Lou Zocchi founder of GameScience maker of GameScience dice had a fire in his garage that destroyed out of print games and business records. Please help if you can.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/lou-zocchi-fire
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2019 – Year In Review
Since we’re about out of year, I decided to hurry up and put together my post for my year in review. I’ll be comparing to 2018, which you can see here.
You can listen here to my 2019 in Review and 2020 & Beyond Podcast. It’s got a slightly different focus than this post.
Conventions
I didn’t do as much playing or running RPGs or playing any games as I had hoped. While I did attend Gary Con, Marmalade Dog, Grand Con, and UCON, I had a larger challenge than normal getting in the mood to plan and run games. I did manage to submit games to run for the usual conventions I attend, Gary Con, Marmalade Dog, and UCon. As always, it went well and both I and the players had fun.
I also participated in Procrasticon I. A bunch of Anchor podcasters threw together an impromptu 24 hour online con. I signed up to run a game, but no one signed up. I played in a couple of games and had a blast. One is the Monday night game I play in now.
Barrowmaze using Delving Deeper was an online game I played several sessions. My first character, a fighter, died, carried off and eaten by ghouls. My current character is a 4th level cleric. We’re on hiatus til spring.
B/X in the Broken Lands with the Orcs of Thar Mystara supplements. I play a 4th level hobgoblin Monday nights.
Playing & Running RPGs
It wasn’t until the middle of September that I managed to get the bug to create a new campaign that I actually ran an online game. I settled on Delving Deeper, and created a campaign that I called Delvers’ Deep. The name Delvers’ Deep comes from the only thing I ever submitted to the One Page Dungeon Contest, The Dire Druids of Delvers’ Deep. I’ve run that at a few conventions. Only the name so far, exists in the campaign world. I ran it as a drop-in/drop-out game, sort of a modified West Marches. After 9 sessions players were unable to commit and then my work got busy.
Sadly, the amount of work for the day job has gone off the charts. I ended up cancelling games, and finally putting my campaign on hold until things return to “normal”. I’ve used up so much of my creativity that I also broke the pace of my regular podcast. I went from 3 episodes a week to none. I went over a month without a podcast until I had an episode on December 6th. This has also affected the frequency of blog posts and my drive to work on my monthly PDFs.
Card Game
I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to do some more hard work on the card game. Playtests have been very informative, but I haven’t done as many as I wanted. I have added some detailed notes for some additional rules based on feedback from the last few playtests. I need to build test deck 3. The amount of work that is is a mountain, that I have yet to climb. I can do it in a long day. I had hoped to have it in my hands by now. I really want it in time for Gary Con.
What about the Kickstarter? I’m really torn about this. I don’t have the new art as fast as I want. I’m also burnt out with Kickstarter, and get the impression many are. That is in addition to the way Kickstarter treats it’s workers. Also the Kickstarter user interface is very crude. I built a dummy campaign to figure out how to do what I want, and it is not easy. Part of me wants to just put the game out on Game Crafter, which is very easy. But I want to make it easily available worldwide. So I’m also considering DriveThru Cards. I need to order a deck from there to see what sort of quality it has.
Part of me just wants it done. I’m sure many other creatives hit that same wall. I just need to persevere and do the best job I can to make the rules and the cards work. I had an idea for a Halloween themed deck of cards about 6 weeks before Halloween. I’ll see about maybe doing it for 2020, if everything comes together for the game.
Publishing
This time last year, I had 5 PDFs on DriveThruRPG. Currently I have 17 since I have yet to complete the PDF for December. I will finish up my December PDF and publish it before the end of the year. This will give me my first calendar year of publishing and sales.
I now have 2 Copper Best Sellers and 2 Silver Best Sellers on DriveThru RPG. My first PDF, Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places [Affilate Link] is only 19 paid sales away from Silver. My first Copper and then first Silver, Caravans & Trade [Affilate Link] , is 77 paid sales away from Electrum.
You can check out my full list of titles at my DriveThru RPG Publisher Page. [Affilate Link]
By The Numbers
Publishing:
- All Time Grand Totals: 6389 total downloads for 678 paid sales $840.85 $588.60
- 2019 Grand Totals: 5171 total downloads for 471 paid sales $585.77 $410.04 (All included in the numbers above.)
- T-Shirts on TeeSpring – Still 0 sales beyond what I’ve bought for friends and family.
As a DriveThruRPG Affiliate, I’ve made $113.56, all but the last $25.00 spent on new purchases. Just waiting to spend it on another game or supplement.
On Patreon, I have 5 followers, up from 3 last year. I had 6 at one point, and would have 7 had 2 not had to drop off. $137.00 before fees. I’ve seen none of it since my personal and business accounts linked, it minimizes how much I pay each month for all the other Patreons I back. I really appreciate my patrons and their feedback and encouragement.
A few months ago, I decided to enable ads on my podcast. I have yet to go through the back catalog and insert a spot for ads. I’ve made a whopping $14.67.
Amazon Affiliate. I’m an Amazon Affiliate, but have yet to have anyone buy anything. They give you 180 days for a qualified purchase or they drop you. This is my second go around at this. I don’t expect to get rich, but would love for enough to negate my expenses for web space, domain name, art, etc. I’ve got 12 years give or take before I retire, and I need to achieve at least a net 0 expenses to maintain all the things I hope to be doing when I can give up my day job. Here’s a link to games. I’d greatly appreciate anyone using this link as it helps me out without any expense to you.
Here’s one for Dungeon Crawl Classics. [Affiliate Link]
[^ Affiliate Link ^]
So I’ve made $1,106.08 before fees, leaving $849.98. That does not cover the expenses it took to earn it and I waited to collect the publishing payout for 2018 until 2019 for tax purposes. It’s pennies per hour for all the effort and still less than the net of one regular paycheck. This should illustrate why it is so difficult to make money online, even just a little extra.
YouTube – 474 subscribers up 240 from last year, 71 videos up 7 from last year. With over 40,000 lifetime views. My series Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner is the most popular. I started a new series in 2019 – How To AD&D 1e. I plan to keep adding to each series. Over 425 subscribers to go until I can think about ads, since one of the criteria is a minimum 1,000 subscribers.
Twitter – 1092 followers up 372 from last year.
FB – 143 Likes up 79 from last year and 145 Followers up 80 from last year.
Reddit – Karma of 480 up 408 from last year.
Instagram – I started Instagram on June 26, 2018, but didn’t mention it in last year’s post. I ended 2018 with 67 followers and am up to 128 followers.
Blog posts 52 published posts, down 69 from last year, and 2 new drafts, down 4 from last year for a total of 25 drafts.
Total blog posts 797 counting this one you’re reading.
Podcasting
I have 11,886 total plays among my 170 episodes, for an average of 69.9 listeners per episode. 6 episodes are over 100 listeners. My first episode is at 150 listeners. I plan to do a year end podcast so the final 2019 numbers will change.
Last year’s hiatus due to work and family drama saw my podcast’s trend for growth smacked down. The proliferation of new RPG podcasters on Anchor has made it easier to get lost in the noise. No one has time to listen to all of them consistently.
I wonder how much longer I’ll maintain the effort.
Kickstarters I’ve Backed
I still backed way too many Kickstarters in 2019. 5 that should have delievered in 2018 arrived in 2019. Of 10 Kickstarters that should have delivered in 2019 that did deliver in 2019, 1 was early, 1 was on time, and 8 were late. This is the source of my disillusionment with Kickstarter. I want it when they say they’ll deliver, not months or years later. I go in for Kickstarters that I’ve never used or read the game. I know I’m not alone in this.
12 more Kickstarters are supposed to deliver in 2019, and only 2 of those appear on track to meet that goal or only be a couple weeks late.
I have 19 overdue Kickstarters. I hate to think how much money that is. I have not updated my page here on the blog where I track the Kickstarters I’ve backed. I want to help my friends with their projects, but when so many of them are late. Some do a great job of explaining things and are late for good reason, and do a great job of making sure things go at ASAP. Others do a terrible job of communicating and are late and when they do communicate, it is sometimes more frustrating than silence. I’ve learned which publishers/creators I’ve backed that I’ll never back again because of how late they were.
