A Campaign Begins for Newbies

Like many of you, the affects of the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted how hundreds of millions of us fellow mutants interact and function in our jobs, communities and the world. It's a scary time for many people and, in my experience, a majority of the general population has been dealing with this in a pretty positive manner. Everyone has had to make adjustments in everything they do and all of us are experiencing a collective experience on many levels.

So.... gaming.

As you've probably noticed, The Warlock's Home Brew has been shuttered for quite some time (since late 2017). This had happened for a number of reasons. Work had gotten very busy and I didn't really have time to dedicate to blogging or gaming.  Plus, after eight years of running a continuous face-to-face campaign with my friends (all documented here), I was pretty burnt out GMing.  Finally, most of the players slowly started to disperse and go their separate ways so it felt like it was a good time to wrap up for a while.

But, lo!  Fast forward to our current timeline!

With communications with friends and family moving online, I thought now might be a good time to give online rpg'ing another try.

I had worked with Roll20 years ago and found it to be a fantastic system though, for me, time consuming and a bit clunky for a more fast-paced game such as Swords & Wizardry.  It was a fun experiment and would dabble on the platform every once-in-a-while but always just stuck with face-to-face play.

As my wife and I and a couple of our good friends that we travel with began meeting online for chats, I put it out there for us to use that time to dive into some fantasy adventuring!

Recall, if you will, that my wife is not at all a RPG gamer.  I did get her to play in our S&W campaign for a short while but it just didn't click with her. The role-playing just wasn't her thing.  Plus, we were playing with all of my friends, seasoned role-players so she felt a little out of her element.  I guess killing her character off with a Gelatinous Cube wasn't helpful either - though she fondly jokes about that experience!  See, PC deaths are a good thing!

Our friend David hasn't played the game since he was in grade school some 45+ years ago (that is crazy when you think about it), but he recalled enjoying the game enough to give it another try.

And finally, our friend Paul who has never, ever played and only knows of the game from watching Stranger Things said, "Sure, why the hell not."

So it had begun!

In short, we've had 3 sessions so far with two lasting more than four hours! We've been playing twice a week and our 4th session will be this evening.  It has been very successful and everyone has been having a great time. I've been working to streamline our Roll20 play so things run smoothly and I'll share some of what I learned about that here as well as covering our campaign summaries like I did before.

Oh, and yes, Swords & Wizardry is my game to play!

So stay safe, everyone, and...

30 Days of Game Mastering Part 2

In stead of a daily dose of GMing wisdom from this month's 30 day blog meme, I've broke this into three parts.  Part 1 can be read here.

PART II: AT THE TABLE
1. House rules: what are your favorite hacks, mods, and shortcuts?

My house rules mostly consisted of additional character classes ported into my campaign.  One house rule I do enjoy is Wisdom as sanity from Akratic Wizardry.

2. Table rules: how do you keep players focused on the game?

I let table talk go on just a bit if it's a non-session topic, after all, we're here as friends and we gotta chat sometime.  But I'll bring it back by just interrupting the conversation and bringing it back to the game.  Just cut them off.  Everyone's usually fine with that.  If table conversation is session based or game based I let that go on as long as needed.

3. Rise to the challenge: how do you balance encounters in your system?

Balance encounters?  Never!  It's up to the players to avoid taking that 'wrong' turn.  Also, the party consists of PCs levels 2 through 7.  Good luck balancing encounters for that. 

4. How do you facilitate combat? Any tips, tools, or cheats?

Pretty straight from the rules (Swords & Wizardry Complete).  I discarded descending AC day 1. AAC makes things much easier and faster.

5. Memorable villains: how do you introduce and weave the antagonist/s into the ongoing narrative?

I think I always try to keep the major NPCs floating in the background via rumors or chats with other NPC's or just in the session backgrounds.  I also try to keep them alive if encountered so that they can harass the players in the future – not always easy to do so it's best to just keep mentioning the baddies until they come face to face.  Build up that 'legend'.

6. Investigation and mysteries: how do you use foreshadowing, red herrings, and keep the tension rising?

Again, I use rumors via NPCs to keep things in the player's conscientiousness.  Keep the stories floating around the campaign even when the PCs are out on a totally separate adventure.  I've tossed red herrings but with gaps between sessions and the slow pace of campaigns in general, those usually get lost.  The red herrings I tend to keep tighter to the narrative of the current session or the next.  Any more than that too much time goes by and you loose the edge of a false rumor.

7. Structure and time: how do you use flashbacks, cut scenes, and parallel narratives in your games?

I don't use flashbacks or cut scenes in a game.  They don't work.  For me, the campaign in a linear path of the players experiences.  The stories and campaign goes on before the character is born and after he/she dies.  It's up to the players to make their backstory elements of the game and me to enact them but I don't go 'back in time' to 'set the story'.  By parallel narratives, I assume that this is only cut scenes between a split party.  I usually run those for about 10 minutes (hmm, the time of a game turn) before cutting back to the other players. 

8. How do you handle rewards, be they XP, magic items, or gold?

I started the campaign with a standard monster xp split among the players and gold totals split as xp among the players.  Magic items are a value in and of itself and receive NO experience point value.  But since our sessions meet twice a month (when we're on a roll) and not everyone shows up, leveling PCs was pretty slow  It took a couple of years to get to level three or four.  I've since moved to full monster experience rewarded to EACH  PC present for that session.  Monster experience is NOT split.  Treasure value is still split equally as experience though.  But players HAVE  to be present during the session to receive the rewards.  A little more bookkeeping on my end but it seems to be working pretty well.  The pace of character advancement seems to fit well with our play schedule. Also, I don't actually reward them the experience until the return to home base.  Though I record the experience each PC receives they don't get it until they head home. 

9. What was your worst session and why?

The only bad session(s) I had was when I felt my head wasn't really in the game. Note, however, that the players still all had a great time.  It's all relative so someone always has a great time.

10. What was your best session and why?

Sessions where I am fully present and 'participating' in the game as much as the players are.  Not sitting back coasting on the contents of an adventure module.  Those always tend to be the best.  When everyone's involved and we're playing off each other.  But it's all relative anyway.

30 Days of Game Mastering Part 1

I'm not one to jump on one of these blog memes, it's quite the commitment and I don't really have time to dedicate to 30 straight days of posting but I was drawn towards this one.  It's always useful to gain insight into methods that other GMs use in their game prep and execution.  There can never be enough tips out there for starting or veteran GMs.

So instead of daily postings I'm dropping this beat in three parts.

