RPGs

Delvers Deep Campaign

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I’ve been working on a new Delving Deeper [Rules Links, Hypertext, Lulu] campaign that will use Roll20. It’s first session will be Thursday, September 12, 2019.

I discussed it in my last podcast episode, Episode 152 – Thursday Thoughts – Arneson, Feedback, & New Campaign.

Background

I’ve liked Delving Deeper ever since I encountered it on G+ in 2015 or so. It makes for a good system for convention games for quick at the table character generation. I like it so much that when there is free shipping at Lulu, I buy 5 or 6 copies at once to take to conventions to sell at cost. Every con game I use Delving Deeper, every player eagerly grabs a copy.

Adam Muszkiewicz of Dispatches From Kickassistan and I gushed about it when we met at Marmalade Dog in 2015. Here’s my write up of that con.

The Campaign

My desire to run a sandbox hexcrawl & dungeon crawl with procedural generation for prep and at the table has finally borne fruit. I’m pulling out all the stops and using all the tables from RPG books (DMG, Dungeon Alphabet, d30 Sandbox & GM Companions, my own PDFs, Table Fables & Table Fables II, etc.) [Affiliate Links] and PDFs for as many ideas as possible. I have several card decks for wilderness generation, dungeon generation, Game Masters Apprentice, and many more. I’ll use my Inkwell Ideas Dungeon Dice and Village Dice, and Rory’s Story Cubes, etc. Plus I’ll toss in all the cool ideas I’ve always wanted to put in a game. Nothing is held back. It only remains for the characters to find them. Any new idea I have will be put closer to the starting point.

It is also a drop-in/drop out game so while many can only commit to bi-weekly, I have a weekly schedule for the first few sessions.

Danger abounds. Combat is deadly and encounters are not leveled. Awesome magic and powerful beings may be encountered at low level. Mucking about in the ruins of an ancient civilization can lead to discovering powerful items that are dangerous to all concerned.

Preparation

To prepare for the game I am focusing on building an organized framework to help me find information and various tables for ad hoc generation. I’ve put in 50 or so hours, mostly populating GM tools in Roll20, typing up ideas, and organizing various PDFs. (My PDFs are organized, but I made new shortcuts for the PDFs I most want to reference and put in a new folder on my desktop.)

I’m using a simple character sheet in Roll20. I made handouts with links to Delving Deeper information, and my YouTube series, Roll20 for the Absolute Beginner. Other handouts allow the players to keep notes about people and places, party loot, etc. I have created folders for any eventual maps, books, documents, or other things they might acquire.

For the GM I copied all the most relevant tables from Delving Deeper with a page number reference. I used a spreadsheet someone made. I lost the reference to who, but here’s the link. I much prefer copy & paste to typing something that exists in electronic form. In addition, all the player tables that are needed in play I put in the player section of handouts. I didn’t include all the ability related tables, as one doesn’t usually need them after character creation is finished.

I created a Campaign wiki at https://campaignwiki.org/. I offered players 100 XP per page of useful information they add.

I also made a spreadsheet to help calculate encumbrance and remaining gold from starting gold. I built it when I played in Cody Mazza’s Barromaze [Affiliate Link] game that uses Delving Deeper.

For campaign scheduling I made a Google Calendar with all of the dates the initial players indicated would work.

The first level of the dungeon starts with an interesting idea I had while working on the campaign. I used the Delorfano Protocols to generate some of the early rooms which had a fortuitous room generation that guided the bulk of the level. The 1e DMG random dungeon generation tables added some cool stuff too. Plus I let my imagination loose. I then used Delving Deeper to populate rooms/areas.

Currently I’m working on a carousing table and avoiding all the sexual innuendo and blatant sexual topics of so many tables I have found online. A discussion on the Audio Dungeon Discord, home to many RPG/OSR Anchor Podcasters, suggested downtime activities instead. That is, activities adventurers can pursue when they are in town instead of in the wilderness or dungeon. The general consensus was spending gp on a one for one basis for XP. I will keep the carousing table and add tables for warriors, wizards, and priests to do their non-carousing activities. I’m working out boons and detriments, I guess banes and boons is more alliterative, for the downtime tables.

