Tyler is Gaming...

Wizards of the Cost to do a limited re-release of the original AD&D books

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:05:00 +0000

As seen on Troll in the Corner, Wizards of the Coast is going to re-release the original AD&D core 3 books (Player's Handbook, Dungeonmaster's Guide, and Monster Manual) in special commemorative editions, to raise money for the Gary Gygax Memorial. This will be a limited re-release.

Part of me has to wonder if there's an added benefit of this to head off some of the OAD&D resurgence with something that has a Wizards seal of approval on it.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! D&D 5th Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:15:00 +0000

To me the biggest news of the morning isn't the announcement about the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (that's been rumored, wishlisted quite well, and expected since 4th Edition turned into the least playable thing to happen to gaming since the DC Comics RPG by Mayfair {Bazinga!}), no it was the circular reference between The New York Times covering the R&D that's going into D&D, linking to an article on the D&D website which in turn links back to the same NY Times article. (Beware folks, it's turtles stacked upon themselves all the way down from here on out...)

My unnecessary observation aside, I'm stoked about Wizards of the Coast moving away from 4th Edition (perhaps the least playable and least enjoyable RPG that I sunk money into over the years), and - according to the early speculation assumed from the blogosphere - moving towards something that should allow for the old-school Dungeon Masters to draw a graph paper map and populate it with monsters, or run a mock-up of World of Warcraft with powers and abilities. (The left and right brain of nerddom, if you will.)

Morrus of Enworld.org fame was flown to Renton, WA to meet with the Wizards staff and unveil the plans for the new edition. He has a great article to read, here.

Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. I've already signed up for the playtests on the Wizards site, and am looking forward to this.

I am also kicking myself that I neglected to list all of my 4th Edition books on ebay before it was too late.

The Escapist's Musings on The Past, Present and Future of Dungeons and Dragons

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:02:00 +0000

Those of you into gaming may well be aware of The Escapist online magazine, which profiles nerddom in all its stripes and obsessions. A rather comprehensive end-of-the-year review of the history and trajectory of Dungeons and Dragons was just released. Links to the Dickensian Past, Present and Future installments are here:

Past: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9292-The-Ghosts-of-D-D-Past
Present: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9293-The-State-of-D-D-Present
Future: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9294-The-State-of-Dungeons-Dragons-Future

The interviews and much of the analysis is quite good, although I think there are some broad strokes with the knowledge base (assumptions about the reader's knowledge of certain game designers, primarily) and market influences (a bit more emphasis is placed on the Open Gaming License than I think a retrospective of all editions merited). Still well worth the read.

Call of Cthulhu - Conversation on EnWorld

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:00:00 +0000

There's a good thread on EnWorld.org right now about Call of Cthulhu. A GM who will be running the game for some players is trying to wrap his head around Lovecraftian fiction and the best way to run the game. Lots of great thought on their part, as well as the other posters.

I added my two cents - nothing groundbreaking, but rules I try to live by when running the game for new players, which I often do around Halloween every year. (ooo spooky)

Chime in on the thread over there and add your thoughts.

(my thoughts cross-posted, here)
Yeah, there are such a wide variety of authors of the mythos - even Stephen King, if you find some of his early stuff in his collections of short stories - that there's something for everyone. Chaosium has released tons of collections over the years that are worth browsing through in their online catalog, to see if something resonates more with you. A lot of folks like the August Derleth/Clark Ashton Smith stuff more, as it takes the stories and weaves together the mythos around them.

As to the game, I've been running it for about 20 years, and many of the published adventures have been handy for getting players who aren't terribly familiar with the Mythos into the game. The adventures in Mansions of Madness come from earlier collections and editions of the game, and many are good one-nighters to get folks used to the rules and feel. Secrets of New York and the New Orleans sourcebook are good for a sandbox game. If you get players into the idea of a long campaign, I still like Shadows of Yogsothoth a lot (although some veterans will say it's rather contrived - it works well for folks who don't necessarily eat sleep drink). Spawn of Azathoth, Return to Dunwich, Return to the Mountains of Madness - these campaigns work better with seasoned players who eat, sleep and drink Lovecraftian fiction.

For running the game, my biggest rules have been:
1) Make sure that the characters have appropriate skills to solve the tasks at hand - not to the level of it being a cakewalk, but if the only way to get off the glacier is the ability to pilot a plane, don't leave it to chance that no one took the character with the right skill to do that.
2) Make sure that players - going in - understand that they don't use their guns like swords in d&d.
3) Make sure they understand that years ago, when you needed info, you went to a library, not Google.
4) Role play. It sounds obvious, but CoC sets up some of the best opportunities for roleplaying I've ever seen. Take advantage of them!
5) Continuity - it's ok if the universe implodes on itself and ends in a game. You can play another another time and continuity doesn't matter - that last catastrophe didn't have to have happened. (There is a short story collection somewhere about what the world is like after the Cthupocalypse...)

