Not September Yet

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wrong-day-Thanksgiving-celebrating backwards American readers.

Silly Americans.  Thanksgiving isn’t in November!

Anyways, we are going to be posting more soon.  The time since the last post has been extremely hectic, with university projects piling up, my main computer dying a week before the end of semester (with shitloads of project work left and a bunch of important data on that computer, creating a panic to get the data off and restore the computer, so much fun), and Christine landing in the hospital for a few days (she’s good now).

So yeah, more soon, but life comes before blogging.

As if that wasn’t already apparent from my sporadic-at-best update schedule, eh?

Fishing, or something

It has been mentioned to me that some people are having difficulties posting comments.

Please try to post a comment on this post.  Even those of you who never comment.

If you can, then hooray!  If not, then please email me (email is at the top of the sidebar) and let me know what sort of error you got.

This will help make the site better for everyone involved.  Thank you.

DDM is dead, and nobody is looting the body!

So, the D&D Miniatures line is being revamped.  The minis themselves are becoming solely an RPG accessory, and the skirmish game is no longer going to be supported.

Personally, I have no problem with this.  I never really cared for the skirmish game.  (Though I had some fun a few weeks back with the star wars minis.  Lost twice, and had Vader and a diplomat attempt a suicide melee rush.)  I’ve always just used them for D&D anyways.

But I just noticed that nobody was looting the body.

Allow me to explain.

With DDM (and Dreamblade before it) defunct, there is now a community of minis gamers with no home.  It’s not a huge community, but they need a place to go.

Why is one of the competing minis game producers (WoW minis, for instance), not offering something?  Produce stats for the DDM minis that these people already own that are compatible with your own game!  Or even just list equivalencies (DDM Orc Berserker may be used with WoW minis Orc Thrasher, for instance).

Heck, even WotC did this when they introduced D&D Minis (well, two years later, in 2004).  They brought out a big table of equivalencies for old Chainmail players to update their sets with.

Why is nobody doing that for the crumbling DDM fanbase?

Even a statement of intent would be good enough for now.

Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

(There are, of course, some legal issues with copyrighted names, but you can still do 90% of the minis, leaving out Elminster and the copyrighted monsters like Beholders.  Hell, you never even have to list the DDM names anyways, since every mini is numbered!  Tordek (from Harbinger) could just be “DDM Set 1 #13″.  The Eye of Flame (Dungeons of Dread) could be “DDM Set 15 #14″.)

Apparently there’s a carnival in town…

So, Donny began the second edition of an RPG Blog Carnival.  The topic this week: Homebrew.

I read his original post, and then NiTessine’s post on a campaign world I really, really want to play in some day.  And between the two, they inspired me to share my own dip into a homebrew world.

It was when I first started GMing, which was admittedly not that long ago.  I was trying to run the group through the WotC adventure “City of the Spider Queen.”

Now, this wasn’t the first time we had tried to get through this particular adventure, nor was it the last.  Not all that far in we were sick of it again, myself especially.  So we wandered back out of the Underdark, and I switched dimensions on them.

(Note, during this swapping of worlds, before they got to the other one, I also managed to spring a Wight Dragon on them, followed by a Gold Golem.  I also managed to send them through a reality-warping series of hallways on their way.  I realise now that I wasn’t so much bored with CotSQ as bored with standard fantasy tropes in general, and wanted to mix it up a bit.)

This new world had next to nothing written about it, and most of what was written happened after the group arrived there, but I had it all made in my head.  I even made a map within a few weeks.  I dubbed it Generica, since there was nothing specific or extraordinary about it.

But I was wrong.  Looking back now, I see that in my desire to escape from standard fantasy, I had actually created a very different, very unique world.  The portal to this world deposited them in a desert.  As they crossed a dune, they came to an arabian-inspired city… of Dwarves.

The Elves were plainsmen, I believe.  The Halflings, savage jungle-dwellers (if I remember correctly).  I basically took every standard fantasy trope I could think of and turned it on its head.

The main plot was centered around dragons, and could have been quite good with a bit more work.  We stopped playing that game before we got too far, though.

In the time since, whenever musing about where to set the next game, I’ve often gotten had a player suggest Generica.  I always assumed it was in jest, and perhaps it is.  But someday, maybe I should call their bluff, and return them to the land of Generica, where everything is most definitely not generic.