I like the idea from Cody Mazza’s Barromaze [Affiliate Link] game where you don’t roll on the table if you save vs. poison. Fail your save and risk something on the table. Ray Otus’s elf got cursed and turned into a goblin. He is stuck until the curse is removed.

Elevator Pitch

Delvers’ Deep is a large complex of dungeons, tombs, ruins, pits, caverns, shafts, tunnels, and more.

Most just call it The Deep. It gets it’s name from the many deep natural and manufactured pits and shafts. 

Some are claimed to be bottomless, or to go to the end of the world.

The Deep lies several days west the town of Crossway. Crossway lies at the crossroads of The King’s Way and the ancient Dwarf Road. Both Crossway and Delvington are an eclectic mix of races as it is near a crossroads leading to a hilly and mountainous region that borders The Deep. There is a forested area nearby where lumber for the “mining” and other work of Delvers intent on finding the riches of The Deep. Lumberton is the lumber camp/town.

Near a relatively safe entrance to the dungeon is a small village with the feel of a boom town called Delvington.

East Gate Tavern is the last safe building inside the walls on the Eastern edge of Delvington. East Gate Tavern is a hangout for adventurers, commonly called Delvers. Delvington has walls, towers, gates, and guards. 

To the west are hills and mountains. The deep lies largely in the hills between Delvington and the mountains of the Dwarven Kingdom. The ancient Dwarf Road comes from the North Pass of the mountains and through The Deep. 

To the south is the great forest. The King’s Way passes through the forest, home of the elves, Verdant Vale, and it crosses the mountains at South Pass.

Glory and riches at the risk of life and limb await.

Conclusion

I’m so pumped about running a regular game, I haven’t run or played in a regular game in nearly a year. Life and work stuff derailed it. I can’t make my Wednesday night group for the foreseeable future.

I will do my best to document and share things.

I want to share many things about the campaign, but I don’t want to spoil anything for the players. I’ll share things as they encounter them. I’ll either talk about it on Saturday episodes of the podcast, or blog about it. One thing’s for sure, I’ll have to either record Thursday’s podcast episode the day before, or rapidly between the end of work and start of the game.

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RPGs

After The Live Stream – some thoughts

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WOW! D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house was a huge success! We raised $3,140! We played 4 games of D&D 5e with 4 different DMs. See my prior article announcing the event here.

Listen to the companion podcast here.

The VOD

A very common question while we were still streaming is when and where can people see the games if they missed it live. According to Bill Allan, it will be about a week until the VOD (Video On Demand) will be available for posting on YouTube or other sites. Each DM that has their own YouTube will post it there, or Bill will post on his YouTube Channel. I will host my session on my YouTube channel.

The Venue

Yolanda Fronteny and her husband are gracious enough to open the house to gamers. They gave the house a Facebook page: Center Street Dungeon. Yolanda is a great advocate for the game and brought one of her neighbor’s kids to Gary Con.

We were all amazed at how tiny this house is and that a family of 7 lived here when D&D was published. The basement is a lot bigger than I expected.

We were slightly surprised that Alex had never been in this house. He is Gary’s youngest child and only child of his second marriage.

I brought my original AD&D Player’s Handbook [Affiliate Link] and 5e Players Handbook for all players to sign. Several others did the same.

The Line Up

Game 1: DM: Bill Allan Players: Fenway Jones, Alex Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, and me.

UPDATE: August 28, 2019 – D&D at the Gygax House for Extra Life – DM Bill Allan

Game 2: DM: Fenway Jones Players: Alex Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, Bill Allan, and me.

UPDATE: August 20, 2019 – Game #2 Ran by Fenway Jones is not online.

Game 3: DM: Me (Larry Hamilton) Players: Mike Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, Bill Allan, and Fenway Jones.

UPDATE: August 28, 2019 – Game #3 Ran by me for D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house is now online.

Game 4: DM: GM Travis Players: Mike Gygax, John Gilbert, Tony Klaczynski, Bill Allan, and me. We only had 5 players for this game. Tony was one of the two crew. We tried to get Yolanda to join us, but she had never played.

UPDATE: August 20, 2019 – Game # 4 Ran by Travis Taub for D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house is now online.

