End-of-Week Nicholson (7/6/18): The Wages of Sorcery

I love this illo from Russ Nicholson, which I spotted in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic book. Russ's work is always evocative, IMHO! The guy in this piece looks like he's suffering for his craft...or should I say witchcraft? He seems to be paying a steep price for power!

I already miss the holidays...

Like the "Gingerbread" Princess pictured above, I'm lamenting the passing of the holiday season! But I should not despair, because I got a lot of gaming product goodness over the last couple weeks. Not only did I get a copy of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic hardcover, but I also received my Chained Coffin box set from Goodman Games! I'm going to make myself feel better by delving into those goodies this week! Stay tuned...oh, and happy new year!

The Nightmare That Came For Christmas

As you can see from the pic above, I got my copy of the hardcover Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules and magic book. It arrived on Christmas eve, appropriately (or maybe inappropriately) enough. Rereading the rules again has been an enjoyable experience, but it's strange to have to remember to not let the kids get their hands on the book! 

Hope you're all having a happy holiday season! 

The Flame Princess Cometh Again!

Way back in August 2010 I obtained a copy of the Deluxe Edition box set of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I loved that little box, the first version of the game to hit the streets, and all its contents.

 

But, it was a tumultuous time for me that year, with some significant financial hits thanks to the suffering economy. So, later that year I had to offer up the LotFP box set, among other RPG books, for sale. I wound up holding onto the box until early 2012, around which time I traded it in to Noble Knight Games and used the credit to get material for other game systems.

 

I look back with some regret when it comes to giving away the LotFP box set. However, I realized there is a solution to soothe that regret, in the form of the LotFP Rules & Magic hardcover! I just ordered that puppy and it is on its way to my hot little hands! Can't wait to see how the LotFP rules now stand. I know they haven't changed significantly since I had the Deluxe set, but I'm curious to see how the layout and artwork has been improved.

 

In all, I'm looking forward to a glorious reunion with the Flame Princess!

 

Now, Mr. Raggi, when will that Referee book come out in hardcover?!

 

Readin' Up on Basic/Classic/Just Plain D&D

I was recently chastized for referring to Moldvay and Mentzer's sets as OD&D, and perhaps rightly so. Mea culpa. Again, I never actually played OD&D or Moldvay/Mentzer in my gaming career. I started out with AD&D from the get-go. I may have collected things such as the Rules Cyclopedia and the Big Black Box, but never played those versions.

[Just as an aside, I would personally like to call Moldvay / Mentzer's versions D&D, rather than Basic or Classic D&D. Basic doesn't seem to fit to me, since Moldvay had an Expert set, and Mentzer had the Expert / Companion / Master / Immortal sets to follow up his Basic. I would prefer to call the iterations Original D&D, D&D, and AD&D...but I suppose that might not be clear enough. Ah heck, I guess I'll stick to Classic D&D, then.]

It's only now that I'm dabbling in Original and Classic D&D. I purchased Lamentations of the Flame Princess as well as Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry. As stated above, I have a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia at home, and even managed to snag some PDFs of the books in Moldvay and Mentzer's sets. So now I have piles of original versions as well as clones...and I need to start studying up!

I know in the past I declared Mentzer's version of Classic D&D to be my go-to once I was ready to run some plain-old D&D, either using the RC or the books from the sets. Well, now I'm not so sure.

So, I've decided to start really reading up on the old Classic material. I'm picking a starting point as of now, and that is Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X. I'm not really sure where I will go from there. Any advice would be very welcome!

And BTW, where's Holmes fit in with all this? I frankly have no real interest in considering Holmes. I've glanced at his version, and seemed like just a jumble.

Anyway, I'm off to start studying. If I have time, I'll post some impressions. Wish me luck on my journey of discovery...

EDIT: I suppose I should have included a status update of where my head is at currently with regard to "preferred" editions, eh? At this point, Labyrinth Lord seems to have risen above the rest of the pack, both original editions and clones, in my estimation. But I would like to read Moldvay to see how things were originally published. Mentzer and the RC call out to me, perhaps just from nostalgia. But from my prior superficial scans of the contents of LL, the Mentzer-era stuff doesn't seem as "shiny" anymore...at least at the moment.

As for Swords & Wizardry, it's sort of slipping further down on the rungs of my affection. I like some aspects of it, but these aspects (spells, some class options) may be things that I steal for use with a game founded on LL. And I have no interest in gaining access to the original books that S&W is based upon. Is that heresy?