Stupid Monsters ahoy!

Log of the last session will be up in a day or two.

For now, I’m sure most of you have seen Jared Hindman’s Dungeons and Dragons: Celebrating 30 Years of Very Stupid Monsters.  If you haven’t, go read it now for context.

You see, after writing that article, it took off beyond Jared’s wildest expectations.  To the point where he got brought into a local (Berlin) D&D group, and has been playing for the last 6 months, including GMing at D&D Game Day.

So, of course, he wrote another article.  Well, two actually.

A Noobian’s Guide to 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Dungeons & Dragons:  Celebrating 30+ Years of Stupid Monsters:  PART TWO.

Read.  Enjoy.  Comment.

And if you like his stuff, feel free to support him by getting him to custom-paint you a banner ad.  It’s cheap, because he sucks at business.

To 4e, or not to 4e

Yeah, imaginative title, I know.

It’s not really the question, anyways.  Our group has been pretty excited about 4e since the announcement.  Well, at least I have, and my excitement can tend to be contagious.

We’re finishing off the Pathfinder series in 3.5e, still.  Unless everyone rebels and demands an upgrade, which I doubt will happen.

But the big topic right now is the release on Friday.

Our FLGS, Gameknight, is hosting an event for the release.  Starting Friday morning at 10 am, they’re keeping the store open for 24 hours of D&D.  At 10 am on Saturday, D&D Game Day begins.

Grand total?  32 hours of D&D.

I’m planning on being there for the whole time.  Playing and DMing for the 24-hour event, and DMing on Game Day.

Should be fun.  I’m going to need a lot of this.

In addition, I’m considering doing a bit of live-blogging during the ordeal.  I doubt we’ll have wireless internet access, so I’ll make a post when I leave for the day, with a Twitter feed embedded in it.  I’ll update it via SMS every so often with news and happenings.  I’ll grab pictures as well, and post those afterwards (or during, if I can figure out a way).

Sound like fun, everyone?

Awesome.

New Box!

So, with Christine/Nox being diabetic, we tend to rack up the bonus points at the pharmacy (Shopper’s Drug Mart).  We were at the point where we could cash them in for up to $150 on a purchase.  But there was one problem.

We live in Canada.

How is this a problem?  Well, really, it isn’t.  But with our subsidised prescriptions it makes it much harder to spend $150+ at a pharmacy in one go.

It was then that a friend (who plays Ristan in our games) reminded us that Shopper’s Drug Mart has a photofinishing department.  See, on top of selling film and printing pictures, they sell digital cameras.

Our digicam is average, but we figured why not get a new one?  It’s $150 off, after all.

So we left last Thursday, to get a new camera and go out for some dinner.  After perusing the offerings, we decide on a shiny new 8 megapixel unit, a Kodak V803.

The lady takes the box out from under the counter.  It has a small tag on it saying “demo March 3rd”.  We ask about it, and she tells us that it just means it was on demo that day, and that there shouldn’t be any problems because of that.  If there is an issue, we can always exchange it.

Satisfied, we pay (New camera for $40!  Woot!) and go have dinner.

Upon arriving home, I begin going over our new toy, taking all the parts out and checking over the manual.  (Mostly to see if we need the AC adapter to charge, or if we can do so through USB.  AC it is.  Apparently cameras haven’t advanced to the point of MP3 players yet.)

As I’m going through the manual, I discover something interesting I want to try out, and reach for the camera.

…which isn’t there.

No camera came in the box.

And more than that, I had emptied the box without realising that there was no camera in it.

In any case, it suddenly became clear that we were the proud new owners of a $180 box.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice box.  A testament to the craftsmanship of the Kodak box factory.  But is it worth $180?  Well, that’s debatable.

Y’see, it seems that “demo” didn’t mean that it was a demo.  It meant that it IS the demo.  So, everything gets packed back into our new expensive box, and we head out to the store again.

After a laugh with the salespeople, we get our new camera (along with the 5 or 6 pictures people have taken with it while it was on demo!  Yay!) and go home.

We now have what we came for.  A $180 box, plus free bonus camera.

So long, and thanks for all the weird fish-monsters

Bunyip, Squark, Sea Lion and so many more.

Gary Gygax, (co-)creator of D&D, is dead at 69.

