tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73731564025009794842024-03-13T21:45:27.142-05:00A Man's Brain-AtticAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-54134332159200180472017-01-15T13:41:00.000-06:002017-01-15T13:41:03.112-06:00Recipe Weekend: Curried Chickpea SoupI mentioned last weekend that I have some friends who are trying to lost weight, sometimes in significant amounts. One of them reported this morning being down 8.5 pounds, assuming his gym scale doesn't need recalibrating. Go Dustin!<br />
<br />
In the meantime, this week's recipe to help them out is one that I only made for the first time just after Christmas. I'd intended to have more people than showed up over for a game-centered open house. (Several were traveling, which I knew; a few had things occur at the last minute.) As part of that, I made <a href="http://jffdougan.blogspot.com/2017/01/recipe-weekend-red-beans-rice-sausage.html">Red Bean, Rice, and Sausage</a> soup for the omnivores, and put this soup together in my crock pot for the vegetarians. I tried it myself, and ate the rest as lunch for pretty much the entirety of the week remaining. It's pleasantly Indian flavored without being overwhelming in heat.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Curried Chickpea Soup</h3>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Original Source: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Cooker-Revolution-Americas-Kitchen/dp/1936493950/ref=pd_rhf_gw_s_cp_2?_encoding=UTF8&ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1936493950&pd_rd_r=GZ5NXS94D4M7J2RS8GVV&pd_rd_w=8JDNs&pd_rd_wg=MTL78&pf_rd_i=&pf_rd_m=&pf_rd_p=&pf_rd_r=GZ5NXS94D4M7J2RS8GVV&pf_rd_s=recent-history-footer&pf_rd_t=gateway&psc=1&refRID=GZ5NXS94D4M7J2RS8GVV">Slow Cooker Revolution</a> from America's Test Kitchen</i></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<h4>
<i>Ingredients:</i></h4>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>2 onions, minced</i></li>
<li><i>2 tablespoons vegetable oil</i></li>
<li><i>2 tablespoons tomato paste</i></li>
<li><i>4 teaspoons curry powder</i></li>
<li><i>1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger</i></li>
<li><i>2 garlic cloves, minced</i></li>
<li><i>6 cups low-sodium chicken broth</i></li>
<li><i>2 (15-oz) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained</i></li>
<li><i>2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces</i></li>
<li><i>1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced 1/4-inch thick</i></li>
<li><i>1 cup frozen peas</i></li>
<li><i>1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro</i></li>
<li><i>salt and pepper</i></li>
</ul>
Combine first 6 ingredients (through garlic) in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for about 5 minutes or until onion is softened, stirring a couple of times. Transfer to slow cooker.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Add broth, chickpeas, and carrots to the slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cover and cook until carrots are softened and the soup is "flavorful", roughly 4 to 6 hours on the low-heat setting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Stir in peas and zucchini, then cover and cook for 20 minutes on high or until zucchini is tender. Finish with cilantro, salt, and pepper and serve.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Serves 6 to 8.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-39746381708262587242017-01-07T15:44:00.001-06:002017-01-07T15:44:02.215-06:00Recipe Weekend: Red Beans, Rice, & Sausage SoupI have a number of friends who are actively working on trying to lose weight - in some cases, near triple-digit quantities. I'm still the same skinny guy I was when I graduated from high school, but I've promised to lend them some support by posting a health-conscious recipe on a weekly basis. Whether they cook it or not is up to them, but it'll be there.<br />
<br />
I'm starting with one that's a go-to in my household if I'm thinking about having company over for dinner. My parents have taken the recipe from me, and make it regularly as well.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Red Beans, Rice, and Sausage Soup</h2>
<h4>
Serves 6-8</h4>
<h4>
Ingredients:</h4>
<div>
<ul>
<li>2 tsp olive oil</li>
<li>1 large onion, finely chopped</li>
<li>2 large garlic cloves, minced</li>
<li>1 large celery stalk, diced</li>
<li>1 large carrot, diced</li>
<li>1 red bell pepper, diced (substitute green bell pepper if preferred)</li>
<li>4 c. chicken broth</li>
<li>1 1/2 c. water</li>
<li>1 15-oz can tomato sauce</li>
<li>2 16-oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed</li>
<li>1/4 tsp (generous) thyme leaves</li>
<li>1 bay leaf</li>
<li>1/4 tsp black pepper</li>
<li>1/3 c. long-grain white rice</li>
<li>6 oz turkey sausage, cut into 1/4-in slices.</li>
</ul>
Heat oil in a Dutch oven or stock pot over medium to medium-high heat. Saute onion, garlic, celery, carrot, and bell pepper until onion begins to brown - usually 5-8 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring soup to a boil over high heat. Lower heat, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender, flavors are well blended, and soup has thickened slightly - roughly 30 minutes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If 8 servings, 240 calories per serving.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-63764382378989300752014-04-09T17:30:00.000-05:002014-04-09T17:33:24.714-05:00A primer on Dominion strategyAs written about earlier today on ChambanaMoms, I wrote an article about Dominion. Of all the games I've written about to date, Dominion has the most depth to it. Since my word count there doesn't give me the ability to talk strategy about any of the games I profile, Dominion deserves a few words about some elementary strategy.<br />
<br />
I won't pretend to be an expert player, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of games I've played using expansion sets. So, I'm going to focus these comments on the cards from the base set.<br />
<br />
Point number 1: The fewer cards in your deck, the more likely you are to draw any individual card. In particular, this means that Silver and Gold cards (which have values of 2 and 3 coins, respectively) are worth more than the 1-coin Copper cards in two respects. Not only do they have a higher monetary value, but if you can replace your starting Coppers with Silvers and/or Golds, you'll increase your buying power at a faster rate. Similarly, since there's nothing you can do with the point cards (Estate/Duchy/Province), when you're ready to buy point cards, buy the highest-value one that you can. The Chapel card also lets you permanently remove cards from your deck, increasing the likelihood you'll draw cards you want.<br />
<br />
Point 2: Your one action is a valuable thing. Cards that give you an additional action during your turn will let you play an extra card in addition to whatever other benefit they provide. There are two cards that will give you 2 additional actions for being played, and they're especially useful for that reason alone. However, they need to be supported through having cards that will let you draw more cards from your deck.<br />
<br />
Point 3: Sometimes the best offense is a strong, fast offense. One possible method of using this strategy is to buy Attack cards early and often, especially the Militia (which forces your opponents to discard cards) or the Witch (which makes them each get a penalty point card). If you take this route, remember that the Witch's curses can be one of the piles that empties to trigger the end of the game.<br />
<br />
The last point to consider is that on your first two turns, you'll have one of two arrangements of hands. Not counting the point cards, you'll have a money split of either 3/4 or 5/2 in one order or another. Start out by looking at the Kingdom cards in the game and decide what you're going to do with those first two buys.<br />
<br />
All that said, there are a few common basic types of decks that tend to crop up. None of them are expert-level decks, but they can serve to help frame an approach to a first game or two.<br />
<br />
- "Big Money": Buy a Province if you can. Buy a Gold if you can't buy a Province. Buy a Silver if you can't buy a Gold.<br />
<br />
- Village/Smithy: The Village is one of the cards that gives you more than one extra action, and the Smithy draws more cards than almost any other draw card in the basic set. This approach pretty much consists of only buying Village and Smithy cards as action cards, and with the goal of running through your entire deck every turn so that you can buy first some Golds and later a Province per turn.<br />
<br />
- The attack deck works pretty much exactly as described above. Buy attack cards early, buy attack cards often, and play them at every opportunity.<br />
<br />
As said in the main review, if you're somebody local and haven't played Dominion before, I encourage you to check it out from the library or try the store copy at Armored Gopher. Should you get bitten by "the bug," the BoardgameGeek page for Dominion contains a wealth of strategy articles, most of which are written by people with far more games under their belt than I have, and some of which include discussing cards from the expansions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-22947561912416695112013-05-20T15:59:00.000-05:002013-05-20T15:59:01.139-05:00The Grasshopper's gaming educationOver the weekend, the topic(s) of games with kids, ages of kids, and what the Grasshopper (age 7) plays and likes all came up several different times. I've been meaning to write something like this for a while in connection with the writing I do for <a href="http://www.chambanamoms.com/tag/family-game-night/">ChambanaMoms</a>, but that would have to stand along here as being a little less directly relevant to what I do for them.<br />
<br />
The first thing I really started playing with him was when he was a few months shy of 4 years old. It's a card game called Coloretto, where the goal is to collect cards with chameleons in different colors (but not too many different colors). Normally, you can either draw a card and add it to a row that has fewer than 3 cards, OR take a row. We just made the modification that the rows had to get filled completely before taking rows. I then made him grab the container of crayons and help count out his points.<br />
