Rules and me

I love indie games, I want to play more indie games, but it's kind of hard to find non D&D (throw Pathfinder in there) gamers.  I don't know if people my age just want to imagine themselves killing goblins, orcs, and other shit to take their stuff, or what, but that's not the place where I am with my gaming.  I am hoping to run a Witchcraft game very soon, and plan on developing a deep interactive plot with deep character development, NPC intrigue, a little horror all wrapped in a web of nasty trouble. I did, however, tell myself I would finish the story arc our game group is on for Castles and Crusades.  I think more than indie games I'm just itching to play a non Fantasy game.  The Star Wars game we started with the remnants on the AD&D2e group ... well let me be honest I don't think one session counts as starting, was a glimmer of hope dashed by new employment for the GM.

So I went on the hunt for another game group to join, and found a new local Pathfinder game.  Now I do enjoy me some rules light, mostly because that's about all me little dude brain can handle as a GM.  Last night was our second session, and going till midnight on a Tuesday was cool, but made getting up at 6 (okay I snoozed till 7) this morning sort of tough.  As a player I love the free online tools other geeks have made for me, and I can see as a GM it would be quick to throw a stat block together in a pinch.  My problem is all the rules take a certain amount of creativity out of the game.  In our C&C game I let my players do pretty much any thing if they have a great description of the action, and make an appropriate ability check.  If they want to get up and charge the filthy ragged savage that just attacked their camp fine, but it better sound like "I leap to my feet grabbing orc cleaver scream get off my sister you fiend throwing down the scabbard, I spring over the dead fire pit I smash the bastard in the nose with a quick head butt and run the violator through."  That's cool, and thank God there aren't move actions, standard action, free actions and whiner actions.  I just want to play not spend most of the night watching someone else look up rules in a big book.  However for now the group has been fun and I'll keep playing.

Fire Storm, good vs. bad

You notice the ground around you start to crackle as small embers come to life at your feet.  In an instant you are engulfed in arcane fire.  Smoke clogs your lungs and eyes, hair burns as does your flesh.  Oh go ahead and make a Dex. save!  Hugo reacts instantly nimbly leaping to relative safety.  Miguel shrugs it the burning fire off like a light rain shower his Dwarven resistance to the arcane serves him well.  His brother Alfonso is not so lucky, the fire overtakes him, he does not emerge from the flames.  Captain Ron, though only on the edge of the deadly burning ring, struggles in the fire, and must have been over come by the smoke inhaling a lungful at the wrong second.  Ron falls hard just out of the deadly ring.  

The Demon's minion cases Fire Storm, make a Dex Save.  Hugo and Miguel take 13 hp damage, and get out, Ron and Alfonso take the full 26 points of damage and both are knocked unconscious.

Which was I, and which do I try to be?  How do you want to handle descriptions?

I was a bad GM today

I mapped out a few encounters (both role playing and potential combat), that forwarded the plot we've been embroiled in.  In my mind (foreshadowing here) I mapped out the introduction of some new npc's, who I did have stats for, their personalities and motivations.  I planned to introduce a little dynamic sub plot ... and I got to the table and my mind went kind of blank.

Note to self write more depend on your fragile male noggin less.

AD&D replaced by Star Wars RPG

A month ago our 2e AD&D DM had to call it quits (family issues), which was a horrible loss.  We'd been playing his campaign for a little over a year, the longest single game I've ever played in.  At the end my dwarven cleric fighter Bob went from level 2/2 to 6/7 before he met his match in the second to last session we ran.  It was sad to see him go, but in truth he had become a bit to powerful so I actually lobbied the DM to put him down.  For the last game I made a gnome illusionist who I'd been building in my mind for a while.  I had great things in mind, but was thwarted our last game, where in the only encounter we had was against undead.  I had no idea what to do ... and forgot about the protection spell I'd cast on myself which almost cost Larry his new little life.  Oh well.

The group rallied and one player offered to run Star Wars (WotC), which we had run a one shot of this summer.  After several failed starts we got going last night.  I'm playing a skinny scoundrel Alex Dijon with a 6 strength.  It's kind of cool, but we played only a short session due to failed endurance checks.  While I'm not a big d20 fan the game master runs a tight game, which based on last night should be filled with intrigue, subplots and lost of adventure.  Count me in for fun.

Still reading Witchcraft, and scored an eBay auction with a couple of supplement books.

C.J. Carella's Witchcraft

I'm thinking about starting a Witchcraft game.