PART I: PREPARATION

1. What advice would you give a first-time GM?

Go easy on yourself.  It's not all in your hands to run the perfect game, the players are part of that process too once you're all at the table.  If you've never GMed before, start with a rules-lite game.  The mechanics are generally easy to grasp and there aren't too many of theme either.  There are tons of rules-lite games out there for all kinds of genres.  Know the rules and how the mechanics work but you don't have to memorize them.  Don't plan an epic.  Put together a short and sweet scenario, one session to get your feet wet so you can get familiar with the rules and guiding a table full of people through an adventure.  And let your players know that this is your first time GMing.  Most people don't have the time or energy to dedicate to planning and running a game so they tend to be grateful that someone does and that they can participate.  They'll cut you slack.  Remember, if the game doesn't go well the first time, don't be discouraged, learn from your mistakes, adjust what you have to and give it another try.  One last point, you may think you ran a bad game but they players may thing otherwise.  They may have had the best time of their lives.  Perspective is relative.

2. What are your favorite GMing tools or accessories?

Hmm,  a pencil, some paper to jot ideas down on but I rely on the computer for most everything and transfer all my notes there (more organized and legible) .  I hand-draw my player maps but scan and finish them in Photoshop or GIMP.  I just like a more polished look on handouts and whatnot.  I use Blogger and created a site just for my campaign notes and pre and post game thoughts for me and the players.  I found that easier than all the scraps of paper I end up with.  I also use Blogger for a players gaming aid (a newspaper styled website for my ICONS campaign).  Note:  Blogger is free to use and I hate dishing out additional cash for RPG gaming stuff.  I tried Obsidian Portal, a good resource, but it was more than I needed..  Beyond that, all the random charts that I can gather from the interwebs (Hack  & Slash's right column, charts I've collected at the Home Brew).  Random charts are the greatest gift to any GM and you can never have enough.  Organizing them, however, is a different matter.

3. How do you find players?

I ask my friends.  I was looking for at least three, ended up with eight.  I think you can always find a couple of willing players out there.  They might be hard to find but they're out there.  Local gaming groups are great to get involved with and don't discount posting a flier at your game store, hobby shop, library, or college.  Start your own group - organize!  There's plenty of closeted geeks and non-closeted geeks out there!  The harder part may be finding players that are interested in the specific game you are running. RPGs are so diverse now with genres within genres that some people's tastes might be very specific.  You might have to start a bit more generic in terms of genre and then once you have a group, find more specific games you all might like to participate in.  Online is a great way to find players as well.  G+ communities or Roll 20 are good places to start.

4. Do you use pre-published adventures or write your own?

Both. I love pre-published adventures to flesh out the campaign but I hack the heck out of them - new maps or just pieces of them, whatever I need to work best in my session or campaign.  I write my own as needed using the One-Page Dungeon format.  Lately, I've just been writing outlines of 'plot-points' and 'guide' players to them or throw 'em down as needed.

5. Stealing like an artist: what inspiration have you drawn from other games, books, movies, etc?

Inspiration?  Everything from comics to movies to books.  They don't even have to be genre specific.  Western plots work well in fantasy settings or space operas as do super-hero adventures or spy thrillers.  Every type of adventure can happen in every type of genre so don't be afraid to mix and match.

6. Worldbuilding–what’s your process?

Keeping it small is the best way to go but I tend to like a general broad-stroke on the bigger picture;  the surrounding lands, major influences and players (NPCs), factions, etc.  It's not really needed at first but I just like to have a very loose big picture in mind.  after than I begin to narrow it down until I have the starting location pinpointed.  In the end, in my experience, the campaign really only takes place in a very small, small small portion of the greater world (at least at first and for a long while).  You really only need to map out a 20 mile hex.  No need to over plan but I enjoy the exercise so I work it a bit, usually I have it just running in the background of my mind and don't dwell on  it too much - letting if shape itself naturally.

7. How do you prep for the start of a campaign?

I tend to put a lot more prep into the start of a campaign.  I think it's important to set the mood and color initially, of course that  gets run off the rails pretty quickly once the players get involved.  I don't like to railroad the players at all so I like to give them plenty of options at the beginning of the campaign (rumors work well) and let them choose their path.  The rumors give the players options but I have to plan out those options, at least the initial steps.  Remember, you just have to get through that first session so you don't need too much of any one destination, but you do need an idea of what each option will have in store for the characters that first session.  After they choose a path, you can spend the time between sessions fleshing it out a bit more.  Of course, they can ignore your rumors and take things off map then you're flying by the seat of your pants.  Again, it's one session and you can flesh out that path too between sessions.

8. How do you prep for each session?

Each session takes much less time than the start of a campaign. Usually a few jotted notes if it happens to be a more open-ended portion of a campaign or reading up on the adventure (module).  Maybe writing up some NPCs.  My between game prep has really shrunk to a minimum as I try to let player actions determine the course of the session.  If I have plot points or story elements that I have planned out, I'll drop those in appropriately. I've found that if I plan too much, the players pretty much bypass all I have planned and I ended up just wasting my time.

9. Player “homework”: what do you ask of your players before and between sessions?

None.  I hate homework so I don't pass that onto my players.  We're all to busy with work and family to deal with gaming homework.

10. What are your tips for running a low/no prep game?

One or two random charts and then let the players take it from there.  The best games I've had are when I didn't have much prepared or the players took me off in some unexpected direction and I had to wing it - to participate in the unknown just as the players at the table are doing. I think that's how RPGs were intended to be played.

Coming up next:  Part 2 At the Table

From Supers Back To Swords

So we're shifting gears a bit.

Our group has finished the Golden Age part of our Icons Supers campaign (You can read abou the dazzling exploits here).  The next time we dive into Icons we'll be exploring the Silver Age, you know, intelligent apes, commies, alien invasions and cosmic encounters.

Right now, everyone is anxious to get back to the characters they love and our Swords and Wizardry campaign.  So the adventures around The Ruined Tower of Zenopus will be continuing in the next couple of weeks. I have no idea what's gonna happen.

However, tonight we delve into D&D Next.  Corey (who ran a number of the Icons adventures) will be running the Caves of Chaos play-test.  I took a quick peek at the rules this morning and at first glance I have to say it doesn't look too bad.  We'll see how it plays out and I'll have a full report on my impressions of the game soon after.

ICONS Through It's Paces

Our group has just finished it's seventh session of an Icons campaign.  I think we've put the game through it's paces and pushed it's boundaries.  Over the weeks I have expressed some of my opinions of the game.  I wanted to get the group's opinion of the game having been introduced to it.  What are their thoughts on the mechanics, the rules themselves, gameplay etc.

RULES

It seemed overall the general rules-lite supers game had high marks and was enjoyed by all.  With a sense of everyone at the table participating in the game storytelling gave the game an inclusive exciting and fun quality.

