Astounding Tales of Geekery!

Memoir '44, Solitaire rules and other variants

2009-09-06T17:57:59Z

After playing several rounds of Memoir '44 online using Vassal, I'll have to qualify my earlier statement. I'll now look to other games, such as Flames of War and Conflict of Heroes when I'm looking for a crunchier World War II wargaming experience. Memoir '44 provides that quick and easy fix of WW II gaming as each game can be played in less than an hour (usually half-that time). Memoir '44 is less complex than Battlelore, though I don't necessarily think that less complexity is a bad thing. Most of the game's expansions add on additional rules and flair to ratchet up the complexity just a smidgen. I'm ok with the level of abstraction though I'm always tempted to tinker with variant units and rules.

On that note, here are the add-on rules I currently use for Solitaire play when playing Memoir '44 or Battlelore:
A. At the beginning of each side's turn, randomly discard one card from their hand, then draw one new Command Card. (Remember to reveal the face-down Command Card from Rule C below).

B. When selecting a Command Card to play, choose the best card in the hand to play given the situation. If the die roll results in a Star symbol, keep the "best card" in your hand and select a different Command Card to Play amongst the other cards. I do this only once per turn.

C. At the end of a turn, draw a new Command Card (as per usual) however don't look at the card, place the Command Card face down until the start of that side's next turn.

D. Other rules for specific cards:
D1. When a unit is about to attempt a Close Assault and the defender has an Ambush card, the defender rolls a die. If the roll results in a Star Symbol, the defender keeps the Ambush card in their hand. Otherwise, the defender springs the Ambush.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I'm also trying to sell some of my RPG books and a few board games to scrounge enough cash to buy the tabletop versions of C&C Ancients and/or Battlelore. It's not that easy as it doesn't look like people have a lot of spare cash for luxuries such as games. That, and perhaps I'm not quite willing to give away everything at bargain bin prices.

I'm also looking into suitable figures in the event I'd like to replace the blocks used in C&C Ancients with something that has more visual appeal. It looks like 1/72 scale figures may meet that need optional requirement.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Next steps:
* Sell more gaming goods to get new gaming loot
* Work on Memoir 40K: I have some thoughts on this adaptation but I'm not ready to share the full write-up with the world just yet.
* Battlelore Variant Unit: I'm going to try my hand at writing up Saladin's forces and their allies. For reference, I'll be using a copy of "Field of Glory - Sword & Scimitars". I got on the cheap at one of my favourite used bookstores in Toronto when I was there on a business trip.
* Play more games!

Rule Zero, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Board Game

2009-09-04T07:57:32Z

I've been on a boardgame kick lately.

I've played a good number games of of Descent: Journeys in the Dark. We've started a campaign using the Road to Legend expansion. We've even created some customized heroes using the Build Your Own Hero Rules up on the Fantasy Flight Games support page. I enjoy the game but damn Descent takes for-frakking-EVER to set up and even longer to play. Well, I'm getting better at setting up the game but the dungeoncrawls can be really painful. There is vritually zero Overlord/DM prep-time but heck do you pay for it in administrative stuff to do during the Campaign turns. Perhaps I haven't played enough of it to know all the rules well enough without having to stop every now and then to look up some rule or other.

I also played my first couple of Battlelore games today. Set up can take some time but the games are fun and fast. I can see myself playing a lot of Battlelore. I am also looking forward to the other games in the Command and Colors series, notably C&C: Ancients. Memoir '44 looks interesting but I'm looking to other games to take care of any World War II wargaming itches that I may have.

The Command and Colors series really needs a game with a sci-fi or sci-fantasy themeI would like to see something along the lines of Warhammer 40K which combines elements of Memoir '44 with the lore rules from Battlelore. I'm probably not the first person to come up with this idea. but hey, I'm on a roll here. The Cleric cards can be adapter for a Ecclesiarch, an Inquisitor a Commisar or heck even a Space Marine Chaplain. The Wizard could be converted to a Psyker. Warriors could be represent elite or veteran Guardsmen and the like or an Inquisitor with a more martial bent. And rogues could be your Assassins, scouts from elite recon outfits such as Gaunt's Ghosts. I'm tempted to write this up myself.

One more thought: Battlelore needs a robust campaign system. Yes, I know there is the Call to Arms expansion though a quick readthrough of the rules and the cards didn't leave me impressed at all. I could be wrong, I will give the expansion a good shake and play it. I think I can plunder some campaign rules from 40K, Warhammer and others to put something more to my liking... Great. Another project to put on my long list of Geeky things to do.

I sure like the gaming bling. The components that come with Descent, and its expansions are well-done and for the most part durable to withstand lots of play. The Battlelore components are great as well, if not a notch below that of Descent (and other Fantasy Flight bigbox games). I also take some perverse pleasure in finding ways to organize the storage, setup and use of the components during play, sorting through pieces and tossing them them in ziploc bags, hunting for the perfect plastic tackle container or cheapo tupperware from the Dollarstore. I'm also a fan of the various reference sheets (which are kissing cousins to GM screens for RP games, I think) and take pleasure in printing them out, modifying existing ones or making up my own.

I also like miniatures. There I've said it. I've also been known to paint up a few.

I wonder what why I've gravitated to these types of games. Heck, perhaps it's saying something that I'm playing a crunchy dungeon crawling game in addition to running a 4th Edition D&D game. I guess I'm moving into more the "game" or boardgame spectrum and away from the "roleplay" side of things. *shrug* Maybe I just need some more structure in my games and let my imagination work it's way in other ways.

