Thoughts on the Dungeon World RPG

About four weeks ago I had the chance to finally play Dungeon World at a local games day. After reading so many comments about the game I wanted to give it a chance and see what all the excitement is about.

I should mention that the game master was very good and I would play in any game with him again. The following thoughts are about the rules, not his performance as game master. I'm writing this based on a brief reading of the free version of the rules, one four-hour play session, and other actual play comments I've read on blogs or G+.

DW strikes me as a game for people who want to like Dungeons & Dragons and want to play the game but have had bad experiences with D&D in the past, either with the mechanics, with bad players, with bad DMs -- the stereotypical "killer DM" -- or with railroad-y adventures, and the game is designed to prevent those problems from occurring.

What I like about traditional RPGs is that the outcome isn't so apparent, and anything could happen. The outcomes of Moves in DW (a mechanic first appearing in its parent system Apocalypse World) aren't always locked and static, but they do have only a narrow amount of room to interpret what happens. Depending on the die roll, one or more outcomes are provided by the Move and are played out in the game. I like the ability of the GM and players in a traditional RPG to interpret the dice vis-a-vis the current situation and decide what happens in that context. It does require an amount of trust between players and the GM, and it seems that DW and similar games are written for groups of players who do not have that trust, although this does make it easy for pick-up games at conventions.

As a result, DW has taken the high-trust mechanics of indie/story games and bolted it onto the frame of D&D. The problem then becomes one of choice. By codifying high-trust into the mechanics, rather than relying on it at the table between players, it loses the amount of freedom of action found in a traditional RPG. If these types of high-trust mechanics are a necessary part of the gaming experience, they can be added and dropped into nearly any existing system. One method can be seen in FATE. Aspects in FATE provide the some of the same story background/genre emulation function as Moves in DW, with the added benefit of being fluid, without being rigidly locked into set choices and outcomes. Our group has drifted many story game ideas into our campaigns over the past ten years or so -- card-based resolution, greater player narrative control, action/fate/hero points, etc.

Like many other story games, DW runs under the principle of rules-as-written (RAW). Many traditional gamers play by RAW, many do not. "If you are going to play the game, use all the game's rules," is what I perceive from many story game rules. Traditional gamers use the rules, but not always in the same way, and not always all the rules presented, in more of a toolbox approach. In traditional games, "if it doesn't seem right, make it up" is where the idea of "rulings, not rules" applies.

This is a case where there are two different play experience expectations. Scrabble and Words with Friends are both games using letters. Pictionary and Win, Lose, or Draw are both games about drawing pictures. Monopoly and The Game of Life are both games about "real world" finance, but each of these are different play experiences. It's OK to choose to play chess, or Dungeon World, or Shadowrun, depending on what you want to accomplish.

Story games and traditional RPGs are not that far apart in what they are trying to accomplish: the creation of a "storyline" through play. What many story game systems try to do is use the mechanics to shape and create the story, while traditional games use the mechanics to create situations that allow "stories" to develop through emergent play. Where the difference lies, in my limited experience with them, is in the idea that with story games, the stories seem to be more preplanned and forced by their rules systems, where traditional games present situations to be played through without a preconceived notion of where the story might go, independent of system.

None of this should suggest that I dislike DW; it seemed to work well, and many players love it. Like any other game, it may not be right for everyone. I thought there were some very clever ideas: using stat modifiers for some actions (much like True20), and stat penalty conditions, for example. The Move for combat that incorporates a miss by the player with a hit by the opponent is interesting, and still something that I'm wrapping my trad-gamer mind around.

One of the commenters in a recent G+ discussion about DW made an important point -- and I wish I could remember who it was to give proper credit. This person said (paraphrasing) that all it would take to make DW work the way I might expect is to change a bit of the wording in the Moves, from "Choose one or two from this list" to "These are some suggested results:" Give some examples, and let the players make a decision on how to proceed based on their unique situation in-game.

And this is where DW really shines for me: as an introduction to roleplaying for brand-new players. It shows people who are new to tabletop gaming what a game can be like, and what they as players can do. A traditional RPG might advertise itself by saying "You can do anything!", which could be overwhelming to a new gamer. DW addresses this by showing players exactly what their characters can do and what the outcomes might be. I would like to see traditional RPG quickstart rules set up in the same way as DW, rather than the choose-your-own-adventure style sometimes seen in beginner sets. I also like the fast and easy way that characters can be created; again, ideal for pick-up games with new people and little or no preparation.

DW is billed as delivering an old-school gaming experience. I didn't fully have that impression from the short trial that I played, but I may have too little data to fully judge. As some players have discovered, going back to an earlier system can recapture that feeling. Even so, with all of the various role playing games now available, it's easier than ever to find that right play experience for you and your group.

Happy birthday, Frank Frazetta

Yesterday would have been the 85th birthday of American fantasy and science-fiction illustrator Frank Frazetta, whose work graces the iconic cover of Conan the Adventurer in the blog header above. The following is part of a post that I wrote when Frazetta passed away in 2010:

...a few words about an artist who has had such a profound effect on my own imagination and ideas about art in general.

I can't pinpoint exactly my first encounter with Frazetta's work. I've always been a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, for as long as I can remember. I do have the memory of seeing the Lancer (and later Ace) Conan and Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks with Frazetta covers in bookstores, especially the prominent display in the Waldenbooks upstairs at Scottsdale Mall. I also remember seeing samples from, and the ads for, the Ballantine Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta books in Starlog Magazine in the early '80s.

Later, after more time and reading, I learned more about his extent of his work -- not just cover paintings but pencil drawings, ink work, comic book art, movie posters and album covers... on and on.

What I think makes his work so powerful and popular is how dynamic it is, how much is going on in that single snapshot of time. In some works, we see the moment before something happens. In others, it's the aftermath. But in all of them, there's the quality and artistry -- visceral, raw energy, in every brushstroke or line of ink. Pure magic.

Happy Birthday, Robert E. Howard

Today marks the 107th anniversary of the birth of pulp writer Robert E. Howard. It has become a tradition on this date for Howard fans to read a favorite story and raise a toast.

You can't go wrong with any of the stories, and there should be one to suit your preference: sword and sorcery, hard-boiled detectives, weird horror, historical fiction, boxing, westerns, pirates and a sword-wielding puritan. One of my favorites that I often choose for a birthday reading is "Worms of the Earth", a story of Bran Mak Morn, last king of the Picts, and a weapon "to terrible to use, even against Rome". It's available in many publications but I would suggest the text found in Del Rey's Bran Mak Morn: The Last King.

