An Apple a Day...

Okie, so I finally did it. I bought a Mac. Don't kill me, it took alot of thought, but once a new Macbook fell to $799 at Microcenter, I was sold.

The deed was completed on Saturday afternoon. It is very... pretty. In a totallly alright with me sort of way. Seriously, in looks very slim and sleek, very much the complete opposite of me. Cat hairs show up very quickly on the white casing tho.

I'm still playing with it, but so far it seems like a very convenient alternative to my netbook for surfing in bed, or on the sofa, or at the kitchen table.

I'll be loading it with a bunch of gaming PDFs to see how they look.

iTabletop - The New Moderate Moderator

I am honored to be able to state that I am one of 2 volunteer forum moderators at the iTabletop site. I'm very excited about the potential of this new VTT.

Having met the dev team / owners via video conference earlier today I have to say they appear to be on the right track with the Silvertable Project. I'm sure things won't move as fast as I (or they) would like to see, but when does software design ever follow a set timetable? Features breed new features which break old features requiring tweeks... but I am looking forward to the Beta release that is being placed into the hands of Lifetime Members later this month.

My expectations are high, but as it is a beta, I expect many bugs and limitations. I will be testing the crap outa it myself ;)

Kobold Quarterly 11 is in my Mailbox

Actually, I found it in my email last night, and in my snail mail for the hard copy when I got home from work. Haven't had much time to peruse it yet. Maybe I'll read it as I lull myself to sleep tonight.

I have to get to work tomorrow extra early if I want any chance to find parking (movie filming just removed 12+ blocks of parking near my job tomorrow). So, I'll aim to get in by 6 / 615. I'd have so much more time for reading if I would just take the train to work ;)

Barnes and Noble is releasing its own E-Book reader. Specs look very favorable matched up to the Kindle 2, and reads PDFs nativly. I'll wait for some user reviews on this one, but again, the "Nook" looks promising.

Moderate This!

So, it looks like I will be one of two volunteer moderators on the iTabletop website... which is damn cool as I am really excited about the forthcoming Silvertable (iTabletop2.0).

What makes me a good choice for the job? Damned if I know, but I sure as hell plan to do what I can to make the forums a place to post as opposed to a place for ghost posts (my Halloween theme... heh).

Just upgrade today to a 25" monitor... I'll need the extra desktop for the live video feeds from my players :)

About that Splurge...

So anyhow, I escaped to the mountains for the holiday weekend, and lo and behold, what do I do? I log into RPGNow and and other RPG sites and buy more PDFs.

FantasyCraft - Straight 5s at RPGNow in its reviews so I'm not going to even try to review that yet. I'm going to see if I can make heads or tails of it myself. Countdown to iTabletop Beta is 18 days and I need a game system I can DM :)

Mouseguard looks to be extremely well written and alot of fun. Not to sure how happy folks will be to play mice tho.

A Time of War - The BattleTech RPG - Oh boy. This may rock or suck, but at 10 bucks and a future free upgrade I bit the bullet.

The Shotgun Diaries - Zombie horror... may be a good Halloween theme.

Houses of the Blooded - 4 bucks for over 400 pages from the outer of 7 Seas and Legend of the 5 Rings. I mean, 4 lousy bucks man!

I'll DX these in the next few days and see how they all shake out.

Oh, and if you are like me and were too lazy to file taxes back on April 15th and did the automatic 6 month extension... October 15th is the end of the extension... get to it!

Return of the Reviews.. Soonish I Hope

Its been a while since I've reviewed any PDFs, let alone checked DX-ability on anything. It's not that I don't have products to review, I just dont seem to get around to reviewing them. Go figure.

It appears that Necromancer games has put out some new 3.5 PDFs. Always quality stuff from Necro. I might have to make a purchase this weekend.

