ConQuest? I think that was the name in downtown Kansas City, MO. I think we went to that two or three years in a row in high school in the early 80’s. I have not managed to make it to one since.
[EDIT] I did not think to update this post before it was published to mention my experience with the Marmalade Dog 19 game convention. Post 1 and Post 2.
Fookes Software’s NoteTab, is my favorite all-around, all-purpose program. It is billed as a programmable text editor. This means you can build scripts to handle various text editing tasks.
A text editor is plain text, like if you used a typewriter. A word processor is like Microsoft Word, or OpenOffice Writer, the user can do bold, underline, pictures, etc.
The benefits of using a text editor to do your writing is that you can focus on the content first, and the presentation later. With a word processor, there is the constant temptation to format text as you go rather than going with the flow.
NoteTab has one useful feature for taking notes called Outlines. A NoteTab outline is just a plain text file with a special formatting code in the first line so that NoteTab will show it as an outline.
I have many uses for outlines in my campaign design, session preparation, and record keeping.
NoteTab’s scripting abilities allow it to open other programs such as web pages or PDFs in Adobe Reader.
I have outlines for ideas for this blog, DM notes, Hexcrawl notes from various sources on the internet, lists of NPCs, ideas, etc.
I prefer to use NoteTab Pro for its versatility, but there are two other versions, NoteTab Standard, which is included with NoteTab Pro, and a free version, NoteTab Light. The free version can read outlines but cannot create new outlines without a workaround. All three versions support a PasteBoard feature. One document is designated as a PasteBoard and any text you copy using CTRL+C, for example, goes to the paste board. One inventive NoteTab user built a clip to do a similar thing with outlines, and creates the header composed of the date and time. This clip is good if you have a lot of repetitive information you plan to copy from an electronic source, and need to keep it organized.
If you want outlines in multiple depth and with formatting, such as bold or underline, check out InSight or PowerOutlines by DataOmega. InSight has all the bells and whistles plus the kitchen sink. PowerOutlines is focused on outlines. Both products can import NoteTab outlines. PowerOutlines has the added benefit of being able to save to the NoteTab outline format, so you can view and edit the same file with either PowerOutlines or NoteTab.
A good text editor is critical for organizing and storing notes. Be aware that online there are raging debates about the best text editor. I have a couple that I use, depending on my needs. Like an edition war, pick the one the works best for you and don’t waste time arguing about it.
Sometime in high school. I remember sitting around the TV watching “Mazes & Monsters” with Tom Hanks with the whole family, like we did back when there was only one TV in the house.
My parents gave me the Players Handbook for Christmas the year it came out. We spent Christmas at my aunt’s house, and she asked my parents if it was really a good idea to get that for me. My mom stood up to my Dad’s sister and I believe Dad did too. She said something along the lines that if it was so bad, she wouldn’t have bought it. They new it was just a game and not a source of evil.
I read the Swords and Wizardry Quick Start, White Box, and Complete Rules just to make sure the three magic items that I submitted to the OSR Superstar Contest were according to the rules of the contest.
I found the rules to be well organized and easy to start using them.
I am tempted to make them the go to rules and tweak with stuff from AD&D, like spells, monsters, etc.
I like the simplicity of classes. I don’t like the level limitations of non-Human characters and the class restrictions. This is the same balk I have with AD&D. No problem, HOUSE RULES TIME!
I like that the system strives to keep the ability to customize and encourages it!
I have joined the Swords & Wizardry Discussion Group to keep up with ideas of others.
I see it beneficial to have these rules, which are freely available, should I ever get an online campaign going, others will need the rules.
I like the S&W SRD and it’s ideas, and I like the generators for NPCs, NPCs in taverns, and treasure map generator. Simple tools to fill in gaps fast.
I recommend this system and I would gladly play these rules, since they are so close to my “home” rules.
Well, I have spent so much time blogging and updating this Google+ page and collecting information, etc. that I am behind on direct work on my campaign.
I never really had an edition war. My brother, Robert, bought the ADD 2nd Edition books and we incorporated some things from that into play, but overall, we have always been 1st edition ADD.
My whole take on the edition wars is based only what I have read online in the last few years.
Some of the flair ups and controversies in the RPG blogging community and the old school in particular have been my wars. Thin skin and long toes leads to a lot of hurt feelings in anything that is public.
I have not used MapTool. I just tried in the last week, and its Java requirement is not working with the latest version of Java. That’s a security hole, so I did not go further to make it work.
MOTE has a Kickstarter and a Home Page.
I think such tools would be very useful for online play, but I need more time to figure out how it works.
I have read that some just use Google+, and others use similar tools and Google+ for online live play.
Finding a game I can at least try it out, like a one-shot adventure would be good.
I ran across this YouTube video today, it is a good basic explanation of D&D/RPGs.
Our group stayed away from original D&D. Partly because once all the books for advanced was out, who needed basic. We saw basic as less than advanced.
I then had an extended break with play and missed all the different versions. From what I have read, I would not like to try and play a 3, 3.5 or 4th edition game. It sounds like they made it harder to get started and required the rules to be followed in a way that I think is counter to it. I like enough rules to give you a fairly simple framework that can be adjusted to suit one’s taste.
I like what little I have dug into 5th edition, what is the name of that now?
I have all the materials for AD&D and I have an extra Player’s Handbook and have it in PDF so I can accommodate players for a game. I don’t get the need for all the books, etc., except that is how a company makes money.
I would play a retro clone, and did the Kickstarter for ACKS. I like the domain play concepts. I have PDFs of many different retro clones and modules. It gives a lot of ideas for things to try as a DM.
I learned of Print Friendly from OSR blogs a few years ago. A lot of OSR bloggers have it on every article on their blog. I need to look into that. You can also add a script to the tool bar of your browser as a bookmark and you can use it. I also use it to record information for work, which is totally unrelated to RPGs, except maybe “Papers and Paychecks”, LOL. 🙂
This tool allows you to make a PDF with links and the URL of the page you found the information. The PDF can be saved to your PC or emailed to yourself.
The links in the PDFs are clickable and it is searchable text, not just an image.
This is much easier than saving HTML files for later.
Just follow the instructions on the Print Friendly page to get it working for you.
Dyson’s Dodecahedron is hosting a cartography contest where you take one of his maps and finish it with your own twist.
The deadline is fast approaching: “23:59 Eastern Standard Time of Sunday, February 23rd, 2014.”
I’m not the best at maps, but I may see what I can devise. It has the same deadline for the OSR Superstar Contest. If I focus, I know I can meet both deadlines.
Dyson has several interesting tables, and of course lots of maps. He even has a few short tutorials that explain how he does his style of maps. I tried a little doodling on graph paper to do it. I can see with practice it can be done fairly easily, but it requires scanning and then processing the image in Gimp or other graphics software. I get so sidetracked looking at all the goodies all the different RPG sites have to offer that I take lots of notes and download/use Print Friendly to add to my ideas for my own campaigns.