My Tips For Those Running Kickstarters:
I’ve backed 77 Kickstarters that funded, and only 3 that did not. So my track record of picking the ones that will fund is very good. As for picking those that deliver on time, not so much.
- If you’re always 6 months late on delivery of a Kickstarter, add 6 months to the delivery date of future Kickstarters.
- If you’re not good at communicating and keeping backers informed. Don’t launch a Kickstarter. If you do a Kickstarter anyway, suck it up and communicate.
- Don’t wait to deliver bad news.
- Do the work BEFORE you click Launch!
- Pay the artists, layout and others as soon as you have agreed to/when the money arrives.
- When the money arrives, pay all the bills/vendors to minimize the tax burden.
- Get along with your team until delivery is complete. Don’t have interpersonal, legal, whatever nonsense. Get it done. Be Professional.
- Minimize the points where things can go wrong.
Final Thoughts on 2019
I didn’t meet all my goals. That’s a realistic occurrence. However, I did well on the goals I met. I’m still here and I’m not quitting. The nature of my day job with it’s busiest time of year in December and more so in January forces me to pull back from spending time on my hobbies.
I’m also working on a review of the stats of the blog, such as the most popular topics in 2019. That will be another blog post that will take a bit to pull together.
One of the coolest RPG things I ever did was participating as a player and DM for the first ever livecast of a D&D game (5e) from Gary Gygax’s old house to benefit Extra Life. Having a video of all four games allows me to relive it a bit. Seeing how I run a game is also a helpful teaching tool to help me get better.
What’s Ahead in 2020
- Release my card game whether through Kickstarter or directly via Game Crafter or DriveThruCards.
- Continue one PDF a month for my Patreon that is also released on DriveThruRPG.
- Evaluate my podcast and determine if it is worth my time to resume when work slows down.
- Attend conventions and run and play games.
- More regular blog posting.
- I’d like to read more blogs like I indicated at last years round up post, but I didn’t do very well.
- More videos on YouTube.
- Run and play more games in person and/or online.
- I’ve been invited back to the next round of live cast RPGs from Gary’s old house, so I’m letting ideas tumble in the back of my mind.
2019 was overall a great year. I let my thoughts and self-judgement get in the way of enjoying it as much as I should have. The older I get, the more I realize, no one else will ensure I have fun. It’s up to me.
For 2020 Gary Con, I’ll bring my card game for pick up games, and bring some stuff to run or play pick up games. I will focus on playing some wargames and a few other things. I don’t want to pack my schedule, as I want to enjoy things as much as I can with the con more crowded than prior years.
As with last year, I look forward to the changes and opportunities that lie ahead in 2020. I hope it is a great year of growth and opportunity fulfilled for all of you. May you play often, roll well, grow rich and powerful, and save or destroy the world as is your wont.
IP, The OGL, & Game Publishing
PREFACE
IANAL – I Am NOT A Lawyer. This means do your own research and consult your own attorney(s). This is my notes on the topic that I thought others would find helpful. I welcome constructive criticism. That is, if you tell me I am wrong, please give a source citation, with a link to this information. NOTE: I am a citizen and resident of the USA, so the following primarily concerns U.S. Law. Those in other countries will need to research the rules for your country.
I had to do research for releasing my own PDFs on DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link] and for figuring out what I needed to do for eventually publishing my card game. (You can sign up for the Kickstarter announcement email list here. It will only alert to the Kickstarter launch.)
RECOMMENDATIONS
I suggest you check out the following two resources:
Matt Finch’s YT Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLptTCxApuRIgObYc2zwMqwLa5WNFJl224
Frylocks Copyright of Statblocks Series:
Part 1: Copyrightability of #RPG Stat Blocks #DnD #copyright #iplaw
https://gsllc.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/part1statblocks/
Part 2: Copyrightability of #RPG Abilities and Spells #DnD #copyright #iplaw
https://gsllc.wordpress.com/2019/08/19/part2abilitiesspells/
Part 3: The Damage Done by the Otherwise Ineffectual Open Gaming License #DnD #copyright #iplaw #ogl
https://gsllc.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/part3ogl/
Part 3.5: A Mild Retraction That Makes Matters Worse for #WotC #DnD #copyright #iplaw #ogl
https://gsllc.wordpress.com/2019/08/28/part35retraction/
Part 4: FAQ/FRI #DnD #copyright #iplaw #ogl
https://gsllc.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/part-4-faq-fri-dnd-copyright-iplaw-ogl/
3 parts of IP (Intellectual Property)
It is very important to understand the differences between these three things as they are often confused, especially when they are all discussed in the same article.
- Patent
- Trademark
- Copyright
PATENT:
Expires in 14 years for a design patent and 20 years for a utility patent . Can only be renewed by an act of Congress in the U.S. Apply for them here. There is a fee that varies on the exact type of patent.
Game mechanics are extremely hard to Patent.
WOTC had a patent on “Tapping A Card” for Magic The Gathering, which is now expired.
A patent application is very complex. I would not attempt one without a lawyer.
TRADEMARK:
In addition to Federal trademarks, which you can apply for here, each of the 50 states have their own trademark laws. There is a fee to register and depending on specifics Federal Trademarks are renewed every 5 or 10 years. A defacto trademark exists without registering it, but someone else can then register for a trademark and most likely own the trademark. Thus a registered trademark (R) or ® offers more protection than an unregistered trademark ™. This is so complex, you definitely want a lawyer’s help.
An example of trademarks are company names and names of products. For example, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) and Dungeons & Dragons. Variations of the names may also be copyrighted, such as WOTC and D&D.
If a trademark is not renewed, then others may claim it. For example, WOTC let the trademark for TSR lapse. TSR was the company that released the original D&D and variants prior to being acquired by WOTC. Since the trademark to the name of the historic company was not renewed, a new company registered that trademark, so there is a living company, TSR, that published the former Gygax Magazine, has a podcast network, and a blog. [I write for Multiverse.world.]
Game trademarks have expired and been claimed by others. For example, Top Secret. The new TSR has a new version of Top Secret by the original author, Merle Rasmussen. NOTE: that while the trademark allows use of the name of the original game, the copyright for Top Secret‘s original rules is still held by WOTC.
In the case of some games, WOTC let the trademark lapse and allowed the original authors to reclaim their rights to the copyright. Examples are Metamorphosis Alpha [Affiliate Link], which is why Jim Ward can have multiple companies with various Kickstarters, and why the format of the original rules with the name of Jim’s company is available on DTRPG.
Rick Krebs, the original author of Gangbusters recovered his rights to the name, but WOTC must retain rights to the copyright of the original rules, or Mr. Krebs did not re-release them. Mark Hunt acquired the trademark to Gangbusters [Affiliate Link] and a license from Rick Krebs to re-do Gangbusters.
COPYRIGHT:
The words one publishes, such as books. It is a limited monopoly to exploit all the rights to an individual work. Current copyright law does not require official registration for a copyright to be in effect. As long as one adds (c) or © and the year, in the U.S. it is copyrighted. NOTE: Registering a copyright has a small fee and gives the owner more easily defensible rights. I have not yet registered a copyright, but as I understand it, the process is easy enough that most are able to do it without a lawyer. Obviously, if you can’t make sense of the forms, hire an attorney.
PUBLIC DOMAIN:
When a copyright expires the work enters the Public Domain. This means that anyone can publish the work and charge for it, or even modify it enough to make a new work that can then be copyrighted. NOTE: This does NOT extend to TRADEMARKS. That is, a book in the public domain published by a company that still exists means you can’t publish under the name of that company without violation their trademark.
An author may wave all their rights and release a work directly to the public domain. If this is done, there is nothing the original author can do to enforce what others do with it.
Currently, in the U.S., any work published in 1923 or earlier is definitely in the Public Domain. Every January 1st, increment the year by 1. So on January 1, 2020, all works published in 1924 are add to the list of works definitely in the public domain.
