Poll Closing in Less Then 20 Hrs

Yep, in less then 20 hrs the poll will close.  It's really a battle for second place at this point, as I can see the Solos are placing first.  So if you haven't voted yet, do so.  It still counts.  For second place at least... heh.

It should be some fun weeks ahead.  (I need to find a way to squeeze some solo gaming in during lunch time at work ;)

More from Homeless Mustard for your listening pleasure:

Down Day

The last 2 weeks have been packed with work on weekdays and visiting family on the weekends. Tomorrow will be my down day, a day to watch football and get my game plan together for the different solos and systems.

Needless to say, today is another visiting family day. Heh


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Balancing Act

Well, I need to balance out this afternoon's somber post yet I don't have anything gaming to really post.

The poll ends in a day or so, and it looks like solos are coming in first, but MS&PE is a strong second.  Second might get completed before first in this case, but we shall see.

In any case, I'm posting this song for Christian (as he always finds the best stuff to the point I'm actually buying music on iTunes again).

Falling Leaves

The Fall is no longer the season it used to be for me. Leaves changing colors, preparing for the Holidays and lots of weekend gaming. As an adult it has become a season of remembrance.

I lost my training sergeant in an off-duty incident in the fall of 1997 - shot and killed with his own gun. Rest well Fitz.

9-11 was on the cusp of the fall, and not only did my department lose 23 officers, and the nation lost thousands of citizens, but my core group of friends (and former gaming group) lost one of out own that day. Be at peace, Paul.

Today, my son's mother would have been 38. She was taken from us way too young. I will never be able to fill her shoes, but I try. No worries Min, he's in good hands.

Before you know it, winter will come and go, and spring will return. Sometimes you need to remember what you've lost to truly value what you have left.


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Lots of Lone Wolves

Project Aon is a collection of the Lone Wolf series of adventure books available free and legally on the net.

I might have to put some time into this after I do a run thru of all the solo's it looks like I'll be running as per the current poll results.

Of course, at the pace I move at, it means sometime in 2011 before I dance with the Lone Wolf ;)

Distilling Tunnels & Trolls

I'm going to work on an experiment and see if I can distill T&T down to 4 digest sized pages - basically folding a sheet of printer paper in half, and using the 4 sides as a pamphlet.

I'm seeking to do this so I will have access to a handy dandy reference sheet when I'm stuck at work. T&T is not OGL and does not have an SRD, so I won't be distributing it, but if I can get it to work I'll let you all know how I did it.

I suspect Apple Pages will be the software I'll be using, just not 100% sure yet.


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The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society - Reprints

Traveller is one of those games where character generation is a game unto itself.  Heck, you can die before ever seeing actual gameplay.  This made for some great time in High School when me and my friend Andrew were in charge of the Book Room.  Spend 10 minutes delivering books, then 50 minutes rolling up Traveller Characters.  Saweet!

Far Future Enterprises holds the rights to the GDW Traveller stuff, and they currently have all 3 volumes of The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society reprints at 10 bucks a volume when you purchase all 3 volumes in a bundle for 30 (usually they are 30 bucks a volume).

This covers issues 1 - 33 of the Journal, and included 2 maps of the Spinward Marches of the Third Imperium in the shipping box as a bonus (at least they were in my box).

Traveller is a setting I enjoy reading, and I have plenty of reading to keep me occupied for a long time.

I blame Christian for this purchase, as he had asked about the Traveller reprints a few weeks back on his blog ;)

Keeping Up With the Borderlands

I'm trying to find a setting to use with my (hopefully) forthcoming Tunnels & Trolls Campaign. It aint easy.

The underlying system doesn't concern me much, as it's easy enough to convert to T&T. The problem is the scope of most commercial campaigns. The Forgotten Realms / The World of Greyawk / The Wilderlands and their kind are nice, but their scope is too huge. I need a backyard for the players to play in,not an endless park.

I want it to be sandboxy. Something like Keep on the Borderlands, but designed with todays sensibilities.

I might already have it in my library and I just need to identify it, but I am open to suggestions. Like I said, system doesn't matter much, as I'll be converting to T&T anyways.




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Petty Gods, Large Rewards

James over at Grognardia has a Petty Gods Project that he is seeking submissions for.  It's a pretty cool project, and I'm thinking about a Petty Junior Deity or two myself.

How do you make a cool project even cooler? When Dan of Labyrinth Lord fame offers free (art enhanced) PDFs of the same to contributors to the Petty Gods Project.  Damn sweet offer.  Get off your butts and be petty folks!

Hedging My Bets

If the poll results keep going as they are, I've got a fun crap load of solo gaming to get to. Even if it doesn't stay in the first position, its clear that its a decent idea. Might as well get a head start.

I was listening to the Opie & Anthony show this morning, and Penn from Penn & Teller was the guest. He mentioned that for legal reason, when he uses derogatory words to describe people in his shows, he keeps to vulgarity, as its harder to sue someone who calls you a mother f^cker for slander then it is if you call them a liar or dishonest. His staff lawyer will actually go thru the scripts ahead of time and take out possibly slander words and replace then with imaginative four letter+ words. Very interesting and topical, considering the events of the past few days here in the blogosphere of Old School gaming.

I've had the Apple keyboard for the iPad since my birthday over the summer and hardly ever gave it a workout until now. Its actually pretty good. I'm impressed. I don't mind the touchscreen the iPad uses at all, but this is so much easier and quicker.


