Going into Full Time Game Design as a Job

So this blog has kind of been sitting here waiting for the moment when I finally decide I want to do something with it. I have used it a few times when I had extra time and energy but for the most part it hasn't been what I wanted it to be. I blame myself for this because quite honestly if I didn't let myself get so damn distracted by life and everything else, it would be a lot further along. Well the good news is that is about to end. I am embarking on a journey I think I have waited far to long to commit to and I am pretty happy with the decision.

I have flirted with the idea of doing game design full time as a means of supporting myself every since I first started playing RPG's. I have actually written a few things and made some money off my hobby, but never really took the plunge so to speak. I am taking the plunge now. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, which in reality is never going to come, I am just going to do it. I won't say that I am not a little worried about this decision but I feel confident that I will succeed.

I guess the reason I am choosing to do it now is that I am just tired of being stuck doing the same crap I have been doing for the last ten years or so. I got stuck in this system of writing for corporations, selling stuff I didn't want to, learning and writing about things I could care less about, and it slowly ate my soul. Sure I made money doing it. I got to set my own hours, got to work from home, got to focus on my kids and the like. While that was good, I wasn't feeling fulfilled, I wasn't feeling happy, in short I was creating my own misery.

I kept telling myself (and other people) that I was working on this project or another, and most of the time I was, but I never finished any of it. I would start telling myself I needed to focus on other things, more adult things, more "real" things. I would go online find a freelance job, underbid what I was worth, hate the work, hate the person I was doing the work for, and mostly hating myself. In that time I have gained way to much weight, closed off way to many friendships, stopped caring about how I looked, and really just stopped caring period. If I keep this up I will be in the grave far to early.

I don't want that to happen. I want to wake up with a feeling of excitement, a feeling of purpose, a feeling of living up to my potential. I love games, I love thinking about them, writing about them, love the people who play them and more. I have always wanted to do game design for a living and now is as good a time as any. I don't think I will get rich doing it, but I do believe I will earn just as much as I have been (maybe more) and more importantly I will be doing something I love.

So here it goes, taking that deep breath, looking down at the unknown waters below, my heart is pounding my palms are sweating, my brain is screaming at me that I can't, but I know I can so it is finally time to jump...

Campaign Design 101: What is Important?

Ever since I started playing role playing games one of my favorite things to do is campaign design. Something about planning a large scale series of adventures that tell an epic story has always appealed to me. I can't recall all the details of my first attempt at one, but I do remember it featured Asmodeus as the big bad ugly and the goal of the campaign was to slay him and stop his take over of the prime material plane. I do remember sitting at my desk spending hours mapping out elaborate dungeons and writing volumes of adventures. In the end the group I was part of made it about halfway before summer showed up and things like swimming in the lake and riding our bikes became more interesting. We always talked about getting back to it but we never did and by the time we were starting to game again our tastes had evolved to a different game and so again I was swept up in writing a brand new campaign.

Over the course of my life I have written dozens of fully detailed campaigns and have finished some of them. I have learned a lot about what makes a campaign work and what doesn't. For instance I have learned that campaigns designed to last over six months are not as likely to finish as those designed to last under six months. I have learned that players tend to prefer campaigns where they get to be the heroes instead of watch the heroes. I have learned that players like to make their own characters instead of have characters made for them. However, the most important thing I have learned is that for the Game Master the story is everything.

While players tend to look back at their characters and the cool things they did, the Game Master looks back and remembers how excited the players were when they found out the secret to opening the temple. While the players will regale people with stories of heroics, the Game Master remembers the look of fear on a players face as their character hovered on the brink of death. In the end, the players and their characters are important, but if the Game Master does not enjoy the story, the campaign never has a chance of really taking off.

I am sure there are Game Masters out there who will disagree, but for me as a Game Master there is no doubt that I need a story that gets me excited. I have to read an adventure and be transfixed by the story I see unfold. I have to have that same feeling I had when I was a kid reading through Keep on the Borderlands. I have to want to see the story play out in front of me, I have to want to show up to the table, I have to want to see the story begin and end. If I don't have that, well, I just don't have fun. While the players having fun is just as important, it is my belief they have a lot more fun when the Game Master is having fun as well.

Over the next couple of blog entries I will be laying out a story line for the campaign I am creating from the ground up. This is the first step of game design for me, and I think that is true of a lot of other Game Masters as well. I will start at a beginning and eventually end at an ending. When I am done with the story, I will move onto the next phase of campaign development and then the next. I hope you all enjoy the ride.

Dungeon Crawl: The Castle Levels 1,2, and Dungeon

Got all the mapping for the castle itself done. I am thinking I need to do an area map of the castle so I might work on that before detailing the rooms but I might just retrograde that. Overall I am happy with how things turned out but can see several areas where I could do better. For now though I think they are good enough to go forward with. Feel free to let me know what you think...

Dungeon Crawl, The Map: Castel Level 1

I finally got my Photo Shop up and running so spent some time making a map for the dungeon crawl. I have always felt that a dungeon map should be interesting to look at and be useful for generating ideas even before someone reads the info for what happens to be inside. While I have a good idea on what's going on on this level, I won't go to much into it and instead will leave what kind of bad guys inhabit this ancient ruin up to your imagination for now.

I should be posting up more maps in the next couple of days so make sure to check back often.

Building a Dungeon Crawl Part I: Location, Location, Location!

I was looking through my PDF collection of first edition modules the other day. While I looked through them I had a bit of nostalgia going on and gave some thought to what made some of those adventures so awesome. While I thought about it, I realized that most of them were straight out dungeon crawls. While they were all dungeon crawls that wasn't the sole thing that made them awesome. In fact, just because a module or adventure is a "dungeon crawl" doesn't mean it is going to be any good. A good dungeon crawl has a few things that rise it above a normal or bad dungeon crawl. But what are these things?

As I asked myself this question I decided this would make a good series of blog posts. Not only have I really been in the mode for some old school flavor lately, I have also been wanting to get creative and build something. So here we are at the first post in a series dedicated to how to not only build a dungeon crawl but make it memorable as well.

