Market Place Wednesday

I went to Dan's Produce at the local Farmer's Market this morning, I picked up a lot of great things then came home to find I was mentioned in the most recent Thought Eater Podcast. Jeremy mentioned my Invasion of Theed review in his marketplace of OSR goodness. 

If you haven't subscribed to this podcast, go do it now. The elevator pitch is "Jeremy runs down the week in OSR blogging, usually in an hour long show". 

It is very different from some of the other podcasts I listen to, it rambles and ambles through dozens of websites and blogs so I don't have to. I've been listening for a while and it's great. 

I'm currently subscribed to CampaignWiki's Old School RPG Planet, an RSS of hundreds or thousands of blogs. I love it but Jeremey refines this down to the best of the best in his podcasts. I really can't say how useful these two resources are, these two resources really support the OSR and RPG communities very well. Sign up for both if you get the chance. 

Making a List and Checking It Twice...

I have a list of things to do regarding the blogs, the podcast and my products and DriveThruRPG. Here is a list of things you should see in the coming months. 

These do not include continuing series posts which shall continue as per normal. So far, those are reviews, spring model posts and a summer gaming updates. 

General cleanup on the blog will continue pace, which is something I try to hit once a week. I will be updating the photos of figurines to be compliant with my planned updates. This will allow me to play with my camera for item 5. 

1. Rerelease Swashbuckler Character Class as "Character Pack for OSR and AD&D"
    A. Write new character classes. 
        i. Write 3 Kobold character classes.
            a. Classic kobold class as per monster stats. 
            b. Folklore kolold class as per legends. 
            c. The kobolds of Minawan tribe character class in my campaign. 
        ii. Adapt 3 new classes for this pack. 
            a. The Hoodlum/Gangbanger class.
            b. The Monomach class. 
            c. The Unicorn/Pegasus class.
        iii. Create 2 new classes based on military fiction.    
            a. The 70's Era Veteran class. 
            b. The Space Marine class.
    B. Provide files in four types.
        i. A4. 
        ii. 8.5x11
        iii. 8.5x11 folding book style. 
        iv. 5x7 booklet style, requiring cutting on the purchaser's part.             

2. Remaster Kobold's Folly on Drivethru.
    A. Create a map suitable for printing, poster size.
    B. Ensure this map is suitable for VTT online games. 
    C. Add the aforementioned mention Kobold character classes. 
    D. Write an adventure for this book. 

3. Remaster Compass Rose Inn mini-settling on Drivethru.
    A. Create a map suitable for printing, poster size.
    B. Ensure this map is suitable for VTT online games. 
    C. Write an adventure for this book. 

4. Record new podcast based on HuckSawyer's feedback. 
    A. Avoiding the TPK. 
    B. Why TPK's happen. 
    C. Avoid dicing your way through TPK's. 

5. Put FridayNightDeathSlots.com into production
    A. Record videos. 
    B. Edit video. 
    C. Record audio voice over.
    D. Launch Pilot.
    E. Collect data on viewer's opinions.  

6. Update 716exchange.com blog
    A. Coming phone changes in the Western New York area for national suicide prevention hotline launch. (Deemed critical. complete.) 
    B. More reviews of Western New York products, companies and events.  

7. Update unpwned.com blog with tutorial on flash drives. 
    A. Purchasing. 
    B. Drive formats for a variety of OSes. 
    C. Troubleshooting.
    D. Common flash drive ripoff schemes and how to address. 

Episode 009 - Gwyneth Paltrow and the Total Party Kill

It's Friday and I have another episode out. 

Gwyneth Paltrow and the Total Party Kill. 

Let me know what you think in the comments below. 

That's Not New - Episode 008 - And... Ah... This Episode Was Recorded Before a uh... a Live Studio Ah... Audience

In this episode, I talk about Gemstone IV, RoleMaster, Computers, Beginnings, Endings, Changes and Connections. 

Shout Out!

My White Box review got a nice shout out from Jeremy "frothsof" Smith on the Humpday RPG show. 

Now I have to back and relisten to the show. It also makes me want to dust off the cobwebs on my podcast and the list of podcasts I share. I feel like it can and should do better.  

The Last Package Arrived Today

My last package from Amazon arrived today. Now I am almost ready to start a second series of post on modeling. I'll be working on these Bandai 1/144 scale models over the summer. You can find them at many hobby shops, but I've had the best luck on prices at the Big Bad Toy Store. 

One of the snags with series posts is they start strong and either come to an early conclusion or they just peter out due to a lack of inspiration. 

I hope to change that this year by having a spring/summer series ready to go. I also have a couple of things in my back pocket. My Star Wars campaign looks good to restart and even more exciting (for me anyway) it looks like my gang is ready to go back to the Peninsula of Plenty campaign, perhaps as a hexcrawl. That's two more series to update for the Blog. 

