Ravenous Role Playing

Man, I’m such a leech. I haven’t had time to comment on a single link in what feels like forever. It’s been a combination of things, but it seems like my Fridays are busier than ever lately. I may shift this post to Sundays and make it a “Sunday Seven” or something like that. Maybe I’ll retitle the category to “Leech Links” and it’ll free me up to post on Friday, Saturday or Sunday as I have time and see fit. Either way… here’s the links for the week:

500k Retrospective – Dungeon Maps
500k Retrospective – Urban Mapping
Revised and Expanded Long List of Old School Games and Clones
World Building Part I: Geography and Landmarks
Dead Sea Inspiration
Mythic Monday: Old Gods Never Die…

I’m amazed that I’m even getting the links out this week. I’m out of town at a writer’s retreat at the moment, so I should be working on my book. I did steal a little bit of time to get these links out to you, though.

Corridor Features
Draco Inadequatus: Beefing Up 3.x Dragons
easy peasy demihuman clan relations
Long List of Old School Games and Clones
7 Appalling Things I Witnessed at the Gaming Table

Sorry folks. No time for commentary this week. Just some links. Enjoy!

Missing some D&D players? Try these six rarely-used alternatives
Detritus of the Dungeon
Location, location, location
Houserule: Hands!
Magical Mishaps Redux…

The DMPC Question

The DMPC is like a PC, but is run by the DM. I’ve done this before and it was nearly disastrous. The group ended up creating a party without an arcane spellcaster, and I felt like I needed to fill the gap because of the way the prepublished adventure was designed. They needed an arcane caster to complete the adventure, and I didn’t feel like spilling the beans to the group or forcing someone to play something they didn’t want to play. Instead, I ran a DMPC in the group. In the end, I (the DM as PC) was the hero of the adventure because my “PC” was the only one that could complete the final, vital steps of the adventure. It totally stole the glory from the group, and I’m very sorry for that. I doubt that I’ll ever again do this.

My Top 5 FRPG Artists – Number 4 – Peter Fenlon

These are some fantastic maps by Peter Fenlon. I had seen some of them before, but seeing them all in a single web collection showed me how impressive his work is.

The Architect DM: Nations as Character Backgrounds

One of the better games that I played was telling the players that they will be adventuring in nation X, but banning them from having a background that started in said nation. I told them that the final stages of their background would draw them into the nation. It was a hoot! Each person had their own culture, language and expectations about things should be done. The role playing involved was top notch! I can’t wait to do something like that again.

A potpourri of quick solutions: Eight Lifeboats for GM Emergencies

In a tight spot as a GM? Maybe these eight items will be just right for you as advice on how to get out of the fire and back into the frying pan!

In Anticipation of GenCon: Convention Tips 6 for Players, 6 for DMs

There are tons of pieces on advice on how to stay clean, healthy, happy, engaged and entertained at a conference. This is one such post. I’ll probably always link to these types of posts because conventions can be really stressful on the heart, mind and body. Anything that makes the trip smoother is worth a read.

Sorry about the lateness of the Friday Five. I didn’t have time to do it yesterday evening because I had to bolt out the door and run to the character creation session for our new campaign using the Dresden Files RPG. It was a blast, but there are a few inexperienced folks around the table that were asking questions like, “What do you mean I can’t have every skill at Superb?” Anyways… Here are the ten links I collected throughout the week with a little commentary from me.

D&D chargen as a party game

I’ve done something similar to this where I happened to have six players. It worked out quite well. The dice rotated around the table until each player had rolled one stat and everyone wrote down the number rolled. Everyone started out on a level playing field to start with and it made everyone happy.

Wood and Silver or Iron and Gold? – Historical Inaccuracy in FRP, Part 1

Wood and Silver or Iron and Gold? – Historical Inaccuracy in FRP, Part 2

These two links obviously go together where a great historian breaks down the costs and quantities of items in RPGs and explains why they are so off base. They’re great articles, and I can’t wait to order most of the books listed at the bottom of the two blog posts. I’ve heard great things about them from other sources, and the fact that they are listed here only reinforces my need for the tomes.

