Earning Achievements in Video Games

OK, I don't play video rpg games.  I like them and I have in the past.  Might and Magic, Wizardry, and the Legend of Zelda were all cool.  I liked Elder Scrolls, but I never finished it.  I did finish Myst and Riven.

I just don't get the point of THIS


From this page

First of all, having to play the piano 2000 times is asinine.

Second of all, this "hack" is like giving the GM in a face-to-face game a flowchart and telling them to execute it and you'll be back when the character is 20th level...

I just don't get it...

"Coolness" Bonuses

Saw this post over at Tower of Zenopus about City of Heroes and it got me thinking.

I used to like to give out FATE points, Fudge points, Bennies, etc. to players when they did something "cool."  When they took a risk or made everyone laugh or caused a roar from the crowd.

Awhile back, I bought these Old School Bonus Cards at RPGNow.  I haven't used them yet.  Mostly because I don't have any thieves in my game.  That's not really a good excuse, but it eliminates 25% of the deck...

Here's my idea.  (This is untested, but I think I'll be trying it out ASAP)

Get out a deck of cards.

Spades = Combat

Hearts = Healing

Diamonds = Treasure/Certain Skills (lockpicking, find traps, find secret doors)

Clubs = Social/Reaction/All Other Skills

Take out the face cards, leaving just the Ace through 10's.

Anytime a player does something cool with their character, give them a card.  They can have as many cards as they want, but there's only one deck.  If all the cards are in the hands of the players, no one else can get one.

I'd let players trade cards anytime during the game.  If they are in the middle of something, like combat or a social encounter, I'd make them explain HOW they use one of their cards to help their buddy.

I probably will only allow the use of two cards MAX per action; one of yours and one from a buddy (to encourage teamwork).

So, here's how the cards work.  You give the DM the card you want to use and you roll a d12.

• If you roll LESS THAN BUT NOT EQUAL TO the number on your card, you get a +1 or +5% bonus to what you are doing.
• If you roll EXACTLY THE NUMBER ON YOUR CARD you get a +2 or 10% bonus to what you are doing.
• If you ROLL A 12 you get a +3 or 15% bonus.
• If you ROLL AN 11 (Snake Eyes) you get nothing.

For Hearts, I might allow the use of the bonus as extra dice or rerolls --

• +1 = reroll the healing attempt and take the better result OR roll an extra d6
• +2 = reroll the healing attempt OR roll an extra d8
• +3 = reroll the healing attempt OR roll an extra d12

I plan to implement this system right away in my CotMA game.  We'll see how it goes.

3D Dungeon Walls from Foam (Part 3)

The exciting conclusion!!






If you have any questions, leave a comment.  Enjoy making your walls!

3D Dungeon Walls from Foam (part 2)

Previous post here





During these two videos, my lovely wife Jeanne calls on the phone twice...

More video in the next post!!

3D Dungeon Walls from Foam (Part 1)

Those of you who have followed this blog for awhile, know that I LOVES my minis.  I love the prepainted kind (got lots of those).  I love painting my own (when I have time).  I love finding toys that can substitute for minis.  I love making minis from scratch.

Well, a few weeks ago, I posted about making dungeon walls from foam.  The pics aren't very good in that post.

Here's part one of how I'm making articulated dungeon walls from foam, toothpicks and O-rings.

Enjoy!

Thank You Mom, Dad and Steve Jobs

My parents bought me a Mac 128k (Skinny Mac) in 1985, right before I started college.  It cost $3000 (seriously!!) and it was a big investment by them, in me.

I used it for school work, like writing school papers.  But mostly, I made cool stuff for gaming with it.

Thank you Mom and Dad.  Thank you Steve Jobs.

Here are some examples that I still have:

Mexico City Megadungeon

Imagine this structure fallen into ruin.  Intrepid adventurers standing on the edge, looking down into the mysterious depths below...

click to embiggen

From i09