Category Archives: RPGs

RPGs

Castles and More Castles!

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I joined the Amazing Castles community on G+ a couple weeks ago. Every day I get multiple pictures of new castles. Many of them are castles I have heard of, but never seen a photograph of them. There are also several that have angles that I have never seen of them before.

I like castles and wish I could afford to go to Europe and see them all.

Someday, when I grow up, maybe I can own one….

I plan to view them on my tablet and use some tracing paper, to see if I can make my own castles from the bits and pieces. Perhaps figure out how to map them on graph paper too.

RPGs

Software Changes – RANT!

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<rant>

I hadn’t created new filters in Gmail for awhile, a couple years at least. I don’t know when it changed, but it took me a minute to figure out that when you test it it puts it in the Gmail search box and you have to click the drop-down there to bring back the screen so that you can finish the filter and apply the conditions of the filter. Not difficult but frustrating when my filter showed me what I wanted to filter and the filter building screens disappeared.

I work in the software industry on the support side of things and am constantly amazed at how Microsoft and others, and sometimes the company I work for move and hide things that should be easy to find.
I don’t mind change, but when they change the way things look/work to the point it isn’t as obvious what to do to get the desired result is not good. The call tracking program we use is one that our IT department can add custom fields. At one time they were adding and moving fields and were not telling us. When you use a screen that is nothing but a form and you know how many times to hit TAB to get to the fields you need, suddenly adding or moving fields messes up your day. Not knowing about the new fields, it takes a few minutes to figure out why the form isn’t working. How hard is it to take five minutes to send out one email to all the users of our main tool? I know that they spent more than five minutes dealing with my complaint. I am sure others complained too.

Windows 8 is a major example, it is not suitable to a business environment because the majority of businesses do not have a touchscreen. I downloaded the trial version of Win8 when it came out and ran it in a virtual environment. I had to Google how to shut it down.

Windows 7 is a problem because they moved and re-named things that you need to use if you are an advanced user.

MS Office did that stupid ribbon thing. There are certain functions I can’t ever remember where they are. Thankfully I know the keyboard shortcuts I need. MS Word had menus back in the days of DOS. Certain ways of working with software should not be changed lightly.

Even Android does this. I got a new phone and a few features changed, and I had to google how to use them.
Many apps on Android keep changing and going to similar interfaces, but they all take away something the older versions did more obviously.
Thankfully with Android, most apps are not so complex and feature filled that you can’t figure it out by playing around with it, or googling to understand how to do something now.
For example, I use Evernote all the time to make notes, reminders, grocery lists and they changed how they do checkboxes. It took me awhile to figure out where they put them. Once I figured it out, it was easy to remember, but for features that I don’t use all the time, I would be hard pressed to remember the new way to do it.

I’m getting old and cranky, I guess.

I remember back in the days of DOS, to use a word processor, like WordStar, you used a boot disk (AKA floppy) with the minimum pieces of DOS to boot the computer with a autorunning batch file to start WordStar. You then waited for the light to go out, and popped out the disk and put in another disk with your document(s) on it and opened up your document and typed away and edited it. Sometimes you had to switch back to the WordStar disk so it could do something to your document in memory. As soon as that was done, you had to switch back to your document. Auto save was not a feature. WordStar worked a lot like HTML in the you wrapped words with commands for italics, bold, and underline. Back then programs were simple and elegant and once you got the hang of it, easy to use.

As the hardware got cheaper and Windows came out, programmers seemed to forget elegance and tight code and left it to the user to solve the issue with bigger hardware. Thus the old saw that when you buy a computer that uses M$ Windows, you have to get one with twice the CPU, RAM, and Disk Space as the minimum recommendations to have a reasonable experience with it. Now that hardware has gotten cheap enough that it not as big of a problem. I find it funny that the free OS, Gnu/Linux, can run faster and more efficiently on the identical hardware of Windows. I have had dual boot configurations and the Linux partition always boots up many times faster than Windows, and browsing the web never hangs, unless the internet connection itself is having issues.

I won’t make the world of software better by this, but I had to get that out of my system so I could get back to my novel for NaNoWriMo.

</rant>

RPGs, Writing

Biographical Outline

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One of my many interests is genealogy. I find it interesting to see when and where my ancestors were in relation to history, another interest – I have a BA in History.

There are many free genealogy programs that make it easy to generate a family tree for printing. If you are interested in a family tree for the rulers of a kingdom, or how a tight-nit extended family in a village tie together, or a major NPCs family, or even for players to chart their characters and how they might be related.

One thing I just saw posted on FB was about a Biographical Outline. There is both a PDF for printing, and a Doc file for editing.

It may not be something you use as a GM for more than a few NPCs, but as a player, it might be helpful to chart the events and places your character was involved in.

Such tools can also be helpful if you want to write a novel with a lot of characters that are related, or a historical novel, or a nonfiction biography.

 

RPGs

Dice Drop Generators

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Dice Drop Generators differ from All The Dice Tables/Generators in that instead of being a collection of tables to consult, the placement of the dice as they land on a blank or pre-printed sheet determine the results.