<br />
His sister was born when he was about 4.5. The summer after that, he had a knack for asking for attention just as she was getting fed/changed/put down for a nap but not yet asleep. This is when the Grasshopper moniker was acquired (patience, Grasshopper). That summer, we worked on a slightly modified version of Carcassonne. He was able to do the tile-drawing and matching part of the game; we modified scoring to be that completing a road, city, or cloister scored one point per tile in the feature. This last fall, I've finally taught him something closer to the real rules (still leaving out farmers); he beats me about half the time in a two-player game but doesn't far as well in multiplayer games.<br />
<br />
I've played Pente with him several times, although that doesn't hold his attention as well. One of the next things we started on were the two Blokus games I own (Trigon and 3D). At first I just let; him play with the games, he was over 5 before we started trying to play by the rules. Similar to those, he's played Ingenious a few times, but I think doing well at it is still a bit over his head.<br />
<br />
A favorite of his is Battleball. I acquired both this and Forbidden Island the summer before he turned 6, if memory correctly serves. My only complaints about Battleball at the moment are that it's a strictly 2-player game that I can't figure out how to hack to accommodate more people, and his 3-year-old sister would be all over the pieces in such a way as to mess up the game. Despite Forbidden Island claiming to be ages 10+, he does a really good job of running his own turn, with only occasional suggestions about re-sequencing actions, especially if he has the Diver (one of his favorite roles).<br />
<br />
His birthday present last October was Dungeon!, and we're finally to where it'll play pretty quickly if the Munchkin doesn't mess things up. He's also played Attika (and does surprisingly well if it's 2-player), Roll Through the Ages, and Race to Adventure! more than once each. There have to be other things he's played more than once, but I can't recall them all right now. He'll play almost anything at least once - those include Dominion, King of Tokyo, Rattus, Guillotine, RoboRally, Castle Panic, and Monopoly (I own the original Star Wars edition) that I can quickly remember. Sorry and Battleship factor in there too, although I can't get them into the sequence.<br />
<br />
I'm publishing this now without links because I anticipate getting called back to a recovery room to see my wife pretty soon, but I'll gradually add in the links over the next couple days.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-48603311181181207312013-04-23T21:43:00.002-05:002013-04-23T21:43:23.861-05:00Preparing the menu for A Holiday Feast of GamingAlthough it's not quite May, I have November on the brain because I write a monthly column on playing games with kids for a local <a href="http://www.chambanamoms.com/tag/family-game-night/">parenting blog</a>. as I write, I've found my sanity is best served, and deadlines best met, by working several months ahead. In the first drafts of the column for November, I was trying to write a gift guide, but quickly realized there were two problems:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I haven't played nearly enough games published in the last 5 years.</li>
<li>If I tried to write it, I was going to blow past my word count before even making it past games for 7-8 year old kids.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Retooling the idea for my personal blog, where I'm more comfortable writing about things I haven't played personally, didn't help much. But the idea spent most of a day taking over my brain, to the point of (nearly) interfering with work. And thus was born the notion of trying to run it as a blog carnival. The theme, and the categories for organizing it, came almost by themselves, although there are a few categories and some miscellaneous areas where I could use some extra help.<br />
<br />
So, the basics...<br />
<br />
A Holiday Feast of Gaming is a blog carnival whose goal is to create a "menu" of suggestions for those unfamiliar with hobby games and looking to purchase a gift for a loved one, library, or school. The feast theme and categories are inspired by the timing, since this will run from November 1 through November 29 (Black Friday).<br />
<br />
The current proposed "menu" categories, and descriptions with examples are:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Caterers </b>(reviews of Friendly Local Game Stores -- a good FLGS owner is like a game sommelier)</li>
<li><b>The Kids' Table</b> (games for those ages 5 and under, like Chicken Cha Cha Cha or Loopin' Louie)</li>
<li><b>Appetizers</b> (light games that play in under 30 minutes and cost ~$20 or less). Examples include No Thanks!, Forbidden Island, or any of the Zombie Dice variants</li>
<li><b>Side Dishes</b> (light-to-medium weight games that are too big in time or price to be Appetizers). Examples include Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, or Race to Adventure!</li>
<li><b>Entrees</b> (medium-to-heavy games). Examples include Puerto Rico, Power Grid, or Titan.</li>
<li><b>Salad Bar</b> (party games) - Apples to Apples, Wits & Wagers, Telestrations.</li>
<li><b>Adult Beverages</b> -- game that should not, for reasons of theme or content, be played around pre-teens. The prime example I can think of is Cards Against Humanity.</li>
<li>I'd like a category to cover story games and RPGs, but can't think of what to call it.</li>
</ul>
The main thing where I know I could use help is that I have no skills at logo design or image manipulation. I'm also happy to take suggestion for category names. Otherwise, I"ll start trying to recruit people heavily later in the year, although I'll probably e-mail a few people to specifically request submissions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-2722943181854867582013-02-13T21:04:00.001-06:002013-02-14T09:34:31.525-06:00Freelancer Aspirations: Thrumbolg Extras Part ISo, Dragon issue 420 got published today, and with it the article I wrote with Tim Eagon titled "Thrumbolg, First Lord of Mag Tureah." I'll post something next week or so about the real source material for the story we told, but in the meantime wanted to give people the following visual guide.<br />
<br />
The article includes a table of random destinations for the myriad magical portals in the underground citadel of Mag Tureah. Almost all of these are based off of real-world buildings or geography, and I thought I should do people the courtesy of showing them what we were looking at as we came up with the destinations.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A guide to the visual inspirations for the random portals in Mag Tureah:</h3>
<br />
1. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">A ruined castle of glass atop an earthmote, spiral staircase connecting it to the ground.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">My inspiration here is the "Castle in the Air" from <span style="font-size: small;">The P<span style="font-size: small;">hantom Tollbooth. If you haven't read the book, it's fabulous. Go read it and then come back to read the rest of<span style="font-size: small;"> the post. I'll wait. Shou<span style="font-size: small;">ldn't take you more than an afternoon.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://whoyoucallingaskeptic.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/snorkling-to-atlantis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://whoyoucallingaskeptic.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/snorkling-to-atlantis.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mouth of a flooded cavern, the beginning<br />
of an undersea road paved with huge stones.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. I<span style="font-size: small;">'ve known for a long time about <span style="font-size: small;">the Bimini Road rock formation, but until I saw the picture above, I'd forgotten about how large man<span style="font-size: small;">y of the rocks are.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. A partially toppled circle of stone menhirs<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>overgrown by jungle vines<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> -- I was thin<span style="font-size: small;">king primarily of what Stonehenge might look like in a jungle environment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/The_Great_Sphinx-_Gizeh._(1884)_-_TIMEA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/The_Great_Sphinx-_Gizeh._(1884)_-_TIMEA.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gargantuan statue buried in desert sand up<br />
