tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85045091157258310982024-03-02T02:36:36.280-06:00Inspired MythosScott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-52403876516075047102015-03-26T17:16:00.000-05:002015-03-26T17:16:27.147-05:00Castle Keepers Guide - The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: Overview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A new printing of the Castle Keepers Guide for Castles & Crusades is soon to be released by Troll Lord Games.Once upon a time this book seemed like vapourware and it sometimes seems like a miracle that it ever came out at all. It's story is a long and challenging one and its not within the scope of this already lengthy examination to recount it. I don't think I'd ever been so excited about an RPG book release since I discovered the original AD&D hardcovers and when Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures came out during my youth. It is for this reason that the language I use may become passionate and that my praise and criticism of this work might seem somewhat exaggerated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This book is credited to Davis Chenault, Stephen Chenault with Casey Christofferson and James M. Ward with further contributions by Mark Sandy, Mike Stewart and Robert Doyel.&Cover art, logos, logo designs (pretty sure logos covers that) and layout by Peter "20 Dollar" Bradley. Interior art by Peter Bradley, Larry Elmore and Sarah "Dreamie" Walker. Edited by Tim Burns, Christina Stiles, Mark Sandy and Derrick Landwehr. Some of the above names did something heroic here while the contributions of others can best be described as akin to criminal in its incompetence.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI94FPwu-Tz5PLmyFZDGunM59IEI9_gBedRlo_ew2gMaOFdUYuBqdxYVSY_6WAw4NA66Lx82bKJAXStDAMWmkXGzY_Fcja5zpd8PvwAqOsWj2ez0gfEO-JvXBDpdNMtt4-B7sZtLqcibg/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI94FPwu-Tz5PLmyFZDGunM59IEI9_gBedRlo_ew2gMaOFdUYuBqdxYVSY_6WAw4NA66Lx82bKJAXStDAMWmkXGzY_Fcja5zpd8PvwAqOsWj2ez0gfEO-JvXBDpdNMtt4-B7sZtLqcibg/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My copy of the CKG. Showing wear after only a few years.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Although this book has a great many things to enjoy about it, the initial print run is far from perfect. I was super glad to have this book in hand but it's shortcomings left me more than a little disappointed. The new printing promises to fix some of these issues but this post and future related ones seek to look at the quality of the first run of this very interesting tome.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqwf5dfSiwAwT_cUFYBIa3TtJPZuTyJbqR_biwBbJyZihPjrAYoePrwDYTGS3P039PZIjY2Ph3CMZsybmANios5zmCfU92d4ZT8AVVkSB2sx0-QYz0yARh7Q5HkCyZvkz05Uy0dqvano/s1600/IMG_0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqwf5dfSiwAwT_cUFYBIa3TtJPZuTyJbqR_biwBbJyZihPjrAYoePrwDYTGS3P039PZIjY2Ph3CMZsybmANios5zmCfU92d4ZT8AVVkSB2sx0-QYz0yARh7Q5HkCyZvkz05Uy0dqvano/s1600/IMG_0006.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What it says on the tin.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First we will look at the book itself - its appearance, general content and construction, then we'll move on to the written content and interior art in subsequent posts. Below is an overview of the book and some of its major characteristics.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Good</span></b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Great new ideas and options</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• All the basics for a universal system</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• New Larry Elmore art</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This book is full of new ideas regarding characters, magic, equipment, setting, and game mechanics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you thought there was something missing from the Players Handbook then you're likely to find it and much more here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is enough material to put together a game in any genre you could imagine. I'd like to see TLG print this and the PHB as one genre neutral volume and present it as something that could be called the "Siege Masters Manual". Its not presented as a universal system but you could build one from it if you wanted to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Larry Elmore contributes a number of new illustrations to this book, many of them full page. Although I won't call them bad or ugly they would benefit from a little lightening in the printing to reveal detail and would be much better presented in colour where the originals were created in colour.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Bad</span></b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Recurring reference to game balance (a change of direction from other TLG publications)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Some overly complicated rules</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Font size, print clarity and misprinted headers</span></i><br />
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You really don't need balance in a game where there are no winners and losers. Balance really wasn't an issue in other C&C publications and its funny that it gets so much mention here because the Castle Keeper's adjudication is what makes the need for balance unnecessary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For me some of the new rules are over complicated like the chapter on NPCs for example. Its not ugly as these are just options and if you like that level of complexity its there for you - I just don't really care if they are adherents, henchmen or hirelings. To it's credit this book often brings up what they refer to as the Tyranny of Rules, essentially warning not to overcomplicate the game and to make choices that improve the game rather than hinder it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The proofing of this book appears to have been sloppy considering there were four editors. Perhaps they didn't work as a team or some errors were related to layout. In some cases the headers don't match the chapter and run over from the previous one (Expanding Characters runs over into Magic) or they don't match the chapter name at all (Chapter 13 Expanding the Genre has the header Chapter 13 - The Future). In terms of the font size a capital letter is 2mm so I'm likely being generous by saying that its set at approximately 9 points. I think that's a little small for this amount of reading. As you can see below the legibility issue is compounded by the poor letter quality of the printing process that I'm almost certain was laser printed.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice the jagged and broken lettering in the CKG - hard to read. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. Lettering is about the same size as the CKG - a little too small.</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Ugly</span></b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Most of Peter Bradley's Artwork</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Binding</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">• Quality</span></i><br />
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Peter Bradley is a competent illustrator when he puts some effort into it, doesn't try to get too "creative", actually completes his drawings, and stays away from the sexier side of things which for him almost always comes off as forced and more than a little creepy. For the interior art work I'll talk about specific pieces in the sections they appear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For this post I'd like to address the artwork on the cover. WTF? Mr. Bradley your effed up use of forced perspective needs a lot of work and you should be ashamed of yourself if you accepted payment for this piece. Guy in the foreground with his huge left hand that can't anatomically be that far forward, considering his pose, to justify being so huge compared to the right hand - just weird. Doorway to the left of him that somehow appears to need to fit on the width of a single step and isn't parallel to the column in front of it to make any sense perspective wise. It bleeds of onto the back cover were it shows the door's threshold being crossed by the steps and blocked by the column - amateurish. Looking closelyat some real life architecture would probably help here. The other side of the image has a dwarf with his disappearing foot that sinks into the step - weak. Strange cloud blob to the far right - is that stone or a spell effect or what? It only makes sense as a way to disguise the poor drawing here and obscure any step lines right below the window that would make the angle it is on appear even more ridiculous - the opening should be in perspective to the door. Another big hand on the spell caster attacking the dwarf. Its almost as wide as she is but it at least looks like a hand so it's better than some of his previous efforts - terrible. I won't get into the redesign of the logo that I've already ranted about on the C&C forums but basically it's a piece of shit and if you can't agree with me on that you need new eyes. I can't believe they let this guy have his own paragraph in the acknowledgments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The binding is sub par. Its got a loose and floppy feel. The front cover just kind of hangs there and almost folds back on itself. I recall the guys at TLG having indicated that this helps the book lie flat but any properly casebound (or hardcover - not hardback ok Trolls, please stop calling it that, please) should lie flat. The gluing is sloppy and the trimming is uneven. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Limp CKG.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjveG1boGW_J_dF_rhJVtohrnLtzOzOUK1EGKq9IRuppC7cMeOzgkzB6OitydOJ93wCfsCuC0GmL1DtKgo5nv8PmhpM2-Jvd_QFeduIXw0JlJa28pdLhi9HBeStYfF1vQ_huK2md5SNh1A/s1600/IMG_0016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjveG1boGW_J_dF_rhJVtohrnLtzOzOUK1EGKq9IRuppC7cMeOzgkzB6OitydOJ93wCfsCuC0GmL1DtKgo5nv8PmhpM2-Jvd_QFeduIXw0JlJa28pdLhi9HBeStYfF1vQ_huK2md5SNh1A/s1600/IMG_0016.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The DMG shows its quality over 30 years later.</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: medium;">There is no headband in the binding - just a lot of lumpy glue. The DMG also lacked headbands but everything I own published by TLG does have them except Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde, Of Gods & Monsters (both of which were produced with the same crappy in house publishing methods as the CKG) and my two copies of the second printing of Monsters & Treasure, one of which is a leatherette version. It's a level of quality and detail that perhaps I'm being overly fussy about but as far as I'm concerned this is the crowning achievement of Castles & Crusades, so why does it have to be made so poorly?</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: medium;">As for quality the CKG does however appear to be bound with signatures (two or more sheets of paper stacked and folded as a group) so single pages or small groups of pages are not likely to fall out (unlike my Dangerous Journeys Mythus book). It hasn't fallen apart yet and that's at least better than many people's copies of the 5e Player's Handbook that didn't incorporate signatures in it's binding (and that book is a whopping $49.95 or $58.00 in Canada - for shame).</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1e DMG lacks a headband but binding is at least neat and professional.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CKG sloppy craftsmanship. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sgFdMBMytXJs9eWmqwqS1M9zf-cipU1IVnaWvpaCCq6DKTt0qHWKaiDBl7VgX7nPkK6KWJXOSvgHq56z-VLfK17l9XPKF9t2WVG50xD0crjbfHdEwCJSJT9Y_4GE10l5NsZe4XFU0zo/s1600/blogger-image--1153274770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sgFdMBMytXJs9eWmqwqS1M9zf-cipU1IVnaWvpaCCq6DKTt0qHWKaiDBl7VgX7nPkK6KWJXOSvgHq56z-VLfK17l9XPKF9t2WVG50xD0crjbfHdEwCJSJT9Y_4GE10l5NsZe4XFU0zo/s1600/blogger-image--1153274770.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">C&C Players Handbook with the same trade dress as CKG pictured above. CKG should look this nice.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The over-all quality of my copy is poor for a finished product. Its pretty for a unique proof copy or a hero prop for a movie but as a production item meant to be used for reference over a number of years it's lacking. My copy of the book appears to have been produced with a laser printer for its interior and the exterior seems to be printed to adhesive vinyl that's been wrapped around cardboard to form the outer cover. Its plastic-like and the image has rubbed off revealing the white vinyl below. I guess that's ok for some people but its beyond the pale in my opinion for a book with a $39.99 price tag (the DMG was $15.00 in 1982 - that's about $34.50 in 2010 dollars (the year the CKG was first published) making the CKG about $5.50 more than the much better produced DMG - and if you want a PDF that costs about $20 extra - expensive for a PDF and should really be free for those who purchased the print version. The interior copy is also unusually small and fuzzy. Its my understanding that this book has much more content than was originally intended and that the guys at Troll Lord wanted to keep a strict page count in order to keep the retail price down and that's why I'm guessing the type is so small. I would have paid more for something more legible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That's the good, the bad and the ugly for an overview of the Castle Keepers Guide. Although it sounds like I'm tearing this book a new one, most of my issues with it are cosmetic. The wealth of ideas it presents takes an already great game system and knocks it out of the ballpark into amazing (or is that Shift Z*). I really love this book and I think everyone else that likes fantasy RPGs should too - but there is nothing to this dog's breakfast of a production run to make you want to do that if you don't already love C&C. It's just upsetting to look at it because if they had made a couple of different choices, put the effort into sourcing some additional talented artists and outsourced the printing and binding so that the quality matched the Players Handbook of the same trade dress, this would have been something special.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: medium;">The following three posts will deal with the contents of each of the three parts of the book.<br /><br />Part One - The Character<br />Chapter 1 - Expanding Characters<br />Chapter 2 - Magic<br />Chapter 3 - Expanding Equipment<br />Chapter 4 - Non-Player Characters<br /><br />Part Two - Worlds of Adventure<br />Chapter 5 - Worlds of Adventure: The World<br />Chapter 6 - Worlds of Adventure: The City<br />Chapter 7 - Worlds of Adventure: Dungeons<br />Chapter 8 - Air and Water Adventure<br />Chapter 9 - Equipment Wastage<br />Chapter 10 - Lands as Treasure<br />Chapter 11 - Going to War<br />Chapter 12 - Monster Ecology<br />Chapter 13 - Expanding the Genre<br /><br />Part Three - The SIEGE Engine<br />Chapter 14 - Advancing the Game<br />Chapter 15 - The SIEGE Engine<br />Chapter 16 - Treasure<br />Chapter 17 - Iron & Sulfer: Combat<br />Chapter 18 - Skill Packages<br />Chapter 19 - Character Death and Fates</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">* reference from the TSR Marvel Superheros RPG</span><br />
