Search Posts
Yesterday, a new Kickstarter for a third printing of the Swords & Wizardry rules funded in about 15 hours. Last month, I wrote a post over at BlackGate.com on why I chose Swords & Wizardry and old school gaming over Pathfinder and a more modern approach for running my latest game. There will be a follow-up post, talking about the merits of Pathfinder over old school as well. Thought folks might find it interesting, as it did well at BlackGate.
There's a new post up over at BlackGate.com about the D&D Adventure Game series.
Over at Black Gate.com today we've got a look at the D&D Adventure Game Line.
Possibly the most significant RPG kickstarter project ever is going on now: Shannon Appelcline's Designers and Dragons Applecline published a book just a couple of years ago covering the history of role playing games. It's about impossible to buy. It is being updated in a MASSIVE four volume version covering the seventies, eighties, nineties and two thousands. As usual with kickstarter, there are different funding levels with different rewards. I signed up for $15, which gets me pdfs of all four volumes. Even though the KS has almost a month remaining, I've already received the pdfs for the seventies and eighties. Each is about 400 pages long! I've read the seventies and it was really something. Of course, the origins of D&D is extensively covered, but you can read about Traveller, Judges Guild and Dave Hargrave's Arduin and much more. He traces relevant issues through the decades, so the seventies book covers some matters into almost today. Lisa Stevens wrote the intro to the nineties and I'm sure Paizo features prominently. If you are at all interested in old school gaming or the development of RPGing, you will absolutely get your money's worth.
Every Monday morning I post over at Black Gate and sometimes I talk fantasy-related stuff (it's a Sherlock Holmes column). This week, I posted about Runebound, a fantasy RPG from Fantasy Flight Games. Howard Andrew Jones is a bigwig at BG and there are various and sundry posts about Pathfinder, D&D and old time gaming, in addition to fantasy movies and book stuff. Check it out.
While there's already a thread for what AP should be up for 2015, I'd like to see some additions to the ROTRL and Skull and Shackles sets. I'll have another post regarding non-Adventure decks. But I'd like to toss out the idea of Faction Cards. These would work similarly to the race/class/faction cards in the various editions of Munchkin. A Faction card, once acquired, would not go in your deck. It would be an "extra" card, akin to the Character card, outside of the deck. I used the under appreciated Pathfinder Faction Guide as I was developing this concept. The class limitations are from the Good Class Choices listed. Not all of them would work, but there are two dozen factions in that Guide, plus others throughout various publications, like the Knights of Ozem. Here are two sample Faction cards. My graphics skills are limited, obviously. They are clearer if you zoom out. WHAT DOES A FACTION DO?
WHO CAN BE IN A FACTION?
DOES A FACTION CARD GO IN MY DECK?
WHAT IF I GET A FACTION I CAN'T JOIN?
CAN I BE A PATHFINDER KNIGHT OF ANDORAN GREEN FAITHER?
HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE A FACTION CARD?
Blessing Deck - Either replace one of the 30 Blessings with a Faction Card: or add one Faction to the 30 Blessings. If a character turns the Faction Card over, they can attempt to acquire it. It does (if you replaced a card) or does not (if you added it to the 30) count as a turn. Up to you in the setup. Replace a Boon Card in your Location Decks - I pool the required number of cards for each type then spread them out according to the Scenario Card. Using that method, I could randomly add one (or more..) factions into the card pool, replacing an Ally, a Blessing, a Weapon, etc). Blessings Wild - Add all your Faction Cards into the Blessings in the box. Shuffle. You might get factions in your 30 card Blessings deck, you might get factions in your Location decks, or you may get none at all in a game. And...A fourth option is to allow a character a Faction Card as a reward. Either choose one, or randomly pick three from the box, then choose to keep one of those three. Return the other two to the box. COMMENTS PLEASE
Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor was a classic Judges Guild module and the Goodman update is even better. $1 (print) and $3 (PDF) is a super bargain.
I was a kickstarter backer of this game. I think turn-based fans will like this one. Graphically, it reminds me a lot of the old Lord of the Rings animated movie. If you're an old school gamer, look into this one. Due out January 14, 2014.
