Retrogaming - CRPG Style

After burning out a bit on modern games I ended up having some fun with some old games over the holiday break. turns out there is some cool retro stuff out there and it a) works on modern hardware and b) ain't very expensive.

First up, Great Old Games - take a look at gog.com. Just by joining the site (it's free) you get Ultima IV for free, among others. The prices are pretty low  -as they should be, these are old old games after all - and they run sales fairly often on specific games or bundles of games, making it even more reasonable. Also, there's no DRM, no disc to keep up with, and no online login to run your game - you pay for it, download it, and it's yours. I've pulled down around 10 games from them so far and all of them work just fine on my hardware. Might and Magics, Ultimas, Baldur's Gates, Icewind Dales - all kinds of RPG's are available. There's other stuff too, like the Freepsace games, Combat Mission, master of Orion and Master of Magic - lots and lots of goodies.

9.99 is on the high end of their pricing

Apprentice Blaster and I have been playing Heroes of Might and Magic III again and it's been a lot of fun. It's a little funny - alongside Xbox Live and his various shooter games he thinks a game that came out the year he was born is awesome. It's a great game. I've been rediscovering Master of Orion II again as well.

The other fun I discovered is that there are some cool retro options on the iPad as well. The Bard's Tale was published a few years ago for consoles and I didn't  think much of it at the time, but the iOS version comes with the original trilogy packed inside:

Now that is very cool! That title screen at the top of the page is from this too.

Well if we ever get the Ultimas and Wizardrys on iTunes I might try to make this work ...

I remember that screen well ...

 Return of the *ATEAM - I remember using those guys in some of my original games.

I've been fooling around with BT 1 and it's a pleasant return to the old days of having to map your own dang dungeons and figure things out. Of course with the internet at our disposal now total hints are only a click away. If you're liking this then check out The Adventurer's Guild - notes, maps, and downloads for the Bard games.

If that's a little too retro for you try this one:

This is Silversword, a sort of retroclone/inspired by the Bard's Tale games. It's very similar in races, classes, magic, and interface.

It's a little more modern in approach, while being pretty darn faithful to the originals. There is a free version and a pay version that is not terribly expensive either. If you're interested, take a look! On the phone this one was a little tricky to manage, but on the tablet it works just fine.

Anyway, there's a reminder of some other Old School options that some of us are enjoying. If I find more I will pass them along.

The Year of Shadowrun

I saw this announcement a while back and I haven't seen a ton of comment on it so I thought I would throw out my own thoughts on it. The short version: The whole Mayan Apocalypse thing was something I first heard of back in 1989 when Shadowrun came out and used that as the date that things went really different from the real world, as magic returned and brought back dragons and elves and stuff. Apparently the passing of that date has spurred a reboot of the entire Shadowrun product line for 2013.

They're starting off with a collectible card game. Those are not really my thing anymore, so no strong opinion here other than some surprise that enough money can still be made at these to make it worthwhile. Magic, sure. Everything else seems like really small potatoes.

Then this summer we get 5th Edition of the RPG. I suppose it's about time since we're about 8 years into 4th edition. The bullet points:

• Grittier and Deadlier - I don't know, our games always seemed pretty deadly. Were players asking for more of this?
• Streamlined Matrix - I think this phrase is required for every edition. Maybe it is this time.
• Increased gear options - I have at least 3 feet of Shadowrun books and I'm sure that almost every one of them has some kind of gear in it. At some point don't we just get to "Nanotech" and the real world effectively becomes the same as the Matrix in the older editions where you can move/look/fight however you wish?
• Faster Character Creation and More Player Aids - sure, OK. I never thought character building was all that tedious in the first 3 editions but maybe I'm old school now. Wasn't that what the archetypes were for?

I don't want to come across as being down on the game, and I probably did up there. I've played and run a ton of Shadowrun but I sat out 4th edition because I just didn't feel the need. Now the older Apprentices are getting interested in the idea and here comes a new shiny edition - I probably won't be sitting this one out. It may be time to get sucked into this game one more time.

In the fall we get a tactical miniatures game, because we need a new one about every 3 years to rise, fall, and hit the discount bins as warhammer keeps on chugging along. I'm probably more interested in this than the card game but mini's are pricey, take time to paint, and take up space afterwards, so my interest level is "skeptical".

Spring of 2014 - a Euro style board game - not my thing either.

