The Dragon Issue #22 - Gary's Vision of the Computerization of D&D

There is something special about issue #22 of The Dragon. Maybe it's the preview of the DMG that's included. It could be some of the opinionated reviews Gary gives of competing periodicals (if you think I trash "wayward Kickstarters" hard you aint seen nothing). Tonight's post is instead about Gary's vision from 35 years ago as concerns computers and D&D.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS can be played on a computer. Computers are most certainly a big aspect of the near future, particularly the home computer. Non-programmable computer games are already making big inroads into the toy and hobby market. They will grow still more, and soon programmable games will join this trend. D&D program cassettes plugged into a home computer would obviate the need for a DM or other players. Thus the labor of setting up a campaign or the necessity of having a fairly large group to play in it would be removed. The graphic display would be exciting, and the computer would slave away doing all of the record work and mechanics necessary to the game, giving nearly instantaneous results to the player or players. Computerization of D&D has many other benefits also, and such games would not destroy the human-run campaign but supplement game participation. This is the direction we hope to make available to D&D. Let’s see if my foresight is as keen as my hindsight.

Now, I was a huge fan of the Gold Box D&D games on the Commodore 64. Well, except for Hillsfar or whatever it was. The games that was not a game, but I digress. They did not, howerver, replace gaming with a true gaming group.

To be honest, I don't think that 35 years later we are even near the point that a true RPG can be run without a human behind the DM Screen (literal, virtual or otherwise). Computer can deal with preprogramed options. Players seem to always find the choices in between. As much as I like Oblivion, Fallout, Dragon Age and the rest, they are RPGs in name only

Players also like rolling their own dice, for real or virtually, but the idea of computerized game aids has come far. They don't replace the DM, but make his job easier.

So, how was Gary's vision on the future? I think he did fairly well, even if he thought the benefits would arrive sooner than they did.

In any case, I do have 2 copies of this particular issue of The Dragon. It will be gifted in an upcoming OSR Christmas 2014 giveaway ;)

Falling Skies - Damn, if This Doesn't Look to be an Excellent RPG Setting

I'm really enjoying Falling Skies, even if I'm only watching the first season thanks to Amazon Prime.

The whole alien invasion and fighting back against insurmountable odds.

I'm figuring Savage Worlds, but I'm more comfortable with OSR variants. Maybe one of +Kevin Crawford 's rulesets.

Anyone else have similar thoughts?

Day 6, 7 and 8 Gifts are Given

and now it is time to award a plethora of bountiful gifts :)

Here are the OSR Christmas Day 6 Giveaways:

Billy's Books and More (Amazon and Ebay) is gifting a Basic Fantasy RPG Print Bundle. This is US only. It includes the BFRPG Core Book, Morgansfort, Monkey Island, Chaotic Caves and the Fortress, Tomb and Tower Adventure Anthology - the gift bundle goes to +Andrew Byers 

+matt jackson is donating two print copies (US Only) of the elite and very rare A Collection of Presentations, Cartographical in Nature. - the gifts go to Keith Nelson and +Peter V. Dell'Orto 

Folks named above, I'll need your mailing addresses emailed to tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom. Put DAY 6 in the suject line.

5 winners, each getting complete set of InfiniBadger Press goodies in PDF (thanks to +Jason Paul McCartan and InfiniBadger Press) - the following need to email me their email addies - +Todd McGowan , +Brett Slocum , +Keith Sloan , Scott Swift and +Will Tijerina  - DAY 7 in the subject heading

Dyson's Delves, Volumes 1 & 2, as a set, going to the following 2 lucky gift receivers - Traveling Spellbook and Imredave - I need snail mail addresses for you to - my email is up above - DA* 8 in the subject heading.

Of Dachshund Remolding Projects and Other Vacation Activities

So, my vacation is coming to a close in a few days. While I've accomplished much of what was needed around the house in the terms of projects and chores, I've been distracted in a large part from accomplishing what I had planned on the blog side.

Days 7 and 8 of OSR Christmas are closed to comments. Days 6, 7 and 8 gifts will be announced tonight. One uber post. Lots of gifts in the mix.