This year I might read one of the stories from Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures.

For more information on his life and career, start with the following sites:

• Robert E. Howard United Press Association
• The Robert E. Howard Foundation
• Howard Works bibliographic database
• The Cimmerian (no longer updated)

I would also recommend Mark Finn's Howard biography, the Locus and World Fantasy Award-nominated Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard. An expanded edition was released last year by the REH Foundation.

Lynn Willis, RIP

On Friday afternoon the notices began to circulate in gamer social media that designer and publisher Lynn Willis had passed away.

Ken Hite wrote a short yet moving overview of Willis' legacy, including work on BRP, co-designing the Ghostbusters RPG, and the dice pools of Shadowrun and Storyteller. I was struck at this observation:

Every Call of Cthulhu product you've ever loved from the first edition to 1999 exists because Lynn Willis made sure its text was coherent, made sure its gameplay was sound, and made sure it got to print. And there's a strong possibility that the thing you like best about it was added or correctly shaped by Lynn, not by the credited author.

This was a surprise to me. I didn't know. The hows and whys of publishing are still a mystery to me sometimes. If asked about my favorite published role playing game, the most likely answer is "Call of Cthulhu" (with Basic D&D hovering close by). Call of Cthulhu 5th Edition is my own favorite version of almost any RPG, being one of the best examples of great rules, tone, layout and production I know. I did not realize that Lynn Willis was the person to thank for how good it is.

It is a reminder to me that if I love a game/book/song/movie, it is important to thank the creative person behind it before it's too late. As it happens, I'm running a Call of Cthulhu 5th ed. adventure on Saturday, and I can think of no better tribute.

In the new year

An old cliche tells us that something is "better done than perfect." The sentiment behind it is sound -- get something finished rather than try for an impossible state of perfection. In regards to the blog and my other creative pursuits this year, I intend to keep this advice in mind.

My examination of game systems that could be used for Conan/Hyborian Age sword-and-sorcery campaigns fell by the wayside last year. I hope to pick it up again and look at a variety of game systems including OpenQuest2, Barbarians of Lemuria, WaRP and Crypts and Things. I'll run this someday and stop just talking and writing about it -- "better done than perfect". Often gamer ADD takes hold and another completely different idea moves ahead of it in the queue. Speaking of which...

This year I intend to either play or run a short campaign (6-8 sessions) of Night's Black Agents. From the early development of the game and the pre-order campaign of a year ago, I've been very excited about it. While I would like to push forward and get started, that perfectionist quality I try to avoid makes me think I should wait until the expansion book hits the street.

A conversation on G+ among fellow gamers and Star Trek fans about the pulp sci-fi qualities of the Original Series sparked the creation of a Trek RPG community group, and I was invited to play and run over G+ Hangouts using a shared setting and characters. We have had two sessions already (a two-part series pilot episode), and it's been great fun.

This month, I will run a convention scenario for Call of Cthulhu at a local games day. While there I'm also scheduled to play in a Dungeon World session. I'm eager to finally play and see why so many other gamers are excited about it.

2012 Blog year in review

I always like to take some time at the beginning of the new year to look back at what I wrote on the blog and elsewhere over the past year. I had high hopes to post more often and to write on a more diverse set of topics this year. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Some of the ideas I mentioned last time did not come to fruition, such as the game review series From the Dusty Shelf, or my look at Fantastic Four starting from issue #1. No new movies went up for Cult Classic of the Week.

On a positive note, I was able to play more this past year. I had the chance to play in a few RPG sessions online over G+, in a friend's 3.5 campaign, until connection problems forced me to drop out. Also, I was able to play more games in person, with two short-term campaigns and a local games day event.

Near the end of the summer, I started to think about what I could do to jump-start my creative spark. Several opportunities arose at nearly the same time, and I am grateful:

• Secret Santicore 2012, in which one requests an RPG article, and writes one in return.
• A short adventure seed for the Weird Adventures Companion
• An article on medieval cooking for Burgs & Bailiffs 

  Tomorrow: What to expect in the new year.

Pacific Rim: full trailer

I posted the teaser video earlier yesterday, then at mid-day the official trailer was released. (more details at Wired)

Teaser Trailers: Star Trek Into Darkness and Pacific Rim

If there are two things that we like here at Kaijuville, it's kaiju and Star Trek. Last Thursday, the short teaser trailer for next year's Star Trek Into Darkness was released.



io9 has done a walk-through of the teaser, looking for clues about the plot. I've been keeping some distance from sources during the making of the film just to maintain some surprise. Even so, there's not much out there to go on. Klingons appear in the film, and we see some in this trailer. A standard trailer will be shown with The Hobbit, and the first 8 minutes of the film with The Hobbit in IMAX theaters.

Another highly-anticipated film for 2013 is Guillermo del Toro's giant robots vs. kaiju epic Pacific Rim. Two "viral video" teasers:




From what I understand, Pacific Rim will be a conventional action film and not a "found footage" movie.

Two rules-light 2d6 RPG systems

Boosting the signal here for anyone who hasn't seen these simple sets of RPG rules yet. Brendan posted a short and sweet fantasy game system with a 2d6 dice resolution mechanic, then Jack hacked it, adding more structure yet keeping it fairly light and easy.

Either one of these easy-to-run game systems would work out nicely for G+ Hangouts -- free to use, compact and easily expandable. Both iterations assume only "generic fantasy", and could easily accommodate pulp, sci-fi, historical, cyberpunk, and so on with a bit of tweaking. Both look like fun and a good start for building up something special.

I'd like to run a game over G+ hangouts at least once during the Christmas break and this 2d6 system is a strong contender. Now to decide what type of game and setting.

Update: Here's another hack of the system that lets you run games of Aliens against Predators.

Kicksgiving!

Besides being a time for giving thanks and being grateful, the Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally a space where one might have extra opportunities to enjoy one's favorite media. Many people watch football. I've always enjoyed it as a time for gaming (video or tabletop), reading and watching movies.

Web comic creator Aaron Diaz posted this to his Twitter feed:


His invented holiday, Kicksgiving, calls for the eating of leftovers and watching kung fu films on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I need little excuse to indulge in a kung fu movie marathon, but I'll take it.

My first thoughts are of a Five Deadly Venoms triple-feature, or a series of "unusual weapon" movies: Master of the Flying Guillotine, Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, Legendary Weapons of China, etc.

What are your plans for the weekend?