You don't have to buy or even own a boardgame to enjoy it. If you're fortunate enough to live near a good gaming store, they often have boardgame nights each month, some even weekly. The good game stores have copies that they offer up for play in the store, so you can try before you buy. There's also VASSAL which allows you play boardgames on your computer locally, real-time online or vie play-by-email. There a lot of Vassal modules made for wargames and boardgames. What? But I don't know the rules you say? Many companies provide free pdfs with the rules for their game. And BoardGameGeek.com has rules pdf for many an out-of-print game.

I haven't given up on roleplaying games. Far from it. My 4E campaign still has lots of room for player interaction, story and character development. I plan to run Day After Ragnarok for Savage Worlds (aka Conan 1948). I am also entertaining some ambition to run a Song of Ice and Fire campaign. Yeah, sure, Savage Worlds may appear to be another another simple or boardgamey system but I like it because it does it's job and gets out of the way, freeing up time, energy and mental space for story and character fun.

Ah heck, why even bother pigeonholing the type of fun I'm having. games They're *just* games and we're all gamers. I'm just following Rule Zero: Have Fun.

Burning Blackfyre

2009-03-16T03:44:10Z

Truth be told, I've been re-considering a noble house campaign ever since I started listening to the campaign shenanigans of the Podgecast crew. One of the Podgecasts hosts, Luke, uses Burning Wheel to run a house campaign inspired by George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of books that begins with th "Kingdom the Next Generation" (don't look at me, I just listen to the podcast)

After a quick reading of the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, I can't say I'm really inspired to run one based on Green Ronin's rules as is. Perhaps I need to take out the ASoIaFRPG system for a one shot and see how it really runs. And yet, the more I looked into Burning Wheel myself (there are free excerpts on the Burning Wheel wiki, the more I was convinced that Burning Wheel

My other go-to games don't really have the intrigue and social interaction mechanic I'm looking for or the level of PC Mojo is out of whack for the gritty, wheels within wheels style a Game of Thrones type game calls for.

Savage Worlds - Too heroic. I love you lots SW but I gotta say you're not the right one for a Blackfyre game.
D&D - Again, don't think a mace would be a good weapon to use when a rapier is what is being called for. And as I'm already running a 4E D&D game, I'm looking for something different.
FATE/Spirit of the Century - Ahhh, another one of my RPG darlings. I lurve many facets of FATE, especially the Aspect system but it's a bit too pulp for my tastes. Now I could do some tweaking but I'm just don't feel like monkeying around with the system.

Of course, I could graft FATE's Aspect system and hack the Intrigue mechanics of Green Ronin's ASoIaF RPG. Once again, I just don't want to invest that much time being monkeying around with house ruled game mechanics. While picking up a new system and reading up on the mechanics also represents a lot of work, reading and studying consumes far less of my time and creative energies. I'd rather read Burning Wheel and work on the "fluff" as I go along.

The Blackfyre Rebellion Revisited

2009-03-11T19:53:37Z

Green Ronin's A Song of Ice and Fire is out on PDF version at the Green Ronin store.

I've always wanted to run a noble house game. I'm toying with the idea of running a campaign set in (an alternate version of) the Blackyfyre Rebellion. The players will be family members and retainers of an up and coming minor noble house, either with ambitions of elevation to Great House status or as a major player in one of the factions.

Nothing is cast in stone as yet but I've posted a thread on the RPTools.net forums and sent out feelers to see if there is any interest.

I would like to limit the number of players to around four or so to give enough spotlight time to the player characters.

I'm still running a weekly D&D Game (The Age of Might) on MapTool and that seems to be going well but I'd like to try my hand at something less map-and-miniature oriented. I'll post my thoughts on here as I develop the campaign and I'll likely compile the campaign info an another pbwiki.

Halls of the Mountain King

2009-01-05T03:59:20Z

This weekend I became a Patron of the next Open Design project: Halls of the Mountain King. The book will be either OGL/3rd Edition or 4th Edition. Naturally, I supported the 4E option. I hope this comes out soon enough so I can use it for my MapTool D&D game.

Age of Might

2008-12-16T17:16:22Z

Tonight, I'm running session #2 of my online D&D 4th Edition campaign dubbed 'Age of Might'. Here is the teaser for the game:

The Age of Might

The last Age ended as the world burned in a storm of corrupt magic, other-worldly invasion and human pride.

The last Age ended with the fall of the Thousand Cities, the Empire of Man, the Empire of Folly.

The last Age ended as dweomercrafted battlebarges fell from the sky and abominations called forth by cults of horrific gods ravaged the cities of the Old Kingdoms. A few, unfortunate humans escaped the cataclysm and found sanctuary in the young, Imperial colonies across the Sunset Sea.

The last Age ended as the Eladrin withdrew to their sanctuaries beyond the Veil and the dwarves shut their gates, laying runes of warding and hallways full of traps, and hid in their underground fortresses.

You are the descendants of the survivors of the Last War of the Empire of Man.

Deepwell

In the dying days of the last Age, Lady Helja, matriarch of the Bronzesinger clan, offered sanctuary to any and all who would dwell in peace within Deepwell holdfast. Dwarf, Human, Halfling, Elf and Eladrin lived together under the rule of the Dwarf Jarls. Born and raised in a Deepwell you are eager to make a name for yourself in this new Age.