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-88257083611337893582015-03-19T17:35:00.000-05:002015-03-26T17:17:44.941-05:00Gambling Your Fifth edition Character's Life<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I was flipping a coin mixed in with my RPG dice and started thinking about a fun way to use a fifty/fifty probability dynamic in a game. It seemed like a basic gamble and reminded me of a simplified dice game. Gambling of coarse is always the most exciting when the stakes are high and a save or die situation came to mind as something exciting to try. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">D&D currently has the death saving throw - a series of saving throws with a target number of 10 rolled on a d20 without modifiers. Its basically a race to see what outcome is rolled three times first - 10 or over (save) or under ten (fail). </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGcjkOILknjL18hy_VZGgb5o9WjgLof2Fp3SziDUBusJrxeqcfi4RmxxyI1f5SRWHs2xnr_SjsIGcR6Xvc6kvw_nR3yDd9yaCc5IEhFa2GK2vB2b4N2pghgek52gHbd2FOSespHEclZo/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGcjkOILknjL18hy_VZGgb5o9WjgLof2Fp3SziDUBusJrxeqcfi4RmxxyI1f5SRWHs2xnr_SjsIGcR6Xvc6kvw_nR3yDd9yaCc5IEhFa2GK2vB2b4N2pghgek52gHbd2FOSespHEclZo/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Including the ten in the target number adds five percent.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I started thinking that I could substitute the coin flip for the d20 roll as the target number is half way and essentially an over under situation, but thinking about it further I realized that its not quite what it seems. This probably isn't a revelation to anybody that thinks about how dice and probability work but a roll of ten or over isn't a fifty percent chance either way, its a fifty-five percent chance of making a successful save. If each digit represents five percent then failure to make a death save occurs only forty-five percent of the time as 1-9 represents the range of failure. It sounds fifty/fifty but that would actually be if success was a roll of <i>over</i> ten.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdh1zF7vnNJ4JyFtoftqG-FdGysENyDkEKiMLKv_hoPsIRyxizeAys-5cgpDy1-JgZMu_zflPasInKbMC_EDUe0PlHavQckrTtp4NbaSAbW4HOgIqDFVQO_BuhFofJ91Q6XPAO1DxU-k8/s1600/DD+death+save.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdh1zF7vnNJ4JyFtoftqG-FdGysENyDkEKiMLKv_hoPsIRyxizeAys-5cgpDy1-JgZMu_zflPasInKbMC_EDUe0PlHavQckrTtp4NbaSAbW4HOgIqDFVQO_BuhFofJ91Q6XPAO1DxU-k8/s1600/DD+death+save.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rolling a one counts as two failures!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So I guess if you wanted to use a coin flip to represent a death saving throw your odds would be less and that would be a real gamble.</span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-77023493216055575862015-02-18T11:56:00.003-06:002015-02-18T11:56:45.826-06:00Dragons & Chess<span style="font-size: large;">In the eighties I remember being particularily attracted to the chess themed covers by artist <a href="http://www.denbeauvais.com/">Dennis Beauvais</a> for Dragon magazine. I remember starring at these for hours while I was a kid and letting my imagination run wild.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_ygEsvMZn0xRQdilvX0U1DBwK3izWQEzk1sc2GnM2rnWK399DCIeaSEzal41PVIq34k_hXGlS_NDeWzUUUJ2HnWTKOcf8os66IlqSgnNQl42JMAjS5Q5IKKReCm3jb9XvK51_Cp_mWg/s640/blogger-image--1208145728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_ygEsvMZn0xRQdilvX0U1DBwK3izWQEzk1sc2GnM2rnWK399DCIeaSEzal41PVIq34k_hXGlS_NDeWzUUUJ2HnWTKOcf8os66IlqSgnNQl42JMAjS5Q5IKKReCm3jb9XvK51_Cp_mWg/s640/blogger-image--1208145728.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clockwise from top left: Artwork for Dragon Magazine 83, 118, 89, 86</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Recently a new cover was commissioned for Gygax magazine and it looks like it was pulled out of the vault as it fits in so well with the previous work. Actually it's technically and compositionally superior but still very evocative of the earlier works. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen Captures Queen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A few evenings ago I discovered a video of a <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/us-marine-corps-chess-94015">commercial</a> that reminded me of the Beauvais works.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Created in 1991 for the U.S. Marine Corps by ad agency JTW, I can't help but wonder if it was influenced by Dragon.</span></div>
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-55223406972896430962015-01-16T02:43:00.000-06:002015-01-16T02:43:07.780-06:00Blue Dungeon Tiles<span style="font-size: large;">Anyone reading this blog might have noticed that some old school looking grid maps were at my table during JimCon 4. These of coarse were the Blue Dungeon Tiles from <a href="http://www.redkobold.com/blue-dungeon-tiles/">Red Kobold Games</a> that I received shortly before the convention. They are a recent <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redkobold/blue-dungeon-tiles-wet-and-dry-erase-double-sided">Kickstarter</a> project that I was drawn to due to their apparent versatility, old school look and generic appearance.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8oTcDFbN_-bDr9lTPKWlS41udzF4H8Fwp24QITFucHiPTjJA3szX5W9looCL3r9jWUZEtU-lZbQ1SCJoahN0oIShOmU96_gVVz6C8u7ElZPPlwjdxz1IZtL75OzIH2wzEF2n4SgnPwE/s1600/IMG_1925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8oTcDFbN_-bDr9lTPKWlS41udzF4H8Fwp24QITFucHiPTjJA3szX5W9looCL3r9jWUZEtU-lZbQ1SCJoahN0oIShOmU96_gVVz6C8u7ElZPPlwjdxz1IZtL75OzIH2wzEF2n4SgnPwE/s1600/IMG_1925.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Start setup for Dungeon Crawl Classics</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I didn't get as much use as I had hoped at the convention due to a low turnout at the table where I was going to use them the most. I did get to use them to great effect in another game that for the most part was designed to work in the theatre of the imagination. That of coarse was "The Future King". As the adventure progressed I found it got more complex. I started using one of the tiles to keep track of initiative and survival points (HP). Then a complicated melee at a ford with a river monster had my players wanting to visualize where everyone was. We didn't even use miniatures, we just marked where everyone was with a dry erase marker and made adjustments when needed. It worked out great.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCKbv2KvcPwrBppPRNqB7WSkAJb2TlmpKZ-lfVggfK-m-tWB5v1-5f8-ZUSeiuwqIoNTi2_whKoEUwVeXJQ8qmlA6s5jlPkd6E84fHaUJwdb5GWAKOjzH_QwGh3Wis9GjCkhy5zi8fB0/s1600/IMG_1927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCKbv2KvcPwrBppPRNqB7WSkAJb2TlmpKZ-lfVggfK-m-tWB5v1-5f8-ZUSeiuwqIoNTi2_whKoEUwVeXJQ8qmlA6s5jlPkd6E84fHaUJwdb5GWAKOjzH_QwGh3Wis9GjCkhy5zi8fB0/s1600/IMG_1927.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Used tactically for a complicated river melee and to track combat.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I found the tiles quite versatile. You can make up small areas on the fly which is very convenient and if you're taking them to a convention you can pre-plan on what specific tiles you need and just bring those ones. They work with dry erase, non-permanent (some people call these wet erase) and permanent markers (you need to draw over with dry erase markers if you use these). In my set up for my DCC game I found I was drawing a lot of lines on the joint between the tiles. Don't do what I did which was to try to speed up my cleanup and use a dry erase cleaning fluid on the tiles to remove my permanent process blue marker. The fluid ran over the laminate on the edge and wicked into the paper stock of the tile leaving a small blue stain. Stick with using a dry erase marker for removal of permanent markings as its less messy. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA8s70SrBZvpvxUeaKOWSiN2WjHECDjyFqCnFdTlevU4XYeTUpfBd9RkiL2UL7dhCH1dxB8VcK6wKPbxVbVDFhFShcTom09Z7lGHAif6aI-CPwEZg_Tl2um0uz1zuWCgdwfQuOa_-6qo/s1600/IMG_1902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA8s70SrBZvpvxUeaKOWSiN2WjHECDjyFqCnFdTlevU4XYeTUpfBd9RkiL2UL7dhCH1dxB8VcK6wKPbxVbVDFhFShcTom09Z7lGHAif6aI-CPwEZg_Tl2um0uz1zuWCgdwfQuOa_-6qo/s1600/IMG_1902.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tiles arrive.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One drawback I found with the tiles was that all the pre-designed features are practically useless for replicating RPG maps in adventures (at least the ones I seem to own and other old school designs). That's because the walls are drawn in as a filled in grid width and walls just aren't drawn in that thick in most older adventure designs and in quite a few new ones as well. They are great for creating structures on the fly (like shops, towers, forts etc.) or for designing buildings and dungeons for custom scenarios. That being said the backs of most of theses tiles are just a grid with no features so you can easily draw in what you need yourself making the tiles themselves far from useless. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VlKsvPI6UnZIKcCjbq9GJW16zzInYJo2GMjKXMrE6hWbS9nPwEIU6h4J68UPXazeYz2nczN6RLTSL950t5_JQwuOkkseA78-Eo6O3txGs94gh4aS4jRtjR1dRfC1UMMB8AT-pVSq1pA/s1600/IMG_1906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VlKsvPI6UnZIKcCjbq9GJW16zzInYJo2GMjKXMrE6hWbS9nPwEIU6h4J68UPXazeYz2nczN6RLTSL950t5_JQwuOkkseA78-Eo6O3txGs94gh4aS4jRtjR1dRfC1UMMB8AT-pVSq1pA/s1600/IMG_1906.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsXn7F9ciHEqMPFTOfYf6ueE0CHZxN8_psJGossG8JOzh1kdWfPRxWMinBjZhiR1aa1kK2CYepAwGVwBL-o3wbu429_z39qDnhGLh0t8Zgh4_pvVofXds9kpDTJhMQYYkKmvoyPY8UvU/s1600/IMG_1908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsXn7F9ciHEqMPFTOfYf6ueE0CHZxN8_psJGossG8JOzh1kdWfPRxWMinBjZhiR1aa1kK2CYepAwGVwBL-o3wbu429_z39qDnhGLh0t8Zgh4_pvVofXds9kpDTJhMQYYkKmvoyPY8UvU/s1600/IMG_1908.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a lot of tiles!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In terms of tiling these on the game table I found that they work best if you can assemble portions ahead of time with blue painters tape. You can use the tape to create custom map features on the top or place it on the bottom to simply keep tiles together. As with most tiling systems keeping the tiles from moving apart can be a bother, but all the tiles are square, uniform and flat which makes things as easy as you can get without having some sort of interlocking system like <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/804836187/tact-tiles-modular-wet-and-dry-erase-gaming-surfac">Tact-Tiles</a>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjid3bdKGmw_e9GLF8jnNbamoKAnTsvjFxniiFKP7e9CkS4oB8zMDZ2ersbg8ClFHIcBSB4CBjjpCGFBrphUzDIM7U466xfOkHNQIIThKOe_H8Zro-1_N-LUhyphenhyphenBxDhMo2eN0RfCh_9-YoE/s1600/IMG_1911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjid3bdKGmw_e9GLF8jnNbamoKAnTsvjFxniiFKP7e9CkS4oB8zMDZ2ersbg8ClFHIcBSB4CBjjpCGFBrphUzDIM7U466xfOkHNQIIThKOe_H8Zro-1_N-LUhyphenhyphenBxDhMo2eN0RfCh_9-YoE/s1600/IMG_1911.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A treasure in tiles</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Overall I'd say Blue Dungeon Tiles are a 4 out of 5. I really like them and will likely be using them at the table for years to come. I'm also planning on using them to assist in the design of some of my forthcoming custom dungeons for 5e. I can see these being super useful if you were to utilize Appendix A: Random Dungeons from the 5e DMG.</span></div>
Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-57995301657757975232015-01-01T23:56:00.000-06:002015-01-01T23:56:09.100-06:00JimCon 4<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioRsrPdznLd8TZZmmOjlJnK9BdO2RCdlCQL5e5yvJdUc5W7PWcA1h4JZHsA_xskwUP7yJqHl3VcB2f7Ekrnl1OLoHBgHQaMtnLdYmtrfcEH1jLT2k8-JBk8FNulE2QdEz88KWAE6SpJrI/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioRsrPdznLd8TZZmmOjlJnK9BdO2RCdlCQL5e5yvJdUc5W7PWcA1h4JZHsA_xskwUP7yJqHl3VcB2f7Ekrnl1OLoHBgHQaMtnLdYmtrfcEH1jLT2k8-JBk8FNulE2QdEz88KWAE6SpJrI/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JimCon 4</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">For some reason I'm posting again about events that happened weeks in the past. I could just let them be events in the past but this is another one that I would like to talk about here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Once again <a href="http://jimcon.ca/2013/">JimCon</a> lived up to its promise of being "Winnipeg's Table Top Games Convention". </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Held again at the </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bronxpark.ca/" style="font-family: inherit;">Bronx Park Community Centre</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">which is for the most part a great place to play with plenty of room and is a fairly new building. Here are my personal highlights of JimCon4.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Friday November 14</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This turned out to be more of a low than a highpoint, but such is the way of volunteering to run games at cons. I was running the level 1 DCC RPG adventure "Rat King's Maze of Death" from the back of the 'Chained Coffin" module. Adventure prepped: check, weird dice: check, maps and minis: check, players: nope. Looks like no one signed up to play any DCC this year though its been relatively popular in the past and I've run it at the previous year's JimCon and the last two KeyCons. Turns out that there was interest after all as I found out later but players were too enticed by 5e D&D or were involved with Pathfinder. So maybe not enough interest? Perhaps Friday isn't the best time? I'm thinking of running some DCC next year but only if I notice some genuine interest over the coming year. In any case I eventually ended up playing <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=257">Star Wars Age of Rebellion</a> and generally socializing.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8oTcDFbN_-bDr9lTPKWlS41udzF4H8Fwp24QITFucHiPTjJA3szX5W9looCL3r9jWUZEtU-lZbQ1SCJoahN0oIShOmU96_gVVz6C8u7ElZPPlwjdxz1IZtL75OzIH2wzEF2n4SgnPwE/s1600/IMG_1925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8oTcDFbN_-bDr9lTPKWlS41udzF4H8Fwp24QITFucHiPTjJA3szX5W9looCL3r9jWUZEtU-lZbQ1SCJoahN0oIShOmU96_gVVz6C8u7ElZPPlwjdxz1IZtL75OzIH2wzEF2n4SgnPwE/s1600/IMG_1925.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weird Dice: check, Players: nope.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So I slept in and missed playing the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game Tournament. But alls well that ends well because I got to finally run something I've been wanting to play for some time. Tom Moldvay's "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Future-King-Tom-Moldvay/dp/B0019F53ZC?tag=skim0x54745-20">The Future King</a>". The following was my write up for the adventure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">From the author of the 1981 D&D Basic Rulebook and adventures such as “Isle of Dread”, “Castle Amber” and “The Lost City” comes Tom Moldvay's 1985 RPG adventure “The Future King” Play one of six historical heroes: Doc Holiday, Nostradamus, Bruce Lee, Harald Hardraada, Owen Glendower, and Cyrano de Bergerac who have been gathered together out of the mists of time. Their mission is to find and wake King Arthur, for it is time that he again don the mantle of kingship. All the rules to play are included in the adventure itself. Rules light and simple to learn and play.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">It took about 5 hours to play but it was one of the craziest adventures I'd ever seen. Somewhat more of a railroad in format than I am used to but still full of wonder the players and myself enjoyed. Two Players ran all six characters to great effect. Many surprises and an ending that satisfied beyond expectation. Clearly Moldvay is a master of the craft.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nostradamus and Bruce Lee quest to resurrect King Arthur</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><b>Sunday November 16</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Another short day (Friday is in the evening only and Sunday in the morning and afternoon) and this one was spent playing Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space. We played the recently released "<a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/123729/Doctor-WhoAdventures-in-Time-and-Space--Cats-Eye">Cat's Eye</a>" scenario about an alien hive mind that takes over a group of feral cats that are sharing an abandoned building with a community of squatters. I recruited a couple of guys that were planning on playing Dungeon World, that appeared interested in playing Doctor Who. One played Amy Pond and the other was Craig Owens, the Eleventh Doctor's Roommate. Everyone seemed rather excited see how a game without the Doctor would turn out – it was brilliant. After the main investigation and initial conflict another person was interested in giving the game a try and they jumped in as the Doctor just in time for the climax. It was a really good ending and the surprise appearance by the Doctor really helped add the finishing touch. This game is always a crowd pleaser when I run it and I always have players that have never played it before so I'm actually surprised I haven't seen it being played in public anywhere. This game also made me observant of the fact that i</span><span style="font-size: large;">ts fun to be able to sit down at a table of strangers, play a game and get up from a table of friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Overall a great time once again at JimCon. In fact this year there were more interesting games to play than I could fit in to the three days. Next year I'm sure will be just as good.</span><br />
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-56956395644534427082014-12-07T17:29:00.002-06:002014-12-07T17:29:54.062-06:00D&D 5e Addresses Pathfinder's Strange "Core Assumption"<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The </span>following<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is a previously unpublished commentary from </span>several<span style="font-family: inherit;"> years ago on aspects of game design and the design principles inherited by the designers that carry on with the 3e tradition.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Balance</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A reinforcement of individualism rather than group play based on the false idea that players have to have the same advantages built into their characters as other (opposing?) players in a game with no winners or losers. Why build fairness into a game where fairness has no advantage?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Instead this creates a disadvantage requiring a way to customize the character in order for them to not be essentially similar to one another. The current myth is that the traditional class system of older editions with its advantages (</span>strengths) <span style="font-family: inherit;">and disadvantages (weaknesses) between classes creates cookie cutter characters. I hold to the idea that in some way your character is how you play it - thus a roleplaying game – not a stat driven character game. In truth this balancing </span>approach<span style="font-family: inherit;"> leads to the need for specific customization and la</span>rger <span style="font-family: inherit;">than life heroics to differentiate one class from one </span>another<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Superpowers (AKA Feats) and Imagination </b></span><b>Discouragement.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3e and its </span>descendants<span style="font-family: inherit;"> like Pathfinder assume balance and discourages the creation of magical items and spells that replicate the abilities of other classes. At the same time the feats grant those same abilities to the other classes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here the DM is discouraged from creating "unbalanced items" and pruning his imagination in order to preserve balance and the status of the games super powers</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Seriously there is no reason why you wouldn't be able to wear ten magical rings, WTF.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the Post TSR era the fantasy roleplaying game has become a game that uses the rules to make it a players game and bully the DM into creating his campaign to conform to the rules rather than the dictates of the imagination.</span><br />
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Conclusion,<br />
Ridiculous.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How things have changed in the world of RPGs since then. It's great to see that the creative team </span>behind<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the new D&D has shifted the balance of power back into the GMs court. There </span>is no need for bizarre game mechanic based magic item limits because you can't simply go purchase magic, you need to find it/earn it. Character customization is achieved through a choice of class and background. Class features are prominent again because skills are limited to proficiency that ranges from +2 to +6 (in addition to bonuses provided by class features) and feats are optional, limited and designed to represent expert training over time and not manifest as an almost superhuman ability beyond the abilities of the most highly trained human being. Once again level 1 characters are not heroes, they're adventurers and their status as a hero can and should be determined by their adventures and how successful and heroic they perform. </span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-15358141632337054912014-12-05T02:47:00.002-06:002014-12-05T02:47:37.304-06:00Gameplay Update - Ghostbusters Halloween 2014<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So I promised that I would write about this session so here it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Currently I am playing in a group that meets every Wednesday evening at out FLGS. At the time we were playing Star Wars Edge of the Empire. Because Halloween was coming up and I had been thinking about doing this for years now I suggested that we take the Wednesday closest to the 31st (that being the 27th) to play a one shot of the WEG/Chaosium Ghostbusters RPG. Everyone agreed so I got the process started. I had about a month.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wanted to make it present day and I wanted to make it local (Winnipeg, Manitoba).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Step one involved printing out a PDF of more contemporary <a href="http://www.discreteinfinity.com/files/RPGs/Ghostbusters/gb_equip.pdf">equipment cards</a> that I had downloaded some years earlier. Next I had to come up with a plot and I wanted it to somehow involve local hauntings. That wasn't too hard to research as there are plenty documented. There is a <a href="http://www.tourismwinnipeg.com/things-to-do/tours/display,profile/01849/haunted-winnipeg-trilogy">tour</a> that someone organizes that I had wanted to go on previously to research this but I just couldn't make the time. A <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Haunted-Winnipeg-Ghost-Stories-Continent/dp/1927855055">new book</a> on the subject come out the day before the game day unfortunately allowing me little time to utilize that. What I ended up with was a combination of historic sites and local themes that I rolled into a mass haunting event based in the tone of two Ghostbusters movies. Watching these on Netflix made up my final step before getting down to the writing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The plot centered around a once in a millennium event that sees the nature spirit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitou">Manitou</a> manifest at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forks,_Winnipeg">convergence</a> of the Red and Assiniboine rivers halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice (Halloween). This time however something is different. The construction of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoba_Legislative_Building">Manitoba Legislative Building</a> (constructed 1913-1920) about 1200m from where the two rivers meet has drawn Manitou to the <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Hermetic-Code-Unlocking-Manitobas/dp/0968257534">occult energies contained in the structure</a>. Manitou is unable to completely materialize, instead the energies of the spirit start to enhance the haunted locals of the area.