When it comes to Lamentations of the Flame Princess, it too is probably something from which I will steal ideas. For instance, I may use Raggi's d6-based thief skills instead of percentiles. That would probably be the major borrowing.

See how this can all be quite maddening?! Curse you once again, Gamer ADD!

A Yen for OD&D

As you may know, I've been a part of a group that's been campaigning using Castles & Crusades since early this year. I've been a player and a GM in the group, and I have to say it's been an incredible experience. We're a small group, but what we lack in size we make up for in creativity, camaraderie, and lots of RPG experience. This group has fulfilled my long-time goal of finally gaming with new people. Until this year, I had only gamed with childhood friends. And it's been the true vehicle for the return to table-top roleplaying that I have yearned for since around 2007.

All that being said, there's the eternal spectre of Gamer ADD. I think I am a more-than-moderate sufferer of this dreaded condition.

So, perhaps I've fallen under the influence of JB over at B/X Blackrazor, but I've decided that, once our current C&C campaign runs its course, I would like to propose an OD&D game to my group.

This is my chance to finally game using OD&D rules, which I never really did...unless you count my recent, short-term use of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Deluxe Edition rules when gaming with a couple old friends on a few occasions. OD&D represents a more "mythic" play style to me, where characters are more archetypal, more "primal" if you will. This taps into my strong belief that game system plays a large role in determining style of play (a topic I've been meaning to post about for some time now, but haven't yet gotten around to it).

First of all, I'm pondering what system(s) to use. Do I use the original games, or do I use a retroclone? There's a certain something to the thought of playing with the originally published rules. But then again, there's the often greater clarity of rules and presentation of retroclones. At the moment, I'm considering a foundation of Labyrinth Lord with some aspects of Swords & Wizardry thrown in for good measure. But my goal now is to read up on original B/X as well as the retroclones I like (Labyrinth Lord and S&W) to see which has the functionality I need. Oops, almost forgot: I've also got the Rules Cyclopedia as well as the books from the Mentzer Basic and Expert sets. So, I've got some readin' and decidin' to do, as well as battlin' with nostalgia over practicality.

Any suggestions/advice would be welcome! (this includes my request for advice on dwarves from this recent post)

As for the world in which I would place the campaign, I am thinking that I will do a homebrew world. Roleplaying has been a way to fulfill my creative urges. There's a level of creativity in designing adventures and plot hooks. But then there's another level in worldbuilding that I've been missing. I have been worried about lack of time, but I think I have some ideas to get this going.

But again, all of this is just very preliminary. I have no intention of abandoning my current campaign, and expect our C&C goodness to keep rolling for a good while. Still, there's something to be said for a little daydream-brainstorm for future adventures...

TotW Session 5 and Other Updates

Well, we had our fifth session of my Tales of the Wanderers campaign last Thursday (I think I stated that in a recent post already, but, there you are!). The guys couldn't make it over last night, so next session is set for next Thursday, gods willing! You know how the permutations of adulthood can stalk and kill free time. In the meantime, I need to find the time to do an adventure log for the last session, add in NPCs, etc. Then prepare for the next session. Sheesh.

Things are going well, the guys and I seem to be shaking off the rust and are having a great time. I still sometimes wish we had at least one other player (and in particular a certain old friend who used to be one of our core players growing up), but for now things are going very well.

Anyone who's been reading my blog (thank you, the few of you who do so!) may have detected a recent bit of flip flopping, however. First, there was this last post on how I am now determined to switch the campaign from S&W/Flame Princess to Castles & Crusades. In a few other posts (here and here) you can see my turmoil between settling on S&W/Flame Princess or C&C. I almost feel like I want to change my stance on whether or not an ever-growing number of clones is a good thing (I currently think that more is merrier...but that might change). There has been recent debate again on the blogosphere regarding the matter of retroclone proliferation...no doubt you've seen it.

On the other hand, I can't fault the plethora of clones for being the source of my Gamer ADD. I have always been this way, getting distracted by a new campaign setting or game system that rears its head. This has been true for my entire gaming career, long before the current retroclone explosion.

But I think that my roots in 1E AD&D are finally coming out. So, even though it can be argued that C&C adds in a dash of 3.5 Edition, etc, it's got that 1E feel, with the added benefit of being more organized and less dense than the original AD&D books...and easier to get ahold of for the most part (CKG being the long-time exception, of course).