The Jarl (ruling lord of the house Bronzesinger), Nilgar Ebergun, calls upon the intrepid and the enterprising folk of the holdfast to:

clear the route to the upper gates, unravel the seals of protection, explore the surface world, establish trade routes for Deepwell's ore and goods and learn of the changes since the last Age
reclaim the abandoned mines and dwarf halls to provide ore for the forges and living space for the rapidly growing population
explore forgotten passageways or sail beyond the dim horizon of the underground lake and re-establish contact with the other dwarven holdfasts and underworld settlements

Gold and Glory Await!

That Wizard, Harry

2008-08-20T03:51:04Z

If I told you about I was a fan of Harry the Wizard some of you might think of the other Harry. You know who I'm talking about. Yeah, that stripling who tromps off to Wizard school (Warthogs, was it?) and goes on zany adventures with his friends. Well, I hate to tell you, I'm not really fan of Harry Potter. I'm a fan of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden.

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books are excellent when they are “OK”. That's only because there are a handful of Dresden books that are truly awesome. (Or as the kids say “pure win” . Whatever that means.)

The latest book, Small Favor, left me breathless. Small Favor also featured some of my favourite Dresden-verse villains and Harry was backed up by an all-star cast of his close and not-so-close comrades.

There are very few series that keep my attention for very long and very few series where I would the next book sight unseen.

I'm quite in awe at how the author manages to escalate the conflict from book to book. The stakes keep getting higher and higher: both the personal stakes for Harry and the people he cares about and the supernatural threats to the city (and the rest of the world). The escalation rarely, if ever, feels forced. Kudos to Jim Butcher for managing such an incredible feat of writing. The books come to an end that is logical given the characters, their choices and the events presented in each book. If they don't, Jim Butcher has really pulled the Major Cloak Suspension of Disbelief +5 over my head.

Is it a bit repetitive? Perhaps so, I admit the admit there's a bit of a formula in there. And, as a fan, I willingly embrace the formula but I can't wait to see what new shiny bits the author throw my way. Besides, the books' serial and formulaic nature is not necessarily a bad thing in the right hands. Fans KNOW they will be in for a treat when a new Harry Dresden book rolls off the presses.

The actions and choices of the character's are not without consequence. While there is plenty of action within the covers of each book, there is some change in the characters as one follows them from one book to another.

If I told you it's taken me about two years to go through the 10 books in the series thus far, don't be misled. It's taken me that long only because I go through two or three novels in a short period of time, then I go off to read some other things for a few months only to come back to haul back another couple of novels back from the book store. Then the Harry Mania comes back. In full force. And it doesn't stop until I've turned the last page.

Once I pick up a Dresden Files novel, I'm hooked. I tear through it at great speed (at least for me) - staying up late to read through a good chunk of the book, rub my eyes and look at the clock reminding myself I have to get up early, down the book, turn off the lights, figet in bed for a good ten minutes only to turn the lights back on, pick up the book and read on. Just one more chapter, then I'm off to bed. I promise.

Thirteen Bullets - Session 2

2008-08-07T05:47:04Z

I ran a follow-up game to the 'One Shot' Savage Worlds game tonight. We used Skype's free conference calling for voice chat and, WOW, did that make a difference in the pace of the game. Now, I still prefer to use the in-game text chat for some IC chatting as I'm don't really do NPC 'voices' that well in real life.

On another happy, note it seems like the players are still happy with the way I run games and are willing to keep going to see the story arc through. The one-shot is now a mini-series. Huzzah!

More MapTools! Potential Games

2008-08-05T17:38:26Z

Encouraged by the success of my first attempt at online Gamemastering. I'm thinking of running a mini-series: a story arc running from three to six sessions. Not a full-blown campaign yet but if there is any interest beyond the mini-series I would give a campaign some serious thought.
I wrote up some blurbrbs To give people a better flavour of types of games I would like to run.

D&D 4th Edition, Homebrew
1A. Heroes of Myth & Legend: Will you be the one to raise the shield wall against the invaders? Or will you carve out nations with the edge of your axe? Or will venture out to the Feywild, seeking out the Courts of the Eladrin? Will you forge bonds of fellowship with the Fae or will you bend them to your service? Will you stop your people's steady decline into decadence and infernal corruption? In time, perhaps? Or perhaps, you are just content to test your steel and spells against the might and magic of this new world?

The main influence for this mini-series is Dawnforge the Age of Legend . There are others but that is the main one that comes to mind.

1B. Urban Setting & Mega-Dungeon: The Great City was built on the corpses of many great Empires. Underneath the cobblestones lies warrens, catacombs and chambers filled with jewels and treasury of merchant princes and miserly kings, not to mention lost artefacts of untold power. The City is not a place for the soft-hearted nor the merciful as the gangs who rule the streets 'in the name of Law' will just as mug you than protect you from the riffraf.

This will also be a homegrown setting though I would take a page or three from Monte Cook's Ptolus. There are also shades of Fafhrd & Grey Mouser and Thieves World.

Come to think of it, I may add a dash of
Perdido Street Station, Gangs of New York and Eberron into this mix.

2. Star Wars Saga: Knights of the Old Republic: I don't have any specific, fleshed out ideas on this yet. I could go with either Heroes of the Republic or something along Privateers & Merchants.

3. Savage Worlds: We can continue with the Modern Day Monster mash as that's one of my favourite genres. Another game that really has me fired up is:
Starlords of Hadrapur! This will be a Sword and Planet mini-series in the tradition of John Carter of Mars (who doesn't want a little Barsoom in their Savage Worlds?), Flash Gordon and WizKid's Rocketmen.