(originally found through Gareth Skarka on G+)

Comment word verification off (again)

At the end of October I temporarily reactivated word verifications for comments here on the blog. Spambots were hammering several older pages without mercy, and I thought this action would give me a brief respite and the bots might move on. Seeing a post on G+ today about captchas reminded me that -- since it's been more than a week -- it was time to discontinue verifications and open the comments again.

Blogger is excellent about automatically purging the spam messages. Notifications still get sent to me, and I'll continue to keep an eye on them. There has to be a better way to deal with the 'bots than to inconvenience real blog readers.

"Happy little trees": Bob Ross' 70th Birthday

If you watched any daytime PBS programming from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties, you're certain to have seen The Joy of Painting with artist Bob Ross. Google celebrates what would have been his 70th birthday today with a Bob Ross Google Doodle on their main page.

My own artistic talent is confined to three-dimensional work such as gaming miniatures and terrain. Starting with a blank canvas and creating a scene is a huge challenge for me. If you watched Bob's show -- or attended his painting classes -- he encouraged you and made you believe that anyone could create art and love the process.

I think it's particularly fitting that the "g" in the Google art is blue. I can remember him saying on the show many times,"Perhaps a little more Phthalo Blue here... Phthalo Blue..."

Always upbeat, always engaged with the viewer, and always full of wonder for the beauty of the natural world, he created miniature worlds in his landscape paintings, and invited you to do the same. What I will remember is that optimistic joy, love of animals, and genuine passion for life that he projected on every show.

Bob Ross passed away in 1995.

Mental Floss has a great list of "5 (Happy Little) Things You Didn't Know about Bob Ross."

Still here

A busy time of work and other life issues has kept me from posting recently. I intend to be back to a more regular schedule soon.

The spambots have been hitting the blog without mercy this month. I've temporarily turned on the word verification step for comments in the hope that it will force them to look for different prey.

Gen Con 2012 report, part 3

Following from Part 1 and Part 2.

Saturday: Met our friend D. downstairs at the hotel restaurant for the breakfast buffet, then went to the show.

I dropped Mrs. Kaiju off at the Writers' Symposium room and then went to my first seminar of the day. Dennis Detwiller and Ken Hite presented their ideas on using alternative history in RPGs. Ken Hite is always entertaining and informative, and I had not heard Dennis Detwiller speak in person before. Overall, it was a very worthwhile seminar.

I had a free hour before my next seminar and while Mrs. Kaiju was in her Ghosts and Spirits seminar, so I went through a few more aisles in the dealer's area. On this go-around, I found Troll and Toad's bargain booth area for the first time. The stock area built up using magazine-sized longboxes and storage crates. On this day, all items were $2 each, and there were still boxes and boxes of gaming goodness -- plenty of the usual d20 book overstock, but also some oddball and out-of-the-ordinary items. I saw older military history and wargaming books, and several Judges Guild publications, including Traveller star maps, issues of their magazine Pegasus, and surprisingly, many copies of Ready Ref Sheets, one of the JG items I've wanted for a while. I also grabbed a copy of Tales of the Caliphate Nights, a fantasy Arabian Nights setting book for True20 developed by Paradigm Concepts.


Back upstairs to the seminar room for "History, Panic, and History Panic", featuring Ken Hite and Jason Morningstar on the running a campaign in a historical setting without tears. This was another great seminar. Beedo wrote about the seminar in detail at Dreams in the Lich House, and Jason Morningstar posted the audio of all his Gen Con seminars on G+.

I missed out on meeting Beedo after the seminar; however, I did meet Trey of From the Sorcerer's Skull and got a copy of his setting book Weird Adventures.

 

At some point on Saturday, I found the Media Blasters booth. Although mostly known for anime, MB also releases Asian live-action movies, including Shaw Brothers kung-fu and Toho monster flicks. They had a stack of their new Godzilla vs. Megalon DVDs -- a week before the official release date -- for a show special price of $10.

Saturday night we met up with another set of people from our local gaming scene at The Ram. Following dinner, Mrs. Kaiju and I got together with D. and crew in the hotel bar for the start of an ongoing Gen Con campaign. D. ran the session and we used B/X characters. There was some talk of converting to AD&D for Part 2 next year, and converting up through the editions following. We all had a great time.

Sunday: Mrs. Kaiju and I met D. again for breakfast before going to the convention center. With no scheduled events for either of us, it was a day of wandering the Exhibit Hall for the final time this year.

I returned to the Troll and Toad bargain booth to find that much of their stock had been cleaned out, as if vultures had picked through it. Prices had gone to $1 an item. All of the longboxes were missing, with some scattered items left on the tables and a glut of d20 books remaining in the storage crates. I should have picked up more of the Judges Guild material the day before. Some good gaming books remained, so I purchased Argos and Zingara for the Mongoose Conan RPG and another copy of Caliphate Nights for a friend.

Wandering back toward the OSR booth, I saw a small group standing and talking in front of the tables. We had turned the corner before I realized that the skinny tie one person was wearing had to signify that it was Dr. Rotwang!. He and his wife were there chatting with Trollsmyth. We talked for a short time before moving on in our separate directions.

By 1pm, we decided to pack up and begin the trip back home.

This year's Gen Con had a strange vibe for me. Nothing went horribly wrong, most everything went smoothly. We even had some extra time at the show this year. Even so, it didn't feel like the usual full Gen Con experience. We were on the move a lot, going here and there, and still didn't see everything that I had hoped to see. Even so, we had very fun times with the usual crew that we meet up with. I played in two games (which doesn't seem like enough for a gaming convention). The highlights of the show were being with our local gamer friends and meeting very cool people we know though gaming blogs and G+.

The countdown begins for next year!

Three New Mario Bava DVDs/Blu-rays

Two weeks ago, Kino Lorber released three DVDs and Blu-rays of director Mario Bava's films Black Sunday, Hatchet for the Honeymoon, and Lisa and the Devil/House of Exorcism. These had been previously released on disc by Image, and new editions of more Bava films should be on the way from Kino soon.

Of these three releases Black Sunday is the one to check out first, as an important film in the history of horror cinema. You can find my observations about the film here.

The Season of Monsters

As a kid, September was a drag because it meant the end of summer vacation and back-to-school time. What got me through was thinking about October following after.

I never thought of October as my favorite month, although it is fun. It wasn't so much about costumes and Trick-or-Treat-ing for me; instead, it was all about haunted houses and the plethora of monster movies and specials shown on TV at Halloween time. That doesn't happen so much anymore on network television, aside from the marathons on Turner Classic Movies. With some luck, I might get my Cult Classic movie series restarted this month.

