Savage September

I try to limit my promoting of things here but in the interest of cheap gamers everywhere I felt like I should mention this one. It's Savage September on DriveThruRPG and they have some nice setting books for Savage Worlds on sale for five bucks. This includes Weird War II and Interface Zero.

No I don't know any of them personally or work for them or get free stuff from them or anything else. I just like Savage Worlds and I also like good deals, so there you go.

Updates on the Big Two

Not a lot of playing time this week but I did have time to watch the videos from Paizo and WOTC talking about the year ahead for Pathfinder and D&D. They're interesting so I thought I would share.

First up is Paizo here. It's about an hour long.

I like a lot of what I'm hearing with this and those adventure paths sound pretty cool. They have a demon invasion path, an Egyptian desert mummy-themed path, and a barrier-peaks-homage-of-some-kind path. Clearly I am going to have to get to know the campaign world and take a look at these.

I'm going to have to look into the miniatures too.I haven't been looking at the Pathfinder mini's line and it's probably time to do so.

They come across as a solid team who know what they are doing. I am more interested in playing the game because I like the people running the company and I like how they are handling it. Maybe there is a sweet spot for an RPG company where they are big enough to handle their business but not so big that they go corporate and things start to get drowned out by the bland.

Then we have WOTC here, and it's only about 20 minutes.

It's also pretty underwhelming. There's about 5 minutes of RPG discussion then we get mobile/video/computer games talk, neverwinter MMO talk and videos, lego talk, and then the Sundering video. I know Next is still in development but could we talk about the Sundering adventures for a bit, at least? The "Kre-O" stuff is a trinket, a toy that has nothing to do with the actual game and it gets as much time as the game does! At Gen Con could we not focus on the tabletop game and leave the details on the electronic stuff for PAX?

Watching these two in sequence just highlights the contrast in approaches: Pathfinder MMO gets about 30 seconds out of an hour long discussion. Neverwinter and the rest get roughly a quarter of a 30 minute presentation. I've been digging into Next quite a bit recently but stuff like this is disappointing, and then the PF stuff looks many times more interesting on top of that.

No wonder Paizo is on top.

Pathfinder at Animefest: The Tower Adventure

So I finally got to play some Pathfinder over the weekend. The local Pathfinder Society was running games all weekend so I picked out a 1st-level pre-gen (they're all based on the Pathfinder iconic characters), started playing, and joined the PFS in case I make it to some other organized play stuff in the near future.

Coolest part: I finally got to play alongside Apprentice Blaster instead of running the game - that made it even more special.

Table size was six and we were the last two to join. the boy picked out a Fighter and I took a Monk - partly because I rarely see them in play and partly because it's been years since I played one. As it turned out we had an interesting mix in the party as the other four characters were a Bard, a Gunslinger, a Druid, and another Monk! If I had realized this I probably would have taken something else but I've never been too worried about party balance as a player and with six I figured we would power through things anyway. besides, I had a concept in mind and it was for a monk, so there's a good chance I'd have stuck with him regardless.

Soon enough we were in the big center-of-the-world city for Pathfinder when word came that an earthquake that morning had revealed an ancient tower, collapsing one side of it to allow access to whatever riches might lie within. That's really all the reason a group of broke low-level adventurers need to head out of town and that's exactly what we did.

The silliness started up early as it turned out that half of the other characters were a band, led by the other monk whose name was Lil' Jimmy, whose character illustration was quickly doctored up to look like Jimi Hendrix, and who spoke with a French accent for no adequately explained reason. The alleged talent in the band was with the bard named Lil' Zeph, who also had a French accent, and who was played as female and male at different times which I am pretty sure was not a deliberate choice, but who knows? The gunslinger was their roadie, the fighter and my monk joined up as security, and the druid was just a fan.

That's just kinda how it works out with a con game sometimes, but I did laugh a lot.

