Tag Archives: OSR

RPGs

FKR – Free Kriegsspiel Revolution

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Today I came across a tweet mentioning the OSR and FKR. I had not heard of the FKR, so I had to ask what it was.

https://twitter.com/Allandaros/status/1444316497606754307
Definition of the Acronym FKR

The first article I read was on Board Game Geek titled: Ancient Roleplaying, or Free Kriegsspiel Revolution (FKR): What The Heck Is That? by Jim Parkin. It is a slightly more detailed version of the post from his blog, d66 Classless Kobolds, Free Kriegsspiel: Worlds, Not Rules, Etc.

The original Kriegsspiel rules were too cumbersome, so Free Kriegsspiel arose that relied more on the expertise of the referee than the rigid adherence to the rules of the game. This allowed for the more chaotic occurrences of battle that a specific rule could not adequately convey. Rather than a rule for everything, only things that needed resolution by random chance, such as combat involved rolls.

The main points of FKR are:

  • Numbers don’t add up to a game.
  • If the fiction fits, try it.
  • You play worlds, not rules.

The gist of it is the ultimate in rules light. The character sheet does not limit what a character can do. It seems the joining of story games with other RPGs. It is much simpler than FUDGE/FATE. Some of the games have lots of tables to help set the stage for character creation and adventures.

The biggest challenge to running an FKR game is that it requires trust between GM and players. An experienced GM in other RPGs who is accustomed to the rulings not rules style of play will be more apt to run a game of this style in a way that results in fun for the players.

Any Planet Is Earth [Affiliate Link] is a Science Fiction FKR RPG by Jim Parkin of d66 Classless Kobolds. It is laid out like Maze Rats [Affiliate Link] by Ben Milton, but is very simple. The rules are a seven page PDF and a single page walkthrough of generating a sample character.

I’m not clear on who started FKR, but it appears that Norbert Matausch of the Darkworm Colt blog is very active. [EDIT: Norbert Matausch messaged me and he and Wizard Lizard started the FKR.] He has a free Kriegsspiel game called Landshut. On bottom of the Landshut page are links to his blog of articles for various RPGs that have had the FKR mod applied. His article Back to Really Simple Roleplaying that lays out the basic concepts of FKR.

Norbert Matausch may also be is the one who created the FKR logo, but my google-fu has not yielded who is the creator of the following image. If you know, please let me know, so I can give credit to the artist. [EDIT: Again, in the message I received from Norbert Matausch, he is the creator of this logo. It is free to use for FKR projects.]

Free Kriegspiel Revolution, artist unknown
Free Kriegsspiel Revolution (FKR) logo, artist Norbert Matausch

Ben Milton did a nice overview of the FKR on his Questing Beast YouTube channel with Does D&D Need Rules?

Ben Milton also has a good overview of FKR on Reddit, A brief introduction to the emerging FKR (Free Kriegsspiel Revolution) style of RPG play, for those curious.

There is a Discord server for FKR with an open invite.

CONCLUSION:

Read the articles mentioned above and the articles they link to before making a decision based on my oversimplified overview. They explain the concept much better than I could. Look at one of the games, and you will see the rules light influence.

The idea is that anything one can do in the world, one can do in the game world. Build a huge multi-national business, just follow how it’s been done in the real world. Start a revolution, look at historical revolutions. It puts more weight on the players to figure out how they want to do something complicated and large scale. Whereas something smaller and every day should just be a matter of communicating with the GM how it is planned to be accomplished. Dice are only rolled if the outcome is in doubt.

Power comes from amassing items, wealth, information, and followers. Just like in our world. There are no levels to artificially empower someone.

This could easily fit any genre. Any dice can be used, 2d6, 2d10, d20, d100, etc.

The use of tables to create characters, build worlds, and initiate and run scenarios means that tables from all manner of RPGs can be used. Or one can develop their own tables.

For those who prefer to build their own worlds and spend more time playing than prepping, this is an attractive option. This is something that I am interested to try. It seems to hit that simplicity that I’m looking for with the flexibility to do multiple genres. Now to make the time and find a group to try this, once I develop my own rules framework. . . .

RPGs

More RPG Musings

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About a week ago, I posted an article about some mechanics for an RPG that I’ve had in mind for a year or two. Yesterday, I had some ideas that I quickly put in Evernote while I was out running errands. I was copying them from Evernote and next thing I knew, I had something a bit more fleshed out.

