A New Frontier

While it may seem that I have not been active on this blog, I have actually been active on-line none the less. During a particularly fun evening of grilling and gaming, there was some discussion on ideas for role-playing games. Having had many ideas over the years, I presented some half baked conceptualisms to members of the group who displayed great interest. We discussed various points of mechanics as well as the idea of playtesting some new mechanic without any pretense of a solid rule set. The response was good, so I started working on a new game. To separate this from all my other ramblings, I created a different site for it.

The new game called is called OverBurn, which is a futuristic post apocolyptic game. You can find the site at www.overburnrpg.com. The idea was to document the process and see what becomes of it. I will be reposting the articles from on here, since it is gaming related. As always, I welcome any comments you may have. If you are interested in helping out let me know.

Weird Laws of the Realms

My wife likes to read a local free paper that we usually find when we stop for lunch. One of the common articles in the paper, is weird laws still in the books that make little sense. I am sure that if we knew the back story to the law, it would not seem so absurd. I recalled a the first adventure in the Desert of Desolation series where the characters are forced into the desert or

Be it yet further decreed that if they prefer not this quest they may return to Hadjara and choose of death by hanging, death by beheading, death by fireball, death by polymorph, death by lightening…

This fueled my imagination as to what other weird laws may have been passed in a fantasy game. For your edification and without further ado, I present:

Weird Laws of the Realms

• It is illegal for weaponsmiths to threaten patrons with commissioned weapons (weapons not made for anyone in particular is fine) - Throal


• It is illegal to dress an ass in the likeness of a royal official. -Lobaria


• Adventurers may not use rabbits to lure demons into binding circle. -Thay


• It is illegal to wear a duck on your head while traveling in the realm. -Roesone


• It is illegal to consume garlic in public, or leave your residence within four hours of eating garlic. -most Transylvanian baronies and many areas of Ravenloft


• It is illegal to make a wizard's familiar smoke a pipe. -Halruua


• It is illegal to worship a Titan or insinuate that a person is of a Titan's lineage (regardless of actual lineage). -Calastia


• According to the Adventurer's Guild charter agreement, a rogue may choose refusal of approaching a door he feels is unsafe without fear persecution or loss of treasure share. -Heckle and Kooch's Adventurer's Guild and Emporium


• The use of a Wand of Wonder is strictly prohibited. -Cormyr


• One cannot use a Deck of Many things in a regular card game without informing the participants first. -Greyhawk


• Subjects are forbidden from wielding or operating magical items while under the influence of a Horror. -Thera

Game of Thrones

Last night I watched the highly anticipated Game of Thrones premier on HBO. I am not a George R. R. Martin fan and only recently became aware of him from the 'A Song of Fire and Ice' Roleplaying Game (SIFRP) that was released a few years ago. For those with a deep love of fantasy and intrigue, this show looks promising indeed. I will not dissect the first episode, but I will say that it does not shun away from blood and gore.

Most of the story is character driven, with the various characters grasping for power before winter comes. The main issue with that? Winter can last a lifetime. Seasons are long and years go by before the seasons change. This changes the political aspect since not much can be done in the cold of winter. The first episode introduces the main players as well as some motives behind their actions. A quick list of what I liked about show; the white walkers, savages from the north who appear to be legend, probably cause they haven't been seen since the last winter; dire wolves, cause big wolves are cool; stones painted with eyes and placed on the dead; the wolf

armor of the north men; Ravens used as messenger birds.

Before the show, I journeyed to Half-price books to get out of the house and came across a copy of Peril at King's Landing, an adventure for the SIFRP. I have read through a third of it and it a nice adventure. It was nominated for the 2010 Ennie Awards for best adventure. Being of my own mind and opinion, I find the world of George R.R. Martin intriguing and refreshing, yet from a role-playing aspect, I only have one player that would invest the time into this type of setting. I look forward to more episodes of game of thrones, but fear I may never get to play the game.

Back on the Grid

Hello Chummers,

After a grueling three weeks of being jacked out, I have finally connected my cyberdeck back to the grid. In my haste to find a faster, cheaper solution, I discontinued my previous ISP before verifying the turn around time for my new ISP. Fortunately, I had plenty of other things to do. I enjoyed spending my free time roaming the wastes and killing slavers in Fall Out 3.

So where am I now? Well, I'm trying to focus on one of my submissions. Hopefully, I will get some work done in the next week. On the brighter side, my connection to the grid is faster, finally reaching up there to broadband speeds. I am actually more productive now when I am on the grid. I will have to test out my connection to my servers and perhaps update some web pages.

Remember chummers,

Shoot strait, conserve ammo, and never ever cut a deal with a dragon.