The Stream Experience

Game 1 was the first streamed game I ever played in. There were three cameras and three panel lights around the dining room table. Bill Allan is the one who ran streaming for Gary Con 10 and GenCon 51 this year. I met him online a few years ago, and finally in person at Gary Con 9. We had never managed to game together, but we finally got to play in games each of us ran as well as co-players in the other two games.

Bill led with running the first game and then had me start as the first player to introduce themselves. Even though I had seen the 3 cameras being set up, I looked at the DM camera and had to be directed to the camera I was generally facing. I wasn’t the only one to make that mistake. For those who have never streamed, and it’s a multi-camera stream, tell the players (especially those who have never been in a streamed game) which camera to look at.

I had one other faux paux. A fidgeting habit when I’m waiting for my turn to do something is to twist my pen open and closed and it was squeaking. Another player handed me a note. I stopped, but still found myself doing it a few more times throughout the evening. Again, something to consider warning new streamers to find a quiet fidgeting device to not annoy those watching the stream.

I was not nearly as nervous as I expected to be. Just like running a game for a con, I forgot about nerves as I was so into each game.

Game 2 by Fenway was a great mystery and we had a couple of combats. I met Fenway at the first Jasper’s Game Day last year, and interviewed her for my podcast at the second Jasper’s Game Day. I’m glad we finally got to play in a game ran by each of us. She’s a lot of fun. We had some puzzles and a mystery to solve with a final combat.

Game 3 ran by me was not only my first time DMing a streamed game, it was the first time I ever DMd D&D 5e. The other players and crew couldn’t believe it when I told them. Of course, if you know how to GM any RPG, you can take the general skills to all RPGs. One just has to learn the differences. I ran my scenario, No, Realy, It’s Me [Affiliate Link] and we had a blast. It was roleplay heavy and the players avoided getting into combat. I cut my game to two hours as the first two games went 3 hours each instead of 2.5 hours each. This left time for Travis to run his game.

Game 4 ran by GM Travis was a dungeon delve and we had puzzles, challenges, traps, obstacles, and creatures to fight. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the evening.

The Extra Life Donation Method

They had an option to give a name to pregens that didn’t have a name, for those who came without a ready character. People donated $25 to name those characters. We should have had all characters start without a name. Something for next year’s list.

A fun thing was different levels of donations could give a re-roll, advantage or disadvantage, higher amounts a natural 1 or 20, and $100 a magic item for a player.

It was hilarious to see regulars from Bill’s and Travis’ streams and games give them a slew of natural 1’s and that party a bunch of re-rolls, advantages, and nat 20’s. It really broke some of the games, but it was hilarious. Several donated a lot of natural 1’s to the DM, but some also gave the DM some 20’s.

I had a bunch of advantage, re-rolls, and natural 20’s given to me as a player in the 2nd game, but I couldn’t use them as DM in the game I ran. So all those carried over to my character in the final game. Each player then had another slew of re-roll, advantage and nat 20’s and I was given a ring of 3 wishes! I was doing everything I could to use all those rolls and wishes. I didn’t want to break the game too bad. I only managed to use 2 wishes to hilarious results.

The Aftermath

Yesterday was a long day. I live in Eastern time, but the venue is in Central time, an hour behind. I was wide awake long before I needed to be, and haven’t slept well several days before that. A lot of caffeine got me through. We got done about 10 or 10:30 and were packed up and cleaned up quickly. I left about 11:00 PM Central/midnight Eastern to start the 4 hour drive home. I drove until I got to the Michigan rest stop just over the line. I got there about 2:20 am and slept til 10:30. I then headed home and stopped for brunch along the way. I’m so tired, I am looking forward to a sound sleep tonight.

Bonus

I arrived just before 11:00 am Friday and met Mark Clover, Tom Wham, and Brad ???? we played Sushi Roll. It’s a quick and fun game.

After that, we went to Lake Geneva Games, where Mark is the manager and played a new Tom Wham game, Felithian Factories. That’s the only copy Tom got from Game Crafter. I’m impressed with the quality of the pieces and game board. I use them for the play test decks for my card game.

Mark Clover, Tom Wham, and I playing Felithian Factories at Lake Geneva Games

It was a 3+ hour game, but I liked it. After that Mark encouraged me to play my card game with Tom. So Tom played my game, gave some great feedback, and said, “It’s got a nice fame work.” So he liked the core of it. This was very cool as I am a fan of both tom’s art and his games. My brothers and I played Awful Green Things From Outer Space like crazy. That is one thing I still have my original and I got Tom to sign it this past Gary Con.

