tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53913380325784560392024-03-04T02:37:22.725-06:00The Sandbox of Doom...being in the main a discussion of games, role-playing and related issues, as relevance and whimsy dictate.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-7167968551214175702015-11-04T01:46:00.000-06:002015-11-04T01:46:17.127-06:00Picking Up Where I Left OffIt's been a bit since I have posted to The Sandbox of Doom. In the intervening time, a lot of things have changed, most of them good.<br />
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<li>I have been gaming on Tuesday nights as part of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Madtradgamers/" target="_blank">Madison Traditional Gaming</a>. MTG - as we sometimes refer to it - now has about 45-50 people every Tuesday evening at Pegasus Games here in Madison, Wisconsin. Over the past year, I have played in a D&D 2nd Edition game, ran a highly-enjoyable campaign of Fringeworthy using a modified Microlite 20 Modern set of rules, and have started running <a href="https://rpggeek.com/thread/908625/boldly-go-profit" target="_blank">Adventure 4: Leviathan</a> for <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/80192/CTTTBThe-Traveller-Book" target="_blank">Classic Traveller</a>.</li>
<li>The work of the Tekumel Foundation has progressed. We have re-released Prof. Barker's first novel, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Empire-Petal-Throne-Volume/dp/0986432318" target="_blank">The Man of Gold</a>,</i> as well as <i><a href="http://blog.tekumelfoundation.org/2015/10/20/the-tekumel-sourcebook-is-now-available/" target="_blank">The Tekumel Sourcebook</a>.</i> More materials are in the process of preparation, and should be released soon.</li>
<li>I have been working on making my gaming room in the basement actually usable for gaming, and not just for the storage of games. It's a slow process, as I also need to find more shelf space for the various reference materials I have accumulated over the years.</li>
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I <i>haven't</i> played many computer games as I've found I just don't have that much interest. I have to admit to having played a lot of <i>Minecraft</i> in the past, but eventually hit a wall in terms of figuring out what I liked to do in the framework of the game. I also have thought about playing the various <i>Dragon Age</i> games I have, or re-playing <i>Oblivion</i>, or possibly getting into <i>Skyrim</i>. In all of these cases, the balance of time and reward has not been enough to get me to open them up to play. So they have remained on the shelf. If someone were to devise a game which combined elements of <i>Darklands</i> with various builder games like <i>Master of Magic, </i>I'd probably think about it.</div>
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I also have some projects I want to actually publish, aside from the larger efforts underway. I'd also like to write more here in this blog. All as time permits....!</div>
Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-54113935225071008182014-08-12T12:30:00.000-05:002014-08-12T12:30:12.572-05:00Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Players Handbook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I've picked up a copy of the new Players Handbook. Even a cursory examination revealed that this is NOT the "5th Edition" that <a href="http://www.gamegrene.com/node/971" target="_blank">some people were afraid it might be</a>. However, I have to admit that I'm a little concerned about the $50 cover price - not so much because I think it's out of line for a book like this, but that it continues a pattern for roleplaying games of having entry-level products which are much more expensive than related leisure activities, such as Magic: the Gathering, etc.</div>
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It's also worth noting that you can get <i><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/daniel-proctor/labyrinth-lord-revised-edition-perfect-bound/paperback/product-15061704.html" target="_blank">Labyrinth Lord</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Fantasy-Role-Playing-Game/dp/1482355124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380848879&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game</a>, </i>and <i><a href="http://froggodgames.org/swords-wizardry-complete-rulebook" target="_blank">Swords & Wizardry</a></i> for much less than the cover price of this one volume. - and all of those are complete games; this is not. I've advocated for some time that what this hobby needs is a good $10 roleplaying game - and possibly the free PDF of the <a href="http://media.wizards.com/downloads/dnd/DnDBasicRules.pdf" target="_blank">Basic D&D rules</a> is supposed to fill that niche. We'll see.</div>
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My initial take on the rules is that they are well-written, with a lot of cautions about not thinking there is "one true way" of doing things. I've not read that far into the book, but I am cautiously optimistic about it, generally speaking. I retain my doubts that I would shift to 5e from Original D&D (or a retro-clone), but I suspect that I would enjoy playing in a 5e game much more readily that I did in the 4th Edition game I played in three years ago.</div>
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More to follow as I continue reading.</div>
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Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-30429899518508203532013-11-06T19:09:00.000-06:002013-11-06T19:09:21.604-06:00A Very Cool ThingThe Bundle of Holding has gone completely Old School for the next four-and-a-half days. Buy all of this now while you can, for a practically a song. It is definitely worth it.<br /><br /><a href="http://bundleofholding.com/index/current">http://bundleofholding.com/index/current</a>Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-61180349762009094952013-11-05T08:00:00.000-06:002013-11-05T08:00:00.567-06:00He Meant Well<a href="http://www.gameholecon.com/" target="_blank">GameHoleCon</a> (yes, that's the name) was this past weekend. Had a great time running Classic Traveller, <a href="http://www.tekumel.com/" target="_blank">Empire of the Petal Throne</a>, and Original D&D (well, <a href="http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/whitebox.htm" target="_blank">S&W White Box</a> if you wanted to be precise). Towards the end of the convention, I noted the convention deal being offered by the rep for <a href="http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/" target="_blank">Castles & Crusades</a>. I had bought the C&C White Box some years back, and hadn't really kept track of it. But I thought "hey, that's cheap enough for me to think about buying!"<br />
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So I picked up a copy of the C&C Player's Handbook, and the sales representative started talking to me. In retrospect, I feel I should have asked if I could record what he was saying. But I was tired, and so I let him go on, and decided to just listen.<br />
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He started by telling me that the game books were soon going to have new covers, and that the interiors used to be plain black-and-white, but now had a cream vellum like background, which was definitely a BIG improvement. He went on to talk about how there were a lot of published adventures "so you can get started right away" and "you didn't have to make anything up." There was an adventure "path" (Pathfinder influenced sales talk) that had about a dozen adventures, and the one about to be published was going to be "as big as all of the others put together."<br />