I've always thought of a tower as an inverted dungeon but the tower in this adventure had one trick I have (unbelievably) never seen before. There are stairs inside the tower but there is also the option to climb up the collapsed and now open side of the thing if the party can't get to the stairs (some are behind locked doors) or doesn't want to use them (monsters). It's been quite a while since I've been impressed with basic dungeon geometry but I really liked this one.

The other surprisingly effective innovation was the 3D model of the tower shown above. It's pretty simple compared to some of the 40K terrain I've worked on and with, but it is surprisingly compelling as a player to  see that there are only 5 levels to explore, then later only 5-X levels left, and then a sense of accomplishment on reaching the top with the party intact. It also keeps you very aware of the height as you make those climb checks. I really liked it and I'm going to have to think about that kind of presentation for the future.

We entered the tower and worked our way up over the next few hours. It took a little while for the party to gel and there was the usual talking over each other you see with a new group but we had a solid DM who knew the rules and gave us time to work things out but reeled us back in when we went too far astray. Some of the combats were a little hairy and half of us dropped to zero HP's at least once. My personal trial was when I triggered a trap and was pinned to a door by a spear fired through my back, then as the other monk was pulling me off of the door, it opened and I took two more spears from the front - that was a very painful round.

We did manage to talk our way past a potentially nasty situation involving water, electricity, and animals thanks to the druid. The DM later mentioned that he had killed entire parties in that encounter when they handled it badly and I believe him - but it worked out for us.

In the end we had a big dramatic fight with a leader and his animal companion on top of the tower that got more dangerous as the fight went on. The big finale came as the other monk and I dangled over the edge of the thing and Blaster's fighter bull rushed the enemy over the side - a really nice finish to a good run.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and it was a memorable run.

I went and looked up what people thought of the adventure afterwards and a lot of people seem to regard it a slightly above average adventure. The main complaints are that it's mostly combat and there's no real plot?! I don't get that! In my view it's a perfect introduction to the setting, the PFS (both in-game and out-of-game) and it doesn't need any more plot than "you're broke and there's a dungeon - go". Considering it is specifically designed to bring new players in to the PFS as 1st level characters and I think it accomplishes that spectacularly. If you're interested it's "Master of the Fallen Fortress" and the Paizo page is here. I haven't read it yet, I just read through the comments.

I had a great time and Blaster did too. We had hoped to work in another session but the timing didn't work out. Red was interested too but he only had one day at the con as he had to work. We will be looking for another chance though.

Things I Learned at Animefest

It only took an hour to pick up our badges - after an hour long drive to get there. 

• Did you know Robin is apparently a girl? I saw one male Robin and 4-5 female ones.
• The one male Robin was part of a full Teen Titans lineup that was posing for pictures including a pretty impressive Cyborg and a very green Beastboy.
• I saw one male Loki and 3 female Loki's. Some of them were pretty interesting.

Heck, there are at least 3 Robins just in this picture!

• Every con I've ever been to has included Star Trek costumes. I was a little worried about this one, but within a couple of hours on our first day I ran across a trio of young ladies sporting TOS uniforms. I suppose they might have been new movie uniforms, but either way the red-gold-blue miniskirt look never quite goes out of style. Thank you ladies for keeping the streak alive.
• So ... many ... Doctors ... if you were looking for A doctor I'm not sure what kind of luck you would have had but if you were looking for THE Doctor well you had plenty of choices as there were a crap ton of them at the con
• Lots of Steampunk outfits - I know it's turned into a thing the last few years and Austin has a fairly big crowd that's into that, but I didn't expect to see so much of it at an anime event. Lots of suppliers in the dealer room too.

Oh yeah - this guy was there too

Gaming notes - gaming isn't a huge part of this con but here's what I did find:

• No 40K! I didn't see one table of 40K or Fantasy or Warmachine/Hordes or anything else. There was very little miniatures presence here.
• Reaper did have a paint and take room so there was something.
• Battletech had a room with mini's and some terrain going most of the con. I ended up not playing it but they were there.
• Fiasco was listed but every time I walked by the room doors were shut so I can't actually say if it ran or not.
• There were some other one-off RPG's on the program but I never saw them either
• No D&D at all as far as I could tell
• The one shining beacon was Pathfinder - the Dallas Pathfinder Society branch was set up in a decent sized room and ran all 4 days. I played some of this and I'll have more on it tomorrow.