to its monstrous head.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> 4. For most of <span style="font-size: small;">its existence, t<span style="font-size: small;">he body of the Sphinx has been buried until only the head & shoulders are visible. Start h<span style="font-size: small;">ere, and swap on your monst<span style="font-size: small;">er's head of choice. (Or, take monstrous to refer to size<span style="font-size: small;">.)</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">5. An abandoned dragon’s aerie perched on the<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>lip of an active volcano.<span style="font-size: small;"> Nothing more need be said here, I think.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">6. A temple to a long-dead god whose collapsed </span>ceiling opens to the night sky. (I'm sticking with <span style="font-size: small;">our original phrasing here because I think it's more poetic). I haven't been able to re-locate the picture that was the inspiration here, but any number of ruined cathedrals and monasteries co<span style="font-size: small;">uld serve as a jumping-off point.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">7. A forgotten chamber that opens up to the<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>sewers of the largest city on the continent. <span style="font-size: small;">Like the <span style="font-size: small;">dragon's <span style="font-size: small;">aerie in number 5, I don't think a lot more need be said. Kudos to Spiderweb Software's "Avernum 2" as a <span style="font-size: small;">starting point.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Xian_guerreros_terracota_general.JPG/640px-Xian_guerreros_terracota_general.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Xian_guerreros_terracota_general.JPG/640px-Xian_guerreros_terracota_general.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tower overlooking a courtyard filled with petrified soldiers standing in neat rank. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">8. </span>My in<span style="font-size: small;">spiration here was the famous <span style="font-size: small;">terra<span style="font-size: small;">cot<span style="font-size: small;">ta army, at the tomb of the first Qin emp<span style="font-size: small;">eror in China. I lea<span style="font-size: small;">rned around the time we were writing this section that the army was <span style="font-size: small;">originally painted!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/MtStMichel_avion.jpg/330px-MtStMichel_avion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/MtStMichel_avion.jpg/330px-MtStMichel_avion.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A deserted priory sprawling across a rocky tidal island</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> 9. The image above is of Mont St. Michel in France. Until the causeway was built in<span style="font-size: small;"> the 19th century, the <span style="font-size: small;">monastery was completely cut off from the mainland at high tide.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://0.tqn.com/d/archaeology/1/0/3/G/caracol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/archaeology/1/0/3/G/caracol.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A crumbling observatory open to the skies above</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> 10. You might have <span style="font-size: small;">seen the Caracol thanks to the major "Mayan apocal<span style="font-size: small;">ypse" <span style="font-size: small;">phenomenon last year. I knew about it long before that, and still love this image.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/9/14/1316012098702/The-living-tree-root-brid-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/9/14/1316012098702/The-living-tree-root-brid-008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A covered bridge, woven from the roots of<br />
living trees, over a murky river.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> 11. <span style="font-size: small;">This is a real thing. The bridges take years to create, and can be <span style="font-size: small;">found in<span style="font-size: small;"> the Khasi Hills of India.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://0.tqn.com/d/archaeology/1/0/_/B/machu_picchu1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/archaeology/1/0/_/B/machu_picchu1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A frozen city built on a terraced mountaintop,<br />
with no trace of its former inhabitants.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> 12. Th<span style="font-size: small;">e photograph above is of Machu Picchu<span style="font-size: small;"> in Peru; we simply <span style="font-size: small;">encased it in ice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-32119990427672782482013-02-13T10:18:00.000-06:002013-02-13T10:19:37.139-06:00Freelancer Aspirations: Battlemind BasicsIn the April/May 2012 pitch window for DDI, I submitted roughly a half-dozen pitches for articles. Some of them are things I may still get around to writing on my own (Vestige Pact Hexblade and psionic item sets, I'm looking at you). One of the pitches in that batch represented my most ambitious solo piece of gaming writing to date, an article for the (Class) Basics series on battleminds.<br />
<br />
Despite some of the ridicule the class got right after its release, I have a thing for battlemind characters because I like characters who are tough. I also liked the challenge of picking the limited number of powers to deal with a plethora of situations. There are people - including a friend of mine around here - who strongly dislike psionic characters in D&D games, feeling that it mixes science fiction into their fantasy. It's an argument that I'm sympathetic to, and would probably even accept about battleminds if it weren't easy to portray one as somebody who doesn't know they're using psionic abilities.<br />
<br />
When this article was rejected, they rightly called me out on a number of grammatical errors that I've since caught & cleaned up. The editorial team's other comments were that this article didn't excite them to play a battlemind, nor did it offer enough strategy and tactics to help play one effectively. They also felt like many of the recommendations were too obvious. It did get noted that the Basics articles are among the hardest to write.<br />
<br />
I found it interesting that this would have been the first of the Basics articles that had no new mechanical content. I'd specifically inquired about creating a power or two that could be used as a melee basic attack without the expenditure of a power point, and was told not to.<br />
<br />
I think that the piece is solid (especially after cleaning up the grammatical errors that never should have crept through to a final submission), and present it <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/BattlemindBasics.pdf">here</a> for your downloading and viewing pleasure.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-34307318252489788272013-02-05T14:33:00.001-06:002013-02-05T14:33:39.748-06:00The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Gaming.<span id="internal-source-marker_0.3075270114681107" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
am occasionally reminded that hobby gamers, like everybody else, can
include some of humanity’s best traits and some of humanity’s worst
traits. Super Bowl weekend often seems to bring out the latter in
droves, perhaps in a misguided effort to give all the sports fans who
think it’s acceptable to mock people not interested in sports a
proverbial taste of their own medicine. If, at any point in the last
couple weeks, you’ve seen a comment somewhere about “sportsball,” you’ve
seen one example of this phenomenon.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Unfortunately, “sportsball” posts are a mild example. A couple weeks ago, </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/915197/the-return-line-at-target-these-arent-games-theyr/page/1"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">came
across my radar. (CAUTION: Long thread with some pretty toxic remarks.)
A summary for those who are smart enough to not follow the link: It’s a
post where somebody describes a remark heard while in the return line
at his local Target. The woman ahead of him was returning several hobby
games she’d bought at Christmas for her family, and complaining about
them being too difficult. Exhibiting one of the more reprehensible
traits of humanity, the readers began to pile in to make fun of the
woman, with only a very few wondering whether she might be selling her
family short or otherwise trying to do something positive.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cue the better parts of gamer culture: </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/rdonoghue"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Rob Donoghue</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> began trying to come up with a list of which 5 games might make up “</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/104915224203075819082/posts/WMnnaSEdqpe"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Boardgaming 101</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.”
His requirements were that the games should be able to be gifts that
the recipient could open up the box, not get scared by apparent
complexity, and learn to play just be reading through the rules. I was
pleased to note that many of the columns I’ve already written here
feature on the list generated through the comments on Rob’s post, and
I’m probably going to use that list to guide some of my future
selections, at least for the ones I’ve played. If you read my columns
for reasons other than being related to me, the post I linked is a good
one to look at, including its comments, both because of people trying to
do something good in the face of others being jerks, and because some
comments are from a non-gamer who gives her perspective on some of the
particular titles mentioned.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The other person who tried to create a positive response is graphic designer and game designer </span><a href="http://www.danielsolis.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Daniel</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/danielsolis"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Solis</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. His work actually might be a the usual audience here, because </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/article/11073119#11073119"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">the list</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
he started begins from “mainstream” games that you’ve probably heard
of. It could probably stand a clean-up, and the drive seems to have left
it, but it’s a good place to start. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ll
close by giving Mr. Solis credit for something else: he consistently
works to make hobby gaming a more inclusive hobby. He’s designed some
great games with kids in mind, helped found a project to increase the
inclusion of women and people of color in gaming artwork, and frequently
offers general advice to people who ask. The same is true of Mr.