C&C via FG2 this Saturday nite. Should be a fun time. Hopefully I'll remember what to do ;)

Four EA Sports Wii Activet sessions down. Still working the sweat, tho less pain now. Think the muscles are adjusting :)

Aion - Suprisingly Refreshing MMORPG

Warhammer: Age of Reckoning seems to have imploded. It started huge and has turned to a whimper a year later.

Aion is my current game of choice online. I tried Champions in its closed beta and it... just... didnt do anything for me. So I popped for a Aion preorder and I've been having a blast with it.

Its a rehash of most standard fantasy based MMORPGs but with a nice twist away from standard races and an evolving backstory. I'm hooked so far.

Gotta run. Time to DDO with my son ;)

Live long and prosper

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a 43 year old cop that I worked with for the first 4 years of my career. He died of a blood clot, that led to a stroke, brain damage and finally a heart attack. The whole process took less then 48 hrs to go from apparently healthy to deceased.

What does this have to do with gaming? Gaming is about spending quality time with friends and family, something impossible to do while lying 6 feet under.

See a doc. Get a checkup. Game until you're 100 and decrepid.

That is all. We now return to your regularly scedualed blog.


-- Posted from my iPhone

iTabletop has a Second Programmer - 2.0 Beta Oct 31st

Just over a month before the release of the iTabletop 2.0 Beta. With the help of a second programmer I am very hopeful they will hit their release date.

I was going to drag my gaming group into FG2, but with iTabletop's 2.0 release closing in I'd like to use the live video / voice that is integrated into the software. I know the lads love these types of features, and the all in one gaming package of iTabletop 2.0 should be a very good fit.

On a side note, the C&C FG2 game i was in is on track for am October 10th resurrection, but it looks like we've lost half the group at least. It might be a lost cause, but I'll give it a shot in two weeks.

DDO - The semi-free MMORPG

I know they bill DDO as free these days, but its only really free until 4th level, or unless you get extremely lucky or are willing to grind alot. Still, the old group got together for a session last tuesday and we had a blast. They lightened up the quests / adventures for the newbs and made it a much more enjoyable experience in general. I hope this new model of income generation works for Turbine, as the new life in a stale game has done wonders for DDO gameplay.

Spent a few hours playing with my son today... still wish I could convince hime to roleplay in the traditional sense, but for now this is fun as is ;)

Geek Dating - Scarier then You Thought

If you've been anywhere near the enworld.org website over the last couple of weeks, one of the biggest advertisers has been a geek dating site - http://www.gk2gk.com/

I always thought it would have been cool to have dated a fellow geek / gaming type girl when I was younger. Having looked through the site I am very glad the girls I dated had no idea how big a geek I was. Holy crap but there are some scary sites on that site.

I'm a geek, but I'm also a cop, a father, a boyfriend... gainfully employed for over 20 years. Maybe my sights are set a bit higher at this point in my life, but the only reason to work that site is... eh, if I have to spell it out I'm as bad as those that would.

Troll Barnes and Noble or Borders Books. Go to eHarmony or Match.com. For the love of all that's holy, please, don't geek date via a geek site ;)

The Return of Semi-Regular Gaming

Looks Like D&D Online will be returning to my weekly gaming habits tomorrow with the start of weekly DDO gaming sessions.

Then we get the very irregular C&C game returning to the occasional saturday nite in October. We will see how many of the old group return to the game that's been on hiatus since the end of May.

I also announced to my "crew" of mmorpg'ers / old face to face rpg group my intention to run a game using the yet to be released iTabletop 2 software in November.

Woot! ;)

Old School Sampler PDF Bundle

Yes, I'm lifting this from Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I doubt Jim minds all that much ;)

Brave Halfling Publishing's OSRIC adventure People of the Pit by Alphonso Warden
Expeditious Retreat Press' OSRIC adventure The Lost Keys of Solitude by Joseph Browning and Suzi Yee
Goblinoid Games' Labyrinth Lord adventure Idol of the Orcs by James Boney
LotFP's adventure for oldschool system in particular Death Frost Doom by... Jim

Listen up. Its good, quality gaming at a discounted price. It's hard to go wrong.