Later this week: the third and final installment of my Gen Con report, and new DVD/Blu-ray releases.

Gen Con 2012 report, part 2

Following from Part 1.

We continued to wander the Exhibit Hall for a while, pausing to eat some of the snacks we brought along with us instead of taking time for a sit-down lunch. Eventually we made our way to the block of rooms on the second floor of the convention where the Writers' Symposium events take place. Mrs. Kaiju was scheduled for Mike Stackpole's "21 Days to Writing a Novel" seminar.

I went out to navigate the maze of rooms and low-ceiling hallways that is the Crowne Plaza Hotel, looking for the room for the RPG Blog Allance meetup. Jeff from RPGBA and The Bone Scroll was the moderator, although there wasn't a large unruly crowd to moderate -- myself, Nate from d20 Pirates, and Riley from Roll20.net. Jeff discussed the origins of the RPGBA, site maintenance, and we spoke pretty generally about the state of RPG blogs. We hoped that there might be a better turnout the next time.

I returned to the con center to pick up Mrs. Kaiju, and toured part of the hall one last time. I had my Red Box Basic D&D books with me so I could get Frank Mentzer's autograph, although he wasn't at the OSR booth any of the times we walked by.  He probably spent most of his time at the auction area. Later we met up with some of our local gaming group friends at the Ram. We all had a great time and the food was decent.

After dinner, the Mrs. decided to crash, while I met up with another of my good local gaming friends, D., at the bar in the Marriott. He was playing Descent 2e with R. and J., two of his long-time gaming friends we meet at the con each year. I got in on the last game of the evening and then went back to the hotel.

Next: The third and final part, Saturday and Sunday

South Bend Games Day

If you are in the Northern Indiana/Southwest Lower Michigan area, check out the activities planned so far for South Bend Games Day on October 13th. There are still a few open slots for GMs to run games. Games will open for players to sign up soon.

Neil Armstrong, RIP

43 years ago, humans first set foot on the Moon. Even though we haven't been back in 40 years, the dream of walking on another world still lives on -- most recently with Curiosity, the latest Mars rover.

Today is the official day of mourning for Neil Armstrong, with flags flown at half-staff until sunset, and also the day of the private memorial service. This article has a great image gallery of his career, and details on tributes. As the article suggests,

...the family has made one other suggestion for honoring Armstrong. Remember? "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Friday's moon is a good one to wink at: It's the second full moon in a calendar month, which is known as a "blue moon." The moon won't actually be blue, but if the skies are clear, it should be big and bright and shining all night.

If it's cloudy where you are on the planet, you can click over to the online viewing party where remote-controlled telescopes worldwide will be focused on Tranquility Base and beyond.

Gen Con 2012 report, part 1

Thursday: Mrs. Kaiju and I arrive downtown around 6pm and get checked in at the hotel right away. This was important, as our usual procedure is to arrive Friday morning. Last year, a fraternity reunion helped to sell out the hotel, and we had a long wait before a room was ready. When you are tired and sick from travelling, hanging out in the lobby for hours is no fun.

We decided to brave the light rain and walk over to Scotty's Brewhouse for dinner. We were met by a contingent of Stormtroopers and Jedi at the door and immediately seated. A later dinner time and farther away from the ICC helps with quick seating. While the overhead TVs played the DVD of Wrath of the Titans, we had a really nice dinner in a fairly quiet corner. Two managers stopped by to talk with us and I was able to get the special con d6 for Thursday.

Following dinner, I went to the convention center to pick up my badge and tickets, along with a con program that I could study that evening. I walked right up to the Will Call booth easily. All of the programs put out for the day were gone. We ran into some of our local gaming friends who were also staying at the hotel.


Friday: Got ready and went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for their breakfast buffet. Met up with our friend G. there, and then went out to the show.

After getting Mrs. Kaiju's badge and program books, we hit the Exhibit Hall. First stop: the Crystal Caste booth, each with coupon books in hand, for our Gen Con d6.You might sense a theme here -- I like collecting dice. I was sad that many of the swag bags from Gen Con 2010 were missing the commemorative dice.

Next, picking up my pre-ordered copy of Night's Black Agents from the Pelgrane Press booth. To make up for the shipping charge, we could add it to their "4 for 3" con special.

 

I added the NBA adventure book The Zalozhniy Quartet, Bookhounds of London, and The Book of the Smoke. Mrs. Kaiju spent more time talking to Paula Dempsey than I did. We continued on our wandering of the hall. I never did get back to the Pelgrane booth during the show to check out the tables along the other side, where The New Hero and the other Stone Skin Press fiction titles were located. This will be a theme of the convention this year.

Update: As shown in the photo, I also found one lone copy of Open Game Table, Vol. 2 at the Studio 2/Pinnacle booth.

Continued in Part Two...

Three RPG-related items to watch

I have not even opened and emptied my gaming bag since returning from Gen Con -- except to pull out the giant tennis-ball-sized d20 that Mrs. Kaiju purchased to use for her Composition I class next week. She's going old-school with a random writing prompt table. Therefore, my after-the-con notes will need to wait until Monday. Instead, I wanted to mention three other RPG events to watch.

Trey is looking for adventure seeds for Weird Adventures at From the Sorcerer's Skull. Check out all of the details at the contest page.

Reaper's Kickstarter project for expanding their unpainted plastic minis line will be closing 56 hours from the time of this post. I'm sure I will be kicking myself later for not getting in on the Vampire pledge level. If only this ended a month after Gen Con, and not the week after. Maybe the $15 Dungeon Attack set...

Secret Santicore is gearing up soon. Jez is looking for elves to help Santicore with the art and layout on the book. If you have such skills, let him know.

Bonus item:  The Lost Pages of Tsojcanth also has a open call for submissions on life in the Middle Ages for an RPG project titled Burgs & Bailiffs. The deadline for proposals was yesterday, however, I think I'll still send something tonight.

Gen Con report soon

Post-Gen Con report soon, probably Wednesday or Thursday. Lots of homework to grade first...

This year at Gen Con

I have been neglectful at keeping up with new game releases and events happening at Gen Con this year. I only have a handful of events and products that are on my radar for this year.

