Tag Archives: Streaming

RPGs

Helping Others During Isolation & Quarantine

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Last night (March 18, 2020), I mentioned to my patrons on Patreon, that I am not dependent upon their backing. I suggested that they consider backing the Patreons of creatives who rely on their Patreons to pay their bills. I then shared that across my social media.

I also mentioned that I had gotten too wrapped up in trying to keep up with what is going on with COVID-19. It was a huge, distracting time sink. It also fouled my mood. I need to step away from that.

[My prostate cancer diagnosis derailed my focus and I never published this way back in the early weeks of the pandemic. Since the pandemic isn’t over, it isn’t too late to share these thoughts. I’m not sure I’ll do anything with my list unless a lot of people indicate an interest in a certain topic.]

What Can I Do?

As I thought more about it, ideas of what else I can do to help more broadly than boosting my patronage of a few Patreons. I thought of all the things I know how to do that can add some variety to what I can share. As I thought, one other thing that occured to me was that I should challenge others to make their own lists of things they can share.

This is not limited to parlor games, board games, and Table Top RPGs. I’ve seen my YouTube channel have a huge increase in people suddenly searching for help getting started with Roll20 so their in person group can still play. I’ve had people seek assistance getting started so they can prep for their Virtual Gary Con games.

I will still talk about games on the blog, podcast, YouTube & Twitch channels. But I want to do more. So I am sharing my list of things I’ll list to talk about, and will share if there is interest.

There won’t be soup lines in this one, so those who have will need to share.

I encourage all tiny Patreons to encourage their followers to go support the Patreons of creators who rely on their Patreon to pay the bills.

My List

I know how to do a lot of different things and have some skills that some may want to know about.

  • The obvious RPG & Gaming stuff.
  • Sharing how to use Roll20 & other VTTs and resources to game online.
  • Opening up a new online game for new players. By that, I mean new players looking to learn how to play RPGs.
  • I’m leaning towards releasing the card game to both DriveThruCards [Affiliate Link] and GameCrafter with the free art to get it out. I don’t have the mental and emotional bandwidth to run a Kickstarter during a pandemic. I can do a Kickstarter later with the new art. This will give my artist more time to produce it.
  • Suggest little things we can do to assist and encourage one another.
  • Share my knowledge & experience with a world ill prepared for everyone staying home.
    • How to cook. I’ve got a back burner project that was a joke in college, but with serious practicality, The Bachelor’s Guide To Home Cooking. My parents taught me how to cook. I may have some tips others will find helpful.
    • How to clean. It’s amazing how many don’t seem to know how to do this.
    • How to do laundry. Maybe not, but some adults don’t know how to do this.
    • I was a volunteer firefighter/EMT way back when. All my licenses and certifications are long expired. I don’t have many good stories.
    • Life hacks. I don’t have many, but some may find them helpful.
  • Be a listening ear on a live stream. It’s amazing how many need someone to listen. Now more than ever as we are isolated, or confined with family or roommates, we need a variety of others.
  • I have a BA in History. I focused on the ancient near east, the Greco Roman period, middle ages, and Europe up to WWII. I’ve also studied colonial North America, the American Revolution, Civil War, and westward expansion.
  • Genealogy. I find it fascinating to identify when and where my ancestors were in a given time frame and relate that to historic events. I started a genealogy blog several years ago, and did the A to Z blogging challenge on that blog and this blog simultaneously.
  • I have had many comments on the sound of my voice. Many find it soothing. I have ideas to go along with that.
    • Reading a public domain short story or poetry. Maybe even something I’ve written.
    • Hypnosis or a Calming Voice. (No, I’m not starting an ASMR channel.)

What Can All Of Us Do?

-OR-

What can I do to help others in an isolation or quarantine scenario?

  • I suggest we all make a list of what we can do.
  • Order something for your elderly, disabled, or poor neighbors from an online retailer or restaurant, since you can’t go there in person.
  • Leave a note of gratitude for the mail carriers and delivery people.
  • Cheer on the healthcare, janitorial, and sanitation workers you know. Not just the ones among your family and friends.
  • Be kind to those who work in retail. Especially those at grocery stores.
  • Keep your house clean and organized to maximize the living space and minimize the things you have to worry about.
  • The sudden inability to do things is a lesson that we should always do things at the time they are needed. Don’t put off the laundry, if you use a laundry mat. Don’t put off grocery shopping because you hate it. Don’t put off visiting your aging relatives as you never know when you’ll see them again.
  • Take this time to figure out what is truly important to you.
  • If you are out of work and money is tight or non-existent, don’t be too proud to share your need. I’m sure food banks, houses of worship, and other non-profits will soon be out of resources until the supply chain catches up.
  • If you are blessed with a surplus of cash or other resources, share as you are able.
  • If you’re worried about the long-term food situation, now is the perfect time to be planning a garden. You can lay out cardboard in your yard to kill off the grass to make it easier to work it. Research methods that take little water. There’s a lot of good stuff on YouTube.

RPGs

Stream of Many Eyes – WotC Previews New Story

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After last year’s Stream of Annihilation that previewed Tomb of Annihilation, it was clear that WotC has embraced streaming of live play D&D. This weekend, WotC is repeating the streaming idea with many of the same streamers as last year, and many new faces.

