Game Bastardization Thoughts

Currently our group is having a lot of fun with 5th edition D&D in vanilla form. 

As always though a person gets to looking around for some fun ways to spice things up a bit. There is just something about character creation that seems lacking and a bit too optimal in my opinion. 

So as we get near to looking for a new adventure for my Wednesday night group which is nearing the end of the Lost Mines of Phandelver module I have been giving thought to running the Tyranny of Dragons (ToD) series, Horde of the Dragon Queen (HotDQ) and Rise of Tiamat (RoT). Having read through it a bit it looks like a fun pair of modules and to be honest I kind of like the low prep, I also run a full sandbox game which is high prep.

So here is my idea for rolling up the new characters:

1. Roll for race. This can be done with 1d10, any races with a sub-race gives the player the option to roll for it as well or play the race as it sits.
2. Roll for class, I am debating this a bit and instead letting them declare class before rolling stats.
3. Stat rolling 3d6 down the line, play what you get. Have toyed with the idea of each player rolling a stat for each other.
4. Incorporating the Hackmaster flaws list with each player having to take one flaw for their character.

We tend to play pretty lighthearted games with humor throughout and I figured it would add a bit different dynamic to the game, but I kind of question if this should be done on a ToD campaign or I should save it for a custom campaign.

Going to run it by my group of course, but if anyone has any input or thoughts on the idea I would appreciate the feedback.

Savage Worlds Has My Interest

Went out and bought the Savage Worlds (SW) core manual a bit ago and have probably read through it four times now. Each time I read through it I find myself falling more and more in love with it.

Initially I bought it on a bit of a whim after hearing one of my favorite podcasts talk about it regularly +Gamerstable and how flexible it was. Admittedly I was a bit skeptical because they made it sound too easy to use for any scenario you could think of. After reading it I realized they were actually under selling the system a bit.

Core book gives you anything you may need to run a game, obviously it has character build details like just about any other core book would. What it also includes is a wide range of vehicles, monsters, magic, feats etc. It also includes clearly defined rules for creating custom items, vehicles, NPCs, monsters and so on. The way it is put together is very intuitive and logical to my mind.

Being new to DMing I wanted something that was easy for the players and myself to understand, could easily be modified for any occasion and just got everyone playing quickly, this fits those requirements.

So I am know adding and yet another game night specifically for my daughter and her friends to play a zombie scenario game that begins in the town we live in. I am going to have them build themselves with minor modifications and turn them loose on the town. This will make mapping a simple process of printing off Google maps of the area and using local landmarks, businesses and even people they recognize in order to produce moral dilemmas within the game.

Enough typing, back to planning. I just can't say enough about the system at this point and can't wait to see it in actual play.

I miss playing in person

Seems a pretty basic statement but let me explain (you knew I was going to anyways).

Currently have two groups I am running in 5th edition D&D. One group is running through Lost Mine of Phandelver (LMoP) and another group stemmed from the first group that we casually are calling Off Day Delves (ODD). We have a player that can only make every other week so I drew up a map and decided to run a sandbox to keep the others gaming on a weekly basis.

It has been working out well and it has been a lot of fun, but we have been using Roll20 to do our gaming despite us all working together. Most of this is a logistical issue with space, children and fuel cost being a factor.

Let me say before this gets taken the wrong way that I find the amount of technology that makes online playing a reality to be amazing, in fact it has drawn me in even further than I may have through traditional measures. I played a variety of systems and game styles thanks to G+ and their chat client with people I met through various groups on G+ that I would have probably never even investigated. For that reason I am very appreciative of this technology existing. 

The problem I am having is that running a game as DM feels painfully clunky, like it is almost there but it isn't. Being that I have been running these groups for about 2 months now and it still feels disconnected to me.

I miss seeing peoples reactions, the table talk, conspiring among players, passing notes and the simple physical act of rolling the dice. It just seems muted playing digitally.

OK I have had a few beers so I am rambling a little bit, but I am pretty sure I am going to be running my Savage Worlds campaign in person only.

Ermagherd busy busy busy

I started writing this entry about two weeks ago and then got sidetracked again, I honestly feel bad about that as I had hoped to get back into regular updates again.

So let me catch you all up to speed with where I am at in my current gaming.

Started running a game of LMoP (Lost Mines of Phandelver) using the 5th edition ruleset. It has been a lot of fun so far and to add to the enjoyment my daughter is running her first character as well in the game and doing awesome with it so far. It did take her a couple games to get into it but she has got it now.

Anyways our group plays by way of Roll20 even though we all work together and live in the same town, it just works out better due to multiple reasons. We do plan to do some live gaming together but probably more during summer for BBQ and beers outside while playing.

Our group also has a player who can only meet every other week due to his band rehearsals (he plays jazz bass) and since the rest of us want to run weekly the obvious answer is to start an off week game of course. So this week will be our first off week game.

