DEX bonus, a 30. The DM ruled maximum damage x2, which came to 14 points - the figure collapsed and Gladric became visible. At this point the remaining figure (what we’d assumed was the magic user’s sidekick) threw back his cloak and exclaimed something to the effect that Gladric would now die for having killed his assistant. Gladric took off running back the way he came, as the rest of the party lurking across the chasm emerged to attack with missile weapons. Demurarg cast magic missile which was enough to put the bad guy at the edge of death.
However, the giant yellow slime monster was getting ready to attack. My memory of things is a little fuzzy, but it seems like our cleric Ouze tried to grab the crown from the head of the dying wizard. We knew this was how he controlled the slime monster. Gladric was always a little suspicious of Ouze (maybe because of his name) and yelled “Traitor! Attack him!” It might have been premature or foolish, but in any event everyone else seemed to believe Gladric and Ouze was forced to run away, dropping the crown. The slime monster then attacked, and we allowed the druid to use the crown to keep the thing immobile while we threw flask after flask of burning oil onto it. Finally killing it, we threatened the wizard into revealing his treasure vault location and found a decent haul. I’m a little concerned that the ranger and cleric are in cohoots and waiting in ambush at the entrance to the dungeon. Also that I might have mistakenly made an enemy of a friend. Meh, all in a day’s work for a thief. I offered our captive (Jugarg) freedom and then employment as a porter, and he accepted.
A lot of the session was taken up by discussion of various attack strategies. For me, the funniest part was when Marcus was busted for not paying attention. When it was his turn and asked what his character was going to do, he paused for a long moment and then dropped a d20 into his dice tower. “18” he announced with seriousness. We weren’t in combat and there was no reason to roll a d20. There was another long pause before I burst out laughing as we realized he had no idea what was going on. DM Nick took it in stride though.
Labels:
Session Journals
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Playing with Sketchup and the Caves of Chaos
Google’s Sketchup is a free 3D modeling application that runs on Windows and OS X. I’ve looked at some models in it before, but never really played with it much until this morning when I started goofing around with the map of the Caves of Chaos in it. I don’t know the first thing about using this software but can already see its potential. In most cases I’d prefer to quickly sketch something by hand for my players if my descriptions aren’t good enough, but I can see building a model beforehand with Sketchup in certain cases. The screen grabs below show a very quick and dirty draft being generated from the inside cover of B2. In this case, a visual aid isn’t really necessary for the location (which I’m not using in our game anyhow, players) but they do illustrate how you could easily build your own 3D models from topographical maps using it.
Tracing lines of relief.
Elevating lines of relief.
Connecting lines of relief - drawing contours.
Another view.
Exploding the bottom map onto the created contours.
Tracing lines of relief.
Elevating lines of relief.
Connecting lines of relief - drawing contours.
Another view.
Exploding the bottom map onto the created contours. Obviously a little strange and an unrealistic view but at least you can get a sense of relative elevations. In further revisions I'd probably use more lines of relief, make certain sections much steeper, and use my own painted-in landscape (removing the dungeon view among other things).
Labels:
Maps,
Tools/Resources
Monday, December 6, 2010
B2 Shunned Cavern and Minotaur Caves Maps and Note Cards
Continuing my chopping up of B2 into mini-adventures on index cards, here's the Shunned Cavern (area G) and the Caves of the Minotaur (area I) again formatted for ye olde 4x6's. Since these are especially small maps, I put two of them onto the same PDF. If you can use these or like the idea, you might also be interested in Fenway5's recent "Pocketful of Peril" posts. As usual, click the image above for a closer look or to download the PDF.
Labels:
Maps,
PDF,
Tools/Resources
Dungeoneers for Rosetta@home. Because sometimes a Cure Disease spell just doesn't cut it.
“Rosetta@home needs your help to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases. By running the Rosetta program on your computer while you don't need it you will help us speed up and extend our research in ways we couldn't possibly attempt without your help. You will also be helping our efforts at designing new proteins to fight diseases such as HIV, Malaria, Cancer, and Alzheimer’s... Rosetta@home is not for profit."I’ve set up a team at Rosetta@home called “
Updated 12-9-2010:
I changed the team name to just "Dungeoneers" - I don't want to alienate anyone from a good cause like this over something as silly as a label like "OSR".
Updated 12-20-2010:
Please note that Rosetta@home has largely discontinued support for PowerPC CPUs, so don't bother signing up if you're running an older Mac with a G3, G4, or G5 processor...
Also: If you're a linux user, you may want to install using the downloadable shell script from the main BOINC website rather than using a software manager like Synaptic Package Manager. Depending on your repositories, an older version may not work properly, whereas the shell script will provide you with the latest version.
Labels:
Everything Else
Friday, December 3, 2010
Do-It-Yourself Polyhedral Dice
I remember awhile back reading how Christian was having a tough time getting gaming materials to prison inmates. The subject of dice replacements came up. Someone suggested chits, which I remember actually using long ago, digging them out of Dixie cups with those terrible jokes on the side. Before we could afford D&D, my cousin and I made up our own clone (or as best as kids could) using the six sided dice from a boardgame.
Tonight, I wondered whether it would be possible to make polyhedral dice from paper. If so, it seems like it would be a neat thing to include with a game - a page you could rip out or photocopy and use to make your own cut-out polyhedral dice. Lost that d8? Download it. Or customize your dice and email them to a friend. Sure, if you have a computer you could just use a dice rolling program. Where's the fun in that though? No players with bated breath waiting for the outcome... Paper dice might not be ideal, but they still might have a place in the universe. But would they even roll? I looked on the web to see if any freaks out there might have already tried to find out. Shockingly, I didn’t find anything.
I did find an interesting page on a Australian university server though, where Paul Bourke posted some images of polyhedra for model creation. So having a touch of the flu with nothing better to do, I decided to see what was possible. I grabbed the octahedron and resized it to be close to the size of my d8 by Gamescience. I added some small flaps to the model for gluing the folds together on the inside (rather than using tape, to minimize imbalancing the construction and reducing random results) and printed this out on an index card (of course). Here’s a picture of my paper d8 alongside the Gamescience one. The three black rectangles on the 2 and 3 faces are the same size as the flaps in the same location but glued on the inside - I made them black so I could easily see which sides of the die would be the most weighted. It was only necessary for three flaps to keep the whole thing together.
