Gateway to Adventure is the umbrella for all of Ryan’s OSE offerings.
It features three volumes:
Class Compendium
Caster’s Codex
Combat Conspectus.
Class Compendium will feature new class options, backgrounds, skills, and so forth.
Caster’s Codex features new spells, an alternate magic system (non-Vancian), ritual magic, blood magic, magic items, etc.
Finally, the Combat Conspectus has new combat options, tournaments, alternate initiative, and more.
There are several stretch goals, one of which I have agreed to write. It will be a remaster of my PDF No, Really, It’s Me! [Affiliate Link] to fit the rules and layout of OSE and the Gateway to Adventure series. It will have a Kickstarter exclusive print copy for print backers and a PDF option for all backers.
My adventure is one I’ve run at multiple conventions. It is also the adventure I ran for the first group of games livestreamed from the old Gygax House on 330 Center Street, where D&D took printed form. This was all to benefit Extra Life.
This adventure is about a group of adventurers who met their end at the hands of a band of dopplegangers. The leaders have selected a group to impersonate the adventurers and convince other adventurers to stay away and thus stop upsetting their food supply and killing them.
I have a few ideas for expanding and improving it and look forward to the challenge and sharing it with a new audience and refreshing it for the existing audience.
At the time this is published, the Kickstarter is just shy of 50% of it’s base goal.
I’ve known Ryan personally for several years. He has run multiple Kickstarters and successfully fulfilled them.
NOTE: I will update this blog post with milestones as the Kickstarter progresses.
16 September 2022 c. 2:00 PM EDT – $52.00 shy of 50% funded in about 30 hours.
19 September 2022 – Passed 50% funded.
21 September 2222 – $199.00 shy of 60% funded with 99 backers.
28 September 2022 – 92 % Funded. $1,000 left to reach funding goal.
29 September 2022 – 97% Funded. $456 to reach funding goal.
02 October 2022 – Passed base goal. $1,500 to first stretch goal.
04 October 2022 – Getting close to the first stretch goal.
06 October 2022 – Reached 1st stretch goal, $400 to 2nd stretch goal
10 October 2022 – Reached 2nd stretch goal, 3 days left.
15 October 2022 – Funded! 199 Backers and $17,204 137% Funded.
While it didn’t reach my stretch goal, I will still update my PDF with the ideas I had to make it better. I’m just excited that I was asked to be a part of it.
This post was prompted by two players having questions that required NPCs to do research. One PC is a cleric, the other a paladin. They worship different gods, one the goddess of fire/the hearth, and the other the god of death.
The cleric of the fire goddess has a masterwork matchlock musket. I assigned a d12 usage die for the powder. It is down to a d6. Few shots have resulted in a hit. I ruled that it takes one round to re-load, so it is far from overpowered. The one keg of gunpowder they found they soon lost. So finally in the capital they checked the chief temple and the keepers of lore are researching for the location of any other matchlocks and the recipe for gunpowder.
The paladin worships the god of death and has a war scythe. At the temple of death he asked about magic weapons. They are researching this question.
Faced with two such questions for which I had not yet developed an answer, the NPCs told the PCs that they would send word to the inn where they were staying once they had answers.
I took time between sessions to determine how long it would take for the researchers to have an answer and what that answer was.
The PCs left town in a hurry and are slowly making their way back. They teleported far away and are travelling back overland, hoping to reach the sea and sail back to the capital. They have no idea if the researchers have an answer for them or not.
The following is my thought process for coming up with the answers I arrived at for these two questions.
Research by Sage p. 32 1e DMG – d20 to determine the d% target number to know the answer.
In this case know means either memorized or in their library.
Categories of General, Specific, and Exacting from the DMG are helpful.
Consulting the archivists and librarians of temples and libraries should work much like sages.
Sample questions:
Where are magical holy relics?
Where are magical holy weapons? (for a paladin, etc.)
Librarians, scholars, archivists, or alchemists could also be consulted.
How do I make x?
What are the ingredients for x?
PROCEDURE:
How likely are those asked to know the answer? Assign a target number based on how common the information is.
A good example would be knowing about legends vs. knowing the exact details of which a legend speaks.
Some may have heard of an ancient warrior’s sword, but that doesn’t mean they know where it is now.
Roll 1d6 for the number of weeks seeking the answer will take.
(It’s not like they have the dewey decimal system with card catalogs with meticulously preserved books.)
(NOTE: The amount of time it will take is NOT known to either the NPCs or the PCs, only the GM. The PCs will be forced to decide if they stick around and wait for an answer, or come back to the location at some point in the future.)
Note this on the campaign calendar used by the GM. Start the count on the next day, as the current day already has its own business.
Determine what general time of day they find the answer, morning, afternoon, evening however you define those in your game, then what part of those, or just roll a d8 for an eight hour workday, then a d6 for which ten minute block of the hour, then a d10 for which minute, repeat the d6 & d10 for the seconds of that minute, if it matters.
This will set the scene for those waiting around with a promise to be contacted when the answer is found. Or else if they come back before the answer is found, they still don’t know how long until there will be an answer.
THE ANSWER:
The answer may be “we don’t know.” It will take the number of weeks rolled previously for them to come to that conclusion.
The answer may be vague or incomplete. The answer may lie in an obscure quote or riddle. Or the document may be damaged giving just a few words. For example, the holy relic is in the tomb of an ancient warrior, but no one knows the name of the warrior or the location of the tomb.
The answer may be precise and exacting.
This all depends on the materials available to do the research.
Time and Survival of Sources:
Vellum and Parchment are more durable than paper, especially when it comes to water, but fire, rodents, insects, etc. lead to damaged (incomplete) or destroyed (missing) information.
A well known ten year old book with lots of copies is likely to have information that is easily knowable. If the particular researcher(s) doesn’t have a copy, it’s possible they may have read it or know where to either view or acquire a copy.
A rare or unique 1,000 year old manuscript may be “lost” in that people may have heard about it, or other writings mention its general contents, but no one knows exactly what’s in it nor where it is.
Other manuscripts are lost in that they are destroyed and no longer exist.