Donoghue and all of his business partners at Evil Hat productions -
although I have never had the pleasure of meeting any of them in person,
I’ve followed them online through the better part of a decade, and have
to describe them as genuinely Good People. I’ve never seen them say
abything bad about anybody, and I hope that I never will.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-80611635682916901692013-02-04T12:53:00.001-06:002013-02-04T12:53:29.744-06:00Freelancer Aspirations: Sentinel Druids of WinterMore gamer-speak ahead (which is mostly what tends to show up there, especially in this series).<br />
<br />
When I sat down to write my own drafts of the missing seasons for Sentinel Druids, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.koboldquarterly.com%2Fk%2Ffront-page11161.php&ei=hgEQUfO-K6KZyQG894D4Ag&usg=AFQjCNGAzziwaSlj2fpUFsgMHgwt25JfVg&bvm=bv.41867550,d.aWc">Winter</a> was easy. I grew up in the Midwest, and have listened to a fair amount of Garrison Keillor talking about how winter builds character as part of his assorted Lake Wobegon monologues. More than that, there's a remark of Nietsche's: "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." I wanted the basic point to be that winter Sentinels were survivors.<br />
<br />
Taking that as a starting point, the chosen weapons were easy: what things could you use to get the food & shelter you would need in the middle of a winter? Spears, axes, slings. For an animal companion, I chose a wolverine as something that is commonly associated with winter or cold-weather environments. Since wolverines have a reputation as being bloodthirsty, the wolverine powers became high-damage powers (although not as powerful as the bear's). The benefits to the druid itself took the form of things to help the druid and his companions survive, either by avoiding damage or by shrugging off effects that were already affecting them.<br />
<br />
As before, I got some feedback from people who read the drafts which I took into account. The big change that resulted from this feedback was an additional boost to the damage dice in chosen weapons, and in allowing the sling to be used as an implement. I'm not positive I got the latter part right, and it would probably need some playtesting to determine whether it needs further refining.<br />
<br />
The new and revised version, formatted nicely to print, is available <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/WinterSentinels.pdf">here</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-47847892028984420622013-01-30T21:26:00.001-06:002013-01-30T21:27:20.791-06:00Freelancer aspirations: Sentinel Druids of AutumnAnother re-post of work I've done that appeared elsewhere, although this time it's undergone some revision since then. Some of that revision is mechanical, some of it is word choice, and some is simply story.<br />
<br />
The work in question this time around is the <a href="http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page11087.php">Sentinel Druid of Autumn</a>. I suppose a bit of explanation might be in order for non-gamers wandering in here (yes, there are a few of you sometimes). Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, which had the original rules for the Sentinel, presented Sentinels associated with spring and summer, with strong implications that rules for autumn and winter Sentinels had either been edited out from the book or would be forthcoming shortly. The same was true for the Cavalier in that rules for valor and sacrifice virtues were detailed, and two others (compassion and justice) mentioned but not present in the book. Having finished writing the Dark Pact Hexblade, and waiting for a verdict on its fate, I wanted something to keep my brain on design in case I was asked for edits.<br />
<br />
I like the leader role in 4E Dungeons & Dragons most of the time, as it stretches the part of my brain that likes military history, tactics, and logistics. The Hexblade has a format where the powers must come in certain action types at certain levels, and the same was true for the Sentinel. The number of mechanical pieces for a Sentinel was also smaller than the number of mechanical pieces for either a Hexblade or a Cavalier, so I decided to start here.<br />
<br />
I linked the original publication above. I got some comments from the original readers, but also directed it to the attention of a few civilized members of the <a href="http://community.wizards.com/go/forum/view/75882/135802/4e_Character_Optimization">Character Optimization</a> forum at Wizards of the Coast, looking for critique and advice. I got some, and took most of it to heart. A summary of the most important changes:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The animal companion changed from a fox to a cougar.</li>
<li>The cougar's aura became something different entirely.</li>
<li>The damage boost for using chosen weapons was increased, and now scales by tier.</li>
<li>The animal companion's attack gained at level 17 was completely rewritten. </li>
</ul>
I've since edited my original manuscript, and formatted it to make the stat blocks look pretty. <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/AutumnSentinels.pdf">Download it here</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-83376860015204002042013-01-28T13:43:00.002-06:002013-01-28T13:56:21.664-06:00Freelancer Aspirations: the Dark Pact HexbladeI've detailed a few pieces I've written for D&D's 4th edition rule set in previous posts, and had originally intended to keep going until I'd worked my way through all of my repertoire. However, a fall semester in which I ended up with a lecture to teach for the first time while at Heartland Community College roughly tripled my grading load, and made it a lot harder to keep up with the project. At least for the moment, I'm back on it.<br />
<br />
I'll start by noting here that, if you haven't seen it, it's been teased that the one article for which I've received a paycheck will be in February 2013's DDI issues. Although we pitched the article for Dungeon, the tease showed in Dragon, so I won't swear which one is getting it.<br />
<br />
I picked up <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHeroes-Forgotten-Kingdoms-Essential-Supplement%2Fdp%2F0786956194&ei=JtQGUdqSC4GmyQGQ4YDIBw&usg=AFQjCNH2SxmJ0ahvLDwco9BIHV1WltPTKw&bvm=bv.41524429,d.aWc">Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms</a> because the warlock has been one of my favorite character classes for 4E D&D, in part because of how wide-open the options are for using the same basic mechanics to drive many, many different stories (through the different pacts and letting a warlock's patron drive parts of your game's story). I ended up waking up really, really early the next morning with parts of the initial pitch just stewing in my brain, and had an original pitch for this sent off to <a href="http://www.wizards.com/">Wizards of the Coast</a> before noon on a Sunday.<br />
<br />
It was about a month later that I got a response back, which was along the lines of "We've just given the hexblade a lot of word count, so we're not doing any new hexblade material for a while." I did write back asking whether it would be received better in a few months, but never got an answer. So, I turned around & pitched it to <a href="http://www.koboldquarterly.com/">Kobold Quarterly</a>. (The magazine is no longer in production, although they're still doing daily updates to their website and creating & publishing other print products.) I got a response along the lines of "We'll take this for the web site, but not for the magazine. Are you OK with sending it this way?" So, I finished writing the whole thing and sending it in.<br />
<br />
For length reasons, they split the article into 3 parts. I'll link to the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDwQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.koboldquarterly.com%2Fk%2Ffront-page10477.php&ei=SNEGUYq6KoaVyAGOhYGIBQ&usg=AFQjCNGswTyIS7kaqZ7KfnL55s8G1UxvZQ&bvm=bv.41524429,d.aWc">last part</a>, since it contains its own links backward through the series, although I've got a re-formatted compilation of the whole thing <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/DarkPactHexblade.pdf">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I was trying very hard to capture the feel of spiders and lizards in the flavor text of the powers. Working from the "standard" Dark Pact Warlock, poison damage became one hallmark of the build. The decision to use acid as the other came from the caves like <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&ved=0CEUQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCueva_de_Villa_Luz&ei=ldQGUYSSCcvyyAG70oHYCQ&usg=AFQjCNGfnlwt_CAAnXsZ-L4GJbZxbto_ug&bvm=bv.41524429,d.aWc">Villa de Luz</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lechuguilla_Cave">Lechuguilla</a>, where the water in places is really fairly concentrated sulfuric acid. I know that, from the standpoint of folks into character optimization, this probably isn't up to snuff, but I think that I made the mechanics reflect the story I was trying to have them tell. I'd call this solid, but not innovative, work.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-70247702819003562022012-09-17T22:11:00.000-05:002013-01-28T13:56:21.663-06:00freelancer aspirations: superior implementsThis particular entry has a long and winding history, and represents my first attempt at trying to get a gaming-related article published. Back in the fall of 2010, I contacted James Auwaerter about possibly collaborating on a pitch and article to Wizards of the Coast for D&D Insider. That spring, the Player's Handbook 3 had included the first rules for superior implements, and although it was suggested that the keywords used could be used to homebrew varieties not present, there weren't many examples shown. I had several mechanical examples that I thought were good possibilities, but wasn't as comfortable with the story side of what made for a good D&D article.<br />
<br />
Jim was reasonably receptive to the idea of working together, and contributed several ideas. The Common/Uncommon/Rare system was just being applied to magic items at the time I originally contacted him, and he suggested that we might also want to come up with several Common magic item enchantments that could be applied to the implements we developed. He also did a <i>lot</i> of work on the story development in the article (below). In fact, it's probably fair to say that Jim did all of the flavor text in the article along with helping polish the mechanics. <br />
<br />
Along with a lot of notes about proposed mechanics, the original pitch I sent Jim for some review read as follows:<br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>This
crunch-heavy article would expand on the superior implements currently
available by both defining two new superior implement keywords and presenting
roughly a dozen new superior implements of all types that both take advantage
of the new keywords defined and present new combinations of implements and
keywords. Our best estimate of the word count is approximately 1500 words.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Jim rewrote the pitch, based on the following general principles:<br />
<ol>
<li>Don't come in too high. It's easier to come in low and have them ask for more, or (in an article like this) write more than you originally pitched and ask them to pick the best of the selection.</li>
<li>At the time, the magic item rarity rules had just been introduced, and there was a <i>massive</i> gap in what items were considered to be Common. Adding the magic items was a way to help make the article appeal to more possible players.</li>
<li>At the time, the <a href="http://wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drbaz/20100923">Grifnar's Arms</a> article was only a couple months old, and was one of the best-received short articles in a long time. So, it was an attempt to link the article we were proposing to something else that was recently well-liked. In addition, the word count was boosted to match the length of Grifnar's Arms article, which had lacked any new rules content.</li>
</ol>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Bazaar of the Bizarre: Tools of the Spellcaster’s Trade </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This
article would present new superior implements for the discerning
spellcaster. It would be in a style similar to the Bazaar of the Bizarre
article "Grifnar's Arms" from Dragon 391, introducing Grifnar's elven
counterpart, Aldanian. Aldanian would offer several kinds of superior implements as well as some more common magic items. </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
We intend to define two new superior
implement keywords (enduring, to help spellcasters that summon
creatures, and expansive, to help spellcasters who favor area effect
spells) and present roughly a half-dozen new superior implements for all
implement-using classes. We would also provide two or three common
magic item enchantments that could be used with multiple types of
implements. We estimate this article will be approximately 2000 words.