Monday Map – Another Free Blank Map!

Man, I wish I could do maps like this. I wish I knew what his tricks were. All of my maps are typically computer generated and they look that way. I really need to break down and start doing maps by hand again. Those were always much better in the end.

City Geomorphs #4: Side Streets

There are lots of geomorphs floating about the intertubes, but I really like these. I can usually crank out a dungeon on my own without resorting to randomization, so those don’t grab me as much as these city geomorphs do. I can see how building out a set of 20-30 city geomorph blocks would allow for some fantastic modern cities to be generated.

5 Reasons to Say No

There are times that a GM should say no. The best time to whip out this stopper is during character creation or background generation. If a player gets a character the GM doesn’t like into the game, then it’ll suck the fun right out of the game until such time that the player can be convinced to relinquish the character that just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the group or the GM’s sandbox.

When Theory Meets Practice – Character Flaws

I love systems that have perk/flaw systems because it allows more freedom during the character creation process. Each person can extend the uniqueness of their character by properly using a perk/flaw system. However, it can be abused in a variety of manners. Click through for more details.

3 Years Behind the Screen

Congrats to NewbieDM for three years behind the screen! May you have another 30 with this wonderful hobby! Oh. He’s also got some great advice to folks of all skills levels that are wanting to run a game.

The Sandbox Triangle

This is a great writeup about the balancing act known as “The Sandbox.” If you’re just now getting into role playing or have not heard the term, this is where the GM has created an environment or campaign for the PCs that does not involve a linear pathway through the adventure(s) at hand. This can be frustrating for the players as there are too many choices, and frustrating for the GM if the players make the “wrong” choices and get into an area that really hasn’t been detailed all that much. Need to balance all of the options in a sandbox? Check out this post for some advice.

A Field Guide to Gen Con Attendees

This is a must read if you’re heading to Gen Con… or any other con for that matter. Great work!

I know that this is a day late. I also know that there are 10 links below. I also know that I didn’t comment on any of them. So sorry for the delay and the lack of work on my part. There were just so many great posts on the RPG blogosphere this week that I felt compelled to link to 10 of them this week. The end of the week got really busy for me, and I just didn’t have time to comment like I usually do. I’ll try to do better next week.

Write a gripping mystery adventure in four steps
Colour-Coding the Circle of Doom, and discovering a mistake!
A Look at Downtime in RPGs and Board Games
character sheet on a business card
Adding To The Legend
World Building 101, Part 2: Creating Your Setting’s “Blueprint”
An Awesome Array of RPG Cartography
Lessons From a Bad GM: Success, Unbeatable Situations, and Effort Versus Reward
[Friday Map] Explore the Forgotten Caves
How Do You Like Your Dungeon Maps?

My Secret Shame

Sir Larkins over at The RPG Corner confesses that his secret shame is the collection of character sheets. It’s almost to the point of being a fetish for him. Don’t worry, I’m not judging because I have a secret shame of my own. It has nothing to do with character sheets. I really could (and have) just use a sheet of paper for a character sheet. It doesn’t make that much of a difference for me. My secret shame is that I collect “city settings” like you wouldn’t believe. Yes, I dropped $100 on Ptolus because it was the biggest city setting (in a single volume) at the time. Then “The World’s Largest City” came out, and I had to buy that one too. I think the price point on that Big Guy was $120 or in that area. I also have, I think, every Waterdeep resource that has been published outside of magazine-type environments. Why do I love cities so damn much? I’m not sure. I think it has to do with the diversity of areas, culture, buildings, sewers, sub-sewers, Underdark entrances, people, laws, customs, rules, businesses and so much more. Each time I’ve run a city-based campaign (or set of adventures) we’ve always had a blast, even if a few of the players were dubious about the environment to start with.

What Do You Mean All My Magic Items Are Gone!