CONTEXT:
Are they logically asking someone who has a chance to know or find out?
A cleric or paladin asking the archivists of a temple to their own deity are more likely to find answers about relics and holy weapons pertaining to their deity, or those their temple or religion have dealt with. The main temple in the capital city is more likely to have the answer than a shrine in a remote village. Unless that remote village just happens to be near where a warrior’s last stand occurred, etc.
If they go to a temple to a different deity, while they may get help for a donation, unless the question pertains to the deity and religious lore and practice of that group, they may not get a helpful answer.
Does the source exist?
How does the source exist? Primary source, secondary source, tertiary source quotes the secondary source, etc.
How old is the information?
How well known is the information in the present?
Each factor will weigh the likelihood of a favorable answer.
An Example:
One possible procedure would be to give the chance of an answer a percentage. Say that in optimal conditions there is a 75% chance to get the answer desired by the players.
Note: If you’ve given the players information that an item or information is in the city they have travelled to, they need to be able to get the answers. The answers don’t have to come easily or quickly. They just have to have enough “breadcrumbs” that keep leading to the answer.
Once the PCs have the answer, they may still have to solve a riddle, disarm or avoid a trap, or avoid, trap, or defeat a monster to get the item(s) they seek. As always, the level of challenge and risk should be worthy of that which they seek.
Modify this based on the following:
Do those doing the research have a source in their possession? If no, then determine if they can get it.
Do they know what source (book, scroll, tapestry, inscription, epitaph, etc.) has the desired answer? If no, determine if they possess a source that will lead them to a source with the information.
If they don’t have any documents that will lead them to a clear source with the answer, will they be able to give the questioners anything to narrow down the search for an answer? If no, then the PCs will have to try a different approach, or ask others, or go to a different location either in the same city or a different city.
You may decide that some form of divination or “bargain” could generate the answer. Something short of a wish. Wishes should be rare and PCs should fear to use them.
However, determine how old this information is, subtract 1% per century and 10% per millenia.
Determine how common the information is in the present day:
Everyone knows: +5%
Most People Know: +1%
Specialists Know: 0%
Experts Know: -1%
No one knows: -5%
In the following add 1% for primary source, 0% for secondary source, -1% for tertiary source, etc. Roll d% to determine how well preserved the source is with 1% being very bad and 100% being perfect condition.
Source Exists and is Common and Accurate: +10%
Source Exists and is Uncommon and Accurate: +5 %
Source Exists and is Rare and Accurate: 0%
Source Exists and is Unique and Accurate: -5%
Source Exists and is Common and Inaccurate: -10%
Source Exists and is Uncommon and Inaccurate: -5 %
Source Exists and is Rare and Inaccurate: 0%
Source Exists and is Unique and Inaccurate: 0%
Source Exists and is Common and Known to be Inaccurate: 0%
Source Exists and is Uncommon and Known to be Inaccurate: 0%
Source Exists and is Rare and Known to be Inaccurate: 0%
Source Exists and is Unique and Known to be Inaccurate: 0%
I have an answer, and I think it’s the right answer.
What is the best RPG?
The one you play.
Because if you’re not playing it, it isn’t the best one for you.
My answer is all about playing RPGs. If someone is spending all their time complaining about some RPG they never have and never will play, are they really gamers? Do they even play?
If all you do is shit on other’s fun, then you are a miserable lonely person.
For me, RPGs are about getting a group together and having fun.
Back in the day it was hard to get a group together. All we wanted to do was game. We started letting our little brother’s play, and they gladly towed the line because they wanted to play. If we weren’t so shy around girls and thought they’d play, we would have asked them.
We had kids from all the different groups involved. The majority were in band, theater, art, or National Honor Society. There were a few jocks in the mix too. We didn’t turn away gamers because you never knew when you’d be hard pressed and need to invite them to fill out the table.
Complainers complaining about games they won’t play or run can sit in their rooms complaining to the walls. The rest of us want to play.
I’ll play almost any RPG and any gamer that is courteous and respects the others at the table and allows each player to have a share of the spotlight. I have less patience for those that seem to naturally hog the focus to the exclusion of others. We can SHARE the table and each have a bit of the focus.
Play the GAME and have FUN!
Complaining isn’t fun. Complaining is a form of gatekeeping as it seeks to dissuade others from “bad/wrong fun.” That’s the kind of fun one shouldn’t have because it only occurs when playing or discussing games that complaining complainers can’t stand for some ill-defined but supposedly valid reason. I’m not sure they understand what a role playing game is, let alone what it takes to play one.
Games are supposed to be fun, and games are meant to be played.
If you find that a game isn’t for you, that’s all you really need to say about it. If pressed, just the facts will do. Such as, the mechanics or the theme, or whatever just doesn’t appeal to you. That’s OK. But going on a vindictive crusade and ridiculing play styles, types of RPG, genres of RPG, some aspect of players, and stereotyping players of the RPG you don’t like is counterproductive.
If you spent half that energy on doing something positive, like playing a game you do like, or writing your own game, adventure, or novel, you’d be cranking out a lot of product every year.
So go find the best RPG for you, and play it!
Because the best RPG is the one you play!
This means that the best changes as what you are playing changes. It’s OK to have one favorite, or a group of favorites you rotate through.
I arrived Wednesday about lunchtime and went to The Pub Next Door and had one of the lunch specials – spaghetti.
I then made a Walmart run for a couple things I forgot before checking in.
My room was about as close as you can get to the lobby. I was on the building closest to the lobby on the Gary Con HQ side of things. My room was the first room next to the stairwell. I was on the top floor, the third floor.
The landing at the top of the stairs has a group of gamers that set up for the entire weekend. A group of AD&D players and they had a long game that was a continuation of prior years that they’ve come to Gary Con. I never heard them. This made it easy to just head back to my room to drop off stuff or get stuff if I wasn’t too far away.
I then went to see what was what and met up a few friends in the lounge and we then headed to the registration for badge pick up. We got there and the line was already long. We had to wait about ten minutes for the registration to open. It took close to an hour to snake around to the registration window.
