Category Archives: Commentary

Finishing Up Santicore Post

January 1, 2013 11:23 pm / Leave a Comment / Chris

I’m finishing up a mini campaign setting for a Santicore present. It’s taking some time because I’m basing it on a real, still existing culture and I could easily screw it up. I’ve been through many drafts and have decided to sneak past the dragon of perfect wordsmithing but I still face the owlbear of giving it the right amount of detail and the slaad of making sure it’s worth playing.

I’ll post it here and at the Santicore blog. After that, there will be many requests to fulfill here on this blog. Luckily, none of them are mini campaign settings.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D, Santicore

Bring on the Ordinary: Post Your Mundane Requests Here

September 27, 2012 12:03 am / 13 Comments / Chris

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It’s been quiet around here, thanks to some gainful employment that fries my brain on a daily business. On the good side, I’ve been playing 1e fairly regularly and am helping wrangle submissions to this year’s Secret Santicore. I gotta hand it to Jez, Secret Santicore is a real crown jewel in the DIY/OSR community.

I did write one encounter for someone’s personal use (and thus didn’t blog it) and it was an unusual one for me in that there was no magic. Just the woods, an archer and a road. I purposely avoided anything fantastic as a key element of the encounter and I was quite pleased with the results.

Being one of Santicore’s helper elves also showed me where people’s minds are in terms of what they want from their D&D and I have to say this year will be pretty gonzo. With DCC and Carcosa coming out, I’m not surprised people are in a gonzo state of mind. I’m not immune–I read and want to play in DCC and appreciated Carcosa and I damn sure expect some top-notch stuff from the 2012 Santicore.

But then I’ve been playing 1e AD&D as a fighter with the New York Red Box crew. A dumb one–a pregen in a rules-as-written campaign using a Judges Guild module. And our magic user is reluctant to cast his spells, so in a lot of ways, there’s hardly any magic in this game. And I kind of like being a simple fighter.

And then I saw 13 Assassins. There has GOT to be some sort of kick-ass adventure there. And if this doesn’t make you want to break out Oriental Adventures or Legend of the Five Rings or Ruins and Ronin, you are a fool.

And then today I get my package from Sir Raggi, which had The God That Crawls and The Magnificent Joop Van Ooms, both of which are set on EARTH (thank you) and one in my favorite foreign city, Amsterdam. The God that Crawls scratches that shambling doom sort of itch, as its name should tell you. I expect I’ll give it a try. Joop does me a real solid with a wharf encounter table with only the tiniest bit of magic or the weird and more than 40 encounters that could really have happened in 1615 Amsterdam.

To make this short story long, I’m in the mood for the non-magical. I don’t mind that most of the OSR is running solidly toward the gonzo, but I think I’m going to spend some time working out a table of brigand encounters and a dictionary of con games to run on your players. Low, low magic stuff that can be used every day and which should make your gonzo stuff stand out.

Keeping what I said above in mind, I’m going to take requests again. If you want some sort of material that is low or non-magic for your campaign, post something in the comments below. As I did last year with “Bring It”, I’ll get to it when I can, which might mean you’ll get it this year.

How is everyone doing, by the way?

Posted in: commentary, content, legacy D&D, product recommendations / Tagged: bring it, dcc, lotfp wf rpg, low-magic, santicore

Death of a Game and a Sense of Place

September 9, 2012 7:33 pm / 2 Comments / Chris

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Before I started this blog, I used to play MMO’s, the gateway back to pen and paper in my case. I played a good deal of City of Heroes, a superhero MMO released in 2004 and now about to be shut down by its owners unless somehow the players get someone else to step in.

I don’t see many similarities between MMOs and RPG’s, but my recent forays back into COH have highlighted something that I would like out of RPGs as a player: a sense of place.

When I launch City of Heroes and my character spawn in Paragon city, I know where I am. The streets I’ve run on (and flied over) since 2004 are places with memories.

I can remember the northwestern corner of Atlas Park that is a sort of walled off area with warehouses. It used to be populated with the Clockwork, but now it’s controlled by Arachnos. It’s easier to get in and out and slightly more survivable than it used to be. I don’t know why or when they changed the mobs there but it’s not how it was back in the day and that is EXACTLY how it happens in real places.

I’m getting nostalgic, but what I’m getting at is this: City of Heroes managed to pack a lot of adventure into a small area, one that had its own inconveniences and idiosyncrasies. Because MMOs are an audio and visual medium, I don’t need to imagine the path from Steel Canyon’s southern subway station to the northern station. As I moved, I saw where I was going and heard the incidental music that played as I moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, avoiding the outcasts.

I’m in a 1e game where I’m the only PC from the village nearest the dungeon. To save money, the party crashes at my character’s parents’ barn. Since there’s never been a map, drawing or description that I have heard, I am sure we are all imagining this place quite differently.