Here's the RPGNow link: Old School Sampler PDF Bundle

In Between Games... Gaming Purgatory

Still not participating in a regular FG2 game. The recently canceled C&C game may be resurrected as a once a month campaign, but I'm not sure how much of the old group will make the transition.

Looks like Aion is the new MMORPG of choice for my gaming group. Will probably take the plunge for 2 subs for the kid and I. It not easy being the father of a fellow gamer... and it aint cheap either ;)

I've been reading the latest issue of Fight On! (issue 6 I believe) on my DX and it reads really well, both visually on the DX and in the quality of the articles. They announced a fiction contest which I MIGHT decide to participate in. I am brainstorming in my spare time to come up with a concept. I have until the end of October but need to get myself in gear if I want to have any kind of a shot.

Astak Pocket Pro - In Hand and Testing

My Astak Pocket Pro arrived bright and early at 915 in the morning yesterday. Its a good thing I over slept and adjusted my plans, or I would have missed the delivery.

First things first, you get alot for your $199... E-Reader, case, headphones, wrist strap, USB cord, AC adapter for USB cord, even a screw driver to open the battery compartment if you want to swap batteries.

As for how well it works as a book reader: I've tried different formats and so far so good, although there are some formats where I wish the font size change was more gradual.

PDFs work better then I expected for a 5" screen (I haven't looked at many yet). The PDF reflow isn't as bad as I expected, but it saves itself from messing up charts by not reflowing pages with charts on them. This can mean a page with a chart is displayed in such a small pitch size as to be nearly unreadable. I'll r need to give this a real workout.

Astak Pocket Pro has Shipped

My Astak Pocket Pro has shipped, but FedEx is supposed to make a Saturday delivery, but I won't be home most of the day, damn it!

At best it looks like I won't see it until Tuesday. I'm anxious to see how well it handles my RPG PDFs. I'd never give up my Kindle DX, but for portability the Astak Pocket Pro looks like it will have a real edge.

Rolemaster Classic Ruleset for FG2 is Released

Here's the post from the FantasyGrounds.com website:

Rolemaster Classic Ruleset Now For Sale!

Digital Adventures, LLC and Iron Crown Enterprises present the Rolemaster Ruleset for Fantasy Grounds II! Nearly two years in the making, this ruleset features some of the most innovative Fantasy Grounds programming to date, giving both Game Masters and Players all the tools they need to enjoy this classic RPG online. In addition to including the full text for the Character Law, Arms Law, Spell Law, and Creatures & Treasures remakes of the original game, the Rolemaster Class Ruleset for Fantasy Grounds II features fully automated combat and spell effects resolution! This automation allows for quick play online, or around your local gaming table.

The CEO of Iron Crown, Bruce Neidlinger has been a driving force in seeing this project come to fruition. "ICE is delighted with this electronic conversion of Rolemaster Classic to be played online using Fantasy Grounds II. This abmitious project brings the full Rolemaster experience to the Internet, with its automated combat allowing for speedy play with your friends all around the world! This is exactly the product we have been waiting for!"

The following is included in the Rolemaster Classic Ruleset:

• The complete text of the core Rolemaster Classic rules: Arms Law; Spell Law; Character Law; and Creatures and Treasures.

• Fully automated look-up for combat and spell rolls: resolve attacks and spell results in just a few clicks.

• Resolve critical strikes and spell effects, plus fumbles and spell failures with ease.

• Includes 30 individual weapon attack tables, seven spell attack tables, and dozens of criticals and fumbles.

• Includes more than 2,000 spell descriptions, across 162 spell lists, and three realms of power.

• Rules for 20 character professions, including 15 spell-casting professions, and over five dozen skills from which to choose.

• Descriptions and stats for hundreds of monsters, animals and fantasy races, including Dragons, Demons, Elementals and Giants.

• Hordes of treasure, both sparkling and magical, with guidelines for generating the treasures to go with your monsters.

