Stories, Plot and Improv

I thought this was an interesting read, related to GMing a game.

Zombies

This past Friday, the undead walked in Memphis.




Tons more pics available here.

and here

Zombie Sign?

Tomorrow I'm going to go do a Zombie Walk in Memphis. We did it last year and it was a blast!

This year, I keep thinking about carrying a sign with me.

So, what do you think?

A- No sign. Zombies don't need signs.

B- "THE END IS NIGH"

C- "Equal Rights for the Undead!"

D- "Traditional Marriage: 1 Zombie and 1 Victim"

Thanks for your participation!

Five Geek Social Fallacies

http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html

Woo! (Youth Villages 5k Run)

Finally posted times for the Youth Villages 5k, which I did last year, and this year.

http://www.besttimescct.com/results/YV08.txt

I did it in 24:17, which is my best time for a 5k, and I'm more than a little pleased with myself.

Woo!!

Rock Band: Still Rocks

I haven't talked about Rock Band much lately.

My crew hasn't been playing as much lately, as we've all been kinda busy with all kinds of other stuff, but I've cranked it up a few times, and have been working on getting through the solo tour on the "hard" difficulty setting. I've finished 70 or so of the 80 or so songs that we have on the game, but the one that I'm unable to get past so far is Foreplay/Long Time by Boston. Here is a video of the song on drums (video is obviously not me). I can't get past the 00:38 second mark, or so.

I've tried it two dozen or so times, hoping that practice would make perfect, but something about the rhythm of the song is escaping me, I think.

I find that I wake up with songs stuck in my head sometimes, as happened this morning, so before heading in to work, I sat down and played Crushcrushcrush on drums, and rocked it. It's a terrifically fun song to play.

Dwarf Fortress

I outfitted the seven dwarves in my settlement party with everything that I thought they'd need. An anvil, and some wood and stone to build a smith, and some copper bars to forge into picks. A bunch of seeds for creating some subterranean farms, and some animals for meat.

They found a site near a large stream, and pitched the first couple of buildings. Got the picks crafted and then a couple of the dwarves set to tunneling into the rock. I had a new scheme for a fortress layout, so I marked off areas within the rock for the miners to tunnel through. They made a goodly bit of progress, when we had a visitor. An ettin caught one dwarf out in the open and pulverized him, then came down the entrance to my partially built fortress. He stomped through the halls, killing dwarves as he found them.

Sigh.

But I launched another group to go and reclaim. Thanks to the dwarven king, it was a strong party, seven hammerdwarves, seven axedwarves and seven crossbowdwarves. They haven't seen the ettin yet, but the hammerdwarves and crossbowdwarves have a defensive line outside the fort, while the axedwarves have been stood down and are continuing the digging operation.

Dwarf Fortress

Nerd on Nerd Action

I am a huge game nerd.

With that said, I was amazed by the nerdiness of this poster:

(Cue nasally lecture voice from the Simpson's comic book guy)
Quote:
My birth year is 1937 and I turned 70 in April of this year. Our original core group of 9 guys all grew up together and we are all within a few years of each others ages. Out of the original 9, 5 of us still live in the same neighborhood and play regularly. The other 4 still show up about 4-6 times a year. They each have their own campaigns.

We started an organized twice-weekly game night in 1956 playing cards, boardgames, and wargames that we made up. We had played together from early childhood (cowboys and indians was a long time favorite), we were into westerns, fairy & folktales, science fiction and alot of other things. I remember homemade bow & arrows, spears, swords, staffs etc., and hunting with our fathers and grandfathers, and getting old enough to get our first guns.

Starting in 1956 (noted above) up until 1971 we had played about 1400 game sessions. Then in early April 1971, a cousin of one of my friends sent him a copy of the Fantasy section of Chainmail. We got hooked on it quickly and played it right up until the same cousin sent a copy of D&D in February 1974 and we immediately converted our Chainmail campaign over to D&D.