In the past few years, we've been catching up with some of my friend D.'s childhood friends at the con. This has included some memorable Saturday night gaming sessions:

• Playing Munchkin inside Champions Sports Bar. This was made more memorable by the cheers of the crowd that night watching Michael Phelps win gold in the Beijing Olympic Games.
• Playing Descent in the bar at McCormick & Schmick's
• Playing D&D Miniatures at the hotel, with Mrs. Kaiju bringing in more role-playing to the minis game, asking J. for more details about the world and what brings the party into this particular dungeon

Last year before everyone left town, the group discussed playing the module B2: Keep on the Borderlands this year. I'm assuming that this will happen, as D. recently picked up the Moldvay Basic and Expert books, B2 and X2: The Isle of Dread from the used section of our FLGS.

If schedules permit, I hope to meet some of the gamers I've chatted with online through blogs and G+. A panel discussion about the RPG Blog Alliance is scheduled on Friday. There may be other informal meetups.

The podcast This Just In from Gen Con will be recording two shows daily throughout the convention.

I have two main goals for shopping in the Hall this year. First, receiving my pre-order print copy of Ken Hite's "Jason Bourne vs. the vampire conspiracy" RPG Night's Black Agents. Although one loses out on the shipping charge, it does count for their con special 4-for-3 sale. Second, a copy of Barbarians of Lemuria from Cubicle 7. It has received great reviews, and it's one of a group of rules that I'm looking at for running pulp-inspired sword-and-sorcery.

I have a small list of some other items that I will look for while there, particularly some OSR products such as Carcosa, Stonehell, The Dungeon Alphabet, and the like. I just found out about a 10mm sci-fi miniatures game titled Dropzone Commander. Some friends have been playing it already and the minis look neat. That reminds me that I've been wanting to check out Uncharted Seas, a fantasy naval combat minis game, as well.

Games on Demand/Indie Games Explosion gets a larger dedicated space this year, and I hope to find a couple of hours to try some of the indie/story games that we don't normally get a chance to play. I'm very curious about Fiasco, Dungeon World, and Swords Without Master in particular.

EDIT: I forgot to mention two board games: Star Trek Catan and Relic, the 40K version of Talisman.

If you are going to Gen Con, have a safe and fun trip! If not, check out the online activities for CONcurrent, also running at the same time.

A quick update and Games Day link

Work has kept me super-busy yet again this week, so I've not had the chance to think about or write up some notes on the WaRP system as I had hoped.

Next week is Gen Con, and I will have some thoughts about that posted here on Monday. I haven't keep up with the new releases for the show. One RPG item that I intend to get is Barbarians of Lemuria, and that might inform some of my ideas concerning WaRP. I really need to pick up one of the flavors of FATE eventually, either Spirit of the Century or Strands of FATE.

In the meantime... if you live in the Northern Indiana/Southwest Lower Michigan area, the official announcement and call for GMs has gone out for South Bend Games Day in October. More information on the SBGD blog.

And did I mention that it's Kaijuville's 7th anniversary this month?

WaRP OGL rules, reformatted

Mrs. Kaiju and I were going out of town for part of last weekend, which I thought would give me an opportunity to read through Atlas Games' released-as-OGL WaRP System in one sitting. Until now I had only given it a glance. Friday evening I printed the PDF and put it inside a binder folder for easy reading.

Later that same evening... I saw Rob Donoghue's blog posting about reformatting the SRD for his own use and making the PDF available for all. Still later, I saw a post from Jonathan Tweet about another reformatting by Avram Grumer, this time in landscape format (looks good on a laptop screen). If I had only waited an hour...

I have yet to read either of these two versions, although they do look sharp. I had planned to do my own layout of the SRD with tweaks --which I may still work on -- and these will be handy for checking various options.

Next week I'll post more about the system in detail.

23 days to Gen Con

Less than a month until the big show. Are you going to Gen Con? If so, what are you most excited about?

A disappointing mid-year blog review

It's the mid-point of the year, and a time to look back over the past six months.

 

Work and other real-life issues took up much of my time this year and prevented me from posting as much as I had intended; for example, an emergency -- and unexpected -- dog-sitting escapade this week (with the 90+ degree heat). We seem to fall into these kinds of misadventures regularly.

 

These responsibilities took precedence, and understandably so, although they also made it difficult to either get in the right frame of mind for writing or find the time to do the proper research for certain posts. I had several new ideas for regular blog features here this year that I have not yet been able to develop, such as game reviews, a look back at Fantastic Four comics, and my Cult Classic of the Week movie spotlights.

 

However, no need to cue the sad trombone sounds. I remain optimistic that I can juggle my schedule such that I have time for fun projects, because they are also important to me and this blog is one of my strongest creative outlets. Gen Con is approaching, as is the 7th anniversary of Kaijuville. Thank you for reading and for your support!

More Hammer Horror on Blu-ray next week

I have been neglectful in posting details about upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases lately. Next week sees the release of the long-awaited final installment of Hammer's "Karnstein Trilogy", Twins of Evil, in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

Extras include a new feature-length documentary on the Karnstein Trilogy, a featurette on what appears to be Hammer historian Wayne Kinsey's prop collection, stills, a deleted scene, and an isolated music and effects track.

Vampire Circus, the first of Synapse Films' Hammer Blu-ray series, was released near the end of last year. Two more are expected in the near future: Hands of the Ripper and Countess Dracula.

Free RPG Day 2012 downloads

Many of the publishers involved with Free RPG Day release PDF copies of their giveaway products during and in the week after the event. Here are the ones that I've found:

• Fantasy Flight Games: Warhammer 40K Roleplay Only War Adventure, "Eleventh Hour", additional characters
• Goodman Games: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Quickstart & Adventure, pregenerated characters
• Jon Brazer Enterprises: Pathfinder, "Shadowsfall: Temple of Orcus" (download on Monday)
• Paizo Publishing: Pathfinder module, "Dawn of the Scarlet Sun" (download on Monday at 12am)

Other freebies:

• Timeless Adventures: Pathfinder module "The Tribute" (free this weekend only)
• Postmortem Studios: Irrepressible!, full game (today only)

I'll update this page as I find more.

Free RPG Day 2011 links here.

Free RPG Day is tomorrow!

The annual celebration of Free RPG Day is tomorrow. Based on the highly successful Free Comic Book Day, it's a chance for the gaming industry to show off new products, give away free quickstart rules or accessories, and get more people involved in our hobby.

See if one of your local game stores is participating with giveaways or game demonstrations. Many publishers also have free downloads for the occasion at their sites or RPGNow/DriveThruRPG.

Some of the publishers involved (and others) make Free RPG Day products available on PDF over the weekend or on the Monday following. My list from last year continues to be one of the most popular pages on this blog, so look for it again this year -- watch this space later tonight or tomorrow morning.