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He never thought to ask what my gaming background was, which I thought was interesting.<br />
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I continued listening, and picked up one of the other books from the C&C line. Oh, yes, that was an expansion to the core rules. It would "allow" me to use new material not in the core rules, and even let me come up with my own stuff, if I were that bold. What I started listening for was language in his sales pitch that assumed I was essentially a passive consumer, rather than an active creator, of game material, and there was a lot of it. It quickly became clear that his pitch was aimed at gamers used to Pathfinder or D&D 3.5 or 4th Edition. That's not inherently bad, but it did tend to metaphorically ruff my fur backwards. However, it was a little odd to hear it about a game that was supposedly "Old School" - the sale rep was rather proud of that, pointing out that James Ward was writing for them, and that Wil Wheaton had endorsed it as the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP-Mc2q8p2g" target="_blank">"spiritual successor"</a> to AD&D.<br />
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As an aside, there's an argument to be had here about when exactly there was a shift from the crazy gonzo DIY of Original D&D to the "you must play it this way" of later editions, but I'm not going to go into that now. On the moment, I was more fascinated listening to the sales rep continue to assume I was excited by how he was describing the game. He told me that if I had any questions, they had a very active set of forums online, "and some of the <i>actual creators</i> of the games and adventures would sometimes show up!"<br />
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We talked awhile longer, and I ended up buying the three core rule books. I thanked him for sharing his insights and information, and went back to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Madtradgamers/" target="_blank">our OSR club booth</a>, right around the corner. I kept thinking, though, then and afterwards, about the very clear gulf between what the Old School Renaissance meant to me, and how it was used as part of his sales pitch. I'm sure he meant well, but there was no way we were going to agree.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-21070800712267513302013-10-24T23:50:00.002-05:002013-10-24T23:51:11.449-05:00Keep it simple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Madtradgamers/" target="_blank">Tuesday</a> <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Madison-Traditional-Gaming/" target="_blank">nights</a> have been very very successful. We've got anywhere from 25-30 gamers showing up each week, and games range from Star Trek (CODA) to a Superworld/CoC mash-up to Microlite 74. The Star Trek game is mine - it's set in 2270, and uses some interesting fan stuff and some material from Mike Ford and Diane Duane's novels. Having read through the rules, the CODA system struck me as "classic Traveller meets d20" - which may be a fair comparison - or not. We'll see.<br />
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But character creation took FOREVER. Yes, I probably could've dealt with it better by generating some NPCs beforehand. The fact of the matter remains that in comparison to Mike Berkey's <i>Where No Man Has Gone Before</i>, the CODA system takes a long time to produce a character. I've taken advantage of <a href="http://strpg.patrickgoodman.org/" target="_blank">some online resources</a> to make it easier, and I like the general process and the sorts of characters which are produced, but there is definitely room for improvement. One complicating factor is the desire for characters to be experienced before starting play; another was the idea of every player having two characters - one for the bridge crew, another for the landing party.<br />
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From this experience, I derived the following observation: <i>long drawn-out character generation processes favor premature character investment by players.</i> If you take a long time to generate a character - say more than a half-hour - then there is more encouragement to build up a back-story for the character. It also leads to a greater expectation that the character is somehow "meaningful" and deserving of special attention by other players and the referee. From the perspective of Tuesday Night Open Gaming, this makes it difficult for new players to join in. From an OSR perspective, this is definitely problematic. I tend to interpret OSR games as <i>not</i> privileging player-characters over non-player characters, and the characters themselves are not superhuman or heroic, but develop over time from more mundane circumstances. If you have a complex, involved and fiddly character generation system, that gets a little harder, as the <i>players</i> end up investing a lot of time into character creation, and begin to expect a pay-back in-game for the long, involved process.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-9279076366284695502013-07-26T16:05:00.002-05:002013-07-29T16:37:47.721-05:00Answers for Random WizardThe original questions may be found <a href="http://randomwizard.blogspot.com/2013/07/top-ten-troll-questions-for-your-game.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(1). Race (Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) as a class? Yes or no?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Most of the time, no. I used to think absolutely not, but more recently as I considered monsters as classes (e.g. dragons, vampires, etc.) it made more sense to consider some races as their own class, when the inherent nature of the race was sufficiently "strong" as to warrant that kind of treatment. I understand it's a fuzzy definition, and it depends heavily on a clear conception of what, exactly, race </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">is.</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;"> These days, the more I think a race is relatively close to human, the less likely to see it as its own class.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(2). Do demi-humans have souls?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Depends on your campaign, and the deeper assumptions of the world you've created. In planning for my next OD&D+ campaign, </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Aldwyr</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">, I've decided that elves and dwarves have souls, but are so intertwined with their physical natures that if they die, they cannot be resurrected. For dwarves, this is because a dwarf is too tied to the living rock of the world to not return to it when they die. For elves, their intrinsic nature binds their soul up with their physical form, which is related to their longevity - but also means that when they die, their entire corpora goes through dissolution. Halflings are closer to humans in having souls and may be resurrected.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">That having been said, in my White Box game, </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">The Hall of Forgotten Gods</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">, all demi-humans lack souls as understood by humans. Their gods relate to them differently than human gods do, resulting in different intrinsic natures. As I mentioned before, it depends on the campaign and the assumptions you make.