"Shadowrun Returns" a PC RPG ... set in 2054 ... OK I'm interested. A Shadowrun that approaches Skyrim/Fallout 3 levels of immersion? I could go for that. Summer 2013 ... I'll be watching.

"Shadowrun Online" - a Shadowrun MMO? Not sure those are my thing anymore but I will probably at least look this one over.

Shadowrun.com and Jackpoint.com - apparently some sort of in-universe web page similar to the Traveller News Service in the old days of The Journal ... only online ... for Shadowrun. Not sure how this adds anything to the game or the universe but OK.

Shadowruntabletop.com - possibly overkill at this point but the video is kinda cool

Anyway, that's a lot of stuff! I'm glad to see a game (and a setting) I like gearing up and jumping back into the fray in a big way - If they succeed than it's great and i they fail then they fail in a big way and at least no one can say they didn't try.

Extremely Expert DM Advice: Issue #0 - Why You Should Ignore Most DMing Advice

Barking Alien had a post on this, spurred by Noism's post here. I thought I would try to contribute some useful information on this topic.

Before we begin, I think it takes an incredible amount of ego to position oneself as an "Expert" DM and I dislike it when people do so. "Experienced" - sure, but "Expert" implies some level of mastery of the role. Then there are the people who try to sell books on how to be a better DM. Right. Knock yourself out. Lets move on.

First, I believe the best teacher (in many endeavors but in this one in particular) is experience. You can only read, listen, or watch so much - the rubber meets the road when you actually take on the responsibility of running an actual game, for real players, at a specific time and place. I don't care how much theory you read or how many sessions you've played in, the transition to running a game really only begins once you do it. Once you have done this, if you want to get better, keep running a game. Regularly. Once a year isn't going to see much improvement. Once a month is a big jump. Once a week can turn into a job very quickly so pace yourself. The bottom line is that this is an active skill that exercises muscles you can't really practice on your own.

Further thought: If you don't have a group why would you care about being a better DM? Worry about getting to BE a DM first - then start worrying about getting better at it. It typically takes months of regular play with a steady group before people start considering it an automatic thing and it can be blown very easily with just a few missed sessions. So get some players and get a game going - then start looking for advice. Issue #1 of this series will deal with getting a game together. Once I have that up I'll even put a link to it right here.

Second, the skills you develop in running a game are only partially portable. Much of what you learn (again, IMO) is specific to the game you're running and the group of people you are running it for. There is a lot of advice out there on the net that claims to be universal - it isn't. It's either too general to be much help like "Be prepared" or "have snacks" or it's flat out wrong for the game and the people you run. If it's not specific to your game you can probably ignore it. Example: When I run 3rd or 4th Edition D&D I make sure I have maps and miniatures ready to go for combat encounters. When I run ICONS or Marvel I don't worry about either of those things. In fact for some games even "Be Prepared" is bad advice. I've read checklists posted by DM's that don't look anything like what I do and would be a huge waste of time for me. Presumably it works for them and their group (that's why they're posting it, right?) but it has no value to me. Early on you may not be able to tell the difference and that's alright - down the road you will.

Further thought: Much of the advice on running a game out there comes across as if the DM is on an island - and thus is worthless. RPG groups are more like a band - there is a group dynamic at work that influences everything from choice of game to tone to length of session to how serious the whole thing is. You can't ignore that and it's the main reason I find most advice like this near-useless: because your group is not my group, and it is likely that they are quite dissimilar, to the degree that specifics on how to run a game that would work for your group would not have any value for mine. Keep this in mind when people start to tell you the "best" way to run something. 

Following along this line of thought:

Third, players matter. Every campaign nowadays involves some level of compromise because it's a group activity. The days of taking whatever the DM runs are largely gone because most players will say F-it and go play Warcraft if they don't like your game. Or they will slowly become less and less available as they lose interest in a system or a setting they don't like. Find a game to run that you like and they like - it shouldn't be terribly hard. If you don't like it, you won't want to run and if they don't like it they won't want to play. It can take a little while to settle in but you can get there. Find a game everyone can live with and help them figure out what is fun about that game for them. In the long run hopefully things come together and it ends up being like a great band - greater than the sum of its parts.