Streaming Streams Everywhere

There are far too many streaming games for me to watch. Many are on Pacific time, which is a big difference for Easter time, three hours. They tend to start at 7 PM my time or later, and many run 3 or 4 hour sessions. While I enjoy watching some live play, and seeing how other DMs do things, I can’t watch a lot of streaming shows. There are so many streaming shows that there are more shows than one person could watch. I know a lot of streamers, and have tried to watch all of them, just to see what they’re doing. Personally, I’d much rather play or run a game than watch a game. With “everyone” starting their own stream, since Twitch and other platforms make it so easy, there is a glut of material. Those hoping to make it big need a high quality presentation and present their story and play in a way that stands out.

WotC’s Streaming Method

What I like about WotC’s efforts using the streaming weekends to showcase their forthcoming products is that they show bits and pieces of introductory material, and how different DMs and players jump in. They also talk about related things with partners, or share the news about the upcoming book about some of the iconic art from the earliest days of D&D.

The Announcement

The new product coming in September is Dragon Heist, set in the city of Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms. A dragon is a type of gold coin. It is a large amount of treasure that the bad guys seeking it will put to furthering their evil machinations, should they get it first.

There are four major NPCs the DM can choose to be the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy). Players can acquire a tavern, with downtime to deal with running it, built in to the story. I missed part of the description, but it will have rules for city adventures.

They mentioned that DMs can ignore the story and just use the setting. That’s how we do it old school. Use what you want/need, toss the rest. By toss, it could mean set aside for later use.

It has a modular and flexible design so the DM can move stuff around and replace major NPCs with your own without breaking things. The city is a character. Each DM makes it their own.

OSR Sentiment

There were several times that WotC D&D designers & editors flat out said the rules are optional, and that you only need to use what works for you and your group. This hearkens back to what Gary Gygax was saying before he was focused on running a business that needed to sell rules books. With city rules and an adventure setting that is modular, plus tables to help fill in gaps/get ideas. I am interested to see what this is when it is released, as I collect ideas from many systems to help inform and flesh out what I do in my own campaign.

If you want to run a city based campaign, or like city base campaigns, this might be for you.

NOTE: This is my 700th post! Wow!

UPDATE: I missed the announcement that Dragon Heist is for levels 1-5, and a second book, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which is a megadungeon taking players to level 20. So far, there isn’t anything about it on the WotC site. Christopher Perkins tweeted about it.

RPGs

Stream of Annihilation – WotC Embraces The New Online World of TTRPGs

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The Stream of Annihilation was an epic two twelve hour days of online D&D.  In this case “annihilation” tied in to their new adventure series that was announced, Tomb of Annihilation.  It is both an homage and a continuation of the story of Tomb of Horrors. It is available in Wizards Play Network stores on September 8, and the full release is September 19.

We’re Here!

I love the beginning. The weekend started with a very strong kick off by Joe Manganiello. This serves as an announcement by those who play TTRPGs that we aren’t a bunch of odd people living in our parents’ basement. We are everyday people who like to exercise our imaginations with others. [I don’t know who Joe Manganiello is, other than an actor in TV shows and other things I haven’t seen. He’s also been interviewed online indicating interest/involvement in a D&D movie based on the Dragon Lance novels.] All of the actors and others invited to the stream, aren’t people invited just because a potential audience might know them, but because they all play D&D and love the game!

One very interesting thing is that for one person, it was the first time they had rolled physical dice to play D&D, since they had only every played online. The world is changing and WotC is trying to stay current. They have acknowledged the value of making PDFs of old rules, modules, and other resources on OBS (One Book Shelf – DriveThruRPG & RPGNow). There are license agreements with Roll20 & FantasyGrounds. The D&D Beyond Tool is a realization that on official online tool is needed, if it isn’t too late. [I don’t know all the free tools out there for helping with 5e character creation and other such things for 5e DMs. I have seen online discussion saying it may be too little too late, and pointing out other efforts that have faltered. I have not seen any reviews for D&D Beyond, and I have not tried it myself. I’m not sure it is something I will need, but I will look into it.]

Other announcements included partnerships with various companies’ that support online play, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and the D&D Beyond tool was announced to have Twitch support.  This last bit sort of surprised me, what will this mean for the use of Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds with Twitch games? (I don’t know enough about actually playing a game that is shared on Twitch, so that is impossible for me to gauge. There were also announcements for all kinds of other products, basically commercials between play sessions.

After the stream of annihilation, six official D&D shows on Twitch were announced. Some of the online roleplayers invited to participate in Stream of Annihilation will now be on the official D&D Twitch channel.

It is clear from this that D&D and RPGs in general are experiencing a revival. The popularity of D&D in its use in various TV shows has done a lot to remove the stigma. Recent years have seen the lack of a concerted nationwide effort to suppress D&D, as happened with the 1980’s.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I am looking to get into D&D 5th edition because it is what most new players will know. Any rules system can be played with an Old School style. After all, the 5e DMG says that the DM makes the rulings, just like the editions I have played. I can’t speak to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th editions, but I assume they have similar statements.

Catch The Re-Runs

For those interested, the Twitch channel only keeps episodes for a certain amount of time. You can see the streams for each day on the D&D YouTube Channel. Day one. Day Two.