Starting with Chainmail Fantasy and continuing with OD&D we played our 1000th gaming session in January of 1982, our 2000th in December 1995 and our most recent was number 2832. One of our goals is to reach 3000 before any of us dies of old age or becomes to senile to play. ;)

We have played through about 284 years of game time in the main campaign and have four OD&D side campaigns in the same world. I call the main campaign the Tarrozian Campaign and it is very deadly. TPK's are common and getting a group of characters to 4th level is always a cause for celebration. I also have two OAD&D campaign which share the same world(but not the same as the OD&D world).

We have dabbled a little tiny bit in Holmes basic, BX, BECMI and the Rules Cyclopedia.

We have played through 284 years of game time in the main campaign and the original core group of players have had between (I am guessing here) 500-700 characters each. In spite of about 350 TPK's, each of us have retired about 10-18 characters apiece. But in some gaming sessions we have went through 8-10 characters each.

Edit: I have been looking through some old notes and it is probably closer to 450 TPK's.


Edit:(counting from 1956 we are at 4232 gaming sessions, counting from the start of the Chainmail Fantasy (our version of proto D&D) campaign in April of 1971 we are at 2832 gaming sessions as of 06/23/2007)


Edit: (2884 gaming sessions, about 360 TPks and 290 years of game time as of 10/30/2007)

Edit: (2928 gaming sessions, and 294 years of game time as of 01/24/2008)

Edit(add) Our typical gaming session is about 12 hours in length which works out to about 36 days of game time on the average. (includes travel time and in-town time which usually passes very quickly, most but not all the time) Ten game sessions is roughly a year of game time, and we usually go through about 7-8 game years per year, although we are picking up the frequency of gaming so that is approaching 10 game years per year now.

A surviving character will usually reach 4th level in about one game year and 6th level by the end of the second game year. By 4th level a fighting-man (as an example) would have a magic weapon, a 50% chance of magic armor, some other magic item and would have saved about 2000 GP after all spending etc was accounted for and would have that amount available to outfit his next foray into the wilderness or a dungeon or whatever. By 6th level a fighting man would have a magic weapon, magic armor, 1 or 2 other magic items and have accumulated about 8000 GP. He would also have attracted the first few of his permanent followers by this point based on his Charisma.

The odds of a starting 1st level character reaching 4th level is roughly 1 in 6. The odds of a 4th level character reaching 6th level is roughly 1 in 2. The odds of a 6th level character reaching 8th level is roughly 1 in 2.

Survival is tough, magic is hard to come by and special, my players seem to like it this way and when I play I like it this way as a player.

/quote

The "Role" in Role Playing

So I enjoy some Role in my tabletop RPG.

Maybe some gaming groups are blessed by such talented and motivated role players that no reward system or mechanics are required. Good for them. I don't play with Patrick Stewart or Quentin Tarantino though, despite that I do have the luxury of playing with a generally terrific bunch of people. I'm sure anyone who's sat at a table with D&D nerds has played with people who had little or no Role in their RPG. All metagamey, all mechanics. If that's fine for them, then cool.

The folks that I play with general do a good job about throwing some Role into their Playing. My dwarves stay dwarf-y, folks nibble at story driven bits ("That's the man that killed my father!"), and so on. But I like having a mechanism within the game that provides some reward for getting into it. I've played or looked at a couple of systems that do have good mechanics for this kind of thing. Shadow of Yesterday, Riddle of Steel, Burning Wheel, to name a few. But lately I've been scrounging around in the dark corners of my brain for a way to add some mechanical whumph to Role Playing in D&D. I've seen the "Sweet 20" Keys and stuff, which is cool, but I'm not really looking for an xp conversion. I'm also not really looking for generic stuff like "My dwarf is greedy, likes to gamble and drink booze." Or "my guy always protects the innocent". I think what I'm looking for is building solid stories around characters, and then having them *play* those characters. A lot of my D&D play in recent memory has been minimal on the background. Folks have character sheets? Great, then we're ready to go! I recall the Vampire days, having 8+ written pages of back ground, and well developed characters, but that's a whole different system. Almost a different sport.

