MSJX Blog

Today I want to mention Matt Jackson's MSJX blog. 

 

MSJX is full of fun gaming stuff.  Little games, small maps, compact character sheets, actual game plays.  I always enjoy reading it.

 

Two of my favorite things are the maps of Burrowmoor and Willowford that Matt did.  These maps focus two areas in James Spahn's mini setting Willowford Valley that appears in his White Box Omnibus.  The maps help flesh out the setting in a nice way.

 

The blog is here. 

Space Viking for Traveller

Many years ago I wrote a blog post about the novel Space Viking by H. Beam Piper and how I always wanted to play a Traveller game in that setting.  I wrote how complex the background was and how

some of the technology differed from Traveller so I had never done it.  Well, I still haven't done it but that hasn't stopped me from thinking about it.

Since I can't do a direct conversion and I don't want to use the Sword Worlds from the Third Imperium I've decided that I should create a setting has the feel of the book.  Namely, humanity is coming out of a Long Night after the collapse of a large star-spanning empire/federation.  Most planets have not regained spaceflight, let alone interstellar flight.  Those that have have only started to voyage outward and there is still much unknown about the remnants of the empire.  And some of the planets will have regressed pretty far technologically, as far back as preindustrial.

I've thought of this before but I didn't know how to pull this off when randomly creating the couple of subsectors I wanted to start with.  How do I keep the tech levels low enough for most of the worlds?  How do I ensure that there are two or three systems that have a high enough tech level but not too high?  The randomness of the subsector creation project would make it difficult..

So, the answer may seem obvious to you but, to be honest, I'm not very good at modifying game rules or even thinking my way out of the box created by the rulebooks.  I've always been this way for some reason.  I've never wanted to tamper with games because I don't want to mess them up.  I really can't explain why.  It's probably the same reason I have troubles writing in a fresh blank book.  I don't want to besmirch it with my lame thoughts and ideas.

However, I've been reading the blog Den of the Lizard King lately and I've drawn inspiration and practical advice from it.  Den of the Lizard King is the blog of Omer Golan-Joel.  He runs Stellagama games and has done a lot with Traveller and Cepheus.  One of the main things that has inspired me is his posts about low tech settings he has worked on called Hard Space and Harsh beginnings.  These really got me thinking about how I could apply what he was been writing to my desired setting.

Then I ran across one particular post which freed my mind up and gave me a practical method to create the subsectors I need.  The post is called "Hard Space: Thoughts on World Generation".  In it he discusses the population levels, government types and the law levels for each of the worlds.  And then he creates his own random tables customized to get the results to fit his setting.  This was a revelation to me.  I don't know why is was, other than me being slow and not very creative.

Then I re-read this in Book 3: 

Finally, the referee should always feel free to create worlds which have been deliberately (rather than randomly) generated.

Now, I believe I will be able to create the Traveller setting that I've always wanted.  Of course it won't be Space Viking but that's ok.  It will be something I can be happy creating and be close enough for my tastes. All I had to do was see an example of how to do it and  give myself permission to deviate from the book.

Hexgen

Mr. Raston over at the Lizard Man Diary Blog created an interesting little hex crawl.  What caught my interest is that he used an online map generator called Hexgen to create the map.  I always like map generators.  I haven't played with it much so I don't really know its capabilites.  The image is a randomly generated map without any modifications.  You can find it here:  Hexgen.

Gundobad Games

 Gundobad Games is a gaming blog written by "a professional ancient/medieval historian who teaches at the university level."

I really like this one because it blends ancient and medieval history with gaming.  It's fun as well as educational.  He's currently discussing Merovingian Gaul/France and how to build a campaign around it.  In the past he's covered creating quick histories for a campaign, archaeology and rpgs, the decline and fall of civilizations and more.  Check it out here.

