Another Caffeinated Day

Read an RPG in Public Week

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:02:57 +0000

I'm waiting for my VW.

Thought I would drop a post to just say I'm participating in Read an RPG in Public Week. My Knights of the Grail is open by my side as I complete some research for some campaign short fiction.

Always thinking about kickstarting my WFRP campaign. The time seems to escape me to make it happen. While I'm enjoying the Pathfinder campaign I'm currently in (as a GM the lighter work load required is nice), the D&D fantasy setting is so shiny.

I do like my WFRP grim and peril.

...oh, and one more thing, your daughter is a whore...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:41:52 +0000

Out of context, you might ask, "What ever prompted you to say/think that?"

Suffice to say, I didn't say that to someone's face, for real at least. I was playing Pathfinder, Paizo's 3.5e+ of the world's most popular roleplaying game (it's not WFRP :().

My character is Du'can, a 17 year old ranger, in the game run by a player in my WFRP campaign. What makes this comment so funny is both a statement about how much fun "meta-gaming" at the table can be and how hard it is tell a gaming story.

Du'can and his new friends are heroes of Sandpoint after dispatching a significant number of goblins (Du'can killed 3 at range with his longbow). Being heroes brings many benefits, like free pastries. And being a hero, and maybe the most attractive character in the party, Du'can is approached by an attractive young women with a problem: rats in the basement. Du'can reluctantly follows her to the basement of Sandpoint's well known general store. There are no rats. Du'can instead finds a cot and a brash, forceful, and now topless, young woman.

Our GM knows what was going on, I didn't, but how the table banter played out was classic table fun!

First Du'can "saves" vs. Perception and hears footsteps on the stairs! Du'can pushes the young woman away in enough time for her to cloth herself and Du'can now has to face down the suspicions of "Daddy."

What's going on down here!"

I'm looking for rats. She told me there were rats in your basement."

I roll a natural 20 vs. Diplomacy. Our GM was just a bit flummoxed, but in a good way. In gaming terms, I could have made up anything and the NPC would have been amiable to my treaties:

Because I rolled a Natural 20. That's what I'm doing in your basement..."

Ok, I did roleplay the reasoning:

Your daughter explained there were rats in your basement, and as you know it is something of a mystery how all the goblins got into town for the festival. As a hero of Sandpoint, it would be neglectful of me to not explore the possibility that secret tunnels exist beneath the town."

The roll made for some of the best table banter I have had in a while...including the possibility of ending the conversion with:

...oh, and one more thing, your daughter is a whore. Good day, sir."

Played some Pathfinder today

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:01:49 +0000

I was able to make it to Paizo Day at my FLGS to play some Pathfinder. And being on the other side of the screen felt good; its been a while.

The GM, Doug P., is a player in my WFRP campaign, so I was sympathetic to his struggle to wrangle the group. Of the five players, three others including myself never played Pathfinder before, and I believe the last time any of the four of us played any variation of "D20" was 1st edition AD&D. Of the other two players, one was a Pathfinder GM and the other was more recently familiar with 3/3.5 D&D.

Doug P. displayed some incredible patience with the sometimes unruly group, cracking jokes, puns and generally seeking mayhem in the scenario. I played a 1st level mage (I forget all the details of the character except that I recognized the character as one of the Pathfinder iconics, Ezren). Like a good mage I held to the back of the party, allowing the "meat," the iconic Valeros and a Paladin, charge or otherwise take point. I did get to use my cane several times as a boomerang to great effectiveness.

It was fun, high fantasy. Yet, I'm not buying yet. Still love my WFRP too much.

I did meet some good players and may try to form a new WFRP group that can meet more often at the FLGS. Doug P. is currently hosting a pretty regular Pathfinder game with his son and 4 other players. His time to play in our WFRP campaign suddenly got really limited. I don't fault him in the least and give him many kudos for fostering younger players in the hobby. ~o)

Memories of gaming: TMNT&OS

Mon, 31 May 2010 14:57:06 +0000

I really like the new TMNT movie. I wrote about the release of this movie... damn, three years ago! My review stands and I might even raise it a star, giving it 4.

More recently though this blog has been about RPGs, so I wanted to talk a bit about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness by Palladium.