Waiting in line. Registration window to left of 1st pitcure. Finally in sight in 2nd picture
While waiting I discovered that I was right behind a friend – hard to recognize with masks on and we caught up. I saw a few others ahead of me in line and said a quick hello.
Wednesday is the weekly OSE game I play in. This is campaign two and it was Session 87, I have made every session. I also played in the first campaign that was about 245 sessions. I never missed a session of that campaign and played a couple times on Wednesday night at Gary Con, and once they moved the game to Tuesday just because, so I wouldn’t have to play from the convention.
After the game, I went to the lounge and got in more visiting before turning in.
Thursday
I had a 9 am three hour slot. For Gary Con 12 – the first one to be affected by Covid, I signed up for all wargames and board games, as I wanted to get those in. I got into every game I wanted. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
I tried to repeat that this year, but there were not as many wargames, and the ones I wanted in were already full. I did find a board game, Diplomacy. We had a full roster of seven players. Five players, including myself had never played before. The guy running the game played Italy, and the other experienced player had Russia. I had Germany, and the other novices had England, France, Austria, and Turkey. Each of the other newbies were college buddies.
Not much movement mid-game.
The game is set in 1900 Europe and the idea is to use negotiation and deceit to grow one’s empire.
The only random element is determining who plays what country to start. For the rest of the game, the players talk among themselves, either as individuals or groups to discuss plans. We had a blast making alliances then stabbing each other in the back.
As Germany, I knew I was surrounded. The other novices decided we should gang up on the experienced players. So we hammered Russia and nearly knocked it off the board. Then we focused on Italy. Austria was wiped off the map.
Being surrounded, I had an initial alliance with Russia, but quickly took Warsaw, a control center. Having control centers determines how many units one can have on a one for one basis.
I also took Denmark and the Netherlands and made an agreement that I got the Netherlands and they got Belgium. I then mostly sat in place to hold my control centers. I did a bit of movement to the south to keep Italy off my territory.
It was only a three hour slot due to a mistake in scheduling so we only had time for four or five turns. At the end of each turn we’d write down our moves. Once all were turned in, the guy running the game would go through them and adjudicate them. Some moves couldn’t be adjudicated until other player’s moves were considered.
The last couple of turns are when I backstabbed Italy, when we all ganged up, and then I backstabbed France and took Belgium. England made an alliance with me to break our alliance with France.
We then ran out of time and when the score was tallied, I actually won! I wasn’t expecting to win. My use of a strategy to avoid a two front war is what saved me.
Diplomacy can never be the same game twice, even if you play with the same players and each end up with the same country.
We had the right mix of players and had a great time. I can see where people who take it too seriously could end up with hurt feelings.
Diplomacy was published in the 1959, so it is older than I am. Dave, Gary, and most of the old guard played Diplomacy both in person and by mail. I see how it influenced the emergence of roleplaying. If you’ve never played, this is something you should try.
WOTC still sells Diplomacy and you can get a PDF of the rules from their website. Since you can get the rules for free, you can use any map. You just need tokens for armies, navies, and territory markers. You’d have to add control points to the map. The Risk Board could work, or a fantasy map, or a map of your own design.
In the afternoon, I had lunch, then I took a nap, then I visited with friends and took a quick tour of the vendor hall and ran into a few more friends.
I ran into Yolanda Frontenay, owner of Gary’s old house where he wrote original D&D. See my prior post about the Indiegogo Campaign and the immediate need to take out two trees.
I then dressed up as my character Griswald, the namesake of “Follow Me, And Die!” for the wedding of Satine Phoenix & Jameson Stone. Griswald is the fellow with the raised sword and wolf’s head shield with red eyes that is my social media avatar by Satine. She recognized what I was dressed as.
Thanks to a friend I have these better pictures than the closet mirror in my hotel room.
It was a fun ceremony. There was a vinyl game mat for guests to sign and a stack of various creatures from Figurines of Adorable Power for prty gifts for the guests.
Satine & Jameson – Officiated by Luke Gygax
After the ceremony, Satine and Jameson had their picture taken with the wedding party and then the guests. They had two instant copies of each photo. One for the couple immediately placed in a photo album and each guest in the photo signed it. The guests then got a copy of the same photo.
We then had much talking among fellow guests until things wound down late in the evening.
Friday
From 8 am til Noon I played in “Skull Stack Crater” a Holmes Basic scenario by Zach Howard of Zenopus Archives. I played a lizardfolk warrior. We were all third level, the halfling thief was fourth level.
The mix of experienced players easily got through some obstacles. I played my character as a fearless warrior who would gladly go first. I think I had the most hit points.
It was a fun adventure.
I played in Zach’s Return to the Tower of Zenopus at Gary Con 11, the last in person con til now. One of the other players was in that same game and we remembered each other.
I then went to a seminar by Jameson Stone, Indie TTRPG Publishing & Kickstarter. He and those attending the seminar mentioned several helpful things for those doing Kickstarter or other crowdsourced fundraising. He mentioned several things I had not heard or read before in all my reading.
I then took another nap. I live in the Eastern time zone, so I keep waking up as if it is 7 am, when it is 6 am Central. That made for long days. I also hadn’t slept well the prior days.
After supper I attended GM Tips by Satine. I’ve been to several GM Tips presented by Satine, most recently at Gamehole Con last October. She always has something new to say.
The main thing is that there is no one size fits all answer anymore. There are three possible applications: live games, online games, and streamed games. Each of them is different, so the answers for the same question is different for each. Very insightful and something to think about.
After Satine’s seminar I had a brief moment to tell her something I didn’t get to tell her after her wedding. Then we got our annual Gary Con picture. She and Jameson would fly to England for D&D in a Castle the next day, so it was a whirlwind for them.
I then visited with friends in the lounge.
The next day, I didn’t have anything until 11 am so I was planning to sleep in.
Saturday
NARRATOR: “Despite his good intentions, he did not, in fact sleep in. He awoke at the same early hour as every previous morning. He realized this as he looked bleary eyed at his watch.”