I am not sure what else to update with except that I am really liking the 5th edition D&D, something about it seems more inviting to new players and DMs. I think it is a the more stripped nature of the rules leaving a lot more to DM caveat or house rules and home brew. I am sure a lot of this is due to the  only books out currently are the DMG, PHB and the MM along with a couple published modules, but honestly I am not so sure that is the sole reason. I am not experienced enough to say with any authority though so I will leave that to more seasoned gamers.

The off week game is going to be fully homebrew and open world instead of directed. Kind of want to see what happens when I just let the players decide what they want to do. I have a variety of dungeons mapped and populated, plenty of NPCs to interact with and a city for them to start in. I figure some rat chasing scenarios to get them leveled up a bit and on the road to bigger things.

Oh well enough of my rambling, got some dungeon building to finish up and make sure I have my notes all ready for tomorrows game.

Board Games Will Suffice

Well things have been hectic for me the last couple weeks but seem to have finally settled down. Apologies for not posting, but to be honest I didn't feel I had much to write about. Then I got to thinking about what I could talk about gaming related and realized I have been playing a lot of board type games on our very random family nights. So the next few posts will be about what games the two of us play that are not exactly RPG related but falls into the genre at the same time.


Munchkin

Everyone but me seems to have found this game years ago, apparently I have lived a sheltered life in relation to gaming.

I purchased this game on a whim since I knew little about it but what little I did know always was favorable. So one day after a Sunday breakfast we journeyed to our local game store Adventures Underground, which by the way is an awesome store with a great selection and staff (shameless plug), and after walking the game aisles for a bit trying to decide on something we decided on Munchkin.

Now allow me to explain first off that a game purchase is a pretty big deal at this point in life as money is tight and we are really looking for something that is going to entertain us for more than just an initial play. We pretty well know the standard board games like Monopoly, Risk, Life and the sort but to be honest they are games for people in old folks homes and neither myself nor my daughter are ready for the retirement center yet. /end side tangent/

With the trickeries of payment handled we leave with box in hand and decide to have a cup of coffee at the local spot and give the game a test play. This is where a game can fly or fall because you need defined rules in order to start, but too many or too complicated a rule set and you begin to get lost in the lawyering of the game instead.

Munchkin I am glad to say has none of those issues. It does have a couple pages of rules but it boils down to the following:

• Deal 4 cards from each deck
• If in your hand lay out race and class you will be playing
• On your turn kick in the door
• Fight beast on other side or run like hell
• If fight and win, collect a level and treasure 
• If fight and fail take loss in stride as indicated on monster card
• If run success, catch your breath
• If run fail, take loss indicated on monster card.
• If no monster is found on the other side of the door you may choose to fight one from your own hand.
• Make sure you only have 5 cards in hand at end of turn either by putting them in play, discarding them or donating to another player.

Or as the official rules state:

1. Kick open the door
2. Look for trouble
3. Loot the room
4. Charity

All your weapons, armor and class bonuses add up easily enough and each battle you win gains you a level unless indicated otherwise.

That is pretty much it for straight play....but just to make things interesting you are also allowed to make opponents lives more difficult or easier at your discretion. Sometimes you can throw cards that add monsters, remove items or otherwise change the field of play. You may also assist in battle either out of the kindness of your heart (yeah right!) or in trade for an item or share of treasure.

Super simple but every time you play it is a different game. If you get tired of it there are numerous expansions available which add themes like zombies, Cthulhu, wild west and so on to the decks.

This game has quickly found it's way into our hearts, with a rules light system and allowances for house rules I am sure it will continue to give us good times as a family as well as with friends for years to come.

John

Been busy

Apologies for not updating because life has gotten in the way of more enjoyable pursuits. Hope to have things back to normal and updates of the gaming type beginning next week.

Slacking and Reading

Haven't had much to write on the last week, busy at work and in general slacking when not working.

So what have I been doing gamewise?

Mostly reading books and most these books have little to do with the type of campaign I will be running but let me give a list of my current reads:

Monster Hunters International by Larry Correia
A fun read so far and it takes kind of a different approach to the usual in regards to a wide variety of monsters. Tosses in a bit of a love story of course but nothing too sappy, plenty of humor and of course plenty of action. There is rumor of a movie based on it but I am sure it will be butchered compared to the book (how hipster of me). If you haven't read it then I recommend it.

Dies The Fire by S.M. Stirling
So having not done any real research into this series I instead picked it up on the recommendation of a friend and I am enjoying it so far. It really appeals to my survivalist nature and my post apocalyptic fetish. It does seem a bit familiar in the story to the TV series Revolution, although I am only at the fourth chapter or so and I have more hope for this than the TV series delivered. Not sure if the two are related but I will probably look that up when I remember to. This is the first book in the "Emberverse" series.

Bioshock Rapture by John Shirley
As a fan of the Bioshock universe and how it lightly touches into steampunk/dieselpunk I picked this up and have been enjoying it considerably. Gives a lot more background into the world and the events leading up to where the game begins. Well written and easy to read. Another book I am only about a quarter of the way into but always look forward to sitting down with it.

Well that's it for now, hoping to have some more interesting thoughts soon.

~John~