New Job and Renewed Campaign!

So here I am sitting at my new desk at my new job! Pretty cool all around so far. I think I'll fit in nicely here...

I feel like I didn't even skip a beat between my old job and the new one! I feel like I didn't have any time off of work! I was out of work for approximately a total of three weeks. That's insane to me. I was truly blessed and lucky, because that is not typical of what most people who are laid off go through. And not to brag, but I had two job offers after only two weeks. I still can't believe it. I thank the powers that be in this nutty universe!

And, I actually find myself regretting that I didn't take more advantage of my time off. I really could have spent more time doing other things besides job hunting. I mean, I did spend some good quality time with the wife and kids, and caught up on some stuff around the house, but I probably could have done less worrying about the job stuff...ah well. No use crying and all that...

Anyway, I have set a target date of March 31st with my gaming buddies for our triumphant return to regular game sessions for my Tales of the Wanderers campaign (sorry, was that a really long sentence or is it just me?). Although I have a lot going on now with ramping up at the new gig, as well as a new bit of freelance work coming my way, I am trying to dedicate the spare time I have to getting my GM pants back on ;-)

I'll let you know how things go! Until then, happy gaming!

Status Update: Staying the Course

So I am currently sitting at my old desk at my former employer for the last time...the desk is bare, and I am thinking about the last six years of my life that I spent here...lots of ups and downs in that time. At any rate, I left on very good terms, so they've allowed me a lot of time to print out portfolio materials, use their resources, etcetera. I am very grateful, and wish the company well.

But enough of that maudlin crap! I have gone full steam ahead on the job hunt, and I already have an interview coming up! Only three days in, and already I've got a great prospect. That's a personal record!

And in my spare moments, I am dreaming of the near future and my return to top gaming form! I've been sort of flailing lately with my campaign's setting and rules system, but recent events (and player opinion) have convinced me to gird the old loins and stay focused. So, the campaign will stay on Golarion for the nonce, and we will be shifting to Castles & Crusades. And I am determined that those will be the only major changes for a good, long while! In addition, I am making a concerted effort to fend off Gamer ADD, should it rear its ugly head again!

Well, that's all for now. As always, happy gaming!

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 2.5

So, let me educate my few readers about life in Southern New Jersey during the winter. We are wimps when it comes to snow. A light dusting of snow occurred last night in the Philadelphia region, in which I dwell, and of course this meant complete paralysis of the roadways! Now, to be fair, it WAS slippery, and the snow was not expected to stick to the ground. But it did. And it was very cold, so there was this weird mix of black ice and powdery snow. And since it was so unexpected, no salt trucks were sent out before the snow started. But still, it seemed to be too much gridlock for the amount of snow that fell.

My point? Last night was of course supposed to be a game night at my place. Only one of my players made it (there are currently only two, as you might know). Luckily, we are still in the small village in which the campaign started two sessions ago, so there was a good opportunity to do a "side" adventure with my friend Dan, who is playing a kender who has been magically transported from Krynn to Oerth. Again, anyone wishing to check out the campaign, feel free to check out the Obsidian Portal page for Tales of the Wanderers.

Anyway, we had a couple hours of side quest fun, with plenty of laughs of course (we are talking about a kender character, you know). I'll try to get a journal entry on the OP page ASAP. All in all, every game session we have just makes me more and more excited, and happier and happier about this return to gaming with some of the old group!

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!

Something Happened in my Basement Last Night...

In my recent search to find some more potential players in my local area, I turned my thoughts once again to something I had considered forever beyond my reach: roleplaying with my old friends that composed the gaming groups of my youth. Something in me demanded that I try again to bring my friends back to the hobby.

So I proposed the idea to a few of my friends, and last night two of them came over to my house. There we gathered in my basement, where my computer room/home office/man-lair resides. We whipped up some characters and I put them through a short session where they had to fight their way out of a small subterranean area (I hope to post a session report soon).

I'm very, VERY happy to report that we had a great time gaming for about three-and-a-half hours, which is something we haven't done in eons (roleplaying or otherwise). There was laughter aplenty and not to mention some daring-do, as the dice flew across the table, maps were consulted, and all the rest. Bottom line: IT WAS FUN! And that's most important. And we're definitely planning on doing it again as soon as possible!

One of the guys is a veritable newb, who dabbled in roleplaying over the years but never really got fully into it when the rest of our group was in our RPG heyday. But after last night, his whole attitude changed. The big reason for that is simply because we're older now, and I've learned to better tailor my games to the needs of my players (it helps that I've known these guys for well over a decade). I convinced our resident newb that roleplaying doesn't have to have the pretentions or stereotypes that we used to labor under when we were younger (which was a major factor in limiting his interest in the hobby), when low self esteem sometimes made us into tyrants at the table.

The other friend that played last night is pretty much a veteran roleplayer, and he fell back into the RPG experience with barely a hiccup! And yours truly wasn't a slouch either ;-)

Suffice to say, last night we felt nostalgia in a good way, not in the sappy and maudlin way. Nostalgia that isn't an obsession with the long-lost past of our lives, but rather a subtle cherishing of once we once had, and can have again in some way. We are the masters of our fates, and the captains of our souls!

Now, if only I could convince some more of the old group to get in on the action...wheels are turning, my friends...