Keepsakes

So, I was cleaning my apartment yesterday when I stumbled upon this.

It's the final character sheet for my old PC Lt. Hornsby from John Higgins' Engines & Empires Game. It's been over three years since that campaign ended and I am still holding on to this thing.

It's amazing what it is about role-playing games that turns a normal person into a hoarder. The chances that I will ever get to play Reg again is slim to none, but I still hold on to this character sheet, along with many others from numerous games that I have played in, ran or wrote but never got a chance to run. And then there's the old mud-dice, cardboard tokens and half-scribbled notes from games past. I think part of it is the nostalgia. Not only of the adventure itself, but of those times when friends gathered together to game. At the same time I discovered this sheet, I also found a slew of character sheets my brother used from the old Shadowrun 2e/3e games I used to run and the times we would gather in the living room with our friends and play. I remember each session not only for the game, but for the stuff we went through just to get things going. My fondest gaming memory is not about slinging dice, but me and three of my friends piling into my Dodge Neon and hitting every McDonald's within ten minutes of my apartment in order to get around the 'limit five per customer' stipulation on 49 cent cheeseburger day. Dinner was more of an adventure that night.

I guess that in the end, it's not too crazy to hold on to keepsakes from gaming. At least in my case, it's because it's more than just about that time my fighter got his first +1 sword.

Though to be honest, that was a good day too.

Finally! The GaryCon V Recap Post- Part I: Thursday

Since I have slacked off on completing my blogging about GaryCon V, I decided that it would be a good idea to bring in a guest blogger. And who better than the man that shared a hotel room with me all convention long, my brother Michael. You know, this guy.

Since Michael and I weren't always in the same place at the same time, we should be able to give you a broader view of the convention. And in those cases where we were together, hopefully different perspectives. And we have both agreed to not go easy on each other, so this should be fun.

9 Days Till GaryCon! Now Is Not The Time To Panic.

Ever have a deadline for something that you are given notice months in advance, yet by the time that date is almost upon you you realize how much you have yet to get done?

Yeah, that's me finally getting all my buildings printed for my Aces & Eights Shootout.

And I still have a few other things I need to get squared away before next week.

Yipes!

20 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon IV: Day Three.

Previously on Weekend Wizardry...

Since the video above is from both days two and three, I figured I would use it yet again to fill in some of the blanks.

So Day Three... For a Saturday it was kind of just there as far as gaming went. On one hand, I had a bit of a letdown at the beginning of the day. On the other hand, I did gain a few new experiences that went very well for me.

To start with, I had a level 5 HackMaster game I was running that required pregens. Pregens that I did not have at the time. So I needed to roll up six fifth level PCs in the course of a few hours. I also needed space to lay out my books while I did this, which the desk in my room did not allow. So I went to the bar at around 7am to get started. Only to get kicked out because the staff had to clean up. So I moved to the restaurant where open gaming was held. Only to get kicked out of there because the media was doing an interview with Luke Gygax in there. I finally found a table to sit at in the lobby and came up with a group of PCs.

Around noon the game began, and it was slated to be pretty big. The event was full, or close to it when the convention started. My brother and friend Paul being two of the people signed up. As the game started, it turned out Paul and Michael were the only players to show up. Blown off again. And this time I wouldn't get any new players to fill in until much later. As the video shows, Paul and Michael were playing three PCs a piece to keep things from being a slaughter. By the time our time had run out, Jerimy Grafenstein of Kenzer & Company had found four people looking for a game and managed to get them hooked up with us. The game ended up being a success. In another nice turn, I managed to run combat without using minis and mats. Not a big deal for old school gaming, but they are a big help when playing HackMaster.

Later that evening, I played in my first Pathfinder game. Having stopped playing D&D after 2nd Edition, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was also the old newbie in a group of Pathfinder vets. The good news was that everyone from the Pathfinder Society, players and GM, were incredibly helpful. I also got the Pathfinder novel Prince of Wolves as a bit of swag from the game. And apparently, if I read the book, one of my future PCs will get a +2 holy rapier from the Pathfinder Society. I haven't read the book, but I did buy the Pathfinder Core Rules when I got home.

I guess overall, Day Three was a day that started bad, but got better as it progressed. Next week, we wrap up the memories of GaryCons past and look towards creating new memories of games yet to come.

27 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon IV: Day Two

I've decided to use the vlog from last year for Day Two as that is the day that gets covered the most in video.

 

29 Days Till GaryCon! Dragonstrike.

It's weird having there be less than thirty days until something, but still being more than a month away from it. Damn February.