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(3). Ascending or descending armor class?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Descending. It's how I was taught, and for me, it's easier. I can see the relative simplicity of ascending armor class, but it's difficult for me to think that way.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(4). Demi-human level limits?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Again, it depends on the nature of the campaign you create. Generally, I see them as a mechanical "fix" for dealing with the relative advantages of demi-humans vs. humans. Rather than making a hard-and-fast limit, I tend to make it simply more difficult for demi-humans to advance - or give humans a bonus on earned experience.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(5). Should thief be a class?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Sure, so long as it is understood that the activities of the thief are things that </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">any</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;"> character can attempt - thieves simply do them better. In some cases, thieves are capable of things that other classes simply can't replicate easily.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(6). Do characters get non-weapon skills?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">It's been argued that the thief percentage chance increases are a kind of skill increase, and so are the camel's nose under the edge of the tent, making D&D into an endless quest for crunchy mechanical markers of success. I tend to see non-weapon skills as the </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">real</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;"> camel's nose - what are they </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">for, </i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">in game terms? I'm not sure. I would rather have players tell me something about their character that I can say yes to, and have THAT be the basis for their character than look at endless ranks of scores on a character sheet.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(7). Are magic-users more powerful than fighters (and, if yes, what level do they take the lead)?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">This question hearkens back to the oft-made observation that magic-users start off weak, but become powerful as they gain levels. Some people suggest that this shift is </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">too</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;"> powerful, as higher-level magic-users are often capable of dealing immense amounts of damage via spells. I actually think that this is A Good Thing, since by the time magic-users get that powerful, a referee ought to have thought of really more challenging things for them to deal with than simply being a form of heavy artillery.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(8). Do you use alignment languages?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">No. In this, I am a student of Prof. M.A.R. Barker: languages are a reflection of the cultures and societies which use them, so an "alignment language" presupposes that alignments have direct, immediate, and on-going effects on social interaction. Since "alignment" itself is a more cosmological element in the games I run than any sort of social divider, the entire notion of "alignment languages" seems a bit off, ontologically speaking.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(9). XP for gold, or XP for objectives (thieves disarming traps, etc...)?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Both. The original D&D campaign I played in had a differential reward system for gold, monsters killed, spells cast, and other actions, depending on your character's class. It made sense at the time, and I might use it again, because it rewarded characters for doing the things their class was supposed to be about. More recently I have been less committed to a defined system like that, preferring instead to use gold as the main reward, with well-played objectives as "icing on the cake" - something more free-form and more amenable to rulings rather than rules.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">(10). Which is the best edition; ODD, Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, Rules Cyclopedia, 1E ADD, 2E ADD, 3E ADD, 4E ADD, Next ?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">The one that best allows me to build the game and campaign I want to run. I tend to view </span><i style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">all</i><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;"> role-playing games as toolkits, so the more rules there are, the more likely they are going to get in my way. I grew up playing Original D&D and then some of the others. Original D&D's sprawling, inchaote nature lends itself to retooling and refining, which I have always enjoyed. If I were to start all over, I suspect I would go with Holmes or possibly Moldvay, as they are more clearly edited without having ever-growing sets of assumptions attached to ever-lengthening books of rules.</span><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: Droid Sans;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><b style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Bonus Question: Unified XP level tables or individual XP level tables for each class?</b><br /><span style="color: #3b2c2c; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; line-height: 19px;">Individual XP tables for different classes. Keeps 'em all guessing, especially since I discourage meta-gaming involving explicit discussions of stats and levels in-game.</span><br />
<br />Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-59574776734559349962013-04-10T01:20:00.004-05:002013-04-10T01:20:56.262-05:00Another couple of mash-upsI spotted the first of these from Nick Mizer's G+ commentary, and the second one has been on my radar ever since the good people at Gamegrene cast a jaundiced eye towards D&D 4th Edition back in 2009. The contrast between the two is noticeable.<br />
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From <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2013/04/thoughts-regarding-character-mortality.html" target="_blank">Dungeon of Signs</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"D&D is not heroic fantasy, it's low fantasy, and it's not a game of power fantasies for each player, but a a game of collective world-building between players and GM. By "power fantasy" I'm not trying to be dismissive to other games or genres that are about individual advancement of an avatar, I'm attempting to draw a distinction between a fantasy narrative that is of individual success (empowerment) and one that is the narrative of a world (like a history)."</blockquote>
Gamegrene's <a href="http://www.gamegrene.com/node/971" target="_blank">2009 "review" of D&D 5th Edition</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This Dungeon Scenario is custom-tailored to your specific group, and perfectly balanced so no one ever has a chance of dying. It's like being in your very own novel as the heroes! Each Scenario includes a brief introductory scene (you can role play if you want to but why bother, you can skip this) and then a Dungeon Delve to enter, with a monster encounter and some treasure, all pre-designed in the book and well-balanced. Kill the monster and move on. Just run through 5 two-page encounters and you get a level. 10 pages per level, 500 pages total, lots of content, and all of it is predictable, fun and fast!"</blockquote>