The only problem now is time. I've had my basement flood and defy all attempts to remedy and I recently started a new job which takes up my evenings. My weekend is now Tuesday-Wednesday and I work every holiday for the foreseeable future. I'd know how things will work out, but they will. 

At this point, I am thinking of retiring the Podcast. I really can't see how I'll have the time for all of this. Time will tell. 

Episode 005 and 006 - Star Smuggler, Creativity on the Go, Off the Rails, and more.

This is it, another podcast or two. I managed to record two podcast this weekend and I decided to release them both at once. These are much shorter than my normal episode, but not by much. 

In episode 005, I talk about taking creativity on the go, driving and going off the rails. I apologize for the poor quality, this one was an experiment to record while out and about in my car. 

I've also got to work on all those ahs! and ums! but it was worth a try. These 4 segments cover new ideas for on the go, podcasts in general and having your game go off the rails. 

Episode 6 covers Star Smuggler gameplay and design, plus Miledown! a new title I am working on for release on DriveThruRPG. 

Pluses and Minuses, Pools and Podcast

In Star Smuggler, characters make to hit rolls. They have to roll over a certain number which is varible with 2 dice. Although the rules do not say it, the character receives one die for skill and one die for the quality of their weapon. The rules establish that if you have no skill with a weapon, you can't make a to hit roll. However, theoretically, if you ignored that rule you could have an unskilled character blasting away with a very, very low probability of hitting. 

For starship and boat weapons, the roll is different. You need to roll 1 or 2 to hit. A pair or more of ones indicates a critical. The player receives a 1d6 per roll based on the tech level of their weapon, up to a maximum of 6d6. 

In other parts of the game, there is a standard roll of 1d6 or 2d6, where the character can have pluses and minuses modify the roll. The roll is usually used to determine what of 6 or 12 things happen next not how good you are doing. The evaluation of "good" or "bad" happens as a result of reading a paragraph or two describing an event. Getting in a fight is supposed to be bad, but if you have large party of characters that idea is flipped on it's head because the player can dominate the battlefield. Getting a cool new item is supposed to be good, but if you don't have room for it, it's useless. 

The D&D player in me only noticed the standard roll of 1d6 or 2d6 with modifiers and could not conceptualize why giving modifiers to weapons fire does not work. I know, I've tried. It's because those rolls are from a dice pool, a concept that is totally foreign to me.  

This is a case of knowing your rule sets and having a great background in games, mechanics and theory helps a lot. I am all about D&D while I find Traveller to be entirely opaque. Traveller fascinates me because I can't figure out how the game master and players use the game mechanics to make great things happen. I've heard of people playing one Traveller campaign for decades, as I have been doing with Star Smuggler. The basic mechanics make that happen. 

In D&D, my campaigns fizzle after a few weeks or months because the characters reach a point where the truly fantastic has to happen over and over each session to make the game go. The rules lose their gritty danger as the characters improve. That's baked right into D&D while Traveller has a totally different mindset where it's not likely that your character will mechanically improve at all. They get better and smarter, but everyone is still one blaster shot away from death. It's the psychological threat level that changes, not the characters abilities. It's all in the scope of the story. 

This is probably the reason why I've been listening to Safco Cast so much. I am sure most listeners are looking to Jeff Koenig and Bob Loftin Traveller experiences, I am listening for their Gaming experience. It's this whole "new" world of Traveller that fascinates me not for the world itself, but the whole mechanical framework that makes the play happen. In the last episode I listened to, they spoke all about dice pools and it really sorted out some issues I had with Star Smuggler because of my personal experience with D&D. Bob and Jeff are truly enlightening, because of the way they present the Traveller rules while also looking other systems like Cepheus and make great comparisons in how things are done. 

Amazing. Why don't you give them a try? 

Episode 004 - Change, Kobolds, and Mrs. Todd

Welcome Back! Episode 4 has dropped. 

In this episode I talk about RPGADAY, change, kobolds and Mrs. Todd. The scripts are gone, as is the music. I hope these changes create a better listener experience. 

While I have done away with Mr. Kevin MacLeod's music, I hope you take a moment to go check out his music at incompetech.com. In addition to his music, he also has a graph paper creator which could be beneficial to any type of game. He has all kinds of good stuff over there and I hope you make use of his tools and download some of his music. 

This episode touches on history, both Roman history, my personal history and gaming history. 

Now, on to the show. 

Episode 003 - The Tomb of Horrors Sucks and Everybody Should Be a Bard

Welcome Back! What more can I say after that title? 

I have some new music so let's all give thanks to Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com for the following tracks:

Parting of the Ways - Part 2 Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Parting of the Ways - Part 1 Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

All hail Mr. MacLeod!

