Endy's RPG Stuff

Alright, this follows directly from a comment made on my 1/13 post, which was in response to rereading Robin’s Laws and This post on Misterecho’s “Blog of a New RPGer”.
That comment and a lot more under this link!

Alright, I finally got to play Warhammer Fantasy 3rd edition. The GM was awesome. The party is great (though I will admit, I came on a bit strong and they think I’m evil – but that’s cool). I can’t say anything negative about the people involved, or the way the story has evolved. But the mechanical system of the game, I don’t particularly like. I’ll elaborate on why under the more tag.
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Hey, any of you all out there like Cyberpunk? Well, over on new2rpg http://new2rpg.wordpress.com/ and the 1KM1KT forum, Misterecho is running a Cyberpunk revival contest. I suggest you all get involved, if you can.
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This is sort of a random post, I’ll admit it. But I am joining a game this weekend, and since I know I have some people out there who pay attention to me, I’d like to know other people’s opinions on a subject that’s drawn some interest.
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I have been reading through Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering again. I’m not sure exactly how to feel about the book. Firstly, I have run several games for both new and experienced roleplayers. Everyone involved has said that I run the game effectively for them. But I’ve always wanted more, without understanding what that more might be. Sometimes it’s something like being able to be a player. Sometimes it’s being able to sit back and let the players write the adventure, as seen here: The Dirty Dungeon. Sometimes it’s just knowing what to do, when I’m lost and confused about what the players even want and they can’t communicate it to me – and then what happens is that Cool Hand Luke quote comes to mind: “What we got here is failure to communicate. Some men, you just can’t reach.”

But I (and I think most GMS) keep asking, why? Why can I not reach them? So out comes this book from Robin Laws. Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering. Right from the gate it’s comforting, the image on the cover is reminiscent of a dungeon crawl. It gives us the idea that there is one answer to everything. Something that instinctive GMs grab onto like bulldogs. The third page calls out to the leader in us – the idea that the game rests on our shoulders, without realizing one thing: That question of “What would be the most entertaining thing that could possibly happen, right now?” is answered by, “Ask the players.” It’s a scary notion. You want to be in control. You just got it, you don’t want to give it back. But there it is.

The book mixes advice we all know, with comforting platitudes for our souls.

All in all, it’s a good thing to have nearby. But it’s nowhere near the gospel that everyone at one point made it out to be. I will be pointing out pieces of this work as the weeks go on – sort of another fallback for me to use in case of a lack of inspiration.

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Also, don’t forget that Dyson Logos is still chugging along at a faster pace than I could dream of. And he pointed out RetroRoleplaying’s Blog as a point of interest for people who still enjoy the original D&D. I never got into this game, and I actually prefer new games than that, like the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set. Logos’ Friday Maps are amazing as usual, and using Thuffir IronHelm as a base character allows him to show off the point of this project – how each game relates to one another.

The Blog of a New RPGer is going strong, and I think anyone who’s here should go read there too.

Okay. That’s all from me for today. Any new blogs I should know about? Email me at PPLGoldblatt @ Yahoo.com (remove spaces)
Anything else? Comment it.

Well, it’s not actually my post. It’s something I read somewhere else that you all should be aware of. I know that a part of my development hell, and a part of why I may not always like some games, is because of an equilibrium between the dependable old setups and newer untested methods.

Go take a look at The Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope.

Okay, everyone. We all know I just missed two posts. I, like everyone else, was busy with the holidays, and I hadn’t built up a backlog of posts like the surprisingly slow Free RPG Blog. However, Mr. Lang has been busy lately and dealing with one’s offspring comes before RPGs in every particular, so I cannot blame him. Plus, he gave us a nice New Years’ treat: all of the games reviewed in 2009, organized by category. You can find it here:
http://www.thefreerpgblog.com/2009/12/become-expert-in-free-rpgs-2009-in-free.html.

That’s 29 games reviewed. About half the year’s worth of posts were of games, the others were helpful guides for all of us out there online.

My own progress has been slow and tedious. I almost created a 24-hour Wuxia RPG and now have been working on it over a month. It will not sit in development hell like the other two projects, Star TreX and Pokemon. I give you my word on that!