This article is being jointly submitted by Jim Auwaerter and Jeff Dougan. </div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
At the time, Wizards of the Coast didn't guarantee a response to every pitch submitted, and we went our requisite 60 days without hearing anything. We did both think the general idea still had legs, and ended up sending a query (pitch) to Wolfgang Bauer of <a href="http://www.koboldquarterly.com/">Kobold Press</a> for possible use in Kobold Quarterly magazine. He liked the general idea enough to let us write up a full manuscript (<a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/Superior%20Implements.pdf">PDF version here</a>), and sent us some notes about the Midgard campaign setting (used by KQ for a number of their articles). Wolfgang also ended up passing on buying the full article, which we figured out from seeing the tables of contents for the two issues of KQ we might have been considered for & learning that manuscripts didn't remain in the submissions pile from one issue to the next.<br />
<br />
Some time in here, the second period in which Wizards of the Coast guaranteed responses to everybody opened up. I got a hold of Jim again and asked him if he felt like it was worth giving it one more go, since this time we'd get some guaranteed feedback. I sent it in along with a few other pitches (it ended up in my second batch of pitches in that window), and waited. For reasons unknown to me, feedback on this particular pitch was missed in the initial pass. However, I ended up following up on its status at the same time as the project that they eventually did pick up, and learned the following reasons for its rejection:<br />
<ul>
<li>At the time we sent this, they had a number of Bazaar of the Bizarre articles (the series under which this would have appeared) in various stages of work, so they didn't want to add more to that series.</li>
<li>The mechanics we'd proposed were functional, but the design team didn't want to add more keywords or other new mechanics unless they addressed something vitally needed. There were also some concerns about our new introductions adding an element of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_creep">power creep</a>" into the game.</li>
</ul>
Although I understand the concerns about the number of Bazaar of the Bizarre articles & the potential for power creep, this is one article that I have to admit I'm still disappointed didn't get commissioned for further review.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-19189316873900116292012-09-13T12:44:00.002-05:002012-09-14T13:26:12.034-05:00Freelancer aspirations: the Cryomancer<i>Preface: Those who don't have any interest in gaming generally, and role-playing games in particular, will probably want to ignore this post since it talks about my recent experiences in a freelance project submitted to Wizards of the Coast for the Dungeons & Dragons game. I'll do my best to keep jargon out of the article as much as possible if you decide to keep reading, but you've been warned.</i> <br />
<br />
This project has only just reached a point where I can openly discuss it, thanks to some bad news received about it yesterday afternoon. Some background:<br />
<br />
Wizards of the Coast currently runs two open submission periods every year for those who aspire to write freelance projects for Dungeons & Dragons Insider, the online version of what used to be Dragon and Dungeon magazines. Over the last year (two cycles), I've submitted roughly 20 pitches (two with co-authors attached) and had three projects commissioned to the state of a first draft. I got more-or-less final verdicts on two of those three projects yesterday, one of which will result in a paycheck and one of which was a rejection without request for further revision. I'm not at liberty to discuss the former project until it comes out, but I figure I'll put some lessons here on the other project.<br />
<br />
For those who aren't gamers or otherwise into fantasy genre fiction, a cryomancer is a kind of magician whose abilities are all focused on cold. Here's the original pitch:<br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Class Acts: Wizard: The Cryomancer
<br />
<br />
Fire mages are flamboyant and hard to avoid noticing; wizards who specialize in cold magic are rarer. Calculating, implacable, and unforgiving, those who command the glacial ices are rare and worthy of attention. Their comparative rarity is attested by the lack of a singular figure associated with cold magic, although many famous archmages have included magical cold within their eponymous spells (including both Bigby’s Freezing Grasp and Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere).</blockquote>
<br />
The pitch I sent included a little bit more, like some details on estimated word count and particular mechanical elements. In the initial response, I was given two directives to consider: first, that elemental specialists needed to have some way to deal with creatures that were resistant or immune to their element of choice. For example here, a cryomancer needs a way to cope with meeting a frost giant or a white dragon. the other directive I got was to focus more on the story side of the article than the mechanics. <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/Cryomancer.pdf">This PDF</a> represents the draft I submitted, minus some internal notes to the produced & development teams on certain elements of story, credits, and the art order.<br />
<br />
One challenge for me was that the lore of D&D doesn't really have any famous wizards who are known primarily for their use of cold magic. There are a number of D&D wizards who have used cold in some of their famous spells (Bigby's Icy Grasp made it into the 4th Edition Player's Handbook; Otiluke's Freezing Sphere was present in all of the first 3 editions of the game), but I didn't have a single wizard around whom I could build the story. I ended up dividing it up among three wizards, two of whom have lore that goes way back in the game and one of whom was my first 4th Edition character.<br />
<br />
The discussion of "naturalist" vs. "elementalist" varieties of cryomancy came about rather late in the writing process as I wrestled with balancing not creating large quantities of new story elements out of whole cloth<br />
with the directive to focus more on the story elements of the article. I was also trying very hard not to make the whole thing "pyromancers are like X, cryomancers are like Y," although a little bit of that still slips through.<br />
<br />
I heard back yesterday with the article's rejection, and I'm actually not surprised. The mechanics were OK, but not inspiring, and I did got a bit too far with the story elements. It's been said by Wizards of the Coast staff in previous public places that, if a draft has promise but just isn't quite there, they'll work with you to make the work the best it can be. (From the project that will result in a paycheck, I can say that's true. I can't elaborate more right now, but will probably try to write something like this about that project when it becomes public.) Overall, this article just didn't have anything they could point to as being fixable.<br />
<br />
I'm still very new at the RPG-freelancer thing, but I agree that the article definitely didn't deserve to get bought as-is. I think I was hoping that there would be a little more guidance on ways to help the story become more cohesive, perhaps because I think the idea of a winter wizard still has lots of potential. I just wasn't the person to get it there -- at least, not with my current degree of skill. Maybe I'll come back and revisit this idea someday, after I've got some more design experience. If I do, I'll be sure to let people know. <br />
<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-31493714227590331602012-09-05T09:18:00.003-05:002012-09-05T09:18:26.949-05:00Preparing for September 25th - #TrueLoveTrigger warning: link to a post describing what should be considered sexual assault <br />
<br />
On September 25th, 1987, one of the most important movies of my generation premiered. It's had tremendous influence on geek culture, although not as blatantly as (for example) Star Wars. That movie is a wonderful ode to action, adventure, and True Love. It is, in a title, The Princess Bride.<br />
<br />
Returning to the internet after a holiday-weekend absence, I was appalled to read about something that happened during a party connected to PAX Prime (which is rapidly becoming one of the biggest geek-culture conventions). [Edit: In looking up the link for the post describing the event in question, the victim makes it clear that party had no kind of official connection to either the convention] A woman was, in effect, <a href="http://www.explodedsoda.com/2012/09/boundaries-and-penis-incident.html">sexually assaulted</a> by another attendee at the party, and the security guard her friends tried to get involved gave a reaction along the lines of, "What do you expect me to do?"<br />
<br />
There's a connection between these two things, I promise. It's this: as somebody who's been happily married for 14 years, I know that not all geeks are socially maladjusted. I know that we have the ability to be in stable, reasonably healthy relationships, and that many of us appreciate just exactly what True Love can be.<br />