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hotel Fort Garry</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Ghostbusters Winnipeg franchise have been called to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Garry_Hotel">Hotel Fort Garry</a> to conduct an inspection for the hotel on behalf of a wealthy Philanthropist - Mrs. Mueller-Spears who wants to make sure her departed husband's ghost won't be appearing. Mueller-Spears has just ridden herself of his haunting spirit a few months ago. His ghost would appear in their home stinking of liquor and rambling on about the annual Halloween fundraising event he would put on every year (his favourite social outing). This is the first time Mrs. Mueller-Spears will be putting on the event without Mr. Spears and she want's to make sure it goes off without a hitch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Hotel manager Winston MacKenzie is loath to call in the Ghostbusters after he hired them several years ago to remove the ghost in Room 202. The destruction and chaos they caused has left a bad taste in his mouth when it comes to Ghostbusting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The players selected one of several pre-gens to play, gave them names and selected equipment. The Hotel, located between where the rivers meet and the Legislative building is currently awash in ectopresence because it is Halloween and Manitou is manifesting tonight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The player characters, Cherry, Danny, Manny, Cory and Craig start investigating the hotel when they run across the ghost of Mr. Spears and a group of his ghostly buddies who are basically obnoxious drinking and smoking business men. Playing music in the room causes a number of ghostly strippers to appear. Cherry eventually conga lines them into a ghost trap. During the attempt the group manages to explode a proton pack and destroy one of the hotel's ballrooms. Phone calls come in from Edwina Richardson, their secretary regarding reports of paranormal occurrences close to where they are. One is of a spectral horseman and several nineteenth century footmen across the river in St.Boniface and another is of the 5.25 meter tall Golden Boy statue from on top of the Legislative Building coming to life and heading down Broadway toward the hotel. Meanwhile a portal opens up behind the false fireplace in the Hotel's "Gateway Room" where Mr. Spears's Ghost and his buddies emerged. Likely a magical circle hidden in the room from some past occult gathering, the portal is now a rip in spacetime created by the stress of the paranatural displacement caused by the Legislative Building's lightning rod effect on the materialization of Manitou.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cherry then has to deal with the lounge waitress Kerri Romanchuck who is an ex-girlfriend. The rest have to deal with the hotel manager and the newly arrived Mercedes Kuntz from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Needless to say they don't want anyone else to see the portal or the destruction the've already caused. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The game concluded with discovering a possible way to close the portal and send back Manitou for another thousand years. Conversing with Paranormal Presenter and hotel guest Doctor Glau along with Mrs. Meuller-Spears, they find out that the silver dream catcher she used to get rid of her husbands ghost at home is just the thing needed to banish Manitou into the portal and close it. The problem is that the Golden Boy is just outside the Hotel crushing things and the Horsemen and his footmen - now identified as the ghosts of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel">Lois Riel</a> and a number of Red River Rebels - have taken over the site of the <a href="https://humanrights.ca/">Canadian Museum for Human Rights</a>, the site where Mrs. Mueller-Spear's dreamcatcher resides after being donated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">With a little luck and the assistance of their Eco-Van and Overly Eager Policeman Donald MacConnel, some of the Ghostbusters are able to keep the Golden Boy from advancing any further while the others break past Louis Riel and grab the silver dreamcatcher. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Firing a proton blast throught the dreamcatcher at the Golden Boy, they are able to trap Manitou's spirit from inside and send it into the portal, closing it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There were a lot of laughs at both successes and failures during the game and everyone had a good time playing. I'd like to do something similar next year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">During my research for this I discovered Ghostbusters Resurrection, a podcast of a group playing this game. They also have a page of <a href="http://nerdyshow.com/gbrpg/">resources</a> if you want to get into this amazing (out of print) RPG yourself.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Get these while you can.</td></tr>
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-21198675482475203162014-11-07T13:32:00.001-06:002014-12-07T16:48:15.009-06:00Gameplay Update - Cosmic Patrol, Valiant Universe, Shadowrun, Star Wars and Numenera<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The previous few months have seen continued play of Castles & Crusades, Dungeon World, Dungeon Crawl Classics and even some Pathfinder. C&C is utilizing the Tainted Lands box set, Dungeon World concluded a story arc based on "Keep on the Borderlands" and explored a new campaign concept in some side sessions. I was able to run various DCC modules and am participating in the Reign of Winter adventure path for Pathfinder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This post is however not about these games but the selection of new games I've had the opportunity to play with a weekly gaming group at my FLGS.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had a chance to play Cosmic Patrol (Catalyst Game Labs) after our FATE super-hero game concluded. It was a one shot evening before we transitioned into the new Star Wars RPG from Fantasy Flight. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.cosmicpatrol.com/">Cosmic Patrol</a> was amazing. Its super loose on the details and does a great job of pushing the story forward. It's a little zany but that's a bonus for a game based on classic science-fiction. It's essentially a GMless system with the story being adjucated and pushed forward by a player that takes on the role of Lead Narrator, a designation that rotates amongst the players as the scenes of the game change. It's very seat of your pants and perfect for those that like open ended play styles and have a strong imagination. Having been exposed to books, films and television in the related genre goes a long way here but isn't a necessity.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I'm not even familiar with these characters but it was a blast.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">During <a href="http://www.freerpgday.com/">Free RPG</a> day I had the opportunity to play <a href="http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/valiant/">Catalyst Game Labs "Valiant Universe"</a> quick start game based on the super-hero characters published by Valiant Comics. It utilizes the same rules system as Cosmic Patrol. I ran this game too as a one shot at our weekly game when the regular GM was absent but maintained the role of lead narrator for ease of play and to facilitate moving the story forward as easily, smoothly and quickly as possible. Also a very fun experience. Many of these open ended style games are very rewarding for me as both a player and a GM because they never fail to surprise and entertain. Also at Free RPG Day I got a chance to play <a href="http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/shadowrun/">Shadowrun</a>. Its not a game I've taken any interest in previously but it was fun to play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=232&esem=2&esum=236">Fantasy Flight's Star Wars Edge of the Empire</a> had some good moments but I found it a little difficult to immerse myself in the game. I'm not a super big fan of their proprietary dice system although it works pretty well at providing an interpretive environment that can generate some satisfying cinematic results. I just think that overall the game might be a little too complicated for my tastes. I'm not sure exactly what it was but I just didn't find this game to be very fun. That combined with the fact that the rest of the books in this role playing series (Age of Rebellion, Force of Destiny) add very few new rules but are very pricey (59.95 cover price in US dollars and up to 67.54 Canadian at Amazon.ca) my focus will likely turn to other gaming systems.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think Thundarr at the End of Time by Monte Cook</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Right now we are playing <a href="http://www.numenera.com/">Numenera</a> my Monty Cook Games. I'm quite impressed with this game, especially considering Mr. Cook's past endeavours fall among what I consider some of the poorest examples of RPG design. This is a true RPG that facilitates great characters, has an intriguing setting and is full of mystery and wonder. Its a science-fantasy adventure that appeals to modern concepts of sci-fi and takes influence from some really impressive sources. I played this last year at <a href="http://jimcon.ca/">JimCon</a> but have an even better appreciation for it since I've had time to go over the rules and read a little more about the setting. This is a game I could devote more time to despite the fact that it's books are at a similar price point as the Star Wars materials I discussed earlier. Interesting new materials and value for investment is a good motivator. I'm even interested in taking a look at Cook's new game 'The Strange" based on the same rules system.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do I convert this to Lords of Creation?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My next post will be about the "Halloween Special" game session I had with this FLGS group. It deserves a post all to itself.</span><br />
<br />Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-25168969440021160212014-07-10T00:25:00.001-05:002014-12-07T16:47:13.889-06:00The RPG Rule Book — A Modern Illuminated Manuscript<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A recent post from Chaosium regarding its Call of Chuthulu 7 Kickstarter got me thinking about what other books containing such a depth of both copy text and details existed in this world. The only thing that came to mind was perhaps medieval illuminated manuscripts of the Bible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Chaosiums graphic designer Badger relayed an interesting account of his <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/448333182/call-of-cthulhu-7th-edition/posts/875126">process in laying out the rule book</a> for CoC 7.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">He talks about researching other modern rulebooks to learn about what is and what is not working with their design.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A quick bit of research regarding contemporary illuminated manuscripts resulted in finding the <a href="http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/">Saint John's Bible project</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.orrenmerton.com/2010/10/12/modern-illuminated-manuscript/">blog I was reading that lead me to the Saint John's Bible</a> asks "what other works do we consider to be worth this sort of treatment?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I had to ask myself, if RPG rule books seek to emulate this style of design; what one set of RPG rules would I consider important enough to be transformed into a one of a kind art object as was done with the Saint John's Bible commission?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In a <a href="http://inspiredmythos.blogspot.ca/2011/08/diy-and-osr-theory.html">previous post</a> I talked about how the orignal LBBs reminded me of indie publishing like punk zines from the 80s. How do we go from zines to illuminated manuscripts? Full colour rule books basically start with the WotC d20 Fantasy rules they marketed as D&D Third Edition. That however was not the beginning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">During the mid to late eighties TSR moved toward a graphic design decision of emulation. One only has to look at elements and products from games such as Top Secret, Conan and Adventures of Indiana Jones to see some examples. This trend I believe started with the Greyhawk Boxed Set and pretty much ended with the full colour pages of the Forgotten Realms Boxed Set, the latter of which I would guess was used as inspiration by the Magic The Gathering pool of artists and designers as a reference when designing d20 Fantasy. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 Greyhawk Box Set</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 Greyhawk Box Set (Interior)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 Top Secret Operation Orient Express (Interior)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2CRLZyzEHVNacFPj90Mg2aHa__O-Wq3Ym82yZgDQ-WFpms8mZF-KtUzoA-tkTfWHkv7X4MsjScKPqCwnaEtAPSL55Hwo_PyggTN_mQ-38MB9jZRAT3WoZwfpCkGY-SBf-W4RyhEZoKY/s1600/WorldofHyboria.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2CRLZyzEHVNacFPj90Mg2aHa__O-Wq3Ym82yZgDQ-WFpms8mZF-KtUzoA-tkTfWHkv7X4MsjScKPqCwnaEtAPSL55Hwo_PyggTN_mQ-38MB9jZRAT3WoZwfpCkGY-SBf-W4RyhEZoKY/s1600/WorldofHyboria.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1985 World of Hyboria (Conan RPG)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitnDDykZXY04J0c3B3W29H838B9U0Ctj1izfxhi7WmL0JFD8um_beqa9iP4f5RI3wa21Q2KKbbCz-5DUJGPCOphS3XjB1svSAiK80xeN-ztTavey9r3JmZgKulxvE-PZUWVOaSNryqzTU/s1600/RealmsBoxInterior.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitnDDykZXY04J0c3B3W29H838B9U0Ctj1izfxhi7WmL0JFD8um_beqa9iP4f5RI3wa21Q2KKbbCz-5DUJGPCOphS3XjB1svSAiK80xeN-ztTavey9r3JmZgKulxvE-PZUWVOaSNryqzTU/s1600/RealmsBoxInterior.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1987 Forgotten Realms Box Set (Interior) note the parchment emulation here foreshadowing 3e</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Between these two ideas (conceptually though not chronologically) RPG rules books including D&D Second Edition (TSR) and Star Wars (West End Games) seem to have been influenced by the clean and attractive design of the James Bond 007 RPG by Victory Games that incorporated a blue highlight colour. This was pretty much the end of the completely black and white era.