[9:20:59 PM] David Lawson: Got a question for you.
[9:21:17 PM] Michael Lawson: Yes?
[9:21:31 PM] David Lawson: What else should we bring to GaryCon, game-wise.
[9:22:12 PM] Michael Lawson: We haven't used the board games, so I'm gonna leave them at home. Definately Gimme the Brain... You have any ideas?
[9:22:57 PM] David Lawson: I'm bringing Give Me The Brain. Planning on running a few rounds of it the day before the con and on Sunday.
[9:23:27 PM] David Lawson: I was hoping you could bring DragonStrike or Dragonlance.
[9:23:40 PM] Michael Lawson: I'll bring Dragonstrike then.
[9:23:50 PM] Michael Lawson: Easier to play.
[9:24:17 PM] David Lawson: Who wears the black turtleneck?
[9:27:07 PM] Michael Lawson: Never knew his name, won't be me. :P
[9:28:59 PM] David Lawson: John Boyle.
[9:33:07 PM] David Lawson: At least that's what IMDB says.
[9:35:25 PM] Michael Lawson: Huh

Feeling brave tonight?

Dragon Strike was one of TSR's later attempts to create a gateway game to D&D. It was a cross between a board game and an RPG. Like a board game it had boards (duh), dice and figures that the players moved around. Like a role-playing game, the boards were maps of dungeons, the figures came with profiles featuring various stats and spells from D&D. The "Dragon Master" was the GM of the game running various pre-written scenarios included in the game. But the 'hook' of the game was the VHS cassette that came with it that served as part instruction manual and part television show. The cassette was 'hosted' by the disembodied head of actor John Boyle, who served to run a group of unseen players through the game (we do see their characters) while explaining the rules to the viewers.

How brave? Brave enough to do battle with hideous monsters? Hmm?

Boyle's character appropriately hams it up in every scene that he is in. He reminds me of my high school friend Jake that used to insert huge amounts of minutiae in his descriptions of events in an attempt to make them more real. Though for some reason, everything smelled like ozone.

The cassette is pretty much the main thing anyone remembers about the game. But the game itself is worth playing at least once. It's really just a basic D&D game with pregens, pre-printed maps and plastic miniatures. I don't know how well it works as a 'gateway' game to actual role-playing games, since we got our copy years into playing AD&D. But if you're looking for a nice one-shot game to play with friends, you wouldn't be disappointed in Dragon Strike.

31 Days Till GaryCon! Why This Kenzer Fanboy is Running a D&D Game.

I'm a big fan of HackMaster nowadays, but my roots are in D&D. Growing up I used to pick up a lot of the rulebooks and splatbooks, but not a lot of the modules. Part of it may have come from my wanting to create my own world, which is a lot easier said than done. So when I did get my hands on a module, I usually just read it for ideas rather than do the smart thing and plug it into my campaign where it would fit.

As time went on, I heard stories from people about how they ran one adventure or beat another. And I started to see the pre-written modules as a more integral to the game than I had originally thought. So I decided that if I do get an opportunity to run a game of D&D for anyone, I would break out one of the modules I still owned and run that.

Since GaryCon is geared mostly towards the old-school of role-playing, that opportunity has presented itself. It shouldn't be a surprise that it was the only of my three games to fill up almost immediately once registration began. So it's time for me to put my DM hat back on and break out Adventure Pack I. Just so I can safely say that I ran an old D&D adventure right from the book.

46 Days Till GaryCon! Event Registration is Live!

Outside of some technical difficulties, the event registration for GaryCon V has now begun and will be running until February 23rd. You also have until January 31st to register for the convention with a Copper Badge that gives you 15 SP to register for events.

In good news, I got all the events that I wanted to sign up for. So I will definitely be doing stuff at the convention whether it's playing or running a game. My itinerary looks like this:

Thursday:
8am-2pm (GM) HackMaster- Monsters in the Barn
This is the event I wrote for GaryCon II that was published in HackJournal #39 last year. It's an introductory session for those that have never played Hackmaster before.

3pm-5pm (Player) TSR with Gary Gygax
One of the seminars I wanted to attend. I played in an OD&D game with Mr. Mentzer last year and the stories he told were the best part of the game.

6pm-10pm (GM) Basic D&D- Steaks
This is an AD&D adventure from A1 that I have converted for the BECMI rules. Not heavy on combat, but should still be fun.

Friday:
10am-2pm (GM) Aces & Eights-Last Varmint Standing
This was another fun game I ran last year. Just a big shootout amongst all the players in a last man standing situation. Walk-ups are greatly welcomed here as things will go up and down at a moments notice. No experience necessary.

7pm-10:30pm (Player) Advanced D&D- Quondam Fount
I  had fun at Frank Mentzer's table last year, why not do it again?

Saturday:
8am-Noon (Player) Mutant Future- Thundarr the Barbarian: Warlord of the Sacred Library
Ariel! Ookla! RIDE! (This is going to be so awesome)

2pm-4pm (Player) Dungeon!
Never played this game before. My brother highly recommended it. Gonna give it a shot.

