Do You Use Any Online Resources to Assist Running Your Campaign?

With the slow rollout of Google+, it got me thinking about the online sites that can be used to help run a campaign. There are forums, sites like Obsidian Portal, email, blogs... and a crap more that I can't even think of at the moment (but I am sure some of you will).

What do you use? Is it as useful as you had hoped? If not, why not?

Yep, another list I'll be putting together in the future I expect, and I'll need some help on this one ;)

Thanks!

Google+ Invites For Those That Want

Apparently, I'm a Google+'er.  Go figure.

No idea how many invites I can give out.  No idea if you need a Google account to sign up.  Doesn't matter.

Drop an email in the comments below and I'll give them out as I can.  Should be less then 24 hour turn around as long as I have invites to give.

I think Google+ can be a handy gaming tool to handle events between sessions, and even work as a replacement for chat based online RPG sessions.

It almost makes me want to forgive Google for f'n up Blogger this week ;)

Blogger is Really Screwing With My Mojo These Days

Why couldn't Blogger / Google have done a Beta testing of the new software before going live with this aberrant piece of shit?

I'll get a real post up later I hope...

Trying Out Some Software For Blogging Assistance - OmmWriter (OSX)

New Age text editor OmmWriter (for OSX) is the latest software I'm trying for my blog writing.  It isn't blogging software in the strict sense.  I'll still need to copy n paste this into Blogger (with MarsEdit it posted stuff direct).  Still, if it helps me get my thoughts on page just a bit easier all the more power to it - and me ;)

I'm pretty sure the New Age background music is going to annoy the living crap outa my son.  This should be fun... heh

That being said, I'm open for other thoughts on blogging software for the Mac, as the PC only gets booted for gaming these days, rare as it is.

How Do You Handle a Campaign That is Designed to Change Midstream (ex: Evernight) Tracks?

What I mean by the title of this post is this:  in a campaign like Evernight for Savage Worlds, the PCs go into the campaign expected a fairly typical Fantasy genre campaign... which quickly becomes fight for survival against an alien invasion from beyond.  Do you tell your players up front what the plot twist is going to be, or do you spring it on them in the hopes that they'll accept it?

In my looking at settings for Savage Worlds, I've been rereading bit and pieces of Evernight.  Great concept, horrible execution.  This is railroading at it's very best (worst).  Assumptions are built into the storyline that force the PCs to go a certain way or the GM finds them off script, off the reservation and himself scrambling to plug the holes.

Do you tell the players that the train is heading in a certain direction and they need to follow along?  Do you strip Evernight down to it's core concepts, and let the game go where it may?  The second option requires a strong and skilled GM.

This crap keeps me up at night.  I find it real frustrating that a cool concept like Evernight could be so poorly executed.

Saturday Matinee Movie - Season of the Witch

Is it just me or it Nicholas Cage in just about every third movie released these days?  That being said, I liked Season of the Witch.  Even more surprisingly, my fiancee enjoyed it too.  Yep, she stayed awake throughout  the whole thing.  Good thing we found it on Amazon on Demand.

The storyline of escorting the witch to here trial at the abbey could easily be stolen for an RPG scenario if it hasn't already.  The twist near the end was actually kinda neat and wasn't telegraphed from a mile away as most movies tend to do with their twists (or maybe I'm just good and connecting the dots as they are presented).

Some of the acting is a little stilted, and there isn't much of an attempt to speak with authentic accents, but really, who cares?  The story makes for a great ride.  Besides, I think Nick Cage with an English accent would be painful to listen to.

Last week I had my fiancee watch Dust to Dawn for the first time.  I told her it was a movie that abruptly changes gears, but didn't tell her the twist.  This time, when the dead monks started dropping like ninjas, she said: "Holy shit, this just became a Zombie Movie without dropping the actually story.  They shoulda done that with Dusk to Dawn."  She may be right.

In any case, as a gamer and a fan of fantasy (and a history major) I will put my stamp of recommendation on Season of the Witch.  There are some good lines in it too that I wouldn't mind using at the gaming table.  I might need to watch it a second time to write them down ;)

Blogger's New Interface Blows

Anyone else having issues with Blogger's new interface?  When I mentioned earlier this week I planned on trying out some new blogging software, I had no idea Blogger was going to be playing around with it's software.

This shit sucks.  My previous attempt to post had no less then 2 dozen error messages pop up, then it refused to post.

I really will need to step on to some real blogging software.  It was the plan anyway.

Sigh...