Did I mention Minecraft is popular with the kids these days?

Anyway, it was fun - the kids dressed up and Apprentice Twilight in particular got a lot of attention for hers. It was good and we will probably go back next year. In fact they're all fired up about going to some other area cons so we will probably have to look into it in quite a bit less than a year.

Breaking Out the Con Gear

This weekend includes an unusual event for us - we're going to a con! Now it's not a big gaming con but there is some of that kind of thing. One of Dallas" bigger things of this type is Animefest and we are making our first trip there this weekend. Given Twilight and Reds growing interest in various things anime it seemed like a good idea and the rest of us will no doubt find some ways to stay entertained. I'm sure we can find our way into a Pathfinder game or some 40K. It sounds like a good way to spend a holiday weekend.

Further updates next week!

D&D Next: Plan B

So I have the A-series adventures (have for a long time), I have the Next files that have the monster conversions for them, and I have the 2E era "Slavers" adventure (really a mini-campaign) if I want to flesh it out. I can see some fun to be had there.

So why isn't it "case closed"? I'm not sure, but I have roughly worked out a second campaign outline that could use Isle of Dread, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, and White Plume Mountain. This would also be in Greyhawk and would also lead into the G-D-Q adventures, possible with Barrier Peaks worked in as well, maybe between G2 and G3, though this does open up the possibility of King Snurre being laser-bolted to death in his hall and the finale looking more like GH40K than Classic D&D. Regardless, I don't think it will be coming up for a while.

I think the main attraction here is that these adventures are much more sandbox, have a wider variety of creatures to face, and are less commando-raid. Breaking down the Slavelords into its basic components, I could run it in Star Wars or Traveller and maybe Top Secret and it would fit as well as it does in D&D. That's probably a compliment but I'm not sure it's fitting into the groove I want. Also: 100% more dinosaurs in X1 than in the A-series.

I did realize that the Next packets contain all the stats for the S-series as well, which is really really cool. Since they already have the Isle of Dread that would only leave the Forbidden City as un-statted but I think that's one I can manage as there are parts of it I would change anyway.

I'm going to look at it in some more detail and then decide which way to go a little later. It doesn't matter until they get close to finishing the keep and I can decide how to plant the seed and I may just drop in links to both options and let them choose.

I also woke up with a vision of a campaign using Desert Nomads, Temple of Death, and the Pharaoh series but I haven't done much with it yet.

It's a little strange having the beginning and the higher levels nailed down but having the middle so up in the air. I'm usually more sequential than that, planning and laying out the options layer by layer, "tier by tier" so to speak. For now the Caves will keep them busy and I will figure out the rest.

Kids and RPGs - Getting Started

Following along after yesterday's post - more kid stuff! I keep seeing people asking about and talking about starting kids out on RPG's and I wanted to speak my piece. This probably falls into some kind of advice so I will direct you to my standard disclaimer on that subject.

Part 1 - Kid RPG's

I don't like them much. The entire concept presumes that kids need a hand-holding introduction to role-playing. I disagree and have a counter-theory I call "kids aren't stupid".

First, we (and I mean all of us who started circa 1980 and somewhat later) didn't need some special kidified version of the game - we had the D&D Basic Set and it was awesome! It connected with something and we made the effort to figure out how it all worked, and none of those first 3 versions did a bad job of getting the idea across. Interest will drive comprehension, and being able to talk AD&D intelligently with grown-ups felt really good. That hasn't changed, and kids are more informed about everything these days - thank you internet.

Second, kids know when they're being talked down to and conversely there is a thrill to being able to read a book written at a higher level than kid-level and understand what is going on. If they're ready to play a sit-down RPG then they're ready to read and watch and grasp the concept of any of them.