Of course, the main mechanic always centers around combat. My idea is for combat to be lethal and the damage to be on a sliding scale from ’tis but a scratch to a mortal wound. This serves both to limit the appeal of getting in a fight and the realistic nature of killing blows.

My new idea is Types of Mortal Wounds.

Mortal Wounds

If a hit is made and a mortal wound is indicated, roll to see what kind of mortal wound, and how soon the target is taken out of the fight.

This definitely allows for both realism and cinematic death scenes, as people can take an unusual amount of damage, and keep fighting.

Imagine wounded animals like bears or boar who history tells us have the ability to fight long past when they should. Their adrenaline and fight instinct has focused their all on fight, and they don’t drop until their body’s ability to do so has exceeded all remaining capacity for it.

Similarly, people have fought on past a mortal wound as they can fight until the threat passes and they relax, or their adrenaline and other fight response is exhausted.

How many movies has the hero, or one of the heroes, been victorious only to fall dead at the conclusion of the danger?

Table for Type of Mortal Wound d8

  1. Slow x weeks
  2. Slow x days
  3. Slow x hours
  4. Slow x turns
  5. Quick x rounds
  6. Quick 1 round
  7. Quick counter attack
  8. Instantaneous

Where x can be any die type desired by the GM. I’m thinking d6 is good, or go with d8 since d8 is rolled to determine damage and wounds. Hmmm, maybe I can call it the d8 system.

Of course a doctor on hand or magical healing has a chance if within so many rounds of death or before death.

  • Weeks (A bruise, blood clot, or embolism causes a fatal stroke or heart attack. They might even be able to return to action, seeming to be OK.)
  • Days (A major organ, like the liver has been pierced and a painful, lingering death occurs.)
  • Hours (Might be able to travel a short distance with help, but lose all energy as their life force slips aways as they drift into unconsciousness.)
  • Turns (By the end of the fight, victors have picked over the bodies and the dying are either allies to be comforted, or foes to be dispatched. No energy remains for fight or flight.)
  • Rounds (Perhaps a quick flurry of blows can be made in the next few rounds and they fall over dead at the conclusion of the combat. Their only consolation is their foe fell first.)
  • 1 Round (After their action on the next round, they fall.)
  • Counter Attack (One last attack before they fall, either in this round or the next.)
  • Instantaneous mortal wounds take the target out of combat immediately, if their turn to strike remains, they do not get that attack. Examples of instantaneous mortal wounds include: beheading, brain shots/head shots, through the heart, strike to major veins/arteries in the trunk (chest, stomach, back, or side), fall from a great height causing massive trauma.

NOTE: An additional wound will finish a target with a prior mortal wound, if they have not received emergency treatment by a doctor or magical healing.

RPGs

Language and Writing Systems

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Back in February, I awoke with a murky idea about language and writing systems. Here’s the podcast episode from February 7, 2019, where I talked about it before the article was done.

Writing

My idea was about how complex a writing system could be, for its level of specificity and differences in the way different species or aliens might read.

Most written languages have a standard horizontal and vertical movement across the characters. For example, English and most European languages go from left to right and top to bottom. Some oriental languages are written vertically from top to bottom with different characters.

A flowery flowing script might swirl around the page with little flourishes along the way signifying different information.

A writing instrument that can write with multi-spectrum ink. Ink that shows different colors and across the human visible spectrum to infrared to ultraviolet. Some sort of odor that is the equivalent of certain pheromones.

There are different kinds of writing systems, alphabets, syllibaries, pictograms, ideograms, etc.

Languages

Related to that is the complexity of languages. What if a language was so complex/advanced that it’s construction specified time of day, time of year, weather, etc.

I imagined a journey by these people from northern to southern hemisphere or vice-versa. They are in the time of cold & snow, but it’s sunny & warm. How would that language adapt to that?

Short of building your own language on the scale of Tolkien, how would one emulate that in-game at the table?

Some creatures might speak at a register to high or low for humans to hear. Some frequencies could cause issues. For example, elephants make sounds a such a low frequency that it can interfere with humans’ balance.

It’s a lot for an RPG. Perhaps a few tables with different concepts to help put a twist on things. Is there such a product? I don’t have my head wrapped around this idea enough to attempt it myself. Perhaps someday.

