Just a Reminder, Regular DND resumes this Tuesday (May 18th)

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder that our next DnD is go. I think I’m probably going to advance to midtermish and burn a little time/ allow for new character introductions. If your going to take advantage of the Character Recreation Option, please have it done by then.

I look forward to seeing you there.

 

Ruunt, Just Ruunt

What Can I say, I’m burned out.  So here I am picking up my stakes and going the fuck home.  You want to know why no one  (excuse me 99% of people who play rpgs) likes indie games. Because they written by assholes. So off I go, my urge to write gamestuff is quenched. I’mma gonna focus on playing and running games rather than attempting to write stuff.

My Thanks to anyone who took the time to read or use my stuff. Its not going anywhere, but for now. Filbolg is closed for business.

 

ENTER THE DUNGEON

So the party has entered their first dungeon… Sadly their appears to be some alignment dissonance. Don’t worry folks I’m sure you’ll pull through.

So just a few things to recap.

First Transcript Here: session 3

second Xp Recap; Session 1 500xp; Session 2, 1000xp; Session 3, 500xp.

That means everyone is level 2 Congrats.

Lastly I will be getting the comments cleaned up… Eventually

Now that we’ve seen that we can actually make a trend. If you all wanted to post wishlists / splatbook wishes / comments / critiques (beside the lack of a map) , I would like to hear them. Post there here as comments.

Thanks for your time and committment guys, I think the games going pretty well.

See you in the funny pages.

 

Something New and Quaffible

Hello,

Thanks for your perserverance my long suffering blog, Here’s a little something new and a bit old , a but borrowed and blue as well for 4th edition . Who would like some Potions for 4th edition. (noticed some formatting errors, new file should be uploaded, but you make have cookies or something)

Personally I made the mistake of reading some of those links that float arround the so called old school renaissance.  Apparently 3.x and 4th edition are killing the industry of roleplaying games. YEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHH RIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHTTTTT. I got an idea, maybe TSR going bankrupt and having the business savvy of a badly mannered party school attendant (Helloo Dragondice) had something to do with it. I mean Jesus Christ,  charlie brown.  If you actually think this, next time, why dont you just kick lucy in the face because really, thats how much sense you are making.

 

my 5 minute wargame

hey everyone, here’s a little 5 minute wargame I made for rpg.net

Use a hex map, Units can move as far as you could expect them to move in real life. The hexes will probably be the size of about a kilometer and a half across (or a mile). Ticks could take place in hours, each unit being able to move about two hex.  A unit for this purpose will be about 100 men also known as several platoons or a company. You can stack several companies ontop of each other to make a battalion but no more.

In more complicated games you might want to diversify the troop types. Generally each troop should reflect real life limitations of units if possible. Infantry units should be limited to burdened walking speed for 10 hours a day or take penalty (about 2 hexes an hour). Mechanized units speed should be about 40 hexes an hour and calvary should be about 2 hexes an hour. Artillery and archery will depend on the speed of the unit pulling it, but should take extra hours to move and set up before firing.

If you are going to differentiate the units further you should point out the obvious, Calvary will get +1 vs non pike infantry, Infantry will get +1 vs Artillery and Archery, Mechanized units get +1 vs all non mechanized units and archery/artillery can mass fire/bombard from 2+ hexes away (giving the target -1 to their next combat role and all that)

units are in adjacent hexes they fight, roll a d6 for each side and the bigger side wins. If the unit is doing something to deserve an advantage (attacking from surprise, attacking a smaller unit, etc) they gain a +1 to the roll or if the unit is doing something silly (force marches, really inferior equipment, artillery bombardment, massive casualties etc) they get a -1 to the roll. The Destroyed unit is completely destroyed.
I think it preserves most of the interesting aspects of positioning on a massed troops line, and the basics of the combat is fast and fairly accurate (you probably want to rush with 3 or 4 times the troops you are attacking, just like in real life. Battle lines and stacking are important.)