I'm not saying that I won't someday revisit the OD&D clones of my choice (S&W/Flame Princess) but they were inspired by a version of D&D that I didn't really experience in my formative years. Nostalgia trumps all, I guess, in this case.

Then there was my recent encounter with Barbarians of Lemuria, which indeed drove me into ADD overdrive! And also, always lurking in the back of my mind, is the vow I made to myself to finally run a Dragonlance campaign. I read the Dragonlance novel Stormblade 20 years ago, and it was the real spark that turned me on to D&D. I plan to read it again soon, and I am also planning on that campaign before my next birthday. How I will make it happen is still beyond me, but dammit, I am DETERMINED!

All of this inner turmoil has not caused a collapse in the campaign I am running...so far. And I want to keep it that way. So far, the guys seem to be having fun, so things are well. But the worst thing I could do right now is keep switching things around on them. They seem fine with a move to C&C, but I don't think they would appreciate being teleported to a new campaign world again or yet another game system. And I am also not sure they would want to be in two simultaneous campaigns. So I need to hold steady with the TotW campaign for a while, and be patient. Argh!

Anyway, another reason for my attention being drawn again to C&C is TrollCon East! Finally, a Con in my part of NJ! Can't wait to meet those guys!

That's all for now. As you can see, there's a lot going on. But you know, in the end, I'm loving it all!

I guess it's better to have too much going on...

...rather than nothing at all! Well, we had a great session fifth session of my Tales of the Wanderers campaign last Thursday night. The players are really getting the hang of things, especially our resident newb. The game is picking up some good steam, and it was (IMHO) our best session yet! I just haven't found the time to do the adventure log entry for the session, nor to add the new NPCs, locations, etcetera to the wiki.

I have to say, though, that the yen to move the game from S&W/LotFP to Castles & Crusades has returned. Yes, the best laid plans of orcs and men, as they say. But the more time passes, the more I feel like we need the flexibility of C&C (mainly with regard to the SIEGE Engine attribute check system). I'm also starting to really miss the separate races and classes from my good old AD&D. Yes, I really think my roots are coming out, as I've stated before in this blog that I never really played OD&D back in my early days. I was AD&D right out of the gate.

Granted, the SIEGE Engine is grounded in d20/D&D 3.5, but it's workable. But I'm still a big believer in player skill versus character skill. I hope to have a hybrid of the two in the game.
Players should rely mainly on their own wits, with the rolls as a supplement to that...and not the other way around.

I just hope the players don't protest the switch! Although, I don't see it as a major learning curve. But they may see it differently. At the very least, they'll have to get used to a whole new character sheet, with a bit more going on.

The shift to C&C will also get me closer to something I swore I would do: finally run a campaign in the Dragonlance world. As I stated in the first part of my testimonial, a Dragonlance novel really got me into fantasy fiction in a major way as a kid. It's been a couple decades now since that formative moment, and I've vowed to finally make my own adventures on Krynn in homage. I'm not sure when this campaign will finally start (sometime this year, I think), but I want to make it my best ever. So I need to plan...

And Barbarians of Lemuria is still lurking in the darkness at the back of my brain, crouched, ready, waiting to pounce again on my frontal lobes and cause my RPG ADD to flare up once more!

Oh, and one other thing is on my gaming plate this week: TrollCon East is coming to my beloved South Jersey! Finally, a Con that isn't a half-continent away from me! The store at which it's taking place, All Things Fun, is one of a handful of gaming stores in my area. And it is hands down the best of the lot.

Ah, my life has gone from a gaming famine to a feast, indeed!

Damned Barbarians!

Now, anyone who's been visiting my blog to read my infrequent posts should know that I have a relatively young campaign going called Tales of the Wanderers. I'm using a S&W Complete/Flame Princess hybrid rules set for it. There has been a bit of dimension hopping going on already, with characters starting off from Greyhawk's Oerth and Dragonlance's Krynn. Yes, a kender walked on Oerth for a short time, but alas he has now returned to his homeworld. His player had come to me to let me know that he has had a long-standing yen to play a monk character, and this was made possible after I aquired the S&W Complete rules (I had initially been using only the Lamentations of the Flame Princess deluxe box set rules). So the kender left our ongoing storyline, to be replaced by a monk.