RPGs

My RPG Game Musings

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Like many in the RPG/OSR space, I have dreams of making my own RPG, but the key is to come up with something different. For me, how to avoid being yet another clone is the issue.

So far, I don’t have a specific coherent system, just lists of potential ideas.

At one point I was musing about making my own western RPG, but there are several and a few new ones in the past few months. Instead, I think I will focus on a western campaign setting or campaign planning book or guide.

My idea is for simplicity and I have two “paths” in mind. One is a level less system, where all the trappings of leveling up don’t happen. I have vague ideas for how to implement it so that some aspects improve, but not to the degree it does in other games.

The other is a change to the level progression. I imagine a standard base amount of XP to level, but to have more options, like using magic takes even more XP to level. The more bells and whistles you add to your character, the more XP it takes to level. Of course, that will require defining the things that increase XP and the perpetual problem of not thinking of something that some can argue is essential. So a framework for adding new things. Not so simple once you drill down.

I think my level less idea is simpler and more workable than a complex way to track XP. I suppose some might like a more complex option, but it sure doesn’t sound fun to design and write up.

The Level Less Ideas So Far

This takes advantage/disadvantage for some elements from 5e, and the usage die from Black Hack, and adds in my own twist for combat. Magic is not well thought out, and sounds like systems I have heard about, but never played. The major thing to keep in mind, these are all ideas at this point, as nothing has been play tested.

I want combat to definitely be risky and life or death to be determined quickly. My thoughts are a base d6 for HP and a high CON will get you 1 or 2 extra “real” HP. A high DEX will get you 1 or 2 “dodge” HP. Warrior types, who are trained in fighting, in a fantasy setting, fighters, paladins, rangers, monks, and perhaps clerics, will get 1 or two extra “martial” HP.

The DEX based and “martial” HP would each be reduced by 1 from the flank, and negated from behind. Perhaps only negated from behind if surprised. Only the CON based extra HP are real and flanking has no effect on them.

You could allow players to choose the average base HP or take a chance and roll. They have to live with their choice. Average on a d6 id 3.5. GM can decide to roll up to 4 or roll down to 3. GM should announce before characters choose, as the odds of rolling a 4 or better is just over 50%. Rolling more than 4 is less likely. Or you could give them a minimum of 3 if they roll a 1 or 2.

Weapons Damage

All weapons roll 1d8 to determine damage:

1-2 = Cut/nick, bruise. 10 = 1 actual HP (Track with Tick Marks?)
3-4 = Glancing Blow 1 HP
5 = Solid Hit 2 HP
6 = Wound 3 HP
7 = Severe wound 5 HP
8 = Mortal Blow 6 HP*

*Martial Hit Points and Dodge Hit Points help here. Rear attacks are fatal unless have extra HP from a high CON.

Bound or immobile opponents can be slain automatically.

Larger or smaller base hit die for monsters is one way to handle it, and some might take more than one 8 on a d8 to be slain, if they can be hit by the weapons available to the players. Another option would be to set a usage die for the creature and every time they roll 6 or more check the usage die. The mortal blow could require rolling the usage die twice.

This suits multiple genres, as you don’t have to figure out how to bolt on firearms or plasma guns. It could easily be abstracted to siege engines verses a section of city wall, or galleys vs ramming galleys, sailing ships, and space ships.

Saving Throws: Roll under appropriate skill.

Magic: Roll under either INT or WIS to cast
Physical Damage: Roll under DEX to dodge. Roll under CON to resist.

Spell Casting

I’m thinking the average of a caster’s INT & WIS to start for their Power Points, or whatever I decide to call them. Those could represent their “mana pool” and as long as they can cover the cost of a spell that they know they can cast it. The key is to determine how these increase, and new spells become known.

Usage Die For Other Mechanics

Magic items with a limited use, like Wands, staves, and rods and the like are assigned a usage die.

Use a larger usage die to make it last longer, use a smaller usage die to make it use up quickly.

Exceptions would be a ring of three wishes has maximum 3 wishes, GM determines how many and tracks, etc.

Permanent magic items like magic swords and other weapons, and magic armor won’t need a usage die for their magic. Unless, of course there is a reason they have a limit.

Weaker items can have a higher usage dies.