Tom Wham playing my card game at Lake Geneva Games.

Gallery

Here are all the pictures I took and several I downloaded from other participants.

John Gilbert – Event Organizer

The Dining Room serving as studio/game space

David – one of the crew verifying internet connectivity to ensure this will all work.
Yolanda with her T-Shirt (She’s planning for more. No Details Yet.)
Bill Allan DM of the 1st game & Fenway Jones with last minute social media posts before going live.

Fenway Jones took this picture right after the first game ended. I’m intently catching up on my socials.

Yolanda chatting with the crew from her spot to watch our games.

John checking the Twitch channel for updates and Travis & Fenway handling their socials prior to game #2.

Me, Alex Gygax, and Mark Clover prior to game #2.

John, Travis, and Bill for game #2 ran by Fenway Jones.

Fenway, DM, and the others in final prep prior to game #2.

Picture of Fenway’s game by Mike Gygax.

My view from the DM seat prior to game #3. Mike Gygax and Travis.

My view with all the players. Fenway Jones, Mike Gygax, Mark clover, John Gilbert, GM Travis, and Bill Allan.
GM Travis running Game #4 by Yolanda Frontenay
Alex & Mike Gygax with Yolanda before Alex had to leave for work.

Old School

Both Alex and Mike learned AD&D from their father and grandfather respectively. It was cool to be able to help introduce them to the game. I’m no expert, but before their first game, I knew more than they did. Now they’re as proficient in 5e as I am.

Suggestions For Next Time/Others Doing Streams

There are all minor points that will improve the over all experience of the stream and maximize the social media impact of social media postings between sessions.

  • Ensure those new to streaming know where to look prior to starting in a multi-camera setup.
  • Advise those who fidget to bring a quiet fidgeting gadget and not one that squeaks.
  • Pre-plan for the live social media slam prior to each session for each participant.
    • Ensure all participants are following each other on all mutual social media platforms and tag each other in all posts leading up to, during, and after the event.
      Have a print out with the stream link to use in postings.
      Have a list of hashtags for consistent use by all participants across their social media.
      Any available social media packet from Extra Life would also be helpful.
      Messages that one can copy and paste can save time and allow for rapid posting on multiple sites.
  • Ensure all participants are photographed as DM and player in each game for any follow up articles or posts.
    • This also ensures each person who DMs has a memento of the occasion. Especially nice if their first time streaming or the location is memorable.
  • Use a small white board to relay messages to the DM running the game, or explain hand signal methodology in advance.

UPDATE: Of of August 25, 2019, our Extra Live event is 76th overall for YTD funds raised and 2nd for Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin!!

UPDATE: August 27, 2019 :

WOW! We made the top of the Extra Life page! I’m not in the picture because they used the picture I took when I was in the DM seat!

Plus they linked to my blog article about it!

Tabletop Appreciation Weekend Saw Extra Lifers Turn Out for Tabletop
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D&D Stream For Extra Life

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In just over two weeks, on Saturday, August 24th, I will participate in a fundraiser for Extra Life in a Twitch streamed series of D&D games ran by different DMs. I have the pleasure of running one of those games!

Bill Allan, Fenway Jones, Grant Ellis, GM Travis, Jason O’Brien, Alex Gygax, and I will join John Gilbert at the former home of Gary Gygax live streaming D&D for a fundraiser for Extra Life.

Please consider giving, and if you can’t give, please share!

Extra Life is where gamers play games to bring attention to the needs of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Twitch, Wizards of the Coast, and others lend their support to streaming to help maximize the reach of these games to a wider audience.

I was blessed with two healthy sons and two healthy granddaughters. But even healthy kids need an emergency room. Children’s hospitals are designed around the needs of children and they handle emergencies, surgeries, chronic care, cancer, and ICU.

Pardon me while I geek out

I’ll play in multiple games and will run one of them. This will be my first time playing and running live streamed games! I’m so excited to share my DM style and my adventure with the audience. I’ll bring my relaxed old-school methods to D&D 5e and live streaming.

Here’s the companion podcast.