As I mentioned last year, I always have good intentions about volunteering to run a game demo at a local store, although schedules seldom seem to work out. I'll be grading papers and final exams this weekend.

A thought about using WaRP for pulp sword-and-sorcery

The upcoming end of the semester is freeing up my mind to think about gaming (and posting here) again. Trey's recent post about using bits of Atlas Games' newly-OGL WaRP system in D&D got me thinking about how I could use it for running Conan/pulp fantasy/sword-and-sorcery.

I have a list of possibilities that I've been kicking around for far too long now, and I'll just add WaRP to the list. Traits in WaRP remind me of Aspects in FATE, which I've already considered incorporating for their method of building pulp storytelling right into the game mechanics. Maybe hybridize WaRP traits with the best part of D&D Next, Backgrounds and Themes.

Birthdays of horror legends

I have been so wrapped up in work and school lately, I completely forgot about the anniversaries of Peter Cushing's birthday (May 26th) and Vincent Price's birthday (May 27th), along with Christopher Lee's 90th birthday (May 27th). Mrs. Kaiju and I hold these gentlemen in very high regard as masters of the horror genre, with legacies that extend throughout film making, popular culture and gaming.

I have posted tributes to them here in the past on these occasions. The video below is a clip that was added to the end of part 2 of Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror when it aired on BBC1.

D&D Next Public Playtest starts on Thursday

The day is almost here -- those folks who have signed up should get their announcement emails that the D&D Next public playtest materials are available. Being very curious about how the rules will be shaped, I signed on for the notification when it was first announced.

 

The only real contact anyone has had with the new rules so far (to my knowledge) was a playtest using only character sheets at the D&D Experience event in January, a playtest at PAX East, some closed groups, and several gamers well-known in the online community giving feedback as consultants for the project. This public test will give the rest of us a glimpse at what the design team has been working on.

 

Much of the speculation about D&D Next on the internet has been over what small bits and pieces have been revealed from these closed playtests and the public articles on the Wizards website from Mike Mearls and company. The departure of Monte Cook from the project has also fueled the chatter.

 

My thoughts on the speculation? We've see these kinds of high-profile product releases before, and I don't think we can really draw any conclusions from any of the rumors or the articles yet, at least until we see the playtest material. I take anything mentioned in the designers' articles or the choices in associated user polls with a huge grain of salt. Topics in the articles have included the core classes, the role of the magic-user, what's important for paladins, hit points and "healing surges", just to name a few contentious areas. If I were Mearls, I'd throw all sorts of crazy ideas out there into the wild and see what sticks, or what the public shoots down. It's free advice and feedback. Why not use that?

 

This public playtest is not the same as the beta tests for Pathfinder or the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, where fairly complete PDFs of the rules were given out freely for trial. The D&D Next playtest materials are said to be a short adventure, pre-generated characters, and enough of the rules to use the adventure -- I assume it would be similar to the quickstart adventures for Dragon Age or Castles & Crusades. There may be a playtest agreement required, keeping any discussion and feedback to official WotC channels.

 

I want to give the playtest rules a try. I don't know if I will be playing D&D Next as a regular thing. Our group has multiple other rule sets that we work with: homebrews, Pathfinder, Unisystem, BRP, FATE.... the list goes on. We as a local group of gamers are not that dependent on it. Having said that, I still think we want the 900-pound gorilla of the gaming world to be successful.

 

 

Favorite Music Friday: Beastie Boys

A much-delayed tribute to Adam Yauch. Thanks for all the great music, MCA... and thanks to Nathanial Hörnblowér for the excellent videos.

Giving Forgotten RPGs Another Chance

What RPG in your collection that you haven't played in years (or ever!) do you have the urge to pull off the shelf and try again? Do you want to see if it still plays the same way you remember? Have you just not found the right group of players to try it yet?

 

I can name three titles right away:

• James Bond 007 (Victory Games)
• Indiana Jones (TSR)
• Star Frontiers (TSR)

What would be on your list?

The Blogging will Continue Until Morale Improves

Work and other real life issues have kept me from posting anything since the beginning of last week. My hope is that things will ease up some beginning next week and I will have more gaming related posts here then.

It's not like there's anything else happening in the gaming world now, right?

I would also like to get back to the woefully neglected Cult Classic of the Week movie reviews and some of the other series posts I had in mind at the beginning of the year. And I have some ideas for a new blog layout that I need to test.

Link: D&D Mystara Gazetteer series reviews

Lowell at Age of Ravens finished his series of reviews of the classic Mystara Gazetteer series for Basic/Expert D&D last week. I never picked up any of the Gazetteers, and this series helped me discover what I was missing. Each review is an overview of what you will find in the book along with ways to use the material in a campaign, regardless of rules system. Links to each review are here; the wrap-up and final thoughts are here.

Not much has changed since 1981

Following on from my previous post about The Encyclopedia of Military Modeling, I wanted to share a few choice quotes from the book. They could have been written to describe the RPG community today.

First, from the Foreword by Donald Burgess, editor in chief, Campaigns Magazine:

"What emerges is a picture of a hobby in a state of continuing flux, a constantly growing and expanding force. The sweeping changes of the past years are healthy ones, rediscovering and drawing on the past, moving into new areas of expression, provoking new attitudes and approaches -- a hobby that keeps moving forward, bettering itself in many ways, providing impetus for extraordinarily fresh talents on all levels, making stronger demands on all miniaturists, no matter what their area of interest." (p. 6)

The last paragraph of the Introduction by Dennis Knight:

"More and more people are getting bored with watching ball games and banal spoon-fed television entertainment and, with rising fuel costs making travelling a luxury, they will be inclined to adopt hobbies that can be pursued in their homes. We welcome you to the world of Military Modelling." (p. 13)

South London Warlords Wargaming Club

Somewhere around 6th or 7th grade, I got a copy of The Encyclopedia of Military Modeling, published in London by Octopus Books in 1981. It was on a bargain books table at Ayr-Way (which later became Target). Building model kits was a hobby of mine as far back as I can remember -- even if I wasn't very good. Lots of cars, tanks, planes, the USS Enterprise (and the bridge kit, and Mr. Spock firing a phaser at the alien snake creature) and others were hastily assembled at my house in those days.

When I saw The Encyclopedia, then, I was naturally intrigued. This was relevant to my interests, and did it ever deliver. Many a day was spent pouring over the color photos, reading about the histories of model kit and figure manufacturers, and the instructions for creating detailed dioramas.