Alright. That’s all for now, I will be back with a post at latest on 1/13. Haven’t decided what it’ll be yet.

Firstly, I would like to wish everyone happy holidays. I hope that you are with people you care about during them, even if only in spirit.

Second, I lied last week. I was wrong about what this post is about. Some of my friends have been trying to find us a place to hold our campaign (Quick Chek is no longer viable). So I’ve been looking around at where we can do it. None of us live alone, nor do we live in places where we can truly host a game. So where can we go? I felt that it was a worthwhile question to blog about in regard to RPG groups, since I don’t have anything really interesting.

Most local libraries have a room which is free for non-profit organizations, that can be booked with the library itself. Call in advance to double-check, there’s very likely a form you have to fill out. However, there are several (possible) downsides.
No Food or Drink: It’s a library. Food is a scarce commodity, as are drinks. For those of us that game by Dew alone, well, it takes sneaking stuff in. Occasionally you’ll find a library that will allow food for a fee/deposit (At my local, it’s $25). Some don’t care but that’s very, very unusual.
Limited Hours: Almost no library I know of is open past 9 PM. On weekends, assume 9 AM – 5 PM on Saturday and (if you’re lucky) 1 PM – 5 PM on Sunday. This makes it hard for anyone with a full-time job to make it to a library game.
Volume Controls: This might seem like a non-issue, but the acoustics in a lot of library rooms mean that even 6 people whispering can be heard throughout the entire library. And if you have a librarian who dislikes you, expect to be kicked out quickly.
However, there is a fairly large upside to all this: most libraries nowadays operate wireless internet. Meaning that if you game with a laptop, you’re in great shape for getting online.

The other place I’m looking at right now is a Boro Hall – and I’ve heard tell that there are others as well. Some are free, many are rental-only locations. Still, they take away a lot of the negatives of a library – including hours. You’ll need to find out who to book it with though, and I’ll suggest asking your reference librarian for that information.

Otherwise, restaurants have been my refuge. As long as the game doesn’t get too loud, a restaurant with free WiFi has tables and chairs, and it’s warm. The biggest downside is needing to buy something, because in a place like Panera Bread, just soda for a group can run you ten bucks. In a group of people where only two work (and of those only one has money), it gets very expensive, and quickly too.

Any public places you’ve found to game? Drop it in the comments, please!

See you before New Years’!

For those of you that either read this blog or have eyes, you may have seen the last post, detailing the beginnings of another RPG project. The good news on this project is that the game is coming along very swiftly, and should not be a very long thing – nowhere near a magnum opus. Initially it was going to be a 24-hour RPG, then I started doing research. I’m looking to finish it up soon, and I’ll be looking for places to host it soon enough.

Alright, I don’t have a better title for today’s post, I’m not going to lie. That’s mostly because I have so many ideas and some stuff to say that I don’t know of a better title. Let’s roll down each category as we go, eh?

Administrative: After minutes of agonizing self-debate, I changed the former “Pokemon RPG” category to “My RPG Developments”. This is an attempt to reflect my list of current projects, of which the Pokémon RPG is but one. There are now at least 3 other projects batting around in my queue at the moment.
Also, I’m sorry to say this, but next week, Christmas Day, will not be much of a meaningful post.

Generic RPG Information:
I want to talk about the above topic in addition to everything else. Games get backlogged when you’re knowingly creating for free very easily in my experience. The problem is that, as you’ve seen in many of my posts lately, inspiration springs on us all at the strangest of times. I suggest that you do one of two things, both of which have pros and cons:

• Keep a notebook nearby: Write everything down, at the expense of possibly developing such a backlog as I have or worse. When you have ideas, you get them out and leave even the widgets there.
• Focus on one project: This is the opposite of the above. Seek to forget ideas that are not related to the project at hand. You might lose the idea of a lifetime with this, but you will finish your project eventually.

My RPG Developments: I have a few ideas for the Pokemon game. And I have an idea for a new game. A game of Wuxia-type action, where the elements (outside of Spirit) are each rolled for, and the highest element becomes the Spirit element, dictating a person’s best form. More of this will come.

Now, as far as next week is concerned, I’m just going throw an Instant Game and a dice chart for 2d20 up, if not a little more. But there’s not going to be big content. It’s Christmas.