In the midst of the Great Interstellar War, you and the rest of the crew, prisoners, refugees and other survivors of the Galactic Fleet Rocketship Garuda find yourself stranded on a strange world. You will fight tyrannical Star Lords, explore exotic locations, liberate the oppressed, swing on chandeliers, rescuing princes and princesses all the while searching for a way home. The first session will deal with how our heroes ended up on Hadrapur.

MapTool Mini Review

2008-07-30T17:07:14Z

I took MapTool for a shakedown cruise last night. I (mercifully) survived my first time GMingSavage Worlds! Call me a 'believer' - MapTool is a great virtual gaming table. Add in the other RPTools then you've got a truly kick-ass set of tools for an online RPG game. InitTool came in handy for managing combat and has built in support for Savage Worlds and D&D (there were one or two more though I can't remember the other ones at the moment). Using TokenTool was a breeze and enabled me to whip up some custom tokens for a PC and some NPCs in less than a minute each.

However, I wouldn't say that MapTools is "very easy" to use. You will spend SOME time and effort trying to understand the interface and spend even more time to make full use of the application's capabilities. While that may not sound like a ringing endorsement, I found the energy and time very well-spent especially if one is determined to run a game online. There are also screen-cast tutorials out to help you along the learning curve.

I played in a few OpenRPG games a while back and that experience was OK. Over the past few years, I made several attempts to re-install the latest version(s) of OpenRPG and see if I could make a go of it but I always found the UI, the tools and all the XML stuff a bit daunting.

I was also encouraged to find an active and VERY supportive community on RPTools.net. One of the players, a veteran Savage Worlds DM and an RPTools regular, set up the campaign properties (e.g. stat block) and some basic scripts to help with the trait and skill rolls.

I found that I had to do a good amount of prep work setting up the tokens, embedding the stats and making maps. I spent a lot of time making maps but that's really not a necessity as there are a lot of good maps out there. I chose to make some custom maps and also re-scale some existing maps to the grid I was using. All this work saved a lot of effort and time during showtime. The players and I were able to focus on what was going on with the characters and their adventures rather than mucking around with the software.

MapTool does not support voice chat and I only used the MapTool's native chat last night. The chat interface saw us through the game just fine, if not a bit slowly. This is obviously a detriment especially if you or one of your players type slowly. If I were to run the game online again I would use voice chat (Skype conference call or Ventrillo, probably Skype since it's free).

For those interested in MapTool or other Virtual Gaming Table (VGT) software, check out this chart to see how each application stacks up against the others.

Does anyone have any experiences with MapTool or any other VGT software? It doesn't matter whether they are similar or contrary to my experience but I would like to hear your war stories. :)

Free PDF Black Gate Issue 12

2008-07-30T06:20:07Z

You can find the free download over at the Black Gate Website.
Thanks to marthawells for passing on the news that... "Black Gate magazine is now available in high-resolution digital format.

In addition to our regular print edition, Black Gate is now available for download as a high-resolution PDF. To help promote our new format, we're making the complete contents - all 224 pages - of Black Gate 12 available for download for a limited time - for free!

Black Gate 12 is available as a single download, or in two smaller sections. Both versions are suitable for printing, and require a PDF reader (such as Adobe Acrobat)."

Savage Worlds One-shot: Mission Accomplished!

2008-07-30T06:05:13Z

I just finished GMing my first Savage Worlds game on MapTool. Only two players showed up but that's ok.... I survived! More importantly, fun was had by all!

Hackslash.net - Random Goodness

2008-07-29T20:10:40Z

I stumbled upon hackslash.net and found a couple of gems:
* A random dungeon generator (see the sample behind the cut)
* And some additional rules for Medieval Weapons for Savage Worlds

Thirteen Bullets - Teaser

2008-07-28T22:56:29Z

Here is a teaser for tomorrow night's Savage World's One-shot game:

This image was created using The Newspaper Clipping Generator.

NOTE: This is a work of fiction and this website nor the game has no affiliations with the Royal Ontario Museum.

Haiku Monday: The Geek Movie That Changed Your Life.

2008-07-28T14:14:03Z

Haiku Monday appears twice a month at Uncle Bear. This week's topic: The Geek Movie That Changed Your Life. Here's my haiku for this week (slightly edited):

Pulp movie homage
I want to be a Jedi
Great special effects.

Maptool Mania

2008-07-27T00:42:26Z

After fooling around a bit with MapTool, TokenTool and RPTroll's Savage Worlds MapTool macros and add-ons, I think I may have some of the basics down. Thanks a lot, RPTroll!

Click the Image to Embiggen.

Savage Worlds One-Shot Online: Supernatural Pulp Action

2008-07-25T17:04:38Z

I'm planning to run a Savage Worlds One-Shot game online using MapTool.

I put together a one-pager for prospective players for a Savage Worlds monster-bashing one-shot. A PDF version can be found here

Thirteen Bullets (working title)
A Savage Worlds One-Shot of Supernatural Pulp Action
System: The game will be powered Savage Worlds and our imaginations. Let's keep things Fast, Furious and Fun. You can get by with the Savage Worlds Test Drive v6 (free 16 page rules). The pre-gens will have some additional characteristics/rules but those will be described on each sheet. I'll have some other books on hand for my prep and reference.
When: A Tuesday or Wednesday night (7pm-10pm Pacific Time).
Where: Online using MapTool.
Key Influences: The Dresden Files, Angel & Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ars Magica, Grand Theft Auto (you heard me) for some grit and The Nocturnals and Hellboy for the pulp, weird fantasy flavour.
Who are the heroes? The characters will be part of a group that protects the mundanes from Wendigo Forensic Investigators, Demonic musicians and other supernatural horrosr. The heroes could be part of a motley monster-hunting group, a cabal of wizards and their confederates or even an off-shoot of a international conspiracy.