Step 1: A Memorable Location:

I think the first thing that makes a dungeon crawl memorable is when it is set in an interesting location. If you look at some of the classic adventures like Temple of Elemental Evil, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, and the like, you will notice they had an interesting location. The Temple of Elemental Evil was an ancient temple thought destroyed forever, the Forbidden City was a ruined city in the middle of the jungle that had long been forgotten. These locations made the dungeon unique and memorable.  Of course this means that if I want to make a memorable dungeon crawl, I have to come up with an interesting location.

There are a lot of things that go into making a location memorable. While I don't know if I can think of everyone, I do know a few things seem to be true.

1: The location has a story.

2: The location has interesting denizens.

3: The design of the location is interesting

4: The region around the location is also interesting.

These four rules are true regardless of where the location happens to be. The dungeon can be a series of sewers crawling with were rats, or it can be a far away citadel made out of ice. If the location has these for things going for it, chances are it will be memorable. Taking this four rules, I am going to start fleshing out the location for my dungeon crawl.

The Story

A long time ago in a remote valley, the baron of the valley wed a very self absorbed woman named Lieral. This woman was obsessed with her own beauty. So obsessed was this woman that she would spend great deals of money to make sure she had the latest fashions from the capitol. While she was without a doubt beautiful the specter of age slowly crept up on the Baron's wife. This of course caused the baron's wife to become even more obsessed with not only staying beautiful but finding a way to prevent aging.

At first the steps Lieral took simply involved spending even more money on creams and other remedies. At first these worked well enough, but after a aging continued to leave its mark on the woman's skin. Growing desperate Lieral began correspondence with several priests and mages. While many of them tried to help her the best they could, there was only so much she could do. After several priests and mages visited Lieral she began to despair of ever finding a way to stop the aging. Then one day a mysterious wizard appeared claiming to have the answer Lieral sought.

 At first Lieral didn't believe the wizard could do anything for her and demanded some kind of proof. The wizard agreed and cast a spell that made Lieral appear younger instantly. Overjoyed the Baron's wife asked the wizard what he wanted for payment. The wizard said that he couldn't accept payment but would be happy to serve Lieral as an advisor. Thrilled that the wizard would like to stay Lieral immediately made the wizard her advisor.

Shortly after the wizards arrival the baron himself became gravely ill. At first Lieral insisted the wizard do something to cure her husband, but after the wizard revealed that this was the cost of her beauty, Lieral allowed her husband to die a cruel and wasting death. After the death of her husband, Lieral began to notice that her again had started again. Furious she told the wizard that she wanted him to perform the spell again. The wizard said that he would but that it would cost another persons life. The Baroness did not care and had one of the children from a nearby village sent to her castle because the wizard informed her that children would last longer than her husband had.

For the next several ears Lieral did not age a single day, but the poor child eventually died in the same cruel and wasted way as the Baron. This of course led to another child being taken from a village. The next child didn't last as long as the first one because the cost to keep the Baroness young grew higher the longer the Baroness lived. Over time this led to more and more children being taken by the Baroness.

At first the citizens of the valley simply allowed this to happen. However, as Lieral began to demand more children more often the citizens grew angry. Finally they had enough and gathered together to bring the Baroness to justice. The Baroness was enraged by this rebellion and had her wizard cast a horrible spell that would take the life force of everyone in the valley and give it to her. How the wizard accomplished this is unknown, but the fact is he did and soon everyone in the valley died in the same wasting way. With no one left alive, the Baroness herself also eventually died. Over time the Baroness was forgotten and the castle she lived in fell into disrepair.

One hundred years later new people have started to live in the vale. They do not know the history of the Baroness nor would they have care if they did. The land in the valley is good and they have families that need room to grow. While they may not care about the history of the valley, the Baroness does and the new people coming to the valley have awoken her from her long slumber and once again children have started to disappear...

So there we have it, the story. I believe the story is interesting and something I can build on. I also really think it creates a great mystery for the players as their characters begin to investigate the disappearing children. I still have a lot of work to do but for now I like where this is going. Next post I think I will work on a map of the region and then maybe do one for the now ruined castle. I would love to hear what you have to say... until next time game well, game long, and may your rolls be generous!

What is Old School Gaming and Where has it gone?

I was visiting Facebook the other day and saw someone ask the question what is old school gaming? I read some of the comments and I started asking myself the very same question. After thinking on it a bit I decided to write a post about my thoughts on the subject. I figure that after 30 years of gaming I am fairly qualified to chime in on this issue. Not only do I feel qualified to write on the subject, I feel that old school gaming has a lot to offer people.

My Definition of Old School Gaming

My definition of old school gaming isn't so much a definition as it is about the spirit of old school gaming. There was a certain quality to table top rpg's back when I was a kid that seems to be lost now. While I don't debate that the gaming systems have gotten better in terms of clarity and function, there is a key element missing. It's hard to describe what this missing element is in one word, but I guess freedom would be the best descriptor.

Before RPGs became the slick focus group studied products they are today, they were about creativity. There were rules of course, but those rules had a different quality to them that seemed to encourage creativity. In fact the first edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide was crammed full of useful information on how to create a world. Not only was it crammed full of information it also gave you tons of handy charts to use to create your own stuff.

AD&D wasn't the only game that did that either. In fact during that time most games were much more about freedom and creativity than today's games are. Now don't get me wrong, some of those early systems were absolutely horrible and very unwieldy, but at their core they encouraged creativity. In short, I guess my definition of old school gaming is a gaming style that encourages creativity and freedom.

Why it Changed

I touched a bit on this already, but the fact is the game changed because the people making and playing the game changed. Dungeons and Dragons was successful beyond what anyone ever thought it would be. Not only was DnD successful but the role playing game industry in general has been not only successful, but influential in our culture beyond any one's wildest imaginations. While I think we all agree that success was a good thing, it also brought along the idea that these hobbies could make people a lot of money.

When people can make money at something they have a tendency to look at ways to improve something and this is exactly what happened. If you look at where DnD started and compare it to where it is now, you will see that the more money it made, the more money they spent on making products for the game. Not only that but they also improved the marketing of the game but to do this they had to provide a product that appealed to the largest amount of people possible.

At one time, RPGs were pretty much the sole property of "nerds and geeks". While times have changed and nerds and geeks seem to be the new sexy, there was a time we were social outcasts to the Nth degree. In order to grow as a hobby RPGs needed to reach out beyond their traditional market. I think if you look back, Vampire the Masquerade was the first product to really succeed in that and others followed.

