What's Your Class?

Most people have a default template / character class that they default to.

When I first started playing, it was usually a Paladin. What can I say? I was a teenager and I saw it as the power class. Besides, we usually had inflated stats back then.

When AD&D 2e was released, I gravitated to the Bard. It was a versatile class and a jack of all trades. Not all that powerful, but it filled in holes when the party needed it.

When I started playing Castles & Crusades, I settled on the Cleric. Dwarven, if you need to know. He made a decent warrior and a decent healer... again, filling more then one role. In a way, it was a natural progression from the old bard class.

What's your default class?

Counting Time on a Tombstone - Part 2 of 2

I sounds a bit like Bob Ross in this video: "Maybe over here, by the trees, we have some goblins living. We can add some ghosts by the tombstones using some 'magic white' paint".

In any case, I'm really psyched about using a graveyard as a hook in my next campaign.

Hoping to Rediscover Some Paranoia (West End Games) Tonight

Tonight if all goes well (and really, how often does that happen?) I'll be able to access the top part of a closet I haven't been able to access for years. Buried somewhere in there are the original Pavis and Big Rubble boxed sets (thanks to Grognardia for making me think of them today), but more importantly, my copy of the first Paranoia boxed set.

Paranoia is a game that played very well in small doses with a large group, less well as anything that resembled a campaign and read better then just about any game related novel I can think of. Many of those original modules were simply laugh out loud funny to read.

I think I also have my copy of the City-State of the Invincible Overlord up there as well as some other gems.

After this I don't think there will be any treasures left for me to rediscover ;)

The Loose Definition of What Constitutes a RPG, According to Me ;)

I posted this in response to a thread started by Greg Christopher (Errant RPG Blog) on Google+ in which he explains how the OSR helped him define what constitutes an RPG game. I'd link it directly, but then I'd actually have to know what I'm doing ;)

Greg, thanks for the mention :)

I played in a Tunnels & Trolls game run by Scott from the Huge Ruined Pile blog via Google chat. We had sessions that no dice were rolled - every challenge / encounter / puzzle was role played. We also had sessions where dice were being tossed for hours.

So, here's my take on the current argument: If every challenge / encounter / puzzle / whatnot can be solved by a character's die roll, it is no more a roleplaying game then WoW or EQ or Rifts. You are playing a game with social interaction, but you have little if any chance to actually get into a "role".

This is my problem with 4e - pretty much every "challenge" is made to be resolved by "roll play", not "role play", and is worked out on a game board (or encounter map or whatnot). That seems more like Decent then a roleplaying game to ME.

If you started gaming with 3.5e or later, what I see mostly as a social board game you may perceive as a RPG game. From my experience, your perception is wrong. It doesn't mean the definition of what constitutes an RPG can't (and hasn't) changed. Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Games is a very profitable corner of the gaming industry, but MMRPGs don't resemble RPGs that I grew up on. I've rarely if ever seen actual roleplaying in these game by ANY definition of the word, even on "Roleplay" servers. Yet I've still had fun.

"Fun" is the key word here I think. Definitions don't matter much as long as you are enjoying the game you are playing.

That being said, I agree with Greg - some of you are doing it wrong ;)

Holy Carp!

I came home today and my son surprised me by moving most of his stuff into his new room.  That also meant moving my old desk.  It's old in more ways then one, and it weighs a ton.  Needless to say, there was a large accumulation of stuff between the desk and the wall.

Found and waiting for me were:

Mad Magazine DVD Collection.  I'll be popping this in shortly.

Campaign Cartographer 3 and Dungeon Cartographer 3 - I need to bootcamp Win7 so I can play around with these again.

RPG Explorer with Pathfinder datasets.  Need to peek at this too.

Now if he only found my Claddagh Ring that's been missing for over a year...

Castles & Crusades - Rosetta Stone of the OSR

Castles & Crusades is one of those games that is "old school" in flavor without trying to reimage any of the specific classic D&D rulesets. It certainly follows AD&D most closely, but even with that, many of the classes are rewritten in a way that they don't mirror the source material too closely. The secret, I think, is the "flavor".