For a lot of games and a lot of players, combat is the pinnacle of the experience - stomping imaginary monsters into the ground is at the core of why they come. If that's what your group likes and you find it interesting to run the go for it and don't sweat your lack of in-character NPC speechifying and heavy, intricate plots - if it doesn't jazz your players then the opinion of some guy on the internet shouldn't phase you. In contrast, if your group does like to focus on non-combat action then make sure your system supports it - not all of them do that well . If a lot of your players are new to the game (and new to your game) they may not know what they like so experiment a little. I can't tell you what your players like but I can tell you it's a handy thing to know. I can also tell you that what they say is not always how they play. Sometimes people have an image of themselves, or at least of their gamer selves, especially if they spend a lot of time on forums, that doesn't quite match up with how they actually play. I give more weight to what they do than what they say but it's a good idea to check yourself every so often by changing things up. If they keep saying how much they like NPC interaction, give them a chance to do some. When they start talking about their next fight, or their last fight, and seem bored with the NPCs it might be because you suck at character interactions, but more likely it is because they just don't care much about it and would rather be doing something else in the game. It's good to know.

Further Thought: After a fairly short period of time YOU will be the expert on how to run a game for your group. It doesn't hurt to listen or read how other people do things, but they don't know your game, your style, and your players - you do. That makes you the expert, or the closest thing to it on the planet. 

To wrap up this introductory issue, here's one final "what I do" tidbit: When it comes to getting better, I don't really worry much about session to session improvement. Sessions rise and fall - maybe someone had a crappy day, maybe a key player for this situation didn't make it, maybe everyone straggled in late - there are things you can't control. I know the things that matter to me* and I try to do them each session and over time I expect them to get easier. What I do focus on is making this campaign better than the last one. I don't know that I always succeed, and it's definitely a longer view of things than some but I've had a steady group for a long time so I can do that.

* For D&D specifically I try to be organized and keep the game moving during the action parts and prod the players into driving the direction of the game when we're not in combat rounds. The moving part works most of the time I think, but the organized part - well, my notes are organized but having a lot of mini's seems to mean that the ones I need are never in the place they are supposed to be when it comes time to plonk them down on the table. It's good to have goals for the future. 

Also, if people seem to be more interested in talking than playing at first, I let them. You can't force the game on people and it's better to get it out up front. This does not always work, and it's probably why we only get through two 4E encounters in 5-6 hours, but it's how I handle things right now.

New Year New Game Thing at DriveThru RPG

Just a quick post to note that DTRPG is having a nice little sale on some big games. If you're into the PDF thing there are some good deals on everything from ICONS (of course) to M&M, to V&V, to Shadowrun, to ... Mekton Zeta? Interesting.

New Year New Game

Motivational Monday

40K Friday: Planning for 2013 - The Tranicos Campaign

One of the things I aim to change this year is the irregularity of our miniatures gaming. Our RPG's have been on a somewhat predictable schedule, even if it has been hammered by conflicts with kid events and holiday changes. Our miniatures gaming has been even more ad-hoc than our RPG's and while that's fine in a lot of ways it makes it difficult to look back and justify the amount of money spent and space taken up by these things if we don't use them regularly. So this year I'm going to put some structure around it.

The structure for 2013 is the Tranicos Campaign. Tranicos is a largely undeveloped fief world in the Loki sector that is one of the few temperate, hospitable, and largely untouched planets in that sector of space and was used by the Crimson Fists as a training world with minimal exploitation of its natural resources. During Waaagh Snagrod, it was invaded (like so many other worlds) by Orks from the Empire of Charadon.

From the Wiki:

989.M41 - Invasion of Rynn's World Snagrod the Arch-Arsonist invaded Rynn's World after Crimson Fists' failed attempt to slow Waaagh! Snagrod on planet of Badlanding. In a freak accident, the Crimson Fist's fortress-monastery was destroyed in the initial invasion by a rogue missile from the planet's own defence system and the chapter all but wiped out. Without the protection of the Crimson Fists, the humans were quickly slain, and their settlements, with the exception of New Rynn City, the planet's capital, completely overrun. Remains of Crimson Fists' forces defended New Rynn City until Imperial reinforcements arrived. With help of the imperial forces, including Space Marines from 6 different Chapters Rynn's World was eventually liberated.

So ... after the reclamation of Rynn's World the Crimson Fists began the long, difficult task of reclaiming their other worlds from the Orks and other factions which had seized on the opportunity granted by the Fists bad fortune. Tranicos is one of the first worlds targeted for this reclamation. Aided by some of those other marine chapters and  a regiment of the imperial guard the campaign begins now.