This of course led to other games looking at the success of Vampire the Masquerade and changing how they approached the public. The biggest make over was DnD. Where at one time it had been the undisputed master of the rpg universe, it lost ground big time to the Vampire craze. Not only did it lose ground, but it almost ceased to exist and then boom! along comes third edition and once again we saw an explosion of the hobby.

The Old School Revival

While I think this explosion of popularity has been good for the rpg industry in general, I can't help but miss the old school "feel" at times. The nice thing is that I am not alone in this feeling. In fact right now we are witnessing a bit of an old school revival. If you look around the Internet you can see a renewed interest in what people call "old school gaming". you can browse facebook groups, personal blogs, Kickstarter projects and more and easily find things that classify themselves as either being old school, or having that old school feel.

I personally am happy to see this. While I enjoy what the hobby has become, it is nice to know that I can always turn the page back when I am in the mood. I feel that as the old school revival continues it will only help add to the entire history of gamer culture. I think it has opened doors once thought long sealed shut and allowed for a fresh burst of creativity and that is good for the hobby.

While I seriously doubt we will ever see anything that is considered old school see the same success as current RPGs, there is no doubt in my mind that a market exists for these products. I also don't have any doubt that the old school revival will last quite a while. In the end we gamers have long memories and while some of us may be getting old, we pass the torch on to younger gamers every single day.

In the end I don't think Old school gaming has really gone anywhere, I just think it has been in hiding for a little while. However, every day I see new signs of life in this aspect of the RPG world and it has me excited. Now, if only they would get back to printing Dragon Magazine again....

The Start of a New Project and a Different Direction

I have currently been keeping two blogs about gaming updated. One is here and the other is called Samson's Bridge. I originally planned to get myself up and running by using the 5e rule set as a jumping point and from there start working on my own material. The problem is that I have heard Wizards of the Coast is sending out Cease and desist letters and well, I just didn't feel like getting one of those. This means of course that I took down the blog posts I had written that may have violated copyright laws in any way. While I was okay doing that I didn't want to give up on either of my blogs because I enjoy writing about RPG's.

This means that I had to think of new purposes for both blogs and the good news is I have. This blog is going to focus on posts about gaming in general. Tips and tricks for GM's and DM's as well as various opinion articles about various aspects of the game. I also hope to get some guest blogger in here to share their knowledge. It's funny because this is exactly what I intended for this blog when I started it a few years ago, but never really got into so in a way this works out just fine.

Samson's Bridge is going to change direction pretty hard core. I had intended to use it to build a DnD campaign from the ground up including adding some "crunchy" bits as I went along. The problem is that right now that seems to be a course of trouble so I want to back off that a bit. Instead of building a DnDcampaign I am going to be working on an indie RPGproject I have been considering for some time. This project will be an exhaustive look at character background in fantasy role playing games. Along with looking at how backgrounds effect characters, I am going to have several "crunchy" tables and charts to help people generate random backgrounds from birth to the start of their adventuring career.

I know there are already a lot of "gamer opinion blogs" out there but I hope I can add a unique voice to the conversation. I have been doing this gaming thing for thirty years and in the time I feel I have gained a lot of useful insight to other gamers. Anyway, I think I have gone on long enough for now. I can't wait to see what the future holds and hope you join me :)

A bit of a snag...

I have hit a bit of a snag and it is changing my plans for this blog a bit. While I don't feel I was violating any copywrite rules, the fact is Wizards of the Coast is sending out cease and desist letters to people who want to use any 5e material. this means that the stuff I had posted up could potentially recieve such a letter and I just want to avoid the problem before it happens. This does not mean I am giving up on this project. It just means that I have to move forward in a different manner.

Instead of using anything related to DnD this blog is instead going to focus on creating a new game that focuses more on character background and story telling than on rolling dice. I feel that there is a niche for this kind of game and given the fact that I intend to make sure it is easily compatible with other gaming systems it should still be of use to most gamers.

I hope that Wizards will soon come out with some kind of fan site policy like they did during second edition, or even better, offer a new open liscence of some kind. While I understand that they need to protect their intellectual property, I personally believe that the OGL and other open gaming style liscences have been a boon for the hobby in general. I also believe that one of the reasons 3.0 and 3.5 was such a success was because of the enthusiasm of the creative community. While sure, there was some real bad stuff put out during the time and a bit of a glut did happen, I think the hobby overall benefited from allowing people to add their own creative energies into the mix.

I hope those of you who have visited this blog continue to poke in from time to time. This is not a step backward, merely a step forward a bit faster than I intended to make it happen.

Keep on the Borderlands 5e conversion Part 1: Introduction

It's been a while since I used this blog so figured I would dust it off and start using it again. While I have another blog over at http://samsonsbridge.blogspot.com/ that is about a campaign I am building, I wanted to have a space for doing some old school module conversion to the 5e rule set. I have decided to start with Keep on the Borderlands because out of every module I have ever played in or run this i the one that I always think of first when I think of old school gaming. There is just something about this module that gives me a happy gaming buzz whenever I look at it and I know many other gamers feel the same way. While I plan to make my way through almost every module printed for first ed and maybe dabble with updating the many 2nd ed settings, this is a good place to start.

Considerations on the Conversion

Before I even really get started on the "crunch" of converting this module, I have to consider a few factors. If I go in blindly and just decide to replace all monsters and encounters with little thought I am likely tor ruin the balance of the 5e game. This means I have to really look at the difference between the Basic DnD rules Keep on the Borderlands was written for and the current 5e rules. While I don't expect to many things to require that much work there are a few things I have already noticed.

Different Rules for Races and Classes

As I already mentioned, Keep on the Borderlands was written for the Basic DnD rule set. This means things like Elf being both a race and a class, Armor Class differences, Combat differences and a lot more. Basic DnD was a super simplistic set of rules that were designed to be easy to play "right out of the box" so to speak. While  the 5e rules represent this spirit a bit, the fact is the rules are a lot more complex now than they were back then specially  in regards to race and class.

Experience Curve

Experience points is probably going to be another bugaboo. In Basic DnD all the classes advanced at a different rate of experience. In 5e they all advance at the same pace. Not only that but experience rewards are a little different. Since I want to capture both the feel and spirit of this module, I have to make sure that the encounters keep the characters on a pace similar to the original work.