 

Sneak Peak at Level 1

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to show you my new offering a little early, Level 1 , A little something to help you create an interesting and unique experiance for your first level adventurer’s. Level 1, contains over 10 monsters and 4 traps, which is just what you need to put some pizzaz in with the kobolds and goblins.  Level 1 is still in the process of its last finishing touch ups, and when it is all gussied up, expect it at the top of the page!

In other news, I’m pointed not posting a recap for my gaming group but a responce to dndwithpornstars that wouldn’t go threw due to some technicality or other.

Before we all go on the Actual Play bandwagon, just think of how different what you would do while roleplaying  is from what other people do while roleplaying. If System matters and the system doesn’t just include the books, then we are left with a dilemma.

The System includes the people, and in order to make even a jab at science involving people, you literally need thousands

of people involved.

It is great to listen to other people play, but even if I managed to listen to 100 seperate recorded actual play experiance (that, presuming what 4 hours a play experience is 400 hours of material to listen which is a full time job for 10 weeks, not including monsters like a 20 hours session, holy geeze)Not to mention the fact that you would have to A> Probably listen more than once B> Deal with what at least twice as many recordings (to approach that magical number of 1000 participants). You realize that to do science to it would basically be two years or more work for 1 or two proffessional researchers, and even then the results would be more than a little dubious.

So yeah, Actual Play is fun really, its interesting, its hip. But is it going to magically displace that uncertainty principal? Nadda chance, people are fucking unpredictible, thus the principal, which I think is really spot on.

 

Pseudo Magic Items.

So a little return to 4th edition, you may have noticed my thoughts and attention often wander away from 4th edition, but thats only to drag, kicking and screaming, the better parts of other games back to 4th edition. I’ve been watching/reading the Dndwithpornstars blog play reports with a certain amount of envy, I really think Zak’s game pulls out alot of what is positive of the old dnd. And a big part of that I feel is the nifty and wierd magic items.

Now, 4th edition has magic items, it has a bajillion of them, but the majority of them are of the boring combat oriented sort. A +5 Dagger is not more interesting or exciting than a +1 dagger. I’m not saying we need to get rid of combat magic items, but  rather, we need to introduce non combat magic items. In much the same way the skill challenge provides something interesting to do that is not combat, magic items should provide something similar. In a way this is already in 4th with magic items quite expressly working the way they need to (in that enemies dont need magic items to hit the pc’s etc, because it creates a ridonculus economy afloat in +1 daggers).

So how do I do this, lets examine what is interesting from the ODND magic item.

These items are often meant to be used to avert/evade combat rather than win combat

These items are often time limited or decay (such as the Old School Adamantine Armour)

These Items are not salvagible in the most common way (sale) except to a handful of people (this ties into the point above)

These items often have strange or wonderous propierties (indeed the wonderous magic item, is 3rd and 4th editions attempt to recreate these items).

So what does that have to do with anything? See what follows

What are Pseudo Magic Items?

Pseudo Magic Items are an irregular catagory of magical item, that result not from magic item creation (by ritual or wizard or whatever) but by the unpredictible conflux of events. They serve as a kind of colour reward that while still useful (ie a reward) is not quantitized like regular magic items.

What do Pseudo Magic Items Do?

Pseudo Magic Items do a variety of effects, generally related to their physical origin or the events related to their creation. What Psuedo Magic Items do not do, is make attack rolls, deal damage, heal hps or other ‘boring’ stuff

Where and When do you make Pseudo Magic Items

Add perhaps 2 addittional Pseudo Magic Item Treasure Packets to your regular list of  treasure.  The Items should be determined by the encounter or skill challenge that spawns them. Most Psuedo Magic Items are directly related to the death of magical beasts and extra planar creatures. (ie  A Fire Dragon’s Heart, a Medusa’s Head, an Ettercap’s Silk Gland). Pseudo Magic Items from Skill Challenges may either be a form of useable mcgufferin (ie the artifact the pc’s have been sent to rescue is the soul of a boy bound by magic to a rather mundane sword) or unintended consequences. (ie The weapon you used to pass the challenge of heroes can now summon a sage that will answer one question truthfully, the weapon that destroyed your hated enemy now glows in the presence of danger).  The key feature of the Pseudo Magic Item is that it does nothing numeric.