Any work not renewed after 1923 and before 1963 is in the public domain, but one must verify that it was not renewed. It is easy to verify if a work was renewed, but proving the negative is difficult. The New York Public Library has a project to digitize all the volumes from the Library of Congress, which is in charge of copyrights. It is only up to 1952, so the last 10 years of the period are not yet digitized. Works after published on or after January 1, 1978 no longer have to renew and are good for 75 years. Books already renewed before that date will expire 75 years after original publication.
Images of all the copyright renewals from the Library of Congress for each year through the 1970s are available on The Internet Archive here -> Catalog of Copyright Entries.
Once you verify a work is in the Public Domain, you are free to use it. NOTE: Works out of copyright in the U.S. may still be under copyright in other countries, so it may not have blanket worldwide public domain. So it is important to do your research.
Fair Use:
Fair use is part of U.S. copyright law that allows users to use limited parts of copyrighted works without seeking permission.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:[6]
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#U.S._fair_use_factors
Licensing:
Copyright is a blanket, all rights reserved. A short list of some of those rights are: use, re-use, copying, movie rights, book rights, re-print rights, etc. Each of those rights can be licensed for a term or sold outright. For example, some authors sell the movie rights outright if they don’t think a movie will ever be made. Others, like the Tolkien estate license for a limited term the movie rights and rake in the big bucks.
Licensing in the form of the OGL from WOTC and other similar licenses from other publishers were influenced by the GPL (GNU Public License) from the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) movement. Version 1 of the GPL was released in 1989.
The OGL was released in 2000 as a way to allow and encourage third party publishers to create content for D&D 3e. Matt Finch used it to help develop OSRIC as a clone of AD&D [Affiliate Link] since one can’t mention the name of the game it clones, etc. Matt Finch also used the OGL to develop Swords & Wizardry [Affiliate Link] in all it’s flavors. The official OGL in RTF format is here.
NOTE: D&D 4e is NOT under the OGL, but D&D 5e is.
The Open Gaming Foundation is a non-profit that provides information and links to various open source game licenses. They have a page with the OGL.
In 2001, the Creative Commons License, also inspired by the GPL, was released. The CCL website explains the different forms of the Creative Commons and what rights a creator is retaining while allowing some form of copying. Some forms of this license allows non-commercial copying, i.e. for personal use, and even sharing with attribution. Other forms allow commercial use.
I have not done an analysis, so I am not sure if any of the Creative Commons licenses could be used with the OGL. The OGL probably prohibits it. In general, one license should be more than enough in my opinion. NOTE: One can use artwork in an OGL work where the artwork is under a Creative Commons license. I have done this with multiple PDFs.
A license is only needed if you want to give up some of your universal rights under copyright, while retaining a degree of control. As always, if you are not clear on how to apply a license to your work before publishing, consult an attorney. It’s easier to get it right the first time, because if you do it wrong, you may not have a second chance.
OGL
I recommend you refer to the links in the PREFACE above and watch Matt Finch’s You Tube playlist about the OGL and read Frylock’s blog posts about the OGL and copyrights in relation to games.
It is critical to copy the OGL EXACTLY and indicate the information you are NOT releasing to the OGL to preserve your rights. This is critical for text, art, and other ideas. It is easy to accidentally give away rights you want to retain. Once released under the OGL you can’t take it back. I think you can revise and re-release your own work without the OGL, but anything already released is fair game for any other publisher to use.
The OGL is basically a promise by WOTC not to sue over the parts of a game that fall outside of copyright. You can make a clone of D&D without the OGL, since game mechanic can’t be copyrighted. As long as you avoid trademarked terms and use your own words for explaining the rules, you can do it. Just don’t mention D&D. I will remind you, IANAL and do your own research before jumping in.
ART & ARTISTS
It’s unfortunate that I need to say this, but credit your art/artist and pay for art. Unless it is art in the public domain or released under a license that permits commercial use without attribution, you must give attribution. I suggest always giving attribution to CYA.
Don’t offer to pay an artist with exposure. That’s not how it works. Exposure is a bonus of a product well done and advertised well.
Don’t try to get art with payment after the Kickstarter or sales roll in. If you can’t afford to pay in full and the artist won’t work on a part now, part later arrangement, either wait until you have the money, or find another solution. There are plenty of public domain art resources online. Pixabay and Unsplash are two great examples of free art, mostly photos released in the Public Domain. The background image I found on Pixabay.
If you use art without permission, you are not a nice person. The artist has copyright to their art just like you will have copyright to your words. Don’t expect things to go well if you treat an artist other than you expect your copyrighted work to be treated.
FORMING A COMPANY
Related to IP and doing the work of creating games, is forming a company. For example, an LLC is one of the simplest and it separates one’s personal property from that of the business and affords legal protections. If one is sued personally, the assets of the business are unaffected. I used the online resource Legal Zoom to form my LLC, as I anticipated launching my card game much sooner. It involves getting a Federal TaxID Number or FEIN, and registering as a business with the state. In some states, one also has to license a business with their municipality.
The Tax ID number will expire according to IRS rules if it is not used on a Federal Tax return 5 years in a row.
The state registration requires annual renewal with a small fee in most if not all states. Sales tax withholding and reporting will be required if you handle sales directly, such as using a sales portal on your own website. Sales through a third party site, like DriveThru RPG collect the sales tax and pay you a royalty, so your only concern is if the royalty is within the parameters requiring you to report it on your tax return.
Municipalities with a business license ordinance are renewed annually for a small fee. If no business is conducted on premises, you may not need a business license. Check with your municipality.
See a tax preparer or tax attorney if you don’t want to figure out preparing business taxes. They are basically self employment taxes. You pay both the employee and employer share of Social Security and Medicare, and then the Federal, State (if any), and local (if any) income taxes. Withholding should be sent in quarterly, or you can send it in as a lump sum when you file your taxes. Plan on setting aside 30% as a general rule of thumb. NOTE: Qualified business expenses reduce the tax burden. Most tax programs, I prefer Tax Act, can easily handle the Schedule C and other forms that may be needed for filing self-employment taxes. I recommend Tax Act over any other company like H&R Block or Intuit/Quicken’s program. It is cheaper and personal experience makes me avoid the other two.
I had a job 20+ years ago that was considered self-employed, so I figured this out in the days before tax programs were as ubiquitous as today. I prefer a program as I can pull in the information from last year that didn’t change and just enter the information off my W-4 and any 1099s I get.
CONCLUSION
I have covered a lot of material above. My intent it to clarify things. These are complex topics due to the nature of laws and their minutia.
As long as you know the difference between a patent, a trademark, and a copyright and when you need each one, you should be good. In general, 99.99% of game developers won’t ever need a patent. Unless you have an idea that will be as big as Magic The Gathering with new ideas for game mechanics, you won’t need one.
For trademarks, you might not need one for your company, but you may want one for your game’s name since you can’t copyright a name. You don’t need a formally registered copyright if you use the copyright symbol and the year of publication.
The big thing to remember is that you can’t copyright the mechanics of a game, only the words used to explain it. this means that anyone can copy any game if they use their own name for the game and unique terms and their own words to express the rules.
Licenses are something you need to understand, since if you use something that falls under a license, you need to adhere to the terms of that license yourself.
Art is at the very heart of RPGs and other games. Artists deserve a fair deal. I only mention it as it is an integral part of RPGs and too many artists get too many amateurs asking for free art, or art with no upfront payment, or exposure. That’s not the way a serious publisher, whether an amateur or a multi-person company does business.
One does not need to form a formal company to do self-publishing of games, but if you expect or hope to make enough money that you want to protect the business from any issues in your personal life, it is well worth it to form an LLC.
As with each of these items, if you can’t make sense of it, please contact an attorney. I am not an attorney, so don’t trust anything I have said. Check the links I have and do your own research.
UCon 2019 Post-Con Post
UCon 2019 ended on Sunday, November 24 and I am finally writing about what happened. I mentioned what was on my schedule in my last post.