Random Dungeons from Buckets O’ Dice is a method of generating random dungeons. Dump all the dice you own on a sheet of graph paper, those that miss the paper take away. Those that roll their max, keep in place and remove the rest. The value on each of the remaining dice indicates room size. d4 = room size 4, d6 =  room zize 6, etc. Read the rest at the link for details.

A variant on Dungeons from Buckets O’Dice is Five-Die Dungeon Generation. Similar to the above, but 5d6 are used, ignoring those that miss the paper.

I haven’t turned up other Dice Drop Generators with a Google Search.

[Update] Google+ has a community called Die-Drop Table Heaven.

If you know of a Dice Drop Generator, please share.

RPGs

All The Dice Tables/Generators

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All the dice tables/generators are tables that require using one of each type of dice, i.e. d4, d6, d8, d12, d20, etc, and then referring to the table/sub-table for that die. Most I have seen only do d4 through d20. The idea is to have a single roll of these dice generate one item, NPC, situation, etc. It is a neat idea. Just trying to come up with ideas for your own such generators can help you get the creative juices flowing as part of session or sandbox prep.

I like the idea for rapid session prep when you need some quick ideas. I think this is a neat idea for quick generation of NPCs, Maps, Treasure, Different kinds of objects, dungeons, magical effects, etc.

The Swords and Wizardry SRD has two tables in PDF format that use all the dice to generate multiple characteristics quickly. The GrimRandomNPCGenerator.pdf and Grim’s Random Tavern Patron Generator.pdf, which is actually at the Mythmere Games Website, AKA Swords And Wizardry. A third Grim’s table is a Treasure Map Generator.

Grim also has a lineage generator: Grim’s Roll All the Dice Lineage Generator. Grim posted his NPC generator over on Dragonsfoot Forums.

I did some Google searching and uncovered a few more tables that use all the dice.

I plan to collect a list of All The Dice Tables/Generators.

Telecanter’s Receding Rules has a post of OSR Table Types:

Telecanter’s Receding Rules: Roll all the Dice

TelecantersEncounterSpur                       EncounterSpur.pdf

TelecantersHirelingSpur                          TelecantersHirelingSpur.pdf

TelecantersMagicItemSpur                      TelecantersMagicItemSpur.pdf

Ronin has a generator for Random Pits & Occupants.

Applied Phantastically has an all the dice generator for Random Tables. And related articles on generating tables.

Similar to All The Dice Tables, are multiple dice tables, or multiple result from a single roll tables. A good example of tables are the d30 tables from New Big Dragon/Richard LeBlanc and his d30 DM Companion and d30 Sandbox Companion supplements.

What tables have I missed?

Related to this are Dice Drop Generators, which is a similar idea, but is not a formal table. I will be collecting those as well. Often dice drop generators are for quick random maps.

RPGs

The RPG Scene In E.T.

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The one line I remember from E.T, besides “ouch”, “E li ott” and “I’ll be right here.”, is “Negative Charisma!” My friends and I all laughed at that, as Dieties and Demigods had already come out and we all knew about negative charisma.

Thanks to OSR Today, I was directed to an article about the game scene at Dungeons & Digressions, and a second article at Geeky Rant about the role of D&D in the making of the movie.

RPGs

Child’s Play Charity

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I learned about Child’s Play when I stumbled on the mention of the BrigadeCon for the weekend of November 15 & 16, 2014.

BrigadeCon is billed as a Benefit. I found that the Benefit is Child’s play, but the link [now broken: http://www.brigadecon.org/booster/] to an explanation of what Child’s Play is was not obvious to find. For something billed as a charity event, it should be more obvious on the BrigadeCon website that it is a charity event, what the event is, and a simple donate button. From checking out the link to the explanation and donate button, it looks like only two people have donated. The donate button did list the website of Child’s Play. From the About page on the Child’s Play website: “Since 2003, we’ve set up and organized Child’s Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 70 hospitals worldwide.”

There is a link to the official Child’s Play events, and that link does a better job of explaining things: “BrigadeCon 2014 is an online tabletop gaming convention hosted by the RPG Brigade, a collective of tabletop roleplaying enthusiasts. Events include live games of D&D and other RPGs, and live panels on game-mastering, world-building, and adventure creation. Donations will be accepted for Child’s Play during the entirety of the convention.” The homepage of BrigadeCon leaves out the last sentence about donations for Child’s Play. The link for Child’s Play at the top of the page is misleading, it that a link for kid’s games?

I think it should be more obvious that not only is this a fund raiser, but what the cause is. No one likes to go to an event and not know that the collection plate will be passed, or that there is an expectation of a donation.

I am all in favor of having an event that is fun, to raise funds for those in need. More clarity is needed.

I may not be able to participate in the games at this online con, but I can give a few dollars to help out.

RPGs

Gaming Convention Clearinghouse

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I was thinking of attending the online AetherCon game convention. Easy, free, and I don’t have to go anywhere. It is November 14-16, 2014.

I then found out about UCon, a convention in Ypsilanti, MI about 90 minutes from where I live, near Kalamazoo, MI. It is also November 14-16, 2014.