Not that this bears any resemblance to games currently being played, right? But if someone <i>wanted</i> to object to Gamegrene's rather pointed critique, then perhaps they might first look at some of the things said about the OSR by gamers with a "New School" perspective....<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-27774880817614169562013-04-08T20:54:00.000-05:002013-04-08T20:54:08.489-05:00Real Town, Real DungeonThe Disoriented Ranger apparently has <a href="http://the-disoriented-ranger.blogspot.de/2013/02/dungeoncrawl-reality-check.html" target="_blank">details on a real life "dungeon" underneath a German town</a>. Weirdly enough, this also has me thinking about <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/game/darklands" target="_blank">Darklands</a>, too.<br />
<br />Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-56605668515281216252013-03-04T15:24:00.000-06:002013-03-04T15:24:00.432-06:00Who do you tell...?I've been gaming for most of my life. What that means is that I started gaming when trying to talk about it was bound to get you in trouble. You know, like back in the day:<br />
<br />
"What's this...'D&D' thing you're doing?"<br />
"It's <i>Dungeons & Dragons - </i>it's a kind of shared storytelling, where the players get to be the heroes of the story and the referee is in charge of the story setting."<br />
"Um, sure. That sounds... (<i>pick one or more:) </i>like its for kids/satanic/a complete waste of time/etc."<br />
<br />
...which was about as close as I had gotten to explaining it all in a thumbnail to outsiders. But I've never really gotten past the sense that talking about it marks me as different, less socially adept, yeah, a <i>nerd. </i>All of which is funny, since I have little difficulty talking about being bisexual or multiracial or really a whole bunch of things that might be more problematic. It's just another coming out process, right?<br />
<br />
It's made even more weird by the fact that the nerds have won, big-time, in the culture wars. So what's holding me back from talking about it, especially when Stephen Colbert, Vin Diesel, Tim Duncan, heck, even Judi Dench are all D&D players? I'm still pondering this. As a younger friend of mine pointed out the other day, "The burning issue for your generation of science fiction fans is feeling socially not accepted. But that's not the issue for younger fans."<br />
<br />
Of course, none of this has prevented me from reading a RPG book in public. Or talking to people about it - or even getting people excited about it as something new to them.<br />
<br />
Guess I should dig up a few rulebooks and go outside and play.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-70380401821664260992013-01-16T08:12:00.004-06:002013-01-16T08:15:35.280-06:00James MaliszewskiI talked with James Maliszewski yesterday. As some of you may be aware, James' father is in very poor health and not expected to live much longer. Last year, I went through a similar series of events around <a href="http://sandboxofdoom.blogspot.com/2012/03/professor-muhammad-abd-al-rahman-mar.html" target="_blank">the death of my friend Phil</a>, so I have some perspective on what he is going through.<br />
<br />
It's difficult to explain just how much of an impact this kind of thing has on a person. For James, besides anything else, this has become a terrible distraction. Trying to think or write creatively is just difficult, if not impossible. I asked James if he minded if I shared this with people I know, and he said it was perfectly fine.<br />
<br />
I know many people are waiting for <i>Dwimmermount.</i> I don't think you have to worry about that, but this sort of life event is something nobody can plan for. If you feel like you want to comment on this post, I would suggest instead that you contact your parents and tell them how much you love them.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-7814851075575327132013-01-09T08:31:00.000-06:002013-01-09T08:31:00.294-06:00Starting a Game Club: Timing and FrequencyI've recently read a number of comments on Google+ from people who have tried setting up games only to have them fall through, mostly because players didn't show up. I can't always tell if this is because they were gaming online or in-person, but either way, gaming didn't happen. This is a "bad thing" as I would define it. What to do about it? Build a game club, of course.<br />
<br />
The virtue of starting a game club is that it is intended to be durable, less subject to the whims and eddies of personal schedules and life events. But for it to work, you need to have a regular time and place to meet. This post is about how to determine the latter.<br />
<br />
Currently, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Madtradgamers" target="_blank">Madison Traditional Gaming</a> meets on Tuesday evenings at <a href="http://www.pegasusgames.com/" target="_blank">Pegasus Games here in Madison</a>. We also have an all-day event on the <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Madison-Traditional-Gaming/" target="_blank">3rd Saturday of the month</a> at the Hawthorne Branch of the Madison Public Library. We discovered in December that the librarians at the Hawthorne Branch wanted to sponsor our group, which has some distinct advantages (more on that later). The weekly sessions allow for regular campaign play, while the monthly sessions are good for one-shot adventures with different rules sets. But we did not always have it so good.<br />
<br />
When I first started Madison Traditional Gaming, I figured that a once-a-month event was probably the most I could commit to running, and I was right. It quickly turned into a lot of work, as I tried to arrange for other referees to run events for the 3rd Saturday sessions as well as prepare adventures to run myself. Somewhere in there we started meeting on Tuesday nights, first at Misty Mountain Games, and then later at Pegasus Games. Things moved along for about a year, but the effort was considerable to keep things going. In December 2011, I decided that enough was enough, and announced that Madison Traditional Gaming would stop meeting on the 3rd Saturdays as it was too much work. That was not a good idea, as it turned out.<br />
<br />
People did not want to stop meeting on the 3rd Saturdays, and some people could not make it on Tuesday evenings. So by summer 2012, we began meeting on the 3rd Saturday again. We've kept that schedule ever since: one monthly event and weekly gaming.<br />
<br />
What did we learn from this?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>You need to meet on a <b>regular basis</b> to sustain activity and interest. Saying "3rd Saturday of the month" makes it clear to everyone when you will be meeting. However...</li>
<li>You also need to <b>meet frequently</b> enough to keep gamers happy. One of the biggest complaints I received at the 3rd Saturday events was that a once-a-month session was too infrequent for regular campaign play. So having weekly sessions solved that problem.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The trick to all of this is to <b>keep meeting even if it is just you and one or two other people</b>. Groups tend to grow slowly, and gaming is no different. You need to stick to your guns and see things through.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Next time: advertising and getting the word out.</i></div>
<br />