Third, a lot of the subject matter of the kid games I see looks pretty boring and there seems to be a lot of emphasis on things other than combat. Go watch some 8-year old boys play and tell me they're not interested in combat. Fighting monsters or playing superheroes is right up their alley - embrace that, don't deny it!

So, I think kid-specific RPG's are largely a waste of time and money. If you play D&D teach your kid D&D! If you play Marvel teach them Marvel! If you play Spirit of the Century then introduce them to a little pulp goodness. Watch The Rocketeer to get them started and then go play! In an age where ten year olds are running Minecraft servers you don't need to do a lot of hand-holding.

Part 2 - Timing

I think a lot of the interest in kid-specific RPG's comes from people trying to get their kids interested too early - when they're ready they will let you know. When a 3-year old says "daddy let's play superman" you don't break out the dice and figures - you break out the towels and safety pins and head outside!

As they get a little older, say 8-10-12 the best way to get them interested is to let them be around when you play. I knew Blaster was about ready when I came out one morning to find him drawing maps on my presentation-sized graph paper pad and moving minis around on them. (yes, I still have them). Somewhere in that window I suspect most kids who are interested will express it or give you an obvious opening to ask them about it. Seize that moment and start that conversation.

Also, be prepared - not every kid is going to want to dive into RPG's the way you do. My daughter knows her Godzilla movies pretty well, has Marvel posters on her walls, and read LOTR at an early age and she's only played with us twice, showing no recent interest in doing so. It's just not her thing (though this did raise an eyebrow) and that's OK. I've never seen a nerd version of the Overbearing Sports Parent and hopefully I never will.

Part 3 - Making it Happen

I see people post on internet forums asking which game they should use to introduce their kid to RPG's. Why would you do this? Who knows your kid better than you do? If you know enough to log on to RPG.net then you probably already have some games on your shelf, so the answer is "What games do you play?" Sure, Vampire in its full form might not be the best game to start with but if you have it and know it why not put something together that sets the sex and politics aside and has a vampire in a convenience store as it is being robbed? "This is happening - what do you do" is a strong start to showing them how this kind of game works.

If I'm going to get into specific advice then for a more traditional RPG the Pathfinder Beginner Box is a strong opener. Books, maps, dice, monster pawns - it's a solid value, is visually interesting, and there are multiple adventures in it. We played through it here and it was a big hit.

If you would rather start up with superheroes I really like ICONS as an introductory game - the dice mechanics are simple, the art is kid-friendly, and there's room to go from silliness to serious if you want to do so. There is a lot of supporting material in the form of adventures too. Even superhero games can get caught up in angst or paranoia - most ICONS adventures don't have that. I recommend the one with the giant ants.

Beyond those two there are other options like Star Wars or Savage Worlds that have ideas and mechanics that will probably spark a kids' interest. Don't overlook the classics either  - I got a couple of copies of Moldvay Basic off of eBay when we were getting started and my kids grasped it just fine and ended up running stuff for each other for a time.

One thing to keep in mind, especially when starting out and especially if they are on the younger side, is that it's about doing stuff - not builds, not backgrounds, not history, not gearing up, but doing stuff in the game world with your character! With some games building a character can be its own mini game and with some settings the lore is a big attraction, but probably not to a third grader. With something like a Marvel game they can play a character they already know. With something like the Realms let them learn the lore by reading some of the novels if they are so inclined. Don't bore them by reading a bunch of expository text and don't confuse them by trying to explain different ways of sticking numbers on our made-up beasties - let them start webbing stuff up or tearing lamp posts out of the ground - the rest will come with time.