My Sunday afternoon group has lost two players, fortunately we'll be adding one so it'll still be a group to game with.  So it might be a good time for a switch.  Because I'm a book junkie I've still be acquiring new stuff most of which I don't read, however I'm hooked on Witchcraft.  It's like World of Darkness (Hunter the Vigil ... which I'd play if it weren't for dice pools)and the Dresden Files mashed up in an easy fun system.

Mostly I saw the Huge Ruined Pile stud posted for the first time since January and it got me thinking about RPG blogging again.  I was thinking the other day driving home from a gig about Christian's Faces in the Crowd booklets, maybe that's some I'll work on and post here.  I'll need NPC's for the game, and some experience making Unisystem characters ... hopefully more soon, I still have to finish the book.

I really don't care about WotC mini's

Yeah I bought a few when I got back into DMing, but I don't think I really need them.  Eighteen years ago I bought a bunch of lead mini's and painted a few of them, but we never used them in our games.  We didn't even use the counters that came in the revised edition MERP rules.  All the action took place in our heads.  We did play allot of Axis and Allis, and other board games, so we were familiar with counters, they just never showed up in our games.  Now we also never played around a table, but in each others bedrooms, basements and living-rooms sprawled out in a chaotic mess.  I do remember drawing  few tactical maps for a Twilight 2000 game a ran for a while, probably spurred on by the cool maps that came in the second edition box, but there were no mini's or counters representing players or bad guys.

Yeah when we get back to our C&C game tomorrow afternoon I'm bringing my mini's mostly because I'm to busy trying to run the encounters (or Lazy) to try and remember where everyone is.  My problem with mini's is they turn a chaotic melee encounter into a tactical exercise.  Oh well it is what it is, I'll ponder ways to put the chaos back into combat at the table, for now I'm fine with it.

Lazy Sunday

I've been reading blogs, and watching youtube video's all day because momma is too busy to play C&C today so we cancelled and I'm lazy.  Now I'm watching "I'm Still Here" and googleing Phoenix.  Since I started reading X-men when John Byrne knocked it out of the park I wanted to throw some thing up, and I like women with tattoos.  I should go read Icons, because the movie is boring me at this point.

Games I bought in 2010 and games I want to play in 2011

I bought a lot of games in 2010, why you ask?  Some time back in the 90's I sold most of my RPG collection.  I don't remember the lame excuse I made up at the time there you have it, so this year I did my best to rebuild said collection.  Oh and I bought new stuff that looked cool.  Obviously I bought way to much last year, time to cut back, and I've decided if I'm going to collect RPGs I'm going to stick to non TSR first edition box sets.  I've got my eye on some of the Chaosium catalog.

Stuff I know I bought:
Most of the AD&D hardcovers (I still had my 2e stuff)
Mentzer's Basic, expert and Companion boxed sets
A bunch of AD&D modules (these weren't replacements I just wanted them)
A bunch of Palladium games
  2 complete sets of TMNT and other Strangness
  Palladium fantasy and supplements
  Ninjas and Superspies
nWOD
  Hunter
  Mage
Amber Diceless Role-playing
  Shadow Knight
Death Valley free prison
Atomic Highway
  Irradiated Freaks
Dogs in the Vineyard
Barbarians of Lamuria
  Barbarians of the Aftermath
Dresden Flies your world and our world
Savage Worlds Explorers edition
  SW supers
  SW Fantasy
Silver Age Sentinels
The Dying Earth
Rolemaster
MERP, and some supplements
Mouse Guard
Burning Wheel
Icons
Mutants and Masterminds 2e
Twilight 2000 and a few supplements
2300 AD
Mega Traveler
Star Wars Revised ed (WotC)
Shadows of Yesterday
Starblazer Adventures
Legends of Anglerre
Hamlets Hit Points

I bet I missed a few.  Obviously I didn't read everything, most of the books I just wanted to have, yes I am a consumer.  Some I started reading and gave up on after a couple of pages or chapters I've want to play rules lighter games and GDW products are not rules light.



So what do I want to play this year:

Atomic Highway for the low freak P.A. junkie I am.
Barbarians of Lamuria or some other pulpy low magic fantasy game.
Dresden Files to off set the low magic pulp game.
Starblazer Adventures because FATE games are cool, and I love me some syfy.
I really want to play a heroes game I just haven't found one to love.  When my buddy asked me to run a game I seriously thought about Palladiums Heroes Unlimited, maybe I should read Icons.

I read in Fred Hicks blog if you want to play more you have to run more, I guess I'm running.

Later