6pm-10pm (Player) HackMaster- The Temple of Unrelenting Despair
My friend Paul is running this game. I always make it a point to support my friends at GaryCon.

Sunday:
10am-2pm- Mongoose Traveller- A Rock And A Hard Place
An old-school game that I never heard of until a few years ago. One must always be open to new things.

So, has anyone else registered yet? What did you sign up for? The clock is ticking, so be sure to get signed up as soon as possible. And I will see you at GaryCon V.

50 Days Till GaryCon! Yesterday, Today and B1.

By now everyone has heard about DnDClassics.com, yes?

Like most everyone else in the OSR that has heard, I also grabbed a free copy of Module B1 In Search of the Unknown. I never had a copy of the original when I started playing D&D. Or if I did it has been long lost and forgotten. But I also have a PDF copy of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, that I got for free from Wizards of the Coast back when they offered it on their site, and I noticed something interesting about the two modules. They have a lot of instances where they expect the GM to fill in the details of the module themselves.

This is one of those things that I believe separate the OSR from modern games. In the OSR, there is a pretty big 'do-it-yourself' mentality when it comes to gaming, and especially GMing. The idea that a Dungeon Master could take a published module and stock it with monsters, traps and treasures in a completely different manner from another GM is one that seems to call to the old-school gamer and horrify the new generation. For those of us that started in the 70s and 80s it was our game. By that I mean that regardless of the rules, published modules and magazine articles, in the end you were the one responsible for creating the world you ran and/or played in. No rules on how to resolve a particular issue? Make something up. The module you purchased isn't set in your campaign setting? Move it to your campaign and change a few words to make it fit. Party is too high level for the adventure, beef up the monsters for a greater challenge.

Nowadays, too many gamers want something 'official' before they will use it. Creativity has been stifled in the name of uniformity. Somehow, gamers have become afraid of the companies that produce their favorite games rather than seeing them as a provider of resources for their own home game. Any challenge must first be approved by the Powers That Be lest it force the new gamer to think and grow. Players have gone from recalling the time they traveled to the Barrier Peaks to ticking adventures of a to-do list so they can reach the next level and make sure it's been reported in the proper online database.

Pfft. I'm a gamer. I game to have fun. I game to be challenged and to offer challenges myself. To think. To learn. To grow. Give me something I'm not expecting. Give me something me and the other gamers can laugh about for years to come.

I'm in search of the unknown. Give me that.

52 Days Till GaryCon! Planning Ahead.

With less than a week until registration begins, it's important to get an idea of what you need to play before you sit down in front of your computer on the 27th. Having only a limited amount of gold and silver points to spend, and an even more limited amount of time, I like to write up a timetable and plan my games accordingly.

So far, I have myself scheduled for 2-3 events a day. That's including the games I'm running. And I am allowing myself plenty of down time in between. I'll be playing AD&D, Mutant Future, Dungeon, HackMaster and Mongoose Traveller. Three out of those five games are games I never played before, which is part of the reason to go to a con to begin with. I just wish I knew what time registration starts so I don't miss out on any events.

58 Days Till GaryCon! Swag of Conventions Past

This one is going to be a short photoblog. Here in a nutshell is all the free stuff, or swag, that I have picked up from GaryCons II-IV.

Click for a larger picture

Front and center is a Hyperborea lithograph by Ian Baggley from GaryCon II. Going back and to the left (no JFK jokes please) are the other GaryCon II items: two issues of Knights of the Dinner Table that I already had and the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting and Atlas for D&D 3.5. The Campaign Setting is actually maybe 5%-10% rule specific, the rest if mostly descriptive text with plenty of adventure hooks for the clever GM.

GaryCon III swag includes The Random Exotic Creature Generator by James Raggi IV, and The Cabal King by Jason M Cook and Jon Johnson; a tournament module that was supposed to be run at GaryCon II, but events conspired to keep it from being run.

For GaryCon IV, I have the commemorative GaryCon d4 (on the copy of The Cabal King) and the Castles and Crusades module Dwarven Glory by Stephen Chenault. Having never played C&C, it was an interesting read and has piqued my interest in the system.

While the main purpose if GaryCon is to play games and make friends, getting free stuff doesn't hurt either.

60 Days Till GaryCon! Pre-Gen Success!

I finally got my pre-gens for my D&D game done. I remembered that I bought some postcard stock for my printer to make spell cards for my Learn to Hacks. Sure enough, they are the perfect size for pre-gens for BECMI D&D. I decided to keep things as simple as possible. Things like stats, hit points, weapons, armor and any magic items the character would have. I'll assume they have basic gear and money available.

I still need to get spell lists together and make a worksheet for all the opponents in the game, but one key part of my prep work is finally done.