Ah! But would it roll? Surprisingly, it more or less did, albeit without the characteristic and satisfying clattering sound of your typical high-impact plastic dice. But how random would its results be, given the custom cuts and folds, and the additional weight of the interior flaps holding it together?
I rolled it a hundred times (I told you, I had nothing else to do tonight) and recorded the results. I was very satisfied with them. Then I decided to roll my Gamescience d8 a hundred times as well, for purposes of comparison. The results are below:
(Click to stop squinting)
As you can see, based on this short experiment, my DIY d8 is superior to the mass produced Gamescience d8. I assure you that I used the same technique in rolling the dice with both dice and with each roll: cupping two hands together, shaking for several seconds, then sort of flip tossing/rolling with one hand.
Now before you all clamor and begin asking when you can order my hand made paper dice, I’ll need to run a few more experiments. There is no question that my die’s longevity will be much shorter than a high-impact plastic die. But isn’t it better to have confidence in your dice’s ability to give you a random result than to let your laziness (or miserliness!) get in the way of your game? I mean, how many of you have actually tested your dice, hmm? Know for sure that your players aren’t getting killed through no fault of their own, or of you, their DM? Fortunately, Christmas is coming up.
Tonight, I wondered whether it would be possible to make polyhedral dice from paper. If so, it seems like it would be a neat thing to include with a game - a page you could rip out or photocopy and use to make your own cut-out polyhedral dice. Lost that d8? Download it. Or customize your dice and email them to a friend. Sure, if you have a computer you could just use a dice rolling program. Where's the fun in that though? No players with bated breath waiting for the outcome... Paper dice might not be ideal, but they still might have a place in the universe. But would they even roll? I looked on the web to see if any freaks out there might have already tried to find out. Shockingly, I didn’t find anything.
I did find an interesting page on a Australian university server though, where Paul Bourke posted some images of polyhedra for model creation. So having a touch of the flu with nothing better to do, I decided to see what was possible. I grabbed the octahedron and resized it to be close to the size of my d8 by Gamescience. I added some small flaps to the model for gluing the folds together on the inside (rather than using tape, to minimize imbalancing the construction and reducing random results) and printed this out on an index card (of course). Here’s a picture of my paper d8 alongside the Gamescience one. The three black rectangles on the 2 and 3 faces are the same size as the flaps in the same location but glued on the inside - I made them black so I could easily see which sides of the die would be the most weighted. It was only necessary for three flaps to keep the whole thing together.
Ah! But would it roll? Surprisingly, it more or less did, albeit without the characteristic and satisfying clattering sound of your typical high-impact plastic dice. But how random would its results be, given the custom cuts and folds, and the additional weight of the interior flaps holding it together?
I rolled it a hundred times (I told you, I had nothing else to do tonight) and recorded the results. I was very satisfied with them. Then I decided to roll my Gamescience d8 a hundred times as well, for purposes of comparison. The results are below:
(Click to stop squinting)Now before you all clamor and begin asking when you can order my hand made paper dice, I’ll need to run a few more experiments. There is no question that my die’s longevity will be much shorter than a high-impact plastic die. But isn’t it better to have confidence in your dice’s ability to give you a random result than to let your laziness (or miserliness!) get in the way of your game? I mean, how many of you have actually tested your dice, hmm? Know for sure that your players aren’t getting killed through no fault of their own, or of you, their DM? Fortunately, Christmas is coming up.
Labels:
Fun
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
S&W Sessions Journal: A Groom and a Cave
At the start of the last session, the party learned more about popkin fairies while dining at a tavern inside the keep. They hadn’t realized that in some parts of the valley it was actually illegal to hunt popkins, and they all sat up straight when they learned that the Druid of Marqueyssac sometimes posted rewards for the capture of poachers on what he considered to be his domain.
Wagstaff still intended to lead the party with their new men-at-arms hirelings back to the cave where Agnal thought he had detected goblins. This time they’d also be accompanied by a new PC - the chaotic magic user Kitoth, as well as a single, spastic porter named Skithath. With some whiskey in their DM, the players were treated (or perhaps mistreated) to a few exchanges with me speaking in character and with an accent. I hope the porter survives, I look forward to being able to play him from time to time. Wagstaff’s player found him very tedious, but Gulch hired him as a groom and enjoys the fawning.
It was a classic session, one that some players might find boring or cliched, but we haven’t had any dungeoneering in a long while so I think we all enjoyed it. There were a couple of goblin battles with the new magic user showing his worth, and Agnal finally has a god and can use some magic now that he’s 2nd level (he settled on Corrno, a minor god of thieves from The Unknown Gods). There was very little treasure recovered, but enough to keep them housed and fed again in town and to pay for their retainers. With some wounds to attend to, they returned safely to the keep.
Wagstaff still intended to lead the party with their new men-at-arms hirelings back to the cave where Agnal thought he had detected goblins. This time they’d also be accompanied by a new PC - the chaotic magic user Kitoth, as well as a single, spastic porter named Skithath. With some whiskey in their DM, the players were treated (or perhaps mistreated) to a few exchanges with me speaking in character and with an accent. I hope the porter survives, I look forward to being able to play him from time to time. Wagstaff’s player found him very tedious, but Gulch hired him as a groom and enjoys the fawning.
It was a classic session, one that some players might find boring or cliched, but we haven’t had any dungeoneering in a long while so I think we all enjoyed it. There were a couple of goblin battles with the new magic user showing his worth, and Agnal finally has a god and can use some magic now that he’s 2nd level (he settled on Corrno, a minor god of thieves from The Unknown Gods). There was very little treasure recovered, but enough to keep them housed and fed again in town and to pay for their retainers. With some wounds to attend to, they returned safely to the keep.
Labels:
Session Journals
Carbon Chauvinism
Is anyone else excited by this? NASA has announced that it’s holding a news conference “to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.” The news conference will be streamed live at 2pm EST.My money's on some kind of finding that lends evidence to non-carbon based lifeforms being possible. As fun as it might be to hope that they’re announcing the actual discovery of extraterrestrial life, the specific wording of their announcement would seem to rule this out.
Of course, for us D&D players, non-carbon based lifeforms are a given.
Update: I think I was pretty close: "NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth."