Lawful Doesn't Mean Good

This is from the blog Treasure Hunters HQ.  It is an excellent example of lawful not being good drawn from history.

https://treasurehuntershq.blogspot.com/2019/08/lawful-doesnt-mean-good.html

The Hero's Journey 2nd Edition

James Spahn is going to do a second edition of The Hero's Journey.  The interesting and fun changes the made to S&W White Box really hit a sweet spot for me.  I can't wait to see what he does with the new edition.  You can read about it at his blog Halfling's Luck.  Oh, and he has the cover art posted.  I really like it.

The OSR News

James Smith, of the "Dreams of Mythic Fantasy" blog, writes a weekly column called The OSR News.  It's a roundup of newly published products, reviews, blog post spotlights and news.

It really helpful, cool and he puts a lot of work into it.  You can find the posts here.

Descending Armor Class

You learn something new everyday.  I didn't realize that this was the origin of descending armor class in original D&D.  It's explained here at the Playing at the World blog.

Originally it was intended that you needed to roll 20 - AC.  So AC 2 needed an 18 or higher.

How He Started His Sandbox

+Michael S aka Chgowiz who writes Chicagowiz's Blog wrote an interesting post about how he started his long running sandbox game.  I found this not only helpful but timely as I have been trying to create a sandbox setting to start a new group in.  I have a solid, if cliched, idea for the foundation and a way to tie the group together and to the setting.  And I have three or four adventure hooks to start out with, a starting base with key npc's, as well as an overarching plot if I want to use it.  My problem is that whenever I try to do a project like this is that I become overwhelmed, lose my self-confidence and end up almost paralyzed with doubt and indecision.  I had read Michael's excellent post "Dispelling a myth - Sandbox prep" previously but apparently hadn't taken it to heart.  However, "How I Started My Sandbox" seemed to pull it all together for me and helped ease my doubts to the point where I can now put the first seven or eight hexes down on paper and key them with the adventures I have in mind.  Thanks, Michael!

Potentia Mundi - Blog Shout Out

I've been looking at the blog Potentia Mundi by Finn Cullen.  Finn has several cool BoL adventures posted there as well as a lot of material for the GUMSHOE system which includes Trail of Cthulhu.  He also posts under the name Finn at the BoL forum Champions of Lemuria.

The Classics

I saw this on the What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse... blog.  I couldn't pass it up.  Tickles my funny bone.

A Belated Thank You

I have been very remiss.  In January I received a package in the mail that contained a copy of the outstanding  Creature Compendium by +Richard LeBlanc, published by New Big Dragon Games.  You see, I had entered a Christmas drawing at Richard's blog Save Vs. Dragon.  And because I never win anything, I had completely forgotten about it.  Well, Richard contacted me to make sure I knew that I had won.  I was pretty excited.  A few weeks later, I had the book in my hands.  And it is a pretty cool book.  It contains a large variety of new and strange creatures for your old school campaigns.  The best part is that he included stats for both Oe/1e and my preferred BX.

So, thank you Richard.  Though I am late I much appreciate the prize.

#RPGaDAY2015 Day 29: Favorite RPG Website/Blog

Day 29: Favorite RPG Website/Blog
Another toughie for me.  I like several. 

I like reading the forums and the reviews on RPG.net.

I like the blog Strange Stones by the Venomous Pao.  Cool Barbarians of Lemuria posts and the G-Man BoL adventures keep me going back.  Also nice Mini Six and Labyrinth Lord stuff.

I enjoy The Most Unread Blog on the Internet.  Ever. Tommy Brownell writes really good reviews on a wide variety of games and its one of my first stops when I am looking information I trust.

Then there's Vargold:  The Wolf-Time by the Good Professor, Rob Barrett.  He likes several games that I like (BoL)and teaches college level courses on fantasy literature.  Which I think is extremely cool.  I also like the blogs subtitle:  Barbaric Yawps on Comics, Role-Playing, and Spec-Fic.

Heroes & Other Worlds blog by C.R. Brandon.  All about the wonder of his game.  Mr. Brandon also writes the Sword & Shield blog.