"Flexible storytelling, everyone can chime in, or spend determination to retcon stuff. Trust in the story is built between players and 'dm' and we all take ownership of it because we all had a hand in building it." -Clay

This comes off every clear in the rules and in practice it's a blast.  It keeps the GM on his toes and all the players involved.  Even with a linear plot-line it still comes off as very loose with an anything can go feeling.

"...it's a good framework...it needs a lot of role-playing rather than relying on the numbers, (maybe sort of like higher-level D&D?) because the powers get a little silly." -Brian

Also describing things in terms of panels and pages is a stoke of genius in a heroes game.

CHARACTERS

"Character creation is fun. Rolling through the powers to see what comes up is a blast. Also, as a GM, building villains to counter the heroes powers are a lot of fun." - Corey

"Overall the rule set is pretty good and fun to make characters. The only limitations are your imagination." -Mike

 I agree with this 100%.  Coming from Champions back in the day, I wasn't sure how random superhero generation was going to give you an interesting and fun character to play.  Boy, was I wrong!  The character gen is fun, fast and exciting and, IMO, you end up with a lot of unique combinations of powers to flesh out your 'character'.  Like Mike said above;   "The only limitations are your imagination." You do have to go into chargen with an open mind.  Any pre-concieved character ideas will get thrown to the wayside pretty quickly - which can be frustrating for some.  Clay's opinion on this is as follows:

"...character creation is random. I don't like this too much. I really like to nudge around character creation and tweak things a lot. ICONs default creation is random power generation. this create some lopsided teams and goofy powers, making it nearly impossible to start with a theme in mind." -Clay

 POWERS

Overall, the powers provided in ICONS cover just about anything a super can want or need.  The creators captured the color of comic books pretty well with that.  However, some of the powers end up coming off as over-powered or not well defined.  It is a rules lite game but that did cause some rule discussion at the table and research afterwards.  Game flexibility, of course, can help with that summed up by Corey:

"Some are a little hard to handle (Power Leech (power theft) I'm look at you) but balance isn't so important in a game like this." - Corey

That's true.  There is no such thing as balance in this game which is a good thing.  I don't like game balance.  Feeling a sense of looming defeat or death is important in any RPG.  Without it, you're just acting in a play with pre-determined endings.

"Some powers aren't defined well and can easily break a game. They can be house ruled easily enough but if you aren't prepared for it, it can get awkward quickly." - Clay

 GAME MECHANICS

The general game mechanics run on the FATE system.  I had no idea what that was when I started playing the game and I pretty much still don't.  We all felt that the dice rolling was a bit cumbersome and slowed down what otherwise would be an incredibly fast paced game.  Corey seemed to have the biggest issue with it:

"I really don't like the dice mechanics. It almost breaks the game for me. As written in the rules, you have to do four different operations on the dice (subtract one die from the other, add ability score to the result, subtract that result from the opposing value, then see where that result falls on the success chart)....Slam/Stun and the Major/Minor success chart are confusing. Between these and the clunky dice it can really slow down combat." - -Corey

"....though the dicing itself feels a little fiddly sometimes." -Brian  

The rules as written has the heroes rolling all the dice using the method described by Corey to determine outcome.  We switched that to just a single d6 for hero added to ability vs GM rolled d6 added to villain or challenge ability.  That seemed to help the flow quite a bit and received positive reaction from the group:

"Having GM roll one and Player roll one die helps, but it still feels rather clunky." - Corey

"I like the newer dice rules as it makes the game flow better." - Mike

"VS. die rolling, easier and funner in my opinion." - Clay

 That improved the game quite a bit but Major/Minor Slam/Stun rolls, charts and results are still slowing the game down and needs to be streamlined, house-ruled or whatever.  Doing that, however, had us look at changing rolls vs just challenges and other things.  Once the GM started rolling the concept of the heroes rolling everything just flew out the window which didn't necessarily change the feel of the game but other things had to be tweaked slightly.

"I like how everything runs off of the ability scores. If you want to search for something you do an awareness check or hit something you do a prowess check. It's pretty elegant." -Corey

Again that adds to the simplicity of the game and kept things moving forward quickly.  During this game I've come to greatly appreciate a simple d6 gaming system.  I use to love all the different funny looking dice but lately I've been feeling that it's slightly cumbersome.  D6, roll, result, and your done, move on with the story.  I've grown to like that and it brought back memories of my early days with the Holmes Basic D&D set and Traveller.

GAME PLAY

Game-play tended to be fast and loose with everybody having a hand in constructing the story and events in a natural, organic way.  There is plenty of room for characters to think outside the box and for the GM to wing it, in fact, it's almost a must.

"Getting into a situation where you can't hurt your opponent seems like it would be fairly common, since all it needs is someone with a higher defensive skill than anyone's offense...but that comes up in comics a lot, so it's true to the theme. How many villains can really hurt Superman? Not many...so they have to threaten Lois Lane, or turn him into a super-ape, or something." -Brian

Brian brings up a good point.  In comics you cannot always beat a more powerful opponent with fists alone (think the Fantastic Four and Galactus and the Ultimate Nullifier).  This pushes the players to think outside the realms of the character's ability points and the rules and to just make things happen in the game.  Maybe not something many modern gamers are use to but may come more naturally to old-schoolers.

As a campaign, there didn't seem to be a problem with keeping an ongoing story going over a number of sessions. We discussed character 'advancement' a bit and the optional rule that is included in the rule book, slightly modified.  I don't really have a problem with characters not having experience levels to 'advance'.  I'm more interested in the stories that get created around the table.  Not all gamers like this, however. These days players tend to want their character to advance and gain more powers and abilities.  I don't necessarily fall into this camp.  I prefer character growth and change based on their choices and what they experience in game.  Icons does give you the options of character advancement but it's not the focus.  Besides, your heroes are pretty strong to begin with.  How many super-heroes actually gain new powers or abilities in the course of a few adventures?  None.  Maybe over the course of decades of a character's mythology are new powers added, but it is a very slow process. 


FINAL THOUGHTS

Personally I really enjoy the game. With it's quick random character generation, fast combat and loose rules, it reminds me a lot of OD&D or maybe the Holmes or Moldvay rules.  It's a great framework for a heroes game but needs a little additional thought at times and house-rule tweaking to bring it around.  But like OD&D, other Icon gamers have contributed their tweaks to the game and posted them online for others to use.  It may not be for gamers that enjoy fiddling with their character's numbers and having rules for everything or having character level advancement a big part of playing but for me, less is more and simple is better.

As Mike said above:

The only limitations are your imagination.

The Avengers Go Old School

Click to make Hulk size!

Preparing To Play A New Game Takes Me A Loooong Time

Time is limited for everyone these days so picking the 'right' game is everything.

