Category Archives: RPGs

RPGs

Swords And Wizardry Retro Clone

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I read the Swords and Wizardry Quick Start, White Box, and Complete Rules just to make sure the three magic items that I submitted to the OSR Superstar Contest were according to the rules of the contest.

I found the rules to be well organized and easy to start using them.

I am tempted to make them the go to rules and tweak with stuff from AD&D, like spells, monsters, etc.

I like the simplicity of classes. I don’t like the level limitations of non-Human characters and the class restrictions. This is the same balk I have with AD&D. No problem, HOUSE RULES TIME!

I like that the system strives to keep the ability to customize and encourages it!

I have joined the Swords & Wizardry Discussion Group to keep up with ideas of others.

I see it beneficial to have these rules, which are freely available, should I ever get an online campaign going, others will need the rules.

I like the S&W SRD and it’s ideas, and I like the generators for NPCs, NPCs in taverns, and treasure map generator. Simple tools to fill in gaps fast.

I recommend this system and I would gladly play these rules, since they are so close to my “home” rules.

Well, I have spent so much time blogging and updating this Google+ page and collecting information, etc. that I am behind on direct work on my campaign.

RPGs

Day 16: Do you remember your first edition war? Did you win? ;)

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I never really had an edition war. My brother, Robert, bought the ADD 2nd Edition books and we incorporated some things from that into play, but overall, we have always been 1st edition ADD.

My whole take on the edition wars is based only what I have read online in the last few years.

Some of the flair ups and controversies in the RPG blogging community and the old school in particular have been my wars. Thin skin and long toes leads to a lot of hurt feelings in anything that is public.

RPGs

MOTE – Kickstarter for OSS update to MapTool

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I have not used MapTool. I just tried in the last week, and its Java requirement is not working with the latest version of Java. That’s a security hole, so I did not go further to make it work.

MOTE has a Kickstarter and a Home Page.

I think such tools would be very useful for online play, but I need more time to figure out how it works.

I have read that some just use Google+, and others use similar tools and Google+ for online live play.

Finding a game I can at least try it out, like a one-shot adventure would be good.

RPGs

Day 15: What was the first edition you didn’t enjoy. Why?

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Our group stayed away from original D&D. Partly because once all the books for advanced was out, who needed basic. We saw basic as less than advanced.

I then had an extended break with play and missed all the different versions. From what I have read, I would not like to try and play a 3, 3.5 or 4th edition game. It sounds like they made it harder to get started and required the rules to be followed in a way that I think is counter to it. I like enough rules to give you a fairly simple framework that can be adjusted to suit one’s taste.

I like what little I have dug into 5th edition, what is the name of that now?

I have all the materials for AD&D and I have an extra Player’s Handbook and have it in PDF so I can accommodate players for a game. I don’t get the need for all the books, etc., except that is how a company makes money.

I would play a retro clone, and did the Kickstarter for ACKS. I like the domain play concepts. I have PDFs of many different retro clones and modules. It gives a lot of ideas for things to try as a DM.

RPGs

Helpful Tool – Print Friendly

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I learned of Print Friendly from OSR blogs a few years ago. A lot of OSR bloggers have it on every article on their blog. I need to look into that. You can also add a script to the tool bar of your browser as a bookmark and you can use it. I also use it to record information for work, which is totally unrelated to RPGs, except maybe “Papers and Paychecks”, LOL. 🙂

This tool allows you to make a PDF with links and the URL of the page you found the information. The PDF can be saved to your PC or emailed to yourself.

The links in the PDFs are clickable and it is searchable text, not just an image.

This is much easier than saving HTML files for later.

Just follow the instructions on the Print Friendly page to get it working for you.

RPGs

The Dungeons of Lost Coppers Cartographic Contest

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Dyson’s Dodecahedron is hosting a cartography contest where you take one of his maps and finish it with your own twist.

The deadline is fast approaching:  “23:59 Eastern Standard Time of Sunday, February 23rd, 2014.”

I’m not the best at maps, but I may see what I can devise. It has the same deadline for the OSR Superstar Contest. If I focus, I know I can meet both deadlines.

Dyson has several interesting tables, and of course lots of maps. He even has a few short tutorials that explain how he does his style of maps. I tried a little doodling on graph paper to do it. I can see with practice it can be done fairly easily, but it requires scanning and then processing the image in Gimp or other graphics software. I get so sidetracked looking at all the goodies all the different RPG sites have to offer that I take lots of notes and download/use Print Friendly to add to my ideas for my own campaigns.

Cartography Contest
Cartography Contest
RPGs

OSR Superstar Contest

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Tenkar’s Tavern is hosting the OSR Superstar Contest.

There are three stages. If you make the cut of the first stage you move on to the second stage.

The first stage involves submitting a magic item. You can submit up to three of them. Don’t post it on the blog, it will be disqualified, it must be emailed to the specified address. The deadline is “Sunday, February 16th, at 1PM Eastern (NYC) Time.”

I have decided to participate. So far, I have two magic items sketched out in pretty good detail. You have to use the Swords and Wizardry rules, so I am having to refer back to those. I can do AD&D without a lot of thought and just for specifics. At least it will be flexible to work with any OSR like rule set.

If you make the cut with the magic items, next is a monster.

If you make it to the third round you must use an assigned dungeon map to craft an adventure using the magic item and monster.

 

OSR Superstar
OSR Superstar
RPGs

Day 14: Did you meet your significant other while playing D&D? Does he or she still play? (Or just post a randomly generated monster in protest of Valentine’s Day).

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My ex would not go near an RPG, she does not get it. She considers D&D to be evil. Oddly enough, she bought “Magic The Gathering” cards for our sons.

I have known very few female gamers. There were none in my high school and in college they were girlfriends of other players.

It would be awesome to meet a woman who does not think you are odd to be playing D&D.

RPGs

Ravenloft – Cool Maps!

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I saw this post on RPG Bloggers about Ravenloft today on The Geek Life Project  and I had to make a comment here.

This is only one of two modules from the glory days that I own, the other is Village of Hommlet.

I bought Ravenloft because the maps are cool. When I got back into planning my own campaign a few years ago, when I found a copy of the Dungeoneers Survival Guide and it has a section on how to do those kinds of maps, I bought it.

I think one of our gaming group from the 80’s had his own copy of Ravenloft and ran it. I know that I never ran it. I did read it, but the maps are what got me.

I love maps. I could get into trouble buying maps. When I was in college, I was too poor to take advantage of a USGS office in town. I love all kinds of maps, just to look at them. I can draw OK maps by hand and modern graphics programs make it easy to do decent maps, but I am addicted to well done maps done by others.

I think we played Ravenloft and maybe the sequel. I don’t recall when it came out. Maybe we did our own return to Ravenloft, it has been too long to recall for sure.

I have downloaded several free modules from various places across the internet and like the ideas I get and the maps I can use from the OPDC.

I also prefer the “classic” vampire to what many modern authors and movies have done. See my article on playing 1st level vampire hunters for a laugh.