<br />Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-37323649309559710392013-01-08T01:41:00.001-06:002013-01-08T01:41:18.836-06:00Traveller Tuesday Reboot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxN7hrgm7feiCrcw4A_ydEkKRuhNHAQNb9jN_5J3SymXQdNL6GyHSYKqrUOHbiXUrJIysEAlLsZ8NZ7q5v2FfhUiLVxNIe-fU-HEXScnDv4dU4yLhTTiCTbw0Zac20B91b-vbKSpuL0V8_/s1600/Traveller-Back-1977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxN7hrgm7feiCrcw4A_ydEkKRuhNHAQNb9jN_5J3SymXQdNL6GyHSYKqrUOHbiXUrJIysEAlLsZ8NZ7q5v2FfhUiLVxNIe-fU-HEXScnDv4dU4yLhTTiCTbw0Zac20B91b-vbKSpuL0V8_/s320/Traveller-Back-1977.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
So it has been two years since I wrote about the original 1977 version of Classic Traveller. When last we left the series, I was about to embark on an examination of the Psionics rules from Book 3, various people had asked for an annotated bibliography, and odd items and lacunae had been brought up for closer examination.<br />
<br />
What I was struck by in my delving into the past was that I had written a fair bit about the 1977 Edition - and there was still more to write. I'm going to pick up next week with an examination of the Psionics section, but I want to make sure I go back and clean up any loose ends. Eventually, I think I will turn this series into a PDF or something for people to download and appreciate.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-58942188570804147692013-01-07T10:14:00.000-06:002013-01-07T10:14:00.338-06:00Running Tekumel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKs_mwCAcjBy48E75GZosoEX1eclb99cYCpb2KJ5IY1xEE-q3_uAAosau0o293W7t-7ISjn_Y0-B6wNDXH6T6RRqSkwI8RTZOc1CDZYvIRm8kYTXoyutVcUZvidGQOAzl1k-5TMch-l2uN/s1600/ept-mihalli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKs_mwCAcjBy48E75GZosoEX1eclb99cYCpb2KJ5IY1xEE-q3_uAAosau0o293W7t-7ISjn_Y0-B6wNDXH6T6RRqSkwI8RTZOc1CDZYvIRm8kYTXoyutVcUZvidGQOAzl1k-5TMch-l2uN/s1600/ept-mihalli.jpg" /></a></div>
My <i>Empire of the Petal Throne</i> campaign continues to hum along. What's been interesting to watch has been how players acclimate to the world. I had introduced Tekumel to my Tuesday night gaming group, who had been playing <i>D&D.</i> Some of them took to it immediately, and others s l o w l y came along. As expected, the languages were a stumbling block, but by dint of patient repeating and correction, they have begun to pick up some Tsolyani. However, I plan on returning to D&D on Tuesday nights, and continuing the Tekumel game separately.<br />
<br />
Two issues I've had to address are the <b>rules</b> and the <b>future history</b> of the world. I decided early on to use <i>Empire of the Petal Throne</i> as the basis for running the game, but I didn't want to lose the flavor of the <i>Swords & Glory</i> magic system. I've figured out a way to adapt the magic system, which I will write up when I get the chance. That was the big issue with the rules. As for the future history, I have decided to start my campaign in 2354 A.S. (just as it says in the original rules). That way, I could take advantage of the unfolding structure of Prof. Barker's original campaign, and make whatever changes I wanted to as the campaign developed.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-9108325766969769862013-01-06T22:52:00.001-06:002013-01-06T22:52:24.037-06:00Yule Loot<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzD3cFohGfS11-Ws7FoiHmWqL5h_oSDJpI7eswb1o4Xfgyfh4_RmqlCcM4IdOqZH7u0QnY7t8yNNsIXmFWZ_VMBFboEJGTRxLMmP-ueC80rYx_2bNh9lqrvlaace8wWbqA2Z7p0gi-hWVE/s1600/0106132141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzD3cFohGfS11-Ws7FoiHmWqL5h_oSDJpI7eswb1o4Xfgyfh4_RmqlCcM4IdOqZH7u0QnY7t8yNNsIXmFWZ_VMBFboEJGTRxLMmP-ueC80rYx_2bNh9lqrvlaace8wWbqA2Z7p0gi-hWVE/s200/0106132141.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Santa Claus was fairly good to me this holiday season. Okay, I'll admit it, I didn't get <i>all</i> of the games shown to the right at Yule. However, I did get them over the past few months, and so it's been kinda special as various things show up in the post. A quick list would include:<div>
<ul>
<li>The new <i>Dungeon!</i> boardgame; it's a reprint, and I have yet to see what the game is like, what with various changes alluded to on the box and in the promo material.</li>
<li>A whole bunch of Microgames, picked up at UCon back in November. Titles include: <i>Ram Speed, Fire When Ready, Rommel's Panzers</i> (all Microhistories), as well as <i>Warp War, Trailblazer, Rivets, </i>and<i> Dragons of Underearth.</i></li>
<li>My soon-to-be-dog-eared copy of Jon Peterson's <i>Playing at the World</i>.</li>
<li><i>Swords & Wizardry White Box </i>in the attractive 6x9 paperback. I very much like the cover.</li>
<li><i>Knockspell #5</i>, the Winter 2011 edition. Very reminiscent of <i>Fight On!</i></li>
<li>The first two issues of <i>AFS </i>gaming fanzine, from <a href="http://hallsoftizunthane.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Scott Moberly</a>. Interesting ideas - more of a review to follow.</li>
<li><i><a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product/104202/A-Curious-Volume-of-Forgotten-Lore" target="_blank">Adventures Dark & Deep - A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore</a></i>, by Joe Bloch. This one I got some time ago, but I am definitely interested in seeing what Mr. Bloch has done here.</li>
</ul>
...all of which serves as more proof that there is more going on in the Old School Renaissance than meets the eye - or may even be possible to track.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBWp5RMQ6VvSu6qCGSWqRhHtYmq16YLaOSl5gBK_8fWH8IZC6L0W1_IYppxz8P53ppP2UYSYf7AYnFdRz-f6fV-HHDIJSrgylnFsRfUMsSKBUpP5c0rLHn57Sb4vU-ii9LAvgrbbO6IEO/s1600/0106132143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBWp5RMQ6VvSu6qCGSWqRhHtYmq16YLaOSl5gBK_8fWH8IZC6L0W1_IYppxz8P53ppP2UYSYf7AYnFdRz-f6fV-HHDIJSrgylnFsRfUMsSKBUpP5c0rLHn57Sb4vU-ii9LAvgrbbO6IEO/s200/0106132143.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdQEGfIp91qs3U97Mua2nHfoBNPeTbHvURteTMWRNjuaMGYSg9y14NCaMM3GFlWUANf0RCm4i6Gyo9_fo2VqQS1XkB96HrutSq8LQjXSPy6zoNBriHBvLQHhgYmXAdYlJ5UWf92HHLJFZH/s1600/0106132135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdQEGfIp91qs3U97Mua2nHfoBNPeTbHvURteTMWRNjuaMGYSg9y14NCaMM3GFlWUANf0RCm4i6Gyo9_fo2VqQS1XkB96HrutSq8LQjXSPy6zoNBriHBvLQHhgYmXAdYlJ5UWf92HHLJFZH/s200/0106132135.jpg" width="200" /></a>Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-67783431478087523242013-01-04T20:45:00.002-06:002013-01-04T21:40:30.077-06:00Misty Mountains<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/nEwzFF4HeB8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Enjoy. :)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-285470074043763872012-12-24T07:16:00.000-06:002012-12-24T07:16:00.762-06:00Holiday Break!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgdRjs6gSdeR7M1pH6KVakd6Kmvg9wWYtAk72U5X8-LdhiAXrUlUZThC6ChyphenhyphenVnSixby7uGTAjpH9b2lsK97hpeJUh_PNqrXTGrvG5SOQf1z7IO8Tc3UkhaxE35xMef_Yhv1dzcOH4l2tj/s1600/thinice_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgdRjs6gSdeR7M1pH6KVakd6Kmvg9wWYtAk72U5X8-LdhiAXrUlUZThC6ChyphenhyphenVnSixby7uGTAjpH9b2lsK97hpeJUh_PNqrXTGrvG5SOQf1z7IO8Tc3UkhaxE35xMef_Yhv1dzcOH4l2tj/s320/thinice_3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Eve in Minnesota last year</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Taking a break today from posting anything. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday, no matter your religion or belief, and more gaming is just around the corner. Merry Yule!</div>