Muahahahahaa! I have totally done this to my players before. They were chasing a drow wizard around the continent and finally thought they had him cornered for the fourth or fifth time. The wizard had set a trap that the party charged headlong into in their furious fever to slay the drow. When they hit the bottom of a set of stairs, the wizard dropped Mordenkainen’s Disjunction on them and that’s where I ended the session. They were pissed. I took control of their character sheets and equipment lists and asked if it was OK if I rolled for their items since it was going to take me most of the week to determine saving throws and the like. I didn’t want to consume our precious gaming time with all those dice rolls. They were cool with it and not too many of them were totally destroyed by the loss of their items. It really upped the challenge of the game, and, in the end, I think it helped benefit the mood and play of the game. Oh. They didn’t kill the wizard that time around, but they eventually did track him down and take him out. Victory for them was that much sweeter because of the challenges that I had dropped in front  of them.

World Building 101, Part 1: Creating a Concept

Lots of people start their world creation with a map. That’s not quite the best starting point, but it can work. A concept needs to precede the actual mapping process to assist in building a cohesive world. Go check out the Confessions of a GM blog to get more details.

Missing In Action: Maintaining a campaign in the face of player absence

There are many different ways to handle a missing player and I think Mike has covered all of them well enough. It’s a fact: Players will be missing from time-to-time. Go check out what Mike has to say on the matter because I really can’t add that much more to his wonderful post.

still thinking about elvish longevity

This post includes a great chart that compares the real life spans of British Isle rulers against Elven and Dwarven lives. It really brings into perspective how Elves, Dwarves and Humans can and should approach attempting to accomplish certain goals. Obviously, the Elves have a much greater chance at succeeding at a long-term goal than anyone else… assuming they survive to the end of their natural life.

Saintly Saturday: Apodosis of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

I’m linking to this post for one reason. It’s not the history lesson (which is really cool, btw,) but for the charts at the end for generating religious events and holidays. I’ve always wanted to add more of this to my world, and just never have. Now I have a top-notch tool to use (and modify for my own world) to do just this. Great work, FrDave! Thanks!

[Map] Hurren, City of the Elders

I love this old-school map of the city. It reminds me of the first maps of the cities of Forgotten Realms (except Waterdeep) that I saw back in my teenage years. Ah, the nostalgia. The streets, buildings, walls and river are clearly depicted. All that remains to be done is for someone to run with the map and detail it out with numbers, a legend and locations. *sigh* I just wish I had the time to make use of this kind of stuff and detail it out.

Don’t Touch My Dice

I used to be of a mind that no one touched my dice. I’ve gotten over it. What happened? I’m really not sure. I guess if I were gaming with strangers at a FLGS, then I’d be more of a mind that no one touches my stuff (including dice.) However, I’m gaming with a close group of friends, and if someone forgets their dice, I’ll gladly loan mine out. However the idea of buying a bucket of dice from Chessex to use as loaners appeals to me now that I know about that option.

The Game Doesn’t Remain The Same

Another *sigh* here. I wholeheartedly sympathize and agree with Zachary. I remember the days of gaming on end when I didn’t have another care in the world. Now, with a job, wife, kid, writing my second novel and running my critique group (and probably a few other things in there,) I just don’t have time (or a group willing) to play for 18 hour marathon session, four days in a row. I still love my gaming, but I wish I could go back to the days of endless gaming.

Farstead: An Adventurer’s Charter

I’ve heard of adventurer’s charters and seen them used in a game before, but it’s always been a nebulous, “We have a charter, thank you very much.” Never before have I seen a charter detailed before, and this one posted by Callin is a fantastic charter for an adventuring group. I think it’s a fantastic thing! Now to see about putting it to use in my fantasy world. Thanks for sharing that charter, Callin!

Prep-Tools Part I: Campaign and Adventure Planning

Need to plan some phase of your game? How about a session? or an adventure? or a story arc? Well, the fine folks over at Campaign Mastery have just the post for you! Go check it out.