Because this entire module was designed for character levels 1-3 to gain several levels during their explorations of the Caves of the Unknown and the environs around the keep I have to make sure that the same happens for 5e characters. This might actually mean a bit of slow progression for players and that is something I am okay with. Back in the day it took a while to gain levels and it always felt really good when you got to add a level. This is part of the experience I want my conversion to reflect.

Encounter Balance

Another thing I will have to juggle is making sure that the encounter balance is fair and even. While Basic DnD gave some thought to encounter balance, it wasn't quite the consideration it is today. I think almost every old school gamer has stories of working up multiple characters during an adventure because staying alive was hard in those days. I lost count of the characters I have had die in this module with the basic rules. While yes, that is part of the appeal of old school gaming, I feel a conversation to a new rule set has to consider the ideas of the new rule set.

I am sure I will create a fairly normal monster progression of kobold<Goblin<Orc<Ogre etc because that was in Basic DnD but this adventure also has one of the most notorious owlbears of all time hiding out and those things have only gotten even more beastly in time (not to mention the Medusa you encounter in the temple complex) so I might have to make some changes to 5e monster stats or just put different monsters in  some areas to preserve the balance.

Formatting

Out of all the things I am going to have to figure out, I think formatting is going to be the thing I spend the most time on at first. However, while I will spend a lot of time on it upfront once I have it figured out that will make future conversions a lot easier. While I am sure some people would love for me to simply re write the entire module and post it here, that is not going to happen. Instead I am going to create a bit of a "cheat sheet" that will allow DM's to use 5e stats while they work with the original module.

In the end I am sure I will have fun with this project and I hope you the reader are happy with the result. If ever you feel like I should do something different or you have a better way of handling a situation I run into feel free to let me know. While I won't promise to stick to any particular schedule with updating, I am planning to have a new part of the module converted about every other day. If this experiment goes well, I will decide which one to tackle next so feel free to suggest any old school modules you would like to see updated. Until next time, may that damn owlbear not kill your wizard with 1 hit point in the first round...

Being the Game Master: What You Really Need

I have been trying to think of something to do with this blog since the day I started it. Given that I started it off a bit of a whim I never really had a clear direction of where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. I finally think I have found at least one thing I want to do with this blog on a somewhat steady basis and that is share what I have learned as a Game Master.

I first started playing Dungeons and Dragons nearly twenty years ago now when I was nine years old. Ever since that first experience I have been hooked. In those twenty years I have not only played Dungeons and Dragons but a massive variety of other role playing games as well and I truly believe my life is all the richer for those experiences. Role Playing Games have allowed to visit not only other worlds but other times. All I need was some dice some paper and I could be anyone and go anywhere I wanted. The only limit was my own imagination.

I like almost everyone else started out as a player and I was quite happy in this role. I show up with my dice and character and someone else provides the story and the munchies. The only problem was that my first Dungeon Master (and probably still my favorite one) was my Uncle and while he did let me play, he was also a bit short on patience and probably had times when he would have rather throttled me than play DnD with me. This of course meant that if I wanted to keep playing Dungeons and Dragons I would have to take on the role of Dungeon Master.

The problem with being a Dungeon Master at the age of nine is that I had no resources for the books or the other materials you needed to play. I had my own set of dice though, and I had the memories of how it all worked from playing with my uncle. So one day I ambushed my younger brother and told him we were going to play Dungeons and Demons (Hey I knew it wasn't real Dungeons and Dragons but the name sounded cool so I went with it) and while I barely remember how it all worked out I do know my brother and I had lots of fun. Before I knew it I had a binder full of home rules with a really bad drawing of a demon on front and my younger brother and I spent hours playing in our room.

It's actually kind of funny looking back at those days in comparison with where I a at today. Today I bookshelves lined with rpg books, shelves filled with dice and characters, and a computer full of hundreds of PDF files. Yet despite all the "toys" that I have accumulated to make the game "better" I can't really say that the play experience has really changed all that much. When I sit down to play Dungeons and Dragons or any other rpg my mind still goes to that magical place that allows me to escape this mundane world and enter a world of my own creation.

I think a lot of people who have an interest in being a Game Master tend to stop themselves short because they don't have the "stuff". I totally get this, but the "stuff" is really just fluff and isn't as important as you think it is. What a Game Master really needs is a willingness to just go out and do it. You don't need rules, fancy graph paper, or mini's. All you really need as a Game Master is some imagination, a group of friends, and a couple of hours to kill. If you have those things then the rest is just window dressing.

The Adventure Begins

About a week ago I finally decided to get together with my kids and play some Dungeons and Dragons. I have had the Bean play before but this was the first time for both Juicinator and Potato. I knew Bean understood the concepts but was a bit worried that Juicinator would need every nuance of every rule explained (she is a bit detail oriented and can hammer you with questions when she wants to understand something) and didn't know if Potato would be interested enough to learn. My fears were largely assuaged when I asked them “Would you guys like to start playing DnD with me?” and they responded with a very hearty “Yayyyyyyyy!!!”

Once I had them all in agreement to play the next step was of ourse to create characters. I gave a lot of thought about how I was going ot do this, after all there are currently five versions of DnD available and each has it's own merits and drawbacks. My first impulse was to simply break out my ancient basic DnD stuff because it really is about as simple a game as you can get. While Basic is indeed simple that is also its problem because it just plays so generically. I never really considered either first or second edition Advnaced Dungeons and Dragons because while they were aweosme for their time, they are very old in game philosophy and I just wasn't thinking it would be that much fun to run. I nixed fourth edition because while it is a very solid game.. it isn't the experience I wanted to start my kids out with. So that left 3.5 but I did wonder if it was a bit to complex but decided I could adjust complexities if need be.