Why Pseudo Magic Items

Because it encourages and enthralls players with non linear rewards. There is something about the surprise toy inside the happy meal that makes them really great, they dont really add to the value of the meal, or your toybox. Its the idea of getting something extra that is cool and serves as a launching pad to reveal some more of the interesting magic lore of your world.

How

By Gm Fiat, these items arrive because of unusual concentrations or interactions of magic and are not easily repeatible. If slaying one medusa creates a medusa’s head, slaying another one may not, slaying 20 more may not, or it may produce 20. Its up to you.  As said before these magic items have no effect on wealth giving no numerical bonus and being unable to be sold. If you want, you could probably allow these items to be disenchanted for residium (20% of an item of the pc’s level worth or less) without too much fuss, but they can’t be sold or used forever because they are limited either by time or use. A medusa’s head may only last the day before it begins to rot, adamantine could survive only a few hours of direct sunlight in old editions, a fire lizard’s gizard may only have one burst of bile left, etc, etc. Occassionally these items may be Mcgufferins or Quest Items (go fetch me 12 warg furs boy), but other than that they are just oddities of the magical world.  If one of your players attempts to make some sort of fetishist by constantly using these items, just remember these items only last as long as you want, they may wither and rot before people get to use them.

Here’s some ideas.

Fire Lizard’s Gizard: Treat like a molotov cocktail, catching whatever it is thrown on alight. If used against a creature its makes a suitibly large area arround it full of flames (go check page 42 if you must)

Medusa’s Head: Petrify all Minions in an Encounter

Medusa’s Tears: Create a potion of petrification (thats right it petrifies the person who drinks it)

Dragons Heart :Returns youthful vigour to a person for a day

Ettercap Gland, creates a perfect silk rope , 50′ long.

Dead Head, answers one question truthfully before passing on

Hexward Juju, absorbs the next mark, hex, or curse cast/used on a player.

Rusteater Frond, destroys target small metalic item (like a lock or hinges)

Breath of the Air Elemental, knocks down a giant or stops a person from bleeding out (their last breath from escaping)

I hope you find this helpful,

The Filbolg

 

Shattered Expectations, Broken Dreams, a Homily about Game Design

Hello Gentle Reader you may have noticed that, perhaps not contrary to your actual expectations, that I have not been delivering the content I have promised. Thank you for still being here and listening. Some of this is solved by my leveling to 60 in Wow, and thus severing that particular itch for  the time being, and part of this has been me being sick for way to long. Either way, things are changing, the sun is approaching, and we keep calm and carry on, as the british propaganda man would say.

So I thought I would take a moment to talk about Game Design, a topic that has not cross my lips, in a sort of effort to lead by example rather than the WORDS WORDS WORDS that seem to dominate the so called debate and expansion of the topic. This has lead (and was lead by) my continuing dissatisfaction with the Indie gaming community. Forever on the outside, I continue on some of these places to read what i can and ignore the idiocy and cliqishness that follow most of the time from such places. So from the vantage point of non indie american gaming here’s what we have.

Broken Dreams, Actual Play

I have noticed a certain acceptance of Actual Play in various places, but really its not terribly helpful, althought somewhat fun and safe to read. These two things are related. So the great prophet lumply went and said that system was not only the stuff written in the rules, but basically all the things that we do that procedurally result in play. This definition contains a lot more stuff. However this combined with Actual play rather makes Actual play useless. Actual Play while it can expose the rule system, doesn’t change the fact that the people in the actual play contain many unstated bits of the system that cannot be quickly expressed. Thus any example or teaching from Actual Play is localized. Tom Dick and Harry (or if you will Susan, Rachel, and Amy) are as much as part of the system as the book if you accept that lumply stuff. So great numbers of actual play doesn’t help because your tom might be subserviant to dick whereas my tom’s has dick for a bitch. These relations are not interchangible which is why I feel Actual Play is popular. Reading Actual Play is a bit of people watching , almost like a soap opera in entertainment value and you ultimately never have to do anything with it, because you know your players are not tom dick and harry but rather jammal, ray and fran and anything you pull out of an actual play will have to go threw the jammal , ray, and fran lens anyway. This is true whether its textual, procedural, or social.