Labels:
Everything Else
Sunday, November 28, 2010
JC Games' Space Pirates (German)
It's a pity the English translation of JC Games' Space Pirates quickstart rules seems to have run out of steam. From what I could decipher, it looks like it might be a fun rules light game. From their welcome page:"Space Pirates is a free and wacky space-opera RPG about pirates in space in the style of 1980s cartoons and comics. It's intended for one-shots or short campaigns - the setting is compact and the rules easy to learn. Players are encouraged to help shape the adventure."
The original rules in German have been released under a Creative Commons license and can be found on a downloads page along with a number of supplements. A softcover print version is available as well. Sprechen sie Deutsch?
Labels:
Other Games/Genres
Saturday, November 27, 2010
DIY Gelatinous Cube: The Quick and The Dirty
I read Michael Curtis' post on his homemade Gelatinous Cube miniature and was inspired to give it a go. For some reason I always think of gelatinous cubes as translucent green even though I know they're described as "nearly transparent" - a google image search shows I'm not alone. I really don't understand it. Part of their appeal is the fact that PCs might walk straight into them. Still, maybe translucent green wouldn't show up with infravision or as much under torch light. Maybe the green version is a peculiar local variety in my game. Whatever.
The Quick: My first thought was: why make a mini? I can just take a plastic dice container, remove the bottom, turn it upside down, and voila! This has the added advantage of allowing you to put it over the top of your players' minis. If you like a green version, get out a green marker and use it to color the plastic container. If you don't want to permanently color it you can cut and fold some green acetate to the right size and put it in the container, taping or gluing it there if you like. I cut two sheets to try this since I couldn't be bothered to measure where to make folds.
Looks a little more like a gelatinous parallelepiped than a cube though. Not very gelatinous either.
Therefore, The Dirty: I really like some of the epoxy-resin mold produced versions of the Gel Cubes I've seen on the web. But there's something about being able to take another mini and put it inside the dang thing whenever you like that appeals to me. Plus, some of that stuff looked pretty toxic at the art store. So I decided to construct my own cube. First I got a length of balsa wood, about 3/16"x3/16" by 2'. I cut this up into appropriately sized pieces (I was going for a 2" cube) and glued them together in a such way that there would be some reinforcement.
Then I cut some green acetate into 5 squares slightly smaller than 2"x2" each and glued these to 5 sides of my cube. These gave it a little more strength. Too late, I realized that I should have painted the balsa before gluing it together as its pale color would be easily seen through the acetate once I was finished. Ah well, I painted it after the fact as best I could.
Next, I took some paper clay (since it air dries) and molded this around all the edges, leaving aside the open bottom face of the cube.
Then I painted it. The whole thing came out way more green than I'd wanted. Still, I've grown attached to the little monster... Here's our hero, before and after being swallowed by the creature.
The Quick: My first thought was: why make a mini? I can just take a plastic dice container, remove the bottom, turn it upside down, and voila! This has the added advantage of allowing you to put it over the top of your players' minis. If you like a green version, get out a green marker and use it to color the plastic container. If you don't want to permanently color it you can cut and fold some green acetate to the right size and put it in the container, taping or gluing it there if you like. I cut two sheets to try this since I couldn't be bothered to measure where to make folds.
Looks a little more like a gelatinous parallelepiped than a cube though. Not very gelatinous either.Therefore, The Dirty: I really like some of the epoxy-resin mold produced versions of the Gel Cubes I've seen on the web. But there's something about being able to take another mini and put it inside the dang thing whenever you like that appeals to me. Plus, some of that stuff looked pretty toxic at the art store. So I decided to construct my own cube. First I got a length of balsa wood, about 3/16"x3/16" by 2'. I cut this up into appropriately sized pieces (I was going for a 2" cube) and glued them together in a such way that there would be some reinforcement.
Then I cut some green acetate into 5 squares slightly smaller than 2"x2" each and glued these to 5 sides of my cube. These gave it a little more strength. Too late, I realized that I should have painted the balsa before gluing it together as its pale color would be easily seen through the acetate once I was finished. Ah well, I painted it after the fact as best I could.
Next, I took some paper clay (since it air dries) and molded this around all the edges, leaving aside the open bottom face of the cube.
Then I painted it. The whole thing came out way more green than I'd wanted. Still, I've grown attached to the little monster... Here's our hero, before and after being swallowed by the creature.
Labels:
Fun,
Miniatures
Friday, November 26, 2010
OSRIC Session Journal: Trippin' at Camp
I’ve been meaning to put up a session report from our OSRIC game (where I’m not the DM) for more than a week now…
In this last short session, the two clerics and the illusionist drank the addicting, vision producing substance we had in our possession in the hopes that it would convey (as purported) some of our enemy’s tactics. We were pretty certain that the enemy was also drinking it, desiring to see what we were doing.
We knew the "Midnight Eye” often merely produced hallucinations, but still hoped to learn something useful. This wasn’t the first time we’d had some party members drink the stuff, and had prepared accordingly - we wanted the imbibers to be well rested and battle worthy again as soon as possible.
Vadco, Gladric, and the ranger were on watch outside of the cave entrance - they heard something coming down the tunnel, scraping sounds, and then they saw a handful of goblins with bows, all of them slow and obviously under the influence of the amber ooze. Too late we realized that we might have had the others drink one at a time instead of all at once.
The goblins were at some distance, and Gladric shouted to Demurarg to cast her fireball. She was hesitant to use the spell on mere goblins, but Gladric talked her into it. Vadco nearly killed Gladric by misfiring his bow, but Demurarg wiped the goblins out. Vadco perhaps somewhat drunkenly considered skinning the goblins of their faces for masks, but as they were burned up pretty badly it was not worth pursuing or discussing.
Now the party turned its attention more fully to those who had imbibed the magic elixir. Ouze the cleric sat cross-legged with his hands outstretched and an ecstatic look on his face. Dennis the gnome stood staring blankly ahead. Benedict (the lawful good cleric) was curled up in a fetal position shivering and moaning. They threw a blanket over him and went to sleep. Three hours later everyone checked back in with the imbibers.
Ouze said “I had a feeling of unity with all things. It almost makes no sense to talk about it now.” “Yes, yes,” said Gladric impatiently. “I’ve been there. But did you see anything of value with regard to our opponents' future actions?” Ouze’s further responses were too Moody Blues to be of any real use, so the group moved on to the next imbiber.
