Kickstarter - A System-Neutral TTRPG Adventure Designed by Backers

I am a huge supporter of Thom Wilson / Throwi Games for years now, and Thom's latest, A System-Neutral TTRPG Adventure Designed by Backers Kickstarter looks to be really cool.

In this Make/100 Project, backers will be able to pick the theme, antagonists, and some of the monsters in the adventure that I will custom-create for 100 people. Additionally, backers can sponsor art (including a custom cover piece by one of the artists I call on often for work), add additional pages, or back the project for the end result: a PDF adventure!

This is a very inexpensive Kickstarter to back. You can get the PDF for as low as 3 bucks.

Looking Back at an End and a Beginning

When I was writing last night's post for Saturday Night Special, it occurred to me that the weekend I was writing about was also the last weekend my old gaming group ever sat down and actually gamed.  That was it.  Fini.

Up until then, I had worked retail. and I was off just about every sunday or I was in the Police academy and I was off every weekend.  We weren't off weekends to make it better for us, the recruits, but because it work for the academy staff.

After I was assigned to my permanent command, my regular days off (RDOs) were Wednesday / Thursday.  That was my weekend.

My hours weren't all that great either.  530 PM by 205 AM (1730x0205).  Which made it hard to even consider gaming before hand, and no one wanted to game on what was for them a for night.  Thus would end my adventures in table top gaming, until I found the like of Klooge and Fantasy Grounds and the rest of them.

The old group and I still get together a couple of times a year.  We never game, unless it's some quick PS3 or XBox gaming.  Too much catching up to allow us to roll more then the occasional die, although I did run a game of Action Castle last time we gather and it was a blast.  It almost felt like old times ;)

Reaction From Outside the Blogosphere - Action Castle is "Just Good Fun"

Well, last Saturday at the Gathering of Fools, we did more then just give out RPGs, watch movies, play Guitar Hero and Rock Band, eat Mexican Food and snacks... and of course, drink beer.  It was requested by our host, Wall Street Wizard, that I bring Action Castle.  Yep, the one local group member that actually reads my blog wanted me to bring something he read about on my blog.  It felt good ;)

We didn't get to it until nearly the end of the gathering. WSW was busy cleaning and neatening up the place before the wife and urchins returned from visiting the WSW's sister-in-law when I realized we hadn't yet played Action Castle - so I whipped it out (for some reason I am thinking about Blazing Saddles at the moment, but I digress).  I printed out the rule page twice (yep, all the rules fit on one page) and made Bri the official rule reader for the group.

As he read the rules, I summarized them to the group as live action Zork.  Well, live in that I  was playing the computer's roll and they were jointly playing the computer user's roll.  Then we were off.

I read the first location's description and decided I would indicate items that they could interact with by using my fingers to open and close quotations as I said the word.  So, the line - There is a rose bush in front of the cottage became -  There is a "Rose Bush" in front of the cottage.  It helped them with the usable items.

Much of the fun and humor inherent is due to the fact that you are making people think in a "parser game" or Zork-like manner.  Answering them with "I do not know how to 'what the fuck' a rosebush" just adds to the fun.  ;)

It did make them think, and as they started to figure out what was needed to be done you could feel the energy build up.  It was a blast and played out in about 20 minutes or so with 4 players and a GM.  It would probably had taken a little longer if we weren't in a time crunch - I allowed fast travel between known locations (I no longer asked for "North", "North", "Down" if they had already travelled between points "A" and "B").

This sucker is a steal for 99 cents.  There's a bunch more in the series, and I plan onbringing one or two more to the next gathering.  Actually, it was requested :)