The players will begin the game as Seasoned (20 XP) characters.

I've got some ideas for pre-gen PCs or recurring NPCs. You don't have to use these pre-gens but this should give you an idea of the kinds of characters that would be suitable for the setting:
* Troll-blooded Babe, Fae Princess in Exile – a newbie to the mundane world, she has some clout within the Fae Realms.
* The Warlock - Don't call him/her that though. A 'Relationship Manager' that deals with entities from The Beyond.
* The Shanghai Spectre - Ghost Hunter. Crime-Fighter. Pizza delivery person. Inherited the legacy of a pulp hero of the same name.
* The Russian Mobster with a heart of gold. His crime family was wiped out during a hostile takeover by monsters and magic.
* The Estranged Apprentice of an Ancient Atlantean Sorceress/Banking Executive. With great power comes great responsibility, or does it?

Other appropriate archetypes include the Private Investigator/Professional Wizard, Mad Scientist, former Igor, Flesh Golem Bodyguard, ormer Cultist, Were-Rat Thug, Demon-Hunting Priest, Former Servant of the Fae, Avatar of the Warrior god(dess), Knight of the Church, Scooby Gang member.

Where is the game set? The game on-line will be set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I downloaded and tinkered with MapTool and it looks like I've found a winner. I found MapTool rather intuitive and didn't take a lot of headscratching on my part to use it. It even has a Fog-of-War feature. Nifty that. Using TokenTool it was shockingly easy to grab an image and turn it into a token. You can even drag and drop tokens from TokenTool into MapTool.

I have also uploaded a PDF for The Shanghai Spectre which you can find here. The other pre-generated characters are still a WIP (Work In Progress) but I will be posting them over the next few days for your comment and more importantly for your entertainment. :)

Steel & Spellcraft - Utum

2008-07-24T15:41:16Z

"Steel & Spellcraft" is an irregular series of blog posts featuring a heroic fantasy setting on the planet Mars far into the distant future. Today, I present to you:

UTUM

Atop a colossal ziggurat, the Maharajah of Utum commands the loyalty of the world's most populous nation... of living and undead!
The Maharajah sponsors expeditions into ruins and far off lands to procure wealth and recover items of power and ancient secrets. In order to ensure the success of these dungeon-delves, some powerful patrons (including the Maharajah) send a veteran priest or scholar with a small retinue of bodyguards (and sometimes novices/apprentices) to accompany the treasure hunters. The priests apply their skill in the healing arts and truth-saying rituals to bolster the health of the adventurer's and to guarantee the treasure hunters remain honest and focused on their goals.
Adventurers that prove to be useful to the Maharajah, the Rajahs, nobles and other courtiers can exercise their influence, but must do so at their own peril. Politics can be as thrilling and as deadly as dungeon delving.
Sell-swords and adventurers are now instrumental to the nobles' plan to clear out stretches of wilderness, open up areas for settlement, farming and travel routes.
Those interested in buying or selling unearthed relics, wondrous tokens and enchanted weapons can find no better place to do so than the Night Bazaar in Utum. Folk from all along the Great Road find their way to the Bazaar for the best selection of arcane items and equipment.
The young ruler has exiled the Prime Minister and dissolved the Privy Council and installed a sorcerous cabal in its place. Some of the Throne's policies and edicts have been less than popular, especially the new levy on magical goods. A fee is charged to each participant in the magical trade: the purchaser, broker and seller. However, the hue and cry is over the significantly higher tax rate applied to foreigners who buy or broker a magical trade. There is some additional controversy over the preferential tax rate for some Erbos merchant clans rate and the exemption for the local Temple of the [god of knowledge and magic].
Powered by colossal beasts, untiring legions of undead slaves and machinery not seen since the Golden Age of the Thousand Cities, Utum is undertaking a major civil works project to upgrade the Great Road (aka the Spice Road analog). The first segments were completed in the past few years, linking Utum with a major center of trade (along a major body of water) and a small city state (of military/strategic significance, also agricultural center?). These segments of the Great Road are elevated, broad roadways with minor guard towers and way stations at regular intervals. Trade caravans can also expect well-fortified and guarded spacious camping areas that are at most one-days' travel from the next caravan staging area.
While neighbouring states and allies have benefited from the economic boom in Utum, states both near and far have started to fear the power rising from the West. It does not take a sage to realize that legions of troops can march down the new walled, paved roadways of the Great Road with great speed.
Utum was founded by exiled royalty from Lost Atulan.

My Geek Week: Young Apprentice

2008-07-21T17:45:12Z

The highlight of my Geek Week was having my son ask me to play D&D miniatures with him. This week, I also:
* played in the twice-a-month Keep on the Shadowfell campaign. The DM didn't like the standard Skill Challenge system (even with the errata) so we tried out an alternate skill challenge system, Stalker0's Obsidian which can be found in the Enworld forums.
* completed Act I of Diablo 2. Yes, I know, I'm soooo late to the party.
* started reading Jack Vance’s Dying Earth (which I got through BookMooch).