For me, preparing to play a new RPG takes me a long time. Once we start playing, however, prep-time shrinks to almost nothing but prior to that first session, I spend months looking over the rules, understanding the rules, contemplating campaign scenarios, debating rule-sets for genre, etc. The main reason is that I want everything during that first session to go smoothly, I want the players to have a great time and I, as GM, want to have a great time as well and not be hung-up on rule mechanics.

When I began our Swords & Wizardry campaign back in October of 2009 I went through quite a long process before that first session. Not in game session prep but in research. At that time I've been out of gaming since the early 80's so I was starting fresh.

After a big reminiscence session with a friend of mine about D&D (he pulled out the LBBs) and soon after Gary's passing, I began being drawn back into the excitement of that FRPG. It was then that I discovered DragonsFoot and from there I found the beginnings of the soon to be called OSR. I found out that many folks kept playing the original rules, that there were plenty Holmes fans out there and that people were publishing 'new' rule books based on the old games.

Those new rules are what really opened things up for me and began the journey to find what rule system to use. I thought about just going back to Holmes (my starter) but I worried about getting other folks interested. I thought that these new rules, however similar to the origins, would be a great way to get folks interested into something new yet old.

I picked up Basic Fantasy RPG and loved what I saw there. I thought this was great! A 'modern' take on the FRPG that I loved so much back in the day. However, though it was so close to what I wanted to run it wasn't quite there. I then found Labyrinth Lord. Ah, now this was much closer to what I was looking for. At first I felt it was closer to my Holmes edition but upon deeper exploration I saw it was closer to Moldvay's. A slight difference to some but a big difference to me.

When I discovered Swords & Wizardry I had found my rule-set (January 2009). Perfect. Loose, open-ended and 'new'. Perfect for getting folks involved and rules-lite for my limited time commitments.

Now that I had my rule-set I began to re-learn the game; combat, monsters, armor class, saving throws, all of that once second nature to me back in junior high and high school but lost to my modern brain.

I took months to understand the rules and the rule potentials which is not surprising as many of you still debate rules from the early versions of the game.

Then came deciding what type of campaign it would be. But with much research with the blogs popping up with the same questions and curiosities that I had, much was answered. With interesting charts found and additional classes I finally put together my first session nine months later. Yes, nine months.

So if you've been following this blog recently, you may have noticed that I've had some interest in running a Heroes game. I've picked up a copy of the 1st edition of Champions, V&V and began playing in an online Mystery Men! game, comparing everything I want in a heroes games. I've had my eyes on ICONS and have been studying the rules for a couple of months now. I think this is the game rules that I plan on going with. They're very lite, and after a few mechanics tests it proved to have some staying power.

Believe me, it took me a loooong time to make that final decision. I've worked up a pretty decent campaign idea which I'll share shortly but it looks like we'll be hitting some ICONS actions shortly after the holidays.

Dice Rolling With The Rockers

I was chopping down a tree this weekend and I began humming a Rush song which was strange because I was never a big fan of the band growing up. Over the years, though, I've learned to appreciate them and enjoy what they brought to the 70's FM radio.

This got me thinking, what if these bands that we grew up with were the kids in our neighborhood playing classic rpgs with us. What would they be playing? Would we be invited to play with them? Would we want to?

RUSH - The kids from RUSH would definitely be playing Traveller. A serious campaign run by Neil taking you to the furthest cosmic reaches of the Spinward Marches. Some real sci-fi action and no screwing around.

Blue Oyster Cult - They'd be playing a serious Gamma World campaign. Not too gonzo but with some great sci-fi themes. A good game to join if you'd like a grim realistic grim campaign and if they'd let you play. Their sessions would be talked about with awe and become things of legend.

Black Sabbath - Ozzy and his friends would be playing a mash-up of Tunnels & Trolls, OD&D along with a bunch of Judge's Guild material. Tekumel would be their campaign world house-ruled to high heaven. Their weekend games would be held late Saturday nights and everyone would end up drunk and/or stoned and sneaking out until the wee hours of dawn. All the neighborhood church-goers would believe that odd kid Ozzy and his friends and their 'weird' game were all about worshiping the devil and your parents wouldn't let you go over there. You'd sneak over there anyway. They would be the kids who end up exploring the town's drainage tunnels.

Styx - Some high fantasy game; SPI's War of the Ring. Denis DeYoung would always insist on controlling Frodo.

The Who - Okay, these guys would be a bit older than everyone else and just won't quite understand this game ' of the imagination'. They make fun of everyone else playing that 'gay' game. Besides, they're too busy getting drunk and getting laid to really care. Many years later, Pete would discover the allure of the game.

Nirvanna - Kurt and his friends would be running just about everything. They'd start with Basic D&D then move on to 1st ed. AD&D, Boot Hill, Gamma World and Champions. All one big campaign with the same characters. Totally gonzo, anything goes, good times. Only problem, is that Kurt's girlfriend would show up and ruin everyone's fun. But they'd all put up with her 'cause she was hot in a trashy sort of way and pretty slutty.

The Ramones - Good ol' fashion D&D. Dee-Dee would be known to let anyone play but he'd always run Tomb of Horrors and take great glee in killing everyone's character. Everyone would drink beer afterwords.

PJ Harvey - Yeah, one of the few chics that was into playing RPGs. She started with OD&D and just stuck with that version, obsessed with re-interrupting the rules.

Queen - Metamorphis Alpha.

Duran Duran - A very gadget based Top Secret but soon ditched it for James Bond 007 RPG.

Smashing Pumpkins - Billy created his own campaign world with 1st ed AD&D and evolved it with each new edition. He currently plays the same campaign in 4th ed. but no longer plays with his original gaming group.

Cheap Trick - Paranoia

David Bowie - I hate to say it, but definitely a LARP - Vampires. David has played all the other games, though, so he's still cool.

Sonic Youth - Thurston would be running a Cyberpunk game full of edgy irony. Not many of the other kids would get into this but his gaming group is pretty dedicated and they'll end up playing the same campaign for years.

Glenn Danzig & Henry Rollins - These two guys and their friends started out with Moldvay's basic set but would become obsessed with playing Twilight 2000 for a summer and then give it up to begin pumping iron.

That's all I got. Feel free to post any others, I'd like to see what else folks come up with. I'm heading back out to cut some more trees.

Sir Brian of Gamealot

I'm lucky to be part of a pretty great group of gamers. Counting myself, there are nine of us that regularly participate in our bi-weekly gaming sessions. This summer we've branched out into Savage Worlds and had a number of board-game nights.

It's a creative and talented bunch that likes to kick back and have a good time killing things.

One of the members of our group, Brian, is especially skilled at tracking down games at the various local resale shops here in town. We're all in Tucson Arizona, mind you, a great little city but it's no metropolis like Chicago, LA or NYC. In those cities can be found just about anything you seek in the small privately owned independent used book stores and resale shops. But here in Tucson it's a bit trickier.