And a new blog for me.  die heart by Sophia Brandt.  I have found myself reading her blog more and more often.  Not only does she write helpful reviews but she is a Linux user also.  (I am writing this on Lubuntu running off of a flash drive.)


#RPGaDAY2015

#RPGaDay Day 4: Most Surprising Game

Day 4:  Most Surprising Game

The game that most surprised me is Servants of Gaius by Bedrock Games.  The mechanical aspects didn't surprise me, the theme did.  The characters are in a secret organization in the service of the Roman emperor Gaius, aka Caligula, fighting a conspiracy against the Empire.  Having studied history a bit I had trouble with Caligula being portrayed as a good guy.  His historical reputation stemmed from a negative propaganda campaign by the conspirators.

So, I love the ancient world for gaming, particularly Rome and Greece.  What really sold me though was a review by Tommy Brownell and then the conversation I had with Tommy and the game's creator in the comments section.  You can read the review and the conversation here.  The last thing that really hooked me after I read the rules was that the book doesn't define what the conspirasy actually is.  It could be purely man-made or of a supernatural nuture.  It's up the the GM.  So, now the setting really fires my imagination and is really cool to me.  Surprise!

die heart

I ran across a blog a while back that I'm really liking.  It is called die heart.  It contains reviews of various rpg products that I find helpful when deciding what to purchase as well as resource pages for solo role-playing and a couple of other things.  Check it out here if you get a chance.

Koschei the Deathless

Image from Spes Magna Games website.

Mark Chance of Spes Magna Games posted a really cool character from Eastern European folklore on his blog.  This villainous fellow is a sorcerous giant named Koschei the Deathless.  Not only did Mark write about him but he created stats for Barbarians of Lemuria, Mini Six and three other game systems.  And made it into a free pdf.  Find the post here.  Thanks, Mark!

Blades & Black Magic Part Deux

Also NOT the real cover.  But also cool looking.

I have been following Mr. Brandon's further posts and comments on the subject of Blades & Black Magic, his new iteration of Heroes & Other Worlds and very much like what he has in mind for the magic system.  He seems to think along very similar lines to me.  Read about it here.

Blades & Black Magic

NOT the Real Cover.  Just Cool Looking.

I'm so excited.  Mr. Brandon of Heroes and Other Worlds is again working on Blades & Black Magic, a sword & sorcery rendition of Heroes and Other Worlds.  Details here.

Hereticwerks

I don't think I mentioned Hereticwerks before.  Hereticwerks is an RPG blog chock full of materials for your gaming purposes.  OSR, Heroes and Other Worlds and more.  Have a look.

Updates

So, I have neglected this blog again.  I spend too much time reading G+ apparently.

I haven't been doing much gaming-wise.  I spend a lot of time thinking and pondering game campaigns but other pressing matters and the fact that I have the attention span of a gnat mean I don't actually do much.

My son and I are trying get in a session or two of Weird Wars Rome but haven't managed to so far.  My schedule combined with his consuming love of computer games has made it difficult.

Two bright points.  My wife's laptop crashed and I not only saved all of her data but my meager tech skills managed to resurrect it!  I was surprised!

The second bright point is that my Barbarians of Lemuria character Arak-Aree was selected as one of three finalist for inclusion into the new Mythic Edition.  Simon Washbourne, the games creator, will choose which of the three will be included.  Just being a finalist is exciting.

Last but not least I want to mention one of my favorite blogs.  Tommy Brownell over at The Most Unread Blog on the Internet...Ever produces quality stuff relating to RPGs.  I particularly enjoy his informative reviews.  They have guided several of my RPG purchases and I have never been disappointed with the result.  An example of this is his review of Servants of Gaius.  Having read some Roman history in my time I was very skeptical about the setting of this game.  However, I took the plunge and have been very pleased with the results.  So, if you haven't read Tommy's blog, I recommend that you do.