My son, let's call him Spider-boy, got some book store gift cards for his birthday and the family trooped out to the store earlier in the week. He chose a few books and used his gift cards while I picked up the D&D Miniatures Start Set (using my own money, of course)

We got home and we tore into the package playing with the quick start rules (a one-on-one battle between a Human Fighter and a Yuan-Ti) and then played a few more rounds with the figures in the set.

For last night's game we're used some additional rules over and above the quick play rules but we kept things pretty simple. Spider-boy noted that the miniatures battle game was like Pokemon battles (where you get to assemble your team of critters, send them into battle and pick which powers to use, there are stuns, paralyzes etc). I responded by saying that that was a very sharp observation though Pokemon is more like D&D. That got him thinking.

Before each game, my son picked a battle map and we selected our forces. I had also picked up a few boosters during the week to expand our selection.

For our first game last night, Spider-boy picked the temple ruins in the jungle (or was it a dense forest?). I sent my Hooked Horror against my son's motley team: a Dan Elven Archer and a Grick. Though I promptly dispatched his Grick, my Horror was no match for my son's Battlemaster.

Having felt the thrill of success, Spider-Boy wanted to take on another challenge. This time, in the caverns surrounding a Dwarf Outpost, Spider-boy's Angel of Valor, Dwarf Battlemaster and Elf Warlock took down my bad-guy war band composed of a Drow Spiderguard, a Deathjump Spider and a Tiefling Warlock. My son was keen to use the Angel of Valor's Lightning Strike ability - which electrified and stunned the Drow and Spider. I managed to take down the Angel of Valor but by then it was too late for little band of baddies.

My son even made sound effects and gestured to describe what was going on. Most Excellent!

And you can't put a price on the expression on his face when I labelled the box of minis: Dad's and Spiderboy's D&D Minis.

Late to the Party: Diablo 2 - Act I

2008-07-19T18:34:24Z

Late last night, I finished Act I of Diablo 2. I'm still hooked on Diablo 2 even though I only get to play the game one or two nights a week. The real-time component is really what gets me going. I love that jolt of adrenaline when I see a boss monster make a bee-line for my character or the surroundings start to crackle or blaze with nasty area of effect attack.

I'm now puttering around the sewers of Lut Gholein and Seraphar, my sword-swinging sorceress, hit 17 this morning. Well actually, I sold all my scimitars and shortswords and bought a gemmed battlestaff from one of the local merchants. It has two sockets and I slapped a diamond into it to boost the damage against the undead. I'm waiting for a "flawed" version of the gem that adds electric damage to drop.

Onward to adventure!

EDIT: I also just put down Radament, the big boss for the first quest on Act II. Go me! Now time to turn off the computer and spend time with the family.

Dresden Files Comics - Issues #2 and #3 - No Spoilers

2008-07-17T23:50:51Z

Last week, I read issues #2 and #3 of the Dresden Files comic. The first comic book mini-series, Welcome to the Jungle, takes place before the first Dresden Novel, Storm Front. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the artwork. I'm having a tough time putting my finger on it but there's something about the proportions and the expressions on the characters face that rub me the wrong way.

Also, in my Dresden Universe, Harry Dresden looks like that actor that played the TV Harry (Paul Blackthorn) and Lt. Murphy looks like an older of Hayden Panettiere (the cheerleader from Heroes). But that's hardly the artists fault for not meeting my expectations.. :)

The story (some bloody murders at the Lincoln Park zoo), was excellent. This is not surprising as Jim Butcher, the author of the Dresden files, seldom disappoints. Overall, good storytelling - despite the art.

EDIT: The Dabel Brothers have announced that the creative team for the next comic book mini-series, based off of Stormfront, includes the same artist. Oh well.

Thirteen Bullets - a Savage Worlds One-Shot of Supernatural Pulp Action

2008-07-16T06:59:22Z

With all the face-to-face gaming that's going on lately, I've been tempted to run a game myself. It will be a Savage Worlds monster-bashing one-shot run over the Internetz. I've prepared a one-page 'Elevator Pitch' for prospective players. A PDF version of the can be found here - you can also find the one-pager behind the LJ cut below. Think Angel/Buffy/Dresden Files/Grand Theft Auto/Hell Boy mash-up and you'll get the picture

Thirteen Bullets (working title)
A Savage Worlds One-Shot of Supernatural Pulp Action
System: The game will be powered Savage Worlds and our imaginations. Let's keep things Fast, Furious and Fun. You can get by with the Savage Worlds Test Drive v6 (free 16 page rules). The pre-gens will have some additional characteristics/rules but those will be described on each sheet. I'll have some other books on hand for my prep and reference.
When: A Tuesday or Wednesday night (7pm-10pm Pacific Time).
Where: Online using MapTool.
Key Influences: The Dresden Files, Angel & Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ars Magica, Grand Theft Auto (you heard me) for some grit and The Nocturnals and Hellboy for the pulp, weird fantasy flavour.
Who are the heroes? The characters will be part of a group that protects the mundanes from Wendigo Forensic Investigators, Demonic musicians and other supernatural horrosr. The heroes could be part of a motley monster-hunting group, a cabal of wizards and their confederates or even an off-shoot of a international conspiracy.
The players will begin the game as Seasoned (20 XP) characters.
I've got some ideas for pre-gen PCs or recurring NPCs. You don't have to use these pre-gens but this should give you an idea of the kinds of characters that would be suitable for the setting:
● Troll-blooded Babe, Fae Princess in Exile – a newbie to the mundane world, she has some clout within the Fae Realms.
● The Warlock - Don't call him/her that though. A 'Relationship Manager' that deals with entities from The Beyond.
● The Shanghai Spectre - Ghost Hunter. Crime-Fighter. Pizza delivery person. Inherited the legacy of a pulp hero of the same name.
● The Russian Mobster with a heart of gold. His crime family was wiped out during a hostile takeover by monsters and magic.
● The Estranged Apprentice of an Ancient Atlantean Sorceress/Banking Executive. With great power comes great responsibility, or does it?