As small as Tucson is, I've had my luck at scoring some great classic gaming items for real cheap mostly through yard sales and antique sales; a box full of classic Grenadier minis, a bunch of classic TSR D&D modules for just a couple of dollars.

But the true king has to be Brian.

He has scored the most amazing classic gaming items by casually scouring the resale shops here in town - and consistently too! Just about every week he comes up with some amazing find at the most unbelievable prices. Some of the games he keeps to play with his two sons (growing gamers themselves!) or sells/trades on the interwebs. But he's shared quite a bit with us, his fellow gamers.

Last night he brought over a bunch of 'presents' to hand out including a bunch of old Star Fleet Battles stuff.

But the real prize....the most amazing score had to be this:


Yes, the original Traveller box set with a stack of supplements.

And do you know what he paid for this?

Come on, just guess......

$5.00

Yup, just $5.00

Don't ever give up hope shopping around on a quest for those classic gaming items, 'cause they're out there.

So long live the king of amazing gaming finds: Sir Brian of Gamealot!

Grids vs. Hexes

I don't know when 'official" D&D went from hexes to grids, I wasn't really a part of the transition. Grids have always been a part of the game I suppose, maybe because of the graph paper mapping thing, but when D&D evolved into more of a tactical combat game than a game of exploration and abstract combat one would think hexes would be the way to go.

Apparently some folks in charge didn't think that.

I do know that Avalon Hill's early war game Tactics II (1958) used a grid map. By the early 1960's they began using Hexes for the basis of their war game maps. Their game Outdoor Survival used a hex map and that map later was used by Dave Arneson for his early D&D RPG games. From there the hex map worked it's way into the RPG hobby ie. Judes Guild and various wilderness maps from TSR, Traveler, and pretty much every war-game etc . (though the B2 adventure Keep on the Borderlands had it's wilderness laid out in a grid).

Now when I was younger and saw the D&D game for the first time and saw sheets and maps based on hexes, it added to the mysterious allure of the game. Again, D&D (Holmes basic) was nothing I've ever seen before. Along with 'role-playing' and funny dice, there were minis and hex maps. Talk about opening doors to your imagination!

So why did a game, which evolved into more of a tactical combat game devolve back to a grid format?

Everything I've seen come out from WOTC 4th ed (even 3.5) is printed with a grid. Sounds backwards to me. If the 'constant distance of a hex map is desirable for games in which the measurement of movement is a factor' why use a square grid? By comparison, a square grid give you different distances from the center points of adjacent and diagonal squares. If I recall, somewhere in some version of D&D special rules were created for diagonal movement within a grid. Why write an extra rule and complicate an already complicated game system when you really don't have to. WOTC (and other games) just print their square 'grid' over their battle maps so why not just print hexes? Do players even still map those gaming sessions or do they just throw down a battle map?

I'll never understand that decision path so if somebody knows, please share it with me.

When I began making my gaming table, I had planned on going with a grid. But the more I thought of it, the more I felt that going with a grid was just counter-intuitive. So I went with a hex board...and I'm glad I did. I'll always prefer hexes of grids.

So hexes or grids? Which is your preference?

Gaming Table: Phase 1

I love many of the custom gaming table that folks have made: +3 Gaming Table

Recently, our gaming group went from a standard sitting around a large table with pencil and paper to a more casual lounging around a coffee table with pencil and paper. I needed to rework the space in the guest house (currently my man-cave) so we ended up with the coffee table. I don't think it's a favorite accommodation but we've made due.

My long-term plan is to eventually get back to the standard table which I have been planning to customize as a gaming table.

So this past weekend, for the first phase of this project, I've reworked the coffee table into what would eventually be the stepped top to the main game table.

I started with a pretty nice garbage-picked coffee table (a major score!) and painted the tabletop black.

I created some 11 X 17 white on dark gray hex sheets and purchased some decoupage glue.

I next began gluing down the hex sheets. It was a little tricky lining the hexes up properly but after some careful patience things were starting to come along nicely. The trickiest part was that the printer had slight variations in the gray. I think if I were to do this again I may just buy a roll of hex paper from somewhere (but I'm such a cheap-ass).


I've got six sheets glued down and only three more to go!


Next, I trimmed the edges to give it a clean border.

A few coats of glue and some shellac later, I was ready to role.


Of course I tested the table out with some minis and Jenga block walls, and idea that I got from Jim over at Carjacked Seraphim.

When character sheets, beer and snacks and minis are all scattered about the same playing surface it gets quite cluttered. I want to separate the playing area from the 'snack' area of the game table. When I eventually move the above top to the actual game table, it will be raised up (see illustration below). The Hex table platform will not be permanently attached to the main table so it can be removed for other gaming purposes.
I'll keep you posted when I get to Phase 2!

Never Split The Party?

Ah, the age-old adage of of never splitting the party. Trouble for the party if they do and trouble for the DM as well.

How does a DM manage letting the players do what they want in a sandbox setting even when they decide to go their separate ways? BTW, this is in response to Rob Connely's comment on ChicagoWiz's blog responding to the conversation on Blackrazors sandbox post (who says this isn't a tight-knit community?)

Different from ChicagoWiz's session methods, I do continue where the session left off. If in a dungeon we begin from that point, if the last session ended in town then the time between the sessions pass in game time as well. If we begin the session in this manner, then players can decide what they have been doing during that time (visiting family, drinking and whoring, etc). I deal with each player, if need be, quickly and individually just to validate his/her actions.

It's very important that once the session begins in earnest that you try to keep all players at the table involved. If the players split up (which does happens occasionally), then the way I handle it is to focus on each separate 'party' for a while until there is a breaking point or resolution. During this time, the player's adventure/role-playing and my interaction with him/them should be the focus of the table. Some times it's not as there is much table talk but many times the the interaction is involving enough that the other players chime in with jokes or ideas. In other words, keep the in-active players involved by letting them participate in whatever way they want. They may toss the DM a good line to use, or a situational idea. Regardless, role-playing at the table usually becomes the entertainment.

Also, if the separated player chances upon an encounter, let the other players role those characters or run them during combat. That makes it easier for the DM as that is much less to keep track of at the table.

Let that scenario play out for as long as it can or as long as it needs to. Believe it or not, the DM can 'guide' things a long much more than you think without the trappings of the ol' railroad.

Read your players. Are they all loosing interest at the table and breaking down into non-game conversations? Some of that is okay when the party splits but you'll know when it's getting out of hand. But by keeping them involved and letting them participate will keep the focus on the events at the game table.