In this episode, I wax poetic about AD&D 1e Bards and Rage Against the worst module ever, Tomb of Horrors. 

Episode 002 - I Chose Poorly and De Ut Des

This episode has a format change base on feedback I've received. I have a new sponsor, Anchor.FM and the format now supports the concept of sponsors. I also have some new music so let's all give thanks to Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com for the following tracks:

Evening Fall (Piano) and
Starry
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In this episode, I reminisce about 4 games: D&D, Star Frontiers, Gemstone IV and Traveller.  I cover 35+ years of gaming experiences in one podcast. Part of the reason I have been offline for so long was a mash up of getting my lesson plans online for students, my classes at Buffalo State suddenly switching to an online format and the associate PITA from taking finals online.

I hope this format works better than Episode 001 and 000's. It was a pain to record, mostly owing to my new Podcat, Shinobu. She's cute even as she climbs the cables.

Now on to the episode!

Episode 001 - Why I hate Walking Dead and the New Star Wars Films almost as much as I hate 5th Edition D&D

Title says it all, come on over to the dark side and take a listen as to why.

While you are processing that, let me tell you about the music. It is a track called Sovereign by Kevin MacLeod, available through the Creative Commons License.

Sovereign by Kevin MacLeod.
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4397-sovereign
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/



The Original is acceptable.

This is also acceptable.

I don't think so...

Pilot Episode - That's Not New or Maybe It Is.

Well, I've finally jumped off the deep end and launched a new project.

I discovered a few things about podcasting at least.

• First, never wear a windbreaker. 
• Two, paper scripts are good for editing, but if you use them while recording, people hear it. 
• Your talking speed is not what you think it is. 
• And item D... It ain't as easy as you'd think. 

But, here it is. It's rather raw but let me know what you think. 

Show notes are as follows:

In this episode, I'll be looking at the 1981 solo game, Barbarian Prince by Dwarfstar Games/Heritage USA/Reaper.

You'll also be listening to Sovereign by Kevin MacLeod, available form the website, INCOMPETCH, linked below.

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4397-sovereign
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I'll also be plugging “Playing It Wrong” by Charles Thorin, available at TheyMightBeGazebos.Blog or subscribe to his podcast through Anchor.fm.

The most important plug is the website where you can get Barbarian Prince, Dwarfstar.brainiac.com.

What did I miss? The Blogosphere.

This is a second post in my series about podcasts. This is very much an unreview, because if it was a review it would be redundant. Jeremy's Thought Eater blog and associated Frothcast is a weekly roundup of everything important happening out there in the world of OSR.

Thought Eater is the blog, Frothcast is the podcast. 

See? See redundant. This is the one podcast you need to keep up to date on everything out there. It is super handy and informative, every Frothcast has an associated blog post with links to everything mentioned in the show. Released on Wednesdays, it's an hour or so of OSR goodness. Jeremy also has a Five Minute Friday episode to cap off the week. 

It's awesome, go subscribe. now.   

What did I miss? Handling NPCs

I love podcasts. Everything from history to Disney and everything in between. I haven't listed to commercial radio in years. Being that there are easily 2 dozen podcasts in my queue right now, I am way behind.

This series covers podcast episodes I missed when they came out. Being These Old Games, you know I'm not going review new stuff.

They Might Be Gazebos! Banner. One of my favorite images from the OSR,
because I think I used to have these dice myself.

Anyway, the podcast and episodes that have caught my ear this week is They Might Be Gazebos' Playing Wrong: NPCs. I love this 'cast and this episode stand out as useful advice on the care and use of NPCs. My campaign has a great variety of NPCs, which you can download from the Pregenerated Character tab above.

Back in the day, I'd have 7 to 12 players sitting at my table, so the idea of loads and loads of characters is fun to me. When I know I'm introducing a character I usually have a sheet for them. PDFs make them easy. When I don't have sheet, I probably have another sheet that is applicable to a random person I make up on the fly or to sub in for a character the players find interesting.

It isn't so much the numbers on the sheet that make a difference, it's the immersion. If the players believe that I have stats on everyone, then everyone is real. It's pure showmanship, plain and simple.

Not every named person is terribly important, but sometimes, as Chuck says in his podcast is that sometimes the dice and players get to choose who is important. While Playing It Wrong espouses having simple character stats, I go the other direction. To an extent. I am actually using a modified character sheet from BSOLO to keep myself sane. They look pretty and 3 characters per sheet is handy.

Go ahead and bookmark my Pregenerated characters for you campaign and don't forget to give Playing It Wrong a try.

RPG Podcasts

Alright, I turned on the radio and heard Christmas music the day after Halloween. I love Christmas music... at Christmastime. This is why I listen to podcasts when I drive.