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RPGs

The Importance Of Feedback To Creators

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I’m sure I’ve written about this before on my blog, Twitter, and elsewhere. I’m not going to go dig up those links, as there’s not a lot to what I have to say about it.

Feedback is very helpful for those of us creating RPG materials. So like it or not, please let me know in a constructive way.

  • If it’s crap, can it be salvaged?
  • If it’s great, what is great about it?
  • Did I spend too much time in one area and not enough in another.
  • Did I leave out something that really makes sense to be there?

To me, silence means it’s perfect, which I find hard to believe. All creators feel self-doubt to some degree. I always have a nagging feeling I’m not good enough or do a good enough job.

However, I’m not looking for a pat on the back or false platitudes or building up my ego. In some ways the downloads says one thing and the money towards PWYW titles on DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link] says it more strongly. Still I think I only have one review on one product. Part of that may be that publishers on DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link] can’t leave reviews. (I think some bad actors gave bad reviews to punish competitors.)

Over on Twitter I started a hashtag, #IYLSSS (If You Like Something Say Something) as a way to support small creators. Related tags are ResponsibleFandom and #SupportSmallCreators. I’ve not done much myself with those hashtags for awhile, and I should be better. Especially as a small creator myself.

The idea is if you like something tell the creator AND tell OTHERS! Word of mouth is the best advertising. Likes are great, but sharing and re-tweets actually help others know about something.

Here’s a Sample List of Ideas:

  • Tell others about the Kickstarter you backed, and talk about the final product when it arrives. In person and on blogs and social media.
  • Do a review on your blog or on the creator’s website or DriveThruRPG product page, and then share it across all your social media.
  • If you have a YouTube and/or Twitch channel, talk about it there.
  • If you have a podcast, talk about it there.

Even if your social media only has a few followers, maybe someone who follows you has a lot of followers. If they share your mention then all of their followers see it. I have just over 1,000 followers on Twitter, but since I had around 100, I’ve had those with thousands of followers follow me. I don’t mention those people directly without their consent if I’m pitching my own stuff or the stuff of others. But when I like something they are doing, I mention them and they often like or re-tweet/share it.

I’m almost 55 years old, and if I can figure out this social media stuff, then anyone can. If you’re not a creator, then you are a consumer and your words of support are often more valuable than your single purchase. I’m not asking people to plug my stuff because they like me, but because they like what I’ve made. I’m not asking for just me, but for any small creator who does something you like or think is cool.

While I’m under know illusions of being able to make a living creating games and game materials, I believe it is possible to break even. I have over a decade before I anticipate retirement, so while I have the income to subsidize my hobby and creative efforts, I will take advantage of it. My hope is that I can make enough to continue that creative effort in my retirement years for a few decades. This creative outlet brings me satisfaction in spite of the frustrations of layout and design.

Others are so much more creative and prolific than I am and I’m surprised they aren’t able to make a living at this hobby.

I hope you will always support the small creators with your likes and shares, posts, reviews, podcasts, live streams, and videos.

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Isometric Gaming Paper – Quick Review

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I backed the 2017 Kickstarter for Isometric Gaming Paper. I’ve had mine for a nearly two years, and am finally posting a review, lost in my drafts folder.

I reviewed the original Gaming Paper here.

The video with the Kickstarter does a great job of showing how you can use isometric paper for your maps. I got two rolls of isometric paper, and two rolls of hex paper, one on regular white paper,and the other on blue. I also got a package of 100 sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch isometric Gaming Paper.

Just like my review of the original, the same holds true for this stuff.

It’s a great Michigan company, so it’s a way to support a local/regional company for gamers in and around Michigan.

If you need an inexpensive battle map, or just want to do wall sized doodle or mapping, this is for you. It has a bit of reusability, and can roll up or fold up to use an old map in the future.

If you’re looking for a water safe medium that can take a bit of standing liquid for a few minutes, a plastic or vinyl mat is more durable, but gaming paper can handle a small amount of moisture or a quick clean up.

If you’re looking for something that won’t matter if you use permanent marker on it, this is a cheaper and therefore less stress inducing option.

I’m not a big one for elaborate battle maps and don’t play in person often, so I’ve got many year’s worth of maps for live gaming at the ready.