Other appropriate archetypes include the Private Investigator/Professional Wizard, Mad Scientist, former Igor, Flesh Golem Bodyguard, ormer Cultist, Were-Rat Thug, Demon-Hunting Priest, Former Servant of the Fae, Avatar of the Warrior god(dess), Knight of the Church, Scooby Gang member…

Where is the game set? The game on-line will be set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I downloaded and tinkered with MapTool and it looks like I've found a winner. I found MapTool rather intuitive and didn't take a lot of headscratching on my part to use it. It even has a Fog-of-War feature. Nifty that. Using TokenTool it was shockingly easy to grab an image and turn it into a token. You can even drag and drop tokens from TokenTool into MapTool.

I'm also still working on some pre-gens. I'll probably to put them up one at a time as I get them done for your comment and more importantly for your entertainment. :)

My Geek Week (July 7-13, 2008)

2008-07-14T16:42:01Z

The past Geek Week saw me joining another face-to-face 4E D&D game, writing up some GM material for a online, one-shot Savage Worlds game of supernatural pulp action, hacking and slashing my way through minions and boss-monsters on Diablo II and devouring a couple issues of the Dresden Files comics.

A little while ago Blizzard announced that they were working on Diablo III (D3). As much as I admire Blizzard's commitment to quality, a release date of "When it's ready" just won't do to satisfy my click-and-slash computer RPG cravings.

I've been poking around some forums to see what people thought that best Diablo-like game was. There was also a brief period when I considered Rogue-like games but that phase passed rather quickly. At the end of the day, I decided that there was no substitute for the genuine article. I found a copy of the Diablo II Battlechest and installed the original game on my PC. With my strong sorceress I am now hacking and blazing my way through minions and monsters on the solo campaign. I haven't summoned up the courage to go multiplayer yet.

Not having played Diablo II before I was surprised to see how low-level World of Warcraft borrowed a lot from Diablo II. I also see a familial resemblance between Diablo II and Guild Wars. IIRC some random nerd on the internet mentioned that more than a few Diablo II dev team veterans worked on Guild Wars, then again who knows the truth behind forum thread #8,122,187,9421.

I created a Sorceress since I felt like slinging spells. My other choice would have been Assassin (mmmm, gotta love the high damage output!) but that class is only available on the Expansion pack. I'm determined to play though Diablo II before installing the Expansion pack and trying the other classes and game features.

I got some pretty sweet loot (in my very inexpert, noobish, lowbie opinion) within the first half-hour of playing: a socketed short sword and a gem that adds lightning damage to a weapon. But wait, my Sorceress doesn't have the strength to wield a short sword… so I add some character points into Strength. (I think my character's name is Seraphiel. Good Lord, this game is so hack and slash that I don't even remember my own character's name!) Now packing the muscle she needs to swing a short sword around, my Sorceress started to hack her way through the mob leaving a trail of lightning-blasted corpses in her wake all the while pummeling monsters at range with her fire spell.

A cold stone sits at the bottom of my stomach as I sink precious character points into Strength. That's probably not the optimal choice for a Sorceress but hey isn't Diablo II a ROLEplaying game? I'm just playing the cards I'm dealt the way I see my character. For now, I'm still kicking butt though I may regret this later on in the game when I need every ounce of energy to keep pumping out magic badassery. Casting a few fire spells for good measure, put up a trusty shield spell to keep the baddies off my hide and throw in a good melee attack or two. Hmmm, come think of it the character is rather like very Harry Dresden.

I played a little bit of Diablo on the PS1 but the control scheme was horrible IIRC so that didn't really go anywhere. My sister had Diablo II installed on her PC and I started a character while I was visiting her but I guess I wasn't into the clickety-click action RPG games at the time.

I had a copy of Dungeon Lords around the house which I got dirt-cheap one time (a couple of dollars at most). I installed it, banged my head against the wall trying to iron out some graphics kinks, created a character, took a few steps into the world and immediately de-installed the game. Let's never speak of Dungeon Lords ever again. Back to more pleasant topics…

I'm glad to discover a PC gaming gem in Diablo II and I'm even happier playing the game. The plot is serviceable but the voice acting is superb. If my ears are right, the Diablo II voice actors have gone on to lend their talents to other great (and not so great) PC games. Diablo II's graphics are, of course, dated but the game's longetivity lies in the compelling gameplay. It is no miracle that Blizzard has made such a success off of World of Warcraft after learning the ropes and honing their craft on the Diablo series of games.

I'll be talking about the other items of Geekery in more detail over the next few days.

Keep on the Shadowfell Session 2 & Other RPG goodness

2008-07-07T01:45:47Z

By the mighty lords of Kobol, that Irontooth was one tough son of a goblin. Our party of adventurers tore into Irontooth and his cronies. Still, Irontooth packed a whallop and knocked out my character (a Human Warlord) and the other healer (a Dwarven Cleric).

Today was the second session of the 4E D&D game I'm playing in. I enjoyed myself. The gaming group got into a rhythm and were more familiar with the combat rules this time around so we whipped through a minor RP encounter and three combat encounters during the course of the afternoon. The only thing that sucked (aside from getting struck down by a goblin axe till I nearly bled to death) was that the encounters netted only a handful of XP since there were seven PCs. Oh well...