I want to find ways to motivate the characters.

I considered, for my upcoming Tower of the Necromancer game, handing out pregenerated role playing bits, like "Necromancy is wicked. End of story.", and "Love conquers all." This applies to my Necromancer story in a very real way. Also in a very specific way. Those two would make the characters likely to lean one way or the other when it comes time for decisions, and that's good conflict.

Sometimes "Greedy" is just too broad, and "I love my family and would do anything to protect them" is way too narrow. "I'm afraid of water" is kindof a lame role playing schtick. Mostly, I think because its basically: I am afraid of this one physical thing. Sure - it can mean complications or changing plans, but its not as much fun as something which can force conflict, which has room for an opposing view...

I thought about a system where they take rp bits:
"Organized religion is a sham, and the practitioners are con artists", or "The forces of King Nychek killed my family and I am sworn to revenge", or "I swore to never let someone humiliate me again", or even "I always believe that my plan is the right one". And assign dice to them. For 1st level folks in D&D, each one has a value of 1d4. When a conflict comes into play - and I'm talking mostly about a skill check, maybe for combat, once per encounter - they get to roll that 1d4 in addition to their d20 for the check. As time goes on, or better - after they've used it, and it becomes a stronger motivation for their character, the dice change, in number or in size.
I've thought too about bastardizing TSOY's system, and letting them take keys, and giving an XP bonus to people who have x key points.
Maybe a way to give someone credit for being in character the ENTIRE game session.


Ridiculous afterthought: I almost titled this post "The role of 'role' in Role Playing"... because I'm so clever.

Stolen quote

"I think there's plenty of room for icey Nordic wastelands filled with viking giant-slayers to the north, giant-cat-riding amazon and dinosaur-infested jungles to the south, and the crumbling ruins of a forgotten empire ruled by the last in the line of a dynasty of mad god-kings in the east...I'm picturing a collection of petty kingdoms in the center, with constant battles waged between psychopathic warlords. Bandits and humanoids plague the once great roads that have fallen into disrepair, and a few struggling communities dot the landscape, each ruled with an iron fist by one of a rogue's gallery of necromancers, demon-cults, dragons, vampires, and whatever else I can think of. And to the west is the great sea, underwhich lie the ruins of an ancient civilization who's artifacts are still happened upon from time to time in the most secluded parts of the world...talismans that drive men mad with power and bring the entire world to the brink of destruction..."

From here, which was in turn from here

And more here..

My Reading List

So I finished A Game of Thrones. Loved it. A Clash of Kings (the second book in that series) is sitting here not 12 inches away from my laptop. Love the characters, love the story.

I picked up The Black Company, but put it back down after a dozen or so pages. I fear it has not grasped my attention.

I got my hands on The Bloody Crown of Conan, which contains The People of the Black Circle, The Hour of the Dragon, and A Witch Shall Be Born. I'm only.... 4 pages in, and already I love it. The writing.. is just so descriptive. Evocative. Quite frankly, I keep reading these authors, and wondering how I could possibly write anything remotely comparable.

I also picked up one of the Forgotten Realms Drow books. And, like the Black Company, I put it back down in relatively short order.

Funny how sometimes certain things appeal to you while others do not.

In other news..

I'm miserably tired at work today, and so am completely unable to focus on any work related stuff that I should be doing. I hate days like this.

However, I am thrilled that GTA IV will be in my hands on Wendesday, April 30th. I do not intend for there to be any miscommunication, like last time.

Writing

I sat down yesterday and began to write.

I ended up staying up way too late and hammering out just over six thousand words.

I've long fancied writing, but haven't had the motivation to start, nor the story to write.