70 Days Till GaryCon! Thanks...

To my mother, who bought my brother and I our first copy of Dungeons & Dragons over twenty-five years ago. Who recognized it as a means of expressing our creativity and saw it as a way for us to break out of our shells. I just have one thing to say.

Thanks, and Happy Birthday.

73 Days Till GaryCon! More Pre-Gen Goodness

So here's the pre-gen lineup for the D&D Game I'll be running at GaryCon:

• 8th Level Cleric
• 8th Level Fighter
• 7th Level Magic-User
• 8th Level Thief
• 8th Level Dwarf
• 8th Level Halfling
• 7th Level Elf

The game is supposed to be for 6 players, so I have enough for all with one leftover. But part of me is wondering if I shouldn't create a few more in case more than one person wants to play a fighter or something similar. Off the top of my head I'm thinking an extra cleric would be a good idea. Then again, you can never go wrong with an extra fighter.

Any suggestions? If you had to create a 6 character party using BECMI rules, what would it look like?

74 Days Till GaryCon! Pre-gen Mania

I just finished rolling up a dwarf, elf and thief for my D&D game at GaryCon. I am now in the process of divvying up the magic items amongst the players. After that, I will figure out the mundane equipment and then work up some character sheets for the convention.

My plan is to have everything up on New Year's Day so they are available for the convention and anyone else who might be interested.

I did re-roll a few of the magic items that were borderline imbalancing for the adventure. I also ruled a 10% chance per level that a temporary item was used. Most of the potions, scrolls and wands are now off the list.

In an unrelated, yet interesting note, tomorrow will be my 150th post. What a way to end the year.

81 Days Till GaryCon: More Pre-Gen Prep

Despite spending the entire morning hopping from airport to airport and battling a head cold that waited until the day I went on vacation, I managed to get the start on two more pre-gens for my D&D game at GaryCon. This time I am adding a cleric and a magic-user to the mix. Both are based on 120,000 XP, so the magic-user is only 7th level compared to the 8th level PCs we have seen.

88 Days to GaryCon! GM Prep Time- Part One

I've decided that Sundays will be spent detailing the process of preparations for each game I'm running at GaryCon. Out of the three games, I have run two of them in the past. So I'm going to start this series on the D&D game that recently added.

Now, the adventure was designed for 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. But I'm going to run it under Cyclopedia rules since that will reduce the number of books I have to bring with me. Plus it will also make it easier to create pre-gens since the Basic Rules have race-as-class as a feature.

I allotted for six seats at the game, but I'm going to create eight pre-gens to give the players more choice and account for possible additional players. This should give me one of each class for everyone to choose from, plus one extra which I have yet to determine.

93 Days to GaryCon!

I've decided to add a third game to my GM duties after all. Granted none of the games I have submitted have been approved yet. But just in case you were wondering what I was running and when, here's the list.

Thursday
8:00AM- Monsters in the Barn (HackMaster)
My introductory adventure, complete with tutorial on character creation. I'll probably retire this adventure after GaryCon 2013 since it's already been published in HackJournal #39. So this will be your last chance to play the adventure with the creator as the GM.

6:00PM- Steaks (D&D)
A short adventure for characters level 5-7. Not a lot of 'action' in this adventure, but it is made up for with the mystery hook and a lot of potential for role-playing. This adventure appeared in I13- Adventure Pack I, which I have literally owned for decades yet have never run until now.

Friday
10:00AM- Last Varmint Standing (Aces & Eights)
A big free-for-all shootout for new players and seasoned veterans alike. While there is a sign-up list for this game, it's really intended to be open to anyone that wants to drop in and play. Ideally people can rotate in and out as they cycle through characters. But if last year was any indication, there will likely be a nice core group of players to play with.

96 Days to GaryCon!

As I mentioned three days ago, I am running two games at this year's GaryCon. But I'm debating adding a third game. Specifically running the adventure "Steaks" from AD&D 1e's Adventure Pack I. The only thing that's keeping me from committing is deciding when I would run it. One of the problems I have had at past conventions is trying to fit too much in and burning myself out. So if I do run a third game, it will either be early in the weekend, or early on Sunday when things are dying down. I'm also debating tweaking things a bit and running it using Engines & Empires. But as I said, nothing is decided just yet.

T is for THAC0

Am I the only person in the blogosphere that never had a problem with this?

THAC0 (pronounced like the sound of a sword hitting an orc in the head) stood for To Hit Armor Class Zero. Prior to 3rd edition, Armor Class started at 10 and went down as better defenses were applied, with an "upper" limit around -10. Hitting a target required rolling a twenty-sided die, adding modifiers, and then comparing the result to a number on a table that cross-referenced the target's armor class (AC) and the attacker's class and level. This took up as many as three pages depending on what version of D&D you played. This was a pain in the ass, but it was soon figured that since the tables' progressions were all linear, you just needed the number to hit zero and work the rest out using basic algebra.