Pick Up Games
I met up with friends Thursday night and we had a pick up game of my card game. Laura Pirkola and Clayton Williams invited me to join in a pick up DCC [Affiliate Link] game with Brendan LaSalle. It had a hard start time so we didn’t get through the full card game as we had many interruptions. The most important of which was ordering a pizza. This was critical as I got so busy with packing and so forth before the two hour drive, that I didn’t have lunch.
The DCC scenario was play testing something that should be appearing as a new module sometime in the future. I don’t recall if there was a specific time frame or not. We ended up playing two characters each, until we were joined by another husband and wife who joined in at the halfway point. It was a great time, as always with Brendan.
I stayed up way too late visiting with friends in the lounge. I didn’t get to my room until 2:30 AM, and took forever to fall asleep. Then I kept waking up. Part of the issue was being dehydrated as I hadn’t had enough water during the day, then had a tall glass in the bar, after a short glass during DCC and pizza.
Hommlet
I slept as long as I could before going down for breakfast before my morning game, where I ran Village of Hommlet [Affiliate Link]. I realized I had forgotten to grab my 1e DM screen when I packed up all my table copies of the Player’s Handbook. It seems I no longer had the PDF of the DMG [Affiliate Link] on my Dropbox nor my I got on my Google Drive. So I got on my DriveThruRPG account, since I purchased the PDF, I can just download it again…. NOT.
For some reason, I could not find it in my library. Next, I tried pulling up the PDF on its listing. Turns out I found a bug in the mobile site. On the desktop version of the website, you can click on the product listing for something you’ve already purchased, and it gives a link labeled, “Click to get it.” I got on Discord and mentioned it to the DriveThruDiscord and they said to report the issue, it’s probably a bug. [Which reminds me, I need to report it if it is still an issue after I finish this post.]
I only needed it for the combat charts. I then looked up the Target 20 System mechanic. When we were at the table, one of the players had the DMG on their tablet, so I used that to track combat, turning undead, etc. I planned on 8 players, but one person really wanted in, so we squeezed in nine players plus me around the table.
All of my other preparations were in place. I had five table copies of the Players Handbook [Affiliate Link] for players, plus my copy. I had them all sign my copy. This is the original, well-worn copy I got for Christmas back in the day. I’ve also gotten it signed by several TSR notables from back in the day. Sadly, not Gary or Dave.
I also have 18 AD&D Characters I created. I have form-fillable PDF character sheets for each one, and I update their information for each level. So I always have a stock of characters for whatever AD&D adventure I run at a con.
The players had a great time. I started them at the gate house instead of making them start at the edge of town and figure out where to go. Most of my rolls were in the party’s favor. Things such as surprise, finding secret doors, etc. While they did not manage to find the big bad and his minions, they did find the ghouls and it was a near fought thing. The best fighters were getting paralyzed and they were just not hitting the ghouls. In the end, they bested the ghouls and we were out of time.
In the various instances of combat, some had been knocked down and I used the -10 HP is death in AD&D. They were stabilized and clerics were able to give them enough HP to have positive HP. I handle negative HP as serious and the player is unconscious for one hour per point of negative. This forces characters to be encumbered with an unconscious character, if they push on, or having to find a place to rest in relative safety. They were all experienced players and chose to hole up and rest each time players were incapacitated.
During the ghoul fight, several characters went into negative HP. They were pretty chewed up, but had find some nice treasure. I didn’t keep track, but I don’t think it would have been enough XP for 9 characters to level.
Boot Hill
Last year, I ran a Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] game, A Posse For The School Marm. All of the players asked for a sequel for next year. So I brought a sequel, Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch , that we played Friday night at the same table as Hommlet that morning.
Two of the players from last year made it, and brought their character sheets. The group played smart and rolled well. The rules for Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] are very light. I realized I was not using an option that would have made the gunfights last longer. I made the big bad tough, but not fast enough. The players grabbed the pregens that had the fastest characters, which I forgot I rolled some really nice scores for the pregens. (Why can’t I roll that well for my own characters?)
We had a lot of fun and there were requests for another sequel, so I will have to scratch my head on that one. I didn’t have a ready made scenario like I did after last year.
I ended the day in the bar, but went to bed earlier. I was able to sleep in as I didn’t have my first scheduled game until 8:00 PM Saturday.
Macchiato Monsters
I slept in Saturday and got in on a game of Macchiato Monsters [Affiliate Link] ran by Brett Slocum. I had a play games all weekend pass, which makes it easy to slip into games with openings.
I had never played Macchiato Monsters [Affiliate Link] , but it is described as a cross between Black Hack [Affiliate Link] and White Hack. I’ve played Black Hack and have both 1st and 2nd edition. I’ve never seen nor played White Hack.
It has a great deal of freedom in character creation and requires players to be creative, as one chooses a self-defined character within the parameters set by character creation.
It was a fun time and a full table. We all played as a team and ended with a whirlwind wrap up by the GM, as there was more module than time would allow, but we got a feel for the rules. It is much more reliant on role play but dice do come into play. Creativity and an open mind are key. I’m definitely intrigued and will look into picking up both Macchiato Monsters [Affiliate Link] and White Hack.
NOTE: White Hack is only available on Lulu and does not have a PDF.
Playtesting The Card Game
While I have had lots of playtesting of the card game at two game stores, two Gary Cons, two Marmalade Dogs, and now two UCons, this was the first time I had a playtest on the official schedule at a con. This was also the first time I had played in the board game area. I had strolled through it just to see what was going on in prior years.
I had one person pre-registered, and two other players for the first round of playtesting. One player, the youngest, in his 20’s left before the first hand was played. He went to join a game one of his friends was running. I had one person walking by who we invited to join the second game.
The consensus was that they all liked it, but felt it needs something more. The big thing is the game lasted nearly an hour. This is because the end condition for the game is dependent on how long it takes for a control card to come up twice. In this case, it was very late in both halves of the game.
While I understand the suggestions, it runs the risk of either breaking something that works, or making a very simple game more complex. It is interesting that about half the players who have played it, likes the rules as is, and the other half want something more.
I have some ideas for how to have two ways to play, a simple rules default and a full rules option.
In the current rules, each card does one thing. That is the strength of the rules. The challenge is to have additional rules and options for some cards that will not break the game or make it overly complicated.
I also honed my elevator pitch for the card game: Each player is building their own army in the midst of challenges. The player with the largest army (most points) wins.
All in all, I had great feedback from people who play a lot of games, and one of them also designs his own games. He had a WWII war in the Pacific naval simulation that I and another player from the playtest played after the time was up. It was a lot of fun and while it needs a bit of polish, I look forward to seeing it again next year.
The game developer player’s game partner stopped by midway through the WWII game and they are working on a space combat game that they have been playtesting at conventions for several years, including Gencon. They had a game slated for the next morning and invited me to join. I was very intrigued by their description.
[Earlier today I got the first piece of complete line art in preparation for the coming Kickstarter. I’ve got concept sketches for over a dozen cards, and hope to have many more soon.]
Space Combat Game
The name of the game is Star Blast. This was the last play test prior to publishing. Their plan it to put the rules on DriveThruRPG to get it out there, then do a Kickstarter to make a board game out of it.
They use Excel to make the ship sheets. Each ship has sensors, power, shields, weapons, etc. This very loosely reminds me of the original Star Fleet Battles from the mid 80s. I played a lot of Star Fleet Battles with my brother, Robert, and our friend Darryl.
Another player and I were space pirates out for resources. The other team represented the system with the resources. We had a railgun battle cruiser and a torpedo cruiser and a beam cruiser. They had a carrier with two fighter squadrons and a frigate. Our ships outclassed theirs.
We won almost all of the rolls to determine turn order. The first turn we elected to let the other team go first, so we could react to them. We then tried to move in and find a clear shot. There were lots of asteroids and gas clouds that limited the effectiveness of long shots.
I commanded the torpedo cruiser and beam cruiser. I moved to intercept and fired on their frigate and got a long range hit. Their carrier moved to a certain range and released fighters, then it got behind a gas cloud. The fighters and the frigate did some damage to one of the light cruisers, but damage control repaired it.