Enjoy. It's a great Halloween game, if nothing else, for the party that would rather slay goblins and orcs.

-Tyler

Retro D&D for Dummies

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Enworld.org has a great overview of the various Old School retro D&D clones that are available, right now. Many are available for free as downloads (or for a cost in print format). If the current versions of D&D don't tickle your cookies as much as memories of the old boxed sets that required you ink in your own dice with a white crayon, then check this article out.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/columns/310462-retroclones-older-d-d-editions.html

Who's up for some Google+ Call of Cthulhu?

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:29:00 +0000

I got a golden ticket!

Sure, before I've posted about playing pen-and-paper RPGs via Skype and via Google Wave (or as Reverend Jim would have said, "Gooooooooooooooglllllle Waaaaaave..."

But Google+ seems to have some opportunity to it - integrating workspaces with video chat, it seems ideal for gaming.

Drop me a message via my profile if you want to try some Call of Cthulhu or D&D if I get a group together for some gaming.

Death of the Miniature Dragon?

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:41:00 +0000

It's been well discussed elsewhere, but if you haven't heard the news, Wizards of the Coast is discontinuing miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the monthly compilations of Dragon and Dungeon content, which in essence means the death of Dragon and Dungeon as magazines (online or off).

To put on my Abe Simpson hat, "I remember back in Nineteen Eight One or so when TSR - that stood for The Senile Roleplayer - put out the last set of lead miniatures for the original AD&D game came out - yep, they were lead then, in case the Russkies invaded, we could melt 'em down and turn 'em into ammo. Anyhoo, the last set was of a wizard's lair, and featured a large snake. My brother painted the snake bright red, and we lost the wizard, so it basically looked like a rather intelligent snake had a wizard's lair. And since we didn't cotton much to plotlines then, we just pretended that's what it was..."

So, we've seen Dragon and Dungeon die and be reborn before. We've seen official and unofficial minis. We've seen multiple edition wars. At the end of the day, we've all got lots of rules sets, great minis from Citadel and others still in production, and plenty of free content on the web in case things get worse. It's actually a good time to be a gamer.

Great interview with Marc Miller on DiceCast

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:00:00 +0000

How did Traveller come about? Was it something built rapidly after D&D came out, or in parallel? Why all the editions? Why did GDW fold?

All these - and more - are answered in a great podcast on DiceCast's blog containing an interview with Traveller's creator Marc Miller. Fascinating stuff!!!

http://dicecast.blogspot.com/2010/12/dicecast-special-holiday-interview.html

The whole thing is great, but the piece with Marc Miller starts shortly after the 10 minute mark. Other interviews cover WEG's D6 system, BESM and more.

New Skaven coming to Warhammer in January 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:05:00 +0000

For those of you who find amusement (or terror?) in Games Workshop's rat-men army - The Skaven - check out the following link (and kinda lame but neat teaser video) about new minis for Warhammer.

Incoming: Skaven

Video:

If I spun an arrow with a ring of telekinesis...

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:59:00 +0000

More insanity that the folks at EnWorld.org have uncovered - an index of all the Sage Advice Dungeons & Dragons Q&A published over the years... If you have never eavesdropped on nerds fighting over their passionate topic (in this case, D&D rules, but think "Who would win in a fight - the Hulk or the Thing?" if you need a more pedestrian comparison)...well...you are in for a treat!

Sage Advice Archive

Painting Minis the Bruce Campbell Way...

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:55:00 +0000

Tallyrand at EnWorld.org has been tending a great thread with his recommendations for painting minis, over the past 4+ months. It is full of great advice that I learned piecemeal by trial and error over 20 years of painting minis, but he's put it all in a very approachable thread that is worth reading if you are at all curious about minis painting - something Tallyrand rightly points out has been marginalized in the roleplaying game hobby, and is worth the investment of time and effort. I, myself, find it to be the most relaxing and enjoyable of my hobbies.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/art-gallery-cartography-miniatures-painting/257501-how-paint-minis-bruce-campbell-way.html

(image from thread)

Play by Skype:Good thread on EnWorld.Org

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 11:44:00 +0000

For those of you who either play games by Skype or have ever wondered about playing games by Skype, check out this thread on Enworld.org:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/295226-play-skype.html

Two quasi-nostalgia threads worth reading

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Ever play a game that was more fun to read than play?
My anecdote about this comes from eavesdropping at a games shop: I overheard a guy who runs a FLGS tell this story once. He participated in a retail program for one of the publishers at one point a while ago, where he had to complete phone surveys with the publisher for hours on end (about volume of sales, demographics, etc.). After one particularly tedious survey, at the end he said, "Look, can you tell me what you are finding from all of these, so that I can better position your products?" And amongst the many marketing talking points the surveyor rattled off, the one that stuck with him the most was, "Well, a lot of customers are guys in their 30s and 40s who buy the games but basically just read them - don't play too much."

