Rogues in the Death Star

This may have been the map our DM used.

There have been a few campaigns that I've run or played in during my time playing RPGs that have been pretty awesome. But the one that will always stand out in my mind will be the one we just called the Thieves Campaign.

It started the summer that the 3e Players Handbook came out. It wasn't meant to be anything more than a filler game until we could get the whole group back together again. There was just the two of us plus the DM.

The DM had just come back from a vacation in Germany. He had visited a little place called Rothenburg. He was excited because he had this map of the town and he wanted to use it for D&D. Add to the fact that we wanted to try out this new edition of the game and the DM's copy of TSR's Den of Thieves and we had a winning formula. The adventures of Ringo & Rictor began.

That night we had our first argument about Attacks of Opportunity. But we also had a lot of fun. We planned a heist and stole a bunch of gems. We made enemies with the Guild of Assassins and a notorious thief who shunned Rothenburg's Thieves Guild named the “Owl”. We made friends like Marcy a fellow thief who always tried to out do us, and Baruck who sponsored us to the Guild in the first place.

I'm not sure to this day how much the DM used from this
book, but it did provide the foundation for one of the
most memorable campaigns I've ever played in.

As things progressed and people came back from vacations the campaign continued. The rule was that you had to have a least one level of Rogue or Bard. It was a low magic game and I remember have a magic dagger that I cherished. If there was something that earlier editions got right it was that magic items should be unique and rare. We managed to create our own secret hideout from the underground lair of a band of serpent-men we defeated. Above it we created a bakery as a front and staffed it with an ex-gang member we befriended.

Those early days of my roleplaying career were probably some of my best. The newness of it all. The sense of mystery and fear. The rules had little to do with it. In fact the more we learned the rules, and the more serious I took the game, the less fun I ended up having. Ringo & Rictor were a lot like the Grey Mouser and Fafhrd. They were thieve's but they had a code of honour and they protected the city of Rothenburg from those that would do it harm. Of course a man has to eat so if a few things had to get nicked along the way so be it.

So aside from some nostalgic babbling here are the morales of this story. The best campaigns can and usually do arise from adventures that grow organically. Magic items are much cooler when they are rare and unique. Don't let the rules get in the way of the fun. Don't let yourself ruin the fun by taking thing too seriously. I guess the thing here is that line from Princess Leia in “A New Hope” to Grand Moff Tarkin. “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers”. To which Tarkin replies, “Not after we demonstrate the capabilities of this station”. An yet the Death Star was destroyed by Luke. An inexperienced pilot who turned off his targeting computer and trusted in the Force to guide his shot. The greatest of our gaming constructs are vulnerable to the smallest of things. So don't sweat it. Let go and just enjoy the ride. 

2015 I'm making you my Bitch

Aint that the truth.

2014 is coming to an end. I started this blog in 2011. I haven't been as diligent at posting as would have liked but hey thats life and gaming took a hit with all the other stuff going on in my life over the years.

Since that time I've been laid off, learned a language, finished high school, got a new job, and am now preparing for my second semester of college.

Theres been almost no roleplaying going on these days which blows goats. However I've been playing Magic a lot and even winning a few local draft tournaments. Plus a bunch of us have embarked on learning Warhammer Fantasy miniatures. ORCZ FOR DA WIN!

A new gaming store has opened in my town and its amazing. The staff and people who hang out and play are all great people and it promises to be a great new year for gaming. I just wanted to thank those that stop in and read my blog from time to time. I will make an effort to put up new material and finally update some of my blog projects.

Happy New year to you all!

Hello Blogoverse

I'm not one for apologizing for a lack of posting. I do this for shits and giggles more than anything else. I'm not a huge fan of posting just to post either. That being said I do feel I owe it to those few who do check out my blog an explanation for my present lack of productivity in putting words to page.

So heres the dilly amigos. As I mentioned in a post a few years back I lost my job and since then I've been going back to school to put on my big boy pants and finally start a real adult career. That was all prep work to get to where I am today. This year I started a three year college program in nursing. Naturally gaming, blogging, reading for fun, and basically having a life have all taken a major punch to the testicular region. So my fellow dice chuckers, card floppers, and button pushers now you know, and as G I mutheffing Joe is so fond of reminding us, "knowing is half the battle, GO JOE!". So if I can manage to find a spare minute to write something up I will, but based on how much time this program has been sucking up I fear that will be few and far between.

When I grown up I wanna be a Rescue Ninja

I Played D&D In French Today

In February of last year I lost my job. To complicate matters at the time I was a uni-lingual anglophone (english speaker) living in Canada's french province of Quebec. My inability to speak french was becoming a major road block in becoming gainfully employed again, not to mention just down right frustrating sometimes. Let's put it this way, in a place where we have a minority separatist provincial government in power, language police and laws that dictate that french must be protected at all costs life can be very difficult if you can't or just plain refuse to speak the language.