The players characters are now on the world of Golarion, the default setting for Pathfinder. I find the setting fascinating, from the nations to the history and the gods, and at the moment found it more appealing than Oerth, Faerun, Krynn, or any other prepublished setting. Perhaps this is because I've done a lot of recent gaming in those worlds, and because at least one of my players has read a good bunch of novels based in Faerun. I felt like Golarion was new ground, and could be easily tweaked and reshaped into my own image. And I absolutely need a published setting to help me provide details for the campaign, because I just don't have the time to create my own world from scratch. But I am taking many liberties with the setting.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the goings on in the campaign can read the adventure log at Obsidian Portal.

Now, all that said, I want to stress that I really love what I've created with my players for the Tales of the Wanderers campaign. I like how I've blended S&W and LotFP, I like my smattering of house rules for the campaign, I like the characters my players' enthusiasm and the characters they are using. I have lots of ideas to throw at the players. Yeah, everything is good.

And of course, along comes the serpent in the garden. The serpent's name is Barbarians of Lemuria (referred to as BoL from here on out). You see, I have a weakness for swords & sorcery. Most of my roleplaying experience may be with epic or high fantasy, the default mode of Dungeons and Dragons-style gaming, but I love my Conan, my Elric, my Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, etcetera. So when I heard rumors of this BoL game, I had to seek it out.

I acquired a copy, and quickly I was ensnared! The system is simple and is well suited for games that aspire to capture the swords & Sorcery feel. I recommend checking it out.

But now I am eager to finally do a campaign set in Hyboria, something that has been gnawing within me forever! And though BoL has a the built-in Lemuria setting, it can easily be used for a game set in Conan's world.

Damn you, Gamer ADD! Damn you, "new shiny"!

So, here's what I'm currently planning. I am thinking of starting a campaign called "With Steel and Spell: Adventures Across Hyboria" using the BoL system. It will serve as a "side campaign" of episodic adventures, just like Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. This campaign will be a quick and easy game for those times when my players and I, for whatever reasons, are not prepared to delve into our main campaign. There are nights when some or all of us are not up to the demands of the more structured Tales of the Wanderers game (we may be exhausted from a hard day's work, I may not have had time to prepare materials for a session, etcetera).

That's where BoL comes in! We can still use our game night for gaming, but without worrying about the more serious campaign. So, that's how I am trying to contain the BoL beast, through compromise and not outright denial! Repressing one's urges is never good, right? Especially urges of a barbaric nature!

Questions for the masses:

Has anyone else out there recently been hit with a bout of Gamer ADD, and if so, how did you overcome/appease it (if you were able to do so at all)?

Has anyone had any experience with BoL, such as actual play? If so, please share!

Tales of the Wanderers: Session 4

So we finally got the group back together after a bit of wintry mess and had our fourth session for ye olde campaign (the third session with both of my players in attendance). Here's the latest adventure log post on the campaign's Obsidian Portal page.

We're still using a Swords & Wizardry/Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules combo, despite my recent thoughts of changing rules sets, and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. One of my players, Dan, had been playing a kender, but he and I decided that he would move to a monk character that he had been thinking of before the campaign started. I allowed this, since we are not too far into the campaign and he really seemed to have a great yearning to play a monk (made possible by my purchasing the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules).

Anyway, hope you take a look at the OP page, and I welcome comments, thoughts, etc. It's been a great experience so far, and me and the guys are happy as heck to be playing! We're having lots of fun, and it seems like it will only keep getting better! That's all I could ask for at this point!

Speaking Too Soon

So, in a recent post yers trooly made a declaration about my intentions to switch my current campaign from a foundation of Swords & Wizardry/Lamentations of the Flame Princess to Castles & Crusades. Well, I spoke too soon.

It seems that my players made it plain that they would prefer to stick with the rules we are currently using, at least for the time being. They've just gotten the swing of things, and are sort of dreading a switch. I guess I don't blame them. If we were a lot younger and a lot less burdened with adult-type stuff, then maybe the switch wouldn't be a big deal. So, if the players speak, then who am I to argue? Oh wait...I AM the GM, aren't I?!

Actually, I've been mulling over the possibility of moving the campaign to the world of Nehwon, and I think the S&W/LotFP hybrid that I'm using will suit that setting just fine.

So, onward on!

Another Day, Another Whiteout

Ah yes, it's snowing once again in the Philadephia area, folks. Yay. More exercise for me, this time with nice, wet, heavy snow, they say. Awesome.

Anyway, I am keeping my spirits up by thoughts of, what else, roleplaying! I hope the guys can come over again tomorrow night, despite the white dump that old man Winter is taking on us.