Weigh in here:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295071-games-more-fun-read-than-play.html

AND

Ever play a game that was more fun to play than read?
Here's what I posted there: For me, I'm a HUGE fan of the Runequest rules, but the campaign setting of Glorantha is so dense that I've had trouble getting players interested in an ongoing campaign over the years. By the time they've wrapped their arms around heroquesting, the various empires, etc., it's hours into the first session. Unlike say the Forgotten Realms, where granted there is an unapproachable amount of history, you actually have to get into this stuff in Glorantha (what tribe are you from, what deity do you worship, what are your views on the world) to make the game actually fit the setting, unlike FR where even if there are thousands of years of history you can say, "Well, you're a halfling from the south, and you're a pickpocket." The tropes and archetypes of Glorantha are less approachable to a typical fantasy player, in my opinion, but if you can get into it it's fascinating great stuff.

On the rules/presentation side, there are plenty of games that I've played where due to budget or whatever the game was presented in a haphazard fashion, but once you cut through it it was hella fun! TWERPS comes to mind - it was obviously photocopied from pages that were typed on a typewriter, but if you got past that, it was a great beer and pretzels game.

Weigh in:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295072-games-more-fun-play-than-read.html

Bonus thread - nostalgia kicks about games from your youth:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295121-games-my-youth-rolemaster-express.html

Halloween Cthulhu - Any Suggestions?

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:46:00 +0000

All Hallow's Eve is coming, and that means that I'll be running my annual Call of Cthulhu Halloween Spectacular. I'm wading through my old adventures and some more recent monographs.

Any recommendations for a good one shot Halloween game?

(PS, like how the text in this post is outweighed by the massive image to the left? Oooo. Scary.)

D&D TV Ad - not from the past, but from today!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Blatantly taking a scoop from EnWorld, again, but check this out - a very metal, nostalgic ad for the new D&D Red Box:

The Most Metulll Bus Evarrr!

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:54:00 +0000

Yet another scoop from enworld.org that I'm just recycling, but how cool is this D&D-themed bus! (throws up the horns)

(More at EnWorld.org)

Larry Elmore, R.A. Salvatore and Ed Greenwood walk into a con...

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:38:00 +0000

At Gen Con, Larry Elmore (famous for illustrating the Dragonlance series, Snarfquest and numerous D&D covers), Ed Greenwood (creator of the Forgotten Realms), and R.A."Bob" Salvatore (creator of Drizz't Do'Urden, and too many fantasy novels to count) - plus 3 lucky Gen Con attendees - played a game DMed by WotC's Chris Perkins (who is beginning to look more and more like Moby). The game was the new Red Box 'intro to 4th Edition', but despite that it was pretty cool! I had seen Gary Gygax once comment that videos of people playing D&D would be one of the most boring diversions ever, but this is fun for the celebrity factor. (Er...well, celebrities to us nerds, anyways...).

All 3 of the heroes of D&D (Greenwood, Salvatore, and Elmore) were a hoot to watch playing. Salvatore seemed to have the most fun, in my opinion. :)

Check it out!

Gaming at the Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 03:11:00 +0000

I've been spending a lot of time over the Summer and into early Fall running games of D&D at the shop and watching folks play 40k (learning by osmosis). Last weekend, I ran the Red Box release event for 4E. Eeeeh, not so much. A starter kit will always be less than awesome for experienced players, but this one seemed cool in idea (big maps, lots of chits), but lower quality than old school adventures against Bargle and other D&D villains of old (Mentzer edition, represent...). I'm glad to get my 3.5E Forgotten Realms campaign going again. Check out the feed to the left on the blog, or go to this link on Obsidian Portal to see what's what. Nothing better than 1e/2e feel of Forgotten Realms with 3.5 rules, in my book...

Where you at?

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:20:00 +0000

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delays in posting! Real life, and a decidedly low tech Summer spent painting miniatures, assembling terrain, and going down memory lane with some of my older gaming stuff became a priority. I also started rereading "Crisis on Infinite Earths," a Summer tradition of mine. (Huh, I think my cousin Tom used to read the collected works of Jane Austen in the Summer - time better spent? I can't be sure...)