C&C feels and tastes and even looks very much like AD&D without being AD&D. I've played in a long lasting C&C campaign online, and it felt very much like AD&D despite all the changes. My biggest gripe, and the toughest nut for me to crack, is the Siege Engine.

The Siege Engine is pretty much a universal skill check system for C&C and it's also the one piece that takes me out of my AD&D feel. I just don't like it. I feel like it was thrown in to give the system something that wasn't part of the OGL for marketing and copy write reasons.

Still, it is probably the best supported of the Old School rulesets, with a large assortment of modules and adventures for use with the Fantasy Grounds 2 VTT. Actually, with the exception of the LL rules, C&C is the only Old School ruleset available for FG2.

The best thing about the rules? From OD&D to 3.5e, I can run a module on the fly. Probably could with all the OSR rulesets for everything up to 2e, but 3e and 3.5e get a bit shaky ;)

I've Migrated, Cleaned and Ordered

Yep, I've migrated.  I finally transferred my account info, programs and applications from my Mac Mini to my iMac.  I no longer feel like I am missing some of my go to resources.

Today we also finished clearing out my old room.  Holy crap but I had a lot of crap in there.  Threw more stuff out and boxed other stuff, but now I really need to go through the clothes.

Oh, and we ordered the 1/2 pint presonalized glasses for the wedding favors.  Hey, some folks might actually get a use out of them ;)

I've been looking over one of the new releases on RPGNow, a fantasy rpg named Azamar.  Maybe it's just me, but on the quick bouncing read through, I get a huge LotR feel with the serial numbers scratched off.  I need to give it a closer look, time permitting.

Tombstones: A Random Table

My time spent walking through a local cemetery over the weekend got me thinking about a random table to describe what adventurers find when they start poking around the graveyard.  This table just deals with the tombstones themselves, not the mysteries that may be attached.

It doesn't include what may or may not be inscribed on the tombstones.  That may follow in a later, more detailed, random table.  For a good hook, that should be worked out by the GM in advance.

        A               B                                  C
1   a pristine         grey tombstone covered in lichen

2   a weathered white "         with some lichen

3   a worn black "         covered in moss

4   a broken*         green "         with some moss

5   a cracked         brown "         covered with loose spider webs

6   a missing** pink         "               clear of growth

*  broken tombstones may be complete, with the broken piece(s) on the ground, or a piece may be missing

** missing tombstones just have a nub remaining in the earth

Video Blog - Counting Time on a Tombstone - Part 1 of 2

This is part 1 of 2 of my time walking around one of the cemeteries in Bethany Pennsylvania over the past weekend.  My narrator's voiceover may be a bit low, but I'm still a little self conscious about blabbing in public while filming. ;)

Part 2 should be up in a day or so.

Next time I get up to the Poconos I want to hit the Catholic Cemetery in Honesdale.  There is a section that has a Civil War Officer buried with some of his men in a circle.  There is an RPG scenario somewhere in that scene.

Oh, and working on the random table I mentioned earlier.  If I like it when it's done, I'll post it.

Sunday Movie Matinee: The Expendables

I just watch The Expendables on Netflix on Demand.  It's pretty much the usual action hero shoot 'em up, but with the Save The Princess angle added to it, just to make the mercenaries a bit less mercenary in nature and appearance.

What surprised me, but really shouldn't have, is that the movie played out damn close to a D&D session (pretty much any edition).  The good guys (player characters) disposed of the "mooks" with single blows, took multiple blows to kill the minor henchmen, took an encounter to take out the major henchmen and took out the main baddie after a huge battle with many bullet wounds and a knife through the back.

Heck, they even stormed a castle and had to go through the dungeon.  Stallone was even wearing body armor.  Change the clothes and the weapons and it was D&D.

Scary.

Rumbling Through the Mountains

I'd forgotten how localized weather can get in the mountains. You'll hear thunder rumbling for hours and never get a drop of rain. Two towns 5 miles apart, one suffering from a flash flood thunderstorm, the other bathed in sunlight.

I generally don't get weather like that back home in NYC, but it isn't uncommon in the Pocono Mountains. This is something I'd like to integrate into my next campaign along with some other atmospheric highlights (such as the effects of time as I discussed yesterday).

