June 2, 2009
I’ve been a member of a local meet-up group for the last six or seven months. For the most part, I’ve taken part in a few conversations and joining the associated Facebook page, but I’ve yet to jump into a game. The biggest reason being a lack of interest in what’s being offered. For example, I’ve yet to see a call for any campaign using a retro-game.
I know what you’re thinking. Why don’t you start your own game then? I likely will.
But at the moment, I’ve got a lot on my plate. Not only do I have a number of huge work projects that are eating into my person life, but I’m also running an on-line C&C game that just recently kicked into gear and is still in its infancy. On top of that, I’m (very slowly) working on developing a Savage Worlds setting that I hope to have polished off come winter.
But back to my point, the reason I bring this up is because I wonder if the same is true in other locales. I don’t exactly live in the sticks. In fact, RVA has three game stores (not counting the Games Workshop store) assuming I’m not forgetting any, nor is it due to a lack of games. I see at least one announcement coming off the list about every week, but it’s predominately 3.x or 4 ed. AD&D.
It kind of makes me wonder if the landscape of gaming, like so many other things, gets distorted in on-line communities. If I had to guess based on the blogging community, I would say the number of old school gamers was split rather equally with those who prefer newer editions/systems.
While I’m not above concluding that this is a statistical anomaly, I thought I’d ask, what’s the landscape in your area? Does it tend towards one school over the other or is it an even mix?
May 31, 2009
Since many of you participated, you probably already know about the One Page Dungeon Contest that was all the rage a few weeks back. I wound up entering a piece entitled: The Omenous Portent of the Highlands’ Meteor.
Based on the theme of the contest, I assumed that the primary setting would be fantasy, but decided to do a mixed genre piece. The only problem was that we were required to use a stripped down, stat-less format, which meant that I wound up with an adventure that had a few holes the GM would have to fill in herself.
I’m not wild about leaving holes.
So, rather than just post my entry as it was submitted, I decided to fill those in myself. The layout, content, and design are all still the same. The only change is that the entire adventure now has stats for Savage Worlds.
As I said before, this assumes that you’re using it for a fantasy campaign. It doesn’t matter if it’s high, pulp, or even romantic, as long as the traditional tropes (magic, races, etc) are present. If you’d prefer to use it in a historic or Deadlands setting, simply dump the Orcs and sub in Cultists!
Enjoy!
May 25, 2009
This weekend, as I was doing some prep work for the Castles & Crusades game I’m running, I got an idea for Savage Worlds stuck in my head. This is the kind of thing that used to happen all the time when I was a younger gamer. I used to have severe attention deficit when it came to rule sets, jumping from one system to the next as quickly as they were produced.
As I matured, and discovered the “kind” of gaming I preferred, I wound up calming down and eventually developed a passion for specific systems. I do, however, continue to collect new games though it’s primarily as a collector. I wind up using some for supplementary material to augment other games, but beyond that I tend to stick with a few of my favorite: C&C, Traveller.
Savage Worlds should be a part of that list. I should be using it for a large, expansive, fast & furious campaign; I want to be using it! The only problem is the system really works better with in-person games and I’ve only had the time to run PBP games for the last few years. So, in a very real sense, Savage Worlds is my “favorite game (I never play).”
Frankly, that was a rather depressing realization. Which, of course, made me wonder, is this a common theme with all of us? Do all of you have a favorite game that you never (get to) play and if so, what is it?
May 14, 2009
As I was roughing in the final stages of my trap-infested one page dungeon yesterday, I realized that the level of detail I needed was simply a bit much for the required space. I wound up switching to one of my bizarre designs, which was already finished and was going to be loaded here as the contest closed; meaning that I’m now going to go back and put more detail into the “trap dungeon” and make it available here when I’m finished.
Regardless of whether my actual entry winds up being published through the contest, I plan on posting it here as well. Considering that I used a new “monster” (sans stats, of course), it would no doubt be more interesting if I could truly flesh it out.
My ultimate goal was to blend AD&D/C&C/LL with…well, Dark Conspiracy for lack of a better comparison; and I believe I could make it far more effective with stat blocks, abilities, and a slightly more robust set of guidelines for the DM. For example, I commented at one point about “radiation,” but didn’t have the column space to go into any details about whether to use it as a hazard or how it might be used in play.
In any event, it appears that the contest was a big hit as there were some 60+ entries. With competition like that, I don’t figure on coming in at the top, but I have to admit it was fun to participate. I’ve said before that my gaming style is a combination of old school rules and modern storytelling arcs which ultimately means that I don’t do a lot of traditional dungeon crawls. But, like so many gamers who got hooked in the late 70’s, I certainly came from those roots, and this contest put me back in touch with those early, passionate, forays into the unknown.
I’m looking forward to seeing the winners.
May 13, 2009
Is everyone busy finishing their One Page Dungeons? I am (when I’m not working). In fact, I had a number of false starts – a few of which produced bizarre but ultimately interested ideas – but I finally settled into a simple, old school, trap-infested dungeon that will hopefully conjure up memories of the Tomb of Horrors. And if it’s even a fraction as deadly/funny/frustrating, I’ll be thrilled.