Once the version was chosen it was time to prep the kids a bit. I had the Bean take the other two in hand and go through the Players Handbook with the assignment of each of them picking the race and class combination they thought they would like the best. I have to admit their choices surprised me a bit because I was expecting them to pick “simple” things like human fighter or rouge. Instead, Bean picked a elven druid, Juicinator picked a gnome ranger, and to my great surprise Potato picked a Halfling cleric.(I like being useful and helping people with healing, Daddy)

So, their race and classes picked out it was time to get down to actually making the characters. I have to say that this process went more smoothly than I thought it would. While there was a bit of having to explain somehting ten times in twenty different ways, for the most part they figured it out pretty quickly. A little side note, Jasmine rolled two eighteens on her character which was awesome. It took a couple hours on two different nights to get the characters completed but complete them we did and finally it was time to actually sit down and play.

Now, anyone who has played with me knows I like to put prep into my DnD sessions and while I would have loved to do so with my kids, they were so eager to play that I really didn't have time to do the kind of prep I like to do. Also with my eyes being as bad as they are (god can time creep any slower till I can get them fixed?) Pouring over DnD books just isn't that appealing at the moment. With these complications I just decided to wing it. I mean why not? So I figured given that they are all woodsy characters (Jade decided to follow Yondalla a nature kind of diety) this made a good starting point. Their mentor a druid by the name of Theodore sends them off to none other the village of Homlet (It's how I started so just made sense to me) to speak with an alchemist there by the name of Robard to get some elderberry root. After fielding some questions about what he needed it for the three noble adventurers head of bright and early one morning for a seven day trip to Homlet.

I actually had anticipated that they wouldn't run into much there, but I was wrong. I was using a d10 to check for encounters. I would use one roll for the daytime and two for nighttime. Their first day of travel nothing happened but that night on the second roll they got attacked by dire rats. It was during this encounter that I felt a strong sense of paternal pride in my emerging gamers.

Bean was on watch when she hard a crackling in the underbrush. Curious she decides to investigate the noise. She travels about fifteen feet from the camp and sees several dire rats making their way toward the camp. Thinking quickly Bean sends out a shout of alarm waking the other two and wades in with her wolf animal companion to do battle. The first round does not go very well, both Bean and the wolf are wounded while they fail to land a blow on the now swarming dire rats. As the other two arrive the melee intensifies and again the round goes against our noble companions. At this point is when something awesome happens.

Juicinator looks at me thoughtfully and points to her character sheet “Can I use my speical abilities right now?”

I look at her and ask “Well which one do you want to use?”

She smiles “I want to use Dancing Lights.'

“Why do you want to use that?”

“Well I want to make bright lights that scare off all the rats.”

I shake my head “Sorry Juice but that won't work because they are in combat they most likely won’t notice the lights and even if they did I doubt it would scare them.”

Juicinator scowls and then points at her sheet again “Can I use ghost sound?”

I consider it and ask “What do you want ot use it to do?”

She smiles “To make a sound like a big cat and scare of the rats!”

I laugh and decide that this actually can work. While I would think somehting like a thunder clap would work better I have to admire her creativity. I roll a will svve for each of the rats and DC 10 and wouldn't you know it all but two fail and flee in fear of the loud cat sound. The rest of the battle goes rather quickly and Potato heals up everyone and they go back to sleep.

Now I have ran countless games of DnD and in almost every case similar to this encounter players generally just battle the critters, I was seriously impressed with my daughters thinking of using ghost sound. It was really neat to see her think of that in the heat of battle. Maybe I am being a bit over proud, but I don't care, they are my kids and they are awesome.

So the next day they are walking along when the encounter and owlbear. I was a bit worried about this encoutner because the owlbear is actually quite a brute, but I figured if worse came to worse I could think of some way to save them. Turns out that these worries were unfounded considering that in the first two rounds all thee of the girls rolled critical attacks. The owlbear was downed pretty easily then Bean thinks of maybe tracking the creature back to it's lair.

Agian I was impressed because very seldom have I seen veteran gamers think of doing something like this. So they make th eapproriate rolls and find the owlbears tracks. A short hike later they find the small cave it has been living in. Deciding to show some caution (again surprising their DM) they sneak up to the cave entracne carefully and find it empty. Thye give it a through searching and are rewarded with finding 120 gold pieces and a wand of invisibility (they got to roll on the treasure table and managed to roll well enough to get a mnor magic item.. I am telling you these kids have serious luck).

At this point it was close to bed time so I told them we were stopping for the night (Awww Daddy to we have to?) but assured them we would play again son.

Looking back on the night I have to say that while it was not the most intense night of gaming I have ever had, it was certianly one of the most fun. There is just something really cool about seeing my kids shuffling character sheets, rollling dice, and listening to me intently as I describe the world they journey through. I can't wait to do it again soon.

So looking forward I have a bit of a decision to make. While I sent them off to the village of homlet, this was done simply to give them a direction Now they have found a small cave. I can simply keep it a small cave and let them continue their journey or I can let them find a passage way further into the hills they are traveling through.. I really don't know which way I will go yet.. what do you think?

The advantages and disadvantages of play by post gaming

I, like almost every other gamer on the planet has had times when it was damn near impossible to get a group together to play a game. In the old days that generally meant spending your time rolling up a billion characters, drawing a thousand dungeons and designing a couple of campaign worlds. However, with the invention of the internet, gaming was able to enter a new frontier. Admitted, there are some signs that say this new frontier might be slowly destroying pencil and paper gaming, but on the other hand, it has also given gamers the ability to contact one another a lot easier.

In the early days of the internet, a system called play by email was adopted by gamers seeking games online. This was a great option for people who either couldn't get a group together or had real life constraints (work) on their time. You simply checked your email, read a post or two, replied, and off you were. It was a short and simple way to get a small fix. In fact there were some PBEM's that I was involved with that were just as good if not better than my average tabletop session.

Along with PBEM gaming, play by Post gaming also started. While Play by Post was a similar way to game it was conducted on message boards. You generally had to create a username and then apply to a variety of games. While I strongly preferred PBEM gaming at first, there was a utility available in PBP that eventually led to it winning the contest between the two. I hear that there are still PBEM's going on (specially in the world of Star Trek Sims) but for the most part the utility and usability of message boards have come to dominate the online gaming community. Having done my fair share of PBP gaming I have come to believe their are certain advantages and disadvantages when compared to a table top game.

The main advantage PBP games have compared to table tops is that you don't have to work around the schedules of five people. You can log into the message boards whenever you have time, enter a quick post, and you are done for the day. Another strong advantage of play by post gaming is that it allows those of us who really like to write and develop characters a place to do so. In fact, if you want to really get an epic storyline going, I would strongly suggest PBP games.