Our side focused on the fighters before they could get back to the carrier to get more torpedoes. We managed to hurt them a bit. Another few shots on the frigate and it had “fires”. Since a fire in space could easily be put out, it was explained that fire was shorthand for cascading system failures.
The damage control rules required a certain roll on a d6 to repair. One either failed to repair, or the roll revealed that damage control discovered the system was irreparable. The problem with fires is if you don’t put them out, there is a chance they spread.
That is what too out the frigate. It had a huge number of fires and eventually it fell apart.
My torpedo cruiser took a few hits as it went in to help the battle cruiser against the carrier and the fighters. The battle cruiser just couldn’t line up a killing shot on the carrier. We managed to shrink one fighter squadron, but the weapon on the carrier plus the speed and torpedoes of the fighters started fires on the torpedo cruiser and those fires multiplied until it was weakened enough that it basically fell apart.
We reduced the fighters some more, but time ran out before we could line up fatal blows to the carrier. The pirates won the scenario as we had the most ships remaining.
The frigate was no match for our ships and was better suited to screening the carrier than trying to face us. The fighters with their speed and torpedoes were killer if the carrier was in a safe position to launch and able to recover them for re-arming with their tough weapons. Fighter also had beams, but had to be in close.
I had a lot of fun, and had not played any sort of miniatures battle since the early 90’s. I am looking forward to seeing this released. When I know more, I will be sure to mention it hear and on the podcast.
Farewells
I said my goodbyes to those who left before I did. I joined friends in the lounge to chat for a couple hours before I decided I better head home before dark. I really didn’t want to leave. I’m looking forward to next year.
You can hear the companion podcast here.
UCon 2019
I will be at UCon 2019 in Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend (November 22-24). I leave today and will enjoy the pre-con catch up with friends and pick-up games. Here’s a link to the PDF of the Con Book.
Friday morning, I will be running the AD&D [Affiliate Link] module, Village of Hommlet T-1 [Affiliate Link] . This is an homage as this was the first thing I ever ran as a DM/GM at a convention. That was at Marmalade Dog, here in Kalamazoo, a few years ago. I am now much better at running convention games. Since I put in the time to learn this module all those years ago, I wanted to give it a go and do a better job. I know I can do a lot better than when I ran it the first few times at Marmalade Dog. [You can see all my posts that mention Hommlet here.]
Friday evening, I will run a follow up scenario to last year’s Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] adventure, “A Posse For The School Marm.” At the conclusion of the game, all the players asked for a sequel. I just had to oblige them. I hope I do it justice. [You can see all my posts about Boot Hill here.]
Saturday evening, I’m scheduled for 4 hours to have play testing of my card game. I will also be available for pick up games for those who are interested. The art is not moving as fast as I want it to, so I’m trying not to get ahead of myself.
As always, I look forward to some me time out of the house and away from work. Visiting with friends, making new friends, and playing games is a great mini vacation. If you’ll be there and we haven’t met, I’m the one with the black Follow Me, And Die! T-Shirt. I have several of them so I can wear one each day.
In Appreciation of Dave Arneson
October 1st, 2019 would be Dave Arneson’s 72nd birthday.
Too many D&D players and RPG enthusiasts don’t know the history of D&D.
Dave Arneson and his gaming group, through a well documented iteration of influences, developed their fantasy game that they called Blackmoor after the town and dungeon for Dave’s campaign.
Dave and friends drove from Minnesota to Wisconsin to show Gary Gygax the game. Gary, the co-author of Chainmail, with Jeff Perren, was a prolific player and creator of games. This game lit Gary’s imagination and Gary created his Greyhawk campaign.
Gary asked for rules, and Dave sent him several handwritten pages, as the rules were in his head. Gary typed up the rules and began making his own changes or filling in perceived gaps. Eventually, they formed a company TSR and Gary wrote the rules that would become the three little brown books. Gary made a list of words for possible names, and one of his daughters picked the combination Dungeons & Dragons.
Without Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax would not have had his imagination and life focus re-directed to create D&D, with full credit to Dave Arneson as co-creator. At some point, there was a parting of the ways. While we can speculate and debate and argue the whys, what matters is, they parted ways and did not reconcile until decades later.
The big reason Dave is forgotten is that his name is not prominent on the covers of AD&D, and he left TSR early on.
Just because one does not know the name of the person who invented the role playing game from the influence of many others, does not change the fact that it happened. We all owe Dave Arneson a debt of thanks and gratitude for starting the ball rolling on the concept that has captured our imaginations and continues to capture the imaginations of new players.
Arneson’s name is forgotten because he doesn’t have a convention to remember him. I think he should. I’ve heard rumblings that maybe the Minnesota gaming community might actually do something about that.
It should not lead to heated debate. Dave Arneson was first on the shoulders of giants. Like so many original creators and inventors, he is obscure because someone else did a better job of presenting it and making it happen.
Dave may have been a very creative and entertaining GM, he does not seem to have been able to commit his ideas to a coherent form on paper to get into the hands of others. Had he been so, we may never have heard of Gary Gygax. Gary is the one with the organization and persistence to get a manuscript and get it published. Even that took the help of others for the finances.
It’s hard to talk about D&D and Dave Arneson without mentioning Gary Gygax. They were a productive team who co-wrote other things together and did a lot of play by mail and other in person gaming together before the role playing game.
I just want to say, “Thanks, Dave!” Several others have documented various aspects of Dave’s rightful place in the history of Role Playing Games. I don’t need to regurgitate them here. Read about it. Watch the Blackmoor documentary when it is released. There is a lot of interesting information available.
BUJO for Organizing Follow Me, And Die!
My renewed efforts to use a Bullet Journal to organize all the things I do under Follow Me, And Die! Bullet Journal is commonly shortened to BUJO. [Companion Podcast here.]
Here’s a List of What I Do Here:
- Blogging
- Both here at Follow Me, And Die! and at Multiverse.world
- Podcasting
- Patreon
- Monthly PDFs
- All the other things I do
- YouTube Videos
- Goal is 2 per month
- Card Game
- My goal is to Kickstart in 2020 and deliver by November 1, 2020.
- Other Game Ideas
- I have several other game ideas for card games, board games, and RPGs.
- Convention Scenarios
- UCON November, 2019
- Gary Con March, 2020
- Marmalade Dog , 2020
- etc.
- Any other task or project I need to track.
- Possible NaNoWriMo for maybe one of these:
- Finishing Novel
- Western Campaign Building Supplement
- Campaign/Worldbuilding How To
- Possible NaNoWriMo for maybe one of these:
Prior Experience with BUJOs:
In 2017 I started a Bullet Journal to organize work, home, and other tasks and projects, and just getting all the items in an organized format in one place made all the difference in the world. I was massively productive, until I got distracted by my busiest time of year at work, December and January.
That time is so chaotic as we deal with triple the normal volume of support calls. It is all hands on deck, no time off in January, etc. Clients tend to wait until the last minute to do things, and other things happen that constantly derail plans to ensure things go smoothly.
That time of year just saps all of my mental and physical energy. The worst part is my creative energy is just gone.
Goals:
Since I know my prior experience with BUJOs and how much I need to get done between now and mid-December for work and how much I want to get done for Follow Me, And Die! something has to change. I’ve done better about making notes and keeping them organized on my computer, but there is something to be said for having it in your hands. Writing notes by hand tend to stick in one’s mind better according to studies.
I’m trying to organize my thoughts and ideas to maximize follow through. My health will also be improved with greater mental clarity/decluttering and organization overall will help me maintain a better sleep schedule, diet, and exercise routine. Building better habits is a challenge. We are hard wired to not make something a habit until we get rewards (addiction is the worst case extreme) or repetition until we essentially develop muscle memory for the task. It took years to get there, but I have brushed my teeth at least twice a day for 35+ years. The benefit is amazing my dentist with how old some of my fillings are. The current and prior dentist comment on it every visit.