Dennis the gnome said “I was amongst a vanguard of warriors. They were perhaps insects of tremendous stature. They rode great steeds made of minerals into a mist of many colors.” He chuckled to himself. The group tried to interrogate him further, but it was quickly obvious that anything else he said was indecipherable. Gladric surmised that their opponents might be riding giant ants as steeds. Vadco felt that it was a good omen.
They went to Benedict next. “I felt so cold and alone and sick. Please! Give me wine! Trouble awaits! Dire trouble!” was pretty much all they could glean from him. It was fun role-playing interacting with these three fools tripping in our campground, trying to discern anything that might be of value in their visions. Kudos to Nick the newbie DM.
They asked the druid with them if he knew of any race or creatures that might fit the description of insects riding steeds, to which he replied that he wasn’t aware of anything like that and that Dennis might simply be relating some heroic story of the gnomes that had bubbled up from the depths of his brain. This seemed as likely as anything.
Their captive claimed to be starving, and Gladric was a little cruel in testing whether or not this was true - he was concerned that their rations might be running low and reluctant to give them up to someone he didn’t trust. Vadco helpfully suggested that there was some roasted goblin nearby if he got desperate.
Everyone ate and rested for another day and then they went underground again, back to the sole tunnel which they hadn’t yet explored. This passageway was very narrow. Anrid and the druid entered and proceeded a short ways when they saw three pairs of eyes which became war dogs running towards them and growling. Dennis fumbled some oil at their feet and yelled a warning to not drop any torches. Vadco was able to attack from behind with a spear and he and the druid managed to dispatch the beasts. The druid thought he heard something ahead though.
They proceeded carefully, coming out into a chamber of indeterminate size. Emerging slowly from the darkness they saw several naked women… Slobbering amber ooze from their mouths. One of them seemed to awkwardly wield a cat o’ nine tails. Another feebly brandished a noose, and another a piece of wood. These were defeated fairly quickly, but the druid was knocked to the ground unconscious and the session ended.
In this last short session, the two clerics and the illusionist drank the addicting, vision producing substance we had in our possession in the hopes that it would convey (as purported) some of our enemy’s tactics. We were pretty certain that the enemy was also drinking it, desiring to see what we were doing.
We knew the "Midnight Eye” often merely produced hallucinations, but still hoped to learn something useful. This wasn’t the first time we’d had some party members drink the stuff, and had prepared accordingly - we wanted the imbibers to be well rested and battle worthy again as soon as possible.
Vadco, Gladric, and the ranger were on watch outside of the cave entrance - they heard something coming down the tunnel, scraping sounds, and then they saw a handful of goblins with bows, all of them slow and obviously under the influence of the amber ooze. Too late we realized that we might have had the others drink one at a time instead of all at once.
The goblins were at some distance, and Gladric shouted to Demurarg to cast her fireball. She was hesitant to use the spell on mere goblins, but Gladric talked her into it. Vadco nearly killed Gladric by misfiring his bow, but Demurarg wiped the goblins out. Vadco perhaps somewhat drunkenly considered skinning the goblins of their faces for masks, but as they were burned up pretty badly it was not worth pursuing or discussing.
Now the party turned its attention more fully to those who had imbibed the magic elixir. Ouze the cleric sat cross-legged with his hands outstretched and an ecstatic look on his face. Dennis the gnome stood staring blankly ahead. Benedict (the lawful good cleric) was curled up in a fetal position shivering and moaning. They threw a blanket over him and went to sleep. Three hours later everyone checked back in with the imbibers.
Ouze said “I had a feeling of unity with all things. It almost makes no sense to talk about it now.” “Yes, yes,” said Gladric impatiently. “I’ve been there. But did you see anything of value with regard to our opponents' future actions?” Ouze’s further responses were too Moody Blues to be of any real use, so the group moved on to the next imbiber.
Dennis the gnome said “I was amongst a vanguard of warriors. They were perhaps insects of tremendous stature. They rode great steeds made of minerals into a mist of many colors.” He chuckled to himself. The group tried to interrogate him further, but it was quickly obvious that anything else he said was indecipherable. Gladric surmised that their opponents might be riding giant ants as steeds. Vadco felt that it was a good omen.
They went to Benedict next. “I felt so cold and alone and sick. Please! Give me wine! Trouble awaits! Dire trouble!” was pretty much all they could glean from him. It was fun role-playing interacting with these three fools tripping in our campground, trying to discern anything that might be of value in their visions. Kudos to Nick the newbie DM.
They asked the druid with them if he knew of any race or creatures that might fit the description of insects riding steeds, to which he replied that he wasn’t aware of anything like that and that Dennis might simply be relating some heroic story of the gnomes that had bubbled up from the depths of his brain. This seemed as likely as anything.
Their captive claimed to be starving, and Gladric was a little cruel in testing whether or not this was true - he was concerned that their rations might be running low and reluctant to give them up to someone he didn’t trust. Vadco helpfully suggested that there was some roasted goblin nearby if he got desperate.
Everyone ate and rested for another day and then they went underground again, back to the sole tunnel which they hadn’t yet explored. This passageway was very narrow. Anrid and the druid entered and proceeded a short ways when they saw three pairs of eyes which became war dogs running towards them and growling. Dennis fumbled some oil at their feet and yelled a warning to not drop any torches. Vadco was able to attack from behind with a spear and he and the druid managed to dispatch the beasts. The druid thought he heard something ahead though.
They proceeded carefully, coming out into a chamber of indeterminate size. Emerging slowly from the darkness they saw several naked women… Slobbering amber ooze from their mouths. One of them seemed to awkwardly wield a cat o’ nine tails. Another feebly brandished a noose, and another a piece of wood. These were defeated fairly quickly, but the druid was knocked to the ground unconscious and the session ended.
Labels:
Session Journals
Monday, November 22, 2010
Fun with Mushrooms
I was delighted to discover the king trumpet mushrooms my wife had bought for use on Thanksgiving, and immediately pulled them out of the fridge and went looking for miniatures to pose with them. I soaked some paper towels and put them around the bases of the mushrooms to get them to stand up straight so I could take a decent picture.
One quick and dirty GIMP job later, I've a fairly decent image to complement a future game location's description. It could use some work here and there but it's a start. :P
Labels:
Fun,
Miniatures
Saturday, November 20, 2010
B2 Bugbear Lair Map and Note Card
It's fun to see these piling up... This latest one seemed to work better on an index card in portrait orientation. Click the pic above to download.