This was right before I had my first experiences with The Gaming Hobby™, and it's easy to see how this prepared me for it. Step-by-step instructions are given for scratchbuilding models, conversions, creating molds and casting. I studied the two-page spread on model scales when I started to look at what kinds of military model kits I could use for my own Warhammer 40K conversions.

In the introduction, there is some discussion of the wargaming hobby. What really struck with me -- and one of my main memories of the book -- is the photo of an example wargame in progress. I'm not sure if it captures a actual moment of the game -- it strikes me as being posed for the photographer. Even so, what I love about it is the overall feeling it conveys, encapsulating much of what I remember about seeing historical wargamers at conventions around that time. Even better, I wanted to think that there were cool gaming clubs out there where players wore ties, or sweatshirts with club logos.

I had a little story about the photo that I made up in my head early on. I got the sense that the gent in the suit jacket and tie is measuring the distance to move his unit of figures, while the fellow next to him is pointing out a place in the rules that counter-acts what the first is trying to do.

"I'm going to move this unit 15cm forward!"

"Hmmm... according to the rules, that unit can only move 12cm!"

This matched up with what I saw on our own 40K tables at various times.

I also love the "British-ness" of the book, if you will excuse the term. It uses those spelling conventions of course (influential on a young impressionable American lad) and mainly covers the military modeling hobby in England, reinforcing my idea about it being a place where everyone took part in intellectually stimulating hobbies like military modeling and wargaming. The Encyclopedia of Military Modeling, along with Warhammer 40K, White Dwarf Magazine, 2000AD and others ensured that my early days in the hobby were heavily influenced by the British gaming scene.

The South London Warlords are still an active group and run Salute, the largest wargaming convention in the UK (the 40th anniversary show is later this month). You can read a short history of the club, with more great photos, on their blog.

First Edition AD&D reprints delayed until July

It appears that the 1e reprints have been delayed until July 17th. That is OK; I was in for a DMG, and with the delay perhaps I can save my pennies for the other two books.

I'm still curious about how "limited" this edition will be. Did Wizards get more orders from distributors than they expected, sending them back to print more copies?

Flying Swordsmen -- Old-School Role-playing in Mythic China

I meant to post this over a week ago, so you may have already seen it. Lord Gwydion posted his Flying Swordsmen RPG rules at his blog. He uses the base rules from Your Favorite Fantasy Role-Playing Game and incorporates an incredible amount of detail in a wuxia-influenced Mythic China that could-have-been. Imagine if Oriental Adventures had been more focused on China rather than Japan, and you might have had something almost as good as Flying Swordsmen. It's filled with great rules, adventure ideas and period illustrations; a solid presentation of the material. Roll up some characters and shake the pillars of heaven!

John Carter (of Mars): go see it

We finally saw John Carter on Saturday night. It was great fun! To me, it was reminiscent of the Saturday afternoon matinee, "Family Classics" style of film, like Journey to the Center of the Earth or Jason and the Argonauts.

 

It strayed from the storyline of A Princess of Mars, but not terribly so. If you enjoy sci-fi/fantasy adventure movies, I think you'll like this. (we saw the 2D version)

Back From Being Sick (and Star Wars Links)

I lost the last week or so to some pretty serious sinus problems. For a day or two it was almost like having the flu. I'm on the mend now but not back to normal yet. With luck, by next week I'll have the restored brain cells to think about games and movies and important stuff like that again.

 

For now, I'll leave these links here.

 

Machete Order: A New Way to Watch Star Wars

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/02/machete-order-star-wars

 

What if "Star Wars Episode I" was good? (some NSFW language)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgICnbC2-_Y

 

Topher Grace edited the 'Star Wars' prequels into one 85-minute movie and we saw it

http://www.slashfilm.com/topher-grace-edited-star-wars-prequels-85minute-movie

Too Many Kickstarter Projects

There are too many great Kickstarter/IndieGoGo gaming projects in the wild right now. How can I choose?

 

* Monster Stock Art and Stand-Up Minis

* Dwimmermount

* The Monolith from Beyond Space and Time and The God that Crawls

* Mobile Frame Zero, the new edition of Vincent Baker's Lego robot game Mechaton

* Battle Blokx wargaming terrain

* Random Dungeon Generator as a Dungeon Map

* Tectonic Craft Studios laser-cut wargaming terrain

* Mass Transit IV maps

* Story Forge brainstorming cards

* Lions of the North RPG

 

I had already decided to use my March allotment of gaming funds to pre-order Night's Black Agents, and then I see that Skyrim is on sale at Best Buy this week...

Ralph McQuarrie, RIP

My friend K. reflected that, concerning the appeal of Star Wars, Ralph McQuarrie is at least the equal of George Lucas. I have to agree.

Lucas invented the characters and story and hired conceptual artist McQuarrie to create art and designs to show 20th Century Fox. These designs and storyboards convinced skeptical executives to greenlight the project.



My own understanding and visualization of the Star Wars universe is based heavily on three sources: the original film, the Marvel Comics series, and Ralph McQuarrie's art. I never followed his career as closely as I should have, as much as some other favorites. However, I have a strong and distinct memory of seeing those images from his imagination on the pages of Starlog Magazine and others. Some of the designs made it into the films intact, some were changed like the Millennium Falcon design, and others -- such as "Luke Starkiller" and the original Chewbacca design -- were dropped from early drafts. But they all have that great, grand feeling of adventure and they tell stories. You want to know who these people are, where they are from, what the source of conflict is.

Ralph McQuarrie designed concepts for many films and other projects, including Battlestar Galactica and the "Planet of the Titans" Star Trek film project, part of an outstanding visual legacy that will be long remembered.

A Bizarre Gaming-related Dream

This is a dream I had on Sunday morning right before I woke up (i.e., before being awakened by cats). I was teaching a college course on the history of role-playing games. The building reminded me of an older mid-century high school building. Two senior faculty members were observing the class. It was a tough crowd of students, not very engaged and not interacting, perhaps a freshman level course. I was talking about Tékumel at the end of the first class (which I wouldn't plan to discuss on the first day of such a course, but hey, it's a dream) when I was interrupted by a student with a question.

"This is all very interesting, but we can't afford to play any of these games."

I told the class, "Not a problem. There are many great RPG products available for free, even complete games. You can enjoy playing them without spending a dime." This changed the tenor of the class. The mood of the room improved completely and they were alert and engaged to the end.

The class was over just a minute later. As I was leaving the classroom, a turtle and a duck jumped out of the trash can. One of the observers -- who looked very much like John Rhys-Davies -- closed the door slowly behind us, saying "Don't worry, we'll take care of it."