See the attached image of some models I painted, and please share how you spent your Summer Vacation!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2

EnWorld thread on TTRPG Software Wish Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Some actual substantive content coming soon, I promise. Have been backlogged with work (whine, whine, whine, I know) and have some cool posts in the works about going back to 3.5E, as well as the Droid vs. the iPhone as a gaming support device.

For now, check this thread on EnWorld about the community's wishlists for new software to help the table top gaming community.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/277870-what-software-d-d-ttrpg-related-do-you-wish-existed.html

Of particular interest to me was the section on Master Plan game organizing software (http://www.habitualindolence.net/masterplan/). Has anybody used it?

WotC gets the Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:01:00 +0000

Major kudos to WotC for leveraging YouTube to advertise D&D's Wednesday night "D&D Encounters" games. Saw this on the enworld, and add it to their embracing of the Kindle, leveraging Facebook, Twitter, and more, to see how social media and technology are helping the tabletop world, rather than hindering it (which seemed to be the approach from ads and actions say, 5 years ago).

Forgotten Realms Delivery Service

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:57:00 +0000

Third Edition (and a half), I missed you! After playing Fourth Edition since it came out, I've given up and returned to a nice comfy, cozy sweater that feels good to wear. Leveraging the extraordinarily impressive set up on Obsidian Portal, I've put a bunch of resources online to help my players keep up to date with what happened, contribute to the direction of the campaign, and also help me organize myself. (Don't worry, regulars, my moleskine notebook is still firmly in my pocket with ideas, stats, and traps...)

If you haven't played with Obsidian Portal as an organizational tool (forums meet wiki meet stat blocks meet images and maps), please feel free to check out my new campaign - The Forgotten Realms Delivery Service.

Adventure Journal Entries and hijinx will start up in a couple of weeks. For now, you can watch it grow!

Play by Post Maps - c/o EnWorld's Hussar

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Finally found a great post explaining the best possible way to manage maps in Play by Post games, care of EnWorld.org's member, Hussar. Thanks!

For PBP? Maptools is a virtual tabletop program, and it's meant for real time play.

Might I suggest a combo of two things: DungeonForge (a token based mapping program found here - you need to register to download) and something like Paint.net or Gimp (both free art programs) to do the individual pictures with tokens.

Simply place each token on it's own layer and place the battle map on the lowest level, and you can move the tokens around, round by round, and save the maps to display.

En World allows you to attach the images, so, so long as you keep them fairly small, you shouldn't have any problems.

Post from EnWorld about Call of Cthulhu

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:39:00 +0000

Over on EnWorld, I posted a response to questions regarding good Call of Cthulhu scenarios:

More recommendations

For those just getting into Call of Cthulhu, the scenarios in any of the core books/sets are good starting points. Blood Brothers is also pretty hip if you're trying to get players used to the mechanics but they don't have a background in H.P. Lovecraft's mythos - it has one-shots based on classic horror flicks.

Good books, once you're on your feet:

*Shadows of Azathoth - an epic globe/dimension trotting set of adventures

*Trail of Tsathoggua - another epic set of scenarios

*Tales of the Miskatonic Valley - an anthology of one-shots based on locations from the mythos universe

*Shadows of Yogsothoth - a series of linked scenarios built around an erudite secret society

*Mansions of Madness - classic one-shots featuring haunted houses and the like

*Secrets of New York - a campaign setting / sourcebook to New York in the 20s. In my opinion, the best of the lot of geographically oriented CoC sourcebooks I've read, with a couple of good scenarios in the back of the book.

*There are tons of small print run "Monographs" in the Chaosium online store that serve to illustrate more esoteric periods and regions. Their annual halloween run of adventures is generally a good starting point for a theme-night of gaming.

A tip to folks getting going - get a CD or some mp3s of music from the 20s, and print out a few wikipedia pages about the 20s for your players. For those of us who may not have read much about the Roaring 20s since high school history, this will help serve as a refresher and get you in the spirit of the default time line for the game.

I'm really glad to see so many folks taking an interest in this great game.

__________________

-Tyler

Renewed my EnWorld.org membership

noreply@blogger.com (Tyler Carey) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:09:00 +0000

Last year, I signed on as a Community Supporter at EnWorld.org. I just renewed my membership (after gasping upon seeing that I'd become "INACTIVE" and could no longer search the forum archives, today, while trying to find posts about Google Droid applications). For $3/month, I get access to a lot of premium PDF gaming content including Ordo Draconis, search capability, and the knowledge that I'm helping support a thriving online community for gaming. Yes, I may have canceled my World of WarCraft subscription, but for a fraction of that I get a lot more info about the pen and paper community, and get to participate with gamers that share my interests.

And just for giggles, here's a strip from "Bring Dice and Chips" that was forwarded around in this month's DriveThruRPG.com newsletter. Archetypes from many a game I've run are here, in just two panels: