Hiya!
  Well, I seem to have contracted some sort of mystery-illness... Seriously. Doctors are still scratching their heads, poking me with needles to draw more blood than a murder of stirge, and there's even talk of one of the ancient mystics traveling up here to work his mojo. (re: a specialist from down south).
  Details? Not much...hive/welt bumps the size of a nickle to a twoonie (Canadian coin), itch like hell, feel like bruises after, and then like I'm being burned or cut. Oh, and every now and then excruciating pain for no reason on some area/part of my body (typically it seems to be hands, feet and ribs). Really weird blood work isn't helping....indicates I'm fighting some nasty infection on one thing, but the other things that would back that up are perfectly normal. 
  Anyway...seems I'll be having a lot more time to do crap like this (and a good excuse to get back into my writing and 3D to see if I can make some $$$). I'll be "semi-unemployed" for the next four months or so (or until they "fix" me). 

  Ahem. RPG wise...didn't get to play last Sunday. :( This Sunday, however, I'm all over it! I'm still wavering on the Feat thing...and the Forgotten Realms still isn't really my cup 'o joe, but we'll see. I'm really enjoying the 1e free-flow style of 5e...I'm kind of excited to be able to look forward to spending $$$ (that I don't have) on actual new D&D stuff! If I don't go with FR, I think I'll probably give creating a new world a shot, or maybe use my ol' standby, Greyhawk. :) Then again, Golarion (from Paizo.com) or the no-longer-produced "Gazetteer of the Known World "(Aerth) world that Goodman Games put out back in the day for their DCC modules. It has a certain charm, I must admit...

  Anyway, there you have it. Stuff. Random stuff. Just 'cause.

Paul

Hi all.
Well, we've played three sessions of 5e (I DM'ed, of course), for a total of about 11 hours. The first two sessions we used the pre-gen characters from the Starter Set. Yesterday everyone decided they wanted to make their own characters though. As we all bought the PHB (except for one player who is short on cash at the moment), so character creation went quickly for a "1st character in a new game system" (about 2 hours total for everyone).  The party ended up with Silifrey (female human [Illuskan] Wizard with the Sailor background, and a mean streak), her companion Racmavik (male human [Rashemi] Fighter, also with Sailor background, but a nice guy), Arnau (male human [???] Cleric of Lathander, with a definite pacifist streak), and lastly, Shamash (male Dragonborn [Green] Sorcerer, who is generally quiet and pretty much keeps to himself). I started them off coming into the town of Phandelin. Straight to the bar, they got rooms and then promptly got in a fight with a trio of the towns thieves guild (the Redbrands). Racmavik goes down, one thug goes down, two thugs injured and then Arnau uses a Thunderclap spell to interrupt the fight; he steps between the party and the thugs, urging them to calm down, which they did. The thugs took their not-quite-dead companion away, telling the PC's that they better not be in town when they come back. 

Anyway, long story short, they get Racmavik healed, get some potions of healing from the elven cleric of Tymora (the only shrine in town) , talk to a halfling kid who points them off to the Redbrand hideout (well, supposed hideout), an old ruined manor house/castle with it's basement/dungeon the only thing still in tact. We ended the session with the PC's just getting into the underground lair where they spot a hideous one-eyes creature attempting to hide behind a natural stone pillar. Should be fun to see what happens next Sunday!

As far as 5e rules go...I think we are all sold. It's a solid system, easy to play and DM, with some interesting choices for character creation that manages to not get bogged down in a bajillion bonuses and penalties, exceptions to rules, etc. Oh, and the whole Background thing is really a nice breath of fresh air. The most enjoyed aspect of the system? Probably the Advantage/Disadvantage system. As a DM, I absolutely LOVE IT! I can use it as a sort of shiny, sugar-coated crack carrot for my players. If a player says "I try and sneak down the ally way", I ask for a Stealth roll. But if a player says "I get some dirt and grime and paint my face and exposed flesh with it in a camo-type pattern. I'll also coat any metal bits of my armor and blades with it, oh, and I'll  switch to my soft boots too", I ask for a Stealth roll, but with Advantage. :) This, not surprisingly, has the effect of getting my players to actually role-play and describe/think of what their character is doing. It makes for a FAR more evocative and rewarding session, period. I haven't seen this much actual "setting/situation thinking and acting" since, well, years and years ago. 

My final verdict? 5e is a win, with a few minor changes to be made to fit my/our play style...but so far, only a handful of changes will likely be made. That's a pretty damn good score in my book!

Paul

A-yup. I guess it's that time of the year. That time when we, as Canadians, have an excuse to go out with friends to a barbeque, drink some beer around a campfire and wait 'till morning to arrive. (...who am I kidding...thats a Canadian "normal summer day"...). :)

Anyway, nothing unusual in the RPG front. Played a rather fun 8 hour game of Star Frontiers last Sunday (I was GM, as usual...my preference). Pretty much winged the whole thing. I did use a supplement I bought a year or so ago that gives a 9 or 10 step 'random table' method for generating an adventure. It just gives basics, which is perfect for 'winging it'. Anyway, long story short, they managed to get off the planet they were crash-landed on, only to not really be able to get out of orbit, and subsequently crash-landed back on the same planet, but this time hundreds of kilometers away from where they want to go. Oh, did I mention its a jungle/swamp planet with 40C degree average temp with a 38-hour day? Yeah, they're having fun. Well, except for all the dinosaurs. ;) It was/is fun, that's for sure! It's got secret military bases, sathar listening outposts, alien artifacts, secret-research cutting-edge starcraft, insane A.I....oh yeah, and space kobolds!  Ahhhh....good times...good times...