The Troll Under the Blog and Other Short Tales - Forthcoming

I had the main outline of The Troll Under the Blog worked out Wednesday nite when I was driving to pick my son up from his EMT class. Which of course means my outline has faded a bit, as I never actually wrote anything down at the time or immediately thereafter. I do my best writing while driving. I need a voice recorder for my car ;)

In any case, I'll try to get it written out this weekend if all goes well. Oh, and maybe a Tale of the Blue Knight (but don't hold your breath fro the second one... heh).

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane - Skulls in the Stars

After watching the Solomon Kane movie on DVD last weekend I decided to pick up The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane in Kindle format on Amazon for both my fiancee and myself. Last nite I finally got around to reading the first short story Skulls in the Stars. I must say, I like it.

I'm the first to admit I've never read Howard's original works before. Everyone knows of Conan. I read the Marvel Comics series, played the Play By Mail game back in the day, have the TSR and Mongoose RPGs, watched the original movie and caught some of the recent TV series. Never read a short story or novel.

I think I'm hooked now. Skulls in the Stars held my attention from the first paragraph. Guess I'm back to reading fiction on a semi-regular basis again. It's a good thing.

The Free OSR List Mini Review - Dark Dungeons

The free OSR rulesets are a special bunch.  They seek to clone, or clone and house rule, earlier editions of the Dungeons & Dragons rules.  God bless the OGL, and it's empowering those that enjoy Old School gaming.

Dark Dungeons is a clone of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia.  The D&D Rules Cyclopedia is itself a mash-up of BECMI Dungeons & Dragons - the series of boxes sets that took one from 1st level to 36th level.  If you've tried to find yourself a copy of the D&D RC on eBay or such, you would see that it is pretty sort after.  Dark Dungeons gives you the RC in a revised edition that attempts to correct some of the contradictions between the different boxed sets.

I have this in both dead tree and PDF formats and it is extremely well done.  The PDF is free ;)

Free Traveller Campaign - Secret of the Ancients

I've posted about this when the early chapters were released, but somehow I missed the whole thing hitting 256 pages in length, with 10 chapters and an intro.  Where the heck have I been?

In any case, it's complete and it's free.  How cool is that?

I'll be adding this to the Free Resources List shortly.

Sometimes Ya Gotta Be the Guinea Pig

I'm going to try some new blogging software when I get home tonight if all goes well.

Hopefully it's as painless as the below interaction (my mother's cat Fritzy and my son's cavie Opie).









- Posted from my iPhone

(edit: added some extra pics)

I'm Proud to Be a Part of This Community

Sometimes it takes a bit drama to appreciate what you have. Yesterday, the OSR blogging community had its share of drama and it's members showed the appreciation for what they had. We circled the wagons and came to the aid of one of our own. This really is a "community" in the best sense of the word.

It really does make one wonder how f'ed up an individual has to be when they are constantly negative and downright evil in their nature. In their "real life" outside of blogging they must be an object of such scorn and ridicule that all they can think of is attacking others anonymously on the internet. It is pitiful. Pity YDIS. I do.

The Once and Future Troll

There once was a troll, with a loud bark
Empty of soul, it was gruesome and dark

All it could do, all it could be
Was petty and mean, for all to see

Loving attention and the misery of "tags"
It made a home amongst dung and rags.

Throwing it's shit to see what might stick
It was too dumb to know how bad it was sick.

Pity the troll, for in truth it is ill
Beware the troll, it will never get it's fill.


My poetry might suck, but you sir, are a sick little fuck.

Digging Up Dragon Roots

Anyone besides me remember C.E. Rocco's Dragon Roots Magazine? It was attempt to publish 3e and 4e articles in the same magazine. The website at www.dragonroots.net is still live, but it hasn't been updated in at least a year.

Four issues were published. 0-3, and issue 4 had a cover posted, but apparently there were printer issues and I don't think it was ever released. There was also some sort of GenCon special for 2010 planned (again, a cover was posted) but I don't think it was ever published.

It looks like you can still order back issues, but the forum has been dead for over a year, and DM_Rocco hasn't posted to ENWorld since April, 2010.

I was the vocal voice that got PDF issues of the magazine reduced in price from their printed brethren.

It was an interesting magazine that suffered from the one man-all hats syndrome. I don't think I had any outstanding issues left in my sub, but like many things in this hobby of ours, paying in advance of an item being published is often a gamble (Mishler's Wilderlands for example) and you have to be willing to write it off if it never pays out.

Anyone know anything else about Dragon Roots? Any updates?

Green Lantern Flamed Out in the End

Last thursday I dragged my son to a matinee showing of Green Lantern in 3D.  He had a ball busting mine online by calling me "Such a Kid!" since I decided I had to see it in 3D.  Whatever, he got to go for free, and at 18 he's a lot closer to being a kid then I am.