Labels:
Index Card,
Maps,
PDF
Thursday, November 18, 2010
B2 Kobold Lair Map and Note Card
Here's another index card for notes with map pulled from B2 to use as a minidungeon wherever... I'd hoped to get more done this week but work hasn't left me much time. This one came out a little brighter. Click the image above for the PDF.
Labels:
Index Card,
Maps,
PDF
Saturday, November 13, 2010
S&W Sessions Journal: A Fat Dinner
Thursday night's game turned into a short solo session with only Nick able to play. There’s a new magic user PC named Kimoth (rolled up to replace the fighter named Frayse a few sessions back), but since his player wasn’t with us, I had him stay at the inn. He’s from the far south, on the borderlands of a region called Athanor. :)
There was the usual mucking about in town, but Wagstaff had earlier accepted an invitation and escort to dinner with the castellan. During this session he went, and was seated a good ten or more seats away from him. Wagstaff listened intently for rumors and ate the best meal of his life. He purposefully limited his drink consumption to no more than 3 beers, but something happened. Nick was a little pissed when I told him he was feeling inebriated, and I had to explain that the food itself seemed intoxicating, perhaps magically so, and he felt compelled to drink more as well… In the end, he never mustered the courage to speak to the castellan directly (or perhaps Nick wisely sensed that he might say something more revealing than he would have liked, given his state), but he did glean some useful information about the location of the caves. He also learned from a guildmaster’s wife that the castellan admires “Courage…and punctuality!” It was obvious that she herself admired the castellan a bit more than her husband.
After dinner, Wagstaff had to stagger back to the inn alone. He passed out in the common room even though he’d paid for a private room, and was awoken by Agnal and Gulch the next morning. These two tried to pick his brain - after this, Wagstaff convinced them to journey the mile or so down the road towards the caves he’d heard about at the party.
Nick’s a very cautious low level player, I’m happy to say. He had the party approach one of the cave entrances to within 15 feet. Once at that distance, Agnal detected the stench of goblins (having had an embarrassing previous experience with them). Wagstaff was happy enough to find the caves location and a sense of what they held, and they returned to the keep, perhaps considering that they were only three in number. They'd hired two men-at-arms in the tavern, but these hadn’t joined them on this brief recon trip. That was the end of the session. At this point, I’m starving to get them underground and chopping up monsters again.
There was the usual mucking about in town, but Wagstaff had earlier accepted an invitation and escort to dinner with the castellan. During this session he went, and was seated a good ten or more seats away from him. Wagstaff listened intently for rumors and ate the best meal of his life. He purposefully limited his drink consumption to no more than 3 beers, but something happened. Nick was a little pissed when I told him he was feeling inebriated, and I had to explain that the food itself seemed intoxicating, perhaps magically so, and he felt compelled to drink more as well… In the end, he never mustered the courage to speak to the castellan directly (or perhaps Nick wisely sensed that he might say something more revealing than he would have liked, given his state), but he did glean some useful information about the location of the caves. He also learned from a guildmaster’s wife that the castellan admires “Courage…and punctuality!” It was obvious that she herself admired the castellan a bit more than her husband.
After dinner, Wagstaff had to stagger back to the inn alone. He passed out in the common room even though he’d paid for a private room, and was awoken by Agnal and Gulch the next morning. These two tried to pick his brain - after this, Wagstaff convinced them to journey the mile or so down the road towards the caves he’d heard about at the party.
Nick’s a very cautious low level player, I’m happy to say. He had the party approach one of the cave entrances to within 15 feet. Once at that distance, Agnal detected the stench of goblins (having had an embarrassing previous experience with them). Wagstaff was happy enough to find the caves location and a sense of what they held, and they returned to the keep, perhaps considering that they were only three in number. They'd hired two men-at-arms in the tavern, but these hadn’t joined them on this brief recon trip. That was the end of the session. At this point, I’m starving to get them underground and chopping up monsters again.
Labels:
Session Journals
Friday, November 12, 2010
B2 Orc Lairs Note Card & Map
Here's another mini-dungeon culled from B2, formatted as a map/note card. Like the previous post here, only this one is of the orc lairs at the Caves of Chaos... click the image below for a closer look or to download.
Labels:
Index Card,
Maps,
PDF
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Caves of Chaos as Mini Dungeons
Spoilers ahead - please stop reading if you're a player in this game.
Being caught completely off-guard by the direction the party took last time, I'd grabbed B2 off the shelf to fill in for one of the half dozen castles found in the area that I hadn't sketched out yet. While at the keep, they heard about some caves not far away, and as they're conveniently just off the road to the central part of the Dordogne Valley, I'm assuming they'll want to check them out. I'll probably be incorrect if recent history is any guide but I figure it's good to have at least something prepared for a session.
We were going to play Tuesday but it was rescheduled for tonight, so I spent some time today looking over B2 again, and the Caves of Chaos in particular. It's easy to chop them up into mini-dungeons and use them anywhere they're suddenly needed. I decided I'd take the Goblin Lair and Ogre's Cave and excise them from the rest of the module's map for tonight if they decide to investigate. The secret doors in rooms 17 and 21 are erased and voila! Simple as that. I haven't bothered to look again at the other caves because I already rumored the existence of an ogre nearby during the last session. This seemed to interest Wagstaff. Little do they know that it's the same ogre that tore the legs off of little Timmy (or even who that is), but it'll make for some fun role-playing if they can drop the thing and then meet up with Tim the half halfling (quarterling?) down the road.
My desk space is limited, and regular readers know I'm obsessed with putting everything onto index cards - the small map of the caves the party might explore tonight is no exception. I hate fussing with larger maps unless I really have to - although I probably spent a little too much time making this index card version today. If it's of interest or use, you can download the PDF by clicking the thumbnail image below. The resolution is pretty good so I suppose it could work for a 8.5x11" landscape also.
Labels:
Dordogne,
Index Card,
Maps,
PDF
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Las Vegas Tunnel People
Every time I see news articles about modern troglodytes, a part of me is glad to know that the human species may actually stand a chance of surviving a global catastrophe because of them. Not that these folk living beneath Vegas would necessarily stand much of a chance - I have to think their city's days are about as numbered as any could be. I also wonder how much more fascinating or shocking articles like these are to non-American readers (I remem- ber how often I was asked by Europeans and Japanese about homeless people in San Francisco when I was a tour guide there years ago).In unrelated news, I'm hoping our small group will get together online for a session tonight. Hopefully we have overcome or can work around the technical problems that have been preventing us for the last few weeks or more.