That's one thing I always find refreshing about older games (Basic D&D, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Powers & Perils, etc). They were written at a time when the writers were gamers. They weren't "actual" writers. There were no requirements for being a game designer....you played games, you like them, you had a good imagination....you wrote games and adventures. Now, call me arrogant, but I'm constantly amazed by how many newbie mistakes that many "professional" RPG writers make. I can't really blame them (not all the time), as they didn't grow up with what RPG's actually were/are. They grew up with the notion that "the players are supposed to win heroically and be all heroic in suitible heroic fashion; anything that deters from this is to be shunned or lessened". Probably because of video games and pussy GM's. Seriously. If the PC's decide to kick down just one more door, even though they are half dead and their spells are sitting on empty...and they encounter a pissed off vampire cleric with his minions...well, as the old EGG was fond of saying..."Let the chips fall where they may".  Yeah. Let them DIE! Nowadays, "pro" writers would have thrown in a blurb about "If the PC's aren't at full capacity, you, as GM, may want to give them ample warning or otherwise let them head back to town to prepare for the final encounter". o_O So, basically, reward stupidity and increase the reliance on the 'no loosers' mentality. Bullpucky! Kill 'em. Kill 'em ALL...!!  >:)

Well, it's been a few weeks. We wrapped up the Dominion Rules RPG mini-campaign. It was fun all around, but we sure did find a few "holes" in the system!

1st, if you don't limit damage to PC's like I did...PC's will die often. And that's the heavy armor guys! The poor archers, footpads, wizards, etc. will die in *droves*.  Armor helps, but in the end...death and dismemberment all around!

2nd, priests are almost too open in what they can/can't do. The short of it is that it's not the power of the priest doing the deed...it's the actual frickin' god/dess or a direct emissary from them who provides the actual mojo. This is a bit of a conundrum; if the miracle is being performed by divinity, then why is it so limited, fleeting, or otherwise "mortal" in feel? Overall, we really liked the whole Fervor stat and whatnot. Really gave the priest player (and me) the feeling that his characters god was actually watching his every move. Nice touch.

3rd, wizards win. Simple as that. If you pump enough into your Witchcraft skills, there's pretty much nothing you can't do. The spells themselves lead to many a game-breaking/wrecking experience. For example, the PC's were beat up and low on arrows, torches, and had a lot more treasure than they could carry. Solution: Wizard Conjures some arrows, torches, a rope ladder, and a suit of armor. He uses Alchemy (I think that was it) to enlarge a cauldron; then transmutes part of it to give it four little legs, and then animates it with enchantment to boost it's strength. Fill it up with all the treasure and off they went! It seemed there was no situation he couldn't "instantly fix", more or less. For example #2, they were in a dungeon, exploring away. The wizard player gets a bit board at the pace and casts some sort of "wizard eye" that basically lets him see in a 150m radius...through anything. I spend the next 10 minutes drawing out the map of the dungeon, with a few rolls to check things he may have mistaken for other things. The second time he did this, I just gave him the dang map.

Overall, however, it was fast and loose, and the freedom was definitely something everyone needed as a break from the generally rules-laden systems we typically play (e.g., right now we are playing Rifts by Palladium...this is not a rules-light game!).

Anyway...next campaign will probably start up in a few weeks after we finish with Rifts. One of the players wants to run a GURPS campaign (not my cup-o-joe, but I have the electronic character creation software for GURPS so at least making a character isn't the suicide-inducing process it used to be for me!).

Later!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

So it's been two weeks or so. Not much has changed. Still DM'ing a Dominion Rules mini-campaign to see if we like the system. We do. It has some rather large "oversights" in it, but the core system is fast, loose and fun...which is always a good thing for an RPG in my book.

I decided to run a Swords & Wizardry adventure put out by Frog God Games called "The Tomb of the Iron God". Seeing as it is an OSR system and adventure, it really didn't need any outright conversion on my part. Only thing I really did was create some of the monsters that were in the adventure but not in the Dominion Rules game system book. Ok, and create a small campaign map to place it and any further adventures in the future. 

Oh what the hell...here's a map of it.

   I guess this is the first official post. I haven't even finished the basic outline of this site yet, but I guess you have to start somewhere!
  So...What to Expect. I guess you can expect some ranting, raving and the modest creative dribblings leaking out of my grey matter with regards to Role-Playing Games. More specifically, "old" RPG's. I'm not a fan most of the newer "spin-a-tale this" or "weave-a-story that" style RPGs that infest the gaming scene of late (re: since 2e ended). For me, a story should be unknown by all parties concerned. The story should come about between all the players, and the DM, actually playing the game. The group play is what creates all those memorable RPG moments that keeps us all coming back for more...not a $30, full-color, glossy-paged "adventure path" where the story is expected to start and end with little actual player involvement other than being along for the ride. Give me an old guy at the inn saying "Adventure? Head out to the old ruins west of town! I hear they say that place is infested with goblins that worship a strange god that lives in the dungeons beneath!". Don't give me three pages of "story" that is never going to be realized by the players and will only serve to make my job as DM more stressful trying to keep the PC's "on track" to the expected story progression.
   Anyway, here's the site. At some point you'll find all manner of stuff....adventures for different old-skool games, OSR games, maps, tables, charts, etc.