D&D Math – Adding the Numbers

This post made me laugh until my gut hurt. Nope. It’s not a humorous post at all. I just have past experience with a fella who had to use a calculator each time he rolled d20+str+base_attack+weapon_bonus+situational_mods to determine what his final score was. He refused to add up all of his personal bonuses ahead of time because it “confused” him to do so, so it was “heavy math” each time he rolled a die. It was very painful for me and I’m glad I don’t game with this fella anymore. I’d always make sure he sat next to me at the table because the player on the other side of him would look over his shoulder, do the easy math and then “hand sign” the numbers at me to tell me what he got. I’d make the determination of hit/miss and move on to the next player while this fella did his “heavy math” on his fancy graphing calculator. Had we been in a time crunch (e.g.: One shot session at a conference.) I probably would have asked him to step away from the table since he stole so much time from his fellow players while doing his calculator routine.

Dave Millar’s wonderful tool! (Mapping tool, that is)

Geomorphs are Cool. Really Cool. An online tool that uses geomorphs to create maps makes them Uber-Cool. Way to go, Dave! Many thanks to Rob for posting the link and sharing it with us. (I’m linking to Rob’s blog, and from there you can find the link to Dave’s tool on your own. I don’t want to “steal traffic” from Rob’s blog by linking around the source of my information.)

Crapping on your Dream: Freelancing 101

Dammit, Mr. Schwalb! Stop crapping on my dreams! Ok. Ok. I get it. Freelancing is hard. Anything worth doing is hard. The problem here is that it’s rough to make a living at mere freelancing. I applaud all those people that manage to pull it off. I’d love to join their ranks, but living on a McIncome is out of the question at the moment. Thanks for putting a realistic light on the subject.

Hot Button: Should Players have an expectation of balance?

The only campaigns in which a player should expect to win every fight because of “balance” are the ones that are the most boring. There is no threat of death, loss, challenge or accomplishment. Some of my best moments in role playing have come from overcoming incredible odds and pulling off the near impossible. Just having victory handed to me on a silver platter, isn’t victory. It’s a gift. It’d be like buying front-row, 50-yard-line seats to the SuperBowl and only having one team show up on the field to play. Sure, there’s a ball, some turf, a few helmets and two end zones, but it’s not a game. Not by a long shot.

I had 10 links bookmarked for this week’s Friday Five. All were fantastic, but here are the five that I chose to highlight and comment on. If there is interest (leave me a comment,) I’ll start an “honorable mention” section that will include the links, but little-to-no commentary from me. Let me know what you think!

Locations: Crossroads

Tim’s post brings out some great mythos about crossroads and what can possibly happen there. His list of encounters that can happen at a crossroads is fantastic. Tim barely touches on the legends of the meeting of two pathways. There is a great number of stories about crossroads. If you’re at a place where you’re stuck for an encounter or direction of a campaign, check out what’s on the Internet for the stories….

When the Sky was young.

I live out in the country. The nearest town to me is 10 miles away and it’s small town. The nearest big city is about 20 miles away. We have very little light pollution out here. When I take the trash can out to the road on Monday nights, I have to take a flashlight with me unless it’s a full moon. I’ve literally walked into our mailbox several times because I couldn’t see it despite being right up on it. While this may sound like a pain in the rear, it’s actually a blessing. We’re able to see amazing starscapes out here. The Milky Way is very clear and even the lower magnitude stars can be seen with binoculars or our high-power telescope. It’s great to turn off all of the lights and head outside, lay on my back and just stare up at the sky wondering what’s really up there. I imagine fantasy characters are typically in the same boat. Powerful stuff, the stars.

Should PCs Charge Other PCs for Services?

Nope. They’re a team. It would be like the linemen of a football team refusing to block the defense unless the quarterback coughed up a percentage of his treasure… er… salary. Just the mere thought of a player at the table “charging” another player for “services” makes me sick. It would actually lead to me leaving the group or kicking the player out. That’s how repulsive the notion is.

The True Secret of Improvising: You Are Reacting to the Players, & They Are Reacting to a Kickoff Event

I love improv games. I love running them because that way I can be just as surprised as the players when things unfold. Kicking things off with a catalyst is a fantastic idea. It gives everyone a common starting point and then the fun starts from there!

Should Monsters Employ Smart Tactics?

Are the monsters smart enough to employ tactics? If the answer is “yes” then the monsters should act with intelligence. If the group of monsters are brain-addled hyenas that escaped from a research facility, then they should probably act at random, for better or for worse.