Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Back to blogging...and random shout outs

I am going to try and do something that a fellow blogger told me to try. (By the way, he has some really neat stuff over here.)  Going to just spend a little bit of time every morning coming on and doing a little memory dump...might work!

I have been working on a 1st ed. game...

Before I go any farther, I believe that these edition wars are garbage.  If you have a preferred D&D edition, cool.  If you can play every kind, from the Metzer or Holmes Box set to the newest 4e Essentials, then by all means.  Play.  I have my own quibbles about different editions.  And some of the retro clones.  But, for the most part, this blog is about the games I'm running, which do take inspiration from every single edition under the sun, those buried under the earth, those still in the æther and every point in between.  Regardless of what edition you play, have fun.  I think that is what needs to be ten away from these stupid edition wars.  I might gripe about an edition in past blogs, yet I am going to try and keep it out of the blogs from now on.  It is silly and useless to do so.

Back to my topic...ah yes, 1st edition AD&D.

I have been listening to varied podcasts: RFI, Book of Sorrows, Save or Die and THAC0's Hammer.  These are some great podcasts and I recommend them for any gamer.  Not just the hardcore D&D fans either.  The Book of Sorrows one is over for now, yet the stuff that the group gets into is hilarious and exciting to listen to as well.

My point?  That listening to all of these things have helped me craft bits and pieces of my own world.  RFI has their "Creature Feature" which has given me many many nasty things to shove into dungeons and encounters, both random and planned.  I won't innumerate all of them, yet I will say that every podcast on that list has helped.  As well as many of the blogs that are off to the right of this one.

But, the minions and maybe a big bad guy don't all come from blogs.  Sometimes they come from supplements or from my own imagination.

One last thing I want to talk about is City of Vornheim, a dense little book put out by another blogger, Zak S.  his blog is great fun and he recently came out with a small handbook for making city-based games.  I talked about it a little last time and I will talk about it more later.  It is a great read and for such a small boo it is PACKED with useful information.  (I also helped playtest one of the adventurers in the book.  So, my name is in print.  Which is rather cool.)

I realize after having started writing this particular blog that I have been talk about others and not my own stuff.  This happens sometimes...


I guess I will have to try again tomorrow.  For, I have to get back to my notes and work out something for my group.  Though, who knows when or if this game will ever see the light of day?

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Blogging, Vornheim, 1st ed. and all points in between


First off, I know that I haven't blogged in awhile.  Been dealing with things like trying to find a job and the radio gig with another friend.  And, that has been going well; if you want to hear our madness, click here.  Look for Gamer Corps.  It changes position day to day, and there is a new one each week around Tues/Wed mark.

Second, the podcast RPG:Rants and Raves is on hiatus.  It is not podfading, just need time to sit at a mic and do it.  The quality isn't as good as Gamer Corps, cause Rants and Raves is done at home on my computer and Gamer Corps is in an actual radio station.  Rants and Raves is also about purely role playing games.  Gamer Corps needs to spread itself over several kinds of games.  (Though I would like to try and change that ever once and again.)

Third, the Star Wars game I was running has gone on hiatus as well.  Not sure when that will come back.  It was working for a time, yet I was getting bogged down in player drama, turn over of characters and the story was going nowhere.

Finally, there is the Gamer ADD I have.  Having put the Star Wars Saga game aside, I am already working on something else.  A 1st edition AD&D game.

I blame part of it on just the general Gamer ADD that I seem to suffer from.  The "new shiny."  Another part of this switch over to such a radically different system is that I have played all of the other incarnations of D&D, from 2nd to the edition that cannot be named.  I have even tried a little mix of Hackmaster and 1st edition.  And I want to actual delve into the straight out 1st edition game.  Another part of the want to go "old school" is listening to an amazing podcast called roll for initiative.  Here is a link to their main webpage.  Check them out, they are rather cool.

I will be posting more on my thoughts and trials as I create this 1st edition AD&D game.

And, finally, there is Vornheim.  This is not a review, just a few thoughts on it.
It is a city-kit put together by Zak S. Here is his blog.  There is some great art inside, the tables and information is inspiring and it is crammed with all kinds of stuff.  EVERY bit has something, the inside bookcover is a map of the city.  The front book cover and back book cover--yes the covers of the book--can be used for randomness in a city game.
In a few words, "It is an amazing toolkit and wonderful aid."