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehv-G1aAq7EEig0kCn95Wup8hyphenhyphen09BjlxOyAAff4w_H4JBDU_qLMZz90VQuJQrKS4ihwHT-rtPYVtcDwyLdp0z_MtFFtCYTv9ScrXZ46odVr-WLXYkRXMLfNaZhyphenhyphenTuNwUeLFL5kXB12pM/s1600/JamesBondRPG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehv-G1aAq7EEig0kCn95Wup8hyphenhyphen09BjlxOyAAff4w_H4JBDU_qLMZz90VQuJQrKS4ihwHT-rtPYVtcDwyLdp0z_MtFFtCYTv9ScrXZ46odVr-WLXYkRXMLfNaZhyphenhyphenTuNwUeLFL5kXB12pM/s1600/JamesBondRPG.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 James Bond 007 RPG (Interior)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1987 Star Wars Sourcebook (Interior)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXiHbLWKGC-nyjcuz5baEcmgwpl9ZSltKFtPgOGPERpxJN1zRJ3yKrxUiSqNvDGT4E_bv_fsnpjxoVEmfZpmMyXeOfGKJgX08wP3W8oMMInKRmyZNpUSU_VslFHbxLfyY9tum4Vega3A/s1600/2ePlayersHandbook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXiHbLWKGC-nyjcuz5baEcmgwpl9ZSltKFtPgOGPERpxJN1zRJ3yKrxUiSqNvDGT4E_bv_fsnpjxoVEmfZpmMyXeOfGKJgX08wP3W8oMMInKRmyZNpUSU_VslFHbxLfyY9tum4Vega3A/s1600/2ePlayersHandbook.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1989 AD&D (2e) Players Handbook (Interior)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">As for what rules set I'd personally want to see made up as an illuminated manuscript, that hard to say. I'd hope it to be many things. Iconic such as AD&D, Elegant as is Tom Moldvay's Basic, Genre Neutral like Basic Roleplaying or FATE. Perhaps if someone actually created an amazing universal RPG system that would be the one (nice try Amazing Engine, but not quite). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I remember reading the odd issue as a kid but this stuff is crazy violent pulp seventies anti-hero genius. This is pre Star Wars but is seriously tapping into the Zeitguiest as it's obviously influenced by Flash Gordon as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Much more exciting than the old D&D ads that would appear several years later.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1981</td></tr>
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<br />Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-77776363461406530272014-02-09T17:46:00.000-06:002014-02-11T01:00:45.702-06:002014 - Year of the Sci-Fi RPG?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Over the last several months I've managed to aquire a number of new games, many of which are thematically sci-fi. I'd really like to play them, so maybe this year for me is the Science Fiction RPG year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Recently sci-fi seems to be occupying more of my time as well. I'm in a sci-fi book club and my regular D&D group defaults to Gamma World when some of us can't make our regular game day. I play Battle Tech monthly and sometimes X-Wing miniatures as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Recent sci-fi acquisitions include Numenera, Star Wars Edge of the Empire RPG and Traveller 5.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Also on the shelf: A Time of War (BattleTech RPG), Star Frontiers, FASA Star Trek and Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space. Generic Sytems could of coarse be made to fit a sci-fi game with ease. BRP, Cortex or Fate anyone?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I've already got an excellent idea for a custom campaign using the Traveller5 rules. I should really get that ready for the next con.</span><br />
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-15951640190253952972014-02-08T18:58:00.000-06:002014-02-11T00:02:38.323-06:00PseudoCon 2014<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So somehow I managed to get caught up in a few RPGs near the tail end of the week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I ran a game and played two I'd never tried before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wednesday offered up a chance to play FATE at my FLGS. I've always heard good thing about it and wanted to give it a try. I ended up buying the fudge dice required to play between character creation and before we started playing. I had such a good time that I ended up purchasing the core rules at the end of the session.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kYblvVuxngI/UvbP0pFHjVI/AAAAAAAAAVg/QX3ISQ9NFPs/s1600/14+-+3" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kYblvVuxngI/UvbP0pFHjVI/AAAAAAAAAVg/QX3ISQ9NFPs/s1600/14+-+3" height="320" width="213" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm a big fan of what I like to refer to as "modern" or "contemporary" RPG styles. That might seem odd since most of what I write here is about older games and the games that are influenced by them.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The classic games I like most are rules light (usually fitting into a 64 page book), random (tables and wandering monsters), and have a good deal of GM adjudication. The three things I consider to define a contemporary RPG are simple rules, group story telling, and character connections. They might not be the same as each other but they feel related.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> I can't help shake that something terrible happened in the 90s and 00s when many of the current OSR gamers were absent. Since many of us have come back to gaming, tabletop games are thriving again. When we were not paying attention the gamers that remained helped prop up bloated jalopy games like d20. It's easy to see now that rules systems of that nature are broken and more work to run than they are fun to play. It's as if d20 and it's ilk are the Prince John of RPG games and the OSR is like King Richard returned with perhaps the proliferation of new modern RPGs being like Robin Hood and his Merry Men. <i>Not that I won't play these games, they're just not very flexible as written and are a bit of a chore.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Thursday brought me to another newer game, but this one was specifically designed to feel old-school – Dungeon World.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm running a regular game and it's lots of fun. The prep is specifically intended to be bare in order to "play to see what happens". I like this a lot since it mimics exactly how I DMed my very first and most fun games of basic D&D. I'm often just as surprised as the players and the excitement of seeing the story unfold without prior knowledge of anything but the main plot points is amazing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Friday presented the opportunity to play Runequest (Chaosium 1980) with people from the miniatures gaming group I meet with monthly. I'd never played Runequest before although I've played Basic Roleplaying and other BRP style games like Stormbringer, Hawkwind and Elfquest.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lDKOQ9bJfBs/UvbP0h6utVI/AAAAAAAAAVg/X1eUdCQle8w/s1600/14+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lDKOQ9bJfBs/UvbP0h6utVI/AAAAAAAAAVg/X1eUdCQle8w/s1600/14+-+1" height="320" width="243" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'd also never played an RPG with anyone in this group before as all our past gaming together has been focused on miniatures gaming. This was very fun as all the players were clearly very experienced and the world setting itself was super fun with all of its background, religions, tribes, cults, guilds etc.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lot of games played and it almost seemed like it could have been a Con. PseudoCon 2014? </span></span><br />
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-20811959473141839342013-11-21T15:36:00.002-06:002013-11-21T15:44:29.647-06:00JimCon 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://jimcon.ca/2013/">Jim Con 3</a> was last weekend (November 15-17, 2013).</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Friday November 15th</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I ran a game of<a href="http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/doctor-who-aitas/"> Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Ashes of the Daleks from the adventure booklet was played.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I had one excellent Whovian player who played as the first Doctor.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Not the best choice for physical stuff like forcing open doors on a space station (there were lots of these) and with no sonic screwdriver... well lets say at least the jiggery-pokery made up for the lack of more obvious solutions. Oh and with a Tardis that basically can just leave and not come back the level of play certainly was improved as more thoughtful solutions to problems were required. I really enjoy this game and once again I was left with the impression of having just watched an episode of the show. Cubicle 7 has done a great job not only with the quality of the boxed game itself but with the game system as well. I would say this falls into the category of the modern RPG.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Saturday November 16th</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A very busy day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I started off running<a href="http://www.goodman-games.com/5070preview.html"> Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG</a> for two players who played two pre-gen characters each. "Tower out of Time" was provided free from Goodman Games as part of their DCC 2013 world tour. I was send a package of "Road Crew" goodies including buttons, pencils, bookmarks and badge tags ( I paid the shipping on this stuff as I'm in Canada and that's their set up, but they sent me enough stuff to host three events - so I guess I'll get a couple more games in this year if I can).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It was a very weird adventure and very pulp fantasy influenced. That's good as that seems to be the point of the game being inspired by <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/Appendix/N">Appendix N</a> genre writing. I don't think one of the players really liked the spell tables but for me this random element is what is missing in most Baroque style game systems (d20 et al.) which focus on balance when designing an encounter.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Everyone seemed to have a great time even though (or perhaps especially that) half of the party died.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I think it all turned for them when the main adversary had a spell failure that ended up working in his favour resulting in an effect that caused all the armour within a 25' radius to fall apart.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhloJVf7A-v7lHAsEo0Z79T3Q5dIiAymtbetD2l4gZ63oPUNUBEg4aEtgdoVryGGcYBoGLdeqdUFNGzzOXP34b0ZCjEOJaRp0u1ZjO1X5iZIAHeHy_T1gtWJKNVR5Ga0KTLEGb95HA_eo/s1600/GMG775CoverLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhloJVf7A-v7lHAsEo0Z79T3Q5dIiAymtbetD2l4gZ63oPUNUBEg4aEtgdoVryGGcYBoGLdeqdUFNGzzOXP34b0ZCjEOJaRp0u1ZjO1X5iZIAHeHy_T1gtWJKNVR5Ga0KTLEGb95HA_eo/s320/GMG775CoverLarge.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Its made of flesh!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeqSNx2foa5loCMHZUChlZYPnqIw5ASMsziWpQ2MIzsOzdOzOtP4t-zKrlXmdhVv51NS5jxGOn9OYaLmJh1yXvQNR4QUWWjZHlRY6wPCalj-1MDQB2QTZzmGTXPXRdQMODV6KBVoE53w/s1600/WorldTourSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeqSNx2foa5loCMHZUChlZYPnqIw5ASMsziWpQ2MIzsOzdOzOtP4t-zKrlXmdhVv51NS5jxGOn9OYaLmJh1yXvQNR4QUWWjZHlRY6wPCalj-1MDQB2QTZzmGTXPXRdQMODV6KBVoE53w/s320/WorldTourSmall.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuck you Tipper Gore!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next was playing in the Total Warfare BattleTech Solaris VII Tournament . I picked some mechs from those available and started shooting. I could see this perhaps being a little more interesting next time but considering that the BattleTech group put a weekend of demos and tournaments together despite having lost some of their organizers for the event I would say they did an above par job. Great fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Finally I joined in on a game of <a href="http://www.numenera.com/">Numenéra</a>. We played an adventure called "The Vortex" written by the game's designer Monte Cooke and GMed by Chris Wachal. I don't want to give away any details on the adventure but I would like to say that I haven't felt this sense of wonder playing an RPG since the very first times I played D&D back in the fall of 1982 when I was nine years old. It was great fun discovering my characters powers and abilities all the while exploring a mysterious temple with no clue as to what to expect next. Rules light system, all new idea, all new encounters – fantastic! BTW my character died at the very end.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDYQG3BbQTcRmI8a1Q0dO5YhZq5rSJzfdPG0IKET5aYOjaEt9VxxNB28wPf1ir6Xbrb5iD8W9AyFBTtBXMY__sn2BmqVYY4XEPm3S0PNMTfb7MLAFQJKbLVI1v05GNXxxGFKpy5D1Zpw/s1600/Numenera-Corebook-Cover-2013-06-18-231x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDYQG3BbQTcRmI8a1Q0dO5YhZq5rSJzfdPG0IKET5aYOjaEt9VxxNB28wPf1ir6Xbrb5iD8W9AyFBTtBXMY__sn2BmqVYY4XEPm3S0PNMTfb7MLAFQJKbLVI1v05GNXxxGFKpy5D1Zpw/s1600/Numenera-Corebook-Cover-2013-06-18-231x300.