I've found myself becoming more drawn by "different shiny." My Castles & Crusades Player's Handbook has been calling to me from the bookshelf. And I think that I am finally going to heed that call. Not that there's anything wrong with Swords & Wizardry or Lamentations of the Flame Princess (the systems I have been using for my still-young campaign), but I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm more of an AD&D man (and C&C being as close to AD&D as one can get these days using a currently-in-print game system, IMHO). And the limited classes and races-as-classes things that S&W and LotFP have going on is just not cutting it at the moment. Among other issues.

So, before we get any further into the campaign, I'm taking the plunge and making the switch to C&C! I think the recent completion and looming release of the long-awaited Castle Keeper's Guide also has something to do with this desire to switch.

Oh, and in the spirit of this, here's something for you cats:

Torc of Agony (magical/cursed item)

This golden torc was created by a long-dead archmage, who used it to control his slaves. Rumor has it that he created numerous torcs, but this is one of the few that still remain to the present day. The device fits most medium-sized and smaller humanoids (it expands or contracts to fit). When placed around the neck of a victim, it can be activated using a command word. When activated, the torc causes continuous pain that both harms and debilitates the victim (i.e. the torc causes damage and also bestows penalties to hit, armor class, etc. as determined by the gamemaster). The pain stops when the command word is spoken again. Note that the command word only functions for the individual who actually places the torc on a victim.

The torc can only be removed by the one who placed it on the victim. A gamemaster may decide that the torc can also be removed using a spell that removes curses, dispels magic, grants wishes, etc. It is only detectable as a cursed item once it has been placed on a victim, but does show as a magical item if a detect magic spell is used.

An Embarrassment of [RPG] Riches?

Happy new year, all! I'm still slowly building momentum in my small table-top campaign, Tales of the Wanderers. It's still just me as GM and two old friends as my players, meeting on at least a bi-weekly basis on Thursday nights. My hope is that as time goes on things will blossom into something bigger; i.e. at least a couple more players!

That being said, I'm feeling a bit of gamer ADD, unfortunately! I blame it all on Swords & Wizardry Complete! I just obtained that little beauty, and it's thrown me for a loop. I'm still focused mainly on Lamentations of the Flame Princess as my rules foundation, but I am using a heavy dose of S&W stuff now. Then there's the announcement of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, which Akrasia talks about in this post on his blog. He makes mention of how "crowded" the old-school RPG realm is getting. I don't want to get into that tired debate as to whether or not there are too many clones out there, etc. But I guess I feel I have to make some sort of comment, however specious that statement might be:

I guess I think it all comes down to discipline on the part of a gamer. As a GM in particular, you need to prepare yourself to withstand the lure of the next shiny object that passes before your eyes. This can only benefit you and your players...especially if those players are new to the hobby (as is the case with one of my current players). I am a big believer in "staying the course" when it comes to a campaign (one-shot dungeon crawls and other sessions of that ilk are another matter entirely). Maybe I feel this way because, as a teenager, my gaming buddies and I rarely stuck with the same game for more than a month. And now that I've returned with gusto to the hobby, I really want to accomplish a long-running campaign.

But consider this: maybe if that new shiny is pulling hard on your psyche, there's a message hidden in that reaction. Maybe your current game needs some rethinking, or needs to be abandoned entirely.

Utlimately, there may be an embarrassment of RPG riches right now, especially in the OSR, but it's up to each of us as individuals to, as the venerable Egg Shen once said, "We take what we want, and leave the rest...just like your salad bar!" I for one will be doing something similar to what Tenkar is doing: packing away distractions!

And of course, I know I am stating the utter obvious, so I will bother you no longer! Game on!

Tales of the Wanderers, Session Two

It's a busy Friday at work, so I don't have much time to write at the moment. But I wanted to say that last night we had session two of what I am calling my Tales of the Wanderers campaign. "We" refers to my two old friends and myself, as I related in my first post on this embryonic attempt to bring some of my old group back to table-top gaming. It was another good session, but a bit slow as we're still setting the stage for the adventures to come, laying down personalities, backgrounds, and relationships of the player characters and a growing list of NPCs.

If you're interested, you can check out the campaign's page on Obsidian Portal. I will try to do the next adventure log entry today sometime.

I'll check back in soon!

Session 2 Recap/Session 3 This Weekend!

Hello all! This is your pal Drance, the guy who doesn't post very often anymore! As I've said before, all my creative energies (and limited free time) are going to the maintenance of my fledgeling Legendary Domains campaign.