As RPG systems go, Palladium's Megaversal System has a rap: it's broken or it has too much crunch, etc. But I really liked the TMNT&OS, and many of my friends did too. We played a lot of TMNT&OS (and Twilight: 2000 or WFRP) in those heady days above Dragonware Hobbies in Conyers, GA, or in our living rooms.

My TMNT&OS campaign was a good one. I remember the randomly assembled mutant "anti-heros" called themselves the "Peacemakers" (before the ideas of a "group template" received mainstream appeal). The problem was the team tended leave anything but peace in their wake. I played in a couple of games where the GM was rotated in the same campaign world (and lost a character to a merciless headshot after being overcome by an NPC and used a bargaining chip for escape with the NPC's gun against his temple; the Peacemakers were not ones that played nice with heavy-handed tactics of this kind, and my character was dead¹).

I have great memories of TMNT&OS as a game. The game system though was one that honestly did sour my feelings for most other Palladium games. I never picked up Rifts, by far the most well-known title in the Palladium library, but I did own Recon, not sure if I owned the RPG, Inc. release or the Palladium release (the dates are pretty telling that I owned the Palladium release though).

Good times... ~o)

[1] As a GM I think that headshots like the one described are instantly lethal. No save. No hit points. No "to-hit" roll. Bam. You're dead. How do you play it? I do concede if the system provides a "save mechanic" e.g., WFRP Fate Points, then maybe a survival is possible. TMNT&OS did not provide this mechanic, as I recall, and I accepted the ruling of the GM.↩

Good Morning

Sat, 22 May 2010 14:14:45 +0000

Well, would you look at this... I'm posting something.

Been quite the busy little father, husband, gamemaster, and nerd. Father and Husband are demanding enough (job, daughter, wife). All rewarding in their own ways.

As a nerd and gamemaster, a couple of things have been put on the front burners that have resulted in my neglecting ACD (in the foreground at least). As a nerd I'm leading a revival of the blojsom ($blojsom$) Java blogging platform. So while I might not be blogging, I'm still blogging, but mostly coding and being a sysadmin.

As a gamemaster, WFRP still gets played. We're averaging once a month right now. That's good considering all the distractions in the way. If you ever want to know what's going on that front, jump over to the wiki.

Oh, the "funding manager" (read wife) won't release funding for a new MacBook Pro until I get a couple of professional certifications...so I'm studying a lot too. That reminds me about a story involving "carrots and sticks"...nevermind, you probably already heard it. ~o)

New MacBook Pros Imminent

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:44:41 +0000

Your editor-at-large is excited about the possibility of new MacBook Pros.

Yes, I am a Mac Addict. Fanboi. Thrall. Since 1992.

POOF! There goes my evil bank bonus... well, just a little bit of it.

My Polish is a Joke

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:38:34 +0000

I'm not Polish. And if you ever play Twilight:2000 with me you immediately know that I'm not Polish. I become the Polish joke.

Generally, I find with many RPGs, whether completely fanciful, or based in the past, present, or future Earth fail in the area of assisting players with immersion into the locales presented when words rise against them. Allow me to provide an example and to pick on WFRP, so you know I'm not being biased:

Tzenntch. The Chaos God of Magic and Change. Is that 'T' silent? How do you pronounce 'tch'? Is it T-zen-T-ch? or Zeen-ch? It's likely the later, Zeen-ch, silent Ts all around. Eleven names anyone? How about some apostrophes folks?

Twilight:2000 is throughout a study in words that have consonants, as an English--some limited German--speaker, in places one does not expect them. And sounds that don't match the spellings. For example, take the city of Lodz. Lodz is central to PCs in the opening deus ex machina presented to them by the referee. Flashback to my introductions to Twilight:2000 in 1984, I recall saying it like it's spelled: L-ODDs, rhymes with "odd." But Wikipedia, tells me it's more like "Wud-g." That's a "W." Not an L ("ell").

Services like Wikipedia, or Forvo, did not exist in 1984. The friends I had did not have access to Polish teachers, parents, or friends. Correctly pronouncing the plethora of Polish places and names was not within our grasp. GDW did not help us either. We were left to fend for ourselves, butchering the Polish in every game.

