Tag Archives: Fluff/Inspiration

RPGs

Some Thoughts on Swords & Wizardry

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Today is the 2015 Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day (SWAD?). This is something +Erik Tenkar started a few years ago.

I have not played Swords & Wizardry rules, but it is close to original D&D and has a lot of support and interest in the OSR community.

I have collected the free rules, core, white box, and complete, and today, I bit the bullet and ordered the hardback S&W Complete and the GM Screen. There are also a lot of cool and free resources in modules and other game supplements. They all have ideas that help inform me as a DM and a player.

Swords & Wizardry is often the go to ruleset for online contests among the OSR.

One big benefit of these rules, is that +Matt Finch has allowed others to hack them to suit their needs, and there has been a plethora of rules for many genres, including other fantasy variants.

There are also many games of other genres that use S&W rules. Just today, two science fiction genre games were announced, and both sound cool. White Star by +James Spahn and Outer Space Raiders by +Chuck Thorin. Each had their own take on the genre, and since both are based on S&W, I can see taking bits from both.

+Sophia Brandt over at Die Heart has a very helpful article that explains S&W to newcomers. I find her articles interesting, informative, and helpful.

There are many other articles with ideas for in game, and on the experience others have had in play with Swords & Wizardry.

Catch the Drink Spin Run livecast tonight {G+ Hangout link can’t be archived].

There is a G+ page for Swords & Wizardry, where you can catch what others are doing with it, either play reports, new supplements, etc.

Swords & Wizardry also has its own SRD: Official Swords & Wizardry SRD

Get the three different rule set here:

Download Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox

Download Swords & Wizardry: Core

Download Swords & Wizardry: Complete

RPGs

Star Trek – Transporter Technology Is Far More Powerful Than Any Of The Series Explored

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Transporters are more than just for transportation.

The full potential of transporter technology was touched on briefly in a couple of episodes. Forget the episode where someone grabbed something out of the stream in TNG. How can someone reduced to their component molecules do anything? SMH

They can be used to combat all disease. You break someone down to the molecular level and put them back together and you can’t leave out the crazy germs from the planet below? Quarantine is only needed if you travel to and from the planet surface by shuttle. Even then, avoid two or three weeks in quarantine – just run them through the transporter.

Cancer? Just run them through the transporter.

Dementia? If it is from the build up of plaques, just run them through the transporter.

Heart disease? If there is a build up of a blockage, just use the all-mighty transporter.

One can be practically immortal. Even if they are killed, clones are no big deal. Run an appropriate amount of mass through the transporter and generate the last scan of the deceased, and there you have it, no more death.

The computing power alone is immense. Being able to store the data to transport 6 or more crew is more data than has been stored to electronic media to date.

Any major injury is easy to fix, use he technology of the transporter to mend bones, fix tears in arteries and veins, and ruptures in organs.

If it is possible to disintegrate a person and put them back together, then aside from metaphysical, religious, and philosophical arguments about the soul and what it means to be a person, no one would ever die again. I think of the Daffy Duck, Duck Dodgers cartoon where he steps into the disintegrater and emerges from the re-integrater.

The wealthy and powerful would have ultra secure computers to store scans of their younger selves in peak condition, and there would be a way to blend the healthy younger brain with current memories and knowledge. This would give rise to people hundreds of years old with the body of a 25 year old. They could even allow themselves to age for a few years, then use the transporter to refresh their bodies. They could work to reach a peak physical condition and make that their new baseline body.

The only injury one could not recover from is one that destroys all transporter scans of an individual. This would make the computers responsible for transporters the most secure and well defended. If anything happens to the computer responsible for handling all the data, even if the device itself is fully functional, no one could manage to make it work.

If one takes the idea of a transporter to its logical conclusion, you end up with something far more powerful and valuable than the plot device invented to limit TOS special effects budget.

I have not read a lot of the books and novels based on Star Trek, so I don’t know if this was ever explored, or retconned to say that the Federation and its allies have their transporters programmed to not allow this. However, what would stop the enemies of the Federation from doing so? there is always some rogue element in every society that uses things in a way that the rest of society considers immoral.

I read a science fiction short story, I don’t recall the name of the story or the author, back in high school or college, where they finally had the technology to revive those who had been frozen until cures could be found. The main character had to take care of his great-great grandmother or something. She was young and beautiful, and it touched on his thoughts of incest. I don’t recall if it got into actually acting on it. It turned out that those brought back were merely the shells of the actual individual and that some alien forms that did not have bodies had inhabited them and they went on killing sprees, eating their victims. They were able to access some of the memories of the deceased. I recently saw a preview online for a movie that explores this and a woman brought back from death is not really the woman. That was a few weeks ago and I don’t recall the name of that one either.

Talk about the walking dead….