So there's my epic post on kids and RPG's. If there's one thing that's key here I'd say it's this: let them see you having fun with your friends. That's what it's about, right? If they see that, they'll be interested, and then one of these days it will all come together

The ToZ Back-to-School Special

It's back to school week here with one starting today and the other three starting tomorrow. Some school & kid thoughts:

The Home Front

• Everybody is happy - they like their summer but all  four of them do well in school and aren't afraid to head back.
• Our schedule is going to be significantly busier with three of them in high school, which means prioritizing who does what when will be even more important. On the plus side my job lets me work from home a few days during the week which makes things easier on those days but Lady Blacksteel and I will still be doing a lot of divide-and-conquer to make this work.
• The intersection of these two points: No more having to shut the door to drown out the My Little Pony marathons while on conference calls. Now Justice League, that's a different story. I don't mind people thinking I work with Batman, but the ponies are right out. Batman Beyond was also a big player this summer. Thank you Netflix.

Game Front

• Red has discovered the wonders of eBay. It's a little strange getting those packages in the mail that are not for me! If he figures out Amazon he's going to have to get his own mailbox.
• Looks like Wednesday nights will be Next nights as much as possible. All three boys are interested so it's a go. Hopefully homework and traffic won't interfere too much.
• Both Red and Blaster have been instructed to Find The Gamers at their respective high schools. I know they're out there - find them! It would be nice for them to be able to play with friends their own age and not just their dad.

Media Front

• Kick Ass and Kick Ass 2: Two movies that I really really like that I cannot let the kids watch anytime soon. There are R-rated movies they have seen (pretty much all at home) and R-rated movies they have not,  and as much as I like them these will have to wait. I'm shocked at the number of people who think it's cool to take ten-year-olds into them though. Between KA2 this weekend and We're The Millers a week or two back I wonder what happened to babysitters? 
• Freaks and Geeks is a great show to watch with teenagers. They only made one season but it is on Netflix and the kids (including Apprentice Twilight) were actually demanding that we watch it whenever we let a day or two go by. Who would have thought a show about school would have been so popular during summer vacation? I am pretty happy they liked it though - it's funny but it doesn't pull many punches about high school goings-on. 
• Minecraft is clearly the game of the summer. Red is too old to care, and Twilight understands it but isn't really interested enough to play it. Who and Blaster though ... they've been all over it, to the point they're making videos and posting them on YouTube, just like the things they've been watching, and they've dragged their friends and cousins into it if they weren't already. A more conventional game would have burned out already and I'm sure "Minecraft 2" would be set for fall release but this game doesn't work that way. It's sort of a Frankenstein of civillization, legos, and warhammer that is more than the sum of those parts and I'm impressed with it.Heck, it broke Blaster's obsession with Call of Duty and Mechwarrior and I never would have guessed a game that looks it came from a Commodore 64 would have been able to do that.

With a bunch of kids running around there's the Calendar New Year and then there's this one, which is at least as important. Good luck to everyone out there - students, parents, and teachers alike. Another year, another set of stories to tell down the road.

Motivational Monday

Two for one today

Star Trek Saturday - Voyaging Online

Just to throw something different out there, here's an update from the world of Star Trek Online:

At the end of last month’s State of the Game there was a poll that asked the following question: “Which Trek series’ ships, characters, species, and stories, would you most like to see more of in a future STO Expansion?”

Here are the results of that poll as of today:

Enterprise – 409
The Original Series – 198
The Next Generation – 371
Deep Space Nine – 474
Voyager – 1,216
You have overwhelming voted for more Star Trek: Voyager. 

Argh ... the worst of the various Trek series is suddenly the guiding light for the game that covers all of them. I'd prefer to see this as more than 50% of fans who voted saying "anything but Voyager" but I don;t think they will take my interpretation of it. I would expect TOS to come in fairly low as quite a bit of it is in the show already, and there's a fair amount of TNG and DS9 in there too. However, I would rather they mine every last scrap of cool from those shows than start paying more attention to Voyager.

To be fair the article does address the difficulties of mixing Delta Quadrant stuff in with the traditional Trek material they already have and I kind of like the approach they are contemplating. I do think it would be strange to have a playable faction in an MMO RPG that is completely cut off and separated from the existing factions in the game, and I can't think of another game that has tried that. If they find a way to do it right though I would at least give it a look.