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).

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).

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.

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 ConstantCon. Also wanting to try out Tabletop Forge.

In my attempt to find more players in my community to play my favourite RPGs I've started a new group.


OSR Manitoba

Good things seem to be happening around here with JimCon 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.


After a bit of a slump, gaming has returned in a significant way to Keycon in no small measure due to the groups mentioned above.


Next stop is hopefully PrairieCon in Brandon, Manitoba

Warlord of a Red Planet

Disney and Andrew Stanton's film version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter opens in theatres today.  

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 Warriors of Mars. 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 Sword & Planet aspects of pulp fantasy account for such as small part of the tabletop roleplaying material published to date. 


If only the following quote from Gygax 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.


"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 to their taste."

So its no wonder, though no one has seemed to notice as far as I can tell, that Paizo has decided to release its new Campaign Setting supplement "Distant Worlds" just in time to coincide with the release of John Carter in Theatres. In Paizo's "Inner Sea World Guide" 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." 
In the product description at Paizo's online store you are invited to "fight beside the four-armed giants of Akiton".

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.

If OD&D is your game or some other OSR type version of D&D you might be interested in Warriors of Mars by "Doc". This appears to be a set of house rules inspired by the TSR game mentioned above but made more compatible with OD&D.

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.

  

d12 and Initiative

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.

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.


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)!


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.

JimCon

JimCon was a great time.
Friday evening I played Twilight Imperium from 3:30 until 11:30. It was fun. Sure didn't seem like eight hours.

I ran Dark Journey for Castles & Crusades on Saturday morning and afternoon. I had three players playing a total of four characters. Pretty fun stuff but it was really loud in the main room and a bit hard to talk over all the activity. We didn't finish (only cleared out most of the first level) but I got to run through character generation and show off the system for people who have never played C&C before.
New players picked up the SIEGE Engine mechanic right away.

At 6:30 I played Blood Under Absalom for Pathfinder Society. Super cool multi-table event. My Elf Sorceror character Azdiron really made use of his raven familiar Nebulus to deliver  Shocking Hands touch attacks.

I took sunday off to spend with my girlfriend and family. I was going to play a Mentzer Basic game but by the time I ate breakfast I'd decided that I was on RPG overload. I also wanted to play Dawn Patrol as someone was running it and I'd never played it before.


Also of Interest was the Avalon Hill  Dune board game just sitting around waiting to be played. I'd have been all over that, as I've been wanting to check it out now for several months, but I didn't have the time.

What to Run at JimCon

I will be running a game of Castles & Crusades at JimCon on November 12, 2011. Still deciding what to run. It might be a published adventure, either a classic TSR or recent Troll Lord one, or perhaps one of my own that I'm wanting to try out. The slot starts at 9am but I want to allow for some character generation, to explain the rules a little to those not familiar with the subtleties and to let people come to the table for a while before the game starts at about 10.

DIY and the OSR - A Theory

I was thinking that the era celebrated by the OSR is contemporary to Punk Culture and that both include as part of its composition a DIY ethic.

Punk LBBs?

I was wondering if somehow, consciously or subconsciously, that RPG gamers brought a bit of that with them to the OSR.


"Central to the ethic is the empowerment of individuals and communities, encouraging the employment of alternative approaches when faced with bureaucratic or societal obstacles to achieving their objectives.

Rather than belittling or showing disdain for knowledge or expertise, DIY champions the average individual seeking knowledge and expertise for him/herself. Instead of using the services of others who have expertise, a DIY oriented person would seek out the knowledge for him/herself."