<br />Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-9711549483948638362012-12-23T17:21:00.000-06:002012-12-23T17:21:00.411-06:00You CAN Make This Stuff Up...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3pxWPXvZ-VtR_oqslOvn4uEUhJq9VZ2BnH2R4-DbOnivVArVBIl4_pHCfV6e_OpjDlehNGataWGzePGhD5gaFuqql4RlQ8p6lZAbaBGRQvAXEdZ4AgdomMk-jjv3FIFtBblYcu_kbe7E/s1600/JNSDF+Kurama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3pxWPXvZ-VtR_oqslOvn4uEUhJq9VZ2BnH2R4-DbOnivVArVBIl4_pHCfV6e_OpjDlehNGataWGzePGhD5gaFuqql4RlQ8p6lZAbaBGRQvAXEdZ4AgdomMk-jjv3FIFtBblYcu_kbe7E/s400/JNSDF+Kurama.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UFO recovery seems to be a new part of <i>Kurama</i>'s mission</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I wrote a few days ago about the mysterious package received at the University of Chicago. It seems that the entire matter has now been cleared up - albeit <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/uchicago-indiana-jones_n_2322098.html" target="_blank">in a mostly mundane fashion</a>, and very disappointing to those of us whose subscriptions to the <i>Weekly World News </i>have lapsed.<br />
<br />
Coming to the rescue of the conspiracy-theory-challenged is the InOtherNewz.com website, with <a href="http://inothernewz.com/japanese-government-official-confirms-partial-recovery-of-crashed-ufo/" target="_blank">a story usually reserved for the prologue of a new Godzilla movie</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“I can report with complete accuracy that Navy divers from the destroyer JS Kurama have brought up a substantial piece of the wrecked UFO,” he said. “Both civilian and military engineers took part in recovering the piece. It is now safely aboard the JS Kurama, which is the ship being used by the Japanese Navy for its salvage efforts.”</i></blockquote>
Man, I cannot <i>wait</i> to see what they've come up with - this should be really good!Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-35720090116179045632012-12-23T07:41:00.000-06:002012-12-23T07:41:00.055-06:00The GrindOne of the interesting results to come out of my recent discussion with Ron Edwards was a keener appreciation for the games industry, and how it affects creativity. I think I am with James Maliszewski when he says <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-friday-as-hobby-are-we-too.html" target="_blank">on Grognardia</a> that "[i]f anything, I found my enjoyment lessened and a big part of my abandoning it was based on my knowing too much about [the games industry]."<br />
<br />
I don't think of this as a major breakthrough, but I do think that the very aesthetic of the Old School Renaissance of "just make stuff up" is essentially subversive insofar as the games industry is concerned - as <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/hobby-and-industry.html" target="_blank">Dave Arneson once noted</a>. While it is true that the "indie" game movement has blazed something of a trail towards alternative commercial models for game publishing, the emphasis in the OSR on setting hobbyist creativity above commercialization simply for its own sake is no bad thing.<br />
<br />
The telling element of this came about as I was looking for weblinks for James Wallis, who I have enjoyed gaming with ever-so-briefly in the past. In <a href="http://www.ogrecave.com/interviews/jameswallis2.shtml" target="_blank">an interview from a few years ago</a>, he noted that the demand of acting in a business mode often conflicts with attempts to be artistically creative. I don't think that this is true dichotomy, but the tension <i>does</i> exist. All of this is to say that the value of what you make up for your own game shouldn't be measured against some abstract or artificial notion of "could that be commercially viable?" The <i>real </i>question ought to be:<br />
<br />
"Are you having fun?"Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-59998816430544097072012-12-22T08:21:00.000-06:002012-12-22T08:21:00.105-06:00Why long-term campaigns matterLong-term campaigns matter. That may seem like a self-evident truth to those who are playing <i>Pathfinder</i> or have been involved in a <i>Forgotten Realms </i>campaign for any length of time, but from an OSR perspective, it might not be so clear. One of the problems of today is that there are so <i>many</i> different choices when it comes to fun games to play. It was an easier time when <i>D&D</i> was the <i>only</i> choice available - but that soon vanished when new games appeared. <br />
<br />
Why do long-term campaigns matter? Simple - for the story of the campaign and the players in it to develop and unfold. If "the story" emerges from the play of the game, it's not unreasonable to want to see the <a href="http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2012/04/ad-domain-game.html" target="_blank">"domain game"</a> emerge from character development. (Not too surprisingly, games like <i><a href="http://muleabides.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/what-is-adventurer-conqueror-king/" target="_blank">Adventurer, Conqueror, King</a> </i>are aimed at making that possible.)<br />
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Recently, I had this realization presented to me by one of my players. After I told him about my new campaign setting, Aldwyr, Dave looked at me and said, "Well, I like the sound of that, but I hope there's room for some real character development" ...by which he meant opportunities for play in the higher levels of the game - really anything over 7th level, as we hadn't gotten there in about <a href="http://sandboxofdoom.blogspot.com/2011/01/now-it-can-be-told_22.html" target="_blank">18 months of play</a> in <a href="http://sandboxofdoom.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-od-campaign.html" target="_blank">the campaign</a> I had been running. Combined with some thinking about pacing, and I decided to go back and do some background reading. I ran across this quote from Gary in the last issue of <i>The Strategic Review, </i>April 1976:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>It is reasonable to calculate that if a fair player takes part in 50 to 75 games in the course of a year he should acquire sufficient experience points to make him about 9th to 11th level, assuming that he manages to survive all that play. </i><i>The acquisition of successively higher levels will be proportionate to enhanced </i><i>power and the number of experience points necessary to attain them, so another </i><i>year of play will by no means mean a doubling of levels but rather the addition of </i><i>perhaps two or three levels. Using this gauge, it should take four or five years to </i>see<i> 20th level.</i> ("D&D is Only as Good as the DM")</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
...which reveals a few interesting points about how Gary saw higher level play:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Game play should happen regularly and consistently. Consider: "...50 to 75 games in the course of the year...." </li>
<li>Advancement to "name level" is never guaranteed: "...assuming that he manages to survive all that play."</li>
<li>The rate of progress to higher levels slows considerably.</li>
<li>A long-term campaign is one that lasts easily more than a year, or even two.</li>
</ul>
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All of which suggests a tension in the modern era between developing a campaign with that kind of timespan, and all the games we'd like to play, and the limited amount of time anyone has. But if you want to maintain player interest, you need to think about they might develop their character - as long as those characters survive.</div>
