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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
There has been an update to the free PDF D&D Next rules. Looking at the file names, only the DM volume changed with version 2, but someone wrote that there were changes in the player’s volume even though the version stayed at 2.
With the DMG coming out soon, perhaps there will be a version 3 soon.
There was lots of posting about this the last week of October. I downloaded the new PDF(s), but have not had a chance to look at them.
I plan to mine them for ideas, not sure I’ll play or not.
I ordered a Dieties & Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melnibone mythos from Wayne’s Books on Wednesday evening, October 29th, and it arrived on my doorstep today, Saturday, November 1st! I am sure it made it to me so quickly is that I live in the lower penninsular of Michigan, which is the Eastern Time Zone, and Wayne’s Books is in Arizona, which is in the Mountain Time Zone, so a one or two hour difference. Wayne commented on my article that it was being shipped that same day! Excellent service!
Below I will have pictures of the unboxing, the contents, and a group picture with the DDG from my son. My son got home from work about two hours after I placed my order, and gave me a belated birthday present. We had a big laugh about that!
Below you will see what you can expect when you order something from Wayne’s Books.
The self-sealing box from the USPS was also well taped with packing tape. It wasn’t coming open without some effort, and care!
My New DDG Is Here!
It was packed tight with cardboard and paper grocery bags, so it had no wiggle room.
Well Packed So It Does Not Rattle
Here’s all the packing material. It is obvious that it needs to come out before the book, so the book comes out easily.
All the Packing Material
The book is in a plastic protective cover that is taped shut then placed inside a UPS padded mailing envelope.
The book itself is in a padded UPPS mailer and a plastic sleeve
The book before the final layer is removed. This is kind of like those Russian dolls….
The Book Itself
Taped to the plastic book protector is the packing slip with a handwritten note of thanks.
Close up of Packing Slip
Inside the plastic protective cover is a business card with notes on this order. This is a very good idea! Others who ship things should do this.
Wayne Includes Business Card With Notes Of Your Order
At first I wondered if this was a catalog, but soon saw it was a module or something. Was this a mistake? I didn’t order this!
What’s This A Catalog?
No, it’s not a mistake.
I didn’t order this.
Woo hoo! Free stuff! I read a couple of the Elric books way back. I don’t recall details. This looks interesting and has some cool art. I’ll add this to my reading list.
Cool! Free Stuff!
Finally, my new books side by side. The one from my son on the right, and the one I ordered on the left. The quality of the book I got from Wayne’s Books matches what he advertised, and it is in noticeably better condition than the one my son got me, but the one my son got me had a kid’s name on the front and it was obvious that it had been used at the table, or at least was well read.
My new DDGs.
The one I bought is going back in the plastic sleeve, just in case.
I really liked the art of the Cthulhu and Melniboe mythos, plus there are some cool critters and ideas in there. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to use them in my campaign world, but you never know.
I have mentioned elsewhere the Water Damage Incident that destroyed most of my original AD&D manuals and other game things. My character notes and campaign notes survived.
Below I will show pictures of what I was left with and then the now end results.
Two manuals, my dice bag, my miniatures, and one half of my Dave Trampier DM Screens survived.
Original Collection 1
I also had two modules, the Player Character and NPC Record Sheets, and I photocopied the Combat Calculator from Dragon Magazine, rather than cut up my magazine. (I had all the Dragon Magazines from about issue 50 to about 150 or so. I needed money and gave them to my brother. He never gave me any money, and my parents had a water leak in their basement, and all the Dragons were mush….)
Original Collection 2
I only bought one Hexagonal Mapping Booklet. I still have 6 sheets left. I could make that 7, as one has a lightly pencil drawn star chart for my footsteps into Mega Traveller. I started building a campaign about 25 years ago, and that’s all I did with it. I still have the box for that and the manuals.)
I really wish you could just go buy these like in the good old days….
Hexagonal Mapping Sheets – Only 6 left
Player Character and NPC Record Sheets
Combat Calculator from Dragon Magazine
Inside PC & NPC Record Sheets
I only ever bought two modules back in the day. I bought Ravenloft for the cool 3-D style maps. I bought Village Of Hommlet for a low level adventure. I have never ran either of these. If I recall correctly I have played Ravenloft. I do have several of the classic modules in PDF from DriveThruRPG, etc.
The only modules I ever bought.
What’s not to like about these maps. I think they are cool, and like most players of RPGs, I like maps!
Ravenloft Map 1
Ravenloft Map 2
The saddest part, was that one of the books was the Dieties & Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melnibone mythos. Several years ago, when I decided to rebuild my collection, I soon found most of the other rule books at my FLGS. All except the DDG. Then a few days ago, I ordered the DDG with Cthulhu from Wayne’s Books. About two hours after that, my son got home from work, and gave me one as a belated birthday present.
Below is a picture of my rebuilt collection with the DDG from my son, including a Dave Trampier DM screen.
I also added the Wilderness Survival Guide and the Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide, which I never had.
Also this past summer, I stopped by Table Top Game and Hobby, on my way to my baby sister’s wedding, and picked up the core book re-prints. (This is the 20th year of operation, and the owner, Phil Kilgore, who was a year or two behind me in high school, but we gamed together often back then, had customers roll a d20 for a percentage off. I rolled bad, a 2, and he let me re-roll and I got 8% off, I think. Phil said back in high school that he wanted to open his own game store, and he did.) I am keeping them in their plastic wrappers, just in case.
I also have another Player’s Handbook with the Dave Trampier cover. It is in near pristine condition, but I could not find it to include here.
I also managed to get most of the PDFs before WotC halted them. I got the Player’s Handbook, which is now unavailable since they started selling them again. I didn’t get the Oriental Adventures PDF, I don’t remember if it wasn’t available, or because I kept mis-remembering and thinking I had the book. I picked up Oriental Adventures last year, and the Fiend Folio this past spring.
Rebuilt Collection Plus 2 Books
Here is an inside shot, of my precious…. I mean, the birthday present from my son. Now my collection is restored and expanded.
My New DDG From David
Here is the “final” stack of my AD&D Manuals, less the like new Dave Trampier cover Player’s Handbook, and the Dieties and Demigods I order from Wayne’s Books, on Wednesday, October 29th. Of course, just after I finished uploading these pictures and putting my manuals away, the mail came with my new precious. I will write up another post with the unboxing.