Now, if one of your player's characters wants to go off on his/her own; quest/treasure hunting etc. let them. Remember, once a session begins, time passing during the game tends to go pretty slow. Dungeon exploration may only last an hour or two in game. The external party member, during this time, is out doing his own thing, thus he may be out of that sessions play. Have that player either roll up another character to play or run a hireling/NPC. My players have brought a number of NPCs and hirelings to life using this method. Again, let them participate in the creation of the world (less work for the busy DM). Obviously, the player's missing character will not gain any experience during that session.

From there, I would deal with the players separate adventure either in a separate one on one session or via email or something like that. Who knows, that may lead to a whole number of different scenarios for your entire party as they wonder why the heck their companion never returned.

Always try to accommodate your players, that's your job. It's their game just as much as yours. Be flexible and always say YES.

Also keep in mind that separating the party can be a very dangerous proposition especially in the wild or in a dungeon. Hear that? DANGEROUS. That should be all a party needs to stick together.

If anyone else has any other suggestions on how they deal with splitting the party feel free to share.

Letting The Dice Fall Where They May

When I was a young DM at the ripe age of nine, oh those many years ago, I didn't quite understand the full concept of the fantasy role-playing game. We would pick a cool monster (usually if we had a mini for it) which would battle a first level hack of a character, for example, a 5 headed hydra battling a single first level fighter.

Needless to say, our first level characters died……often.

Even with finding treasure, at times I would think oh this treasure is too much or too powerful or not enough and I would alter it.

So in those aery days the concept of 'fudging' the die rolls became the norm - at least for D&D.

Jump ahead some 30+ years and lo' your wisdom score improves.

Fudging die rolls is no longer on the table. Philosophically, the game is suppose to be an exploration in randomness. Dice determine everything within the game from the characters themselves to the dungeon encounters, treasures, weather, tattoos - whatever.

Now I embrace the entire concept of the crazy randomness of the game. Perhaps it took me these many years to finally fully comprehend the freedom that implies.

Let go…..

Let it be….

In our campaigns, I've mixed dungeons that I've created with what other folks have created. If treasures are too small, so be it. The PCs just risked their worthless lives for nothing. If an awesome treasure is guarded by a not so awesome monster, well, stranger things have happened.

I've learned to trust in the skills of other dungeon designers and let the game fall where it may.

Case in point, in one of the dungeons that I've adapted to one of the levels of our Tower of Zenopus campaign (I'll fill you in on who created that another time but it's one of my favorite finds on the interwebs), the dungeon designer emphasized the dangers of the icy blue lava. He also pointed out certain percentages of fails when trying to accomplish a very dangerous task involving this lava even giving the thief class an extra bonus. I loved his dungeon and took his 'guidelines' to heart. So when our favorite thief character attempted to do the exact task described in the dungeon key, lo and behold, the dice roll came up as a major fail, character fell in the blue lava and instant death! No saves. Just death. End of character.

Table shock!

No second guessing on my part. You play, you loose, you die.

The player took it in stride, of course as it's just a game, and even wrote up a final character explanation to his recklessness.

Another memorable game death.

And that's important. Characters need to die (at times). It keeps the game dangerous. If, as a DM, you're always trying to 'save' your PCs then what's the point? What's the risk? Death is a random thing. Let it be that in your game. There's always ways for characters to 'save' off death but in some instances death comes and there's just nothing you can do about it.

Embrace that randomness.

Anyway, my point is that do not second guess anything in the game. Let the dice fall where they may, let the treasures and monsters be what they are. Let the game be what it wants to be.

Behind the Screen Part 3: Random Charts

It's always great to read how other DMs run their sessions and the tools that they use. In my previous posts I've touched on the rules and supplements that I use in our campaign and then I talked about the custom DM screen that I created.

Today I'm going to touch on one of the biggest aids in our sessions and those would be the random charts.

Randomness is almost the heart and soul of any good RPG and in a sandbox campaign I let the dice fall where they may. If I roll too tough of a monster for an encounter, the PCs better be smart enough to high-tail it out of there. Roll a hefty hoard of treasure guarded by a not so hefty monster, so be it - stranger things can happen.

In a sandbox campaign random charts can be a godsend as they can help flesh out, on the fly if needed, encounters, personalities, situations, reactions, cities, dungeons, treasures, names, magic items - almost anything that one might need.

If you've been reading this blog then you may know that I have given the campaign world just a broad-stroke and tend to fill things in little by little as needed in our adventures - NPC, situations, events, shops etc. Also, my prep time for sessions has diminished to almost nothing (though I do spend some time during the week fleshing things out in the back of my mind if need be but it's pretty minimal). So I've come to rely on the randomness of charts. It makes the game fun and surprising for the DM and the players. It can change the course of a dull session or open up new vistas of plot points that can be quite troublesome to the PC involved. A splendid time indeed!

With the interwebs and the fantastic community of bloggers, finding useful random charts are as easy as rolling for wandering monsters. There are soooo many great and creative charts out there that it's almost impossible to keep track of them all. Whenever I find a great random chart on someone's blog, I'll copy that material and paste it into a document (reformatting if necessary) so I can print it out and add it to my collection.

So here are a number of charts that I've found to be most useful in our table-top campaign. I've bound these all into a binder and pull certain charts out as needed.

Old School Encounters Reference - a must download!!

City Encounters for Swords & Wizardry (Matt Finch)

Tome of Minor Items (dragonsfoot)

Quick NPC Traits Checklist (DnDBorderlands Blog)

Adventurer's Ordinance: 110 Magical Items Part One by Jesse Muir

Adventurer's Ordinance: 110 Magical Items Part Two by Jesse Muir

How to make a fantasy Sandbox (bat in the attic)

Entering the City Taxes (Dungeons and Digressions)

Wilderness Encounters

100 Book titles Dungeoneering.net

Caster prices (OD&D boards)

Resurrection (Dragonsfoot - though I think I got this from somewhere else)

Guards at the Gate (Gothridge Manor)

Carousing Mishaps (Jeff Rients - a must have)

NPC Personalities (Black Gate)

Weird Room Stuff (Black Gate)

Quick Hex Contents Generator (Black Gate)

Slum Encounters (Black Gate)

Beyond the Black Gate Compendium 2009 (Black Gate)

And the new "What In The Hole" (Black Gate)

Unique Treasure Generation (Hack & Slash)

If you haven't noticed yet, Al over at Beyond the Black Gate has some fantastic resources and creates some of the best charts. A huge thank you to Al! In fact, I nominate him for a Master of Dungeons Award for 2010! (we really should create that)

Great Online random generators

Fantasy Name Generator
Meatshield: Henchmen & Hireling Generator
Dungeon Generator
Check out donjon; RPG Tools

I also use the treasure charts in the Labryinth Lord rule book, some charts from Basic Fantasy RPG and, of course, the trusty AD&D 1st ed. DMG.