I'd kicked around a seed for a story, and so I just jumped into it. And its rather exciting. But it also fills me with anxiety and nervousness. What if I'm a terrible writer? Will my friends be able to tell me? Will I be able to listen? What if I attack it with gusto for a week, and then forget that it even exists?

It seems to me that writing is much like cooking. Everyone has their own slightly unique style to it. Some people are great cooks, some people are terrible cooks, and some people are just okay cooks.

Other random anecdote: A book has to rely on both story and style, I think. If either is lacking, then it doesn't matter how good the other is.

Anyway, this is the sound of me fretting.

Cingular Wireless

I did a post earlier today that was work related, and complained about the Blackberry Curve.

I'm just hanging out this evening, and it resonated with me that there are two sides to every coin, and this is certainly no exception. Its fun for me to blog about the terrible or bad or hectic stuff at work, but more rarely the rewarding, cool or excellent stuff. So here's some excellent stuff.

Our organization uses Cingular (THE NEW AT&T) for our cell phone needs, and the folks at the local corporate store branch are fucking awesome. That's right, fucking awesome.

Some weeks, I'm in there once a day, though usually, its a few times a month. I have to get new phones, replace old phones, all kinds of stuff - we've got like 40 cell phones. Every single person in the store is friendly, courteous, professional, and eager. They know me by sight, when I walk in, and are all incredibly personable.

So hey! There is your dose of awesome in my work day.

If you live in Memphis or North Mississippi, you'll find a fantastic bunch of folks at the AT&T store in the Southaven Town Center Mall, right by Highway 55.

Memphis RPG Day (?)

So after having read this blog post, talking about RPG games and market appeal and such, as well as this forum thread, which links to this msnbc article is leaves me musing about the appeal of Role Playing Games to the public audience. As someone who spends a large percentage of their time and attention on games, I'm interested in the future of RPGs, and in introducing new players to RPGs.

Some of the talk on the D&D 4e forums has been related to whether D&D4 targets brand new players, unfamiliar with D&D, or old school players. That argument aside, I can glean one gem from it. We need to target new players. I'm not going to sit here and claim that D&D is some lost art or magic, about to die, if only we could get people to care. However, as much as I love Role Playing Games, I am eager to see new players get involved, as much for selfish reasons (I can play RPGs *with* them!!), as for longevity and posterity.

I'm being long winded and rambly, but here's where I'm headed:

I'd love to get some like minded folks together and try to do a (Local) RPG day. Memphis in this case, of course. I'm interested in getting all of my fellow 8-5 nerd couples crowd, and all of the other demographics out there that I think would love some D&D or Dogs in the Vineyard or Shadowrun or Modern d20 or whatever - I'd love to get them together and introduce them to Role Playing Games.

It bothers me that Memphis seems to have no gaming community whatsoever.

So here's what I'm kicking around in my head:

Picking a date, asking some fellow gamer nerds if they'll prep something and be prepared to run, and then doing a Memphis RPG Day somewhere. I'm not sure how I'd entice people who are not necessarily gamers to come, or perhaps even weed out the weird/bad/scary elements, but I'm still thinking about it. I'd love to introduce new people to the hobby. Having read that blog post that I linked at the beginning of this, I couldn't help but think about all of the small social groups, unexposed to Role Playing Games, who might love it, but are unlikely to pick up 600 pages of rules and say, "Hey, lets give this a shot!". Its going to take people running games that are accessible to people who may not consider themselves as "gaming nerds".

Memphis RPG Day (?)

So after having read this blog post, talking about RPG games and market appeal and such, as well as this forum thread, which links to this msnbc article is leaves me musing about the appeal of Role Playing Games to the public audience. As someone who spends a large percentage of their time and attention on games, I'm interested in the future of RPGs, and in introducing new players to RPGs.