  • Wand of Magic Missiles d20
  • Want of Fireball d12
  • Wand of ice d10
  • Powerful game changing magic no bigger than a d8, most likely a d6, depending on exactly what it does a d4.

Armor absorbs damage, to simplify keeping track of actual HP, implement a usage die mechanic. Need to tie in to d8 damage system….

The quality of armor determines the usage die.

  • d4 gambeson
  • d6 leather
  • d8 scale mail
  • d10 chainmail
  • d12 platemail

Shield adds one die type, so platemail & shield is d20.

Damaged or poor quality armor moves down a die type.

Artisan quality armor moves up a die type.

Magic armor is artisan quality armor with advantage. That is roll two of the die type that type of armor is and take the higher roll.
For example, magic chainmail is d12, advantage is rolling 2d12 and taking the higher roll.

Damaged armor can be repaired.

Similarly, weapons can be damaged in use and have the same penalties for poor quality and bonuses for artisan work, and magic items roll with advantage.

NOTE: Some or all magic items may be ruled to be immune to damage for simplicity, or only a certain procedure or type of attack can damage it.

Rations, ammo, etc. If a player does not record and keep track of their rations and ammo, assign them a usage die for simplicity.

Combat

I hadn’t worked out anything on this yet. For simplicity, d20 with ascending armor. Martial types get a straight roll, and all others get some form of penalty. Either through surviving multiple combats or some training mechanism, non-martial characters could reduce their penalty.

Improving

So far, I only have the initial idea that certain aspects of a character will improve with time. For example, martial types might eventually get a +1 to hit. Thief types get better at picking pockets, etc. Spell casters would add to their collection of spells and so forth, and increase the number and power of spells they can cast.

Perhaps a certain number of adventures or milestones are needed to track improvement.

Aging/Deteriorating

With age one loses strength, endurance, and agility. With major injury one can also lose endurance and agility. I’ve really started to notice this the last couple of years….

When Will It Be Published?

I’m not spending a lot of time on this. I wrote this article to get my idea out there so I can get back to other things I have in the works. I don’t anticipate it this year. Perhaps I can do it next year once the Kickstarter is wrapped up.

  • In addition to my blog, I have a Patreon, for which I create monthly RPG related PDFs and publish on DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link].
  • I do a podcast with three episodes a week.
  • Then there’s my YouTube channel for which I recently started a popular series, How to AD&D 1e.
  • Of course, there is the card game I plan to Kickstart in 2020. Sign up for an email when it is launched here.
  • I also go to cons and run games for which I make my own scenarios.
  • Finally, I have hopes of putting out my western RPG campaign ideas this year, but that might be stretching it.
  • I also have to keep up with a nearly 100 year old house, mow a big yard, and all the other daily life things.

EDIT: Read the next article about Types of Mortal Wounds.

RPGs

Wishes Gone Wrong

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Last night the idea came to me of wizards casting a wish or limited wish to remove their magical aging.

It occurred to me that an unwisely worded wish can easily backfire if taken literally.

There are degrees of bad that might happen:

Less bad: Immune to spells that cause magical aging, like haste.

More bad: Can no longer cast spells that cause magical aging, like haste. No longer can they send their fighters into a high speed multi-attack frenzy.

Most bad: Immune to anti-aging potions and effects. This could include wishes that attempt to undo the effect, since wishes cause aging. Even wishes another makes on their behalf may not work.

This has a good news side, as they are also immune to the ageing effect of ghosts and other creatures

Ultimate bad: The wisher dies thus solving all their problems. Or they rise as one of the undead….

Spreading the Bad: Wish is applied to all members of the party, so cleric can no longer cast restore to reverse magical aging.

Spread far and wide: No one is affected or can use magic that causes or reverses magical aging. This might have the effect of eliminating all undead and prevent the creation of more, depending on the exact wording of the wish. Or it only makes creatures that have ageing or anti-ageing effects no longer work.

Conclusion

Limited Wish, Wish, and Alter Reality are the ultimate power players can fiddle with in their quest for wealth, power, and glory. Poorly worded wishes are a gift to the Game Master to twist and mess with the players. Wise players are very careful and precise in their wording of wishes, if they choose to employ them.