The disadvantages of PBP gaming is the fact that there are no smiling faces at the table with you. You don't get the same feel that the table top experience provides. Also, if you are not much for writing or you don't have internet access it can be very difficult to actually do play by post gaming. Finally there is the fact that you never really know if anyone is cheating or not.

In the end, I find that there are times I want to use play by post for gaming and other times when I want the table top experience. I am glad that both are available to me and can't wait to see a time when technology allows us to get the best out of both worlds (and no WoW is not it)

If you are interested in gaming in a play by post game you should check out mythweavers.

Motley Monday: New blog, an idea or two and other stuff

I have decided that I want to have some kind of weekly column here and thought that Monday makes a great day for that. Monday is a weird day for me, I have to get up early, I generally have some kind of work to do, and the kids are in school. By Tuesday I am adjusted to weekday's, but Monday is all about getting the ball rolling. For that reason I really like the idea, so welcome to Motley Monday a collection of various thoughts and the like from yours truly.

I like this blog quite a bit, but I wanted to start another one to act as a place to store my campaign notes, so I started a new blog. I will still keep up with this blog, but I will also be working on the other one. I actually think this will cause an increase in my posting rate so I am kind of excited about it. If you want to check it out go here.

I plan to sit down and get some campaign journals started up. The reason it has taken me this long is because all the games I am involved with had been going for a while before I started this blog and I am trying to make sure I get everything right before posting it up here. Also I need to get permission from everyone else involved and decide upon an acceptable nick name for them in the blog (protecting personal information and all that being somewhat important in this day and age).

My buddy Heavy Noir is starting the first session of his twenty four hour game this weekend. I am pretty psyched about it as I think Heavy is a great GM and I think the idea sounds like a lot of fun. Admitted I am not as young as I used to be so I am not sure how staying up twenty four hours is going to treat me. I used to be able to do it no problem (heck even had some 70+ hour days a couple of times), but now I am not so sure. Whatever happens I am sure it will be a lot of fun.

I am trying to decide on a special teams coach for my fantasy football team. Any suggestions would be appreciated. If you do submit a suggestion and I do use it, you would of course get proper credit.

Well, that is all for now, see you all later!

Raistlin Majere Announced New Offensive Coordinator

I actually was considering totally giving up on the Fantasy Football team idea, but some friends let me know that liked the idea so I decided to keep going with it. At this moment my goal is to have my team finished and built by the start of the actual NFL season (if there is one given the lockout). Anyway, sorry about the slight ramble, now on to the next member of the coaching staff...

RAISTLIN MAJERE!


About Raistlin:


It is hard for me to think of another character in all of dungeons and dragons who has gained the same level of awe among players. I remember a time when you could see a bit of Raistlin in every wizard brought to the gaming table. One player might use Raistlins' cough, another his whispering voice, and another his sarcastic wit. I myself liked other characters in the Dragonlance world better, but even I had a deep respect for Raistlin as not only an iconic character, but as an example of what happens to those who allow their lust for power to control them.

For me, watching Raistlin change throughout the Dragonlance novels was a great character study. Here is a person who started life sickly and barely alive. As he grows through childhood he is bullied by his peers and if it had not been for his brother, it is likely this torment would have been even worse. Eventually Raistlin finds something that not only gives him power, but offers him a chance to be one of the elite, this is of course magic.

With magic now under his control Raistilin begins to earn both the respect and fear of those around him. Suddenly Raistilin goes from needing his brothers protection to being part of a deadly team and gaining a feeling of independence. However, in the middle of this growth Raistlin body, not in the best of health to begin with, is broken. While he still has the power of magic, he becomes more dependent on his brother than every before. These events make it easy to understand his anger at the world.

So, here we have a young man who has started out in a bad situation that really only got worse. The only real change in his life is the power of magic. With little else to hold onto Raistlin embraces that power and nurtures his anger. Eventually Raistlin is presented with an opportunity to gain power. This power of course has a price and that is to embrace evil and bow to the Queen of evil. Yet, if we have learned anything about Raistlin, it is the fact that he can not abide any being having more power than him and this will become a problem for not only Takhisis but the rest of the world as well.

Eventually Raistlin challenges Takhisis and is on the very brink of victory, we all know that he is going to do it. There is no power in all of Krynn that could convince him to surrender his chance at what he craves the most. Yet, he does, and he does so when his brother Caramon tells him of the empty universe which is his fate if he kills Takhisis. Talk about a plot twist. Eventually Raistlin escapes the abyss and helps rescue the world which allows him his final rest which is about as good of a redemption story as you are going to get.

Why Raistlin?

The way I figure it Asmodeus is going to want someone almost as devious as he is running the offense. I gave this a lot of thought and finally narrowed it town to Elminster or Raistlin but Raistlin edged out ole' Elminster when I considered the hour glass eyed magi's ruthlessness. In football offense is not only about getting the ball into the end zone, it is also about deceiving the defense. Raistlin has what it takes in spades. I remember reading the first Dragon Lance books when I was a kid and how blown away I was by Raistlin becoming a member of the black robe wizards. It amazed me that he was so power hungry. Then he followed this up by coming within a hairs breadth of defeating Takhisis.

It is this combination of ambition, ruthlessness, and talent that really cause Raistlin to shine. As one of the most iconic characters in not only the Dragon Lance universe but Dungeons and Dragons as well he also brings a great deal of notoriety to the team. I know that if I were a defensive coordinator I would hate trying to match wits with Raistlin.

to learn more about Raistlin read this article at Drgaonlance Nexus

Why I Do Not Like 4th Edition

While I have been having fun making my fantasy football team, I thought I should take a moment to explain why I dislike 4E.

1: It Wasn't Needed


I was one of the first people I knew to adapt to both second and third edition (and yes 3.5). The main reason for this was because I felt the changes each addition made were needed. While I loved first edition and always will, there were several problems in many of the mechanics. For example limiting demi humans in levels not only made little sense, but could really hurt a party at higher levels. Also some of monsters provided challenges that were hard to gauge correctly. While there were still some problems with second edition (THAC0 anyone?), overall it was a vast improvement over first edition. What I really liked the most about 2nd edition was the fact it was largely compatible with first edition so I could use all my modules without to much work.

