Monday's Session Report: Getting Into The Groove

The last good handful of sessions have been really enjoyable. I mean, for the most part they all have been entertaining sessions, but these have become much more so. They've been laid-back and off-the-cuff and in a way I feel it is in part because I have hit a stride in running the games.

My prep time has diminished to almost zero. For the past year, the players have adventured in and around the city of Caladan so the area has been established pretty well (with the help of those players!). The small piece of the campaign world and the events have fleshed themselves out nicely

I've gotten comfortable playing on the fly. I have gathered enough charts and tables and dungeons and encounters that any play outside of the 'comfort zone' can be handled quite easily. Many times those sessions have proven to be our most memorable. I think it's also a part of the DM being more a part of the game as I posted a while ago. Even when I feel a bit worn out or tired, I think enough gets started at the table that before you know it, three hours have gone by.

I'm more interested in letting the players decide the course of action and just going with it then dump on them anything that I create or want them to do. That has always been the goal but it has now become my modus operandi. There's enough hooks and dangling plot threads that the world and events and player interactions are just running themselves. I also feel comfortable letting the game be what it is, everyone's contribution, both players and DM breathing life into this campaign world. We've run a sandbox campaign with options wide open but over the past year, a nice 'story' has developed.

The game is starting to feel more focused too. A good portion of that has to do with the players themselves. Early in our campaign, the PC's carousing opened up a ton of side-plots that, in most instances, eventually needed to be followed; interactions with the Black Hand, various debts to the Temple of Mithra, Adara's dreams (which are still open but are slowly affecting that character). This lead to everyone joking that their party has AADD (Adventurers Attention Deficit Disorder) as they were unable to complete tasks or quests. With a lot of these circumstances 'out of the way', events around the Tower of Zenopus have been slowly building and that is where the play has been focusing. There seems to be a certain tension and excitement as the players delve deeper below the tower knowing that they will be facing every more dangerous foes and perhaps Zenopus herself!

Finally, the camaraderie around the table has just been fantastic and great to be a part of. I think everyone has hit a comfort zone and that helps open the game up creatively.

Oh, and if you really want to freak a party of dungeon delvers out (and believe me, it doesn't take much), place shiny apple in the center of a room with piles of busted furniture. Good Times!

Creepy Inspiration For Your Gamma World / Mutant Future Game

A new book, 'Micro Monsters', showcases some of the planet's most horrible insects and microscopic beasts, perfect inspiration for your post-apocalyptic Gamma World campaign!





More Creepy-Crawlies can be found here

Session XXV: Aftermath

This session involved the characters roaming through the city of Caladan and picking up additional facts about the Tower of Zenopus, the Witch-queen of Stygia, the comatose Lord Osric and general post Black Sabbath happenings before delving back into the tower in search of Zenopus herself!

I'll just let the party's druid, Gnarly Blunderbrush, retell the tale courtesy of the Level 1 Gamer:

The Book of Gnarly

Thanks to Corey (Level 1 Gamer) for this recap.

For the DM's session report...

Behind The Screen Part 2: The Screen

Part 1 can be found here: The Rules.

So after talking about what rules I use in part 1, today I'm going to look at every DM's crutch, the DM screen.

In the early days of my playing the hobby, I recall using the monochrome adventure module covers to separate my duties from the rest of the players. Mostly used to hide the dungeon map and the map key from the players, this separation has somehow evolved with Role-playing games and appears in some form in almost every genre of the hobby and in some cases a bit overkill.

I'm not quite sure where the Game Master screen came from, I don't recall reading about it in the Holmes blue rule-book or in the Dungeon Master's Guide but somehow, in the early days of the game, it became part of standard table-top paraphernalia. The earliest version I came across put out by TSR was around 1979 and came with 2 durable screens. This was for the Advanced version of the game. With the release of 1st edition D&D, the many complicated charts within the DMG and the Player's Handbook made it almost a necessity to have quick access to these finer points of the rules to keep the game flowing.