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Musings On Magic

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I had three different ideas related to magic come to me today.

  • What are the effects of light emitting spells on infravision?
  • Cursed item idea.
  • Luck Blade Idea.

Light Emitting Spells and Infravision

Fireball, lightning bolt, light, shocking grasp are all light emitting. 

What is the effect of using them in the dark?

Infravison, ultravision, and normal vision would all be seeing spots if in a certain range and not killed. Even the caster would be affected.

At least the next round possibly -2 to -4 to hit. Casting spells might not go where you want.  You might accidentally heal an opponent in the fight, or wound an ally.

I think we’re used to light spells, lanterns, torches, candles, and campfires spoiling infravision, but I don’t recall ever having a DM rule that casting lightning bolt, fireball, or other light emitting spell does anything to vision.

Similarly, a lightning bolt should produce a thunderclap. How loud will this be underground or indoors where the sound wave is bounded? Will it cause a ringing or other issue with hearing? Will it give a penalty to hear noise?

Cursed Item

My idea for a cursed item can be anything, a book, scroll, ring, weapon, or other mundane item. If the person suffering under the curse can’t get remove curse, their only recourse is to give it to someone who willingly accepts it —as long as they do not know it is cursed. One might suspect it is cursed, but only if they know it is cursed can they avoid taking on the curse.

If the cursed person gives it to someone who knows it is cursed, their only recourse is remove curse or other magical means.

Luck Blade

A luck blade is a +1 weapon with one to three wishes. What if a luck blade were also an intelligent sword, but it had no more wishes? I see a couple of possibilities:

The blade long ago granted it’s last wish and is now “merely” a +1 blade, but it longs for the glory days of having such power within. It might be boastful, needy, cowardly, smug, or helpful. It might have vague, unreliable memories of the past locations of ancient rings of wishes, genie lamps, scrolls, etc. The locations are so ancient that they now lie in buried ruins, sunken cities, or someone in the more recent past has already found and removed the item(s). The removed items might have had their wishes used.

Another way to handle this is that while intelligent and no longer having any wishes to grant, the sword still thinks it has wishes. Somehow the “counter” of how many wishes it has is broken, and it will say it has 1d6 wishes available, and never less than one.

Perhaps it secretly knows this but strings along it’s bearer hinting about the possibility of granting wishes if the bearer completes a great deed. Once completed, the great deed’s achievement is somehow flawed, or they say the wish will bear fruit once the time is ripe. Anything to avoid admitting they don’t have any wishes left.

Maybe there is a way to truly restore its ability to grant wishes by performing some great deed, but the sword and bearer have to work together to figure out what that is.

You can listen to the companion podcast here.

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Ten Years of RPG Blogging

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Today marks ten years since I posted the first article on my blog on July 18, 2009: Why Follow Me, And Die!

That was a terse few sentences that only gave the barest of details of the origins of Follow Me, And Die! {You can get the long version here.] It was followed by lots of posts with stories from back in the day and my own ideas about generating ideas and preparing to run games. I later touched on some of the sessions of play when I finally introduced my sons to AD&D.

Since that time I have interacted with a lot of other RPG bloggers and gamers online. Eventually, G+ became the main place to interact and the blog content went down. Occasionally, I would make a blog post out of a comment that was just too long. Many ideas for blog posts were generated from the fertile soil of G+.

G+ faded away with a bit of a return to blogs, and I’m blogging much more regularly, close to once a week.

In 2014, I think it was I posted every day until mid-September when I ran out of things to write about. Over the years I’ve had times I barely looked at the blog.

I started attending cons regularly and met other bloggers and gamers that I knew from online. I attended Gary Con 8 where I met Satine Phoenix, who created my current social media avatar which debuted January 19, 2017. Satine was kind enough to fix my blog header to look better with her art. I have an image on a black background and another on a white background that rotate. [You can get a black shirt with that image here.] A couple months later, I added another blog header in rotation by Del Teigeler. I also use that as the header for my Twitter account.

I started a YouTube channel and am not posting as frequently as I’d like, but I just reached 400 subscribers the other day.

Over on Twitter I passed 1,000 followers.

Last month I wrote this post about the first anniversary of my podcast.

Last August, I started publishing PDFs over on DriveThruRPG and in September I launched my Patreon. Before July is over, I will publish my 12th monthly PDF.