That said, we did have a second session about two weeks ago, and we're slated for session three tomorrow night! So far, things have been pretty good!

For those who are interested, you can read the recap of session two on Obsidian Portal. As a side note, I was totally messed up in my interpretation/execution/understanding of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess encumbrance rules. I won't go into details, but suffice to say one of my players called me out on it (nicely), and showed me the error of my ways. He and I also discussed possible house rules on the subject.

Anyway, wish me luck for the next session, and let me know if anyone at all is reading/listening!

As always, happy gaming!

Legendary Domains: Session 1 Recap

Hello once again all! This is your absentee blogmaster checking back in again...finally! I've been spending my limited free time on getting my play-by-chat Legendary Domains campaign off the ground, and we finally had our first session on Thursday the 16th of September. Now, Thursday night games will have to be short sessions, about three or so hours, due to it being a "school night" and the schedules of my four players. Ideally we want to have our sessions on Saturday nights from about 6:30 to midnight or so.

We used Chatzy for the session, but I'm not sure I like it. I wanted to try out a web-based chat system, because I didn't really want to load something like Yahoo Messenger or Windows Messenger onto my aging 'puter. But there seemed to be a lot of lag time that really slowed the game down though, so I think we wont' be using Chatzy anymore! One of the guys in the group is really trying to convince me to do VOIP (TeamSpeak) instead of chat room, and I'm tempted...but again, I am leary of loading stuff up to my ailing system. But we'll see.

Anyway, as for the session itself, it was a bit short and it was an introductory session of course, so there really wasn't any combat/encounters. I was really just expecting to set the stage for the campaign anyway, and introduce the characters to each other.

I've set the campaign in an "alternate universe" Forgotten Realms. I took Abeir, the sister planet of Toril, and decided to use it for this alternate world. This will enable me to justify either using or not using canon material from the Realms. For starters, since I'm using Lamentations of the Flame Princess as my rule set, the only demi-human races in the game are elves, dwarves, and halflings, and they are in the race-as-class mold of OD&D.

And there are no half-elves or half-orcs. I weaved this into the background for the campaign by making this inability of the races to "mingle" as just being a law of the universe. Thus there may bloom romances between races such as elves and humans, but there can be no interbreeding, as decreed by the gods. Also, there are rarely clerics among the demi-human races, and for the most part they "worship" their gods through living their lives, and the deeds they perform. They have no truly organized religions. There may be those individuals among the demi-human races that are sometimes gifted with powers from their gods, but they are rare.

At any rate, I encourage you to look over the campaign wiki at Obsidian Portal. There you can check out the player characters and also read the recap of the session.

Needless to say, I am very excited to have this campaign finally off the ground!

Now Looking for a Few Good Players!

Greetings all!

Sorry I've been quiet the last few days. We celebrated my kid's birthdays this weekend (my son and daughter were born two years and two days apart). So suffice to say I was pretty busy.

But now that the b-days are behind me, I am really ramping up my return to the gamemaster's chair! With that being said, I am now actively looking for players for my Legendary Domains campaign. I'll be using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess system, with some house rules. I'll be getting some house rule inspiration from the Rules Cyclopedia as well as D&D 3.5, FYI.

I am looking for four committed players for this play-by-chat game, and I would like to run a session every week, barring major conflicts.

If you are interested, please email me and tell me why you want to be in the game, and give me some idea of your playing background. Email me at gm_drance@yahoo.com and we'll talk!

I am really looking for players who will be patient with me while I shake the rust of my skills. Characters will start at 1st level, so as to take it easy on yers truly for the time being as I get back on my feet.

That's all for now. If you have any questions, please let me know. Hope to hear from you soon!

Brainstormin'

Hey folks! Sorry I've been so silent on ye olde blog. But I've been busy brainstorming for my upcoming play-by-chat campaign, which I've dubbed "Legendary Domains."

I'm rereading the LotFP Rules book (still hoping to do a thorough review of the game), and trying to minimize my house rules for the time being. I'm taking to heart the advice on Philotomy's OD&D Musings, specifically those found under the "Considering OD&D?" section.

I'm really trying to take the "Restrain yourself" advice and "play it for what it is" as much as possible (i.e. keep house ruling to a minimum at the beginning). I'm a big believer in letting additional house rules grow organically as play progresses in the campaign.

At this point, I'm really just tweaking demi-human abilities slightly, and also tacking on Talents, which are basically a combination of feats and skills from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder. The selection of these Talents is a highly interactive process between GM and player. Fighters, Specialists, Clerics, and Magic-Users start out with 2 and gain another Talent at 3rd, 6th, 9th, etc. Demi-humans start with 1 Talent and progress in the same way.