Let me give you my short rundown of Favorite RPG Podcasts*. The link is for the associated blog and the naked link is the feed location.

Thought Eater Podcast by Jeremy “frothsof” Smith. This is an Anchor podcast covering all things blogs on Wednesdays and a five minute Friday show, which is often off the cuff and right from brain to 'cast. He has 130 shows in the can, so you have a lot of replay-ability. Love it.

Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-eater/id1448611668?uo=4

The Red Dice Diaries by John Alan Large. Like Jeremy, John has 102 episodes available, so the back catalog is huge. Again, I love this show. John runs the gambit of gaming, so this the depth is great. He sometimes takes time out to cover methodology, so you might hear about things like journaling, preparation and from special guests. In addition to special guests, John throws the topics over to Hannah for treatment. It's like 2 or 3 podcasts in one. A wonderful find.

Link: https://anchor.fm/s/55de8b4/podcast/rss

A relative new comer is the Super Adventure Friends Co. Podcast by Robert Loftin and friends. They have only 7 episodes, so if you want to jump in from the start on an excellent Traveller/Science Fiction pod cast, here you go. This is the first ensemble pod cast I encountered, with five high school friends chatting about great stuff. (Red Dice Diaries also gets this vibe when John hosts his friends.)

Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/super-adventure-friends-co-podcast/id1465659876?uo=4

The last podcast I signed up for is vb Wyrde's Sunday Night Live From ElthosRPG. ElthosRPG is it's own thing and vb is ALL ABOUT METHODOLOGY. Mechanics, ideas, fitting it all together, from a non-D&D point of view. Great, eye-opening stuff.

Link: https://anchor.fm/s/ed1f0d4/podcast/rss

*The little star beside Favorites is there because I reserve the right to add more favorites. They Might Be Gazebos was previously mentioned and has it's own post. I've left off Patreon information in this post, that will be revisited later.

And this is the sound of MY voice!

The title of this post is the funniest line from most recent SAFCOcast.

I really don't have time to add another game, but I can live vicariously through the Super Adventure Friends Co. Podcast. SAFCOcast is on it's 6th episode so now is a great time to jump in and listen.

Of course, I have added them to the sidebar.

This week they talk about Cons and other game related things. What got me was the Space Viking part. I can't wait for the next episode.

Charles' New Podcast and Patreon

I have a couple of different outlets for communication. Facebook, MeWe, Ello, pluspora and a few others. The killer thing about promoting is that promotion is necessary, but by rote sharing doesn't work.

You need something more "organic", more "natural" to really get that impactful share to work for you.

I stole this image without permission, mostly because I used to have those dice.

Charles Thorin has a blog called "They Might Be Gazebos". I'm hoping that is a play on "They Might Be Giants", because I really like those guys. What do we have in common? Charles does reviews, he likes luck mechanics, creating interesting magic weapons and we both like to try different games.

What does Charles do that is different? He is a podcaster on Anchor, the host of Playing It Wrong. On the 'cast, he has a smooth voice but an exciting tone. This isn't the sort of 'cast that helps you to sleep at night. Playing It Wrong is an amplification of They Might Be Gazebos retooled for an audio format. He uses music and sound effects in enhance the show without being overbearing or obnoxious. Each podcast has a very newsy sound to it as Charles takes on currents in the blogosphere, topics that interest him, such as Swords and Wizardry.

Just a few episodes back he was talking about finding your voice, something that he has personally managed to do.

This week, to support his passion, he has launched a Patreon page to support his habit. I can't wait to see what new things he comes up with. Please take a moment to explore all the quality content on They Might Be Gazebos, the Playing Wrong Podcast and if you like, his Patreon Page.

On the Same Wavelength

Yes, I wear this cologne

This week, I have been thinking about villains. Personally, I love human or demi-human type villains. People that aren't going to turn into a snake, demon or dragon, because they are worse that any of those things. I also love making the villain equal or lower level than the PCs because the players never think to look down.

Of being on the same wavelength, a new podcast was introduced this week: Adventure Design Sessions. It's hosted by Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor. This week's guest is Joe The Lawyer. You can follow them on MeWe. ADS can be found on Spotify, Anchor and all the great podcasting networks.

Since I am plugging things, why not plug my cologne company? My favorite colognes appear often on my blog, usually for the bottle styling but also for the great, sometimes witty names. My favorites are Villain, Perversion and Whitechapel. My wife wears Bitches Love Unicorns, Eat Me and Cheshire Cat. Check out Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

(This is not a sponsored ad, I just love all of these products.)

Timely podcast

I love  Aaron Mahnke's Lore podcast. This week, it's about Kobolds. One part history, one part myth, Lore is a wonderful journey to the the darker things. Lore also has wonderful background music by Chad Lawson.

Funny, I just released a little map about kobolds.