Sometimes wishes appear to have no immediate ill effects. An example I have mentioned before is the time players in my brother’s campaign found a Deck of Many things. One person wished for the finest in in the world. It is a strange, magical place that changes size and decorations. The decorations are from the various inns throughout the world who have nicer things, they become part of this character’s inn. When the original owners find out, if they are rich or powerful, that character will have some explaining to do.

One can never anticipate all the ways a player might mis-word a wish, so one must keep some general ideas in the back of their mind when a wish is in play.

Also, don’t put wishes or similar into your campaign if you don’t want the characters to change the face of your world.

More Musings

I have a vague idea that I’ll reflect on a while. But I’d like to have some sort of obvious effect to happen when mortals make wishes.

In AD&D 1e, magic is explained as channeling power from other planes. What might the enormous power of a wish cause to happen?

If such a thing happens, you’ll want some backstory about previous wishes and the “coincidental” happenings that happened about the same time.

I’d love to have more consistent play in my campaign world where players come across wishes, like with a luck blade, ring of three wishes, genie’s lamp, Deck of Many Things, etc. I’m not afraid to let the players, via their characters, alter the face of my campaign world. Why should I? I set my campaign in motion, in media res, a thousand years after the collapse of the last major empire. I have all these ideas for how things were wrecked in the past, why not let the characters be the agents of change for the next cycle?

RPGs

Game Systems & Scenarios At Cons

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While organizing my thoughts and notes for the games I will be running at Marmalade Dog and Gary Con in 2019, I made a list of all the RPG systems I’ve run. I noted what modules/scenarios I ran and what con I ran them.

Since 2015 when I first DM’d at a convention at Marmalade Dog, here in Kalamazoo, I’ve run for at least 10 different RPGs. I have run 16 different scenarios, one is Village of Homlet, the other is Stop the Flow by Mark Hunt. The other 14 are all scenarios I wrote myself.

The systems I have run are:

AD&D, Delving Deeper, The Front, Gangbusters, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, Boot Hill, DCC, White Star, and Stars Without Number. [Affiliate Links]

Since 2015 when I GM’d my first game at a convention, I have GM’d a couple dozen times at 4 conventions: @marmaladedog @GaryCon @GameholeCon and @ucongames.

I’ve run 10 different RPGs for 16 different scenarios/modules. 14 of those I wrote myself.

It’s taken me 3 hours since I uploaded the podcast (#80) to locate all of my notes for the scenarios and rule books for reference. I realized I needed to organize what games I have and will run by Rules System, name of the scenario, and which con(s) I’ve run each one.

Had I thought this through, I wouldn’t need to dig back 4 years and have to do searches on my blog to determine some information.

My notes during each session help me improve those scenarios I am running again. I need all notes for each scenario consolidated into a master document for the scenario. Then I can find it when I need it.

Run it from a tablet or press print.


This is what I mean by minimalism at the table.

RPGs

Series Introduction: How to AD&D 1e

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As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, I decided to launch a new series on my YouTube channel.

Today, I posted the Episode 0, series introduction.

The TLDR; I give my background with AD&D and explain that I plan to do two episodes a month on my channel. One for the new How To AD&D 1e series and another for my Rol20 For the Absolute Beginner series. I plan to do an episode for each before the end of the month. That might lap over into May, we’ll see how things go.

How To AD&D 1e Series Introduction

RPGs

Inspiration From Movies – Kung fu Hustle

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I watched Kung Fu Hustle on Netflix. I had heard of the name of the movie and decided to try it. It is a comedy kung fu movie that goes over the top. This is what some mean by gonzo. I recommend not reading about it and just watching the movie.

My inspiration is that I now have the idea for a village that is full of tough NPCs. Strong and muscular farmers and laborers who don’t take nonsense. This was all from the first few minutes of the movie before I knew what was going on.

I can imagine a group of PCs trying to run roughshod over such a village, only to be hoist by their own petard. Definitely something to use on a group of players that think they can rule over any village in sight.

It is good for a laugh and has several things in it that one could use for RPG inspiration.

RPGs

G+ the End And Google’s Still making Changes

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Today marks the final two days of G+ as Google says it will pull the plug April 2nd.

What is odd, is that a couple weeks ago, G+ took away the bell icon or notifications, and added a new notifications feature.

A couple days ago, the G+ phone app was updated. Why update it so near the end?

Why not issue the final uninstall command on April 2nd?

I hope I get all the disk space freed up on my cellphone. They better clean it up so I don’t have to root it to do so….