This is by no means an exhausted list but these are some of the charts that I've found to be useful. If anyone else has some useful charts that they've created or run across, let me know and I'll add them to this list.

When next we chat I'll talk about the use of miniatures on our table-top.

Are Playing FRPG's An Expensive Hobby?

No, it's not.

We'll, it doesn't have to be.

When I first got into fantasy gaming back in, oh '79 or so, the business model (if there was one) for the D&D game was quite simple. Here are the rules, get some graph paper, dice and some friends and imagination and have at it. You really didn't have to buy anything more than a $10 set of rules. Sure there were modules and Minis but when your allowance was a dollar a week, that didn't get you much (okay $5 for mowing a lawn - still!) but you really didn't need any of that stuff. It didn't stop us at all from playing any of the RPGs that came out back then, Top Secret, Gamma World, Traveller. We all just made everything up. That was the simplicity and fun of the game.

It was one hell of a hobby but it really wasn't a good business model which is probably why many small game companies back then vanished and TSR slowly evolved and got eaten up.

So an RPG, (d)evolving from a hobby into a business has to constantly feed the 'consumer' with product they think they need or are forced to need. Case in point: one certain Wizard's 4th edition of everyone's favorite game. Book upon book (expensive hard cover no less) of crap that is wound ever so tightly into their official version of the game, The Box(!), Essentials, online subscriptions and now a bunch of 'optional' power cards. Sure, maybe you don't need it all but then you're really left out if you start playing in other groups or in stores, etc. So the entry into this game is a considerable investment of ever scarcer dough. And then there's this online service to gain access to updates to their rules. More money. Official campaigns - more money. Minis and battlements - more money. If you don't play it the right way, you suck - more money.

So, can an RPG game actually be a viable business? Sure if you think of yourself as a 10 HD Vampire sucking 2 levels of cash out of your loyal customer base. 'Cause once the rules for the game are out there the publisher is kinda out of the loop. The bottom line doesn't look so good at that point.

The game as a hobby, however, is something to talk about.

As a hobby the game can be whatever you want it to be. And that's just what it is; a hobby. Get yourself some rules, many of which you can download for free, some graph paper, some friends and imagination and have at it.

And the hobbyists of the OSR and pre-OSR have produced a ton of material, most of which is free or modestly priced from print on demand versions. There's also a great community of bloggers and forums here on the interwebs that can supply you with endless resources which didn't exist 30+ years ago. But don't let that stop you from picking up some of the many items put out by the DIY publishers, 'cause they're awesome!

For me the game will always be a hobby. A fun and inexpensive hobby.


Okay, since I ranted a bit, here's my obligatory contribution to my fellow bloggers & loyal readers.

Not all wilderness encounters need to be NPC's or monsters. I like to throw in something odd to throw the players off or make them think. So here's 10 wilderness encounters to toss around.

1. A hollow whistling call can be heard off to the left that is soon answered by another from the right. The source cannot be found.
2. The breeze stops blowing and no animal movement or call is heard. Complete silence. After a few moments, the breeze begins to blow and birds start singing once again.
3. A large black raven is seen perched on a branch or rock and appears to be watching the party. Miles later, the same raven again appears.
4. A colorfully painted abandoned gypsy wagon or tent lies just off the path. It is empty but for a small shiny black spherical stone.
5. An incredibly large fresh pile of dung fills the path. There are no signs of tracks.
6. A large rock or tree with a magic mouth spell cast upon it says to the party as they pass, “I wouldn’t go that way if I were you!”
7. An impaled body is hanging from a large spike in the ground. Vultures are picking at it’s flesh and bones.
8. A child’s laughter can be heard. If searched for, the source cannot be found but the laughing moves deeper into the wilderness.
9. Along the side of the path is a wooden table. On the table are two flagons filled with red wine.
10. A large smiley face with devil horns has been drawn into the dirt. A stick is on the ground nearby.

Getting Older Is Okay Where D&D Is Concerned

I'm sure that many of you that take the time out to checkout what I'm saying over here at the Warlock's Home Brew probably started gaming back in the late 70's early 80's which makes us all around the same age and most likely the of the same generation (remember the whole 'Generation X thingy way back?).

Many of you started playing this fantasy game at a very young age, for me I was 10 years old. I was also the oldest in our group and thus the default Dungeon Master. Sure we had a great time exploring dungeons and killing things and taking their stuff and rolling up characters and all that goodness but, as a 10 year old, what did I know about the ins and outs of bringing a sense of realism to the game? Not much. My reality was pretty much colored by Science Fiction movies and comic books. We played on nonetheless.

So here we are, 30 years later and I find myself back behind the screen. Yeah, I took about 25 years off of playing RPGs as I stepped into the rivers of life but, like many of you, I too have returned.

Yes I have returned and returned much wiser (without a doubt this can be argued) in the ways of gaming.

With this older age comes a new perspective, for me anyway, on running my games.

Life experience has given me a better background to run my campaigns. I can flesh out my NPCs to give them a more realistic color than I could when I was 10. Same goes for my cities, towns and plot-hook and situations. Don't get me wrong, the game is just as insanely hilarious and at times disturbingly twisted as ever but I think that there's just more of a sense of groundedness that experience can bring.

Also with age comes the concept of just letting go. We're all in this campaign together so lets drink some beers, laugh a lot with some friends and have a good time! Playing off the cuff has become a much easier endeavor as flexibility has become the philosophy.

And with these years of experience comes patience which really lets me paint one hell of a mini! I've come a long way from the green paint glob with the bright red mouth. Though minis play a small part of our game, when I do get a chance to sit down and paint it is quite a satisfying experience!

When I was younger and playing these games, I always wanted to run games like the adults that I saw running games, I always wanted to paint those miniatures like those skillful hobbyists of the time.

Well, now with some life experience under my belt (and still colored by science fiction and comic books, mind you) I do and it's fantastic! It's one hell of a game and it's more fun than ever.

So here's to all of us (Grognards?) that have made it to this point to run and talk about our games and in living life have become better games!

Campaigns vs. One-Offs

Over at the Lands of Ara, Carter posted about hitting that sweet spot in his campaign. Here too, we seem to have hit that nice sweet spot for all of the same reasons. The PC' s are a bit tougher now and can survive some heavier battles, plots are thickening nicely, and through all their trials and tabulations, the PC's are beginning to leave their mark, however small and for good or evil, on the game world.

This got me thinking about campaigns compared to one-offs.

I'm a big fan of the campaign. I love the 'story' that evolves from the players and their characters actions, the ever present cause and affect. I love the slow moving 'story' arcs and the re-occurring NPCs. I love the fact that PC's deaths become more bitter and have weight. And I love the fact that once you hit that sweet spot the campaign begins to run itself which I feel is a sign of a successful ongoing adventure.