With any type of creative endeavor, especially in the modern internet centric world, regular posting of content leads to growth. It is a combination of playing the algorithm game with various social media, getting the word out about your efforts, and achieving some level of recognition or financial success. I have no illusions of getting rich. I have that dream, but more realistically, I want to be able to negate my expenses on conventions, Kickstarters, and other game related things I buy.
Other Type Of BUJOs:
There are other types of BUJOs that one can use related to RPGs, namely the GM BUJO and the Player BUJO.
GMs can make a BUJO to record all their ideas. It doesn’t need to have the same format as a work, hobby, or personal BUJO. The key to a BUJO is the index so one knows where to find the information one has entered. GMs can have a single BUJO they fill with all their ideas across all game systems and genres, or they can make one for each game system, genre, or individual campaign or world. I have mentioned in the past that I have an article and plan a video on how I approach a GM BUJO, but it has yet to take form. Part of this new effort is to bring such ideas to reality so I can finally share them with others.
Players can make a BUJO for all their characters in all game systems they play, or they can have a BUJO for each campaign they play in. If you have the fortune to play with GMs that have long lasting campaigns, it may be realistic to have a BUJO for each campaign. But for many, one BUJO may last a long time.
Differences:
A standard BUJO is recommended to cover a single calendar year, and that one start a new one at the beginning of the year. However, a GM or Player BUJO can last for years, if one starts with a notebook with enough pages, or uses each page to its fullest.
Some creative people that do YouTube and other things, have one BUJO for YouTube and another for all other things they do.
Some people can get by with one BUJO for work and all other activities. I find for me, it is better to keep work and personal separate. Any crossover for me is noting game days in the work BUJO and days off or work travel in the personal BUJO. I only cross post when something for one impacts the other. The main thing to keep in mind with Bullet Journalling is to use what works for YOU. If it doesn’t work, don’t force it. Find the system that fits you best. If you don’t use it, it’s worthless.
The best part is you don’t have to use an expensive notebook. You can use any notebook that works for you. I find it best to start simple with a smaller notebook and figure out your system. Once you have a general idea of what works for you, plan your next BUJO when it’s time to start a new one. Don’t carry over the things that didn’t work. Use any hacks you come up with or stumble upon online.
Some people spend more time decorating their BUJO or other journalling method than they do entering and processing the tasks and projects they have. For some having the decoration or making the decoration is part of their process. It helps them focus. Having something that is pleasing to view encourages them to use it. Others, like me, just want something functional that will help us get to the next goal. I’d love to decorate my BUJOs with flowery lettering and intricate designs, but I’d spend so much time decorating I’d never get anything done. Find the balance that works for you.
Conclusion:
Bullet Journals are one form of tracking one’s tasks, events, projects, goals, and anything else one wants or needs to track. They can be used for work, personal projects, hobbies, and side gigs. You can make a BUJO as simple or complex as you need it. The level of complexity involves the precise coding you use in tracking items, to the level of detail in your data, and the level of decoration implemented. The key to its success is finding what works to help you move towards achieving the desired end results. If it works for you, hone and master the parts that work for you. If it doesn’t work for you, take anything of value that you find helpful, from the system to “only” learning what doesn’t work for you.
Newfound Appreciation of The 2d6 Table
On September 12, 2019, I started a new Thursday night Roll20 campaign using Delving Deeper, called Delver’s Deep. Delving Deeper is a re-organization of OD&D(Original Dungeons & Dragons), AKA the 3 LBBs (Little Brown Books) in the first box set. My last post talked about campaign prep and linked to my podcast where I discussed it. [UPDATE: Here’s the companion podcast.]
I reviewed OD&D [Affiliate Link] , Holmes Blue Box Basic, Moldvay [Affiliate Link] , and Cook [Affiliate Link] . and Rules Cyclopedia [Affiliate Link] looking for the classic 2d6 morale and reaction tables. First, I was surprised to see that OD&D Book I, Men & Magic [Affiliate Link] only has the 3d6 loyalty table on page 13. It mentions checking morale, but I didn’t find an explanation of that mechanic via a PDF search.
[UPDATE: A comment posted that the reaction table is on page 12 of book 3, but it is labelled: Random Actions by Monsters. It has three tiers with instructions to modify based on various factors.]
The classic 2d6 table is in Holmes for the Hostile/Friendly Reaction Table. Since it didn’t use the normal language I had to flip though my book to find it. Moldvay has the 2d6 Retainer Reaction on page 21 and Cook has no table but uses text to describe the 2d6 Morale Check. Ouch, that’s hard to read at a glance. The Rules Cyclopedia [Affiliate Link] has the 2d6 table on page 93. I looked at Blueholme [Affiliate Link] and it has a 2d6 reactions table. all with the classic. five options tending towards neutral in the middle with degrees of positive or negative on the upper and lower end.
I had the realization the other day that a 2d6 additive table, where the results of 2d6 are added together has 11 possible options. 11 goes into 100 nine times with a remainder of 1. As I thought about 11 options and there being 9% if the table was evenly distributed, I recalled my EMT training and a past article on the Rule of Nines. This gives a 2d6 table a possibility of representing the chance of a hit being a particular location – at least by the number of available options. One slot for each arm, one for the head, two for each leg, and four slots for the torso.
I was driven by thoughts of a hit location table for a possible Western RPG. I keep going back and forth between doing my own Western RPG or a generic Western campaign building supplement. I looked to AnyDice to get the percentages in perspective, and was quickly reminded that two or more dice added together have a bias towards the middle. This article on AnyDice explains the details.
My hopes were slightly dashed for making a balanced table that gives a balanced chance to a certain area of the body. It is close enough, that it might be OK in practice. I’m no math guru. I know just enough about statistics to have a general feel for them, but the nuts and bolts of the analysis is beyond me.
Here are the mentioned tables for reference:
The 2d6 Reaction Table from Delving Deeper with the total of the chance of results based on the sum of the values from AnyDice.
I liked the number of options, five, on the 2d6 Reaction and Morale tables, so I used the same values to create a table for the god of luck in my new campaign. The name, Losefka, comes from the religion and deity generator tables from Table Fables II by Madeline Hale. I decided that if you were a devotee or cleric of the god of luck and fate, you would have a hold coin for binary decisions and roll the holy bones each morning to determine your luck or fate for the day in the following table, screenshot from my Roll20 macro.
So far, there is a cleric of Losefka who has used the above table each day. There is a potential bonus/penalty for persistence in checking each day or failing to do so.
2d6 Appreciation
I have a new appreciation for the simple 2d6 additive table. The most common number of options for 2d6 tables in Delving Deeper are five options on the Morale and Reaction Tables. Seven options on the Wilderness Weather Table. Eight options on the Random Dungeon Location Table used for dungeon creation/stocking. If you want a number of results with even distribution, it is easier to use a single die of the right size for single digits or even divisible by 2, 3, or 4.
I have read lots of articles about 2d6 tables with the classic five tiers as in the Reaction and Morale Tables. When I searched for the tables from my recollection, I realized I had conflated re-use of the reaction/morale table and dungeon restocking. Various blog posts about both below: (It’s easy for all the blog posts I’ve read over 11 or 12 years of following the OSR to blend together. Some of these I read when they were new, and some from 2017 and later are new to me.)
- Restocking The Dismal Depths
- Dungeon Restocking and Rival Adventuring Parties
- 2013-08-21 One Roll Dungeon Stocking
- Riffing on 2d6: Reaction Rolls
- One table to rule them all – using 2d6 [or 3d6] for everything in D&D (This is a good analysis along my line of thinking.)
- Monsters can be Friends, Too! Monster Reactions
- WHAT DO THE MONSTERS WANT?
- Remember the Reaction Roll
- Why B/X Is My Favorite #16
- Encounter Reaction/Morale Table
- 2d6 vs. 1d6
- A Different Type of “Skill Check”
In addition to the results one gets from adding 2d6 one can use 2d6 to generate simultaneous options for a single roll to get two independent d6 results, like for dungeon restocking. There are also d66 tables where one can get 36 different options using one die for the tens digit and the other for the ones digit. This is seen in Maze Rats [Affiliate Links] and Knave [Affiliate Links].