RPGs

My “LARP” Experience

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The closest I have come to LARPing was make believe as a kid, usually cops & robbers, army, or cowboys & indians. I am old and that’s what we called it. This is a recollection, not a politically correct retcon of my childhood memories. But PC names for RPGs come to mind: LEO’s & Law Breakers, Wranglers & Aborigines, Military Confrontation.

Back in high school, our group spent several nights at a friend’s house who lived in “the country” outside of town, on various weekends. They had several acres with a creek, trees, hills, and more.

We played D&D around the campfire. We also split into teams, or did a free for all, so that the last one standing won. The contest was fought with “swords” and “spears” etc. Padding, what’s that? (I’m surprised fingers weren’t broken.)
We used weeds, called horsetails, for throwing spears. I had several and my brother was on the opposite team. He was on top of a hill. I threw this epic throw that would have nailed him in the back. It had to be 20 or more yards.
However, the sun was behind him and he saw the shadow of the spear, and he turned just in time to bat the thing aside with his sword.
Several of both teams saw this, so at least I got some kudos for my skillful throw.
We still mention my epic throw and his epic block.

After college, I met with a group involved in SCA, but I didn’t attend more than a few meetings. Some of that sounds interesting, but I have filled my time with things I like to do and don’t see myself making a new commitment without figuring out what to drop from my current activities. I did get to borrow a book with an explanation of how to do the marginal decorations in ink. We had a unit on calligraphy in my high school art class, and I was pretty good at it, and still have dip pens and some ink. I also have some felt tip calligraphy pens so I can “cheat” and do it the easy way. I haven’t really done anything game related with it, but I have a few ideas I may try out and share later.

The book also had a recipe for mead, which I made. It was quite tasty. I keep thinking that I’ll make more mead, but in over 20 years I haven’t done it. It was actually quite easy for anyone who can follow a recipe. As I recall, I liked my effort better than the mead I got at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo last summer when a co-worker retired. My kitchen now is a lot smaller and less room for special projects than the kitchen where I lived 20 years ago. I can put on a feast for Thanksgiving, so the size of the kitchen won’t stop me. Like most things, I just have to make up my mind to do it and make it happen.

RPGs

Ancient Anti-Biotics

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I saw this on my FB feed, and had to read the article and watch the YouTube video.

Very interesting!

Not only did they know about honey, but they knew to mix other materials together and get good results. Granted, not all ancient medicine is something I would want to try, but this one gives me hope that we can deal with MRSA and other “superbugs”. I can’t imagine putting that solution in my eye, but I bet it did the trick.

Washing wounds, and treating them with wine, vinegar, honey, and “garlic & onions” would be a good way to prevent infection. In game terms, it would also make it hard to be sneaky around creatures with a good sense of smell. Perhaps good to repel vampires. What other creatures would garlic & onions repel or attract? Garlic would attract the attention of a vampire, and it would send its minions or use long range things, such as spells to deal with the unpleasantness.

Silver is also known to have antibiotic properties, one reason the wealthy used silver tableware. Copper also has antibiotic properties and is why ships were given copper sheeting, to help repel barnacles and other critters that bore into wooden ships and affect either the speed of the ship, its structural integrity, or both

The Roman doctors who treated gladiators and soldiers were very skilled at treating flesh wounds and setting broken bones.

The importance of keeping clean was also known in medieval Europe. The image of the unwashed masses that seems to prevail in textbooks and entertainment media is not accurate.

While the ideas about how the body worked were not accurate, and the reliance on magic and strange concoctions with no modern scientific basis, some of the medicinal knowledge was effective. Some ancient ideas, such as bleeding, do have a very narrow application for a very narrow set of conditions. Leeches are used not for bleeding, but to help improve blood flow in wounds, and the right kind of fly larvae eat necrotic tissue and not healthy tissue. The heads of some kinds of ants after they bite can be used as stitches. There are many strange things that really can and do work, even in the present day.

What kind of weird ideas from the past can be put into play in an RPG?

 

RPGs

Gaming Paper Review

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I bought a roll of hex Gaming Paper a couple weekends ago. Here is a quick review and some ideas I have for using it.

I had heard of Gaming Paper a few years ago, and I like the idea. One can use it for instant terrain maps for use with miniatures. It is also useful to cut some out and use to generate a hex crawl area map and take notes.

It is designed to write in pencil and be able to erase it. I tested and dry erase markers will wipe off, just like an ink pen, if you do so right away. I drew an X with a purple dry erase marker and waited for it to dry. It mostly wiped off, but left a faded X. So if you want to write something that it not permanent, do it in pencil, a high quality eraser is key.