At 11 am I had the two hour screening of the documentary, “The Dreams in Gary’s Basement” by Pat Kilbane. I saw a teaser of this at my first Gary Con – Gary Con 8. That was also the first Gary Con for both Satine and I and we kept ending up in the same seminars, and we became Gary Con buddies.
After the screening I bought Pat lunch so we could catch up. We met up with Dave Wesley and he joined us and regaled us with stories of his father’s WWII service. Near the end of that Grif Morgan of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary joined us.
I then took another nap.
On my way to get supper I talked with a table of younger gamers who liked my denim vest. (I got a LOT of complements about my sleeveless denim jacket with various pins and buttons, and a Death Dealer patch on the back.)
I got the three of them to play my card game. It was the first playtest I got in.
I then ran into Zach Howard and we got to talking about Holmes Basic. Pat Kilbane walked by and the three of us talked about how Holmes Basic was the first D&D for each of us.
I looked down at the desk with Gary’s books on it and realized that one of the books is the Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. I still have that book from college. I can’t find it to get a comparison picture.
Gary’s “Penguin Atlas of Medieval History”
I made another trip to the vendor hall. I missed the presentation of the Gary Con Lifetime Achievement Award, but figured out that it was Lou Zocchi of Game Science, when I saw the award at his booth.
I bought a 5 die set from Lou. I think that’s my fifth set of Game Science dice.
I bought a new dice bag from another vendor.
Next I bought a set of dice from Role 4 Initiative. I didn’t realize that they were a Michigan based company. They are in Portage, MI about 15 minutes from where I live. They are all online sales since they don’t have a storefront.
An online friend gave me a 3-D printed mini of Gary Gygax. He said that there were ten around the convention free to whoever found them. He had two.
I then spent the evening in the lounge visiting. I tried and failed to get any pick up games to try my card game.
Sunday
I sat at a table in the restaurant near the table where Todd Stashwick was having breakfast with someone. When his friend departed someone else walked up about the time I was finished. Todd mentioned he grew up near Lake Geneva (Chicago). I then struck up a conversation with him about old games, like D&D 1e. This was his first Gary Con. He then gave me a card with a Spotify bar code for his gaming/travel playlist. It’s a bunch of songs from late 70s & early 80s and got me all the way home with playlist to spare. He honored me by following me on Instagram.
I managed to get in two playtests with two new players and one of the players from Saturday’s card game.
I then did a playtest of the original deck and the alternate deck. I was glad to learn that the never before played alternate deck was not broken. I did find some phrasing that was wrong, and I used the wrong term on a card that didn’t match the correct term.
I had comments that the art is perfect and that they would have bought the game if it were for sale.
I think this means that I’m finally ready to put together the final deck. I’m not the one to do layout. I can make it look good enough for a playtest, but I need a layout person who knows cards. If you know someone who won’t cost me an arm and a leg, let me know.
I got in a great visit with Steve Winter and we talked about all kinds of things and other gamers joined in.
I talked to someone else and they went to follow me on Twitter and found out they were already following me.
On previous days of the con, I had several tell me that they read the blog, or follow me on Twitter. I met someone at the lounge bar Saturday night and they said that several people said that he needed to read my blog. That is always a cool ego boost.
About 3 pm, I found myself reluctantly ready to head home. I couldn’t afford it, but I could really use another week or two like that. I found my mood lifted, the drudgery induced by Covid isolation eradicated. My spirits were lightened and my creativity renewed. The drive home was easy and not too big of a pain. There weren’t too many drivers that were scary.
I made it home safe and after I unpacked I scripted and recorded, edited, and posted episode 199 of my podcast.
I have ideas ready to flow for more blog posts, podcasts, and more. I don’t have the time or energy to get them done as quickly as I want, but I’m pressing ahead as quick as I can.
For those of you who were at Gary Con and we didn’t connect, I’m sorry we missed each other. For those new people I met, it was wonderful to meet you. For all my friends who I did get to see, it was awesome catching up! I hope to see both those I didn’t encounter and those who couldn’t make it next year, or at Gamehole Con or UCon later this year.
My only negative is that one evening I left my black zippered hoody with my logo and “Follow Me, And Die!” in red letters. I reported it and gave regular updates via Twitter. No one turned it in. I hope whoever has it was able to keep warm and that they get a lot of use out of it.
I had a great Gary Con 14 in 2022. The con ended yesterday and I got home last night.
My Gary Con recap will be in the next episode.
For now, I am being laser focused on a place that is at the heart of the Roleplaying hobby’s birth as a commercial venture that was original Dungeons & Dragons.
Gary Gygax was a prolific reader, gamer, and writer of war game rules. He was a father of five living in a small house when he typed up rules inspired by the vision of how Dave Arneson developed a fantasy Braunstein from what Dave Wesley did as a game where the players were individuals on the map of a fictional town that would be the center of a battle set in the Napoleonic era.
The current owner of the house where Gary Gygax wrote original D&D, Yolanda Frontenay and her husband, have discovered that the two large trees on the property are affecting the plumbing and the limbs overhanging the house are a hazard.
The house is also 100 years old and needs a new roof and many other things repaired so that this landmark can endure long into the future.
The immediate need is for taking out the trees.
I first met Yolanda back in September, 2019 when I was part of an Extra Life event organized by John Gilbert. We had the first 4 streamed games from Gary’s old house. I played in 3 of those games and ran one.
There were initial plans to do it again in 2020, but Covid changed everyone’s plans.
I learned of the Indigogo campaign a few days before Gary Con and shared it on social media.
When I was at Gary Con, I saw Yolanda outside the vendor area. She told me of the challenges of the trees. All the bids she has gotten seem high to me. I had to huge maples taken out of my yard and with nearby power lines they had to use a crane. The low end quotes she has are close to double what I have.
I just can’t believe it needs to cost that much.
I met her at the house on Saturday to pick up a shirt that is another fundraiser for the house. The trees are much smaller, that is shorter, than my trees. One tree is close enough to one street that it shouldn’t be that hard to take out. They may still use a crane, but it’s not that big.