I really wanted to love the movie.  I'm a big GL fan, having found comics right after the "DC Implosion", and Green Lantern / Green Arrow was the one series I never wanted to miss.  Hal Jordan is the "true GL" in my eyes and all that crap.

So, I enjoyed the background of the character, the special effects, the revamp of Pieface to drop that horrible nickname, seeing the other GLs, the arrogance of the Guardians, knowing I was seeing Hector Hammond the moment he hit the screen... I had a fanboy blast.

And then the final combat.  The big climax.  The "what the f' just happened to my movie?!?" moment.  Really, what the f'?  I don't want to spoil it for anyone(so some of you may want to stop reading now) but when a planet killer doesn't just swarm and implode a private airport, let alone get defeated buy a rookie Green Lantern when previously it was eating the best of them for breakfast, my ability to suspend disbelief is greatly hampered.  When the best of the Corps show up to save Hal's bacon from burning but after the menace is defeated, all I could this is "they could have done that at any f'n time".

I haven't been this disappointed in a movie ending since The Abyss.  What a waste.

Ah well, maybe the DC Universe Reboot will breath life back in the comic lines.

My Little Girl

Today was my first day back to work after a week of vacation. My little girl made sure i was awake, then wanted to snuggle. Needless to say, I was a few minutes late this morning. ;)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Random Morning Thoughts

If 3x is a D20 system, what "die" would represent Savage Worlds? All? The D4-12 System?

If Woody had gone straight to the police, I'd be out of a job sooner then later.

If knowledge is power, and the internet gives nearly infinite access to knowledge, why is the average person so misinformed?

As I am packing up my RPG collection for renovations, I never realized how much of this shit I actually have. Even the fiancee had that "Holy Shit! Maybe we do need to rent a storage unit" moment. And she hasn't even seen half of it yet. ;)

When we got home from her sister's on Sunday evening (from the July 3rd / 4th party), she said: "I'm going to use the bathroom. You go do a blog post". She knows me way too f'n well.

All for now...

Review - Savage Worlds Deluxe - The Rules - Part 1 - Rolling the Dice

I think my earlier issues with Savage Worlds were linked to the concept that an Attribute or Skill isn't a number, but a die.  If ever a game called for the use of those funky Dungeon Crawl Classics odd-dice, it seems it would have been SW.  I'm glad it doesn't call for them, but I can see where it would work.

In any case, in Savage Worlds Deluxe,  your Strength score is indicated by a die - D4 would be the low end of the chart, D12 would be the normal mortal high end of the chart.  Skills are linked to attributes, in that it costs 1 point per die "step" to increase a skill up to it's matching attribute and 2 points per die "step" to surpass the matching attribute.  As you have limited pools of points to increase your Attributes and your Skills as a new character, there is a bit of a balancing game that needs to be achieved.

Oh, and there are Edges and Hinderances, that add bonus or penalties depending on the circumstances, but I'll get back to that at a later point.

In addition to the die that is linked to your Attribute or Skill, all PCs get a Wild Die.  This is an extra D6, and the PC or Wild Card (some NPCs are Wild Cards) gets to chose the higher number rolled of the two dice.  If you roll the max possible on a die, you get to roll again and add the total.  So if you roll an "8" on a D8 during a Trait test or Damage roll, you can "Ace".  I'm not sure if a Wild Die can "Ace".  I think they can, but I'm not 100% sure (just found it - yes, they can Ace).

If both dice come up ones, or "Snake Eyes", it's a critical failure, and the GM gets to screw with you.  Hey, shit happens ;)

Can't forget bennies.  They are similar to Fate Points from Warhammer RPG's 1st and 2nd editions.  They can be used as a do-over, or to mitigate damage.  Use 'em or lose then, you get them back at the next session, so holding them for too long can be a waste.

Again, presentation is key, and SW Deluxe "feels" much more user friendly then it's predecessor.

More in Part II

The Free OSR List Mini Review - Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game

The Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game, hereafter referred to as BFRPG, is a clone of Basic / Expert Dungeons & Dragons.  More accurately, it is probably a houseruled clone of Basic / Expert D&D, as it separates class from race and defaults to ascending AC.

Things to note:

-Spells are limited to 6th level spells
-As best I can tell, no race has a level limit aside from the general class limit of 20
-It is surprisingly complete for 152 pages - monsters and magic items included
-Information on strongholds.  Don't think I've seen this in other clones (not 100% sure, mind you)
-Available in PDF and OpenOffice formats, making it very easy to house rule the documents for your own use.

BFRPG has a very active community and a plethora (I love that word) of adventures and supplements free available to add to your game and your campaign.  Heck, even if you play another clone, this is a great community to find quality additions to the OSR clone of your choice.