Lego Heroica

This looks AWESOME!  Lego Dungeons!

I'll be buying all four sets as soon as they are available!


Wish I could understand the voiceover...  :(

Judges Guild Goodness

I won some eBay auctions and it's just like going back in time to 1983!

Five out of six ARE STILL IN THE ORIGINAL PLASTIC!  Wow!  Awesome!

I'm so looking forward to reading these.  JG products have a charm all their own.  Sure, they're quirky -- but so are the dungeons that I made myself.    :)

click to embiggen

It's hard to read, but the LL corner is "Of Skulls and Scrapfaggot Green" -- Just HAD TO BUY that one so that I'll know what it's all about.

A Couple More Additions to My OSR Collection

I printed up a copy of -C's Tricks booklet.  Do yourself a favor and do the same.  It's chock full of goodness.

I also took the JD Jarvis' tables over at Aeons & Auguries and made a little "Dungeoneer Cache" booklet.

I used Limpey's art from here as the cover.

Great stuff!

Shrinky Dink 3D Effects

So I went down to my local Hobby Lobby and I purchased a pack of "Shrinky Dinks" for $5.99.

I bought the clear kind you draw on with markers.  They have clear, frosted and white.  They also make sheets that you can put through your inkjet printer.

I cut out two long strips, about 1.5 inches wide and I drew (ha!) some flames and some "vines".  I popped them in the oven at 325°F and they shriveled up like bacon.  :(  It took a little bit of work to flatten them out.  Then I draped them over a can while they were still warm to give them a bit of curve.

Here are the results:

I don't know that I'm thrilled with the results, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway.  :)  Maybe I'll try tracing a pattern and then coloring it in...  I might try and put it through a laser printer...  

We shall see...

Some thoughts about a mini adventure

Every other Thursday, I run a sandboxy campaign that is built upon the excellent Castle of the Mad Archmage by Joe Bloch.

Characters were rolled up months ago.  They were named (some were anyway) and then the adventures began.

Little by little, the characters have developed.  I've added layers to the game, when they were needed or asked for, such as the gods and bits about the city.  The characters have a patron of sorts in the form of Uuthak the Obscure.  (I borrowed that name from Jeff Rients Miscellaneum -- he's a sage and a wizard and he has a regen-o-pod).

Some really cool things have happened along the way.  Two of my players, JW and LB have been collaborating to create a broad outline and maps of the main city, Ravenport.  In addition, JW is designing a game group silkscreened t-shirt to commemorate the game.  (Can't wait to share that with you!)  RF has been designing detailed backstories for his characters as has DB.  JS has played his ruthless magic user to a T.  It's been great!

I told you all that because I wanted to show you how invested these players are in the game.  They like their characters and they seem to be having a lot of fun.

Sometimes, bad things happen to good players and good characters...

---

My granddaughter Maddie had a school program this past Thursday.  I found out late and I figured I'd just cancel the game.  The players wanted to play anyway and so I told them we'd meet at 8 and play until 10.  We all have to work in the morning.  :)

I knew that I'd need to come up with a short scenario that would be peppy and fun to play.

I came up with this hook just to see if the PC's would bite.  Through some stage setting and a bit of roleplaying, the PC's discovered that Grot, the local tavern boy, had struck it rich.

"A jewel the size of his head!"

He had paid the debts he had to the innkeeper -- and then some -- and was gone!

How then did this boy find such wealth?  Let's check it out!

The adventure led to the sewers (I plan to write this up for the 1PD 2011 contest) where the PC's encountered a round metallic gate filled with blackness.  Runes around the edges of the gate said --

"Take a chance"  "Try your luck"  "There's a fortune to be won"

Would the PC's go inside?  They did.

Inside stood an enigmatic entity.  Six fingers on each hand and six slender tongues in its mouth.

"Would you like to draw a card?  You may choose from one to three, but the number you name you must draw or you will not leave this chamber."


Some drew and some didn't.  The cards fell wherever they may.

Some won fortunes and benefits and two were lost.  One to the Void and one to the Donjon.

---

Here's the point of my story.  

Everyone had a great time.  They embraced the two tragedies as "plot hooks".  

"We'll just have to go save Oryx and Hanuman, that's all there is to it."

I think this worked for a couple of reasons:

1. We're a bit older and we're more pragmatic.  It's just a game.  More importantly,
2. THE OUTCOMES WERE ENTIRELY THE CHOICE OF THE PLAYER.

There was no pressure to enter the door.  Do it or don't.  Your call.

There was no pressure to draw cards.  Do it or don't.  Your call.

I think that players can live with RANDOM OUTCOMES for good or ill, if they know that THEY made the choice and weren't forced into doing something.  

That's the moral of the story.  Random is good as long as players can control the choices their characters make.

One Year Anniversary

One year ago, I started this blog (a little before/on) my birthday.  I've now been writing up stuff and putting it out there for all of you (and for me) for a little over a year.

I still enjoy doing it immensely, so I expect that another year is in the offing.

Here's a short list of some of the links/posts that I especially enjoyed sharing.  I hope you find them interesting the second time around.  If you haven't seen them; have a look.

make-your-own-minis.html

favorite-tables-startling-statues.html

my-gm-secret.html

polyhedral-dice-adventure-cards.html

creating-dungeon-with-my-grandson-matt.html

gm-helper-cards.html

wilderness-alphabet-book-published.html

upwords-to-add-dimensionality-to.html

death-dismemberment-and-dangerous.html

three-word-npcs.html

sandbox-philosophy-provided-by-fate.html

bargain-bin-monsters.html

maze-of-peril-not-4e-adventure.html

q1-evil-temple-of-fraz-urbluu-part-1.html

shallowness-of-my-blog-plus-crafts.html

random-details-for-empty-corridors.html

so-when-big-party-searches-for-secret.html

making-upcycled-dungeon-tiles.html

old-school-gamer-bling-colored-potions.html

PS: today is my birthday!  :)

Queston Map

Tony over at roleplay-geek blogged about a method to make a GoogleMap out of your campaign map.  You use a site called http://www.maplib.net/.  You need to sign up for a free account first.

I thought I'd give it a try and the results are below.

Although my blog is CC -- this map is copyrighted by me.  Sorry.  I might want to include it in a book someday and I worked really hard on it a few years ago.  :)

There are many cities/places on the map itself.  The current CotMA campaign takes place just outside Ravensport on the island kingdom of Whair.  The distance between the hash marks is 10 leagues.

I really like this tool and I expect to use it more and more.  Check it out!