Conclusion
I don’t think I (and perhaps we) need to reinvent the wheel for tables. I am growing to like the simplicity of OD&D/Basic as expressed in Delving Deeper. Variations on existing tables can be used to get a good spread of options for all kinds of things from moral and reactions, to re-stocking, to wondering monsters, and checking one’s luck/fortune each day. While I think the d10/20 made a more balanced to hit chance for combat, we don’t necessarily need to use dice in all the Platonic solids.
I think it is more that we don’t need to invent tables and mechanics to allow us to use all the different die types. Some die types lend themselves to a more balanced approach. A prime example is the 2d6 hit location table that started this whole thing. There is a d12 with body parts on it that gives an even chance for any body part. The one I have is not balanced, so making a table and using a balanced die would give more far results.
If you need 2 results of equal probability just roll any die and go high/low. If you need 3 balanced results roll a d6 and divide by 2, etc. I think using the die type that best fits the spread of what you are seeking, whether a weighted value or equal odds for any result makes the most sense.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my dice, or magic math rocks, as some call them. I love the challenge of making a useful table for each die type. However, I have a growing love of simplicity and minimalism in prep and at the table.
For my Delver’s Deep campaign I am trying to use all the different resources I have besides Delving Deeper. AD&D [Affiliate Links] , Table Fables & Table Fables II [AMAZON Affiliate Link], d30 DM Companion [Affiliate Links] , d30 Sandbox Companion [Affiliate Links] , story cubes, various card decks, etc. I’m trying to avoid making everything too similar to everything others have done, and also creating more variety in the setting and dungeon so it has both unique and interesting results. Crafting a story to make it all fit together is half the fun!
Delvers Deep Campaign
I’ve been working on a new Delving Deeper [Rules Links, Hypertext, Lulu] campaign that will use Roll20. It’s first session will be Thursday, September 12, 2019.
I discussed it in my last podcast episode, Episode 152 – Thursday Thoughts – Arneson, Feedback, & New Campaign.
Background
I’ve liked Delving Deeper ever since I encountered it on G+ in 2015 or so. It makes for a good system for convention games for quick at the table character generation. I like it so much that when there is free shipping at Lulu, I buy 5 or 6 copies at once to take to conventions to sell at cost. Every con game I use Delving Deeper, every player eagerly grabs a copy.
Adam Muszkiewicz of Dispatches From Kickassistan and I gushed about it when we met at Marmalade Dog in 2015. Here’s my write up of that con.
The Campaign
My desire to run a sandbox hexcrawl & dungeon crawl with procedural generation for prep and at the table has finally borne fruit. I’m pulling out all the stops and using all the tables from RPG books (DMG, Dungeon Alphabet, d30 Sandbox & GM Companions, my own PDFs, Table Fables & Table Fables II, etc.) [Affiliate Links] and PDFs for as many ideas as possible. I have several card decks for wilderness generation, dungeon generation, Game Masters Apprentice, and many more. I’ll use my Inkwell Ideas Dungeon Dice and Village Dice, and Rory’s Story Cubes, etc. Plus I’ll toss in all the cool ideas I’ve always wanted to put in a game. Nothing is held back. It only remains for the characters to find them. Any new idea I have will be put closer to the starting point.
It is also a drop-in/drop out game so while many can only commit to bi-weekly, I have a weekly schedule for the first few sessions.
Danger abounds. Combat is deadly and encounters are not leveled. Awesome magic and powerful beings may be encountered at low level. Mucking about in the ruins of an ancient civilization can lead to discovering powerful items that are dangerous to all concerned.
Preparation
To prepare for the game I am focusing on building an organized framework to help me find information and various tables for ad hoc generation. I’ve put in 50 or so hours, mostly populating GM tools in Roll20, typing up ideas, and organizing various PDFs. (My PDFs are organized, but I made new shortcuts for the PDFs I most want to reference and put in a new folder on my desktop.)
I’m using a simple character sheet in Roll20. I made handouts with links to Delving Deeper information, and my YouTube series, Roll20 for the Absolute Beginner. Other handouts allow the players to keep notes about people and places, party loot, etc. I have created folders for any eventual maps, books, documents, or other things they might acquire.
For the GM I copied all the most relevant tables from Delving Deeper with a page number reference. I used a spreadsheet someone made. I lost the reference to who, but here’s the link. I much prefer copy & paste to typing something that exists in electronic form. In addition, all the player tables that are needed in play I put in the player section of handouts. I didn’t include all the ability related tables, as one doesn’t usually need them after character creation is finished.
I created a Campaign wiki at https://campaignwiki.org/. I offered players 100 XP per page of useful information they add.
I also made a spreadsheet to help calculate encumbrance and remaining gold from starting gold. I built it when I played in Cody Mazza’s Barromaze [Affiliate Link] game that uses Delving Deeper.
For campaign scheduling I made a Google Calendar with all of the dates the initial players indicated would work.
The first level of the dungeon starts with an interesting idea I had while working on the campaign. I used the Delorfano Protocols to generate some of the early rooms which had a fortuitous room generation that guided the bulk of the level. The 1e DMG random dungeon generation tables added some cool stuff too. Plus I let my imagination loose. I then used Delving Deeper to populate rooms/areas.
Currently I’m working on a carousing table and avoiding all the sexual innuendo and blatant sexual topics of so many tables I have found online. A discussion on the Audio Dungeon Discord, home to many RPG/OSR Anchor Podcasters, suggested downtime activities instead. That is, activities adventurers can pursue when they are in town instead of in the wilderness or dungeon. The general consensus was spending gp on a one for one basis for XP. I will keep the carousing table and add tables for warriors, wizards, and priests to do their non-carousing activities. I’m working out boons and detriments, I guess banes and boons is more alliterative, for the downtime tables.
I like the idea from Cody Mazza’s Barromaze [Affiliate Link] game where you don’t roll on the table if you save vs. poison. Fail your save and risk something on the table. Ray Otus’s elf got cursed and turned into a goblin. He is stuck until the curse is removed.
Elevator Pitch
Delvers’ Deep is a large complex of dungeons, tombs, ruins, pits, caverns, shafts, tunnels, and more.
Most just call it The Deep. It gets it’s name from the many deep natural and manufactured pits and shafts.
Some are claimed to be bottomless, or to go to the end of the world.
The Deep lies several days west the town of Crossway. Crossway lies at the crossroads of The King’s Way and the ancient Dwarf Road. Both Crossway and Delvington are an eclectic mix of races as it is near a crossroads leading to a hilly and mountainous region that borders The Deep. There is a forested area nearby where lumber for the “mining” and other work of Delvers intent on finding the riches of The Deep. Lumberton is the lumber camp/town.
Near a relatively safe entrance to the dungeon is a small village with the feel of a boom town called Delvington.
East Gate Tavern is the last safe building inside the walls on the Eastern edge of Delvington. East Gate Tavern is a hangout for adventurers, commonly called Delvers. Delvington has walls, towers, gates, and guards.
To the west are hills and mountains. The deep lies largely in the hills between Delvington and the mountains of the Dwarven Kingdom. The ancient Dwarf Road comes from the North Pass of the mountains and through The Deep.
To the south is the great forest. The King’s Way passes through the forest, home of the elves, Verdant Vale, and it crosses the mountains at South Pass.
Glory and riches at the risk of life and limb await.
Conclusion
I’m so pumped about running a regular game, I haven’t run or played in a regular game in nearly a year. Life and work stuff derailed it. I can’t make my Wednesday night group for the foreseeable future.
I will do my best to document and share things.
I want to share many things about the campaign, but I don’t want to spoil anything for the players. I’ll share things as they encounter them. I’ll either talk about it on Saturday episodes of the podcast, or blog about it. One thing’s for sure, I’ll have to either record Thursday’s podcast episode the day before, or rapidly between the end of work and start of the game.
After The Live Stream – some thoughts
WOW! D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house was a huge success! We raised $3,140! We played 4 games of D&D 5e with 4 different DMs. See my prior article announcing the event here.