I was also thinking of limiting demi-humans in some ways. For instance, I was thinking of limiting ability scores thusly:

Elves: maximum Con = 15
Dwarves: maximum Dex = 15
Halflings: maximum Str = 15

This means that the maximum modifier in these abilities for each race is +1. What do you think of that? Just thinking that, with no level limits for demi-humans in this game (which I like), I should limit them in some way or ways (i.e. only one starting Talent, ability score limits).

OK, back to my nefarious plans...

There's a Storm Comin'...

I have to tell you, the wheels in the old cabesa are turning, my friends...

What the heck am I talking about?! Well, I think I am putting my plans to return to the GM's chair on the fast track! Since I am pretty sure that I will not be returning to the Pathfinder game I tried to get into (see here for a lengthy discussion of the reasons why), I will have the time to get my campaign ideas together.

Here's what I know so far:

• I will be using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy Roleplaying game rules. I really like what James Raggi has done with his game (really like the Specialist d6 mechanic, it's way better than a percentage roll), and it has the simplicity I want in a game at the moment. In this way, I can ease myself back into the role of Gamemaster. I was originally thinking of using Castles & Crusades, but I want to shake the rust off my GMing skills before moving on to C&C, which is not as rules-light as LotFP (IMHO).
• I will be doing some house ruling to LotFP, of course, but I don't think there will be much that I will be changing/adding on. That gives me a great feeling, as I'd much rather be creating and running adventures!
• I will try to run an adventure every week, if possible.
• I will be running the game online via chat (probably using Chatzy) and will use the online dice roller located here. I will also be setting up a Yahoo Group for the campaign.
• I want to keep the number of players to three for the moment, just to take it easy on myself. I may increase this to four if things go well. I will be advertising the game on some Yahoo Groups like RPG Player Sanctuary or DnD Contact.
• I want to start the characters at first level, something I haven't done much in my gaming career!
• For the campaign world, I've been toying with the idea of using the Forgotten Realms as a "framework," but rather than setting the game on the planet Toril, I was going to use its "sister world" Abeir, and make it sort of a "parallel universe" or dark reflection of Toril. So I would have free reign to totally negate/circumvent/manipulate/change any of the "canon" Realms history/famous characters/gods/locations/etc that's been established.

That's all for now. Any thoughts, comments, and/or advice is welcome!

Status Report: 8/9/10

Without any ado, here's my latest roleplaying status report:

Me as Player: So, I had my second Pathfinder session this weekend (you can read about my first session here). And suffice to say I had a lot of the wind knocked out of my sails, and found myself enjoying things much less than I did in my first session. I think during my first session I was just so happy to be gaming at all, after a long hiatus.

So, what happened to make my interest flag so dramatically? Well, there were several things that conspired to sap my enthusiasm:

• I had no experience whatsoever with Pathfinder going into the game
• My character started at 8th level, probably not a good idea for a Pathfinder newb like me
• The Council of Thieves adventure path is for high-level characters and fairly complex with all its intrigues, complex plots, and high-level/difficult opponents

Now, I know that given more time I could probably over come all these obstacles. But I think I should have probably started out at first level, or maybe I am just too steeped in the old D&D/1st Edition AD&D editions that the more recent rules don't compute. And throw into the fact that I am 34, almost 35. Not to say that an old guy can learn new rules, but I have so little time to study up in the midst of all my adult life junk.

But I don't think I will stick around long enough to overcome my rules deficiency.

Now, I want to tread carefully from here on out. I haven't addressed a big factor yet: the people in the group themselves. Now, I've read the recent Gamer vs Gamer post at Mr. Raggi's LotFP blog. And I read the Catpissmen? post over at Underdark Gazette. And I don't think I can be categorized as the "diva-like" players described in these posts.

I just want to say that I don't judge gamers harshly when I don't mesh with them (unless they are being blatant dicks that are attacking me/someone else personally or just being purposefully disruptive during a game), nor do I cry out and beat my chest and claim that there are no good gamers out in the world. I feel that if you don't mesh with a group, that's OK, no harm no foul. Just go find another group. And there are plenty of other games and gamers out there, both at physical table-tops and on the Internet.