Basically, I believe it is a requirement of game publishers to provide phonetic guides to names and places, at every new word or name, or provide a table in the back summarizing them. It is my argument that the spirit of the game, the very mood the publisher or the author's imagination birthed, is ruined. Worse even, pronunciation becomes a barrier to play as everyone stares crossed-eyed at words, mouthing the sounds, then embarrassing him or herself on sounding it out.

Just venting. ~o)

The Ides of March

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:12:49 +0000

Tomorrow marks the Ides of March.

Three days til St. Patrick's Day. Green Beer?

Six days til my 42nd Birthday. Green Eggs? Green Ham?

Maybe there's a chance for a game in this coming week. One a month. 12 sessions this year; more time permitting.

So many geek distractions. Must focus.

Slowly coming back to normal

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 21:37:10 +0000

I spent most of the week in Utah at a business+tech conference for web analytics and marketing.

As I sit in SLC, enjoying the free WiFi and "recharging" station, I restored much of the resources that were hosted on ACD, e.g., book plates, podcasts, Inns of the Empire tool, &tc. Almost back to what it was before my necessary sysadmin work.

I really want to develop a new theme for ACD so have not restored the "caffeinated" theme (though it should be a simple matter now with the resource repository restored). Let's see how much time I can carve out in the next couple of weeks.

Another session of WFRP is being planned as well. I don't update the blog that much with game details and rely on the wiki... you've been to the wiki right?

Back online

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 01:28:56 +0000

After some long overdue sysadmin tasks, ACD is back online.

The theme is Asual, the default theme for the blogging engine that runs ACD (an engine that I also maintain in the open source community). A new ACD theme has been overdue as well, so I'll be threading some time for that effort shortly.

Thanks for your patience.

Wargames and RPGs in context

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:28:55 +0000

Sometime before 1984--I remember this in context of where we lived and when we moved to the "country"--my father brought home two books from the Ft. McPherson library. I don't recall the title of one, but the contents I recall detailed weapon systems, past, present and future (there was a chapter on the theoretical effectiveness and application of the "neutron bomb"). The second however was James F. Dunnigan's The Complete Wargames Handbook. The book has since been in reprinted in three editions as it is still used as a reference in military schools.

The Complete Wargames Handbook was a big influence on me. I read and reread the book. Printed the game Drive on Metz, made counters, and even designed an amateur game based on the principles Dunnigan set forth in his book of a North African battle between the German Afrika Corps and the British.

The Complete Wargames Handbook, 2nd Edition, is available online at StrategyPage.com, where Dunnigan is an editor and podcast host. Chapter 5, The History of Wargames details the humble, and influential, beginnings of companies we are likely very familiar: Avalon Hill, SPI and SDC. Dunnigan writes:

Some of these smaller publishers developed highly innovative ideas and have themselves contributed to profound changes in the hobby.

The most innovative and influential of these new game systems was the role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons) developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1973. The closest SPI ever came to this was a game we published in 1973 called Sniper, which involved man-to-man combat in an urban area. Players had a tendency to individualize their playing pieces in Sniper. But I, as the designer, did not bother to take it as far as Dungeons and Dragons, which was also the first, or at least the most widely successful, of the fantasy games.

Emphasis above is mine. Dunnigan praises and acknowledges Gygax and Arneson, their history of wargame design in Chainmail and play in the International Federation of Wargamers, and naturally, as well as correctly, he ties the origins of our favorite hobby back.

As a reader of blogs dedicated to grognard play styles of RPGs or wargames, I remembered my early days in gaming, my father's influence and my play today. Chapter 5 goes into great detail; anything more here is unjust. Go forth and learn.

Updated Warp Hound

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:16:36 +0000

Be sure to check out the update to the Monday's Warp Hound entry. If you didn't take a look at the campaign wiki, the details are copied here for convenience.

In the last session, the Sigmar priest and Dwarf got bit suffering a permanent would loss. A character detail that might play as a lingering pain for years to come... not to mention the corrupting fluid coursing through the veins of the characters. What trouble is that going to get the characters into down the road.

Enjoy.