Labels:
Real Life Weirdness
Monday, November 1, 2010
Against the Giants
Congrats to my old town, it's been a long time coming...Update: Obviously blogging is addicting...
Labels:
Everything Else
Friday, October 29, 2010
Candy
A number of years ago, Chef Tirel employed an enterprising halfling as live monster bait. Named Tim, this halfling would accompany adventurers that Tirel had hired to retrieve fresh meat for his own employer, the infamous monster eating Claude de Sarlat. Tim was desperate for high paid work, being in debt to some of Sneedsworth’s men in the Dordogne. Long story short, on one expedition the little halfling had his legs torn completely off by an ogre. Through the intervention of a cleric, Tim miraculously survived but would never walk again.
Nowadays, Tim can be found in the bastide of Domme, frequenting pubs where he performs his version of a stand up comedy act. Reciting bad limericks, re-telling stories of his brief stint as monster bait, and accompanying a little guitar, he’s now known as Tiny Tim. He’s become quite the local celebrity. Halflings are extremely rare in the region, and those that do pass through are continually subjected to local inside humor which takes the form of loud exclamations like “It’s a miracle! The little guy’s got his legs back!” Consequently, Tim isn’t hard to find and is often sought out for whatever information or advice he can offer to visiting greenhorn dungeoneers.
Tirel, for his part, was honorable enough to pay off Tim’s debt. Without his skilled little halfling though, Tirel was forced to devise other ways to occasionally draw monsters out of their hiding places. Towards this end, he came up with a number of recipes rumored to have ghastly ingredients that work far better than simple horsemeat or chickens. He’s even begun to determine which work better than others based on which monster one wishes to catch. Occasionally he’ll offer to sell his monster bait (which he confectionately refers to as his “bonbons”) to traveling adventurers in the course of offering them a reward for any monster flesh they can acquire for him.
His usual bait comes in the form of head-sized chunks of rotten spiced meats of indeterminable origin, stitched together and which Tirel and his assistants jokingly refer to as “Paydays”… Another kind they refer to as “corn” - palm-sized, it’s typically put down every ten feet or so to lead a creature to a predetermined ambush site.
Tirel sells his monster bait for up to 100gp depending on the quantity desired and the monster it will attract. Unless extreme precautions are taken the stench of it will cause townsfolk to shun the carrier, refusing service of any kind. It will double the frequency of wandering monster rolls and at least triple the likelihood of the desired creature making an appearance if in the area.
Nowadays, Tim can be found in the bastide of Domme, frequenting pubs where he performs his version of a stand up comedy act. Reciting bad limericks, re-telling stories of his brief stint as monster bait, and accompanying a little guitar, he’s now known as Tiny Tim. He’s become quite the local celebrity. Halflings are extremely rare in the region, and those that do pass through are continually subjected to local inside humor which takes the form of loud exclamations like “It’s a miracle! The little guy’s got his legs back!” Consequently, Tim isn’t hard to find and is often sought out for whatever information or advice he can offer to visiting greenhorn dungeoneers.
Tirel, for his part, was honorable enough to pay off Tim’s debt. Without his skilled little halfling though, Tirel was forced to devise other ways to occasionally draw monsters out of their hiding places. Towards this end, he came up with a number of recipes rumored to have ghastly ingredients that work far better than simple horsemeat or chickens. He’s even begun to determine which work better than others based on which monster one wishes to catch. Occasionally he’ll offer to sell his monster bait (which he confectionately refers to as his “bonbons”) to traveling adventurers in the course of offering them a reward for any monster flesh they can acquire for him.
His usual bait comes in the form of head-sized chunks of rotten spiced meats of indeterminable origin, stitched together and which Tirel and his assistants jokingly refer to as “Paydays”… Another kind they refer to as “corn” - palm-sized, it’s typically put down every ten feet or so to lead a creature to a predetermined ambush site.
Tirel sells his monster bait for up to 100gp depending on the quantity desired and the monster it will attract. Unless extreme precautions are taken the stench of it will cause townsfolk to shun the carrier, refusing service of any kind. It will double the frequency of wandering monster rolls and at least triple the likelihood of the desired creature making an appearance if in the area.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Ah the frustrations of gaming online...
Does anyone know of a cross platform, free or cheap video conferencing solution? I've looked into actually setting up my own server but as far as I've found, it all looks tedious and/or involves the use of Windows. I have a couple of servers I use that are running linux remotely, and I can run a Mac or linux server locally if I have to (and have before for other reasons). I'm not really into acquiring a few static IPs again just for this purpose and dynamic dns has been a bit of a pain in the ass in the past so I'd like to avoid that too.
I've been using voip and video for awhile now before running into problems with one user. It's clearly something with that one user's settings, but after spending a couple of hours troubleshooting it remotely, I'm now inclined to look at workarounds instead of necessarily trying to fix it. I thought about Skype, but there isn't a beta (for the video conferencing option) for Mac, and though iChat is great it obviously isn't available for Windows or linux. I've looked at a number of options but either they won't support more than two simultaneous users, won't work with all platforms, or else are pricey. The most promising alternative would seem to be a free solution I found once using an Adobe account and some 3rd party's server that I now forget, but their servers were always overloaded. Anyhow, any thoughts or suggestions on the subject are appreciated.
I've played once before via an online forum and may try it again someday, but I'm not very enthusiastic about the idea. Playing D&D in a forum, text chat, or email seems about as close to D&D to me as playing golf on a Wii does to actually stepping onto a green with a club. Not that I'm a golfer or anything... just saying. I should also say that I'm not totally averse to those kinds of games, just that my order of preference would be a live face to face game, followed by a video conference game, followed by an IRC or other live chat game, followed by a web forum play by post game. I wonder what Mr. Gygax would say about these various game mediums, or did he?