G+ has been great for RPGs and especially the OSR.

The new emphasis on blogs is a good one. There are a few places to find listings of OSR blogs, and many of us have increased the size of our blog rolls.

No single site has arisen to meet the needs of all the various G+ users in the RPG space.

There are many choices:

  • Some like Facebook, and an equal number despise it and refuse to use it.
  • Reddit has attracted some, and some like me, don’t quite get Reddit’s flow, and are trying to figure it out.
  • Twitter has a strong RPG and OSR presence, and those of us who curate and promote a positive circle of people find it a welcoming place.
  • MeWe initially attracted a lot of the G+ crowd. I like some of its features. I describe its layout as a cross between G+ and Facebook. Some refuse to have anything to do with MeWe because some people who advocate bad things use it. Unfortunately, the same could be said for any social media site. don’t use technology because bad people use it. Don’t use fire because bad people use it. Just because some misuse a tool doesn’t make the tool bad. I find the MeWe is growing and I get a new group invite every week. I don’t have time to keep up with the groups I follow now, so I’ve been declining those invites. MeWe just recently added the ability to import one’s G+ profile.
  • PASHPost is a new option. I just learned of it this past week and set up a page there. It has some features that I and many others liked about G+ but the ability to find and follow users is in need of more work. It is changing rapidly making way for the influx of G+ refugees. Supposedly the ability to import a G+ profile is in the works, but the advice is to download it now, and maybe upload it to PASHPost later.
  • Other. There are many other options that I have not had time to explore or not felt drawn to explore, like the fediverse things like Mastodon. I’m sure there are a few more options.

TOOLS

G+ Exporter published their last update today and said, download it all to your PC now while you can. If you haven’t yet started and don’t want to spend $20 on G+ Exporter, go to the Google Takeout option before March 31 to be sure there is time to get your files, as it can take a couple days for the data to be available.

Breadcrumbs

Edward Morbius of the G+ Mass Migration Community also had an effort to migrate the home pages of the top 100,000 G+ communities’ home pages to the Internet Archive. You can see an example here.

Lots of people pinned a post on their G+ and on other sites listing all their other social media. The site wheretofind.me lets users make a list of all the online site where they can be found. You can see an example of mine here and below.

The Last Gasp

Many, including me, are still posting to G+. I said I’d go down with the ship, and I meant it. As long as this effort still gets my efforts to the eyes of others, it’s worth it.

James West’s image that I used for the image for this post says it all. I particularly like his latest post to use this image:

The last initiative has been cast. Actions are simultaneous. The deathblow is dealt… what is your last action?


Final Frustrations

Last weekend I finally finished converting G+ links to Internet Archive links. Unfortunately, several people just deleted their G+ pages before I could get to it. I made a note that the source I linked to is lost to the ages since the page was deleted before it was archived. So many great conversations. The biggest frustration in that was that I had to do all this manually.

I posted a few weeks ago an SQL statement to help identify G+ links in one’s posts, but it did not capture all of them. Even those identified, I had to manually archive on the Internet Archive and then replace the G+ links on my blog with the new Internet Archive links. I hope I found them all. In the end, I had to cycle through all the articles on my blog looking to G+ links. All the backups of each post and auto backups made too many records to automate. I just didn’t have time to decipher which records were the current post.

Moving forward, I will have to make an internet Archive backup of all links on my blog. I also need a plan for archiving all of my blog there, so when I’m gone. If there’s anything anyone finds interesting, perhaps only my descendants will.

My follower count on G+ was moving upward and was on track to hit 600 by the end of 2018, but topped out at 406 in November, 2018 and then dropped down to 398, went up to 402, dropped to 399 and stopped at 401. I too followed a few people on G+ at the end. I wanted to show them support, and some followed me back. I think a sociologist could make a career out of studying G+ for building a community and watching how that community faced the inevitable. Whether there’s a complete record of this for any community, I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see it.

Lastly, why G+ couldn’t make a read only archive of G+ as it stands on April 2, 2019 is beyond me. Google who wants all the information they can and who saved a famous internet forum by making a read only archive out of it, won’t do the same for G+. Why they are keeping G+ around for business users and wouldn’t let free users convert to a paid model is beyond me. People who would have paid money to keep their G+ were not given the opportunity.