The Warp Hound

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:32:16 +0000

As promised, my new creature for WFRP, the Warp Hound. Borrowing from the Old World Bestiary, I've formatted the creature in the Common and Scholar views, and added a GM's Monograph detailing the game play. I think that more dangerous Warp Hounds could add Test Difficulty to the Toughness test for "Chiefs" (per the Core Rulebook).

Enjoy. And as always, comments are welcome.

Warp Hound

Common View

"When I heard the dogs for the first time in 10 years, I wasn't sure I was hearing them. I had lived in utter silence on the isle with my brothers. No sound was ever heard on the island. The barking was a premonition of dire events. The kennels were filled with our friends barking to the east. Then a flash and earthquake. The thunderous roar of wind and noise could not be natural. Fires burned over the hills toward the northern shore and barely safe harbor. The earthquake released our dogs and they all ran. I did not see my Clem for two days until I spotted his collar on the hairless beast dragging Brother Rogerx in to the treeline."

Scholar's View

GM's Monograph

Warp Hounds are the aberration of common canine breeds exposed to intense, raw Chaos energies. First encountered by the heroes on the Silent Isle, a rocky, semi-temperate, island off the coast of Bordeleaux, Bretonnia, the warp hounds were once the companions of monks of Mannan residing on the isle observing a vow of silence.

The warp hound appears as a hairless, muscular dog. Its lower jaw jutts forward, crowded with oversized teeth and dripping with a foul, stinking saliva. The skin of the warp hound is tough and resists damage, but not like leather.

The warp hound will travel in packs with one or more dominate members, and will attack without provocation, its mind ravaged by the warp poisons coursing though its veins. The saliva is a minor mutagen and very dangerous to the touch, more so when bitten. Each bite inflicts a single permanent wound plus normal damage when a Toughness test is failed after each bite. This permanent loss is reflected in the Starting profile of the character.

The Advanced Profile shown is for a "Brute". Consider the Starting Profile a "common" Warp Hound.

Warp Hound

Race: Mutant

Career: unknown (unknown)

WS	BS	S	T	Ag	Int	WP	Fel
Main Profile
43	0	46	52	50	14	15	10
53	0	51	57	45	14	15	10
Secondary Profile
A	W	SB	TB	M	Mag	IP	FP
1	19	4	5	7	0	0	0
2	21	5	5	7	0	0	0

Skills: Follow Trail, Perception, Swim

Talents: Keen Senses, Natural Weapons, Night Vision

Armor: None

Weapons: Toothy Bite, Warp Spit

Trappings: none

Special Rules:

Thick Skin: reduce Critical Values of Critical Hits by 1 (shift left).

Warp Spit:: The spit of a warp hound contains mutagens capable of inflicting permanent wounds. Each bite causes a Toughness Test, failure results in the loss of a wound point from the starting profile of the victim.

Toothy Bite:: counts as having Impact Quality

Game tomorrow

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:46:46 +0000

Tomorrow is Washington's Birthday, a Federal holiday honoring the first U.S. President under the U.S. Constitution--seven presidents served before George Washington under the Articles of Confederation. Commonly known as, though incorrectly albeit some local municipalities make it official, President's Day, it is a that allows the grognards to gather round a kitchen or basement table for some WFRP.

The Silent Isle awaits.

A Reading From CAS

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:30:40 +0000

It might seem that I'm reposting a lot from James Maliszewski over at Grognadia, I'm not, but he recently shared a mere 150 words penned by Clark Ashton Smith. 150 words that simply conjures phantasmagoric worlds I hope, as a GM, my players desire to explore:

The nostalgia of things unknown, of lands forgotten or unfound, is upon me at times. Often I long for the gleam of yellow suns upon terraces of translucent azure marble, mocking the windless waters of lakes unfathomably calm; for lost, legendary palaces of serpentine, silver and ebony, whose columns are green stalactites; for the pillars of fallen temples, standing in the vast purpureal sunset of a land of lost and marvellous romance. I sigh for the dark-green depths of cedar forests, through whose fantastically woven boughs, one sees at intervals an unknown tropic ocean, like gleams of blue diamond; for isles of palm and coral, that fret an amber morning, somewhere beyond Cathay or Taprobane; for the strange and hidden cities of the desert, with burning brazen domes and slender pinnacles of gold and copper, that pierce a heaven of heated lazuli.

--Clark Ashton Smith