"...once the campaign is set in motion, you will become more of a recorder of events, while the milieu seemingly charts its own course!"

-Gary Gygax, DMG 1st ed. p. 87

I love that there's a history and that when new players come in the veterans retell their tales. Our group's character levels are between 1st and 5th and that adds a sense of realism (if you can have realism in a FRPG) to the campaign world and a sense of ongoing depth and a passage of time.

Campaigns are where the concept of Role-playing games come to life as characters and events are brought are colored, explored, live for a while and then die (sometimes horribly).

Now one-offs, on the other hand, don't do much for me. I've run a few and, granted they can be fun and a good way to introduce players into the concepts of the game but it just leaves things hanging.

Players that bring their characters to life during those few hours are gone - poof! vanished at end of game. It leaves myself (and hopefully the players) wanting more. I want to know what the consequences of these players actions are! I guess it's hard for me to let go of the long term cause and affect in game. In this sense, one-offs tend to be quick quests, hack-n-slash of careless adventurers who do not fear death. Though that, of course, can be fun is almost the antithesis of the game - my concept of the game anyway.

So while one-offs have their place, for me they don't compare to the struggling saga of some poor characters clawing their way to leave some mark in their world.

Behind The Screen Part 1: Rules and Supplements

I always love to see how other DMs operate; what charts they use?, do they use minis? what kind of houserules are being used? It's always insightful to see someone else's tools and techniques. The one great thing about blogging and the 'OSR' is that many people share their experiences, sessions, methods, etc. with ideas and creativity running rampant!

So I thought I'd share some of my methods and tools in running my sandbox campaign that we've been running for a year now.

So I'll start at the beginning with the foundation of any game, the rules.

I chose to go with Swords & Wizardry core rules as my foundation. I could've gone with Holmes' Blue Book or Moldvay's Red but I went with S&W because I liked the openness of the rules as well as the 'newness' and availability of the rules/product (a plus to using the retro-clones). I felt that, right or wrong, I might be able to find players to join in a session or two if the game wasn't grounded in the past; if it seemed like something new. As it turned out I had no problem finding players, in fact, the group has kept growing until there are now nine of us.

Let's face it, the rules for all 3 versions that I mentioned are pretty much the same with only minor variations between them. Subtle variations yet enough to give the games a different feel from each other. Moldvay has a clear and unambiguous description of the rules but, IMO, leaves the PCs stronger than I was looking for. Holmes and S&W, on the other hand, are a bit more rough on the PCs and pulpy in terms of that subtle nature called atmosphere. A pretty good match to 'cut and paste'.

Swords & Wizardry is quite open in it's rules, very much a broad-stroke that begs for the DM and the players to fill in some of the blanks. Not as much as OD&D mind you but, nonetheless, some thought needs to be put into it. Since I've been a huge fan of Holmes' version of the game, I used that as a starting point to help fill in the blanks, so to speak.

From there I sprinkled in some Labyrinth Lord & LL Advanced Edition, a little Basic Fantasy RPG plus a number of ideas from the Swords & Wizardry site itself and other blogs and forums. I put all these additions together into a type of Player's Handbook of the House-Rules.

Along with the Player's Handbook for the House-Rules, I also put together two reference spell books, one for Magic-users and the other for Clerics and Druids. These are quick reference guide for various spells that the players use as well as I. These are available as a free pdf download from Lulu or a pay for print version from Lulu as well and are digest sized. A perfect fit for the already cluttered table.

To round things out, I use the S&W Monster Compendium.

So on any given night, I have out on the table, the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules, the Player's House-rule Handbook, The Book of Wizardry and the Book of the Divine, as well as the Monster Compendium. I also keep a version of Labyrinth Lord around just for quick reference on some odd rule that may need a quick judgment on.

And speaking of rule judgments, I don't hesitate to discuss tweaking rules with the players if it comes up. Usually we get to a pretty good consensus quickly without any delays in gameplay or arguments. After all, S&W is a rules-lite system and we mostly just want to have a good time having adventures and killing things. As you can see from our recaps, I think we have succeeded pretty well.

Next, I'll chat about every DM's crutch, the DM Screen.

RinCon 2010 This Weekend In Tucson AZ

This weekend, Friday October 8th through Sunday October 10th is RinCon 10 here in Tucson Arizona. It's a big general gaming convention put together by SAGA (Southern Arizona Gaming Association). The event features many board-games and a number of modern RPGs are mostly featured. I'll be running a grand Swords & Wizardry game on Saturday afternoon so if you're heading down here you're more than welcome to attend.

One of the players in my campaign, Corey (Level 1 Gamer) will be running the 4th ed. Red Box Starter Game so if you're looking to check out what all the brew-ha-ha about 4th ed is all about, check out Corey's game. You can read about Corey's experience at last years event when Will Wheaton (who will be attending once again) ran a Dungeon Delve of Doom.

A number of my other players will be wandering around (roll for encounter 1 in 6 every half hour) playing many a game as well.

So if you're in the area, come check out RinCon 10!

The Ultimate: "My Players Are Awesome" Post

Have I mentioned how awesome my players are? Well last night's session really was something special. As we hit our 23rd session and celebrating our one year campaigning anniversary my players sprung on me a little surprise.

Lo' and behold, they had delivered to me the grand-daddy of all minis. Direct from Otherworld Miniatures:


Yes that's right! Corey (Level 1 Gamer) worked with the rest of the guys to get this treasure delivered into my hands. Words can't describe how marvelous this is. If there's any symbol that represents the OSR and classic gaming or, hell, just fantasy gaming in general it's gotta be this guy here.

This past year of gaming has been truly, without question, the best I've ever experienced. This is one great group of guys to be throwing dice with. They've all come from various gaming backgrounds and have joined under the one banner of Swords & Wizardry. All these players have been so creative with their characters, with game situations and the table talk has to be some of the most hilarious stuff I've run into.

So hats off to these dedicated gamers as well. They've kept the sessions alive and kicking for this past year.


And this just lead into one hell of a memorable game session! And don't think this gift held me back from tossing some big nasties at these guys. Oh, on the contrary! They were stuck face to face with an un-turnable eight foot tall skeleton in plate armor wielding a two handed sword with a single boney arm, and Tibag almost got turned into green slime, and another hoard of a nest full of Crotch-Goblins which, by the end of the battle, Tibag had the nick-name of Tibag - Crotch-Gobbler!

Yes, it was a session for the ages which I will recap soon. So thanks to Corey (Level 1 Gamer), Mike (Milkman-X), Clay, Zach, Brian, Max, Tim and Christy (who participated in her 3rd consecutive session)!