<br />
So, I propose to the geek community that on September 25th, we all tweet, post, and otherwise put onto all of our social media sites of choice our appreciations of True Love, in an effort to make it the top trend of the day across the Internet. Who's with me?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-8537097525899099892012-07-16T09:18:00.003-05:002012-07-16T14:05:44.013-05:00Preview: Race to Adventure!Last weekend was the monthly <a href="http://host6.evanced.info/urbana/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=8090&rts=&disptype=info&ret=eventcalendar.asp&pointer=&returnToSearch=&num=0&ad=&dt=mo&mo=7/1/2012&df=calendar&EventType=ALL&Lib=&AgeGroup=ALL&LangType=0&WindowMode=&noheader=&lad=&pub=1&nopub=&page=&pgdisp=">board game event</a> at my local <a href="http://www.urbanafreelibrary.org/">library</a>, and the Grasshopper & I got to go for the first time in several months. I've been pretty excited about the forthcoming game <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102107/race-to-adventure-the-spirit-of-the-century-explor"><i>Race to Adventure!</i> </a>from <a href="http://www.evilhat.com/home/">Evil Hat Productions</a><i>. </i>It's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine">pulp fiction</a>-themed scavenger hunt that spans the globe of the late 1920s, including a stops in Antarctica, Atlantis, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Nepal, and the United Kingdom. I haven't been in a position to back the game on <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/race-to-adventure-a-spirit-of-the-centurytm-board?ref=live">Kickstarter</a>, but I did get a hold of the guys at the Hat, and they sent me a print-and-play kit in exchange for writing up my experiences afterward.<br />
<br />
Background, for those who don't want to watch the intro videos at the Kickstarter page: The target audience is ages 8+; the game should take 20-30 minutes to play once everybody knows what they're doing, and involves moving your piece to the various locations around the globe and carrying out certain tasks to collect stamps on their passport. The board is modular (for the non-gamers, this means that you can rearrange the board from one game to another), and in the full game all of the locations will have two sides, so that the replayability increases even more. The Grasshopper is 6-almost-7 and a budding gamer, so I figured playing <i>Race to Adventure!</i> might be a good test of how well the game could scale down.<br />
<br />
I got to play 2 games during the time we were there -- a 4-player game that had two adults, the Grasshopper, and one other kid who looked to be about nine (I didn't ask), and later a 2-player game that was 2 adults. For the 4-player game, we made one modification suggested in the rules, and made rescuing the prisoner from Atlantis "show up with the lightning gun and get the stamp," removing the timed aspect of the mission.<br />
<br />
I enjoyed the game a lot, and I think the Grasshopper did, too. (There's a possibility that he might have a couple friends over later today, and we might end up playing then if it happens. If more plays get in before the Kickstarter campaign ends, I'll try to update the post accordingly.) Both games finished with the second-place player having 7 of 9 stamps, and I think that in the 4-player game the farthest person behind had 5. (That was one of the two kids, although I don't recall which.) The game did move quickly both times, taking maybe 40 minutes for the first game and about 20 for the 2-player one.<br />
<br />
This is definitely on my long-term acquisition list, either funding the campaign if something changes in the next week, or as a strong request for a Christmas present. Besides, how can you not love a game that has an intelligent <a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1260367_md.jpg">gorilla flying a jet pack</a> on its cover?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-89558644181495034312012-06-14T12:00:00.000-05:002012-06-14T12:00:04.795-05:00Sure-fire charcoal lighting: a tutorialPun intended, incidentally.<br />
<br />
Last week, the News-Gazette posted a blog post about the fact that they sell end rolls and some possible uses for them. I mentioned that I use newspaper to light a charcoal grill, which was seized upon by the staffer. She's mentioning it today or tomorrow, and although I've sent her pictures, I figured I'd do a step-by-step tutorial here.<br />
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So, let's meet the tools you'll need for this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A chimney starter, one and one-half sheets of newsprint, cooking spray, and your lighter of choice</td></tr>
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Use the cooking spray to liberally douse the newsprint. Crumple it, and stuff into the bottom part of the chimney starter. You don't want it so soaked that you can use it for a window, but you want it pretty well sprayed.<br />
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Pour in enough charcoal to fill the top part of the chimney starter. Although it's really better for your grill to light the coals on the ground, I have two kids and one of them doesn't know enough to be able to keep away. I've got a preference for lump charcoal when I can find it, but had briquettes on hand this weekend, so that's what you see.<br />
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Use your lighter, matches, or whatnot to light the newspaper in three or four places around the bottom of the chimney starter. Do you see those slit-like holes? (If you don't see them well above, there's a better view in the next picture.) That's what they're for. In a couple minutes, you should have something that looks kind of like this:<br />
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Now, you really shouldn't walk away while the coals are lighting, just in case the unexpected happens. How long it takes them to really get lit will depend a lot on how fresh they are -- charcoal is very absorbent, and if you store it for any length of time it will suck water out of the air. This makes it burn a bit smokier and slows down how quickly the coals light. The charcoal I had dates back to last fall, so it took about half an hour to reach this point:<br />
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The coals aren't really lit all the way yet - you want them all to have that coating of light gray you can see on the couple in the middle. It happened to take these another 20 minutes or so before they were really ready, but fresher charcoal will light faster.<br />
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There you have it. Please note, I do not take credit for coming up with this myself - the chimney starter has been around at least since the '70s. I learned the trick of spraying the newspaper with cooking spray from Alton Brown, host of Good Eats - the single best explainer of why you (should) do things in the kitchen that ever appeared on film.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0Urbana, IL, USA40.1105875 -88.207269740.062011500000004 -88.2862337 40.1591635 -88.1283057tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-3629896389094234122012-05-28T09:43:00.002-05:002012-05-28T09:47:43.133-05:00Summer Vacation PredictionsIt's the beginning of the Grasshopper's first real summer vacation (I don't count last year because he only spent a half-year in kindergarten), and he'll be spending most of it home with the Munchkin and me. I'm going to make the following predictions about the remaining 84 days.<br />
<br />
There will not be:<br />
<ul>
<li>Building a rocket (he's too young)</li>
<li>Fighting a mummy (though we might visit the one at the local museum)</li>
<li>Climbing up the Eiffel Tower (it's too far away)</li>
<li>Giving a monkey a shower (no zoo in town)</li>
<li>Surfing tidal waves (we're pretty landlocked)</li>
<li>Creating nanobots</li>
<li>Locating Frankenstein's brain, </li>
<li>Finding a dodo bird (unless there's one at a museum I can't remember), or</li>
<li>Painting a continent</li>
</ul>
<br />
There probably will be:<br />
<ul>
<li>Discovering something that doesn't exist (probably pretty often), and plenty of</li>
<li>Driving his sister insane.</li>
<li>(Keanu Reaves voice): Reading. Lots and lots of reading. </li>
</ul>
<br />
It's also likely to include his first visit to a gaming convention (Gen Con, no less -- day trip for an exhibit hall-only pass), plenty of board games, seeing his friends from school, and maybe -- just maybe, if the potential obstacles all get worked out -- becoming the youngest official D&D Next playtester.<br />
<br />