My game is at home (and I am not), so I may not have the quote correctly for that card feature, but I think it's pretty close. We are playing with Harsk, Sajan and Kyra. Harsk acquired a divine spell, which he banished immediately since he didn't have that trait. Assuming we did things correctly: From an RPG perspective, if the spell acquired is a scroll, shouldn't the character be able to put the card in his discard pile? Even though Harsk can't use that spell, Kyra can. And during the between-adventure deck building phase, Kyra could replace an existing spell with a new one. This would apply for all arcane and divine casters. Just curious if anybody else has considered this rule change. I mean, Ezrin can acquire the +1 deathbane crossbow (unlikely, but possible), put it in his discard pile and give it to Harsk during deck building. I know that a weapon, item and armor is a "real thing." And a spell isn't the same. Kinda like book vs. ebook. But as I said, if the spell is acquired in scroll form, it would be transferable. If this change were made, the wording would be changed to something like, "only characters with the arcane/divine skill can cast this spell."
I know there can be multiple explorations during a turn, and that in-game events can (infrequently) add cards to the Blessings Deck. But, generally speaking, a game is 30 turns, regardless of how many characters there are. This is significant because adding players adds cards to the Location Decks, making the time constraint greater. I'm wondering if, during development and playtesting, there was consideration of increasing the Blessing deck from 30 with increased characters. One player - 30 Location Deck cards/30 turns
I know that characters can benefit other players (I'm playing through Burnt Offerings with three characters). But signficantly increasing the number of cards to potentially go through without increasing the number of turns has a real impact on difficulty. Just curious if this aspect was explored. Thanks.
I had never played or read the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. Of course, I knew about it. Just didn't interest me as much as many other products, including the couple of APs I subscribed to. But since I enjoy the Card Game so much, I went ahead and bought the Anniversary Edition PDF. Now I "get" the shopkeeper's daughter ally card and picture the Glassworks when I play that location. At over 400 pages and currently 30% off, I think it's a decently priced purchase, though I certainly understand those who deem it too costly. But reading through the first three chapters, it has made the Card Game a bit more enjoyable. And since I don't plan on ever playing the AP, no fear of ruining stuff. The quality of the Card Game led me to buy an AP I never would have gotten otherwise.
I'm a Runebound fan and the expansion decks (four categories, six decks in each) really gave some added legs to the base game. I'd imagine that most folks really want more Adventures, Locations and Scenarios (beyond the ROTRL AP). Which would be cool. But I really hope some Bane and Boon decks are made for the Base game. More cards, like a deck from Ultimate Equipment or Artifacts & Legends, or Bestiary decks, would give more variety to the Base game's existing Locations. Replays would be freshened up with a wider variety of cards and extend the game's shelf life. Not implying it wouldn't take resources, and I'll be buying a sequel when/if it comes out, but the foundation is there to build on. Heck, cross promote Bestiary 4 with a deck! This is a great game.
Couldn't get the tables formatted here. You can see this post in formatted pdf form at: Night of the Necromancer I recommend clicking the link and reading it there. I'll update the pdf as appropriate. The Night of the Necromancer scenario is intended for characters that have completed Perils of the Lost Coast or Burnt Offerings. A necromancer has set up a foul laboratory somewhere in Sandpoint. In and around the town, above ground and below, undead are plaguing the innocent and the church of Sarenrae has even discovered traces of a small cult. The heroes must stop this necromancer before his minions destroy the town. Setup: Remove all Human Cultists and set aside. They are only used as Henchmen. Do not individually build the Monster and Item parts of Location Decks in this Scenario. Remove the specified items and pull random cards to reach the required number of cards for the number of players. Then shuffle and distribute the appropriate number to each Location. I’ve included tables to help. Monsters
Players Remove
Pool the monster cards required as shown in the table below. So, for a two player game, randomly select eight monsters, add the Skeleton, Ghost and Spectre cards removed before hand, shuffle and distribute the eleven monsters per the Location Cards. Players Total Removed Random
Items
Players Total Removed Random
Players: Location
Villain: Pillbug Podiker (the necromancer) Henchmen: Human Cultist, Ancient Skeleton Each time a henchman is needed, alternate between adding a Cultist and an Ancient Skeleton. So, for two players, add a Cultist; three players, an ancient Skeleton; four players, a Cultist, etc. During This Scenario: Any player with the Codex in their hand adds one to their check to defeat a monster or henchman with the Undead trait. For any monster with the undead trait, replace a Magic requirement with Divine. Reward: Each character chooses to select a blessing, item or weapon. Look through the appropriate deck from the box and take the first item found with the Divine trait as a gift from the Church of Sarenrae. Misc: The Catacombs of Wrath significantly increases the difficulty from two to three players. It can be switched with The Desecrated Vault or The Old Light to make things a bit easier. Likewise, switching the Woods with the Farmhouse reduces the difficulty level. Replace Poison with Negative Energy throughout (thematic only: does not affect game play). Wanted to do something undead-centric. Suggestions and feedback appreciated!