I’d really like an open and honest explanation from G+ about what went on. I suspect that no one at Google really took ownership of G+ and that they built a social media site without really understanding how it needed to work. At least, that’s the way it looked to us who were using it. Their constant inflating of users in the press to save face made it worse. Why did they keep throwing money at it all these years if it was that bad? You’d think all the smart people and especially the bean counters would point out the folly of the sunk cost thinking that kept it alive.

The users in some segments, hobbies and interests, like the OSR, thrived on G+. Google never understood how to capitalize on that. I doubt any new thing Google has will attract those of us burned by the G+ fiasco. We are now much more discerning of how we use our data.

The Mighty Are Fallen

Surprisingly in the waning weeks and month, some big names showed their backsides too prominently, or their coerced allies finally turned on them. While the ones who showed their nonsense are still out there, many, like myself have blocked and ignored them to keep that drama out of their lives. It was really bad this past Fall and once I blocked them on G+, my feed was nothing but gaming and encouragement.

Unfortunately, some of those jerks made life miserable for the creators of the most well-known OSR logo and it was just a mess. I am saddened by how that whole thing ended.

Then a well known OSR contributor, who was obviously a jerk to many with whom he interacted online, finally has his comeuppance when his true colors were revealed. I don’t think all the fallout from that will ever be known. Whether you agree with the resolution of this that removed him from the realm of future RPG creations, you have to admit, he went down much like he relished in taking down others. The lesson here is don’t be a jerk online and you might have more people mourn your absence or stand up to defend you.

Conclusion

We shouldn’t be surprised if any other social media site with a lot of traction among the RPG/OSR crowd fails. Maintaining control of your online presence, such as through a blog ensures a more long lived online presence.

There has been a mini-renaissance among OSR bloggers, myself included. I’m not posting here as often as I would like, but I aim for about once a week. I’m podcasting three times a week and sharing my episodes, RPG publications, and other things via all my social media, as I always have.

The past two or three years have seen the rise of RPGs as a driving force in our culture, especially via online entertainment from television and movies, to YouTube and Twitch. I’ve been playing D&D over 40 years. D&D is 45 years old since its first publication in 1974, and will continue to be played in its current extant versions for decades to come. I know I will play until I can no longer roll the dice. My plan is to play til I grow old & die many decades hence.

As long as I can manage an online presence, you will find me sharing my stories of games past and ideas for various game situations.

I look forward to interacting with all of you.

In the coming weeks, I hope to introduce my granddaughter to RPGs and make her the third generation in my experience with RPGs. I hope I can show her grandchildren how to play.

RPGs

Spontaneous Generation

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In the real world, the idea of spontaneous generation, where maggots and flies come from rotting meat was disproved and replaced by the actual method of like creatures spawning like creatures. That is called biogenesis. [Catch the companion podcast here.]

However, in a fantasy world, spontaneous generation can be real.

So normal creatures that die spawn maggots and flies.

Monstrous and magical creatures would spawn something more fantastic.

For example, if a dragon is slain, suppose the creatures spawned from it are carrion crawlers and purple worms.

Not ever creature needs to do this, but once you have one creature do this, if the players make the connection, they will burn every dead body ever encountered. Perhaps some creatures only spontaneously generate from the ashes of their cremated bodies.

Some creatures will have more rapid spontaneous generation than others. The more powerful a creature, the more rapid and impressive spontaneous generation could be.

There are a couple of ways I see of handling this.

One option is to specify a certain type of 2 or 3 creatures that are generated when a specific creature dies.

The other option is to generate a table of the kinds of things that can be spontaneously generated. Perhpas there is only a chance of it happening, or the onset of the new creature is variable, etc.

It occurs to me that this is one way a seemingly inaccessible dungeon manages to re-populate.

Perhaps only certain creatures have this happen.

I can imagine a table where after d6 minutes or hours the creature either dissolves into slime and sludge or blows away as ash in the wind or generates 1 to 3 random unrelated creatures. This limits the efficacy of collecting parts. Get them now or they won’t last long enough for you to come back.

This is an idea to keep in the back of your mind for when weird things get mixed together. Like when the players mess with the experiments on the wizard’s workbench. Perhaps some horrid beast is created by messing with wizard’s experiments. It could be some “regular” monster, or some hideous creature created by the 1e DMG table for randomly generating creatures from the lower planes.