As an aide, Danke the Dachshund Puppy tried a little remodeling on Christmas Eve, as she was unable to participate in the festivities downstairs. I wonder what the paper was from when i opened the door later that night, fearing one of my gaming books had been turned into a chew toy, but alas, that was not to be the case. Instead, the little darling went to work n some wallpaper. Sigh.

My awesome wife did very well in the gifting department with me BTW. An excellenthigh end Keurig, which will never brew a cup of coffee but makes some awesome teas (about the only thing that comes close to a good beer in my eyes is a good tea.) I also got Ticket to Ride European version and the Rivals of Catan card game.

Haven't even looked at the latest Dragon Age game that came for my PS4 about 2 weeks ago, and as the PS Network is offline right now due to hacking, I guess the point is moot ;)

After Hours - The Festival of Festivus and Other Fine Holidays

We had a blast recording episode 25 of The Brainstorm Podcast. Perfect episode to discuss Holidays in RPGs.

I think one aspect we missed addressing, probably because it is obvious to many folks, is that the work "holiday" has it's roots in "Holy Day". Sure, most holidays in fantasy games are going to be rooted in religion, but many times the trappings will obscure the true meaning of the holiday.

I'd like to see a holiday in game where it's evil roots are hidden by the celebrations, festivities and general excitement of the holiday. The town no longer remembers the roots of the holiday, which were to celebrate the power of Iuz (or some other evil god or power.) This year, the party stumbles into the festivities when the celebrations start having supernatural effects - blood dripping trees, fruit that has miniature fetuses inside the skin and other signs. The town folks  think they are doing something wrong - little do they know they are doing everything perfectly right ;)

Sometimes You Get the Perfect Gift - I May Need to buy These in Bulk :)

My sister did very well in her gift giving this year, as you can see above ;)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and simply joyous times to all those that frequent The Tavern.

Many blessing upon you and your families.

OSR Christmas - Day 8 - Delve Twice Times Two, Won't You? (Print - International)

Day 8 of OSR Christmas is special, and is running concurrently with Day 7.

+Dyson Logos is giving away two sets of Dyson's Delves in print to anywhere in the world, although I suspect if you are in some Antarctic Outpost you may be waiting a while for delivery.

So, that's Dyson's Delves, Volumes 1 & 2, as a set, going to 2 lucky gift receivers.

Woot!

Now, you know what to do, right?

Add a comment to this post and sometime after noon on December 26th two random commenters will be drawn to receive the above gifts.

OSR Christmas 2014 -Day 7 - Don't Bear a Grudge to the Caves of Ortok, or Noh-Cha will strike you with Another Bunch of Content (PDF International)

Here are the OSR Christmas Day 7 Giveaways:

- A PDF copy of The Caves of Ortok (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of Bearing A Grudge (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of the Noh-Cha Classbook

- A sub to Issues 1-6 of Another Bunch of Content in PDF (the above donated by Infinibadger Press +Jason Paul McCartan )

Edit: 5 winners, each getting all of the above! Woot! to +Jason Paul McCartan and InfiniBadger Press!

This post will be open until December 26th at noon NYC time. Add a comment here to enter. Open to all

Frog God Games is Running a 30% off Sale Site Wide until Friday

I'll post other Christmas Sales as I come across them ;)

Here's the link to the Frog God Website.

Wayward Kickstarter - Codename: Morningstar - "not pledging is telling the industry that you are happy with the status quo."

Copper plated? I mean, not even solid copper?
If you are going to plate, as least go silver...

I'm really not in a good mood tonight, so the quote in the post title generates one response from me:

Trapdoor Technologies - Fuck you!

Who the bloody fuck are you to guilt anyone into backing your failure of a product? I call it a failure, with all due respect, as WotC apparently preferred to lose the money already invested in Codename: Morningstar rather than put even more good money after bad.

Not pledging says a lot of things. Let me count the ways:

1 - I don't play Pathfinder, so this shit is worthless.

2 - We apparently have different definitions of "grognard."

3 - Maybe I don't have a use for a tablet at my gametable.

4 - Maybe I don't have a regular gametable, but use a VTT.

5 - Maybe I've never spent a fucking hour looking up rules - before, during or after games.

- let me insert the following thanks to Midwest_Gamer: "Tenkar's Corollary:"

"Wrong ruling plus pacing plus immersion plus fun, is infinitely better than right ruling minus pacing minus immersion plus frustration."