The other tree is between Gary’s house, the neighboring house she also owns and rents out like an AirBnb, and a neighboring house. It is about equidistant from both streets, since Gary’s house is on the corner. It definitely needs a crane. It is further from both streets than the other tree and bigger than the other tree in both height and diameter. It is still shorter than the two trees I had removed.
So I’m making an appeal. I’m hoping to help raise funds by getting the word out.
If you can’t donate money, please share the link to my podcast and the Indigogo campaign to get the word out.
I had a couple of thoughts on how we can use the collective of gamers to source a solution.
Other than the obvious of raising a whole lot of money, we can see if we can identify a tree service who has a fair price and not gouge. The other idea is if there is a gamer out there with a tree service that can either give a huge discount or help connect to a tree service with a lower quote.
Other than those ideas, we need a lot of small donations, or perhaps someone with a lot of money who’d be happy to help.
Please keep this in mind and maybe we can get word to the right person or persons who can make it happen.
I told several people with a large social media presence and some famous people about it to help get the word out.
I hate taking out trees, but when they are too big for their location or dead or dying, they need to come down for safety’s sake.
If you think this is a landmark that should be around for future generations to enjoy, please do what you can.
Some just rent the house, those who know about Gary’s house stay there and then play at Gary’s house.
Conventions – Virtual Gary Con, Garage Con in my garage in July, Live Gamehole Con 8, GrandCon was cancelled, I skipped UCon when it went from a physical con to a virtual con. I play in a game every Wed. night on Roll20 and run one Roll20 game on Sunday afternoon. I get my fill of virtual table tops twice a week, so the fun of gaming I get from a con – interacting with real people face to face around a shared table, isn’t the same as playing virtually. I started using Roll20 when I couldn’t get a local group going once playing with my sons & their friends fizzled out.
Blog – 18 articles, and the other day (Friday, 17 DEC 2021) a comment mentioned that the RSS feed only shows 2021. That damn thing breaks all the time. I’m looking into a different option for my blog. I may migrate the back end to a static site, but I’ll migrate simpler and smaller sites I have first to see if my new method works for them first.
Podcast – Five episodes, the year end review episode makes six.
YouTube – I passed 1,000 subscribers, so am now monetized again. They changed the rules two or three times since I was monetized many years ago just by creating an Adsense account and linking to my YT channel.
I’ve only done 4 videos. I’ve got a couple in editing that I just never seem to complete, and ideas for lots more.
Twitch – I streamed once this year when I streamed for over three hours cleaning and organizing my game shelves here.
Drive Thru RPG – Nothing new this year. I think I updated a couple of my PDFs, but I didn’t create anything new.
Card Game – I got more art from my artist, but not all of it. I don’t think I’ll do a Kickstarter. To do that well, I need a team working like a well ordered and well oiled machine. I think I’ll just put it on DTRPG, as I’ve mentioned many times in the past. Polishing it and making it appeal to a broader audience is a lot of work. I don’t want to just pass it off, and I don’t want to research lots of people to find the right people for the job. Pushing forward on things like this is hard. Ideas are easy to come by. Putting in the effort to make that idea work for others, and grab their interest is a lot of work.
I played my card game on Christmas with my younger son and my granddaughter. They both liked it. That was the first time I’ve played it in over two years due to the pandemic. My granddaughter said, “It’s a pretty fun game for an almost seven year-old.” She’ll be seven in a week and a half from now.
TikTok – Started at Gamehole Con – 28 so far. It has a maximum of 3 minutes, so it forces focus. I haven’t gotten into the groove of regular use. It’s good for getting the word out about things on other media.
Obsidian – Knowledge Base application NOT the campaign building/running website. I’ve moved my local copy of my Sunday game notes into it and used it to run the last 3 games. I’m working on a full blog post on it.
I dipped my toes into Solo RPGs and did a podcast and blog post about it. I haven’t gotten back to it. My brain keeps seeing new shinies to check out. Always been my issue. Too many cool things I want to explore. I could live to a thousand and still want to check out more stuff.
I’ve got ideas for using Roll20 with some solo games, that I was ready to do a YouTube video.
I’ve also got a couple new things I put to use in my Roll20 game that I need to share.
Today, December 31, 2021 is the deadline to submit games to run at both Gary Con and my local con, Marmalade Dog which has a deadline of January 31, 2022. I’m not going to run games at Gary Con. I plan to sign up for war games like I had for the first Gary Con affected by COVID-19. I will bring my card game in the stable version and the iteration where I made icons too small with some new options just to see how it play tests. I’ll bring a couple small RPGs for potential pickup games. I plan a light schedule so I can socialize. For Marmalade Dog I haven’t decided if I will run something all three days or not. Fridays are hit or miss. I plan to run Lizards vs. Wizards and am debating what else to run. Not much time left to decide….
My favorite RPG experience as a player was bringing back a dead PC into the Wednesday night game. When my ranger PC was killed I asked if I could bring back my original dwarf PC. There is a shields shall be splintered rule I forgot to invoke, so I suggested he could have just been knocked out. The DM was OK with that, but there is some backstory not yet shared with the others as to what really happened. I finally got to roleplay a situation where his mind is broken with grief and he has a new name, and it was several sessions until I revealed who he really was. That situation didn’t go over in the first campaign as another player misread it as he was mind controlled by the enemy, so I had to cut it short. Picking up that thread was fun. Talking to the “head” of the PC he decapitated when a storoper took him over was great. I didn’t reveal that it was a roughly head sized rock that he was talking to in his pack.
My favorite DM experience was introducing the Map of Destiny and watching the players keep “pushing the red button.” They went on so many side quests, it took several weeks to complete the original quest that was done in just over a week. The players were sent to it when one of them was geased to retrieve an item. The map shows whatever item you ask it. If you are under a quest or geas it just shows you the location on the world map. It doesn’t have more detail than that. If you ask it other things you have to save versus magic or be geased to retrieve that item and bring it to the map. They learned some helpful things, but also were chasing their tails going after stuff.