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I don't think of this as a bug, more of a design feature. But it is something that can come back to challenge a referee as they go from "town, nearby dungeon, and low-level player-characters" to <a href="http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/07/cherry-picking-domain-game.html" target="_blank">something much larger and more developed over time</a>. I'm rather curious to see where this will lead. </div>
Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-58122492102912502012-12-21T05:12:00.000-06:002012-12-21T05:12:00.279-06:00Winter Solstice!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYcWkqyeb3uvrUxMxJ2KcoOTR_C5tpjOvjVueRA1ZT8LgbX5pOrfFi5CtN6JWS8XC_xHrREDPQzjBql606gkkIUHYhQ1qQsgiQyz20aoASowyCiWmPMzgCXnRV_bYamsuzIeVoXdcXqAH7/s1600/WinterSolstice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYcWkqyeb3uvrUxMxJ2KcoOTR_C5tpjOvjVueRA1ZT8LgbX5pOrfFi5CtN6JWS8XC_xHrREDPQzjBql606gkkIUHYhQ1qQsgiQyz20aoASowyCiWmPMzgCXnRV_bYamsuzIeVoXdcXqAH7/s400/WinterSolstice.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.insidewiltshire.co.uk/solstice-signifies-that-2012-will-be-a-good-year/" target="_blank">Winter Solstice 2011</a> at Stonehenge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Does the calendar in your game year mean anything? It should. In pre-industrial societies, the cycle of the seasons and the turn of the year were important in the lives of everyone. In our "disenchanted" modern world, we pay little attention to the seasons for their own sake, but more as markers of other events and matters of concern. So there's an opportunity in fantasy roleplaying to <a href="http://www.maxweberstudies.org/mwsjournal/1.1pdfs/1.1%2011-32.pdf" target="_blank"><i>re-enchant</i> our world</a> - just a little - not for the sake of superstition, but to reconnect with the world around us. So add some awareness of time into your game - make that calendar matter for holidays, for the waxing and waning of magical, mysterious and divine forces. At the same time, go outside and see the <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html" target="_blank">daylight begin to lengthen once again</a>, and marvel at the amazing thing that is our world.<br />
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Happy Solstice!Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-63756701097196550722012-12-20T07:57:00.000-06:002012-12-20T07:57:00.891-06:00With apologies to Jon Peterson<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_qwPbX4m6vGOVLLBJwdY6d8gpum-WxfGz4yPpafQKpEykQ5o5TB8vjXzu9bPWpDdm7nUA6CBXbDT63WDeCRYaYkKWbPhIFQqnNbUXlIiwWRadV0n1s22hUKVi404M4ttW2rLOesgvYU9/s1600/playing-at-the-world-jon-peterson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_qwPbX4m6vGOVLLBJwdY6d8gpum-WxfGz4yPpafQKpEykQ5o5TB8vjXzu9bPWpDdm7nUA6CBXbDT63WDeCRYaYkKWbPhIFQqnNbUXlIiwWRadV0n1s22hUKVi404M4ttW2rLOesgvYU9/s320/playing-at-the-world-jon-peterson.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Read more about this on Jon's blog</a></td></tr>
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I want to be clear: this is an <i>amazing</i> book. In some ways, it's the book I've wanted to write - but Jon does a better job at much of the subject material by having access to a vast wealth of documentation (and I thought I had an extensive collection!).<br />
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I managed to misremember both Jon's name and the title of his book in my recent appearance on Kevin Weiser's podcast, <i><a href="http://www.thewalkingeye.com/?p=2017" target="_blank">The Walking Eye</a>.</i> I figured the least I could do would be to put in a plug for Jon's book, especially since it so richly deserves a wider audience. In short, <i>Playing at the World</i> is a history of how wargaming eventually led to <i>D&D</i>, and what other factors contributed to its success when it appeared. Having lived through the early days of the role-playing hobby myself, I've found it a very worthwhile and interesting read. You can find out <a href="http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">how to order it from Jon's blog</a>. Give yourself - or someone else - a tome of mighty magic for the holidays.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-32563341752301738202012-12-19T07:45:00.000-06:002012-12-19T07:45:00.392-06:00Starting a game club: why do it?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I just read over on a Google+ community about a fellow whose gaming group - like so many - was beginning to scatter. Whether it was due to college graduation or job and career issues doesn't really matter. My own brother-in-law has been meeting with his college gaming group on Yahoo Chat and infrequent get-togethers for years, so there's nothing really new here. Once a group begins to fragment, gamers often feel a sense of loss and don't know what to do. Hence, ConstantCon and Google+ hangouts and the like.</div>
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But while I enjoy <a href="http://sandboxofdoom.blogspot.com/2012/12/dwimmermount-play.html" target="_blank">getting together online</a> to do some gaming, it has never really matched the satisfaction I get from meeting around an actual table in real time. Combined with <a href="http://sandboxofdoom.blogspot.com/2009/04/gaming-clubs.html" target="_blank">fond memories of gaming clubs</a> in my past, I've always preferred regular get-togethers for roleplaying. So why start a club?</div>
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There are a bunch of decent reasons for starting a gaming club:</div>
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<ul>
<li><i>Finding other like-minded gamers.</i> The frequent complaint of "I can't find other gamers!" is a strong motivation to start a club. I would argue that starting a club and putting a little work into maintaining it is well worth the effort, especially if it results in connecting with gamers who share your interests.</li>
<li><i>Introducing new gamers to the games you like.</i> This is particularly important for the Old School Renaissance, as many of the games we enjoy are not always available at your FLGS. Having a club builds visibility for "our" kind of games, which does not happen as readily with online gaming.</li>
<li><i>Getting introduced to </i>new<i> games and campaigns.</i> There is something worthwhile in seeing how it's all done by somebody else, and better yet, having a chance to play in something different. It is easier face-to-face, which regular club meetings makes much easier.</li>
<li><i>Building a sense of community.</i> Unlike online forums which can sometimes descend into endless bickering, a local game club can actually help build friendships and strengthen a sense of community among members. Don't get me wrong - I've seen clubs go through their own brand of drama from time to time - but if you remember <a href="http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2011/07/our-lives-are-the-result-of-the-choices-we-make.html" target="_blank">Wheaton's Law</a> and the Golden Rule, a lot of it will dissipate.</li>
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Ultimately, you need to be open to experiencing new things to be effective in starting a gaming club. It might come as a surprise, but gamers are even more varied than the general public, so starting a club can be its own adventure.<br /><br /><i>Next Wednesday: timing and frequency of meetings.</i></div>