6 - $1.2 million already spent. Looking to raise $425k from the Kickstarter -

7 - A staff of 16 - Does Paizo even employ that many?

8 - Maybe I don't have the 50 bucks to spend, or would rather spend it some other way.

9 - Arrogance is priceless. It's also a turnoff.

10 - The less referencing rules at the table, the better. This looks like more rules, all the time.

11 - From what I've read, the Beta was abysmal. Not a selling point.

12 - Ever hear of "stretch goals?"

13 - Doesn't Pathfinder have other computer aids that do much of the same?

ENWorld has an active thread on the subject

Catching Up Aint Hard to Do - I Hope - Mythoard, Day 4 Winners, Emails, Messages and more!

I'm FINALLY finding time to do catch up, here at The Tavern, my emails, my G+ messages, my projects around the house and more. It didn't hurt that today is day 5 after little Danke's surgery, and her long snout seems to peek out from any Cone of Shame you put on here. Part of my duties have been to ensure she licks her wound as little as possible. Notice I didn't say prevent - IO gave up on that last night ;)

(picture "borrowed" from +Tony T ;)

I got my Mythoard envelope on Saturday. I'm also one of those Lott Crate fans. Not idea why. haven't found a use for anything but I still find it cool. Kinda like a monthly Christmas present for adults, and in general, you know you won't be getting socks. Mythoard has no socks - it has gaming goodness. Where / when do I sign up for this to arrive monthly? Never mind, it's at the Mythoard website. Dec 29th for open sign ups. Dec 26th for those that did the "beta." Woot! Christmas once a month is in my grasp!

I just, as in minutes ago, finally forwarded the addresses for the Day 4 gift receivers. Still waiting on darthbrooks. Yeah, it's been that kind of a month for me. I'll be forwarding Day 5 info tonight.

I can't even begin to tell you how many emails and G+ messages I need to catch up on as it's beyond my ability to count. Lots. If you feel I've been ignoring you, I haven't. Playing catch up today and tomorrow. Hopefully I get there.

Tonight we record more of The Brainstorm Podcast.

Busy busy. Just made room for the cat's pan near my desk and out of the living room. Ashley is happy, my wife will be thrilled. Myself? Less so ;)

OSR Christmas 2014 - Day 6 - Fantasy is Basically a Collection of Cartographical Presentations

I am still majorly out of sorts (as is my stomach - never fails - go on vacation, get sick.)

Here are the OSR Christmas Day 6 Giveaways:

Billy's Books and More (Amazon and Ebay) is gifting a Basic Fantasy RPG Print Bundle. This is US only. It includes the BFRPG Core Book, Morgansfort, Monkey Island, Chaotic Caves and the Fortress, Tomb and Tower Adventure Anthology

+matt jackson is donating two print copies (US Only) of the elite and very rare A Collection of Presentations, Cartographical in Nature.

This post will be open until December 24th at noon NYC time. Add a comment here to enter. US shipping only.

The plan on December 24th is to put up TWO DAYs of Christmas goodies, one international and one US only. Lets see how well this plan comes together ;)

Hitting the Reset Button - Current Tavern Plans for Christmas Week

The events of this past weekend really took the wind out of my sails. Time to hit the reset button and see where we are at.

OSR Christmas Day 6 should get posted tonight. Perhaps his afternoon. We'll see what state I'm in after I share some adult beverages with my bartender who is an NYPD vet from the 70's and 80's, when police across the US were being ambushed and killed. Knowing history is always the best way to avoid repeating it.

I'll finish off forwarding the gift receivers info from Days 4 and 5 later today.

As for the rest of the week?

Gaming posts, pure and simple.

More OSR for the Lapsed Gamer, more reviews, more thoughts - quite simply, a whole lot of more.

Keep on keeping on. It's what we do.

No Gaming Post Today - Mourning the Loss of Two Fine Officers

It's rare that I step away from gaming over here at The Tavern. This is a roleplaying blog, and the posts obviously reflect that. I make an exception yearly for 9-11. Today is going to be one of those rare exceptions.

Yesterday two officers of the NYPD were executed in their patrol car. We almost lost a third officer last night when a perp put a gun in an officer's face but the firearm was empty of rounds, as the perp had just tried shooting at someone else (the reason the cops responded.)