• Supports optional rules to add depth and flavor to your RoleMaster campaign.

• Drag and drop weapons, skills and spells directly onto your character sheet from the core rule books.

• Automate the combat sequence, with a fully-featured combat tracker linked to graphical battle maps.

• Play this much-loved role-playing game with remote friends all over the world, old and new.

The Rolemaster Classic Ruleset for Fantasy Grounds II will be available available at Digital Adventures Online Store (http://www.digitaladventures.net/catalog/), the Fantasy Grounds Store https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/), and any One Book Shelf affiliate for the price of $20.00. ::end quote::

I'll be picking this up before the week is out, even if its just to play with the tables. Screw C&C... I want to get into a RoleMaster game now! heh

The Call of Cthulhu rulest rocked. If nothing else I'll run a oneshot with my MMORPG/ Old Face to Face group around Halloween.

And so it goes... or doesn't, as the case may be

Lets see. The Dark Heresy weekly Fantasy Grounds 2 game lasted about a year before tanking mid spring. It was fun while it last, but the core was down to 2 originals plus the GM, and when the other original (not me) announced he was taking a break from gaming altogether... long, slow gaming death. Think it took 3 weekly sessions of non-gaming to realize we weren't going to be gaming. That frees up Tuesday nites.

Then the weekly, Saturday nite, FG2, Castles and Crusades game was cruising along until the end of May. Hiatus until the first week of August due to vacations, school, trips and such. Fine and dandy, but what happens to your favorite TV show when they announce it is going on hiatus? Yup, it never comes back. That's the current situation. Our GM, Sak, started a new business with his wife over the break and was also suffering from GM burnout. Which is a damn shame, as Tenkar, my Dwarven Cleric, had just hit 3rd level and I was so looking forward to my new second level spells.

So, If any read this and have an opening in their VTT game (I have Fantasy Grounds 2. Maptools, Klooge, Screenmonkey, Battleground and iTabletop... holy crap that alot of VTTs) just drop a post here on my blog. I'm in EST and Friday evenings and Sundays are basically spoken for (the g/f is understanding, but no need to needlessly piss her off ;)

Pathfinder Confessions

I'm a PDF junkie as most will have realized from reading my posts on this blog. That being said I've been subscribing to the Pathfinder Adventure Path since the first issue, and get some other Pathfinder products as they interest me. In print direct from Paizo (give me a PDF copy for free... Woot!)

I did not pre-order the new Paizo Core rulebook. I figured I had the beta book in print and the PDF was just going to be 10 bucks... why waste 50 on a game i'd probably just read and never run?

Then I downloaded the Core rules, saw the shiny, sweet, holy mystery there is a higher being... simply amazing artwork. Beautiful layout. I finally succumbed and ordered the book thru Amazon for 32 or so plus shipping earlier this morning. I had to. No choice in the matter. Besides, it's probably too frickin' huge to read comfortably on the DX ;)

The World of Onn: Supplement 1 for Swords & Wizardry

Look at me. I'm actually getting around to doing yet another short and dirty RPG review. Swords & Wizardry has been getting lots of love recently, what with the excellent quickstart rules earlier this summer and now a fully loaded supplement.

The World of Onn: Supplement 1 (hereafter referred to as Sup 1) gives a lot of meat for its 5 buck price take in PDF format on Lulu. 145 pages of mix and match rules, new classes, new spells, new monsters, new treasure and even some maps and info on the world of Onn.

Hell, I'm still waiting to put a S&W or LL game together and just flipping thru the pages of Sup 1 has me even more hungry to do so. Use what you want and leave behind the rest.

Personally, I like adding classes, and the ones brought to the table: Ranger, Divine Champion, Illusionist, Bard, Druid and Shao Disciple bring back some of AD&D's options without all the complexity (but still more complexity them S&W unadulterated). Count me as pleased, as I was toying with doing some of this myself.

5 outa 5 for quality and value. DX-ability is also a 5. Looks very nice and extremely readable on the DX.