In May of the same year I was accepted into a provincially funded program and admitted into adult education to upgrade my skill set and learn french. At the time I was skeptical. Could I really learn french in one year? Or was I going to have to uproot my family and move to somewhere else in Canada?

My french classes are intensive. I'm required to be at school 30 hours a week. Monday to Friday, 8:20 am- 3:30 pm. In my afternoon period we have a conversation class and each of us was given an assignment to teach the class about a hobby or a passion we have in our lives. Obviously RPG's is a no brainer for myself and today after 8 months of studying and practice I taught and ran a simplified version D&D for my teacher and fellow class mates. Almost entirely in french.

It was a fairly exhausting and difficult experience, yet it was also rewarding. First I'm proud of just how far my ability in the language has come since those early days. I have a lot to learn still and I wouldn’t say I'm fluent but I can now communicate with and understand others on a fairly basic level. It was also rewarding to see my fellow students and teacher flexing their imaginations and giving this bizarre hobby (and that us veterans some times take too seriously) a chance. In fact we might actually continue the game again on Monday if time allows. I'll take that as a good sign.

In a future blog post I'll write out what we did and present the simplified rules we used to play the game.              

That Is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie...

...And with strange aeons even death may die.

 And thats sorta what this blog has become, not dead but dreaming. Waiting for the stars to align or some such esoteric Lovecraftian babel.

I've been wanting to update the blog for a while now. However with a lack of actual gaming happening, and the priorities of school and family, I've either been too busy, or too tired.

So whats been happening in the past while?

Well I finished David Weber's “Out of the Dark”. Great read except the ending. One of the first times I actually ever wanted to throw a book across the room. I wont spoil it for you, but believe me when I say Weber gets a good square kick in your nuts on this one. However to Weber's credit I finished the first book in the Honor Harrington series “On Basilisk Station” and it was frigging awesome from start to finish. Next on deck is “The Honor of the Queen”. And of course I still have the first book in Weber's “Safehold series sitting on my shelf to get to as well as John Ringo's “A Hymn Before Battle”. Too many books not enough time and all that jazz.

Currently I'm reading the first novel in Clive Cussler/Grant Blackwood's “Fargo” series called “Spartan Gold”. So for the most part it's a fun read though at near the end its starting to drag a little. Hopefully the ending will pick it up. One thing of note is how all of the novels in any of Cussler's series are packed with great ideas for RPG adventures and campaigns. Particularly if you tear the ideas straight from the books for use in a modern action/adventure setting. Characters, exotic places, interesting historical bits, and crazy plots abound.

Lastly on the RPG front. I recently purchased the “Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition”, “Deadlands: Marshal's Handbook”, “Player's Guide”, “1880 Smith & Robards Catalog” (Explorers Edition all), and “The Last Sons” plot points campaign setting books. In addition I picked up a really nice Texas Hold'em poker set from Walmart. The intention is that I' ll finally get to try out running/playing Savage Worlds and get some gaming going on again. I've wanted to get a SW game started for a while but keep getting cold feet on it as well as “Gamer ADD”, unfamiliarity of the system, laziness, time constraints, etc. Hopefully with the substantial amount of money I sunk into these purchases I will have the motivation to make it happen.

So that pretty much sums up shit around here. I have every intention of updating the blog as much as I can realistically can. I have no intention of writing updates for the sake of updating. So if I have something of note to write I will. Till then you are the resistance. Zombiecowboy out.

Going Dark

Things have been quiet on this blog for the past while. Life has been rather busy for me lately. Unfortunately that means that my hobbies are going to need to take a back seat to family and school. If I can manage to post here now and then I will, but I strongly suspect that this will be sporadic at best.

This is Zombiecowboy. If you are listening to this message, you are the Resistance.

Back in Black

Hello there fellow Dice Chuckers! I’m back. In some ways I imagine as if this is how a bear must feel like after a long winter period of hibernation.

So what’s been going on in my life?

Glad you asked. I finished up my Call of Cthulhu campaign I dubbed Arkham heat some months ago. I had a blast running that one. But I will tell you one thing. I really didn’t like BRP rules way of handling opposed rolls or combat too much. For the most part things were fairly rules light, which I really REALLY liked. Yet at the same time I did feel myself yearning for rules, combat ones in particular that were a little more robust.

Then I got laid off from my delivery driver job.