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<br />Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-74403253899792479962012-12-18T08:15:00.000-06:002012-12-19T18:56:25.893-06:00The Second Half...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEC96NFSZlJ0Nj38mCP_c94A8lySup0xl41tgV1uTz1t4H8jhV3l-Xlc9xPm9Lau_w3VuuBWm7uexaLj3KDnjFazAgT3lPHQL2gb16KYEPT3LM8_um6Xp13oRVbfgFNld4bu2TIUrKsOFk/s1600/WE_masthead.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEC96NFSZlJ0Nj38mCP_c94A8lySup0xl41tgV1uTz1t4H8jhV3l-Xlc9xPm9Lau_w3VuuBWm7uexaLj3KDnjFazAgT3lPHQL2gb16KYEPT3LM8_um6Xp13oRVbfgFNld4bu2TIUrKsOFk/s320/WE_masthead.png" width="320" /></a></div>
...of the <a href="http://www.thewalkingeye.com/?p=2017" target="_blank">Walking Eye podcast conversation</a> between myself and Ron Edwards, with my friend Kevin Weiser acting as moderator, goes up today. I have to admit, I am interested in hearing how it will sound, given that there's a lot we talked about - although not as much about the OSR as I might have liked. Still, it was an <i>interesting</i> conversation, and I'm looking forward to talking with Kevin and Ron again in the future.Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-80966174910732680682012-12-17T08:15:00.000-06:002012-12-17T08:15:00.251-06:00They just aren't the same...<div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Editorial note: I wrote this blog post some time ago, but aside from a few minor editorial updates, it is still very much how I feel about the current hype around the "evolution" of D&D.</span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't mistake all of this for...</td></tr>
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One of the comments made sometimes by fans of <i>D&D</i> 4th Edition is, "oh, it's so much more old school than 3rd Edition!" This may or may not be true, but that doesn't mean 4th Edition is<i> Old School</i>. In fact, there seems to be a fundamental difference between 4th Edition <i>D&D</i> and <i>Original D&D</i>, insofar as I could tell from observing a recent Lair Assault game session at my FLGS.</div>
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It may be a contrast in ideal types, but there is a distinct contrast between the "D&D-as-product-line" and "D&D-as-toolbox" approach. <i>D&D</i> 4th Edition is clearly in the former camp, while 0e is clearly in the latter. "Yes, but that change took place a long time ago!" someone might suggest. That's true. It's quite visible in Gary Gygax's editorial "Dungeons & Dragons - What It Is and Where It Is Going" which appeared in <i>The Dragon #22</i>, in February 1979:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<blockquote>
"From a standpoint of sales, I beam broadly at the very thought of an unending string of new, improved, super, energized, versions of D&D being hyped to the loyal followers of the gaming hobby in general and role playing fantasy games in particular. As a game designer I do not agree, particularly as a gamer who began with chess...I do not believe that hobbyists and casual players should be continually barraged with new rules, new systems, and new drains on their purses. Certainly there will be changes, for the game is not perfect; but I do not believe the game is so imperfect as to require constant improvement."</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggD7oIIKMteKKo5PFB_uDBaVZmAdfpyekuqzqdekLxlBz2Z25wQgBi8DWGtb8ImJ1MbV768S4Cz536zXYKKpf_nIjR_69VHqchMjMMs6QxU-92f-sk2G4j_1KuRYJW6-Qh2TVnqS6emUwr/s1600/Moldvay+Minis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggD7oIIKMteKKo5PFB_uDBaVZmAdfpyekuqzqdekLxlBz2Z25wQgBi8DWGtb8ImJ1MbV768S4Cz536zXYKKpf_nIjR_69VHqchMjMMs6QxU-92f-sk2G4j_1KuRYJW6-Qh2TVnqS6emUwr/s320/Moldvay+Minis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...for this..</td></tr>
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Broadly speaking, the history of <i>D&D</i> reflects this tension. The successive editions of the game have been produced with a fair span of time between each edition - but as every edition has been produced, there have been questions raised as to the <i>necessity</i> of the new edition. But what has <i>also </i>occurred over time has been the slow shift away from the "D&D-as-toolbox" approach. I would submit that this shift has been detrimental to the creative process - and why 4th Edition and <i>Original D&D</i> are <i>fundamentally</i> different from one another. Despite recent suggestions, I believe that 5th Edition will be no better at this than 4th.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMrd__CcDT52b1bce05ekY2juQFSutq6AhQHC9w8IU5Gntn7HMyDqkH4Nq6arx4d4d4T1VLIbmPKFbnvSykDjrDSa6vMWxR9Ya0zOO4O8C6Wbf3QAN4KOoddPZBRko5MsdSyNmyEdyedu/s1600/Gygax_Greyhawk_Level_1_Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMrd__CcDT52b1bce05ekY2juQFSutq6AhQHC9w8IU5Gntn7HMyDqkH4Nq6arx4d4d4T1VLIbmPKFbnvSykDjrDSa6vMWxR9Ya0zOO4O8C6Wbf3QAN4KOoddPZBRko5MsdSyNmyEdyedu/s320/Gygax_Greyhawk_Level_1_Detail.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...or this...</td></tr>
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One might ask why this shift has taken place. One reason is the pressure of commercialization, as noted above. Another is simply the work involved in creating your own campaign, as Gary himself recognized:<br />
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<blockquote>
"DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is like none other in that it requires the game master to create part or all of a fantasy world. Players must then become personae in this place and interact with the other populace. <b>This is, of course a tall order for all concerned</b> <i>[emphasis added] </i>— rules, DM, and players alike."</blockquote>
What's interesting is that even at this date, Gary did not see commercial products as being anything more than add-ons to existing campaigns, noting that "[m]odules and similar material will continue to be released so as to make the DM’s task easier and his or her campaign better." At some point, modules themselves supplanted original campaign creation, dovetailing nicely with the previously-mentioned pressure to produce commercial products to maintain the company - and in so doing, making it strange for anyone to engage in their own creative visioning of the game through their own campaign. That's what is really unfortunate.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAy_Qa0X4mC1AL84v7e-Oc-hZ9i3S8DB1bMI5vKZJ1JaSUUOSFL1a3q3SJE1NO2k2F9qCRwz_U_19jVJpd3KKevvE_FjNogY6tfejkvRpzXr91BGpvWxv_ySvRUpS67icpLFZdHfB4crh/s1600/Ailoria+Hand+Drawn+Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAy_Qa0X4mC1AL84v7e-Oc-hZ9i3S8DB1bMI5vKZJ1JaSUUOSFL1a3q3SJE1NO2k2F9qCRwz_U_19jVJpd3KKevvE_FjNogY6tfejkvRpzXr91BGpvWxv_ySvRUpS67icpLFZdHfB4crh/s320/Ailoria+Hand+Drawn+Map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ramblingsfrombeyondthepale.blogspot.com/2012/03/ailoria-new-map.html" target="_blank">...or your own work.</a></td></tr>
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Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391338032578456039.post-42741325043912797902012-12-16T16:02:00.001-06:002012-12-16T16:02:11.307-06:00We've got top men working on that...Ah, props in gaming. Done right, they can add a lot to a gaming session. Over time, I've created fake ID cards, accident reports, even a spy's briefcase right down to the unknown surveillance photos, cigarettes, and money (for the record, 20 Euros and 100 Rand).<div>
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But I don't think <a href="http://uchicagoadmissions.tumblr.com/post/37809971913/indiana-jones-mystery-package-we-dont-really" target="_blank">I've gone this far</a>:</div>
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Victor Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928494560036528653noreply@blogger.com0