This is the first of a new series of interviews with Rob Kuntz. Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax are no longer with us. I don't know what some people who were there have to say about Rob's comments. But if you are interested in the origins/early days of D&D, this looks to be quite a fascinating series.
I was not aware that WotC issued a version of this venerable board game late last year. If you came into the world of RPGs (pen and paper/Pc/videogame/MMO/whatever) in the nineties or later, you probably don't realize what the RPG world was like in the seventies and even early eighties. Things like WoW and Elder Scrolls, or Play by Post, weren't even imagined. Dungeon! came out in 1975 from TSR and was one of the first readily avaiilable fantasy game options for fans of the still new Dungeons and Dragons game. in 1980, THIS is what PC gaming looked like (I mapped out every room of this game on graph paper). And this 1980 version for the Atari 400/800 is better than the original 1979 TRS-80 version. The Dark Tower was the ultimate D&D-type game, and it didn't come out until 1981. And it was an expensive toy back then. Dungeon! was a game that we spent hours playing and loving.
You might have seen today's Google Doodle (Jan 31). Today is the 94th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's birthday. If you're not familiar with him, Robinson was one of the greatest men of the 20th century. He (and Branch Rickey) profoundly changed America. You can read a very short piece I wrote about him here. But you will be rewarded if you look into his life a little deeper.
The tabs currently on a thread for a PbP campaign (Discussion, Gameplay, Characters, etc) are useful. It would be nice if another tab could be added for the GM and/or players to keep a campaign log or journal. Thanks!
Season Four of Fx's Justified started up yesterday (Jan 8, 2013). I will posit that the first three seasons were as good as any comparable period of ANY tv show ever. Me? Hyperbole? Nah! I have never seen a show that can, over the course of a 60 minute episode, so consistently ratchet up the tension so well. I like different kinds of shows: Psych, Burn Notice, Downton Abbey, Adventures of Brisco County Jr, X-Files, Sherlock Holmes, et al. So I'm not "sold" on a Justified-type show. I recommend starting with season one. But you really should give this series a look. For consistent quality episodes, it has been Grade A+ Raylan Givens rocks. And the character is from books by Elmore Leonard, who is a fantastic writer, so it's got a strong basis.
The .pdf is now available over at drivethru rpg. Will it also be for sale here at paizo?
Howdy. Does anyone know of a conversion of this AD&D module? Thanks!
I'm looking to string together a mini-AP for dwarven characters in the Five Kings Mountains area, serving the Ninth Battalion faction. Modules and adventures that might fit so far are: Hollow's Last Hope
Are there any other third edition or more recent adventures out there that could be strung into a dwarven AP? I've come across a lot of elven/forest stuff over the years, but not so much for dwarves. Thanks!
Will Dungeons and Dragons be the next Hobbit? While Pathfinder continues to grow, folks should remember that to the non-RPG playing community, Dungeons and Dragons is the genre, not just one version of an RPG. To most folks, Pathfinder is a brand of vehicle. Dungeons and Dragons is the whole game. 