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Some Thoughts...

-The poll is more active then I expected.  It looks like solo run thru / comparisons of play has taken the lead.  Probably should have thrown MS&PE into the mix for that choice, but then I'd never finish ;)

It is nice tho, as I can focus on one or two things as a steady column / regular entry for a bit.  Very interested in seeing how it plays out.

-Sometimes the drama behind the game is more exciting then the game.

-I haven't started Christmas Shopping yet.  Another year of Black Friday shopping from my computer if all goes well, then back to sleep.  Avoiding the crowds is the best part.

-I just saw a Christmas miracle right now as I type... my son closed his window all the way.  Heck, you might even think winter were almost here.

-I'm tempted to roll a Tunnels & Trolls 7e character right now, so I can run him thru some early T&T Solos w/o adjusting the MRs... with luck he'd run roughshod over his adversaries and I wouldn't have to fudge rolls.  Not that I EVER fudge rolls when playing solo... or when I GM...

-I very badly want to watch last nite's episode of The Walking Dead, but the kid's in bed, and it deserves to be played loud.

-I thought I was going to get an extra hour's sleep with DST in effect.  I never saw it.  Someone owes me.

-I had something I wanted to post about something, but I forget what it was.  Unless its part of the above list, but I doubt that it is.  Grrrrrrr...

From Ken St. Andre

Public Apology to James Shipman


A few days ago, I sent a mail to all Trollhalla members in which I tried to explain my current relationship with James Shipman and Outlaw Press. As you may know, we are not on good terms, and I let my anger get the better of me. That is no excuse. I should have remembered my courtesy, and not called him any names at all. I certainly should not have called him a felon. I recant. I take it all back. Despite our differences, Jim Shipman is a gentleman, and I will never insult him again. I sincerely hope we can resolve our differences, and that my lapse in courtesy last week can be overlooked and forgotten.

Sincerely,
Ken St. Andre

P.S. I hereby ask anyone who carried my previous message about James Shipman to take that message down and run this one in its place.

Ken St. Andre
November 8, 2010

(I'm just a messenger. The above is posted and the previous redacted as per the wishes of Ken St. Andre)


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The Obsession(s)

Slinky. It's fun for a girl and a boy. It's apparently also fun for me as I sit at my desk at work and find the thing constantly in my hands. Metal, not the horrid plastic one. Of course, sooner or later it will get tangled and bent, and that will be the end of that.

Call of Duty: Black Ops. I suspect this will also be fun. Probably also fairly obsessive for the first few weeks after release, father and son will be sharing in this one.

If only the lad would consider table top roleplaying, I wouldn't need to buy two copies of every release we want to play together. Well, at least he pays a share of the cost from his allowance ;)

The Walking Dead. First zombie movie / series / whatever that i'd love to play in as a player. I need to watch last nite's episode later.

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Poll Update

I am humbled by the number of early votes in the poll. A big Thank You to all who have voted and will vote. It is up until next weekend, so get your vote in when you can.

The poll results should keep me fairly focused for a while... Won't that be a nice change? Heh


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Working on a Poll

No, not a stripper's pole... I don't think you or I could stomach that.

No, a poll, as in "vote for the silly stuff you want Tenkar to do next"

I'm thinking something along the line of my next in-depth review (like I did for Tunnels & Trolls 7e) or even running myself thru solos in D&D 4e Essentials Red box, LotFP Weird Fantasy Tutorial, T&T, MSPE and maybe even a Fighting Fantasy adventure and compare... crap, that would be a series of posts.

Eh, lets see how the poll works out.  It might even surprise me ;)

Another Good Session Last Night

When you can play for four hours of gaming, not roll any combat dice and not even realize it, it's a damn good session.

That, or maybe I was just too tired to tell the difference ;)

Some great role playing last nite. I had a blast. Next month will be a long wait for the next session.


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Sometimes the Hook is Only as Good as the Players

Here I am, in the middle of a Castles & Crusades (via Fantasy Grounds 2) session, and all I can think is that my roleplaying almost cost us an adventure hook that I was willing to avoid at all cost (being the suspicious dwarf that I am).

Of course, there are 4 of us tonight, and you only need to hook one ;)

Still, it is something to bear in mind... if you can hook one player, you'll probably pull the rest in tow...

I'll remember that as I work on my Tunnels & Trolls campaign... (no asking for when yet... after the New Year at the very least)

Ass... Dragging... Must... Game...

I am totally beat.

Last nite was movie nite.  After letting the kid get his driving time in and doing taxi service for the lady, I didn't get home until after 1 am... and then i had to be up at 615 to get the kid to his SAT test at 730 this morning.

More driving after the test and I'm ready to crawl into the sheets.  I can't tho', as I have a C&C game via FG2 at 8 tonight.  The game only rolls around once a month so I'm not going to miss it, but I can already feel the pain.

Let's see how long I last tonight before the "junkie nod" takes me out for the night ;)

QuickStart - BattleTech: A Time of War

Yep, Battletech has RPG rules, and now there is a free Quickstart for those rules.  If you've lived in a cave for the last 25 years or so, Battletech is a game of mechanized fighting robots, with people in the gooey center.  Alright, that may be an oversimplification, but why take my work for it?  Here's your chance to roleplay the gooey center ;)

A Note From the Troll God

A word about James Shipman and Outlaw Press.

Xxxxxx removed as per Ken St. Andre's request xxxxxx

--Ken St. Andre
Nov. 6, 2010



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