So with that disclaimer in mind, let me discuss the people. I feel that the GM has a lot on his plate, because he runs three campaigns and plays several times a week. I think he has a lot to juggle, and therefore some things slip through the cracks. I think that due to the load he carries (voluntarily, of course) he, inadvertently or not, dropped me into a high-level game with a high-level character and didn't see the need for mentoring me a bit more. Nor did he relay to his other players that, while I have experience roleplaying, it's been years since I played at a table-top and I am used to much older rules. I think there was some miscommunication between me, the GM, and the group with regard to how to merge me/my character with the game.

There were several players in the group that seemed to get exasperated with my lack of facility with the Pathfinder rules. Again, I think they weren't warned beforehand that I didn't know the rules very well. There were some other players who were very helpful, however.

As for the GMs style and the theme of his campaign, I think that I just don't sync up with either. The GM seems to be a somewhat "killer GM." I don't really judge someone for running their games that way, I just don't like to be in those types of games. For instance, I've played in two sessions now and in both I nearly died (dropped to negative hit points and just barely saved by a cleric). In the most recent game, I was disintegrated and the cleric had to gather up my ashes and resurrect me. I just don't feel that I want to be in a game where characters are dying every game, and where the resurrection is done in a very mechanical way with no drama. Death is just a blip, where you are raised easily and just sort of shrug it off. There's no tension. Death is too cheap that way. But the GM seemed to be very gleeful when he mutilates the characters.

I also felt that the game is too combat-intensive for my tastes. I prefer some more interaction with NPCs, intrigues, puzzle solving, etc. In addition, combats are very time consuming in this game, apparently, with all sorts of player feats and powers and skill checks and all that rigamarole. I thought I would be able to get over the learning curve of Pathfinder and at least be a player, but perhaps this isn't the case. There are just so many rules that I don't feel comfortable with. I like fast combats, the type you have with older D&D rules sets.

For instance, I despise attacks of opportunity. I think it's just another way for more "striking" in a game. Every time I tried to move past the major creature we fought during the session, for some reason it got an attack of opportunity against me. I know it has multiple arms, but come on!

(Tangent: I was in a gaming store this weekend and overheard some guys talking about a table-top game they were going to that day, and I kept hearing characters described as "striker," etc. Makes me cringe...)

And don't get me started on magic resistance. You have to bypass the creature's magic resistance and then it also gets a saving throw? Why not just make the creature's saving throws really good? Why have this double layer of protection against magic?!

Also, I felt like I tried to do what I thought was creative thinking during the session's big combat with the giant, multi-armed creature, rather than just try to cast offensive spells and fireball it to death. At one point, the monster was walking on air and I decided to use dispel magic on it and make it plummet to the ground. Instead of throwing me a bone (like I would have done if I were GM) for doing something creative, the GM had someone check the rules and determined that when the airwalk spell is dispelled, the creature gently floats to the ground. Maybe he didn't think I was that creative (maybe it wasn't, I don't know). And of course, the creature turned on me and kicked my ass. But if it had been me GMing, I would have ignored the rules of the spell and let the character's action succeed, because he was trying to do something other than "strike" the opponent.

I felt that the players were constantly being barraged with dangers and most of the time our ideas were to no avail. It was a constant stream of thwarted plans and failed attempts. You have to let the players have some accomplishments, or the game becomes stagnant and the players demoralized. Or that's just me, I guess.

Bottom line: at about two-thirds of the way through the session, I was no longer having fun. And the point is to have fun, right? I mean, this is supposed to be an enjoyable pastime, right?

Suffice to say that I want to talk to the GM and let him know my misgivings. I think it's likely that I won't continue in the game. I just don't mesh with that they are doing with their game, and that's perfectly OK. It happens. I just have a different style and different tastes, and you can only learn what you don't like by playing. I just hope that the GM will agree to disagree and we can have an amicable parting. Wish me luck.

Me as Gamemaster: I recently got my copy of Lamentations of the Flame Princess roleplaying game from James Raggi, and I am delving into that now! I will put up a review sometime in the near future (I hope!). What I've seen in the box and what I've read so far is very entertaining, and I like Mr. Raggi's style. I think I will definitely use these rules (with some house rules included) for my return to GMing. I think it will be a good idea to start with something more straightforward with regard to rules sets. Once I get a campaign using LotFP under my belt, I may then move onto the other game system that I seem to have an affinity for: Castles & Crusades. I wonder how Mr. Raggi would react if he knew his game has supplanted that of Troll Lord Games in my gaming world?!

That's all for now. As always, have a good one, and happy gaming!