Playing this campaign every other week seems to be ok but I'm starting to hunger for other games. I've tried looking at playing other games online (via OpenRPG or Fantasy Grounds) but I haven't seen any games that fit my schedule or are set in gameworlds that I'm interested in. Another 4E game would be nice but I would also consider other games such as Savage Worlds, Star Wars Saga or Spirit of the Century. I'm also entertaining the idea of DMing but that prospect still scares me... I don't know the rules as well as I would like.

Steel & Spellcraft: The Plutocracy of Erbos

2008-07-03T04:10:52Z

I've been busy with other geekery projects and enjoying the summer. Enough with excuses, on to the RPG content. I present to you, some notes and thoughts on the Plutocracy of Erbos. Constructive feedback and comments are, as always, welcome. Enjoy!

ERBOS

Erbos was one of the old principalities during the Empire of the Thousand Cities. While the climate changes that followed the Final War of the Ancients devastated large portions of the world, the inhabitants of the Great Valleys of Erbos benefited from the transformation. The region is now a tropical paradise. Timely changes in the ruling class' mindset also saved Erbos from economic and political disaster. While trade was seen as a lowborn pursuit (and still is in many places across the globe), the Clan Lords of Erbos embraced the way of the merchant.
Every three months, a Great Prince of one of the Mercantile Clans hosts a major festival in one of the city states. One such Festival celebrates the migration of winged, ruby-scaled serpents from Tharsijan, over the jagged, snowy peaks of the Kalasak range over into the low wetlands along the mouth of the Erbos River.
The five major Mercantile Clans are led by Great Princes. Some clans have special titles for their leaders (q.v. the Santruya Alef, the Kalasak Captain).

ISARI clan. Currently the wealthiest Plutocrat (and by Erbosian standards, therefore, the most influential), Isari, is a foreign-born woman. Up until a few years ago, Isari led a small group of traders and artisans specializing in (tbd). A well-timed merger (marriage? guild coup?) with one of the great Clans on the verge of extinction and a series of successful ventures transformed the Isari from a minor trading family into a trading giant. The well-traveled Plutocrat cultivated her adventuring contacts abroad into a network of commerce, making inroads into the Warlord's new government in Tharsijan, the emergent power in the west, Utum and is currently negotiating with Sovijan nomads to import their prized livestock. The Clan's rapid growth was also fueled by an influx of capital raised by selling minor noble titles to those who could afford Isari's price.

The SANTRUYA trace their lineage back to explorers and traders that crossed the cold, empty wastes between the Celestial Cities. Being an ancient clan, the Santruya thumb their noses at the nouveau riche, even the well-established Kalasak clan (already several centuries old). The Santruya decry the practice of putting up minor titles for sale. The head of the Santruya Clan, called The Alef, plots to bring down the Isari by any means. The Santruya own interests in a wide variety of industries and derive their strength from:

holding the keys to lucrative trade contracts with traditional centers of power and wealth such as the Shining City, Iridis and the deposed Theocrats of Tharsijan
deep pockets as a result of centuries of careful investing and stewardship of its assets
their extensive and effective use of spies, thieves and assassins
production of foodstuffs (second only to the Erbos Clan)
its growing fleet of trade ships

ERBOS Clan. While the Erbos Clan Great Prince is not the head of the city-states' government, tradition dictates that the Erbos Clan leader serve as the region's Head of State. The current Erbos Clan leader's face or their personal insignia appears on any new coinage issued within the plutocracy.

Like many of the major mercantile clans, the Erbos Clan has its fingers in many economic pies. The Clan's commercial backbone and pride, however, are the rice fields, orchards and wines which "fed the bellies of victorious armies" and "sated the thirst of long lines of kings and queens" for centuries. While the Santruya are the Erbos' acknowledged rivals in the foodstuffs arena, the Erbos still pride themselves in producing better quality wines and other foodstuffs. While to the ordinary soldier, a bowl of rice is still a bowl of rice, citizens would eat Santruyan rice day-in-and-day out but would save up their money to buy Erbos rice and wine for special occasions.
The current Clan Prince is an accomplished scholar-general {think Sun-Tzu analog}. Before taking on the mantle of Clan leader, the Erbos Princess provided advice to foreign monarchs on matters of war and state. In her youth, she took up the naginata/glaive and won her sponsors victory after victory, even though the Clan's small force of professional soldiers usually found themselves outnumbered.

KALASAK Clan. Named after the Tharsijani mercenary who established the Clan after a long life of service as a Captain in the Erbos Clan army. The founder chose his nom-de-guerre, "Kalasak", after the wall of "shield"-like mountains that separated the country of his birth from the rest of the mainland nations. Another Clan that rose above its roots as a minor clan to become a major player, the Kalasak made their mark providing guards for trade caravans as well as personal security for the nobles and the wealthy.

(Name TBD) An ancient, well-respected Clan renowned for its architects, builders, scholars and diplomats. It has been in a state of slow decline over the past few decades. The most recent blow was the loss of its naval trading power to the Santruya. Minor trading companies are closing in on this Clan like vultures and serpents, waiting for the right moment to strike. Perhaps the Clan has been holding on to its secrets for too long and the old ones are merely waiting for men and women with fire in their spirits and steel in their hands to forge a new future for their Clan. Who knows what secret lore and treasure troves lay hidden behind the vaults designed and built by the Clan over the centuries?