ADVENTURERS WANTED: See Karlae Siegfrost Each of you had met individually with Karlae Siegfrost, Pathfinder agent and hero of Olfden, in a small room at the city offices. She controlled the conversation, asking questions that seemed to cover a wide spectrum. Your answers must have been good ones, as you were selected and she instructed you to meet her and the other members of your party the following afternoon at the Silver Bulette, a local tavern and inn. Though she did not directly answer most of your questions, you did learn: The Mayor is concerned with increased bandit activity in the area of Ironfang Keep, an abandoned castle in the south of the Arthfell Forest. You are to investigate and find out what, if anything, is really going on. The inhabitants of the Keep were slaughtered by goblins and orcs and it has been largely deserted for decades. The village of Swallowfeld would make a good base of operations. The werewolf druids of the Fang Watch have been more active than normal in their efforts to hinder logging in the Arthfell. The Pathfinder Society has commissioned this expedition and anything of interest discovered at the Keep is to be relayed back to Karlae. She was elusive on what that actually meant. "You're experienced, you'll know what you see." She also implies that if you do your job well, there are other assignments to follow. She also intimates that successful adventurers could be Society material. She subtly inquired into your experiences, if any, with the nation of Cheliax, which didn’t seem relevant to the Keep assignment. It is now two minutes before your meeting time with her. You are either at a table in the rear of the Bulette, sitting across from her, or making your entrance. I’ll post “live” when everyone is at the table. Make your opening comment… GAME ON!
ADVENTURERS WANTED: See Karlae Siegfrost Each of you had met individually with Karlae Siegfrost, Pathfinder agent and hero of Olfden, in a small room at the city offices. She controlled the conversation, asking questions that seemed to cover a wide spectrum. Your answers must have been good ones, as you were selected and she instructed you to meet her and the other members of your party the following afternoon at the Silver Bulette, a local tavern and inn. Though she did not directly answer most of your questions, you did learn: The Mayor is concerned with increased bandit activity in the area of Ironfang Keep, an abandoned castle in the south of the Arthfell Forest. You are to investigate and find out what, if anything, is really going on. The inhabitants of the Keep were slaughtered by goblins and orcs and it has been largely deserted for decades. The village of Swallowfeld would make a good base of operations. The werewolf druids of the Fang Watch have been more active than normal in their efforts to hinder logging in the Arthfell. The Pathfinder Society has commissioned this expedition and anything of interest discovered at the Keep is to be relayed back to Karlae. She was elusive on what that actually meant. "You're experienced, you'll know what you see." She also implies that if you do your job well, there are other assignments to follow. She also intimates that successful adventurers could be Society material. She subtly inquired into your experiences, if any, with the nation of Cheliax, which didn’t seem relevant to the Keep assignment. It is now two minutes before your meeting time with her. You are either at a table in the rear of the Bulette, sitting across from her, or making your entrance. I’ll post “live” when everyone is at the table. Make your opening comment… GAME ON!
I played a couple years in a Neverwinter Nights persistent world and enjoyed it quite a bit. My MMO experience was a couple months trying out D&D Online and a week or two of LOTR online. I prefer PC games like Diablo, Elder Scrolls 3 and Mount and Blade. Being a Robert E. Howard fan and having gotten a decent gaming machine, I decided to try Age of Conan since it was free. Bear in mind I was basically looking to solo and not do guild raids, etc. I have since subscribed and added the Rise of the Godslayer expansion. Graphically, AoC is a beautiful game. Setting wise, it does a pretty good job of capturing Howard's Hyboria. I can't really compare the combat method to other MMOs, but I think it's pretty good and different from PC stand alones. There aren't a lot of people playing it (I started on the PvP server, found that to suck and restarted on the PvE server). Beyond Tortage (the level 1-20, free area) you will usually see a few folks around, but in general, you can roam on your own. I have teamed up a few times, so you're not stuck solo when you need help all the time. I haven't joined a guild (level 32), so I can't comment on that part of the game. But as somebody who took a long time to join an MMO, I think this is a superior one. There seems to be ZERO role playing (something NWN Persistent Worlds have a lot of), but I just accept that as part of playing AoC. I'm sticking with it and don't have any interest in abandoning this for Pathfinder Online, though I am a Pathfinder PbPer. If you're tired of Wow and the other "big" MMOs, and you aren't focused on PvP, I'd give this a try. Visually, it's way better than D&D and LOTRO.
If you are interested in a horror RPG set in the early 1900s with an organic, world-wide campaign, check out Fellowship of the White Star. The driving force is a guy I used to work with in a government job. He quit to chase the dream: he created his own 3.5 game and company and it's doing pretty well. If you like that Call of Cthulhu-type experience, you might like this one.
