quinta-feira, 28 de março de 2019

A Quick Update

It's been well over a month since I last updated the blog, and for that I must apologise.

A combination of work and holidays have been to blame, meaning my time for tinkering around on the Amiga has been sorely limited. That said, I have been lucky enough to have been invited to play test a work in progress version of forthcoming arcade adventure "Dylan The Spaceman", which is shaping up to be something rather special indeed.

I'll be reporting more on Dylan over the coming weeks, and at the same time hope to find more opportunities to keep the blog updated.

Happy gaming!

State Of The Paint Desk

Well it's been quite a busy 2017 until now. We had friends over on New Years eve and the aftermath had a considerable impact on my painting efficiency on the next day. Somehow finding a good painting mojo seems a lot more difficult when your head feels like someone is banging at it with a hammer :) My holiday is also over and work has been busy with slightly longer hours trying to catch up on tasks left undone over the holiday period.

I was trying to finish an Orc Blood Bowl team in time for my thursday slot at the painting challenge, but it was not to be. There was just so much detail and loads of hard to reach places with the snap-fit minis that picking everything out and cleaning mistakes where my brush had touched something that was already finished that I wasn't able to get them done. They are nearly done now, I just need to do highlights on the armour pieces and paint logos on them. I decided to give up late on thursday and instead started on my entry for the Armour. I have just managed to get that one done in time and it should go up with the rest sometime tomorrow.

With this done it's time for bed. We have another Over the Hills game tomorrow to test out the rules further. And after that it's a little over a week until we get the keys to our new apartment and can start renovations. Should be a busy month ahead of me. Unfortunately I will mostly be painting walls and not miniatures then, but with the new place I have dedicated hobby room and enough space for a gaming table as well!

quarta-feira, 27 de março de 2019

OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire

OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire
this was Zak's idea, by the way

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:

Joesky the Dungeon Brawler's A TABLE FOR THE BAD GUYS!!!!!!!. Joesky's aesthetic may not be for everyone, but I read his work as the comical presentation of a serious attempt to engage with the big questions of the scene.

2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark:

James Raggi's "I can't find any players!"

3. Best OSR module/supplement:

Oh, man, the compilation of the first four issues of Fight On! is so sweet, my friends.

4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):

James Maliszewski's liquid courage rule (from here):

Liquid Courage

Once per session, characters who possess strong alcoholic beverages may partake of them to gain an additional 1D6 hit points that lasts for the duration of the next combat, after which these "spiritous hit points" disappear should they not have already been used up in the combat.

5. How I found out about the OSR:

I'm been sitting here struggling with how to answer this one. I think the scene kinda bubbled up into existence around me. One day I just noticed some overlap between the people at the OD&D forums and Dragonsfoot and Knights & Knaves. Some of these people didn't just want to run the old games exactly as they had in their youths. Then stuff like Castles & Crusades and Swords & Wizardry and Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC helped imagine a path forward. At some point there was just a critical mass of people who wanted to take the old stuff in new directions.

6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:

Alex Schroeder's Links to Wisdom wiki. Add good stuff to it, please!

7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:

Despite it's limitations, I've been digging twitter recently. If you're there and I don't follow you, please let me know!

8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:

In the face of the Google+ sunset, I'm trying mewe.com, but I'm not sure if I get it yet. I'm also trying http://diyrpg.freeforums.net/ though I'm not convinced going back to message boards is the right solution.

9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:

Level limits for non-humans are good and fun.

10. My favorite non-OSR RPG:

Well, the only non-old school game I can see on my shelves right now is Nathan D. Paoletta's World Wide Wrestling RPG, a Powered by the Apocalypse story game that takes the kayfabe side of wrestling seriously. But I haven't played it.

11. Why I like OSR stuff:

Gygax and Arneson hit on something magical, but there's no good reason why that magical needs to be bottle and sold to us by a big corporation. There's no reason why a central committee needs to set an agenda for the hobby. As a kid new to the hobby I didn't understand how slavishly lapping up the offerings of TSR shaped my view of what D&D could be, what behaviors (good or ill) it reinforced, what doors it closed. Fantasy roleplaying is an open-ended, artistic, mythological activity between human beings. We don't need an official imprimatur to make that work, in fact such approval inevitable cuts us off from some avenues of exploration. Within the vague concept of "games like this," the OSR is a diffuse, non-centralized, network of individual exploration and group interchange, respecting the right of the individual soul to dream while keeping us connected to each other.

Also, I am not over wizards and dragons and never will be.

12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven't named yet:

The FLAILSNAILS Conventions and the network of games that resulted from them continue to be one of the coolest bits of nerdery I have ever had the pleasure to participate in. And I love the attitude of good faith and trust in our fellow players that lie behind them.

Random Character Advancement Charts are lots of fun. Here's a central storehouse of them, but their are others out there.

13. If I could read but one other RPG blog but my own it would be:

Dang. This is the hardest question to answer of the bunch. As a practical matter, I steal more from Zak S. than anyone else, so I guess I gotta go with dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com.

14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:

I think Broodmother Skyfortress turned out nicely.

15. I'm currently running/playing:

Nothing. I need to get my shit together.

16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because:

I can always just ask you what armor you are wearing and what your Dex score is, or tell you what you need to roll to-hit.

17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:

This is a player-made illo of a key point in my last campaign, which, for a number of reasons, would never have happened (the whole campaign, not just this moment) without the old school scene. Illo by Nick Kuntz, one of the many fine people who took the time to make the Vyzor campaign something special.

terça-feira, 26 de março de 2019

Current Happenings

I know I have not posted in a while but I am about to start...."soon". That does not mean I have not been talking about gaming brpecause I have. Most of my discussion has been done at the OD&D Campaigns and House Rules Discussion forums. There are a lot of great discussions going on there and several people, including myself, have started discussing their own campaign worlds in dedicated sections. Stop by and join in if old school D&D or games of a similar style are your thing.

I recently finished reading the first Mistborn novel, The Final Empire, and I just started reading the second, The Well of Ascension. I almost paused on reading the second novel so I could continue the Stormlight Archive with Words Of Radiance but I decided against it. Besides, the third book in the Stormlight Archive will be "that much" closer to being finished if I wait. ;)

I am currently watching the fifth season of Game of Thrones as it is aired. I think I prefer the DVD binge watching method instead of one episode a week. I am waiting for Fear the Walking Dead, season six of The Walking Dead, and season two of Z Nation.

My most recent gaming purchase was the Pathfinder Beginner Box. Yeah, I know I am late to the party on this but it should be called the box of awesomeness! Regardless of whether you are a Pathfinder fan, this is the way to do an introductory set.

More later...

Flooded Village Xmas Eve - Water Christmas Trees For Christmas Eve

Christmas day is coming near the corner but the Christmas trees are not growing yet. Let's water them in Flooded Village Xmas Eve. Flooded Village Xmas Eve is one of the most interesting puzzle game but it is a Christmas edition. Much fun!

Aborigines – Get rid of the evil aliens

Flooded Village Xmas Eve

Your task in each stage is to help all of the pirates set sail and make all of the seeds grow into trees by removing tiles so that the water reaches the pirates' boats and touches seeded tiles games of 2018. Watch out the ice cubes. Do not freeze the pirates. However, the tree will turn to the Christmas tree when the ices touch them and you can get extra points. You have a limited number of moves at each stage, so you should move wisely. There are 18 stages waiting for you. Just solve all of them in a short of time. Have fun!

Controls: Use the mouse