 I think where 2nd Edition failed is the Dungeon Masters Guide. The first edition DMG gave a DM so much they could use. An hour until game time and no dungeon made? No problem! Simply use the random dungeon generator and you were good to go. Wanted to know the color of a potion? No problem! Browse through the reputed magical properties of gems for a quick idea. The second edition DMG was only useful for the magic items and little else.  I also think that by the end of second edition role playing games as a whole had matured and the system needed a serious overall. While 2nd Ed brought many good changes (class kits, non weapon proficiencies, etc.) there were still some problems.

I, much like everyone grumbled a bit when I heard the news about 3rd edition. I remember thinking to myself that it was a move to make money and little else. Even though I was inclined not to I decided to buy the three core books and I have to say I was very happy. I thought they had made some great changes. Admitted it did take learning an entirely new system, but the improvement was immense. Sure there were some problems such as the Ranger being worthless, but overall it was a better game. Of course third ed. had barely gotten going when they put out 3.5 but again it was a change that needed to happen. Rules were clarified, classes were better balanced etc.

Then came 4E. I really felt then and still feel that 4E was not needed. The 3.5 system worked fine and had a lot more room to explore and improve. I can see where a streamlining of some of the player options would have been nice, but to overhaul the system completely just was unnecessary. They didn't make a better game, they didn't improve on any of the problems in 3.5, and to top it off they turned the cosmos upside down. All of this led to me finding 4E a huge disappointment. I tried to like 4E, I really did, but the more I played it the more I found issues with how things had changed.

2: Too Many Accessories Needed


When I first started playing D&D you needed a character sheet, a pencil, some dice, and maybe a miniature figure. If you were the DM you needed a note book, some graph paper, enough dice to lend some to the new guy and maybe some minis. Sure, the more advanced groups used minis quite a bit and there were a lot of neat products made to help make visualizing the game easier, but you didn't have to have them in order to play. The D&D game remained largely this way through both second and even third edition. Admitted, things made a lot more sense if you used minis and dungeon tiles (I still think the plastic minis were one of the best ideas ever!), but you could play the game without them if need be.

If you play 4E you absolutely have to have minis and dungeon tiles (though most of the modules to provide some combat maps). So what became a fairly affordable hobby became much more expensive. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with spending money on my hobby. I firmly believe that even including such extras as plastic minis and dungeon tiles gaming works out to be cheaper than most other things, I just feel that I should be able to play a game without having to buy more than the rule books.

3: WoW Is a Better MMORPG


One of the things that really bugs me about 4E is the fact that it seems to be a pen and paper MMORPG. If I wanted to play an MMO I would sign into my Wow account. When I am at a table with my friends I don't want to play World of Warcraft, I want to play Dungeons and Dragons (or Rifts, or Gurps, or L5R etc). Every time I look at the players hand book for 4E I feel like I am looking at a talent tree system and that sucks. One of the reasons I loved RPG's was that each and every character was able to be different even if they shared the same class. Even the most basic of fighters would differ from each other in several ways. 4E simply gives you a list of powers to choose from and in the end there is very little in the way of uniqueness.

In the end, the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that 4E is an inferior product in virtually every way to 3.5 and the proceeding editions of D&D. I think that the entire concept was approached in a poor fashion and in no way gave me a better game to play then what I already had. I feel many of the changes were made simply to make 4E incompatible with 3.5. I think that the designers at WOTC got to involved in "shaking" things up and in the end I think we the gamers are the worse off for it.

I still love D&D and am thankful that the OGL allows 3.5 to continue. I will never stop gaming, but I can't wait for 4E to fade away into the night and hope and pray that if and when a 5th edition comes out, it is a better game than what they gave me this time.

Interview with Bruenor Battlehammer new Defensive Cordinator

Asmodeus, Head Coach of the new NFL expansion Team the Greyhawk Gamers has moved very quickly in organizing his staff. Early this morning it was announced that the new Head Coach had hired Bruenor Battlehammer as his new Defensive Coordinator. This move actually came as quite a shock to most people as many experts and analysists expected Asmodeus to go with someone from his own background. When asked about the puzzling move The Arch Devil simply smiled and dissapearred in a cloud of fire and brimstone.

Shortly after the announcement of his hiring, Bruenor held a press conference, the following is a transcript of the event.....

BB: I will take any sensible question you have, but make it quick I have a lot to do to get ready for the season.


Q: Coach Battlehammer, do you find it unusual to be hired as a Defensive Coordinator for a football team given that you apparently have no actual football experience?


BB: You don't need to have experience with football to know what a good defense is lad. Remember I have fought numerous battles of a defensive nature and am sure I will be able to put those experiences to good use.


Q: What kind of defensive scheme do you plan to use?


BB: Listen here lad. I don't know what type of game yer playing but I am not about to let the enemy know what I plan to do. The only thing I will tell you is that the NFL has never seen the likes of what I plan on doing. 


While many more questions were ansked, Bruenor simply left the podium.

Announcing the Gamers New Head Coach....(also a change in plans)

Okay, I know I was supposed to get this next blog up sooner than this and I honestly meant too. Unfortunately between life, life, and another dosing of life I found myself not posting. While this post is later than it should be I hope you all don't mind that I also have a new and improved idea. My last post I talked about doing an NFL style draft using fantasy characters. Well instead of doing a draft I have decided to build an entire football team including the coaches! Also instead of using characters from the entire fantasy genre to choose players, I will limit myself to only characters from the Dungeon and Dragons mega-verse.

Now, introducing the Head Coach of the newest NFL franchise the Gamers I introduce....

ASMODEUS!

About Asmodeus:


I first discovered Asmodeus shortly after I began playing D&D. I remember reading through the Monster Manual and coming across the Arch Devil. Even back then there was something intriguing about this guy. Not only did he look kewl, but the fact he ruled the nine hells made him a favorite of mine through every edition of the game. I have to admit that I was bummed with the fact that he didn't make the cut into the first Monstrous Manual (which happened with all the devils and demons in an attempt to "sanatize" D&D), and was even more miffed when I learned he wasn't originally included in the Nine Hells in Plane (the Planescape setting managed to be good enough I got over it). When he made his glorious reappearance in 3rd ed. I was tickled pink.