I like the idea of cutting out a piece big enough to generate a hex crawl area map, and use it to write notes. Rather than writing or typing a list that then has to be translated to a map, one can do the initial notes in pencil, and then use ink when plans are solidified.

A similar sized piece can be cut and given to the players and let them map things out as they go.

The FAQ states that it did not feed well through printes when they tried it. Most likely because of how thin and slick it is. The rubber rollers need to get a good grip on the paper for it to feed properly. The blue color of the lines is the kind of blue that probably won’t scan or photocopy well. If you are using pieces larger than a standard scanner, you would not be able to scan it easily.

The only time I really use miniatures at the table is for marching order and placement in combat. Gaming paper is a much less expensive option to a battle mat. The paper is generally spill resistant, and it is designed to be rolled up and re-used.

It is tear resistant, so there is not much worry about frayed edges. It tries to roll itself up, so a means to get it flat might be needed. I tried blue painter’s tape and it did not take away the surface when removed. I even put a piece of Scotch Tape on it and it did not pull away the surface.

I cut a piece about 18 inches wide, and was going to use it to re-do and clarify the peninsula where the players in my AD&D campaign are running around. I then realized, depending on the scale for each hex, I didn’t cut it wide enough. So remember, measure twice, but once….

From my experience, very sharp scissors are better. The paper resists tearing so you can’t just slide your scissors along to make a quick cut.

Below you can see the piece I cut and how well it covers my work space.

Gaming Paper
Gaming Paper

If your FLGS doesn’t have it, you can go to the Gaming Paper website and order direct. They have free shipping on orders over $50.00.

RPGs

FMAD Humanoid Age Table

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Last year I was reading the entry in the Monster Manual on ogres and saw what it said about their age. I realized that I had not seen a table on the ages of the various humanoids like for the player character races, so I built my own chart in June, 2014 about the same time I made my name generator. You can get my humanoid age chart here.

Some of these creatures are quite long-lived, so it is reasonable for some of them to know quite a lot about regions they have lived for a few generations. How long has that ogre been under the bridge, etc.

This is not a table to roll on, but a chart showing the age breakdown based on how ages for the player character races ages are broken down in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. It has the ages for young adults on up and a basic age spread for each category. There may be other creatures that I missed that have ages listed, they can easily be added.

RPGs

FMAD Name Generator

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I made my own name generator back in June, 2014, and thought I had posted it to my blog, but I can’t find it. So, I am posting this article and will link to the PDF here.

This table uses a couple each of d6’s, d10’s, and d20’s. If you have multiple dice of different colors, you can roll your own.

This table is based on English and treats Y a little differently, giving 20 consonants to choose from. I would mix X and Y, or Q and Y. I am a visual person, so seeing the two letter consonant and vowel combinations helps me to come up with names just by looking at this chart.

One could also make card decks of different letter/syllable combinations and deal out random names that way.

There are also a lot of good online generators. I find it easier to have a long list of names and mark when I have used a name. I then circle back through the list. However, I like certain NPCs to be more memorable and have more unique names.

One could have a town where all the men are Jim, and all the women are Sally, and it is one’s occupation or other feature that distinguishes them. Jim the barber, Jim the butcher, or they just call them Barber or Butcher. Sally the Sorceress, or Sally the Scullery maid, etc. Jim the dark is the farmer with dark hair, and Sally the fair is his wife, for example. I think of everyone named Johnson in the town in Blazing Saddles.

RPGs

Painting Hero Forge Mini – Part 1

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Here are the in-process pictures of my painting efforts for my Hero Forge Miniature of Griswald, my representation of my favorite AD&D character, from my brother Robert’s AD&D campaign.

While I was at it, I also painted my miniatures that I have had from back in the day and not yet painted.

I began with washing them with warm soapy water and gently scrubbed the non-painted ones with an old toothbrush.

After letting them air dry a few hours, I painted them with a coat of white Testors acrylic as a primer. I know there is a special primer, but my hand is not the steadiest for this detail work, and my eyes don’t see those small details so well. I finally have the patience to do a good job, but my hands aren’t as steady and my eyes aren’t as goo up close. Well, I have been nearsighted since junior high, and now have bifocals, but I have to take of my glasses to see anything closer than about 6-8 inches, like the back of my hand or when I am shaving. So I am curious to see how well this turns out. So we’ll call it an experiment. I don’t think I’ll have people seeking me out to do their miniatures, unless their eyes are in worse shape than mine.

There aren’t enough hours in the day to paint and let dry and repeat to get each part painted. I focused on the big parts, the cloaks. I let them dry overnight after each step. So instead of one article showing all the progress and the final result. I will break this up into multiple postings.

It takes up my work space to spread out my game materials. I have to use that space because I can close the door to keep my son’s cats out. The last thing I need is cats breaking or hiding these.