I also am working on a Kickstarter for a card game of all things. If you’d like to get an email when it launches, you can sign up here.

I’ve been gaming for 42 years and on August 24th I get to run a game and play in other games at Gary Gygax’s old house where D&D was written for an Extra Life fundraiser. It is hosted by John Gilbert, with Bill Allan, Fenway Jones, Jason O’Brien, Alex Gygax, Grant Ellis, GM Travis, and me. I am so excited for this opportunity for my first streaming game as player and GM! I hope that we raise a lot in addition to having a great time.

Ten years is a blink of an eye. I’ll be in my mid-fifties in a couple months, and ten years is nothing. I hope to keep playing for decades to come, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the world and gaming changes as I watch my grandchildren grow.

I want to thank everyone who has been part of this wild ride and I look forward to more chats, conversations, and games.

You can listen to the companion podcast here.

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No More Nerds – A Rant

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A recent article on The Guardian has the terrible title: No more nerds: how Dungeons & Dragons finally became cool.

This struck a nerve with a lot of people. My own opinion is that the title of this article sucks.

“No more nerds: how Dungeons & Dragons finally became cool“

Joshua Kubli over on MeWe is on point: [Emphasis added.]

“We will have made progress when “finally became cool” is instead written as “people finally realized how cool it was all along.“

The article itself seems to be OK, but that title is a “kick ’em for being nerds and take their stuff away” click bait.

I then went on a rant about this over on Twitter. I even looked up their process for submitting a complaint, but being a member of an interest group isn’t in their editorial code for them to even consider it. I pointed out that every category listed in their discrimination clause includes nerds.

Titles like this are a backhanded ad hominem that has no place in civilized conversation.

We need to do better and all nerds, geeks, dorks, and so forth need to complain about such things. Yes, things have gotten better culturally since 1978, but we don’t have to take it.

The post Revenge of The Nerds world should be better. We’re all nerds in our own way.

The nonsense I endured was nothing compared to racism, religionism, appearanceism, ableism, orientationism, & the like.

Everyone is welcome at my game, my table who is there to play the game & show respect & common courtesy to each other.

The only reason to exclude someone from your game is if they are an unrepentant jerk who has had intervention to explain the errors of their ways.

I did a podcast episode about this here.

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RPGs

One Year Of Podcasting

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You can hear the companion anniversary podcast episode here.

Monday, June 24, 2019 marked one year since I started podcasting. Initially, I was podcasting whenever I had an idea, with often a new episode every day. It wasn’t until September of 2018 that I settled into my three episodes a week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

I maintained that schedule until after Thanksgiving, 2018 when I had to deal with the combined chaos of the day job and some personal issues. Once the personal issues were under control I had a few episodes here and there and was back to the normal 3 episodes a week, except for Gary Con, but I did do a joint episode with Ray Otus and Cody Mazza. I was consistent with episodes until May and was just tired and dealing with work and stuff around the house.

I finally started back on a regular schedule and the rains and flooding overwhelmed my sump pump. I thumped it and it started, but it wouldn’t turn off. I spent all day last Saturday replacing it. I live in a house that’s almost 100 years old. It has 3 or 4 different types of pipe in the plumbing, and this sump pump was not installed the way it should have been so it took several trips to the hardware store to get all the right parts, but I got it done.

Unfortunately, the water got deep enough before I could get the new pump in place that it knocked out the pilot light on the water heater, so we’ve been without hot water for a week. I have tried a couple times to light it, but no go. I think until it dries out completely in the basement, that it’s useless to try. The water finally quick coming in through the sump and the seams in the floor. Now the dehumidifier is slowly drying things out. As long as there’s no more rain, I can relax a bit.

I was so worn out Saturday, that I just vegged the rest of the day, and no podcast. I have a fitbit and I made 50 trips up and down stairs. I also took it easy Sunday.

Then the internet wouldn’t work for my home computer, so I was limited in what I could do. I finally determined that I just needed to move the Ethernet cable to another spot on the modem. I just got the new modem in March, when I switched internet providers. For a couple days I was worried the network card went out. I’m glad that’s not it, as I need to be ready for other expenses.