Shattered Expectations

Furthermore, the indie gaming community , despite being depressingly knowledgeable about all that lovely feminist, minority, disabled, identiy politics, community building, and being a swell person stuff, seems to never have put it in action. How much advertising and politicing can really this small (by small I mean tiny and insignifacant) group really stand. How much harm does it do to actual understanding of what they are doing, and providing useful and insightful information about playing and designing roleplaying games. Here’s some examples, http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-know-you-meant-well-but-circumstances.html

So not only do you have people trying to cash in on someone elses blog success ( the parasites), you have the greater than thou holy majority coming to fix the dudes game (which he doesn’t need) and then getting pissy when he demands an apology (the cad!) and wont accept any of their left liberal bullshit (like talking and deescalating) and still wants his apology.  To their credit, he got it, slowly, after a somewhat masterful barrage of requests and posts.

Then consider the forge, no really, Here’s a site that started the talk, and then decided to stop the talk becuase it wasn’t being talked about in the correct fashion, and then provided the new avenue of talk (as long as it was couched in actual play, because hey thats helpful right? no just fun and safe). The forgites want to be a big dog but instead of stepping on up (over the corpse of ron, because hey thats the way stuff progresses, on the shoulders of giants and all that) they accept the personality cult instead (there’s about 3 worth mentioning I think, I’m sure you can figure out who they are , they are more or less the only people to sell more than 2000 books each). And these people think they’re really on the edge, as I heard at a rock concert once “its sad, they dont even know they are history” so their followers dilligently try to bleed out anything new in an attempt to sate their vampiric overlord (a little over the top, but consider, zak’s story, consider the red box hack, consider the old schoool reconnesence, consider the love/hate relation they have with dnd 4th edition, whatever ways the wind is blowing amirite. even the goddamn RPGsite itself has fallen to this with their gnomes for fuck sakes)

So I’m waiting for everyone to realize that the principal word that Story Games or Indie Games or Role Playing Game is still Game. All of these are recreational activities, and the principal reason why people do it is for fun. That game design ought to flow accordingly. That what is fun in most games is a cooperative social interaction (contrast how people generally react to monopoly and risk vs Diplomacy despite the fact that all of them are competitive games) and gambling in the form of dice and wagers. That the rules don’t have to and probably cannot force a fun cooperative social interaction and thus all the actual plays, clearly definied conflict resolution, and precisely stated wagers (or stakes)  in the world are worthless to actually creating a fun game. I still stand by my basic principals of game design, thinking about signal to noise, thinking about gambling, and rewards are what you really need to worry about (editor’s note, here’s the link for those of you who dont give a damn, which should be all of youhttp://filbolg.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=136).

Anyway I’m out , enjoy

 

its a work in progress but…

Here is a little idea I had, three items to help round out any dragons horde in Dnd 4th edition from the heroic tier to the epic tier.

Dragon’s Horde

I’m open to suggestions, but I think its pretty awesome myself.

 

andhow

Here’s a little something I thought up while thinking up a dragons hoarde (it is still forthcoming)

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some quick little cheat sheet for quickly generating and playing a skill challenge.

Now there is SkillChallenge Quick Challenge

you can also see that their is a snazzy new page in the top, if you need a Quick Challenge Fix.

In other news, here’s an idea i’m throwing arround. A low level adventuring party is alot like the power rangers. So why not let them have some megazoids!, Stat up level 20 versions of your low level Pc’s, and rename what powers you need to to create all of the original megazoids. Do it again (again appropiately renaming all the bits) to create your combined form at level 30. Each pc would have a low level pilot sheet, a level 20 megazoid sheet, and a level 30 mega combination part sheet.

A few common sense things may be required with the mega mega combined zoid (things like flanking and staggered turns dont make the most sense)etc, etc, but this may be gold!