I'm sitting on the front porch here in the mountains, waiting for the rain to come and pass so we can head back to the city. We already sat through one thunderstorm a few miles away while having breakfast and returned to sun, a dry patio and the distant rumble of thunder.

Counting Time on a Tombstone

I spent some time earlier today walking through an old cemetery - or at least old for the States as I know our European friends have a different timetable as to what is old ;)

I wasn't just surprised at how weathered the stones looked, but how they tilted and fell over during the course of 200 years or less. Not from abuse, but from wind, rain and the settling of the soil. I found it to be quite amazing (I filmed some and hope to get that posted over the weekend). It got me thinking about how the window dressing that we usually see in our adventures leaves out such effects of time.

I think there is a random table or two hiding there. I need to get to work and unearth them...

Recharging My Batteries

I made this weekend a four day weekend.  It's a chance to recharge my batteries before a busy fall.

I'll be keeping my vid cam handy just in case the moment strikes me.  We'll see if I find anything.

Padre linked some really good Johnny Cash stuff.  I think I'll need to add some to my digital song collection.

How Many LotR RPGs Do I Own?

Upon finding Middle Earth Roleplaying 2e (otherwise known as MERP) under my bed, I got to thinking about the different versions of Lord of the Rings based RPGs that I own.

The first was the MERP boxed set from Iron Crown Enterprises.  I played the shit out of this game.  Rolemaster rules that the average gaming group could actually master.  Very sandboxie in nature, as there were tons of setting books released, not much in the way of adventures.

Then we had The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game.  I'm not even sure if I still own it.  From what I can recall, very dumbed down.

MERP 2e was next.  Somewhere between MERP 1e and Rolemaster in complexity, I don't recall if we ever played with the 2e rules.

The Lord of the Rings RPG from Decipher was licensed from the movie if I recall correctly.  Tons and tons of shots from the movies were included.  Not much if any real art.  I bought the core book, left it as bathroom reading for 6 months and never got past skimming it.

The One Ring - this is the latest and it landed at Gencon.  I only have this in PDF so far.  I need to spend some more time with it.  At first glance it seems fairly faithful to its source material.

That doesn't include games like Midnight, which is essentially LotR with the evil, alternate director's cut ending.  Well done but a depressing setting to play in.

Oh, and ICE published some endless quest style books using the LotR license.

Did I miss anything?

The Treasures Under the Bed

Where I reveal some of the gaming gems I found under the, now moved, bed.

A Look at the 6D6 Core RPG

I hesitate to call this a review, as it is less review and more "first view" of the 6D6 RPG, at least with my eyes viewing it.

Now, if you want the one minute summary you can view the video on youtube.  It's stop motion and brought back memories of Gumby for me, but it's also a better summary of how the game is played  then I could explain in a thousand words.  See, a (moving) picture IS worth a thousand words.

Did you watch it?  Good.  I didn't produce it it, the 6D6 guys did.  Just over a minute it length, it hits the post perfectly.  Much longer and it would have lost my interest.  Amazing what a one minute video can get across to someone.

Okie, here the next link. The 6D6 Ultra-Lite rules.  It's a free download.  It's billed as a 30 second introduction to the 6D6 rules.  I'd say it's closer to two minutes myself ;)

Alright, now that we are up to speed, more or less, I'll give some of my impressions of the 6D6 Core rules:

The use of cards, and in some instances actions similar to "tapping" actions from card games like Magic the Gathering and the like, may help make this a crossover game for those whose gaming experience is limited to or centered on such games.  Note:  The cards are not collectible.  You are printing them out yourself.  They are practical, not pretty, which is fine by me.

Less crunch, still crunchy - by this I mean the game is not written to be a realistic simulation.  Modifiers are generally 1D6 (plus adjustments) for each card you can play.  Its the play that becomes a bit crunchy, at least if you've been playing the standard types of RPG for the last 30 years (like I have).  The card system IS a different system, and it does take some getting used to.  I had a hard time grokking it myself until I found the youtube video I linked above.  It's not overly complicated - it's just different.

Its surprisingly flexible.  I thought the cards would result in the limiting of choices, but with the number of combinations that can be played (as long as the player can weave a plausible explanation for the situation in question) it covers a lot of possibilities.  Hey, and you can create new cards!