I would have noted this yesterday, but my internet decided to die alongside him. Seriously, I got the post from Critical-Hits on my RSS feed, clicked it, and wasn’t able get to it.

The local gaming store, today, has a small memorial set up. They are also a wine- and beer-making store, and are brewing a special batch of beer, entitled Mordenkainen’s Under-Dark Lager (or something to that effect).

You will be missed.

“The Gygax is dead! Long live the Xagyg!”

Garfield – yes, seriously

Garfield is the worst comic strip out right now.

It’s weird. The jokes haven’t changed in 20 years. Garfield can’t make me laugh any more.

But if I go back and read books of those old comics, I can still get a chuckle sometimes. It’s like Jim Davis just stopped trying.

But that’s not the point of this post.

A while back, I found a group of people who had figured out how to make Garfield good again. It was simple, too.

Never let Garfield say anything.

Remove all his lines. Once this is done, Garfield becomes a vaguely surreal comic about a lonely man who talks to his asshole cat. And Garfield, somehow, comes across as even more of an ass without text to redeem him. It’s great.

For example (click for embiggening):

You can click here to find more of this type, but that still isn’t the point of this post.

Today, I was introduced to the greatest thing to ever happen to this comic.

I’ll let the author describe it.

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

Welcome, dear readers, to “garfield minus garfield”.

So.

Freaking.

Surreal.

It’s great. It made my list of comics to watch immediately.

Ramble and Request

What week-long hiatus? What are you talking about?

Well, obviously I’ve been busy with school this past week, so I haven’t had the time to write anything here. That said, I have the next week off for Reading Week (Canada’s university spring break), so I’ll try to get some posts done/started. I’ll also try to get the “Aboot” page up. Maybe I’ll hack myself a new theme. I did pretty good with ChattyDM’s.

At the moment, however, I have a bit of insomnia, so I’m doing a bit of an update here.

On the only topic I seem to post with regularity, we didn’t have a game last weekend, due to a recent loss of two players and the car of another getting vandalized. We are gaming tomorrow/today, however, so expect a writeup this week.

On the Pathfinder adventure, I’m still being pleasantly surprised by how little I’ve had to change. With the exception of the Quasit battle last time, pretty much everything has been playable as-is.

More on that after the next session.

Now, as for the request in the title, I’d love to do more posts like I did at the beginning of this blog. Variant rules are one of my favourite topics. (Statting creatures is always fun too.) But I need your help on this.

See, as it stands, I’m pretty satisfied with the state of the 3.5e rules, but I still love making variants and fixes for things. I could just make up random things, but that’s hardly motivating or fun. But it doesn’t have to get used in my own game to get me thinking about it.

So I want to hear from you. What do you want out of a game, that you need a house rule for? Have you tried a rule, and it didn’t quite work out, and you don’t know how to fix it? Have you been considering trying someone else’s house rule, but there’s something grating in the back of your mind about it?

Send these things to me, via email.  (You can get the email on the right side of the page, just under Ralph.)  I’ll post them here, and develop a fix for you. Think of me as Miss Lonelyhearts! Except for RPGs. And male.

Mr. Lonelydice?

Whatever.

This could also work with creature creation. Perhaps you’re not good at statting up the creatures your incredible fluff creates. Well, I’m a crunch-side DM, so if you have monster fluff that needs to be realised, I’d be happy to give it a shot.

And if anyone wants to buy me a beer for doing so, be my guest.

As long as that beer is whiskey.

On a different note, it has come to my attention that I have a large reader to post ratio, especially considering post frequency. 15 people subscribed to my RSS feed (plus more who don’t use RSS). An average of 8 visits per day (and generally at least 6), even when there’s nothing new, which is often. Somewhere around 121 visitors who have seen the site at least twice (which is good enough by me). All with 14 posts (including this one) over three months.

For someone who merely intends to use this blog for a creative/crunch outlet and a log for our group’s games, that’s not too shabby.

So anyways, this week you can expect a few things. First, a DM log, of course. Next, we might be seeing player logs (though I don’t know if that should be plural) start up soon. You will definitely get a second post by myself this week. A book review, in fact.

Beyond that, it depends on what kind of response I get to this Lonelydice thing. If it’s sufficient, I can hopefully make this a regular feature.

Mr. Lonelydice… Yeah, I think I’ll go with that name. It’s weird. I like it.