I told you it was bizarre.

Friday Photo-palooza

Grading homework assignments has been keeping me busy the past two weeks. In lieu of something original today, here are some images of interest. Identify them all and win a shiny new No-Prize!

 

 

Link: Playing AD&D, then and now

Beedo put up a great post yesterday at Dreams in the Lich House about playing straight out-of-the-book AD&D 1e today. His group's observations about the game are informed by the years of play since 1e and modern retro-clones -- particularly OSRIC -- that have smoothed over many of the bumpy spots. It's worth taking a look at what they discovered, especially with the limited edition 1e reprints on the way. And I love the Gygax quote he found.

GURPS: Conan now available in PDF

You have probably already read the news that Steve Jackson Games is re-releasing the GURPS Conan sourcebook and 4 adventures as PDFs. Perhaps this is a great side-benefit to their licensing for Munchkin Conan, and Mongoose no longer owning the RPG rights.

It's good to have these available again, at least for a short time. The sourcebook is a great starting point for anyone running a Hyborian Age RPG campaign, for use with ZeFRS or any other rules system. The map is as good as those done for Mongoose's Conan RPG. I've never read the adventures, so I'm eager to see them without paying used and rare prices.

Even so, the sourcebook does tend to be L. Sprague de Camp- and pastiche-centric, particularly the story chronology and the bibliography, which was the nature of the Conan Properties license at the time. All the pastiches and re-edited stories were jammed into the timeline as "official". de Camp wrote the sourcebook's introduction. He praises Howard's writing style more here than usual, which is welcome. However, de Camp does include a paragraph of his amateur psychoanalysis concerning issues that have been "deBunked" by Howard scholars in recent years.

It would be great to see the bibliography updated with more recent publications like the Wandering Star/Del Rey series, Mark Finn's excellent Howard biography, and others, and then available on the product webpage.

Check out a preview of the sourcebook PDF here.

Zak's GM Questionnaire

I printed the questions and wrote down answers as they occurred to me over the course of a few days. Maybe I'll come back to some later, as they are all worth further exploration.

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

My film noir/Red Scare 1950s setting notes for a Call of Cthulhu one-shot, "Atomic Noir". I should redo the layout and post it here.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

I ran the Dragon Age quickstart module during the first week of January.

3. When was the last time you played?

Last Friday night.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

Gothic D&D fantasy mashup of Warhammer Fantasy, Ravenloft, and Hammer Horror movies.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

Think about the possible outcomes for whatever things they are doing and planning, and how it will affect later scenes.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

I usually don't [when I am the GM] unless we are taking a break. Sometimes I'll sneak something I can eat quickly, like cookies.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

It can be, especially if I've done many different NPC voices or we've had a big combat to keep track of.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

In our fantasy/steampunk/magical school campaign, my gentleman thief character rescued his apprentice from a deathtrap simulation (for our Death Traps class in school).

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Not the entire setting. I don't mind, it's all fun. I think making jokes about situations and NPC names is a way to have fun and reduce tension.

10. What do you do with goblins?

In my last long-term campaign (Freeport), we had a half-goblin PC. The player took the lead in realizing the goblin culture of the setting. I also like Pathfinder's goblins.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

The final location in the Freeport campaign was a serpent-people temple on a sunken island based on the Mayan pyramid at Tikal.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

We had quite a few "that's what she said" moments at the Freeport table.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

A friend let me read his hardcover copy of Graham Walmsley's Stealing Cthulhu. Good stuff...I need to get my own copy.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

Someone who's work evokes the ideas behind the setting. The illustrations give the reader a sense of the place, and inspire adventures or at least cool things to include in the game.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

Horror is difficult to do. I'm still working on it.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

It's been quite a while since I ran an published adventure straight though as is. Mostly I mine them for ideas. That Dragon Age module was a lot of fun.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

A well-lit office meeting room, with a large table, comfortable chairs, whiteboards, a projector, sound system... but honestly I like the comfort of my house or those of friends. Or this.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

It took me some time looking over my shelves to make a decision. Ultimately, I went with these two items that were sitting right next to each other: Suppressed Transmission 1 and 2, and 10 Million Ways to Die.

The Suppressed Transmission books are collections of Ken Hite's alternate history columns from Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid Magazine. Each book is stat-free and has a metric ton of inspiring ideas from history usable for any RPG.

At the other end of the spectrum, 10 Million Ways to Die is six pages of universal combat system based on Rolemaster, followed by 100 pages of detailed attack, fumble and critical strike tables with conversions for a dozen different RPGs.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

The classic random-table, DIY ethic of the OSR, combined with the "Yes, but..." shared-narrative-control of indie story games.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

Someone who is understanding that things don't always go as planned; is willing to suspend disbelief; plays well with others, that is, someone who works to include everyone in the fun.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

In some way or another, all my experiences have informed my play styles. I can't think of a specific experience I incorporated directly.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

Customizable plastic miniatures available in bulk using a 3D printer. Design it, print it, done.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

I usually only talk about RPGs with other people who have played. When someone asks about what I do for fun, I mention "gaming", usually explained as "tabletop games, board games, video games", then I wait for the social cues from them if they are interested in knowing more. I want to be a better gaming ambassador. I could probably do better at that.

Conan: Queen of the Black Coast Issue 1 now available

Yesterday I picked up Dark Horse Comics' Conan the Barbarian #1: Queen of the Black Coast Part One and gave it a quick read late last night. This is the first of a planned 24 issue run adapting the events of the story and filling in adventures only hinted at therein.

 

I can't do any better at describing it than Aaron Duran's review at Newsarama. I wasn't sure what to expect from the creative team of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. I've mentioned before that I know Wood's previous work, and Cloonan was new to me. I wasn't disappointed -- mostly. For two pages near the end, I thought to myself, "Huh? What does that mean?" Overall, however, I think it's off to a good start. I'm eager to see what they do next, particularly "unseen" scenes from the story such as burning the Stygian port of Khemi.

Monster Stock Art & Minis project on Kickstarter

I'm sorry to see the Monster Stand-Ins project at Kickstarter has been cancelled. However, the new project might have a better chance of being funded.

 

Monster Stock Art & Minis is a library of stock art covering the most common creatures from the 3.5 SRD. Backers can get a PDF of the art designed for printing as paper miniatures, and laminated cardstock miniatures are available at another level. The creators hope to include more SRD monsters depending on the funds pledged.

 

This project is close to the funding threshold and appears more likely to succeed. Best of luck to the project designers!