As for reading: in the space of less than a week, he's wiped out most of the original sequence of Erin Hunter's Warriors books. He'll be a second-grader reading at an almost-4th grade level. Suggestions welcome.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-82561672816456545502012-01-30T12:54:00.000-06:002012-01-30T12:54:10.460-06:00A long overdue review: The Fiendish PrimerMany, many, many months back, <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/VanityGames">J. Snyder</a> mentioned over Twitter that she was working on an alphabet primer that used a bunch of classic D&D monsters for the various letters. Having a pair of kids, one of whom is (now) old enough to start to get into ABC books, I'd asked about whether the artwork was really kid-friendly, or if this was really being targeted at older gamers for a nostalgic feeling. She answered that she thought it was OK for kids, but I'd probably have to decide for myself. We eventually worked out that I'd get a complimentary PDF copy in exchange for a review. This is that review.<br />
<br />
First off, if you read through and decide you like it, you should know where to get yourself a copy. The answer is <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=95800">here</a>, for the price of $1.99.<br />
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The PDF is short and two the point -- a cover page, a copyright page, 26 pages for the actual letters, and an about-the-author page. The illustrations are pretty cartoony, and there are none that I'd have a problem with showing a 3-year-old in my family. The poems to go with the letters are all pretty cute, although parents would be able to tell that Ms. Snyder isn't a full-time children's author. My issue isn't with the vocabulary, since as a PDF-only book it's not something that a kid would be reading all by themselves -- at least, not in my house. There are several words that are likely to provoke a "What does that mean?" although they could be pretty quickly answered by the parent who's reading the book to the kid. However, the meter has uneven patches, and the rhymes between consecutive letters are sometimes more approximate than exact. The uneven meter won't stand out to a kid, but the uneven rhyming could. I think that within the realm of fair use I can quote the first four letters, especially because the purchase page shows the first two:<br />
<br />
"A is for Aboleth, it's you he despises..<br />
B is for Basilisk who gaze petrifies.<br />
C is for Catoblepas who kills with a stare.<br />D is for Doppelganger, a double affair."<br />
<br />
I'd say that it's at least worth a look, and Ms. Snyder has done good stuff elsewhere, so I don't have any problems with giving this a 4-star (out of 5) assessment.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-2565710441142106542012-01-20T10:06:00.000-06:002012-01-20T10:06:16.460-06:00very minor updateIt's been called to my attention that, back in October when I was hosting the RPG Blog Carnival,I wrote up one of the entries, but didn't actually provide a <a href="http://asusurrusincarcosa.blogspot.com/2011/10/village-above-sea-2nd-level-dungeons.html">link </a>to it. I'm fixing that now. My apologies to Chris, and although I've updated the original main post, I'm giving an extra link here to make up for it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-27096524790953539252011-11-18T08:33:00.001-06:002011-11-18T08:48:43.139-06:00recent writingsIt's been a busy last week or so, catching up from the backlog that being sick (and having a sick wife/kid) generated. But, I've had a few things published elsewhere that are worth pointing out:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>At <a href="http://www.chambanamoms.com/">Chambanamoms.com</a>, I discuss playing the <a href="http://www.chambanamoms.com/2011/11/10/family-game-night-ticket-to-ride-europe/">Ticket to Ride</a> games with kids. I didn't get a chance to talk there about the variant I use for playing with the Grasshopper, so here it is (as suggested by some Boardgamegeek users): Rather than dealing three tickets to everybody at the beginning of the game, and making them pick two, everybody is dealt just one destination ticket. Omit the "long" routes.As soon as a route is completed, score points for it and draw a new one. Because it's impossible to plan for the longest route, leave the bonus card out. Otherwise, follow normal rules for drawing and playing cards, claiming routes (and double routes), and scoring.</li>
<li>At <a href="http://www.koboldquarterly.com/">Kobold Quarterly</a>, I've had my versions of both the <a href="http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page11087.php">Autumn</a> and <a href="http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page11161.php">Winte</a>r Sentinel Druids for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons get published to the website.</li>
<li>I've pitched a few articles to Wizards of the Coast for D&D Insider, and have a few more to send before the month is over. Like almost everybody else who has sent them anything in the last two months, I'm still waiting to hear back. I'll say what I can, when I can.</li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-21532829053331435642011-11-01T13:17:00.000-05:002011-11-01T13:17:21.366-05:00A Night in the Lonesome October: Wrap-up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmze7dvRtic/TpR1tqAFfWI/AAAAAAAAAUo/2yecsqNaxkI/s1600/ANitLO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmze7dvRtic/TpR1tqAFfWI/AAAAAAAAAUo/2yecsqNaxkI/s320/ANitLO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I've linked in the <a href="http://jffdougan.blogspot.com/2011/10/night-in-lonesome-october.html">cover page</a> everything I've found that was submitted. We had 9 entries for this blog carnival, which ended up focusing heavily on 4th edition D&D -- maybe because that's the community I'm plugged into, although I did my best to get the carnival advertised outside my normal venues. My thanks to everybody who participated. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-68440053491321976072011-10-24T14:04:00.000-05:002011-10-24T14:04:36.582-05:00A Night in the Lonesome October: The Society of ShadowsAdam Page is probably best known in the RPG Blogging community as <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/blindgeekuk">@blindgeekuk</a>. He wrote a phenomenal amount of material for the Winter is Coming blog carnival last month, and is a regular contributor to the Daily Encounter. Here, he gives us the Society of Shadows, an outline of an organization whose feel dovetails nicely into the students of Evard the nethermancer (featured prominently in one of the last seasons of D&D Encounters). In addition to the introductory material, there are two themes: The Shadow Caller and the Shadow Seeker.<br />
<br />
Download the document <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/The%20Society%20of%20Shadows.doc">here</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-29467672732232383422011-10-24T13:30:00.001-05:002011-10-24T13:30:25.626-05:00A Night in the Lonesome October: The House of Dr. ChamberlainOur first guest post in the Brain-Attic comes courtesy of <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/BrentNewhall">Brent Newhall</a>, the <a href="http://rpg.brentnewhall.com/">RPG Doctor</a>. He tells us of his contribution:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #cccccc;">
"The House of Doctor Chamberlain is a self-contained horror-themed
adventure using the simple Risus system (explained within), perfect for
an evening of fun with friends. The player-characters are invited to a
manor house, where they witness a murder. As they explore the house in
investigation, they turn up ghosts and the tone turns increasingly
macabre, leading up to a frightening confrontation."</div>
<div style="background-color: #cccccc;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
The PDF is available <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20705546/The%20House%20of%20Doctor%20Chamberlain.pdf">here</a>. Try it out this week and let us know how it goes!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-76093563936945919122011-10-24T13:00:00.000-05:002012-01-20T10:00:00.346-06:00A Night in the Lonesome October: An RPG Blog Carnival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xmze7dvRtic/TpR1tqAFfWI/AAAAAAAAAUY/KmG5e_DiJgg/s1600/ANitLO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xmze7dvRtic/TpR1tqAFfWI/AAAAAAAAAUY/KmG5e_DiJgg/s320/ANitLO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The skies they were ashen and sober;<br />The leaves they were crisped and sere - <br />The leaves they were withering and sere;<br />It was night in the lonesome October<br />Of my most immemorial year:<br />It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,<br />In the misty mid region of Weir - <br />It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,<br />In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.<br /><br />Here once, through and alley Titanic,<br />Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul - <br />Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.<br />These were days when my heart was volcanic<br />As the scoriac rivers that roll - <br />As the lavas that restlessly roll<br />Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek<br />In the ultimate climes of the pole - <br />That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek<br />In the realms of the boreal pole.