Because I get my basic itch to play scratched in a Wednesday night online AD&D/OSRIC campaign, I am still wanting in person play time, so I signed up for Saturday the 15th. This does not preclude me from also taking part in Aethercon.

Today, while searching for something else (instead of working on my novel for NaNoWriMo 2014), I learned of another online convention for the same weekend, BrigadeCon. It is billed as a Benefit.

I then turned to Google for online gaming conventions, and discovered the helpful website Game Convention Central. It has an option for showing all online game conventions, like the above mentioned AetherCon, and ConTessa, both of which I had already heard of, and many I had not. I noticed that BrigadeCon is not on the list at Game Convention Central, and it is in less than two weeks.

What I like about Game Convention Central is that it is divided into regions so one can find a physical convention near them. The regions are USA, Australia/NZ, Canada, Europe, UK/Ireland, and World. Each of these regions is further subdivided into regions, so one can easily find conventions closer to where they live. It also has a link to Submit A Con, for any not on the list. There is also a Google+ page.

What I find really useful is a list of resources to help one find games and players “in between conventions”. There are a lot of such resources that I did not know about. I will have to check those out later.

The only thing that I would like to see handled differently is to have a calendar that one can search. For example, I would like to see a calendar that will show me all the conventions in the USA and the online conventions. This way I can say, plan my vacation to go to a con I didn’t know about in an area of the country I always wanted to visit.

I find this site to be so helpful, that I am adding a link to it on the front page of my website.

I also suggest that if you know about a gaming convention that is not on this site, to submit it.

RPGs

My Other Fantasy RPG Manuals

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I have some other fantasy RPG manuals.

I have ACKS, I as a supporter, and got my name in the book and got a softcover set of the rules. ACKS has some interesting ideas that I can use.

I just got the Delving Deeper rules, I have read through the PDF, but have not sat down to enjoy this new booklet. I know that there are some interesting ideas in here.

ACKS & Delving Deeper
ACKS & Delving Deeper

I also got the D&D Next, AKA 5E Starter Set. I have opened the box, but have not made the time to read through it.

I have read through the beta rules and skimmed the version 1 PDFs. I think there are some interesting ideas in 5E, but I have not made the time to dig in and understand it. Creating a character looks to be more complex that I prefer, but I want to be able to sit down uninterrupted and read it through then try generating a character to catch all the nuances. I might play it as a player, but I’m not sure I want to invest in all the rules to run a campaign. Especially since I have spent way more than the new manuals cost just to rebuild by AD&D manuals.

5e Starter Set
5e Starter Set

I also have PDFs of the free OSR Clones: OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, Basic Fantasy RPG, Microlite 20 & 74, and several others. There are lots of interesting little tidbits in each of these rules, and they each have something to offer. I’m a melting pot of rules as a DM. I leave out those things that are too cumbersome or slow things down, and takes ideas from other DMs and other rule sets. I think we all do that. I don’t know of any DM that does everything by the book. If you did AD&D like that, it would be interesting. I am sure there are some out there that don’t understand that the point of D&D is to use the rules that work for you as a DM and for your players.

I explain RPGs to novices as “make believe with rules”. Growing up, we played cowboys & indians, cops & robbers, army, etc. The disagreements that came up were, “I shot you!” “No, you didn’t.” RPGs put rules on encounters AND have a referee to make it work so that there is some structure that puts a common framework that everyone understands that they use for the mutual experience so that all involved have fun.

 

RPGs

UCON 2014 Gaming Convention – Ypsilanti, MI

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I live near Kalamazoo, MI and found out the other day that there is a Michigan OSR community on Google+, it is small and does not appear to be anyone less than an hour away. The owner of the community, R. J. Thompson of Gamers & Grognards directed me to the UCON Gaming Convention, November 14, 15, & 16. I had actually read something about it online a couple weeks ago, but was not sure I’d go.

R.J. posted a list on his blog about all the OSR track games. There is AD&D/OSRIC, various versions of S&W, DCC, Tekumel, and more.

Well, I took the plunge and signed up for two games on Saturday, the 9 am S&W Keep on The Borderlands, and the 2 pm AD&D Barrier Peaks. I don’t think I ever played the Keep on the Borderlands back in the day. I might actually own a PDF of it, but have not read it. I’ll leave it for a surprise. I played Barrier Peaks over 30 years ago, I might have bought the PDF of that one too, and I think I am right about bits and pieces, but I will wait to be surprised.

I have never player Tekumel. I just bought the PDF of the original TSR Tekumel rules last week and read through them. I was going to sign up, but the first two tracks were already filled.

There is a third time track of games, but most go until Midnight. I’m just driving over for the day, and in good weather it’s about a 90 minute drive. We’re talking mid-November in Michigan, so no telling what the weather will be. That will give me plenty of time to check out the vendor area and maybe meet up with some people from internet land. What would be best of all, is to find people who live closer to me in South West Michigan.

I’ve lived in Michigan about fourteen years and have only been to Detroit twice, both in the last year. It will also be my first trip to Ypsilanti.