All of this stuff on Tranicos is completely non-canon and is simply my background coloring for the campaign, The stuff on the Fists and the invasion and the sector and all of that is canon, so it fits in nicely. I chose it because I have a Crimson Fists army pretty much ready to go. It's my "mechanized" marine army and one I have been reworking over the last few months to get into 6th edition shape as it was built for 3rd Edition and needed to be reorganized (whaddya mean 6-man las-plas squads aren't allowed anymore?). I also have a fairly sizable old-school ork army so I can provide the core of both of the main "sides" for this campaign. I have a lot of temperate/ruins type scenery and I didn't want to have to go making up a bunch of new terrain boards either - that might be next year's project.

Apprentice Red has a main force of Orks and is building a Necron army so he should be pretty well set to take one core side with a neutral raiding force as another option.

Apprentice Blaster has a main force of Space Wolves with a newly developing Eldar army as well so he too can take an opposing core force and a neutral raiding or allied force, just like Red.

Lady Blacksteel has somehow acquired a Dark Eldar army that will no doubt make an appearance at some point during the year.

My other armies include some Eldar, an Imperial Guard regiment that is under development and several other Marine chapters that may be participating in the campaign as well. Throw in a few friends to make guest appearances with their own armies over the next 12 months and it should be a pretty lively place.

The plan is to play once a month - maybe more in the summer when they're out of school but we will see - so that by the end of 2013 we have 12 connected, themed battles to look back on. I'm also planing to make it an escalation campaign to force encourage the Apprentices to finish painting their armies before playing with them, as they have slacked off mightily in the latter part of 2012. It will help me focus too as I find my attention spread too thinly at times as well. I've told the boys to pick one army as their "main" for this campaign and to concentrate on getting the units they want to use painted up and ready to go. I'm not really concerned with building terrain or a pre-planned, detailed narrative - the main idea here is to have a regular game scheduled to ensure we get some table-time in with a game we love to play. I expect the story and the personalities will develop on their own, especially with the trash-talking you get with teenage boys exchanging virtual fire - it may not quite reach xbox live call of duty levels, but it should be entertaining.

Updates, plans, and battle reports will follow on the blog.

Savage Swords of Impiltur - Session 2

This session is from early 2012 but I decided it was time to put together the session summaries for this campaign so we're starting at the beginning - or at least where we left off right after the setup and the first session.

The Party:

• Lieutenant Gravis, a genasi Warlord and refugee from Thay in service to House Reinhardt. Interestingly, he has a young owlbear pet.

• Isenheim, a dwarven Cleric of Moradin, is Chaplian for the dwarf members of the city watch. He is tied to Clan Stormbull

• Gartok, a dwarf warden of earth and stone, also from Clan Stormbull

• Dar Bloodmane, a paladin of Tempus;

•  An unnamed elven ranger who wields a nasty greatbow; 

• Zara, the mysterious exotic agent of House Bauer

Our heroes board the flying ship along with the less enthusiastic Marko the Halfling. The ships' figurehead speaks again, ordering them to row as it guides them to the Winter King. As they begin to pull the oars, the ship rises into the cold gray sky. Soon enough the weather closes in and things get rough and the party is severely tested by the cold and the winds, but they pull through and eventually sight the presumed destination - a pillar of ice 40' tall filled with skulls.

Landing near the pillar the crew spots a tunnel into the mountain. Marko start babbling about being here before and never wanting to see this place again and freaking out in general. Gravis and Isenheim strongarm him along into the tunnel. Everyone gathers in front of a pair of big double doors, the party muscle pushes them open to find ...

... warm air, firelight, and the smell of cooking food. At a huge table sits a bearded man in furs, along with a woman and some hunting dogs. The man rises, greets them, and introduces himself as the Winter King - "I believe you have something for me."

Suspicious, the party does not partake and does not hand over the Ice Scepter. Marko does not remember any of this being here on his prior visit, and soon enough suspicions prove true and a fight breaks out.

The man goes into some kind of battle chant and whips out a greataxe, the woman begins casting spells, and as the illusions fall away around the room the dogs turn out to be dire wolves. Combat swirls all over the room. Things are dicey at first but Dar Bloodmane finally slays the barbaric would-be king, the rest begin to fall, and eventually Zara finishes off the last wolf.