Some of the talk on the D&D 4e forums has been related to whether D&D4 targets brand new players, unfamiliar with D&D, or old school players. That argument aside, I can glean one gem from it. We need to target new players. I'm not going to sit here and claim that D&D is some lost art or magic, about to die, if only we could get people to care. However, as much as I love Role Playing Games, I am eager to see new players get involved, as much for selfish reasons (I can play RPGs *with* them!!), as for longevity and posterity.

I'm being long winded and rambly, but here's where I'm headed:

I'd love to get some like minded folks together and try to do a (Local) RPG day. Memphis in this case, of course. I'm interested in getting all of my fellow 8-5 nerd couples crowd, and all of the other demographics out there that I think would love some D&D or Dogs in the Vineyard or Shadowrun or Modern d20 or whatever - I'd love to get them together and introduce them to Role Playing Games.

It bothers me that Memphis seems to have no gaming community whatsoever.

So here's what I'm kicking around in my head:

Picking a date, asking some fellow gamer nerds if they'll prep something and be prepared to run, and then doing a Memphis RPG Day somewhere. I'm not sure how I'd entice people who are not necessarily gamers to come, or perhaps even weed out the weird/bad/scary elements, but I'm still thinking about it. I'd love to introduce new people to the hobby. Having read that blog post that I linked at the beginning of this, I couldn't help but think about all of the small social groups, unexposed to Role Playing Games, who might love it, but are unlikely to pick up 600 pages of rules and say, "Hey, lets give this a shot!". Its going to take people running games that are accessible to people who may not consider themselves as "gaming nerds".

Blackberry Curve

I keep having problems with the Blackberry Curve.

One of my hats says "Telecom Manager" and that includes taking care of all of our cellular stuff. We've got a bunch of phones, some of which are Blackberry Curve phones. We got two awhile back, which have worked fine, 100%. Later we got two more, both of which I had to replace within a few days because they would not hold a charge. It wasn't the battery - we tried replacing that. It was the phone itself. Then, a month or two later, we had to replace another of those - replacing the replacement! Because of the same problem.

Now, I got two more of them, one seems to work fine (though we'll see whether it holds a charge or not), while the other works fine, unless you try to set the time, at which point the device reboots. So its two days and a few hours behind.

game ideas

Today feels like a day for blogging.

So I have a couple of game ideas kicking around my head for running D&D. I seem to be gravitating toward ideas that somehow turn the paradigm on its head. I am unlikely to use these, but mulling over them makes me think myself clever.

Underwater! The PCs are merfolk, or sea elves, or otherwise aquatic kind of folks.

Backwards D&D. Generations ago, the ever present fighting between the High Races (dwarves, elves, humans, etc) and the Low Races -or Monstrous Races - (kobolds, goblins, ogres, orcs, bugbears, hobgoblins, etc) took a turn. The monstrous races chased the High Races out of their cities and forests and clanholds. Now the PCs, members of the High Races, live in dank dungeons beneath the ground, hiding from the monsters. From time to time, bands of monsters invade their hidden homes, seeking loot and murder.

a book!

Would you believe that I finished a book?

I am hard pressed to believe it myself.

Last night I finished A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. I know, I know, I'm a few years behind.

I enjoyed it immensely.

My analysis:

I like how the story turns. Every big "bang" in the story is something that makes me think in Role Playing Game terms, as a DM, and each bang makes me consider how the author is steering the story TOWARD conflict, which is obviously important in both games and in books. Games and books about heroes sitting around in a happy peaceful land are typically un-exciting.

I like how Martin pulls no punches and doesn't hesitate to kill characters. This serves to more fully invest me in the story. I'm a big fan of (my perception of) grim and gritty - when people hack at each other with pointy metal things, bad stuff is bound to happen. It also speaks to motivation, I find myself never having eye rolling moments like when watching movies, muttering at the screen to the bad guy "will you please just kill him (the hero) already?!?!"

Next:

The Black Company by Glen Cook, followed by the second George R. R. Martin book.