My mind is far from games and gaming at the moment.

My thoughts and prayers are with officers Liu and Ramos and their families.

My fear is this is just the beginning.

Carl Sargent - Whatever Happened to the Man that last Defined Greyhawk 2e?

The great +Joe D asked the following question during tonight's game session:

What ever happened to Carl Sargent, the man who defined Greyhawk for AD&D 2e?

So, does anyone know?

After Hours - Prepping To Run a Game at a Convention (or any one-shot really)

Convention gaming is very much NOT like gaming with your home or regular group. While open ended sandbox styled gameplay is my favorite style at home, for convention play, you generally do need some rails to keep the session on track.

While I'm the only one of the three hosts on The Brainstorm Podcast that hasn't run a convention game, I've played in my share. Successful convention games generally have a few features in common, at least as far as I'm concerned:

- A knowledgeable GM - Know thy system. There is a good chance that you may be running a game where one or more of the players art your table don't know the system well, or even at all. If the GM is constantly referring to the rules pacing will be lost.

- Pacing - Remember, convention games have a limited amount of time slotted to them. While you don't want to end the session to early, running late will either leave you and your players with an unfinished session or have you running into someone else's game time.

- Prep beforehand - pregen characters, handouts, battlemat - whatever - all should be waiting for the players as they arrive at your table. Otherwise you are losing potential gameplay time.

- Playtest - this goes hand in hand with knowledge, pacing and prep. Playtest the adventure with once, or preferably twice. Doesn't matter if it's commercial or homebrewed. It will give you an estimate of how long it will run for and help you figure out where to cut or add to if needed.

Happy Jacks has mentioned con prep in the past on various episodes. You could probably have someone on their forums track down the relevant episodes for you. Just ignore the belching ;)

Win Some free Crawl! That's NOT Part of OSR Christmas ;)

Head over to the Channel Zero blog and win some cool Crawl! swag. +Ryan Moore is giving away print copies of Crawl! 5, 6, 7 and 9 to 4 luck winners (to be picked on December 23. +Dak Ultimak will be adding PDF copies for the luck winners.

What are you waiting for? Tell Ryan "The Tavern" sent ya! ;)

Casting Times - A Segment on Segments in 1e

I remember using "segments" in AD&D combat rounds, especially as it came to casting times. I don't remember if we ever used it right, but if you are going to use spell interruption in your campaign, it's kinda necessary.

I also remember that we slowly forgot to use casting times, and when we put that to the side, segments transformed into initiative order and little more. Of course, as casting times went to the side, so did casters loosing spells to interruption. I'm sure it change the game balance, but we didnt care, as it sped up play.

It went both ways. Getting the drop on an enemy caster was no longer as effective, as his spells were no longer getting interrupted either.

Maybe it was one of out earlier house rules, along with ignoring weapon speeds (as we could never make hide nor hair of it, and we tried) and weapon vs armor type adjustments (because we wanted it to apply to monsters and humanoids too, but as written it didnt.)

Soon We Will be Back on Pace - OSR Christmas, OSR For the Lapsed Gamer and More

Left for work at 530 AM. It's a bit after 8PM and I just got home. It's been that kind of a month. I've fallen behind on lots of planned stuff, but I'm on vacation for a week starting whenever I get home tomorrow, so yes, there will be some catching up to do.

There should be a bunch of gifts for OSR Christmas going up tomorrow night. I'm thinking PRINT and INTERNATIONAL shipping. That is, of course, assuming I get home at a reasonable time. If not, Saturday morning. I expect the pace of the posts to pick up.

I'll be getting back to the OSR for the Lapsed Gamer series of posts this weekend too. I've been away for it for too long, so time to pick up where we left off.

Other stuff too. I got's plans, I just need some down time to do them ;)

Weapon Damage Vs Size - Do You Use It?

I was introduced to role playing games with AD&D 1e and weapon damage vs size was my baseline. Now that I'm playing and running clones for the most part, I appreciate the lack of a single die type regardless of monster size.

Still, I do remember the damage charts for a good 80% of the weapons from 1e. Many of them didn't make much sense to me (such as broadsword) but we didn't stress it back in the day. After all, it was canon ;)

Do you use weapon damage vs size these days?