The cards themselves are like skills, or feats, or equipment, or mental and physical abilities - but they are used in different ways.  Not all can be available at once.  There is strategy involved in what you play and what you have prepared to play.

Monsters and adversaries are defined by cards too.  This part seems like it can get a bit confusing if you are running more then a small handful of monsters at a time.  Well, that's true in most RPGs, but keeping the cards in order for multiple foes seems to consume both time and table space.  There has to be a way to streamline it

Well, as I said in the beginning, this is less a review then a "view".

I need to print out a set of cards and try some mock encounters and generate a character or two.  I'll post the results when I get it done.

I Love Rosie The Robot (Where I Talk About My iRobot Vacuum)

Recently I found a deal on a Roomba iRobot robotic vacuum cleaner.  I've been reading about them for years it seems, but this time I finally stepped up and got one of the basic models.  I'm in love.

Actually, my fiancee loves it too, as do my parents, who ask if they can borrow it constantly (I know what will be on their Christmas list).

Charge it up and let it roam.  It does a very decent job at vacuuming (not perfect, but who is?).  It handles all floors but shag - and shag is so yesterday anyway.

Right now I have it vacuuming around me as I work on some reviews for later.  I like the future.  Still waiting on my flying car though ;)

Old is New - Digging Through The Games

You know what the best thing about renovating / digging through crap that you haven't looked at in years is? Old becomes new again ;)

I've already spoken about rediscovering my AD&D 2e collection, or at least most of it, as some of it is mixed it with my general RPGs that are now boxed up (for the most part). Still, I've been digging out a few gems, like the D&D Cyclopedia, The MERP Softcover book (I have the earlier boxed set buried somewhere), Pendragon, GURPs Discworld, and some more GURPs sourcebooks (GURPs was THE universal system before Savage Worlds' simpler system took much of that corner of the hobby).

So, not only am I far behind in the new games that I need to review, but now I have the urge to reread some of the old games that I haven't touched in 15 years or more. I'll try and get a review up later tonight of one of the newer games. Then I want to spend some time with MERP and maybe compare it to the newly released LotR RPG.

Free Time... What Free Time?

As am sitting at my desk at work, digging myself out of paperwork, it suddenly full dawned on me - I don't have much in the way of free time until after my wedding. How the hell did that happen?

Two nights a week I shuttle my son back and forth to EMT class. In between the shuttling I also have to drop the fiancée at her apt in The Bronx. So, those two nights are shot. Weekends always revolve around renovations, so they are shot. Tuesday and Thursday nights. I think I have majority ownership of them ;)

After November my son's classes are over, renovations will be done, trips to The Bronx will no longer be needed - I think the New Year will bring some fairly regular gaming back into my life.

Oh, wait - football season starts soon. Okay, Sunday's will still be shot for a while... heh

Those Damn AD&D 2e Complete Handbooks

Earlier today I posted a bit about the AD&D 2e Handbooks.  You know, the books that took AD&D into the never ending, unbalanced world of "splat books".  Moving stuff (like my bed) earlier tonight uncovered my collection of 2e Complete Handbooks.  (As an aside, the binding on my 2e Player's Handbook is shot to shit).

I'm not even sure if I have a complete collection of the "Completes" - I'll list what I have in no particular order:

Complete Psionics Handbook
The Complete Ranger's Handbook
The Complete Book of Humanoids
The Complete Book of Elves (an evil, unbalanced addition if any are)
The Complete Paladin's Handbook
Complete Thief's Handbook
Complete Fighter's Handbook
The Complete Book of Dwarves
The Complete Bard's Handbook
The Complete Barbarian's Handbook
The Complete Druid's Handbook

Somewhere the Halfling and Gnome book is hiding.  I know I have it, but those buggers are sneaky ;)

The Code of the Harpers kinda fits the overall definition of "kits" too.

Were they f'n insane?  I must have been insane, as I bought the suckers (tho' as I stated earlier, the Mail Order Hobby Shop was nice enough to fill in some gaps).

I played a lot of 2e back in the day, but my fondest memories are of 1e.  Without the bloat,  Without the kits.  Without the later Player's Option: Combat & Tactics.  Still, there's a years worth of posts in those books, I am sure... heh