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monte, I almost forgive you for helping make D&D shitty</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Sunday November 17th</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Early morning as I was scheduled at 8:30 in the morning to run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_World">Gamma World</a> adventure I'd written for the second edition of that game. I had one person show up that expressed interest but he wasn't willing to play unless there were some more people showing up. Lesson learned – pad the table with a player or two of friends and don't run your game too early on Sunday morning. I can't help but think that I got that early slot because I may have expressed interest in leaving the Battletech:Alpha Strike Tournament slot open so I could play in that. In any case I plan on posting the adventure I wrote here along with the one I wrote and ran at JimCon II.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJmeiTczjLuDwkbEL45a4gOXJyiA2WDhVylLzXAPrgWSxyWdMMHPdj4Z3HsvbpFjj0x8CcN-XRPcJdrm79PdtcDRWK9ZyhM-hoasN6FZ5u5cLmQX69kP3l6L-JBIK0zocV0EWIKUU7VU/s1600/Gamma_World_Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJmeiTczjLuDwkbEL45a4gOXJyiA2WDhVylLzXAPrgWSxyWdMMHPdj4Z3HsvbpFjj0x8CcN-XRPcJdrm79PdtcDRWK9ZyhM-hoasN6FZ5u5cLmQX69kP3l6L-JBIK0zocV0EWIKUU7VU/s320/Gamma_World_Book.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Possibly the best edition</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Last of all was the BattleTech: Alpha Strike Tournament using the new <a href="http://bg.battletech.com/?p=4890">Alpha Strike</a> rules that recently came out. I've been playing this for a couple of months and its a really fun game that uses a more modern rules light miniatures game system but still has the feel of BattleTech. I came in fourth place but I had great time playing with the other guys and it looks like there is going to be a resurgence in the local BattleTech community.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPc1XLKNXxOhVuJFE5gZCO_cPWOgYknm9duKsPU0-PRZxAJpvrBXP-_-Fp2EB1Bmi6KNUN3D2tpvsZ2VA2mP_sYeK5Gexu9e1Xb0IS13e1Mvlpa57eDR8-f1jxxVY-xu3uqF_1-FsNbk0/s1600/Alpha-Strike-Cover-preview2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPc1XLKNXxOhVuJFE5gZCO_cPWOgYknm9duKsPU0-PRZxAJpvrBXP-_-Fp2EB1Bmi6KNUN3D2tpvsZ2VA2mP_sYeK5Gexu9e1Xb0IS13e1Mvlpa57eDR8-f1jxxVY-xu3uqF_1-FsNbk0/s320/Alpha-Strike-Cover-preview2.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the fun in less than half the time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had a great time again this year and I recommend that anyone that enjoys tabletop games of any kind come out and play next year.</span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-88825139619613803912013-08-12T23:05:00.002-05:002013-08-12T23:07:05.526-05:00Top Secret: Meta Agents<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EsFiJ20bAi0/UgmpcyhllxI/AAAAAAAAATQ/gdd4vRA701w/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EsFiJ20bAi0/UgmpcyhllxI/AAAAAAAAATQ/gdd4vRA701w/s320/13+-+1" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Top Secret: Meta Agents is on its way to becoming a reality.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I've been proposing this for almost a year now and have now managed to wrangle up a number of players.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The idea is to play a Play by Post game of TSR's 1980 RPG "Top Secret" using snail mail. Players play sleeper agents that have been using their real identity as a cover. Mission packages and agents reports are sent back and forth creating the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Too secret for WikiLeaks, too dangerous for the Internet"</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/474byr2q3u86mb7/Top%20Secret%20Meta%20Agents%20Dossier.pdf"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.dropbox.com/s/474byr2q3u86mb7/Top%20Secret%20Meta%20Agents%20Dossier.pdf</span></a><br />
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<br />Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-88540096790298587582013-06-16T00:10:00.002-05:002013-06-16T00:10:26.339-05:00Game Play Report - KeyCon 30<span style="font-size: large;">This past May Long Weekend (actually the 17th -19th - Victoria Day being the Holiday on the 20th) marked the 30th Anniversary of Manitoba's premier sci-fi and fantasy literary convention. This year as with most others, gaming was a popular component and I took the opportunity to run a couple of RPGs, in particular "Doctor Who - Adventures in Time and Space" and "Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game".</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRaaLwGA-6Q/UZHF0-JU21I/AAAAAAAAAQc/nNYbepc03qc/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRaaLwGA-6Q/UZHF0-JU21I/AAAAAAAAAQc/nNYbepc03qc/s320/13+-+1" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The theme for this year's KeyCon was "The Stars are Right" celebrating 30 years of KeyCon, 50 years of Doctor Who and 100 years of H.P. Lovecraft. This lead me to run the Doctor Who RPG which I had purchased several months ago but never played before. I took my time reading the rules and the adventure during the previous two weeks and became excited about running the game as I thought I had a reasonable idea how it would play. What a surprise when it turned out to be even better. After the game was done it felt like I had just watched a good episode of Doctor Who. Of coarse I have to thank my players, none of whome I'd met before, for doing a really good job of playing the parts of the 10th Doctor, Donna Noble and Captain Jack Harkness. Thanks for playing everyone. That was Saturday afternoon.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wWmSzm8sxOs/Ub1ISOHT9eI/AAAAAAAAARU/-PYqoJ6wnV8/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wWmSzm8sxOs/Ub1ISOHT9eI/AAAAAAAAARU/-PYqoJ6wnV8/s320/13+-+1" width="262" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sunday brought me to running Dungeon Crawl Classics. We played "Portal Under the Stars" an adventure for 0-1st level characters that was included in the rule book. I had run this before at an OSR Manitoba game night I ran at my home and was feeling good about introducing it to KeyCon. Very fun time was had running this for a table of five players, most of whom I knew from playing Pathfinder Society games (none of which were being played that day due to lack of players). We started with zero level character creation, which everyone seemed to enjoy, and moved right into the adventure which they played with a mixture of ingenuity and humour. Way to go guys, I hope to see all of you again when I run a level 1 adventure at this years JimCon in November.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwu1ArSJsTA/Ub1ISHd2FUI/AAAAAAAAARc/ULv6xDzalO4/s1600/13+-+2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwu1ArSJsTA/Ub1ISHd2FUI/AAAAAAAAARc/ULv6xDzalO4/s320/13+-+2" width="247" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I tried to record all of the players who died in the DCC game and will compile it in a later "Hall of Heroes" post along with the dead from the OSR game night.</span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-84154763019339846902013-05-13T15:30:00.002-05:002013-05-13T15:34:14.834-05:00The Unheroic Demise of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying<span style="font-size: large;">In the world of super-hero comics the death of a hero can be an ostentatious event and great characters often don't stay dead for long. Unfortunatly I feel that the loss of licencing from Marvel for Margaret Weiss Productions' Marvel Heroic Roleplaying will not follow the same narrative cycle as the heros it portrays.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjShtbF7IDg/UZE-lY0enAI/AAAAAAAAAPc/h4QHimwrEZ0/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjShtbF7IDg/UZE-lY0enAI/AAAAAAAAAPc/h4QHimwrEZ0/s320/13+-+1" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annihilation - omen of an RPG.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This one really hurts as I've only seen good stuff regarding this game and have purchased almost everything on the shelf for it at my FLGS. I even asked if they could bring in a hard copy of "Civil War - X-Men"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So what happened here? I have my own theories and something about the following quote from MWP doesn't ring quite true - there's something not exactly transparent.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"And in Marvel news… the economics of licensing a tie-in product is always something we have to weigh carefully. We brokered an admittedly ambitious license with Marvel. Our first event, CIVIL WAR, was successful and well received, but it didn’t garner the level of sales necessary to sustain the rest of the line. We’ve learned from this and are taking a very different approach with the other licensed properties we’re bringing out to you in the next three years. We believe we created a great game. Those of you that have supported us have been terrific, and we appreciate you. But, unfortunately, we will not be bringing any new product out under the Marvel line. We know this affects our customers. Those that have pre-ordered Annihilation will receive a full refund or a credit worth 150% of their Annihilation order to use on existing or future product".</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: large;">Really? This game has hardly been out for a year. It also was the 2012 ENnie Awards Silver Award winner for Best Game and Gold Award winner for best rules. They even say in the quote above that CIVIL WAR was successful and well received. How much better was this expected to be. I can't help but think that somehow this has something to do with Marvel over valuing their licence for this game after the success of the Avengers movie. If this game can't make enough money to be viable then I seriously doubt Marvel will be able to find a game company (or develop a game themselves) that will "garner the level of sales necessary to sustain the rest of the line".</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If MWP would come clean with the details maybe the fans could do something regarding this. Specifically, did MWP dump the line because they couldn't make enough money on it? I hope not because they just invested in that tired old property "Firefly". If they dumped Marvel Heroic because they felt they couldn't keep both it and their other newly acquired properties then that would be tragedy. That would essentially mean that they were not prepared to let Marvel Heroic grow and produce returns for them and that they took the money we spent on it and rolled it into a licence for crap like "Firefly".</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If that isn't the case, it means that Marvel wanted too much for the line as negotiated between the two and MWP couldn't make enough profit to viably keep publishing the line- "an admittedly ambitious license". Also if the stuff already written is now being scrapped that means MWP expected to take a loss if they continued. The other scenario here is that Marvel was in a position to request even more for the licence after a set time period, and seeing the success of their Avengers movie, jacked up the fees, making Marvel Heroic unviable. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Here's the situation. If MWP pulled out because they felt they would rather focus on other properties because they were more profitable than Marvel Heroic, but Marvel Heroic was still making money then basically it's over. If MWP lost the license from Marvel because it was too expensive then it's clobbering time. Basically it's unlikely that a new Marvel RPG is going to do better than Marvel Heroic. Its popular and won 2 ENnies. Marvel has to understand the "actual value " of its propery in the RPG game industry. They can either make some money or no money. But here is the game changer. If a game that was popular in the circle of customers that would be interested in such a game didn't generate enough value to continue the line, we need to let Marvel know that we want it to support Marvel Heroic, and that we will not be supporting any forthcoming system. This in effect will make any Marvel RPG completely unviable, unprofitable and generate nothing for Marvel and its properties. If Marvel wants to make any money from our hobby they need to renegotiate a new deal with MWP to continue the Marvel Heroic line. Simply put, we don't need Marvel to keep playing this game, we can make the content ourselves,the OSR has proven that it can be done, and MWP could easily publish the operations manual without the Marvel IP. Marvel has an opportunity to create even more fans, make some money, and watch a game line grow, with the future opportunity to make money on RPGs for every comic book tie in / event they have ever published and/or ever will. However this is Disney - creator of the Disney Vault - they're perfectly willing to sit on this, It's worked for them in the past. This time it's different, because if we keep building our own events and data files then there will never be a demand for a Marvel RPG. Our community will become the one with all the content and all the players. If Marvel sits on this they lose.</span></span><br />