So here are the before and after priming pictures. Yes, those are blue shop towels under them. Much thicker than regular paper towels and I can wipe off excess paint from the rush without it soaking through.

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Hero Forge

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Hero Forge

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Oldest Minis – Example of the ones I pained decades ago vs. one unpainted.

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Oldest Minis – Example of the ones I pained decades ago vs. one unpainted.

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Oldest Minis – Example of the ones I pained decades ago vs. one unpainted.

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Oldest Minis – Example of the ones I pained decades ago vs. one unpainted.

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All my minis

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All my minis

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Hero Forge

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Dwarves with mattocks painted vs. unpainted. There were six in the original package. I’m not sure why I only ever painted one. Perhaps I was going to make each one look different.

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Dwarves with mattocks painted vs. unpainted.

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Dwarves with mattocks painted vs. unpainted.

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Dwarves with mattocks painted vs. unpainted.

 

Here are the after painting the cloaks & boots pictures. Yes, I know, that black is really dark, but it is a work in progress. It is only paint after all, and I can just start over if I goof it up or don’t like the end result. I had to take off my glasses so I could see the details when I had to hold them close. Do I get extra XP because I didn’t get paint on my glasses?

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Long shot – all primed.

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Hero Forge & Dwarven Mattockers primed.

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Hero Forge & Dwarven Mattockers primed.

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Ral Partha Three In One Pack Half-Elves Primed.

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Hero Forge & Ral Partha Three In One Pack Half-Elves cloaks painted.

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Hero Forge & Ral Partha Three In One Pack Half-Elves cloaks painted.

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Hero Forge & Ral Partha Three In One Pack Half-Elves cloaks painted.

 

 

RPGs

Zombie Plague – Innnn Spaaaace!

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I’m sure that I’m not the first one to suggest zombies in a science fiction, post apocalypse, or Metamorphosis Alpha (MA) setting.

In my recent MA kick, I had an idea for one level to have some sort of zombie plague, whether by disease, radiation, or the effects of some plant or animal poison. Would it only affect humans, or mutated humans, or any animal forms. What about intelligent plants?

I don’t have any specific game mechanics in mind, but there are certain questions to be resolved.

    • What are the zombies after?
      • Do they want brains, entrails, or just to kill the living?
      • Are the zombies mindless killing machines, or do they have some level of intelligence.
    • Is this form of zombieism contagious? Does being killed by a zombie make you a zombie?
      • If it is caused by radiation, does any dead body left near the radiation become a zombie, or only those killed by the radiation?
      • If caused by a plant or animal poison, what are the limitations and possible antidotes to that poison?
      • If caused by a virus or microbe, is there a cure or inoculation?
    • Do you have to destroy the brain to kill them, or just do enough damage?
      • If the brain, then does it require a called shot, or some special mechanic?
        • I vote for just enough damage to keep combat moving.
    • Will their be warning signs on doors?
      • If so, will the characters be able to read or understand them?
      • What happens when the doors are opened?
        • Are their hoards of zombies on the other side, or a single one to give the players a chance.
          • I smell a random table!
    • How long will the zombies last?
      • If you have an ongoing campaign, will the zombies reach a point where they cease to be and there are no more new ones?
        • Who am I kidding? These suckers are going to happen whenever the players stumble upon them!
    • If the zombie’s quarantine/containment is breached, how far will it spread beyond the containment point?
      • Is the nature of the substance that makes a zombie able to spread throughout the ship?
    • Fast zombies or slow zombies?
      • I think let them move at 75% or so of their living speed, unless they are fresh.
        • Fresh zombies do surprise and initiative standard. (Can you tell I play AD&D?)
        • Really old zombies that are becoming skeletal would be the slow kind.
          • They could have tatters of colonists’ clothing, or crew uniforms.
            • Have a valued arm band on one of them in the midst of the swarm
            • Perhaps one of the captain’s rings could be here. (How bad do you want that ring, and will the player’s even know it is there?)
        • Not so fresh zombies only get initiative on an exceptional roll, and surprise is by chance when players stumble on one and are surprised.
          • Keep this mechanic simple and consistent.
    • Can the computer or medibots be of any use?
      • If the computer is cut off from this area of the ship, it may not be able to update the programs of the medibots.
      • There could be one or two medibots with helpful answers, including inoculations, or some sort of spray or foam that stops the zombies.
        • It depends on how detailed you want to be, and if you want to be this “nice” to the players.
    • If the players let it loose on the whole ship, are you ok with the rest of your campaign being about pockets of survivors who have zones where the zombies can’t or don’t enter?
      • If you are the referee, then you can control this however you like, just think it through to the logical conclusion. If you want a game like this, then you are OK with it being like that. If this is too much change to your vision for the campaign, you can make it work however you want; it is your campaign.