Listen to the companion podcast here.
The VOD
A very common question while we were still streaming is when and where can people see the games if they missed it live. According to Bill Allan, it will be about a week until the VOD (Video On Demand) will be available for posting on YouTube or other sites. Each DM that has their own YouTube will post it there, or Bill will post on his YouTube Channel. I will host my session on my YouTube channel.
The Venue
Yolanda Fronteny and her husband are gracious enough to open the house to gamers. They gave the house a Facebook page: Center Street Dungeon. Yolanda is a great advocate for the game and brought one of her neighbor’s kids to Gary Con.
We were all amazed at how tiny this house is and that a family of 7 lived here when D&D was published. The basement is a lot bigger than I expected.
We were slightly surprised that Alex had never been in this house. He is Gary’s youngest child and only child of his second marriage.
I brought my original AD&D Player’s Handbook [Affiliate Link] and 5e Players Handbook for all players to sign. Several others did the same.
The Line Up
Game 1: DM: Bill Allan Players: Fenway Jones, Alex Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, and me.
UPDATE: August 28, 2019 – D&D at the Gygax House for Extra Life – DM Bill Allan
Game 2: DM: Fenway Jones Players: Alex Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, Bill Allan, and me.
UPDATE: August 20, 2019 – Game #2 Ran by Fenway Jones is not online.
Game 3: DM: Me (Larry Hamilton) Players: Mike Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, Bill Allan, and Fenway Jones.
UPDATE: August 28, 2019 – Game #3 Ran by me for D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house is now online.
Game 4: DM: GM Travis Players: Mike Gygax, John Gilbert, Tony Klaczynski, Bill Allan, and me. We only had 5 players for this game. Tony was one of the two crew. We tried to get Yolanda to join us, but she had never played.
UPDATE: August 20, 2019 – Game # 4 Ran by Travis Taub for D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house is now online.
The Stream Experience
Game 1 was the first streamed game I ever played in. There were three cameras and three panel lights around the dining room table. Bill Allan is the one who ran streaming for Gary Con 10 and GenCon 51 this year. I met him online a few years ago, and finally in person at Gary Con 9. We had never managed to game together, but we finally got to play in games each of us ran as well as co-players in the other two games.
Bill led with running the first game and then had me start as the first player to introduce themselves. Even though I had seen the 3 cameras being set up, I looked at the DM camera and had to be directed to the camera I was generally facing. I wasn’t the only one to make that mistake. For those who have never streamed, and it’s a multi-camera stream, tell the players (especially those who have never been in a streamed game) which camera to look at.
I had one other faux paux. A fidgeting habit when I’m waiting for my turn to do something is to twist my pen open and closed and it was squeaking. Another player handed me a note. I stopped, but still found myself doing it a few more times throughout the evening. Again, something to consider warning new streamers to find a quiet fidgeting device to not annoy those watching the stream.
I was not nearly as nervous as I expected to be. Just like running a game for a con, I forgot about nerves as I was so into each game.
Game 2 by Fenway was a great mystery and we had a couple of combats. I met Fenway at the first Jasper’s Game Day last year, and interviewed her for my podcast at the second Jasper’s Game Day. I’m glad we finally got to play in a game ran by each of us. She’s a lot of fun. We had some puzzles and a mystery to solve with a final combat.
Game 3 ran by me was not only my first time DMing a streamed game, it was the first time I ever DMd D&D 5e. The other players and crew couldn’t believe it when I told them. Of course, if you know how to GM any RPG, you can take the general skills to all RPGs. One just has to learn the differences. I ran my scenario, No, Realy, It’s Me [Affiliate Link] and we had a blast. It was roleplay heavy and the players avoided getting into combat. I cut my game to two hours as the first two games went 3 hours each instead of 2.5 hours each. This left time for Travis to run his game.
Game 4 ran by GM Travis was a dungeon delve and we had puzzles, challenges, traps, obstacles, and creatures to fight. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the evening.
The Extra Life Donation Method
They had an option to give a name to pregens that didn’t have a name, for those who came without a ready character. People donated $25 to name those characters. We should have had all characters start without a name. Something for next year’s list.
A fun thing was different levels of donations could give a re-roll, advantage or disadvantage, higher amounts a natural 1 or 20, and $100 a magic item for a player.
It was hilarious to see regulars from Bill’s and Travis’ streams and games give them a slew of natural 1’s and that party a bunch of re-rolls, advantages, and nat 20’s. It really broke some of the games, but it was hilarious. Several donated a lot of natural 1’s to the DM, but some also gave the DM some 20’s.
I had a bunch of advantage, re-rolls, and natural 20’s given to me as a player in the 2nd game, but I couldn’t use them as DM in the game I ran. So all those carried over to my character in the final game. Each player then had another slew of re-roll, advantage and nat 20’s and I was given a ring of 3 wishes! I was doing everything I could to use all those rolls and wishes. I didn’t want to break the game too bad. I only managed to use 2 wishes to hilarious results.
The Aftermath
Yesterday was a long day. I live in Eastern time, but the venue is in Central time, an hour behind. I was wide awake long before I needed to be, and haven’t slept well several days before that. A lot of caffeine got me through. We got done about 10 or 10:30 and were packed up and cleaned up quickly. I left about 11:00 PM Central/midnight Eastern to start the 4 hour drive home. I drove until I got to the Michigan rest stop just over the line. I got there about 2:20 am and slept til 10:30. I then headed home and stopped for brunch along the way. I’m so tired, I am looking forward to a sound sleep tonight.
Bonus
I arrived just before 11:00 am Friday and met Mark Clover, Tom Wham, and Brad ???? we played Sushi Roll. It’s a quick and fun game.
After that, we went to Lake Geneva Games, where Mark is the manager and played a new Tom Wham game, Felithian Factories. That’s the only copy Tom got from Game Crafter. I’m impressed with the quality of the pieces and game board. I use them for the play test decks for my card game.
It was a 3+ hour game, but I liked it. After that Mark encouraged me to play my card game with Tom. So Tom played my game, gave some great feedback, and said, “It’s got a nice fame work.” So he liked the core of it. This was very cool as I am a fan of both tom’s art and his games. My brothers and I played Awful Green Things From Outer Space like crazy. That is one thing I still have my original and I got Tom to sign it this past Gary Con.
Gallery
Here are all the pictures I took and several I downloaded from other participants.
Old School
Both Alex and Mike learned AD&D from their father and grandfather respectively. It was cool to be able to help introduce them to the game. I’m no expert, but before their first game, I knew more than they did. Now they’re as proficient in 5e as I am.
Suggestions For Next Time/Others Doing Streams
There are all minor points that will improve the over all experience of the stream and maximize the social media impact of social media postings between sessions.
- Ensure those new to streaming know where to look prior to starting in a multi-camera setup.
- Advise those who fidget to bring a quiet fidgeting gadget and not one that squeaks.
- Pre-plan for the live social media slam prior to each session for each participant.
- Ensure all participants are following each other on all mutual social media platforms and tag each other in all posts leading up to, during, and after the event.
Have a print out with the stream link to use in postings.
Have a list of hashtags for consistent use by all participants across their social media.
Any available social media packet from Extra Life would also be helpful.
Messages that one can copy and paste can save time and allow for rapid posting on multiple sites.
- Ensure all participants are following each other on all mutual social media platforms and tag each other in all posts leading up to, during, and after the event.
- Ensure all participants are photographed as DM and player in each game for any follow up articles or posts.
- This also ensures each person who DMs has a memento of the occasion. Especially nice if their first time streaming or the location is memorable.
- Use a small white board to relay messages to the DM running the game, or explain hand signal methodology in advance.
UPDATE: Of of August 25, 2019, our Extra Live event is 76th overall for YTD funds raised and 2nd for Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin!!
UPDATE: August 27, 2019 :
WOW! We made the top of the Extra Life page! I’m not in the picture because they used the picture I took when I was in the DM seat!
Plus they linked to my blog article about it!