Pausing to recover the party notes two sets of double doors on the north wall and begins discussing how to proceed...

DM Notes: This one was a lot of fun as we worked through our first skill challenge with this party in the skyship journey, then a bit of NPC interaction with the halfling and the barbarian host, and then a nice big fight to finish up. The party was still finding its feet but it only took 5 rounds to plow through these guys once the fight started. The 2 Defender, 2 Leader, 2 Striker mix does some interesting things to combat. Aside from the mechanics, personalities continue to develop amongst the characters and will only get better in the future.

Zebulon Space - Session 3

Picking up where we left off, our heroes are following a tribe of Ul-Mor through the desert, hoping to get somewhere more hospitable and figure out some options for getting off the planet. Soon enough they come to a mountainous area and find out that the clan intends to travel through some caverns to avoid the nastier parts of the desert.

Because they were not tribe members the group was forced to remain apart from the main body of the Ul-Mor. This had not been a problem but it was a major inconvenience once they went underground, even more  so once a cave-in cut them off from their guides.Firing up their glowrods, the party pressed on.

In a two day journey through the caverns the three encountered Womp Ratsies (dispatched via sabers and blasters), a sleeping Volturnian Cave Bear (dispatched in its sleep by the Rodian Scoundrel using a coup-de-grace), some fresh water (consumed), a lake of fire (crossed via mushroom bridges and force powers), a crazed Ul-Mor with fungus growing on his body (politely ignored), a large underground lake (crossed via giant mushroom cap turned upside down), a carnivorous water monster shark thing (dispatched via saber and blaster), and finally, a way out!

High points here were the boys figuring out how to cross the fire lake and then later figuring out how to cross the water lake. They were pretty happy with their mushroom boats. The shark fight was spectacular as it attacked Who's Rodian's raft, but Red's Jedi force-gripped it to keep it from attacking again while Blaster's Jedi leapt onto the beast itself, attacking with his saber as the Scoundrel shot it at point blank range. Once dealt with he leapt back off of it and Red released his grip, allowing it to sink beneath the surface. There was also some fun with fungus and the crazy Ul-Mor hermit.


Emerging back into the world they discovered the Ul-Mor tribe nearby, joined back up, and headed for the ritual site. After another day they made camp and informed the heroes to prepare. The tribe also loaned them some spears to help make up for their lack of limbs. Not surprisingly the Jedi decided to stick with their sabers and trust in the force. The Scoundrel had no intention of getting close enough to a wild beast to need one and kept his blaster handy. The next day the human, the rodian, and the kel-dor took on a strange-looking local predator and eventually slew it, Proving their manhood and becoming members of the tribe.

After beating the quickdeath (a lightly modified Corellian Sand Panther from Threats of the Galaxy) the boys were very happy to have completed this part of the adventure, to be part of the tribe, and to have reached 2nd level. This wrapped up SF-0 as well. Next time, we begin SF-1.

Dawn Breaks Over 2013 and it is Super

Dawn breaks over the city - well, not THAT city, but other cities

New toy for Xmas: I got an iPad, and I have discovered that the highest and best use of an iPad is to read comic books. I've been enjoying the heck out of it in this way and have already re-read the entire Marvel Civil War. Since I had been reading the game book it seemed like a good opportunity to go back to the source, so I did. Next up: Annihilation and some of the other big events I either skipped or haven't read in years.

Pwned by the Prince of Power

I have also been reading DC's new 52 - it's nice to be able to catch up on a year's worth of material in a week. It seemed like a good starting point since I haven;t followed DC at all since that Death of Superman mess in the 90's. Early opinions:

• Justice League: I like it, especially the first few issues where everyone is meeting for the first time. I like Green Lantern more now.
• Action Comics - not sure but it's a little different at least
• Superman - more what I expected but the nano-weather monsters thing dragged a bit I thought

This also led me to decide that 2013 is the year I catch up on DC. My Marvel knowledge is solid enough but most of my DC knowledge comes form the cartoons and movies and not much from the original comic books. Now that I have a toy tailor-made for reading bunches of them, it's time to change that. I'm mainly a Justice League guy, and probably a Superman/Batman guy after that, so that's where I will be starting. High fives all around and let me know if there's a particular high point I should investigate early on - "so and so's run on JLA 100-150" - that kind of thing.

Happy New Year!

Starting the year off right!