This was sort of a mixed bag of good and bad. Good because I was pretty fed up with that job. Good because I needed a change. And good because now I’m on the way to new and better things in my life. On the other hand it was bad, because losing your job is pretty scary shit, and the uncertainty of what’s next can be even more scary. Anyway, I’m taking it one day at a time, and things are starting to look like my future is gonna be so bright I’m going to have to wear shades.

Then I started a D&D 4e campaign.

I dunno. This is the second time I’ve tried running this system and I’m still not feeling it. One of my biggest beefs is that the combat is just too bloody long. Part of this is all of us learning the ins and outs of the rules. But I think the biggest problem is what I call the economy of actions. My players feel that they need to eek out every little last drop of potential from their characters, making sure that they spend every action that they can. Did I do something with my free, minor, move, and all mighty standard action this turn? I’ve read the various ways of trying to speed up combat, but I’m still sort of at a loss of how I should deal with this.

Then there’s the news of D&D 5e on the horizon.

In some ways I hope that this edition finds the middle ground between 3e and 4e. I’ve always contended that while I think there’s a lot of nifty things I really like about 4e I think that they took it too far. I loved 4e’s monsters; I love that combat is more dynamic, and that skills got chopped down. In fact I almost would rather do away with skills altogether and IF you really need to determine something use an Ability check to see if you succeed or not. Otherwise I’ve been going with the rule, the more specific a player is about their characters actions, then the more likely they will automatically succeed at a given task. For example, If your character decides to cut open the mattress to locate the hidden gems, and that is where the gems are actually hidden you will automatically find them. If on the other hand you say I search the room, roll the bones, and hope you pass the appropriate DC for your level.

What’s next?

Well, first on the docket is getting a new job obviously. That’s more or less sorted out, and I have a number of different things I’m working on. My finances at this point are OK so no need to worry. Not yet anyway.
On the gaming front I’m thinking I may finally give Savage Worlds a shot. There was also some discussion of a Star Wars Saga Edition game, or variant setting using those rules but I’m still sort of on the fence about that. I have been giving a lot of thought to writing my own rules system since I cant seem to find that one system that really satisfies my needs behind the screen.
Lastly I think it’s time to get back into the Pen-Monkey saddle. Words they don’t write themselves. So I should probably get on that while I have a little more free time than usual.
　
　
　

Well Shit....

Getting back into the blogging saddle is a little harder than I would have liked it to be. Still super busy on the home front and it dosent look like it's going to ease up in the near future.I havent had much free time latley and the time I have had has been spent with Mrs. Zombiecowboy and the twerps. Hopefully some dice chucking will happen this Saturday night, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Something I've been thinking about latley is the Savage Worlds RPG and my mega-dungeon idea Castle Wyrmfall. The first is a system that I really want to try out and I have a couple of ideas of how I would like to do that. One idea would be a swords & sorcery type game closer to Moorcock's writings. An apocalyptic science fantasy world. Another idea is a cyberpunkish setting based on some of the stuff I wrote up for a one shot adventure I ran called the Saints of Los Angeles.

As for the mega-dungeon idea, I was thinking of a new approach to how I might tackle this thing. Every time I sit down to work on this thing I get bog down in how much work there is involved. I get caught up in details that arent important, at least right now. I'm not sure what system I want to use to run the thing but I'm leaning strongly towards Pathfinder. The new approach I was thinking of using was tackling one level at a time, and one encounter or room per day. One of the things I read in Paizo's Gamemastery guide was an idea that you take a regualr sheet of paper and draw about 10 circles all over the page. Then you fill those circles in with encounters and you have a really rough sketch of a dungeon complex. I like the idea of doing encounters first and THEN draw a map to fit the encounters. It's worth giving it a shot. Part of me is also leaning towards Rappan Athuk's smaller dungeon level design, rather than trying to make a dungeon level that uses up as much of one sheet of paper as you can fit rooms and halls.

Anyway, just some ideas Im kicking around. I'm still looking forward to running Arkham Heat and the two week break was nice. Lets just hope this week we can play...   

Still Alive, Just Busy....

The title says it all. I've been meaning to get some blogging done but between recovering from the Black Plauge of colds, and from cleaning/gutting out my basement so we can start the mega renovations I just havent had time to write.

On the gaming front no dice were chucked to feed the Dice Gods this weekend and none will be chucked this coming weekend. I do hope to have that Arkham Heat second session up some time this week. I think I'm going to update the blog three times a week from here on out. Maybe more if something worth writing about creeps into my mind.

Lastly, I just wanted to give a salute to those of you folks who are doing the NaNoWroMo thing this year. Write Pen-Monkey's write. If all is going as it should, your at the halfway mark. Keep it up!