Howdy. Working on a short campaign guide with some shared info your characters will know on the setting and adventure. Comments on characters coming. I'm likely going to open with the party meeting in the common room of an inn after having been selected by Karlae earlier that day. Plan is to start the Game Play thread with the briefing Karlae gave each of you (basically the same). Sitting around the table, you can RP with me any questions/comments you had with Karlae. Plus, any sharing you want to do with the group. Or, do you just want to be on the road, headed towards the action? If that, I'll post the briefing and you can pose any questions for Karlae in the discussion thread. Three votes out of five picks the winning choice. Just wanted to give you a chance to slant towards RP or more action-ish as we open the adventure. You'll have the opportunity for both as we go on, of course.
Try to keep the metagaming to a minimum, but treat this thread as if you were all sitting around the table together.
Recruitment is closed. This is an overflow game from the Teeth of the Storm recruitment thread.
On a dark and stormy night, the party is travelling on the High Road. Settlements are few and the area is largely composed of imposing mountains and dense forests. The High Road is the only major route through the region, but the lands it passes through are beset by monsters and bandits. It is most commonly traveled by well-guarded merchants and they don’t tarry long. The party comes upon a wrecked wagon, bodies strewn about, the sky unleashing flashes of lightning and peals of thunder… I’m recruiting for Run Amok Games’ Teeth of the Storm, a first level, outdoor adventure that takes place in less than one day. This is my first take on GMing and I’ll be focused more on keeping things moving than detailed rules-following. Module seems to be more combat-focused than role playing. If it goes well, we can follow up with Raging Swan Press’ Retribution (which involves more RPGing). CHARACTER CREATION:
+Core Rulebook only (see exception next) – I’m trying to keep this simple +1 Trait (I think they’re dumb, but every game I see includes them, so…) +20 point buy +1st Level +Max HP +Any Non-Evil alignment +Average Starting Gold by class (PRD) + 20% +Background – Since we’re non-Golarion, build around your character for depth THE FEELY STUFF:
+Minimal mapping (likely in Excel) +I’ll make some rolls (i.e. saves, attacks of opportunity) to move things along +No PvPing or trying to wreck the party. Conflict can happen, but work it out realistically in-game. +Players should be able to post daily during week. I will likely make multiple posts a day as appropriate. Weekends are optional. +I’m a dad. I’m cool if RL gets in the way of posting. Let me know and I’ll work around it. +Clean game (i.e., no cursing). I’m Christian, but I love the Underworld movies: Meaning, I’m not a Puritan, but nothing excessive, please. +Any question at any point is fine. I had helpful GMs when I was learning PF rules and character creation. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: I don’t expect to get going until Christmas-ish. Submissions taken through December 11. Will take 4 or 5 characters. Beginners favored – we can learn together.
The first two installments of the Northlands Saga are available here on Paizo. You can order #3 and #4 over at Frog God's website. I've written up some thoughts on the series as a whole over at the Necromancer Games forum. In short, the series is a pretty nice adventure in the frozen north, with more to come.
Lindsey Stirling is the coolest Mormon violinist you'll run across... Her music is great, she can dance while playing and she makes very cool videos. And she's a gaming geek. Her latest video is for Assassin's Creed 3 I can recall other videos for Zelda, Skyrim, LOTR and Game of Thrones. Spontaneous Me is just a fantastic song and video.
The first two installments in the Northlands Saga from Frog God Games are available here at paizo.com. The third one is out but (at the moment) only for sale at the Frog God website. I've purchased and read all three and have some thoughts on them, individually and as a series. Thought I'd share them. This is an expanded post from something I put up over at the Necromancer website. NS1 (Voyage of the Long Serpent) and NS2 (Beyond the Wailing Mountains) make up a two-part adventure. NS1 does give you adequate closure without playing NS2. And you could play NS2 without NS1, though you would be losing quite a bit in story richness and background. It would work, but you'd be shorting yourself. The bad guy boss is suitable for the storyline and his shadow, if not always his presence, hangs heavy over the two installments. The first two adventures feel more like eskimo/inuit indian adventures than viking/nordic ones. The viking aspect is minimal on these; even incidental. It was mentioned by the Frog God folks that future modules are more nordic, which is fine. But you won't get much of it in the first two. Not saying good or bad, just letting you know. However, NS3 (The Death Curse of Sven Oakenfist) is 100% viking/nordic. There is also a map of the Northlands which I found pretty cool. I was thinking of The Seventh Warrior and Beowulf (The Christopher Lambert version) as I read through it. So with NS3 you really move into a viking feeling. The first two could be an adventure to a northern area, and then the third to a still northern but different place. Levels are:
NS3 is independent of the first two: the story is unrelated. The module suggests that you could play it as a sequel to NS2 or as an in-between piece if the party doesn't move directly from NS1 to NS2. I think it would work either way. Or it would be just fine simply playing it without using NS1 or NS2. There are a few spelling errors throughout the modules but nothing terrible and the layout is easy to read and (I would think) GM. All three include a chunk of travel. If you don't like outdoor/overland/sea travel in your adventure, you should probably skip these modules over. They are a major part of what you're getting for your money and you would have a lot less material to use without the travel. Having said that, the travel encounters are laid out well and should be relatively easy to run. NS3 especially has a nice variety of different types of travel encounters, from dire sharks to winter wolves to shambling mounds. There are some different ecologies for you! I like that Frog God Games (and it's predecessor, Necromancer Games), uses random encounters and give them more thought than as just a page filler. But if you don't like travelling encounters, this will bug you. The bitter cold and harsh weather of the frozen tundra really comes through in NS2's travel portion and created an oppressing atmosphere. SPOILERS - You've been warned. If you don't like canninbalism in your gaming (I don't), NS2 has got it. The mechanics for the final battle in NS3 are interesting. The CR of the boss depends upon what the characters did in the module before they got to the end. That is pretty neat. It also gives the GM a reason to (not necessarily overtly) encourage the party to explore the different parts of the module. It will matter a LOT. As in, a CR range of 11! I think this really makes NS3 stand out. It is clever, fair and impactful. I found the final boss in NS2 to be quite a bit more imposing than in NS1. NS1 and NS2 felt like Conanish adventures to me. Granted, I'm a big Conan fan. NS3 didn't feel that way at all. It's all viking, all the time. I have only taken a quick look at Land of the Linnorm Kings from Paizo, but I'd think you could pretty easily drop the Northlands Saga into that part of Golarion; especially #3. Open Design's Northlands is on my want list: I can't comment on how these would fit in, but I'd guess easily. SO..(SPOILERS OVER, Open your eyes) The Northlands Saga starts out at mid level (I prefer lower level beginnings). I do believe that some of the future installments will be for lower level characters and I imagine it will be easy to string them together into a campaign. That said, I have bought all three and think that they're worth the price of $4.99 per pdf. If you want to run your players through some cold weather adventures, NS1 and NS2 give you that eskimo feel and NS3 hits you with the viking stuff. If you've wanted to use some stuff from 3.5's Frostburn (a couple guys named James Jacobs and Wolfgang Bauer co-wrote it...), the Northlands Saga is the perfect opportunity. If you're comparing these to paizo modules, they feel a little light. There's not as much to do. But they're also priced considerably lower. You're probably going to get through an NS module a fair bit more quickly than a pathfinder one (definitely if you drop the travel). I'll be buying NS4 and hoping for the quality to continue. Kenneth Spencer is doing a nice job with these and lower level adventures will increase their usefulness. Frog God puts a lot of thought into their products and the Northlands Saga are no exception.
Type Jeff Easley's name in the Google Images search page and you will find all kinds of classic D&D illustrations. He's as much a part of the image as Larry Elmore was. The efreeti cover of the old Dungeon Master's Guide is one example. Scott Frost is one of the main guys at the Black Gate website and he recently got way more than 100% funding for a kickstarter project. He's going to write an old school sword and sorcery novella (I'm guessing 'Lankhmar' in style). And it's receiving a bunch of original illustrations from Easley. You can visit the project page (funding is already closed, so this isn't a spam for money) and in the Updates section, see several new drawings by Easley. I play Pathfinder and I don't sit around bemoaning that RPGing moved beyond AD&D. But I still very much enjoy the old school graphics and I really like the new stuff that will be included in this book.
I've been in government and/or nonprofit jobs for over 20 years now, from being an intern to an Executive Director. To those who have only been in the private sector, this side of things is just as Dilbert-esque as any other area. Our receptionist (who WAS a friend) is a germophobe. Yesterday, as a joke, I climbed over her desk. Didn't mess anything up, hit anyone, etc. Just a joke. A half hour later, I got an email from HR. The person who sent it is a friend and I thought it was joke. Nope, dead serious: Your actions this morning in the lobby are troubling and could bring about discipline for horseplay, misuse of county property, and discourteous treatment of a co-worker. It could have resulted in injury to yourself, others, or county property. I will assume it was a temporary lapse of judgment, but please refrain from similar behavior in the future. The list of ridiculous things here at work is long, but this tops the list. And I won't even go into real misuse of property... So, what work stories do you have that made you feel like you were living out a Dilbert cartoon?
My D&D roots don't go back to the very begining, but I didn't miss it by much. I remember going to our FLGS with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module, and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement. And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I've been reading with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR. Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master. I'm examining those steps on my blog Walking Through the Valley. The first entry is below, and the second one is up on the site. I hope to do one every week: Gary Gygax's 17 Steps to Role Playing Mastery – Intro If you're reading this post, you probably know that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson co-created Dungeons and Dragons circa 1973-1974. Unfortunately it was not a long-lasting partnership and lawsuits would ensue. While both were instrumental in creating D&D, it is Gygax who is remembered as the Father of Role Playing. In 1987, Gary Gygax put out a book entitled Role-Playing Mastery, which gave instructions on how to excel as a player in role-playing games. At that time, there were essentially two versions of Dungeons and Dragons. The Original, or ‘Basic’ game, had evolved under Tom Moldvay’s rules development. Gygax, meanwhile, was focused on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, or ’AD&D’. They were marketed as separate rules systems and 2nd Edition AD&D would not be released until 1989. Gygax had been pushed completely out of TSR (the company he cofounded to print the first set of D&D rules) by December 31, 1986, so he was no longer associated with D&D when this book came out. In an interview not long before he died, Gygax was asked how he’d like to be remembered and replied: “I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.” This book, which he wrote about twenty years before his death, reflects that philosophy. On a side note, he wrote a companion book that came out in 1989, Master of the Game, which focused on the Dungeon Master/Game Master side of role-playing. They are both interesting reads; partly because he takes the subject so seriously. And bear in mind that PC gaming consisted of titles like Ultima IV, Wizardry and Bard’s Tale. Pool of Radiance, the first of the gold box series, was a year away. MMORPGs weren’t even conceived of yet (yes, I know MUDs existed). But computer gaming was a very different world. People RPGd by sitting around a table together. And Gary Gygax suggested how they could be very good at it. So, next post will begin a look a Gary Gygax's 17 Steps to Role Playing Mastery.
March 14 is National Pi Day. Maybe you folks could put something cool related to him on the website for that day. Like a Google Doodle thing or some such.
I'm trying to work some Arazni stuff into an upcoming PbP. I don't quite get why Aroden threw her to the wolves and forsook her. 1 - He let her be summoned to battle Tar Baphon. That went poorly, according to Gods and Magic, as Tar Baphon: "toyed with her for days before snuffing out her life and hurling her broken body into the
Having previously defeated Tar Baphon himself, shouldn't Aroden have had some inkling she was overmatched? 2 - Then he lets Geb take the body of his FORMER HERALD and turn her into the 'Harlot Queen of Geb.' Now she's an evil lich and basically the concubine of a super-evil ghost. These two events took place 700-800 years before Aroden's death. Shouldn't he have handled it a bit differently; either in #1 or #2 above? Especially #2? Unless he had wanted to get rid of his herald (in which case his actions make somes sense), she seems to have been shafted by her patron. With horrifying consequences.
This combat feat from Dwarves of Golarion states that, as a standard action, a character may throw a hammer at an opponent withint 20 feet and it it's a hit the hammer rebounds back and lands in the thrower's square. There is no specification that it must be a light hammer, which is a ranged weapon. Does this feat then apply to a warhammer? If so, would the normal penalties for throwing a non-ranged melee weapon apply? This seems to be a dual feet: you can make a melee weapon a ranged weapon AND it returns the weapon to your square. Just curious as I'd like to use the feat in a story. Thanks.
|