When I was a young 1st level DM at the ripe age of 10, I enjoyed that separation from the players. That barrier was something that I was able to hide my lack of knowledge of the game and my insecurities behind. Now days, I find that separation an annoyance. I like to be as much a part of the table as my group of players are. The separation now feels too distant.

Having said that, I do still have a screen handy. Again, it's only used to separate the map and the key from the players (only when I have to) but also house a few quick reference charts and rules. And like many things in my current campaign, I've created a custom screen.

Since my reliance on the screen is quite minimal I tried to make the screen as small as possible yet still 'hide' the map key and additional notes from the players. What I ended up with was an 17"X 11" screen. The main portion is a full 8.5" X 11" and it is here that I attach my dungeon map with tape or a clip. Since this portion changes often, it is not a permanent element of the screen, just a blank slate to be filled as needed.


On either side of this I have a 4 1/4" X 11" flap where I attach my game charts. These narrow portions have two functions, the first is to make the screen stable, the second is to have a quick reference to some of the rules and charts that I tend to use often within the game. I kept them narrow to keep the screen fold-able and compact as well as less of a barrier between me and the players.

I created the chart itself with two pieces of 8 1/2" by 11" black foam-core with one adhesive side. I cut one of those sheets vertically in half and attached it all together with black tape. The outside of the screen being the adhesive side, I attach various dungeon artwork taken from various rulebooks. I like the black and white as I find it less distracting that anything in color. It's just there for ascetic decoration at this point and I don't think any of the players even notice it anymore.



With our use of a rules-light game system (Swords & Wizardry) and using an ascending armor class combat system, the charts that I use on my screen are more for little rule tweaks or game additions that I've only placed there to keep the flow of the game going. Things like movement and encumbrance rates (always bog me down) and wilderness encounters and custom moral rolls. See the images below for what I've added to my screen.


Again, I tend not to use the screen unless I really need to, usually when the PCs are delving into some doom filled dungeon. Beyond that I like to join the festivities at the table and have a good time.

Now, all this doesn't mean that I don't have a full reference of charts compiled within a notebook to access at all times, 'cause I do. When running a sandbox campaign, all those charts are your best friends and I'll touch on those in our next installment.

3rd Annual Tucson ComiCon Photos

The 3rd Annual Tucson ComiCon was a blast, as always. Best event yet, really well put together by Mike Olivares and his crew. Good times were had at the IndieOnly Booth and many-a good folk were met. There was a lot of good interest in our preview copy of Tales of High Adventure and we even sold a number of copies of The Outpost On The Edge Of The Far Reaches adventure module.

Along with Clay Lewis and Mike Moran, who are part of the High Adventure project and members of our gaming group, the rest of our gaming group trickled through the con. Fun Times!

Clay, me and Mike flyin' high at IndieOnly! Oh yeah!

Steamcrow Press, as awesome as ever!

What's a comic convention without your gaggle of heroes!

More Tucson ComiCon photos

Check out the IndieOnly Books here!


Next year we'll be at the Tucson Convention Center andwe're sure to have a number of issues of Tales of High Adventure out by then. Plan your trips now!

The Warlock At The Third Annual Tucson ComiCon

The Third Annual Tucson ComiCon is today Saturday November 6th! IndieOnly (my small press publishing company) will be there with a limited preview of our upcoming Pulp Book "Tales Of High Adventure". There will be a ton of other great independent publishers and vendors there as well. So if you're in the Tucson area (or the entire southwest of the United States) check it out, stop by and say hi and pick up your preview of Tales of High Adventure!

Pulp Goes The Warlock!

That's right dear readers! The Warlock's Home Brew is proud to announce it's upcoming release of it's anthology pulp series Tales of High Adventure!

Tales of High Adventure will be a quarterly magazine filled with yarns by some of your favorite pulp authors from yesteryear. New stories and authors will also be showcased as well graphic tales and other good gritty stuff.

The book should be out sometime in December and I'll be posting some updates shortly. There will be a preview sampler available at the Tucson ComiCon this Saturday. Just stop by the IndieOnly booth and pick up your preview of Tales of High Adventure; a magazine of adventure, daring, mystery and suspense!

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