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<br />Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-87500502201855073932013-05-09T00:03:00.002-05:002013-05-09T01:11:18.133-05:00d30 Quest<span style="font-size: large;">Some people really don't like the "funky" (I can't stand that word) dice included as part of the <a href="http://www.goodman-games.com/5070preview.html">Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG</a> rules. I'm not one of them. I like dice, especially RPG dice, a lot. When I first noticed the <a href="http://www.gamestation.net/GameScience-Precision-Zocchi-Pack-Ruby-no-ink/productinfo/9002%2D9071/">GameScience "Zochi" dice</a> I was interested right away but didn't move toward a purchase mostly because of a single die in my collection - the d30.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QaUL2yw7Twc/UYrekSeBOnI/AAAAAAAAAN8/3ydatQ9CQzY/s1600/13+-+2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QaUL2yw7Twc/UYrekSeBOnI/AAAAAAAAAN8/3ydatQ9CQzY/s320/13+-+2" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">My d30 purchased c. 1986 at Hans Christian Toys at the local mall.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">At the time I thought this was the coolest thing ever, even though I'd never read any rules that used the thing, and I had assumed that said rules would be forthcoming (why else make the thing - right?). That didn't really happen, at least not for me. My friend Chris, whom I ran most of my dungeons for, also bought one. We never used it for anything other than rolling to hit or for damage (and not under any house rule either - just when we thought it would be crazy). The only hint I ever received that this chunk of plastic had any use in an RPG was when I discovered that The Armory published a book of tables for use with it. I can't remember when I first discovered this product and I can't remember if I saw an advertisement for it or saw it at a game store. I've never had one in my hands but you can look at one online <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/90558161/30-Sided-Dice-Gaming-Tables-The-Armory">here</a>.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3DJv4yeFT8Q/UYsWM94Y7zI/AAAAAAAAAOs/A_Yc9rnyUY8/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3DJv4yeFT8Q/UYsWM94Y7zI/AAAAAAAAAOs/A_Yc9rnyUY8/s320/13+-+1" width="242" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's a crime that this wasn't included with every d30.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So DCCRPG comes along and I'm super excited about this. I want to see how the new dice work in the game and I have a reason to get new dice (I lie to myself that this is even a requirement to get more dice). Best of all my d30 is actually good for something.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I order a <a href="http://www.gamestation.net/Gamescience-Tanzanite-Precision-12-Dice-Set-White-ink/productinfo/9002%2D9101/">12 piece Gamescience set </a> on eBay and it was great except that it doesn't come with the d7 or d30 so I have to get those extra at my <a href="http://www.gameknight.ca/">FLGS</a>. I see what they have at the store and the d30 is huge (I already thought the d30 I had was massive) and has nothing even close to a hard edge on it. I'm not a big fan of "polished" dice and this one is by far the worst. So what do I do next. I find <a href="http://www.genomicgames.com/store/p/1/dungeon-crawl-classics-rpg-dice">another set of dice</a> I can use for DCC with mostly different shapes and go and buy those too even though they are mismatched sizes and the d30 is exactly like the one I bought at my FLGS. I'm still glad I bought them however.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXZVH5SijZE/UYrekf77ePI/AAAAAAAAAN4/iAtCXp_Fn4U/s1600/13+-+3" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXZVH5SijZE/UYrekf77ePI/AAAAAAAAAN4/iAtCXp_Fn4U/s320/13+-+3" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nice useless pips under the 16, 19, 26 and 29 Brainiac.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So what I decide I really want is to be able to find a d30 like the one I originally had. It's pretty beat up so I'd like to have a new one or one like new even though it still rolls better than the two newest ones I've acquired. Then I get word from my friend Jim that there is a d30 like the one I want in with a bag of other used dice for three dollars. I'm still not sure what kind of dice some of those are, but the d30 is exactly like my old d30 except for the colour and much better condition. What great luck.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5E8YgcepM0Y/UYrekYEJmLI/AAAAAAAAAOA/kbesPZpSbbs/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5E8YgcepM0Y/UYrekYEJmLI/AAAAAAAAAOA/kbesPZpSbbs/s320/13+-+1" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A real treasure.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don't know if these are GameScience or Armory, but they don't wear as well as any other GameScience dice I own so I'm going to assume they are Armory. The bigger ones I am lead to believe are Koplow. Besides those three, I can't find any other companies or styles of d30, but I'll keep looking.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EzfGt9yvWls/UYrekZA0n7I/AAAAAAAAAOE/tyVqp193TAU/s1600/13+-+4" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EzfGt9yvWls/UYrekZA0n7I/AAAAAAAAAOE/tyVqp193TAU/s320/13+-+4" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">My two styles compared to a GameScience d20.</span></td></tr>
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-84311898763310355012013-05-05T15:39:00.000-05:002013-05-05T15:39:52.022-05:00Game Play Update<span style="font-size: large;">As has been obvious to anyone dropping by here I haven't been very active lately. That's the bad news. The good news is that it's been a busy time for gaming since <a href="http://jimcon.ca/2012/">JimCon</a> in November.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Around the new year I was invited to join a group for a game held every two weeks. The home it is hosted in has a dedicated game room which is very nice and the hosts are active gamers (thanks Greg and Sara). Our first meet up was to decide what kind of experience we wanted to build here. We came to a decision that we would start with Basic D&D to create a campaign. I offered to DM (the players are Greg aka Radek, Sara aka Emmie, Jim aka Greybeard, Tyler aka Philippe and Paul aka Rogan). It was discussed that perhaps we could play a variety of game systems but most of the players wanted an ongoing campaign so they could develop their characters. I suggested that we could possibly have a campaign where the characters are transported to different worlds that would support a unique genre and allow the use of a new game with characters being converted to the new system. We've been going through the "<a href="http://www.dragonsfoot.org/files/pdf/DF23-The-Haunted-Keep.pdf">Haunted Keep</a>" and that's been very fun and of course it supports basic. I'll be switching us over to <a href="http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/index.html">Castles & Crusades</a> soon as it will be easier to convert the majority of the materials I have in mind for the near future. Once we move to C&C I'm not sure that moving away from that sytem will be necessary. Horror and Pulp adventures are being considered and I may just run something with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lejendary_Adventure">Lejendary Adventure </a>rules. Only time will tell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also in the new year I was invited (through JimCon acquaintances) to come out for a monthly game day being put on by people interested in miniatures gaming. I've been playing <a href="http://bg.battletech.com/">Battletech</a> with Nathan. My game is starting to see some improvement. I'm actually using some tactics. I missed this last month but am looking forward to using my new miniatures next a few weeks from now.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uq9JDIHLpZQ/UYa_d83AMbI/AAAAAAAAALo/Am9Je-enmZc/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uq9JDIHLpZQ/UYa_d83AMbI/AAAAAAAAALo/Am9Je-enmZc/s1600/13+-+1" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I've also been playing in some Pathfinder Society games. I GMed <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8wdz?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-4-19-The-Night-March-of-Kalkamedes">Night March of Kalkamede</a>s at the spring <a href="http://www.gameknight.ca/index.htm">Game Knight</a> Game Day and have been playing a few selected scenarios here and there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My Alchemist Gravidad died. I'm also finding the d20 Fantasy rules that Pathfinder uses to be somewhat unsatisfying, especially compared with <a href="http://www.dndclassics.com/product/110274/D%26D-Basic-Set-Rulebook-%28Basic%29">Tom Moldvay's Basic D&D rulebook</a>. I'm not the first person to say this, nor is this the first time I've mentioned it, but <a href="http://www.dndclassics.com/product/110274/D%26D-Basic-Set-Rulebook-%28Basic%29">Moldvay</a>'s presentation of the D&D rules may be the single best version ever made and are especially the most elegant.</span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-82608231975312803262012-12-28T23:50:00.000-06:002013-05-05T15:44:49.505-05:007 RPGs Meme<span style="font-size: large;">Ok, here goes....I don't usually participate in these things but I think it's interesting to read about what games other people play and hope you do too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Basically the idea is to post the top seven RPGs you've played or refereed. These are mine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dungeons & Dragons (B/X and 1e)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWo3imVO240D64k20i8nUHYOEAwnnEqav7BkeH8ceqgubJjyavzNYHMrEN6UhVAY17d4yiI2zOD_2rA5ms7jCzqE1u3CUtdcLwHTM3GSbgizKmkjdpSOlPaG2OiBhDblrfvEEFIVi3v-ot/s1600/IMG_0304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWo3imVO240D64k20i8nUHYOEAwnnEqav7BkeH8ceqgubJjyavzNYHMrEN6UhVAY17d4yiI2zOD_2rA5ms7jCzqE1u3CUtdcLwHTM3GSbgizKmkjdpSOlPaG2OiBhDblrfvEEFIVi3v-ot/s320/IMG_0304.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6sCiYsajozXjDWhczITntKyFs5dw9XCxOltLHZk9nrxlCRe6lksO2cHlKlbTSAZ97Yf7V7VKWDBWAk4S_8sRsro-Rl_MRXhQE-Kh1AayHyfibaF70Gzx6yfAMvF-Pnk-0hHNMLwb0tY/s1600/WEG+Star+Wars+RPG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6sCiYsajozXjDWhczITntKyFs5dw9XCxOltLHZk9nrxlCRe6lksO2cHlKlbTSAZ97Yf7V7VKWDBWAk4S_8sRsro-Rl_MRXhQE-Kh1AayHyfibaF70Gzx6yfAMvF-Pnk-0hHNMLwb0tY/s320/WEG+Star+Wars+RPG.JPG" width="247" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marvel Superheroes (TSR - also Advanced Game)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWny45JNBKEwYHzSnP1fXmsHxCUm-xMPf8w5yN4pLKwT53nB68jaz_VEnNizLlsCPfERQChkcgOoP1v-BkAI_Z4CJTB6d5FemZe2VzdWmpw6TwyWnk8OonVo6wM1jq4EtBj2yn51cVwQ/s1600/PZO1110_500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWny45JNBKEwYHzSnP1fXmsHxCUm-xMPf8w5yN4pLKwT53nB68jaz_VEnNizLlsCPfERQChkcgOoP1v-BkAI_Z4CJTB6d5FemZe2VzdWmpw6TwyWnk8OonVo6wM1jq4EtBj2yn51cVwQ/s320/PZO1110_500.jpeg" width="248" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Middle Earth Roleplaying (MERP - I.C.E.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj365pGHWDyJN42W6jOrlpXRRzv20UWaPyCCuskJaJbhQq_045TPCBYy59VL9pi-TqHmQ85GN2d_EJaje0fcx5uj0DOHm2U83OD9Ke-ayR97xevsBzfGXZx0u1z6v-3dqjxC8h-DwRahmmE/s1600/merp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj365pGHWDyJN42W6jOrlpXRRzv20UWaPyCCuskJaJbhQq_045TPCBYy59VL9pi-TqHmQ85GN2d_EJaje0fcx5uj0DOHm2U83OD9Ke-ayR97xevsBzfGXZx0u1z6v-3dqjxC8h-DwRahmmE/s320/merp.jpg" width="247" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Conan (TSR)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyE0nmrKGr0pLKYctEwvnlW2K1oPml9wzC_U8BuDy928W4okRowMwo6NAsDrsOnoP0rzamcYssyvcdiPEaydpQGox73R-ikwQk06J6HLd_cUAG6cf3jF0RTDtU_I-3nUK3L_W55eo7sXo/s1600/game+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyE0nmrKGr0pLKYctEwvnlW2K1oPml9wzC_U8BuDy928W4okRowMwo6NAsDrsOnoP0rzamcYssyvcdiPEaydpQGox73R-ikwQk06J6HLd_cUAG6cf3jF0RTDtU_I-3nUK3L_W55eo7sXo/s320/game+book.jpg" width="244" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ghostbusters (WEG/Chaosium)</span><br />
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Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-3903495637956937202012-12-13T02:49:00.001-06:002012-12-13T02:49:56.924-06:00 JimCon II<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ok so a lot has been happening since my last post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">JimCon II</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I ran three games at what is becoming Winnipeg's best gaming convention.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yoyGJz1yybawHDWPXI7dz25dWoE5LzrxBTWzugf_b5Ua0RoczcY_EtY-A2DUEisRFciZo45zFEc1eqW7nxXw7ibe-JwdKBTk86ez3ui_eHaBRT-H82_7PAXtnSXAtXlpIZhLtvNEGwo/s1600/JimCon2011copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yoyGJz1yybawHDWPXI7dz25dWoE5LzrxBTWzugf_b5Ua0RoczcY_EtY-A2DUEisRFciZo45zFEc1eqW7nxXw7ibe-JwdKBTk86ez3ui_eHaBRT-H82_7PAXtnSXAtXlpIZhLtvNEGwo/s1600/JimCon2011copy.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Friday evening was Battle Tech. Me and Ray (who writes Shadowrun stuff for Catalyst Game Labs) played a game of my own invention where his mech lance (House Steiner) was attempting to beat rival factions to a drop ship lost for over 200 years. In the way was a lance of Com Star mechs blocking any transmissions allowing for the request of reinforcements. Ray was able to aquire the signal jamming trasmitter, winning the scenario. I had a couple of other scenarios planned that led to the drop ship and its cargo but Ray had to check out some other tables. It was a great game. We used the Total Warfare rulebook, which I find is very much the same rules as the original boxed set that I brought along with me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Saturday was Castles & Crusades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What a downer – nobody signed up to play. I had a couple of people look over the rule books and a few were even interested in playing until a Pathfinder table opend up for them. I did an interview for TV and rescued a dog wandering around in the parking lot. Thanks JimCon volunteers for helping me out!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sunday was Gamma World (2nd Edition)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We played an adventure of my own divising that took place around the "Free Town of Pinawa".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Turns out that one of the players was actually from Pinawa, Manitoba.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I wasn't quite prepared for all the charts in this game but it seemed like everyone had as much fun as I did. I really found the system refreshing to run in its uncomplicated rules set. Everything was there in that ancient box.</span><br />