I randomly determined where things were located and had to come up with several on the spur of the moment. The real fun was when they brought back the first item and it sank into the floor. They used stone shape and other such spells looking and when they couldn’t find an empty space one of them asked where is it? They promptly failed their save but learned where it was. Another player, the higher level wizard in the group is 10th level with two fifth level spells and they rested and he memorized two teleports. Then he asked where am I, failed his save, but was immediately relieved of the geas, then sank into the floor. The first time he found himself on an island in the middle of a rainstorm. He investigated the island then teleported back. He rested and the next day did the same thing and was teleported into a blizzard in the midst of a herb of caribou who spooked. He teleported back. They hoped that it would go to a huge pile of loot, but learned that each item teleported it a random direction and distance. That player was the first PC to go “off the map” of my world.
The player with the last geas from the Map of Destiny asked about a former PC of a player that left the game and failed his save. While working on the geas of the player who asked about the first item to sink into the floor the other wizard was killed and resurrected. I ruled that death ends a geas (or a quest), so that saved them travelling for weeks in the opposite direction they wanted to go.
My players finally made it to the capital city of the kingdom and have been having city adventures and the city is growing and coming alive. I expanded the map and they bought a new, better world map so my pre-planning the new map worked out, I was ready for them. I came up with a minimal map to track where the characters are in the city without a city map and to preserve theater of the mind.
Now they are dealing with at least one vampire that they are waiting for sunrise to ensure it is dead. They also have the thieves guild after the higher level wizard as he revealed he has a portable hole and they want it. He keeps teleporting back to the town where the campaign started so he can sleep without getting killed.
They’re trying to wrap up and leave the city, but now they’re dealing with a vampire. Sunday’s game will be a lot of fun.
We passed 100 sessions of my Sunday campaign a few weeks ago. It is the longest regular game I have ever ran. It won’t end until either I, the players, or both decide we’re ready for something else.
I didn’t do all the things I wanted to do the past couple of years, but I did many things that I’m glad I did. I keep hoping things will ease up so I can actually go and do things without having to worry about getting COVID-19. I had a new health challenge of diabetes, but I kicked it hard and just have a once a week injection. No signs of cancer over a year after having my prostate out.
My mood and motivation at work are better than they have been in over a decade. I’m getting a lot of non-gaming things done so that I have more time for gaming.
I’m hoping by mortgage refinance goes through so I can get out of debt in less than ten years so maybe I don’t have to wait until I’m 67 to retire and enjoy more games.
The Year Ahead
For 2022, I’m looking at putting out my card game. It won’t have the polish and so forth of others, but it will be available via DriveThruRPG or GameCrafters. No promises on when, as I’m juggling a lot right now. My busy time of year at work is January, and I’m having to support a new to me product line so I’m spending a lot of energy getting up to speed on it.
I’ll be at Gary Con in March and also Marmalade Dog. I’ll have another GarageCon this summer. It will be a lot less work this year since I already cleaned out the garage.
If there’s a GrandCon, I’ll attend. I’ll also do GameHole Con and UCon if they are in-person.
I’d also like to give each of my PDFs a new editing pass and revise the layout, and add to them. When I do that they will no longer be Pay What You Want.
I’ll also keep playing in the Wednesday Night game and running my Sunday game. I’d love to run something for an in-person group, but not until COVID-19 is behind us. Not sure if 2022 will see that.
My mood and frame of mind is better than it’s been in a long time. Getting past prostate cancer in the midst of a pandemic, then dealing with diabetes must have been the shock to the system I needed. I’m having much more insight into why I have some of the struggles I’ve had with doing things related to maintaining motivation and not getting lost in lots of Netflix and YouTube. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but my much healthier lifestyle and mindset will lead me to do more of the things I want to do in the coming year.
The flowers and other flora that grow on graves is called Grave Growth.
For burials in the ground the growth is flowers.
For burials in crypts, sarcophagi, or urns the growth is lichens, moss, or fungi.
Graves, graveyards/cemeteries, battlefields, and other places of mass death whether by disease or slaughter will be covered with such growth.
The common folk will all know about these signs of death and burial.
The source of these growths is debated.
How do they only grow over graves?
How do the seeds find the soil to take root?
Possible Explanations Are Many:
Soul “fragments” are actually the seeds of growth.
The blood, bones, or organs contain the seeds.
The gods themselves plant them. (Or the god with death in their portfolio.)
Harvesters or Gatherers of the souls of the dead plant them. (Think like Valkyries retrieving Viking warriors.)
More Signs
While the living flowers or other flora signify a grave, when those flowers die, it indicates the body that rested there has risen in undeath.
Use In Game
The party comes upon a huge field of grave growth flowers. This is a sign of an ancient graveyard or necropolis.
If the field is of dead grave growth, then there is a past or current army of the dead.
Names
I’ve struggled to some up with a specific name for such flowers. This is an idea wanting a name. If you use it in your game, come up with your own name for such growths.
Death flowers doesn’t fit. Grave flowers is a generic term like grave growth.
Grave Watch or Grave’s Watch, as if the flowers are watching or standing watch over the grave sounds cool.
Death Blossom sounds cool, but is already taken by The Last Starfighter.
Death Floret sort of works. Grave Floret sounds better.
Final Floret, Black Floret, Red Floret…. Still not quite it.
There’s a word I can’t quite bring to mind. Searching for synonyms didn’t give it.
Source
This idea came to me while I was mowing the yard. When I took a break for water, I scribbled down my idea before I forgot it.
I have no idea if there are such things in the real world, or if any fantasy world has something like this.
A quick internet search lead to what are the most common plants to plan at a gravesite. I found one reference to a carnivorous plant in an RPG wiki, but nothing like what I envision.
I’m prepping for this week’s session of my Sunday AD&D game on Roll20. Two sessions ago, the party sailed into port of the capitol city of the kingdom of which they have adventured at the far reaches until now.
Last week marked session 100 of the campaign, and they continued their big city adventures by visiting the wizard’s quarter/wizard’s college. The party is seeking to unload some items they don’t want to carry for items they want for future endeavors.
I run a low magic campaign.
By this I mean:
Most magic has to be discovered during adventuring.
Magic shops means places to buy ingredients, not magic.
Healing Elixirs with side effects of exhaustion can be obtained from alchemists.