I've been using voip and video for awhile now before running into problems with one user. It's clearly something with that one user's settings, but after spending a couple of hours troubleshooting it remotely, I'm now inclined to look at workarounds instead of necessarily trying to fix it. I thought about Skype, but there isn't a beta (for the video conferencing option) for Mac, and though iChat is great it obviously isn't available for Windows or linux. I've looked at a number of options but either they won't support more than two simultaneous users, won't work with all platforms, or else are pricey. The most promising alternative would seem to be a free solution I found once using an Adobe account and some 3rd party's server that I now forget, but their servers were always overloaded. Anyhow, any thoughts or suggestions on the subject are appreciated.
I've played once before via an online forum and may try it again someday, but I'm not very enthusiastic about the idea. Playing D&D in a forum, text chat, or email seems about as close to D&D to me as playing golf on a Wii does to actually stepping onto a green with a club. Not that I'm a golfer or anything... just saying. I should also say that I'm not totally averse to those kinds of games, just that my order of preference would be a live face to face game, followed by a video conference game, followed by an IRC or other live chat game, followed by a web forum play by post game. I wonder what Mr. Gygax would say about these various game mediums, or did he?
Labels:
Everything Else,
Tools/Resources
Monday, October 25, 2010
Equipment List (Fillable PDF)
The settlements and castles in the Dordogne setting are very close to one another, straddling a river where those on each side view the other with suspicion. I've been toying with the idea of messing with the local economics in the event of war and other possible game events. So there might be sudden scarcities or oversupplies of certain items. Also, considering the value and portability of the local delicacy known as fairy dust (or flakes if you must), it seems logical that it would become a kind of local currency all its own, much to the chagrin of the druid and his followers. An enterprising party might take advantage of some of the chaos or weaknesses in the local system. Out of this line of thought was born a simple, fillable PDF (it's filled out in the thumbnail example above, click it to download the original). There's a large field at the top for the name of your campaign, store, or whatever. I added a couple of extra item fields at the bottom too, for any special items that might be available.Our sessions are currently on hold until one of the players gets his computer fixed. As I've said before, most of my gaming these days is done via video conferencing and every so often a glitch comes up. It's probably just as well though, since I might have had to excuse myself for the World Series. Come to think of it, I wonder if Nick's computer is actually fine. He does live in S.F...
Labels:
PDF,
Tools/Resources
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Phailure! (Sorry, Not RPG Related...)
With all due respect to my oldest friend, John in Philly ... bam! Neither one of us saw that one coming! Both of us originally being New Yorkers, I guess this makes it a little easier on us...
I've no illusions about the chances of the S.F. Giants vs. the Texas Rangers but I'm really happy to see this opportunity come up. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the San Francisco Giants tonight, advancing them to the World Series.
Labels:
Everything Else
Friday, October 22, 2010
Meet Bilbo Baggins
Looks like Martin Freeman, star of the (British) tv show The Office, will play the part of Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit movie by Peter Jackson due out in 2021. I don't know his acting well enough to really comment on it, but who didn't like and sympathize with his character on that show? Maybe this is old news... I don't know, I thought I heard a rumor about it a while back.The only other actor I recognize in the linked BBC article is Warden Ackerman. I mean Graham McTavish.
Labels:
Everything Else
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The other game I'm following: Thanks Cain
Oof - sad to say some of the reason for my lack of posts (in addition to a pick up in business, thankfully) is the fact that the Giants are in contention for the NLCS. Any baseball cant speakers out there? Cain and Ross more or less saved the Giants' ass tonight...Meanwhile I should be preparing for our regular S&W session since I ref tonight. Nick's gratefully agreed to DM his OSRIC game should I fail to get it together in time.
Labels:
Everything Else
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Fuzzy Widdle RPGs
My wife seems to have little interest in playing in the Swords and Wizardry setting I designed initially with her specifically in mind. I’ve been able to integrate it into my regular game so the time wasn’t wasted, but I still haven’t given up on getting her to play some kind of role-playing game. Ah, a table top RPG that is.
Being a sucker for any kind of boxed rpg, my eyes lit up when I saw
David Peterson’s post about the upcoming Mouse Guard boxed set. Hmm I thought, the wife likes cute little furry things. Maybe this would be the way to lure her into the hobby! Then of course my mind scurried in a number of different directions as I tried to think of all the possibilities.
I knew wikipedia might be of assistance, so I searched there and found an entry entitled “List of furry role-playing games”… There’s a few in that list I’m already familiar with, among them Bunnies and Burrows of course.
There’s no way I’m spending money on a gamble like this idea though. Does anyone have any experience with these or others besides B&B?
I headed over to The Free RPG blog’s delicious list to see if I could find something easily but there aren’t any obvious tags to help. Over at RPGNet someone posted a list of furry rpgs and there I rediscovered Tales from the Wood which I remember seeing on 1KM1KT.net (you can still download it there). I started looking it over when my wife came into the room and I asked if she’d be willing to play a role-playing game where should could be a hedgehog in a woods. She said “Sure!” but then seemed to back off a little and said, “I dunno, maybe. I’d try it I guess.” I swear, sometimes I think she’s just leading me on.
I’m not even sure I know how to go about playing such a game but what the hell, I’ll try to give it a shot one of these days. At least I’ve got some paper miniatures in case I need 'em.
Being a sucker for any kind of boxed rpg, my eyes lit up when I saw
David Peterson’s post about the upcoming Mouse Guard boxed set. Hmm I thought, the wife likes cute little furry things. Maybe this would be the way to lure her into the hobby! Then of course my mind scurried in a number of different directions as I tried to think of all the possibilities.I knew wikipedia might be of assistance, so I searched there and found an entry entitled “List of furry role-playing games”… There’s a few in that list I’m already familiar with, among them Bunnies and Burrows of course.
There’s no way I’m spending money on a gamble like this idea though. Does anyone have any experience with these or others besides B&B?
I headed over to The Free RPG blog’s delicious list to see if I could find something easily but there aren’t any obvious tags to help. Over at RPGNet someone posted a list of furry rpgs and there I rediscovered Tales from the Wood which I remember seeing on 1KM1KT.net (you can still download it there). I started looking it over when my wife came into the room and I asked if she’d be willing to play a role-playing game where should could be a hedgehog in a woods. She said “Sure!” but then seemed to back off a little and said, “I dunno, maybe. I’d try it I guess.” I swear, sometimes I think she’s just leading me on.
I’m not even sure I know how to go about playing such a game but what the hell, I’ll try to give it a shot one of these days. At least I’ve got some paper miniatures in case I need 'em.