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<br />Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-72498450526589191452012-08-03T00:23:00.001-05:002012-11-28T11:32:40.840-06:00Super Heroic<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I wish I had more time and a group of players that were</span></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">interested in a variety of games.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Recently I acquired a copy of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.margaretweis.com/shop?view=ecwid#ecwid:category=2262007&mode=product&product=9555027">Marvel Heroic Roleplaying</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This game is very cool. Its all about collective storytelling and dramatic tension.</span></div>
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<a href="http://images-cdn.ecwid.com/images/1035461/30658496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game" border="0" class="gwt-Image" src="http://images-cdn.ecwid.com/images/1035461/30658496.jpg" style="height: 337px; width: 260px;" title="Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I adore the initiative in this game. The first person to react usually goes first. Its really isn't that important as that person chooses who goes next and so forth. Don't get caught with letting all the bad guys go last!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Players essentially build dice pools based on their powers (and other stats) in combination with their description of the action(s) they are describing. Dice pools are made up of d4 to d12. Stats are described as having a die value. Ones are discarded and the two (or more if you spend plot points) highest (usually) dice are totalled up. You choose your effect die from any left over. Its not the number on the die that counts toward effect but the size of the die.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I haven't played a game yet but it looks interesting. I'd like to give it a whirl at/on ConstantCon sometime.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I understand that this game is based on the <a href="http://www.margaretweis.com/shop#ecwid:category=2262012&mode=product&product=9555062">Cortex System</a> also by <a href="http://www.margaretweis.com/">Margaret Weiss Productions</a>. This rules set looks like a universal system to build whatever type of game you want around it. I might have to take a look at this sometime and build some kind of warped fantasy thing out of it.</span><br />
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<a href="http://images-cdn.ecwid.com/images/1035461/33485136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Cortex System Role Playing Game" border="0" class="gwt-Image" src="http://images-cdn.ecwid.com/images/1035461/33485136.jpg" title="Cortex System Role Playing Game" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The supers thing has made me take a look back at the old TSR Marvel Super Heroes game. I still think this game holds up, however I do think that Marvel Heroic suits my tastes as an experienced and adult player much more than the older system. If your never had a chance to play MSH (FASERIP) or you don't have your old edition anymore you can get the 4C System (Four Colors System) <a href="http://hazardstudio.net/id18.html">here</a> for free.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">At the time Marvel Super Heroes was excellent. The universal table was a great way to express the powers of the heroes being played. I don't think that translated into 3rd edition Gamma World very well and wasn't quite what was required for Adventures of Indiana Jones. TSR Conan somehow worked well with this though I'm not sure why.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I also looked into the <a href="http://www.bashrpg.com/">BASH Superhero RPG</a> this looks like something in between Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel Heroic.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Marvel heroic is $19.99 Print – $12.99 PDF</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">4C System is $6.30 Print – FREE PDF both at Lulu</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">BASH Ultimate Edition is £23.99 at Cubicle Seven </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">$9.99 PDF at RPGNow</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Mostly all a great value. I'm especially fond of Marvel Heroic being a new game at a great price. Its even printed like a comic book graphic novel collection.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-55694842446035860852012-06-15T02:36:00.000-05:002012-06-15T02:37:34.658-05:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I've been really busy creating this OSR Manitoba group lately as well as playing Pathfinder Society Organized Play games (my character was killed by JuJu Zombies tonight).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The idea of running classics RPGs seems to be fairly popular but I haven't run or played in any games yet. I'm hoping to get something going on July 29 (the day in the year opposite my birthday).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I guess the main theme here is that although I haven't been working on RPG projects - including blogging - I've been playing. With playing has come a lot of new friends and a network of players and GMs. Its a great source of inspiration. I really enjoy the different play styles and seeing what is important to a person's game.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I've also become quite interested in Google+ games in hangouts. I haven't tried one yet but I'm going to host one soon and maybe jump into one via <a href="http://constantcon.blogspot.ca/">ConstantCon</a>. Also wanting to try out <a href="http://tabletopforge.com/">Tabletop Forge</a>.</span></div>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-54414246742202887962012-05-28T18:27:00.004-05:002012-06-15T02:38:15.199-05:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In my attempt to find more players in my community to play my favourite RPGs I've started a new group.</span><br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/108709530726318437260"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">OSR Manitoba</span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Good things seem to be happening around here with <a href="http://jimcon.ca/2011/77-eventinfo/82-jimcon-ii">JimCon</a> and the Manitoba Pathfinder Lodge and I am hoping that a lot of this momentum will bring out the players that are interested in playing the same kind of games as I am. First step is creating awareness and assembling players.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">After a bit of a slump, gaming has returned in a significant way to <a href="http://www.keycon.org/">Keycon</a> in no small measure due to the groups mentioned above.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Next stop is hopefully <a href="http://www.prairiecon.com/">PrairieCon</a> in Brandon, Manitoba</span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-2828838092604601762012-03-09T14:36:00.000-06:002012-03-09T14:39:17.597-06:00Warlord of a Red Planet<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Disney and Andrew Stanton's film version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' <a href="http://disney.go.com/johncarter/">John Carter</a> opens in theatres today. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It is well known that Burroughs' Martian stories were a significant influence on the feel of early Dungeons & Dragons. In 1974 TSR even published a set of rules compatible with, but not officially a part of, the D&D game called <a href="http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/Warriors_of_Mars">Warriors of Mars</a>. This book was in publication for only a finite time due to a cease and desist order form the Burroughs estate shortly after being released. This copyright dispute is likely the reason why the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_and_planet">Sword & Planet</a> aspects of pulp fantasy account for such as small part of the tabletop roleplaying material published to date. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If only the following quote from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax">Gygax</a> had made it from the first edition of D&D into AD&D and the massively popular D&D Basic boxed sets and their successors.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Those wargamers who lack imagination, those who don't care for Burroughs' Martian adventures where John Carter is groping through black pits.. will not be likely to find DUNGEONS and DRAGONS</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to their taste."</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So its no wonder, though no one has seemed to notice as far as I can tell, that <a href="http://paizo.com/paizo">Paizo</a> has decided to release its new Campaign Setting supplement <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8qib?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Distant-Worlds">"Distant Worlds"</a> just in time to coincide with the release of John Carter in Theatres. In Paizo's <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ief?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-The-Inner-Sea-World-Guide">"Inner Sea World Guide"</a> the section on other worlds, that describe the solar system that the Pathfinder setting's world of Golarion rests in, makes mention of a world called Akiton the Red that "is a planet of immense deserts, tortuous mountains, and rugged badlands. The denizens of Akiton are known primarily for their violence." </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In the product description </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 19px;">at Paizo's</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> online store you are invited to "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">fight beside the four-armed giants of Akiton".</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The World Guide description of Akiton was enough to get the idea of where they were going with this world and where its influence came from but the Distant Worlds description and cover art pretty much dispel any confusion as to what that influence is. If you are a Pathfinder fan and a fan of Burroughs' martian stories it looks like Paizo has your book.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If OD&D is your game or some other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_simulacrums">OSR</a> type version of D&D you might be interested in <a href="http://www.grey-elf.com/barsoom.pdf">Warriors of Mars by "Doc"</a>. This appears to be a set of house rules inspired by the TSR game mentioned above but made more compatible with OD&D.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Whatever your taste, it looks like John Carter's star, or planet if you prefer, is on the rise once more. Pretty good for a story originally published, almost exactly one-hundred years ago under the pen name of Norman Bean, as Under the Moons of Mars.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 19px;"> </span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8504509115725831098.post-73985288621827880142012-03-03T20:44:00.000-06:002012-03-03T20:44:58.351-06:00d12 and Initiative<span style="font-family: "Times", "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I find myself for the most part creating all my random lists in my RPG writing based on a selection of twelve in order to make use of the d12. I find it strange that twelve seems to be a very common number in our culture and society (especially in pre-metric times and places) and yet the d12 in RPGs is underutilized.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times", "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My own observation is that twelve is commonly used by people to understand and quantify the world. It is used to create separations that describe the cosmos and the passage of time. These things occur at a regular interval or are otherwise fixed, standardized or sacred. There really isn't much call to randomize these things in an imagined world.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times", "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One area that comes to mind here that I think is being overlooked and makes complete sense to me when considering the paragraph above it that of the combat round. In the games I currently play Castles & Crusades and Pathfinder the combat round is 10 seconds and 6 seconds respectively. In Basic D&D its 10 seconds and in AD&D its 60 seconds (a whole minute)!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times", "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am suggesting that in systems that use a d6 (D&D, AD&D) or d10 roll (C&C) use a d12 instead. In the Castle Keepers Guide it suggests that the use of a d10 is preferred over d6 as each value represents the segment that action occurs in. Looking at it like that I feel that it would make sense to divide the time into twelve segments, like the numbers on a clock or the months of a year. In any case the d12 would have a new lease on life.</span></span>Scott Hadallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00441488419779769091noreply@blogger.com1