Healing potions can be obtained from temples, plus healing spells.
Some NPC casters will sell potions & scrolls, or spells to PC casters.
There are certain spells casters don’t trust with others.
The party took giant parts to a local wizard and got back half the amount back as either potions of giant strength, or giant control.
By having a wizards academy in the capitol, it pushes the boundary. My campaign timeline is about a thousand years after the last great empire fell. Wars and devastation fought by wizards trying to keep things together, or get their own slice of the pie, made plentiful magic and the old academies a thing of the past.
The capitol of this kingdom, a province of the last empire, has had 500 years to build back up. The capitol is far from its past glory. The wizard’s college has mixed stonework from building on the foundations of ruins. However, the illusionist’s part is pristine and complete, due to the power of illusion.
Ancient wizarding families have kept some traditions alive, but the ability to use over 5th level spells is rare. The methods of the ancients for training wizards is lost and it takes a long time, AKA the grind of adventuring, to gain access to (rediscover) lost knowledge.
This means that making new magic items, other than potions & scrolls, is very rare.
Instead of a city lit by continual light, only the academy and the rich have such things.
So it finally occurred to me while prepping for this week’s session.
What Happens When Wizard Dies?
What happens to spell books, lab equipment, potions, scrolls, etc. of a wizard when they die?
If they have family or others mentioned in their will it goes to them.
If things are planned out in advance they may have notes on command words and other instructions for items.
Potions & scrolls are labeled.
If no plans are made, the family takes their chances figuring things out.
If they make other arrangements, such as to have it hidden or destroyed.
Hidden or Destroyed because they don’t trust their family or anyone else, or don’t like them, or don’t want to share.
If hidden, is it documented with clues or a map?
One way of hiding is with Nystul’s Magic Aura to put a dweomer onto mundane items causing much confusion for those seeking to understand what the item does.
If no family or other arrangements, the Council will take charge of it to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. They may do this on their own authority backed by tradition, or under the authority of the Monarch. If under the Monarch, the Council holds it in trust for the monarchy.
The thieves guild may keep an eye on an aged or ill wizard to pounce and get some good stuff before it’s packed away.
A multi-class elf, half-elf, or dual class human magic-user/thief or gnomish thief/illusionist may be in charge of this, since they have the specialized knowledge to know which is the good stuff.
If a wizard dies who resides outside the capitol, it depends on the distance and circumstances.
In a distant city, the local noble or governor or city council may get first choice as part of taking things under their charge under the national government.
With less oversight and no other official wizards living in the city, the process may not be transparent, or entirely above board. Chance for corruption.
How Do Wizards Die?
Just like everyone else, wizards can die from injury, illness, old age, accident, or murder.
All of these can happen on an adventure.
They can also happen in the everyday life of a wizard doing research and experiments.
Crossing the wrong people, like rival wizards, the thieves guild, etc. can also get one dead.
In My Campaign
Many sessions back, the party learned of NPC wizards in cities near their main adventure area back then. Two such wizards died in the recent past, i.e. a decade or more, and without heirs, the local nobles stepped in.
It suddenly occurred to me during the prep for this week’s session that past wizards associated with the council who died of old age would leave behind all their wizard stuff.
This leads to questions:
Where is all that stuff now?
Is it in the city?
Is it secure?
Is it lost or hidden?
Who has that stuff?
Can they use it?
Do they know how to use it?
Do they want or need to sell it?
Over a given number of years or centuries, wizards will die. That means there is potential for a lot of items to be in the world, like spellbooks, potions, scrolls, ingredients, inks, quills, parchment, lab equipment, a lab, a tower or other base, familiars, homonculi, trapped or bound creatures such as elementals, djinn, efreet, demons, devils, apprentices, pets, family, servants, etc.
Without a regimented system and the ability to police it there won’t be an estate sale, at least not one that includes magic.
More likely, a group or individual wizard, or other interested party will move in to claim it all, or pick over for what they want. This could lead to open duels or battles between factions or individuals.
This is one of those times session prep has opened a whole new can of worms that I feel like I have to solve now. I’m going to ignore that feeling and just make a mental note of it (and get this blog post out of it).
With more time, I cold develop a set of tables, but for now, I’ll just sketch out the tables I’d make once I make the time.
How did they die?
When did they die?
Did they have family or others they wanted to have their stuff?
Did they make a will?
Can the will be found?
Can the will be enforced?
Were they broke and creditors get involved? (real or fake creditors?)
Were they under a feeblemind or other curse?
Did they have enemies?
Do the enemies show up?
Do they fight the beneficiaries or each other or both?
Are the enemies other wizards, thieves guild, other adventurers, government, other nation, extra planar being(s), etc?
What did they leave behind?
Spellbooks, potions, scrolls, ingredients, inks, quills, parchment, lab equipment, a lab, a tower or other base, familiars, homonculi, trapped or bound creatures such as elementals, djinn, efreet, demons, devils, apprentices, pets, family, servants, etc?
Tower or other lair, or rented space?
Did they hide their stuff?
Are there any clues like notes, puzzles, or maps?
Did they have a trusted servant to handle things.
Did they follow the task faithfully?
Did they cast Nystul’s Magic Aura on a bunch of junk?
The above are the questions I’d have to consider or develop tables of options to help me decide. Are there any possibilities I’ve left out that you feel should be considered? Please comment below.
The original Kriegsspiel rules were too cumbersome, so Free Kriegsspiel arose that relied more on the expertise of the referee than the rigid adherence to the rules of the game. This allowed for the more chaotic occurrences of battle that a specific rule could not adequately convey. Rather than a rule for everything, only things that needed resolution by random chance, such as combat involved rolls.
The main points of FKR are:
Numbers don’t add up to a game.
If the fiction fits, try it.
You play worlds, not rules.
The gist of it is the ultimate in rules light. The character sheet does not limit what a character can do. It seems the joining of story games with other RPGs. It is much simpler than FUDGE/FATE. Some of the games have lots of tables to help set the stage for character creation and adventures.
The biggest challenge to running an FKR game is that it requires trust between GM and players. An experienced GM in other RPGs who is accustomed to the rulings not rules style of play will be more apt to run a game of this style in a way that results in fun for the players.