Thankfully, my RPG collection is high and dry and mold free! I lost most of my original collection to a water leak, so there’s no way I’m storing any of it in the basement!

I had my end blurb since before the 3 episodes a week. Is that too iconic to change how I do that? What do you think?

I’m way behind on listening to my fellow podcasters, and it seems like there are a lot of new ones over the last few months. I’ve tried to listen to them. I keep hoping to change that, but too much other stuff keeps interrupting my fun.

Next month, I will publish my 12th monthly PDF on DriveThruRPG supported by my patrons on Patreon. Most of them are PWYW, but I will be going back to each of them and improving their formatting as I’ve gotten a lot better at formatting. I have 1 Silver Seller (Caravans & Trade) and 2 Copper Sellers (Library Generation Tables and Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places).

Next month is also the tenth anniversary of my blog! I can’t believe it’s been that long!

The end of August will be 1 year since I launched Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment LLC to get ready for the Kickstarter for my card game. The game is moving along. So far, things are on track to launch in the first half of 2020.

September will mark 1 year since I launched a Patreon. I want to thank all my patrons who have been on this journey with me!

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RPGs

Allergies In RPGs

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I suffer from seasonal allergies, things like: pollen, dust, mold, and dogs and cats.

This got me to thinking. What if adventurers had a defect of being allergic to something in the dungeon? Normal molds and other airborne fungus in the depths will lead to constant blowing of the nose, coughing, and sneezing. I sneeze very loudly and I would alert the entire level of a moldy or dusty dungeon of my presence with a single sneeze.

Perhaps monstrous molds and fungi would also provoke a similar reaction, perhaps serving as a warning to a party. I can’t tell the difference between all the pollen that makes me react. I can smell mold when my basement is damp. I can taste mold in tea from fountain machines, so I don’t order it if it isn’t brewed.

What spells and precautions could be taken to help alleviate an adventurer’s allergic reaction to irritants in the dungeon, tomb, or other location? How does the adventurer convince the party to let them tag along?

Perhaps a hireling is the one with allergies and they don’t mention it until their in the dungeon coughing and sneezing.

In addition to normal allergies, what if the person is allergic to monstrous creatures? How do they know until they encounter it? They have to survive the encounter long enough to use the knowledge, if they are sure what it was that cause their reaction.

What if the monsters are allergic to humans or something the players carry?

What happens when a dragon sneezes? Does it trigger an involuntary use of their breath weapon?

Does another type of creature with an allergy have one of their abilities triggered, like invisibility, cause fear, or fly?

There are too many possible combinations of things for a list of all possible allergens. The only ideas I have for tables is effect on the sufferer, range that the effect reaches the sufferer, etc.

Allergic Reaction d6

  1. Watery Eyes – Vision Affected
  2. Scratchy Throat – Clearing the Throat and/or coughing
  3. Runny Nose – Lots of sniffles or Blowing the nose
  4. Post Nasal Drip – Gagging, hacking, coughing, blowing the nose
  5. Hives
  6. Anaphylactic Shock (Anaphylaxis)

Remedies d6

  1. Nasal Irrigation (Neti Pot, etc.)
  2. Roots with anti-histamine properties
  3. Berries with anti-histamine properties.
  4. Herbs with anti-histamine properties.
  5. Two of the Above.
  6. Nasal Irrigation plus two more. (May include using a substance for irrigation made from one or both of the other items.)

Cures

Heal is obvious. Will Cure Disease cure an over active immune system, such as with allergies? Will Remove Poison only clear the substance causing the reaction until the next occurrence? Slow Poison would be nearly useless with allergies, since their effect is almost immediate. For anaphylaxis slow poison would be helpful in keeping the person alive.

Will wizards and alchemists have concoctions that work?

What folk cures actually stop and prevent future reactions?

Perhaps fresh honey from giant bees will cure pollen allergies.

Eating a rare giant mushroom might cure fungal allergies. What if it’s a sentient mushroom, is it an evil act?

Surviving a monstrous mold attack might cure mold allergies. I mean being affected by the mold and managing to survive. Surviving in spite of a failed saving throw.

Eating a displacer beast’s tentacles might cure cat allergies.

Eating part of a monstrous fish or other water or ocean dwelling creature might cure fish allergies.

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Ramblings of an Old Gamer