What I am wondering is how we can (or do we need to) create a sense of place in a pen and paper game. Do you use maps, illustrations, descriptions? Do your players even revisit the same places often?

Posted in: commentary / Tagged: #saveCOH, City of Heroes, COH, MMO, sense of place

Kickstarters

March 16, 2012 8:44 am / 2 Comments / Chris

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This is a tiny blog, although perhaps not so much as I’d been assuming. You’ve all probably heard of these D&D related kickstarter projects, so consider this a nagging reminder. There are probably others that are worth your attention that I haven’t mentioned, so please feel free to post those in the comments.

The Adventurer Conquerer King Player’s Companion kickstarter ends tonight at 10PM EST. I’ve skimmed the pdf that was released late last year and will be playing it for the first time tomorrow going through Dwimmermount with Tavis.

I made my first delve into Dwimmermount last night with Paul Hughes, who writes blog of holding and has a kickstarter for his Random Dungeon Generator as Map. This is one of those things I’m not entirely sure I need but backed solely on the fun I had last night at his gaming table (which was in the middle of a crowded art gallery).

Dwimmermount has its own kickstarter, of course, and I’ve signed on for that one. I hesitate to look at the extras and notes too much since I’ll be gaming in it a few more times I expect. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good megadungeon (insert StoneHell nag here).

Lastly, is the indie-a-go-go campaign for The Monolith from Beyond Space and Time plus The God That Crawls. This one is not pacing well toward its goal, while the Kickstarter ones are. I don’t know if its the site or the way the perk levels are constructed, but I can’t imagine there being a lack of enthusiasm for LotFP material, especially adventure modules by Raggi Himself. Instead of positioning the campaign as the only way these will see the light of day, he presents the campaign as a way to help LotFP publish projects faster, so perhaps some portion of the OSR gang know he’ll publish this no matter what and are willing to wait. Now that he’s got McKinney’ stuff out the door, I am anxious to get him back to publishing his own work so I kicked in some sheckels.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D, product recommendations / Tagged: kickstarters, OSR

23 Questions

January 18, 2012 4:30 pm / Leave a Comment / Chris

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1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

The bogpiggie. Which I still need to use.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

Last Sunday for eight hours. LotFP.

3. When was the last time you played?

Last Saturday, for eight hours. As Magneto and then as a number of Muppets.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven’t run but would like to.

The chase scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

I remove corpse miniatures, determining that they have become zombies and will come get them later. No one ever notices this.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

I chew gum like it’s going out of style.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

Yes.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

There was a magic mirror that would grant one inescapable wish. I wished that all magic throughout all universes and multiverses, arcane and divine, no longer worked or existed. All hell broke loose.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Neither. But my players are at conventions mostly, so there’s no rule of thumb there.

10. What do you do with goblins?

Make them very smart. A cross between the goblins in Harry Potter and the two monkeys in Madagascar.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

I used this image as a sleeping giant last weekend in one of my sessions. It is from Adriaen Coenensz’ Vis booc (Fish Book), which is online here.

All the information is in Dutch, but the Google translating engine says that its actually a miscarriage, which was considered an ill omen from God.

I highly recommend this as a source of inspiration, even though most of it is about whales.

12. What’s the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

I’ll quote Barking Alien http://barkingalien.blogspot.com/2012/01/23-questions-with-barking-alien.html:

“This past Saturday, Sweetums opened his mouth to show that the Weapons Grade Grape Pop Rocks had turned his tongue purple…which resulted in him accidentally firing on all of the PCs and NPCs with what amounted to a gatling gun style release of candy coated shrapnel.”

13. What was the last game book you looked at–aside from things you referenced in a game–why were you looking at it?

I just got the prerelease pdf of PSI*RUN for preordering it. I wanted to see what these new kinds of RPGs are like and I had heard some great stuff about an X-Men-themed session run at NerdNYC’s Recess. Now I want to play and I also want to find a way to mash it up with Vornheim.

14. Who’s your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

At the moment, Adriaen Coenensz.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

I did freak some people with Call of Cthulhu years ago, but I had these advantages: a table on a stage with curtains down, lighting, a fog machine and the Cocteau Twins.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn’t write? (If ever)

I ran Death Frost Doom a few summers ago. That’s the only time I can remember running a pre-written module.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

Perhaps a table on a stage with curtains down, lighting, a fog machine and the Cocteau Twins.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

Tunnels and Trolls, LotFP

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

Grant Morrson’s run on The Doom Patrol and Evil Dead.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

Willing. Enthusiastic. Open-minded.

21. What’s a real life experience you’ve translated into game terms?

Got nothing for this one, sorry.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn’t?