Any Planet Is Earth[Affiliate Link] is a Science Fiction FKR RPG by Jim Parkin of d66 Classless Kobolds. It is laid out like Maze Rats [Affiliate Link] by Ben Milton, but is very simple. The rules are a seven page PDF and a single page walkthrough of generating a sample character.
I’m not clear on who started FKR, but it appears that Norbert Matausch of the Darkworm Colt blog is very active. [EDIT: Norbert Matausch messaged me and he and Wizard Lizard started the FKR.] He has a free Kriegsspiel game called Landshut. On bottom of the Landshut page are links to his blog of articles for various RPGs that have had the FKR mod applied. His article Back to Really Simple Roleplaying that lays out the basic concepts of FKR.
Norbert Matausch may also be is the one who created the FKR logo, but my google-fu has not yielded who is the creator of the following image. If you know, please let me know, so I can give credit to the artist. [EDIT: Again, in the message I received from Norbert Matausch, he is the creator of this logo. It is free to use for FKR projects.]
Free Kriegsspiel Revolution (FKR) logo, artist Norbert Matausch
Ben Milton did a nice overview of the FKR on his Questing Beast YouTube channel with Does D&D Need Rules?
There is a Discord server for FKR with an open invite.
CONCLUSION:
Read the articles mentioned above and the articles they link to before making a decision based on my oversimplified overview. They explain the concept much better than I could. Look at one of the games, and you will see the rules light influence.
The idea is that anything one can do in the world, one can do in the game world. Build a huge multi-national business, just follow how it’s been done in the real world. Start a revolution, look at historical revolutions. It puts more weight on the players to figure out how they want to do something complicated and large scale. Whereas something smaller and every day should just be a matter of communicating with the GM how it is planned to be accomplished. Dice are only rolled if the outcome is in doubt.
Power comes from amassing items, wealth, information, and followers. Just like in our world. There are no levels to artificially empower someone.
This could easily fit any genre. Any dice can be used, 2d6, 2d10, d20, d100, etc.
The use of tables to create characters, build worlds, and initiate and run scenarios means that tables from all manner of RPGs can be used. Or one can develop their own tables.
For those who prefer to build their own worlds and spend more time playing than prepping, this is an attractive option. This is something that I am interested to try. It seems to hit that simplicity that I’m looking for with the flexibility to do multiple genres. Now to make the time and find a group to try this, once I develop my own rules framework. . . .
Soon people commented that they liked that idea, so I took the plunge and created a private group on Facebook and invited people who live in Michigan, in other states near Southwest Michigan, and others who might make the trip, plus family. I invited over 50 people and nine showed up, making ten with me, eleven when my granddaughter helped roll dice for my character in Numenera.
Mark Clover suggested the name right in front of me, Garage Con.
I found a public domain image of a garage from Unsplash and a font based off of the outlines of tools.
Clayton Williams provided an image based on the picture and font that I used to make a T-shirt signs and posters.
I put up an FAQ, and a poll listing the dates I would be available. The date most voted for was Saturday, July 17.
I also ordered a port-a-potty since my 10 year old house only has one bathroom.
I updated the group page with more information and progress on getting the garage ready.
I then spent a ridiculous amount of time cleaning and organizing my garage. Long story about why it was so bad. I lost track of how many hours I put into it.
I planned to be done with the heavy lifting long before the day of the event, but I was still moving stuff to the basement the day before, but I finally got it all done with some help for a couple hours at different times from each of my two sons.
The Big Day
The day arrived and I, of course, kept waking up thinking about all the things I hadn’t done yet. None of which were critical. All of those things could be done as they came up during the day.
But I was awake and not falling back to sleep at 5:30 AM. This made for a very long day and running out of steam a few times, once almost falling asleep during a game.
I set up two shop fans to keep the air moving and they did a great job keeping us cool. thankfully it was a mild sunny day that got better as the humidity decreased once the rain stopped about 8:00 AM
Nine guest showed up, plus me. My granddaughter helped roll dice for my character in the Numenera game. She also joined in the final game of the evening, Lizards & Wizards [Affiliate Link].
I ran the first game, my Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] scenario, A Posse For The School Marm.
I closed out the day with Lizards & Wizards [Affiliate Link] by James V. West. My granddaughter played in that and had a great time. I wrote up a review about it a few years ago.
We ordered burgers for lunch from the local chain restaurant, and pizza for supper from the local pizza place. Both are less than a mile from my house.
People chipped in to help with the cost of the port-a-potty and food even though I told them it was cheaper than a weekend at a convention. All I really wanted was people to come and game.
Gaming started about 10:00 AM and the last guests left about 10:00 PM, about an hour earlier than initially planned. It was a full day, so that was a good point to end it.
By 10:30 pm I had finished bringing my game materials into the house, along with the leftover food items. The final sweeping and putting the folding tables away can be done tomorrow.
By 11:30 PM I had this article written.
The Future
All agreed it was a fun time and that my garage was perfect for a one day con. Talk soon turned to next year before the day was half over.
I had a great time and the stress and frustration of getting my garage in shape to host this event were well worth it. I had to get my garage organized so I can have an appraisal to re-finance while the mortgage rates are still so low. It was a win-win for me.
I am definitely planning to do this again. Next year will be a lot easier because I can focus on preparing to run games instead of making room to play games.
Others have commented that some well established conventions started as self hosted gaming events. I’m not looking to grow into the next big convention. I just like having people to game with. My normal gaming happens online via Roll20.
I much prefer in-person gaming, but I just can’t seem to get a group together, or find a group that lasts so I stick with Roll20 for regular gaming. But over a year without in-person gaming has been really tough.
Today did a lot to re-set my attitude and re-charge my batteries.
I cancelled my weekly Sunday AD&D game on Roll20 because I knew I would be exhausted and need to rest. While I could probably run a game tomorrow, it would not be wise to keep pushing. That leads to stress and increased chance of getting sick. I’d much rather take a break and re-charge my batteries and rest up after pushing so hard for the last several weeks to get ready.