Labels:
Other Games/Genres
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Visual Armor Guide for Newbs - S&W Handout (Fillable PDF)
I liked what Telecanter was doing with his idea of a handout for newbs that would help them visualize armor - what it looks like, and how much protection it gives. So not being able to sleep last night I worked up a simple PDF which I hope addresses a couple of the points he made, namely that the armored figures illustrated in the S&W rules aren't in order of AC (with one holding a shield to further complicate things). I reworked the image a bit and added costs so that players can compare prices too.In addition to the cost fields which are fillable on this PDF, there's a large fillable field below the handout title. I originally meant this to hold the name of your shop, ie. "Ailward's Olde Armour Shoppe" but I suppose it could have the name of your campaign or anything you like.
Formatted for a 4 x 6 index card of course, but it scales fairly well to 8.5 x 11. Clicking the thumbnail image above will take you to the PDF.
Labels:
Index Card,
PDF,
Tools/Resources
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wherein I Question the DM’s Authority - OSRIC Session Journal
I’ve been very busy with work lately but we did get some dungeon crawling done earlier this week. The height of the session was when Gladric the Thief scouted ahead and found an opening that led to a cavern with a chasm splitting it in two. Two figures were seen moving on the other side. At the bottom of the chasm was a large pool of yellow jello, which we assumed was the monster we’d been seeking, and the figures we took to be the evil magic user we sought and probably an assistant. Elaborate plans were made for a missile attack and ambush and then combat ensued.
The day after the session I felt a little badly about how I’d criticized the DM during the game for some mechanics handling, although now I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it's his very first time refereeing - and I’m very glad he’s taken up OSRIC. On the other hand, occasionally I feel like parts of his game could be improved with some constructive criticism. I’ve been DM’ing a S&W game and paying strict attention to certain aspects of it, so it’s possible I was a projecting a little or vocalized more than I should have.
I might have waited until after the session had ended, but because the issues involved combat I raised my concerns as they were happening. After all, if players feel that their characters are killed due to sloppy DM’ing, who’s to say that the same thing won’t happen again, causing them to lose interest? Initiative, order of attack, who has attacked and who hasn’t - among other things most players are paying close attention to these. So after a couple of lapses I grew a little concerned and couldn’t stop myself.
I don’t (and didn’t) want to make too much of it and we all have our off days. There’s a part of me that wants to see him get better and more comfortable with certain parts of the game, but I struggle with how hands off to be. I’m a fairly rusty DM and relatively inexperienced myself (in comparison to many other blogging DMs at least!)… We’ve played one on one in the past and it was less of an issue then. In those games we would stop to discuss certain ways of doing things to establish precedent, without worrying about boring or otherwise putting off another player.
Anyhow, it’s just a game and all that - these things will happen. On the positive side, I sent a note apologizing if I was out of line and he responded that it was all good and that the bottom line was that we’d had fun. I think I have a tendency to over-think these things and it might have hardly been noticed by anyone else.
The lingering question I have is, when should you, and should you ever, object to how your DM is doing something, particulary during the session itself? I know that the circumstances of each game will be unique, but maybe there are certain times when it’s the duty of the players to stand up to or question their DM. Yet not knowing his motives and considering his power makes doing so a risky endeavor. A crafty DM might make it look like he’s screwing up combat just to put the players off for some reason that will become clear to them later in the game (that magic item is cursed and has a minus to hit modifier - hmm, didn’t think of that did you smarty pants! Sit down zB! Etc.) It’s a strange game.
The day after the session I felt a little badly about how I’d criticized the DM during the game for some mechanics handling, although now I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it's his very first time refereeing - and I’m very glad he’s taken up OSRIC. On the other hand, occasionally I feel like parts of his game could be improved with some constructive criticism. I’ve been DM’ing a S&W game and paying strict attention to certain aspects of it, so it’s possible I was a projecting a little or vocalized more than I should have.
I might have waited until after the session had ended, but because the issues involved combat I raised my concerns as they were happening. After all, if players feel that their characters are killed due to sloppy DM’ing, who’s to say that the same thing won’t happen again, causing them to lose interest? Initiative, order of attack, who has attacked and who hasn’t - among other things most players are paying close attention to these. So after a couple of lapses I grew a little concerned and couldn’t stop myself.
I don’t (and didn’t) want to make too much of it and we all have our off days. There’s a part of me that wants to see him get better and more comfortable with certain parts of the game, but I struggle with how hands off to be. I’m a fairly rusty DM and relatively inexperienced myself (in comparison to many other blogging DMs at least!)… We’ve played one on one in the past and it was less of an issue then. In those games we would stop to discuss certain ways of doing things to establish precedent, without worrying about boring or otherwise putting off another player.
Anyhow, it’s just a game and all that - these things will happen. On the positive side, I sent a note apologizing if I was out of line and he responded that it was all good and that the bottom line was that we’d had fun. I think I have a tendency to over-think these things and it might have hardly been noticed by anyone else.
The lingering question I have is, when should you, and should you ever, object to how your DM is doing something, particulary during the session itself? I know that the circumstances of each game will be unique, but maybe there are certain times when it’s the duty of the players to stand up to or question their DM. Yet not knowing his motives and considering his power makes doing so a risky endeavor. A crafty DM might make it look like he’s screwing up combat just to put the players off for some reason that will become clear to them later in the game (that magic item is cursed and has a minus to hit modifier - hmm, didn’t think of that did you smarty pants! Sit down zB! Etc.) It’s a strange game.
Labels:
Session Journals
Monday, October 11, 2010
Intermission Music - Iconoclastic Minimalism 1989
I had to go to a pub to catch the Giants game the other night and someone put this little ditty on the jukebox. I know, not everyone's cup of tea, but it brought back a few memories...
Labels:
Music
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Pterodactyls and Planes
While some of us are recently back on Star Wars kicks, as for myself I'm trippin' on dinosaurs again. Below find Leia II, less than three months after Star Wars first came out, moonlighting in The People That Time Forgot (a sequel, actually), which debuted in France...
You can watch the whole thing on Hulu, but what I'm most interested in is at 8:13 and lasts about five minutes. Looks like the start of a great island adventure, no? With apologies for the ad at the beginning...
You can watch the whole thing on Hulu, but what I'm most interested in is at 8:13 and lasts about five minutes. Looks like the start of a great island adventure, no? With apologies for the ad at the beginning...
Labels:
Video
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