In my time as a player I have only encountered Asmodeus once. It ended very badly for the party (which given the pick pocket roll the thief made on him was probably a blessing). In my time as a Dungeon Master I have abused, overused, and overplayed him. I have had multiple parties kill him, used him as Deus Ex Machina on several occasions, and even had him travel with the party on one occasion. Needless to say I am one of his biggest fans.

The reason why I am selecting him as Head Coach of the Gamers franchise is because I want a true Machiavellian genius calling the shots. The Numero Uno Arch Devil has managed to balance on top of the mountain of power for an untold eternity while being actively plotted against by every know being of power in the universe! This means that not only is Asmodeus powerful, but he is also able to out maneuver every other head coach in the NFL. Bill Belichick move over there is a new genius in the league.

If you want to read up on the game version of Asmodeus, this was a pretty good article.

If you would like to learn more about Asmodeus in religious mythology this page on wikipedia is worth a read.

Random Thoughts (NPC Draft!)

I know its been a minute since I last posted and that is a pretty bad way to start a blog. However my computer has been acting a bit funny and the desk I currently have is a little to short for me to be able to type comfortably.

So for those of you who don't know I am a HUGE football fan (Go Broncos!) and the 2011 Draft just got over with. The draft led me to thinking about how cool it would be to have an NPC draft. The basic idea is that each person involved with the draft runs an team of evil NPC's bent on killing the good and wonderful players. These bad guys can be from just about any source ranging from literature through video games. However special points would be given to any NPC selected from an pen and paper RPG product. Lets copy the NFL and have seven rounds which gives each team a chance at seven players. To keep it simple no trades are allowed.

I will post my first round pick tomorrow. If you want to join in feel free the only rule is that you are only allowed one guy a pick and you can't pick someone already taken.

Why I Dislike Hearing "Gaming is Expensive"

Today I am going to cover one of my biggest pet peeves as a gamer. The thing that annoys me more than anything else I hear at a gaming table is the statement "Gaming is too expensive". I guess this statement bugs me because it only takes looking at some basic math facts to prove that it is one of the cheapest hobbies out there. Don'g believe me? Let me prove it!

Last I checked a new rulebook cost around $30-$40, so we will average that out at $35 a book. Now the only book I need to play in a game is generally the players handbook. Yes I CAN buy more, but I don't HAVE too. Now for the sake of arguments lets assume that before I bought the book for $35 I had already played in several sessions (5) and I knew it was a game I would have fun playing (I expect my players to come with their own books in between their fifth and tenth sessions). Also lets assume (again for the sake of argument) that along with the initial sessions I get another twenty sessions of gaming for a grand total of twenty five sessions.

Assuming I never play the game (a very unlikely event in my experience) the price of the rule book breaks down to costing me $1.40 per session. Now assuming that I averaged four hours of game time per session (not at all unrealistic) then the rule book cost me thirty five cents an hour. In comparison an move ticket will cost you about two dollars an hour for entertainment, a gallon of gas costs over three dollars at the moment, and I don't even want to think about concert tickets.

I can already hear somebody saying "But, Da Grizz, you are only looking at one person buying one book! You know most people don't buy just one book for gaming.

To the people thinking that, I will admit they are probably right. So I will use myself as the most extreme example I can think of right off hand. I own more books than anyone I know and in fact when we had a full fledged game store in town I actually had more books than they did (which I am not sure if I should be proud of or ashamed of), so I figure I am a great example of the high side of spending money on gaming.

If I were to estimate the total amount of money I have spent on gaming in my life (including stuff I have lost, given away, had destroyed by dogs and kids etc.) it probably values in at around seven grand give or take. No I am not kidding, in fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if seven grand were a bit of a low ball figure.

Now, as much as I would like to say that I have gamed at least once a week since I started playing at nine years old, the truth is I haven't. I have however, had multiple stretches of time playing in more than one game, countless online games, and more than a few hours planning my next adventure. So, let's just say I have managed to play an average of one four hour period every other week for the last twenty eight years (again I don't think this is at all far fetched, specially if you include planning time). That gives me a grand total of 3,136 hours of gaming. Admitted compared to the seven grand I have spent on the game its not quite thirty five cents an hour, but when you add in the joy I get from having the collection, the fact other friends have used it, and the fact I have spent a great deal of time reading it all, I feel I get an exceptional value for my money. Not to mention I am now introducing the kids to the game and I don't plan to quit gaming any time soon, which increases the value of my gaming books even more.

So next time I get on you to buy your own PHB or the next time you are thumbing through a book that you think might be a good fit for your game, don't tell yourself it's to expensive. Instead look at the fact that you will probably get a better value out of that book than almost any other hobby out there.

How it All Started

I started playing dungeons and dragons in the summer of 1983 at the age of nine. My Uncle had made the mistake of leaving his books laying on a table one day and while I knew better than to actually touch them in any way I spent hours sitting in a chair looking at their covers. I remember that feeling today as though it were yesterday. How the pictures on the cover of those books beckoned with a seductive promise of unexplored adventure. From that day on I begged my Uncle to let me play and to make a long story short, my Uncle eventually relented after I proved to him that not only could I read the books but I could understand them. I even had to pass a test he wrote up along with write a five hundred word essay about the game (though to his credit he let me slide at 300).

My first character was a Dwarf Fighter named Melvin Mischief Maker III. His first action was to challenge a farm boy in the Village of Homlet to an arm wrestling contest (which sadly Melvin lost). After a notable career within Homlet, the Temple of Elemental Evil, and many other adventures, Melvin retired a wealthy Dwarf of ninth level. Since that first character I have consistently gamed for the last twenty eight years. Some times I wore the players hat, sometimes the Game Masters. I have played everything from Dungeons and Dragons Basic through New World of Darkness. I have honestly spent more money on gaming than I probably have on cars and I am more than happy about that. In short I am a gamer and proud of it.

I really don't know what this blog will entail other than it will be about gaming. I plan to post journals for each of the four games I am currently involved with (three as GM, one as player) as well as share my thoughts about various aspects of gaming. I do hope I get some steady readers, but I also am doing this blog because I feel I need a space to voice my gaming experience. Finally I hope to enjoy this blog as much as I have enjoyed gaming...