Gadgets and Games

With the release of the new iPad 2, many people are looking at unloading their old iPads in lieu of getting the latest and greatest iProduct. Let me say that I am not a fanboy of apple. I do believe that they make a quality product, but I do not think they are the best products for everyone. Each person has to assess their needs individually. That being said, my wife knew I was interested in the iPads and she managed to get me a used one for the fraction of the price. For the last week or so, I have been playing with my new iPad and not focusing on much else. Along with countless hours I have whittled away playing Angry Birds and searching for cool new apps, I have also rediscovered comic books with the official Marvel iPad app. I am very happy with the iPad's functionality and the purchase.

The next question I posed to myself is how to use the iPad to enhance the gaming experience. I would have liked to turn this into a a Top Ten list of useful iPad apps, but I could not find enough apps to honestly recommend. Part of the reason is many of the apps don't have a free version to try and part is many apps are geared towards D&D, a game I am not playing.

Of the apps that I can recommend, I would suggest getting the Dicenomicon by Gandreas. This is a really nice dice rolling app for both the iPhone and the iPad. The main selling point for me was that it allows custom configuration of dice mechanics which allowed me to program the dice to explode. This is a core mechanic in Earthdawn and dice rollers without this functionality are not useful. You can also color-code your dice so if you make the same rolls repetitively, you can simply roll them together and have dicenomicon add up the totals. I even include initiative in there so that I don't have to switch my dice selection every round. Of course, this becomes harder for game masters who switch between rolls more often than players, but when used in conjunction with normal dice, I found that the app makes the fight go much quicker. There are a number of pre-programed rolls in the app and even has dice programmed for the Fudge system (which is what the Dresden Files use). Finally, the iPad version comes with a built-in PDF viewer so you can have your character sheet side by side with the die roller. The app costs $4.99, but is well worth the investment; and this is coming from someone who highly dislikes electronic dice rollers.

The Dungeon Master Toolkit by Level 99 Games is the other app that looks promising. The DM Toolkit is an empty database, template system that allows you customize the app for your game. I was leery to purchase the app as it costs a hefty 12.99, but it looks promising. The more I use this app, the more its functionality becomes apparent. Those that purchase the DM Toolkit for a full-featured Dungeons & Dragon App will be sorely disappointed. The app is configured with D&D in mind, but the configuration is only for the templates. Actually rule information on items, monsters, etc. will need to be manually entered prior to the game. I also recommend getting a blue tooth keyboard as entering data with on-screen keyboard is time consuming. I have high hopes that this will help accelerate combat in my non-D&D games. You can see a youtube demo of the app by clicking the following link: DM Toolkit Demo.

In the future, I will try to review other apps that I find useful for the iPad or iPhone. I am not a fan of laptops at the gaming tabled, but I have a feeling that tablets will be more usable at the game as they are less obtrusive than even netbooks. If you have any suggestions on gaming apps, please pass them along.

Take what you like and leave the rest for the next weary traveler.

Happy Game Master's Day

They'll create a day for anyone now. When is national Fry Station guy day? Seriously, I know how hard it can be to fashion an entertaining storyline that players want to come back to week after week. For those that have never game mastered, there is plenty of work to be prepared for single gaming session. While a GM learns early how to 'wing it', there is still a lot that goes on behind the scenes, from carefully selected battle scenes, to pre-prepared opponent stats, and even selecting which books you are going to need (if by chance the game is at some other location).

Often, I find myself missing a piece of the game that I had needed and there is break in the continuity as I hunt for the information I am positive I brought. Combine that with the less frequent gaming days (we had to postpone last weeks game), and every trying to remember what happened at the previous session, and you end up with a lot of discussion and less time actually playing. Even now am not as psyched for tonight as last week. I have full weekend planned, and I am sure I will be burned out by Monday morning. Last weekend I had a cleared schedule so a late night of gaming would not have been as taxing in the long run.

To all those GMs out there that spend countless hours behind the scenes for a few hours of enjoyment every week, may you smote down the daemons mundaneness and continue to keep our hobby, and imaginations, burning.

E. Gary Gygax Remembrance

There are defining moments in a persons life, some times big, some times small. It may be tangible, like the trophy you won because you scored the winning point. For others, it may be as innocuous as a game played as a kid. One that allowed you to be who you were and others took you seriously. People laughed your stupid comments because that is how you intended them and you were not jeered for your differences, because everyone's character was different.

I never thought I had any role-models while growing up. I did not take to sports, I was not socially out-going, I was not even the same ethnicity of most people. So I developed a thick skin and deep affinity for fantasy. Now when I say I had no role-models, I never thought of the authors of the books I read, nor the creators of role-playing games. I had never met them, I had no knowledge of what they even looked like. But in all honesty, it is those fine people who taught me the ways of chivalry and justice. It was through them I was able to hone my personal convictions every week at the gaming table.

I can't help but feel older since the passing of Gary Gygax. It was then I realized that he was one of my great mentors. Gary Gygax helped me break out of my introverted shell and I would like to take this time to roll a die for him.

1d20 = 17

E Gary Gygax 06/27/1938 - 03/04/2008

May he ride the backs of griffins, where eagles dare not soar.