Something like Planescape, adapted for OSR, using less AD&D-specific cosmology. Big influences would be Neil Gaiman & Grant Morrison. Guess I better wrap up current projects and get on that.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn’t play? How do those conversations go?

I sometimes talk about ideas with my wife, who until Sunday had never played an RPG outside of video games…

Me: The first time I ran it, they ended up releasing Loki and triggering Ragnarok, but this time I.. blah blah blah

Her: Uhuh. Well that’s interesting.

But now that she’s played (LotFP, a Cleric) and wants to try again, I have no answer anymore.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D / Tagged: blog thing, meta

Why’s it so dark in here?

January 18, 2012 12:22 am / Leave a Comment / Chris

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Why is it so dark here?

Roll 1d6

1 – You didn’t buy enough torches, idiot.

2- We’re inside of a bag of holding.

3- Lurker Above.

4- No idea, but–say, is that a mynock?

5- “Character is what you are in the dark.”

6- SOPA.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D

Update on ‘Bring It’

January 13, 2012 8:32 am / 1 Comment / Chris

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Last December, as a way to get myself back into writing stuff for our game, I offered to write tables, lists and other stuff on request in a series I’m calling ‘Bring It’. I said I’d donate a dollar to charity for each request I get. So far, I’ve gotten 33 requests and I’ve posted 15 replies.

For this first month’s requests, I’m donating $35 to the Food Bank for New York City, which should help feed one child for two months. The food banks around the country have been hit hard this last year, so if you can donate food or money to your local food bank, please do.

I have to finish preparing for the con game I’m running Sunday. I’ll be posting more after the weekend.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, charity, meta

The Odd Ones Are Better

January 9, 2012 5:18 pm / 3 Comments / Chris

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D&D has the opposite problem of the Star Trek movies, so it’ll be interesting to see how Type V turns out.

Posted in: commentary, humor

Breaking Rule #1: Never Participate in Blog Things

November 7, 2011 5:00 am / Leave a Comment / Chris

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Noism had some questions.

Book binding.

I prefer it to be somewhere between ‘falls apart’ and ‘it won’t stay open to the page you are on’. You want me to complain about rulebooks? I’d rather complain about content and organizational issues such as alphabetical lists of spells as opposed to level-based lists (with an alpha index). Or two-columns per page.

“Doing a voice”. How many people “do voices”? Should they? How do you get better at “doing a voice” if that’s your thing?

As long as no one minds if I slip into a seriously stereotypical accent, I’ll do them. If its a serious and dramatic moment, I might not.

Breaks. How often do you have breaks within sessions?

When I notice that I am uncomfortable. If the session goes well, everyone forgets until we are all squirming.

Description. Exactly how florid are your descriptions?

Not at all. I try to stick to strictly physical adjectives such as color, texture or analogy to something that would be contemporary for the characters. I never use adjectives that imply the nature of something or a judgement. I avoid adverbs if I can.

I only give short descriptions unless someone looks closely, in which case they can tell me how they look at something, how close they get and how they go about examining something. This is what makes them start to get nervous.

Where do you strike the balance between “doing what your character would do” and “acting like a dickhead”?

If I think the PC’s actions could easily be construed as being a dickhead, I see if there isn’t some other way to accomplish something. Unless, of course, the atmosphere of the table/game encourages that. I probably get stepped all over as a PC.

PC-on-PC violence. Do your players tend to avoid it, or do you ban it? Or does anything go?

If I am not going to allow it, I generally warn folks at the beginning. Same if I will encourage it.

How do you explain what a role playing game is to a stranger who is also a non-player?

I don’t. If someone came to our table and asked, I’d let someone else explain.

Alchohol at the table?

If I am among friends, yes. If I am at a con or in a situation where people have either paid, no. And if I am running the game, not till it’s over.

What’s acceptable to do to a PC whose player is absent from the session? Is whatever happens their fault for not being there, or are there some limits?

I generally leave them alone.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D / Tagged: blogs, survey

Recess Eve

October 7, 2011 11:40 pm / Leave a Comment / Chris

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On the night before Nerdnyc’s Recess minicon, I’m printing player handouts, tables from Vornheim, monsters from this blog while packing dice, markers, hex paper, chess pieces and a jenga set.

I really have come to appreciate the simplicity of LotFP. Pregens take maybe 4 minutes, since I already have stock equipment lists for all classes. At this point, were I picking a pre-gen from my game, it would be the Elf or the Dwarf.

Once I’ve run this, I’ll post a play report, the monsters and eventually the enture adventure. Since I’m using Vornheim for the first time as well, I’ll blog the city as it develops on the spot.

Posted in: commentary, legacy D&D / Tagged: Dwarf, Elf, lotfp wf rpg, nerdnyc, recess, vornheim

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