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>-- </i>Edgar Allan Poe, "Ulalume"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Welcome to the "A Night in the Lonesome October" blog carnival. We're collectively a group of RPG enthusiasts, for all sorts of games and all editions of games, who are coming together between now and Halloween to write all kinds of spooky things for our players (and, we hope, yours). As the week progresses, I'll add links here either to guest posts at my brain-attic, or to things people have written elsewhere, so that this can serve as a single go-to place from which to browse to your heart's content.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">Monday, 24 October 2011</span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brian Liberge starts us off at the Stuffer Shack with the <a href="http://stuffershack.com/portfolio-item/charmed-hero/">Charmed Hero</a>, a theme for 4th edition D&D that can be used to help represent the Alexander Harrises, Samwise Gamgees, or John H. Watsons of the world.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brent Newhall gives us the stand-alone adventure for the Risus system called "<a href="http://jffdougan.blogspot.com/2011/10/night-in-lonesome-october-house-of-dr.html">The House of Dr. Chamberlain.</a>" If you've never played Risus, don't worry -- he's got enough of a quick-start in the document that you should be able to sit down and play in just a few minutes.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Adam Page (better known as <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/blindgeekuk">@blindgeekuk</a> on Twitter) presents the <a href="http://jffdougan.blogspot.com/2011/10/night-in-lonesome-october-society-of.html">Society of Shadows</a>, an organization and two themes centered around nethermancy usable in a 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons game. </span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">Tuesday, 25 October 2011</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">The Roving Band of Misfits presents a review of <a href="http://www.rovingbandofmisfits.com/2011/10/game-night-cthulhu-dice/#more-2698">Cthulhu Dice</a>, a quick dice game by Steve Jackson Games </span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">Wednesday, 26 October 2011</span></span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/Trollitc">Ben</a> of <a href="http://trollitc.com/2011/10/a-night-in-lonesome-october-free-zombies-for-you-this-halloween/">Troll in the Corner</a> is giving away his Contagion Infected Zombies expansion for the Pathfinder RPG for <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?discount=62004">free</a> up until midnight on Halloween.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/blindgeekuk">Adam Page</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/ObsidianCrane">John Pope</a> of the <a href="http://www.dailyencounter.net/">Daily Encounter</a> team up to give us more <a href="http://dailyencounter.net/2011/10/26/powers-of-death/">necromancy powers</a> for the 4E D&D Wizard.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thursday, 27 October 2011</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">The crew at the <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/bandofmisfits">Roving Band of Misfits</a> give us some ideas for haunted house-inspired <a href="http://t.co/8rIg7Bjs">terrain effects</a> and monster ideas, statted for 4E D&D, but pretty easily adaptable to other systems of your choice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">Saturday</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">, 29 October 2011</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Chris Jackson of A Susurrus in Carcosa gives us <a href="http://asusurrusincarcosa.blogspot.com/2011/10/village-above-sea-2nd-level-dungeons.html">The Village Above the Sea</a>, an adventure for 3-4 characters of 2nd level. (Written for D&D 4E). </span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">"</span></span>What begins as an end-of-summer sojourn in a seaside town ends up being
far more sinister. The PCs discover a terrifying secret that threatens
the entire village, but can they find the source and stop the threat
from getting far more out of control?"</li>
</ul>
<li>Craig Oxbrow presents a short adventure for the <a href="http://thewatchhouserpg.blogspot.com/2011/10/night-in-lonesome-october-buffy.html">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</a> game. Yay, Unisystem goodness! </li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">Sunday</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">, 30 October 2011</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Craig Oxbrow also has an adventure for the <a href="http://thedoorintime.blogspot.com/2011/10/night-in-lonesome-october-october.html">Doctor Who</a> RPG. </span></span> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">, 31October 2011</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">John Pope at the Daily Encounter feeds us some <a href="http://dailyencounter.net/2011/10/30/lifeless-mariner/">Lifeless Mariners</a> come crawling up from Davy Jones' Locker to overrun any maritime vessels on which your PCs happen to find themselves.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Craig Oxbrow contributes even more with a <a href="http://thewatchhouserpg.blogspot.com/2011/10/night-in-lonesome-october-vampire-plot.html">cryptic essay and five vampire-centered plot hooks</a> that you could adapt to the game of your choosing. </span></span> </span></li>
</ul>
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</ul>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373156402500979484.post-81536328516673080912011-10-11T12:08:00.000-05:002011-10-11T12:10:01.564-05:00On a Night In the Lonesome October: An Upcoming Blog CarnivalInspired in large measure by the phenomenal success of T.W. Wombat's "<a href="http://gamerblog.twwombat.com/2011/09/winter-is-coming-rpg-blog-festival.html">Winter Is Coming</a>" blog carnival, I'm going to see just how crazy I can go in the next month and try organizing one of my own. I've snagged the theme for this one from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_in_the_Lonesome_October">title</a> of a phenomenal book by the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny">Roger Zelazny</a>, which he himself snagged from Edgar Allan Poe's "<a href="http://www.online-literature.com/poe/579/">Ulalume</a>". For those not familiar with the book, I will encourage you to run-don't-walk to your local library and check out a copy. I will otherwise note only that it was born out of a wager in which somebody bet Zelazny that he could not write a book in which the audience would root for a certain infamous <a href="http://www.casebook.org/">Jack</a> of the late Victorian era. (Image below the cut courtesy of the fabulous <a href="http://www.dicemonkey.net/">Mar</a>k <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/markmeredith">Meredith</a>.)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xmze7dvRtic/TpR1tqAFfWI/AAAAAAAAAUY/KmG5e_DiJgg/s1600/ANitLO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xmze7dvRtic/TpR1tqAFfWI/AAAAAAAAAUY/KmG5e_DiJgg/s320/ANitLO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>What is it?</b><br />
Like WiC, this will be a week-long blog carnival that will begin on Tuesday, October 24 and end on Halloween.<br />
<br />
<b>What am I looking for?</b><br />
I'd like to people to contribute RPG-friendly material, for their system of choice, inspired by the carnival title, or any of the source material linked above. If it's scary, or campy-scary, or has tentacles and an unpronounceable name, I want it. If you're want to write about how to pull in any of the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober">tropes</a> used in the book (Warning: TVTropes link!), I want to see it. The doors are wide, wide open. I'll publish guest posts, or link to posts on your own blogs. While I don't expect that I've got any right to expect the amount of
participation or creativity that appeared for Winter is Coming, I'd love
it if that happened. <br />
<br />
<b>What do I need to do?</b><br />
If you're interested, post a comment here or let me know on Twitter (<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/jffdougan">@jffdougan</a>)
or via email (my twitter handle at comcast + net). I'm looking to publish
guest posts here in a Man's Brain-Attic for the week of 24-31 October , so let me know if you're between blogs or interested in
publishing outside of your normal venue. I'll be happy to host your work
and not take a lick of credit for it, and you can say you're published
on multiple blogs.<br />
<br />
If you want to publish something on your blog, I'll maintain a list of
links in the Night in the Lonesome October cover post to be published on 24 October . If you email me I'll send you the link when it's available.<br />
<br />
If you're involved, all I ask is that you link back to at least the
cover post and send the link in a shout out on Twitter. You're welcome
to cross-post, comment, retweet and whatever else you want to do to
promote yourself and your fellow blogosphere denizens.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17545511146414443820noreply@blogger.com13