A Retrospective

This year has been, gaming-wise, a great year.

Firstly, I started blogging this year.

We began our GURPS 4e campaign in March, and ended in July.

We did some one-shot Pathfinder games in August-November, and officially started our campaign this month.

I bought or was given:

Various gaming apps,

The Pathfinder Inner Sea World Guide,

The Pathfinder Bestiary,

The DC Universe Role-playing Game

Many, many free games,

The Pathfinder Core Rulebook,

The Chessex Pound O' Dice,

 and two Chessex Dice Sets.

I'll review some of those items soon.

Not to be sappy, but this year also initiated my entrance into this great community of fellow bloggers, gamers, and general ruffians.

Overall, an awesome year.

Happy New Year's!

PhotoShop Friday 12-30-12

This week's PhotoShop is, as usual, a picture edited. From Tron Legacy (a fine film, soundtrack's even better), it's Rinzler. I focused on glow points like the identity disc and Rinzler's helmet and brought those out, while filtering the image for contrast, color separation and blending.  I don't like the weird brown triangle on Rinzler's waist (not sure how it got there), but overall I think it turned out pretty well.

Poll Response 10

This latest poll was about A Song of Ice And Fire, George R.R. Martin's fantasy epic. 37% of readers liked the books, 12% loved them, and 50% haven't read them. Key learning: Pick more widely known poll topics.

Obsidian Portal-The Home of the Campaign

To the right (on the sidebar, see) is a new button! Click, and be transported through the dark mists of the time-space continuum  to...Obsidian Portal, another  home of our campaign. Here we've got character descriptions, magic item descriptions, and, uh, some campaign updates will go up soon. Pretty bare-bones right now, but it'll grow as time goes on.

The Game Table-Playing Outside

70 degrees in December. Gotta love the Southwest.

We Played Warhammer

Space Marine Biker

Well, sorta. we played DIY Warhammer, which meant making up rules and printing out paper minis from not only Warhammer, but Warhammer 40,000 and Lord of the Rings.

The objective was to retrieve a sword on top of a hill and bring it back to our base. Our armies were directly across from each other. So I sent a Space Marine Biker to do a strafing run on the enemy frontlines and distract them enough to allow my Wargs to move toward the target.

Wargs

Unfortunately, the Biker took two bolters and a burst of machine gun fire, taking him out quickly. So the Wargs sprinted across the battlefield, followed by Lord Ragnar Blackmane of 

the Space Wolves. Alas, even that did not work, as three Wargs were 

dead before they were even close to the hill. Meanwhile my opponent had

a small squad moving toward the objective. I focused fire on them, and Ragnar

got in a lucky shot. Combined with some crossbow fire from 

Empire troops, we took out an Ork.

My Imperial Guard Sentinel marched toward the opposing army, although not without being hit by a powerful ballista shot . My Centigor follows the remaining two Wargs. I wished to intercept the opposing team heading for the hill. I moved my heavy cannons and warmachines toward the enemy, prepared to ravage their forces. Yet the enemy had focused on ranged combat, and my army was pelted with bullets, bolts, arrows, and flame. 

So we lost. But it was fun, and therefore it was a 

Imperial Guard Sentinel

good experience.

Centigor

Merry Christmas!

100 Posts!

This is Off to Jupiter's 100th post! Thank you, readers, commenters, and contributors. It means a lot to me and I enjoy our daily arguments, rants, and observances. *grin* I'd like to show some statistics and notes on the blog's history.

Off to Jupiter has been up since May 2011.

The month with the most posts has been July, with 39 posts. That equates to an average of 1.25 posts per day.

The month with the least was this past November, with a vapid four posts. This equates to an average of 0.13 posts a day.

Readership is highest in the US, followed by the UK, Canada, and Mexico.

The month with the most hits was August 2011, with 1, 553 views.

The month with the least was November 2011, with 676. This suggests a direct correlation with posts!

The tags with the most related posts are RPG, Role-Playing Game, and GURPS.

There has been 9 polls in Off to Jupiter's 8 months.

Off to Jupiter's very first post was about a new wave of DC Universe Classic action figures.

The first post with a comment was about a new GURPS supplement. Thanks, Tim!

On July 26, 2011 I won the Newbie Blogger Award. Once again, thanks, Tim!

On October 14, 2011 I started to do PhotoShop Fridays.

Thanks, everyone. Merry Christmas, and Happy Hannukah and what have you.

PhotoShop Friday 12-16-11

I haven't done a PhotoShop Friday in what, a month? I need to step up my game. Anyways, today's is Thor themed. I took a movie picture and threw some filters on there in order to give it a distressed look. Then I tinted the picture blue, and intensified the light sources. So, I think it looks pretty good, although I would like to avoid the "scribbly" quality of the pic.

Moments in Gaming

-When a player role-played so well he got three mercenaries to work for him and provide him shelter, food, and equipment.

-When the Star Wars bounty hunter forced us to cut the adventure short because his quarry was dead after two well-placed blaster shots.

-When we tied the warrior to a ballista bolt and fired him at an enemy fortress.

-The battle between a band of mercs (above) and the Assassin's Guild after one player secretly tried to kill the other player. But the target had a team of warriors, and the attacker had around seven assassins.

-When the players assaulted an underground gnoll base and discovered that lit oil, does, in fact, burn things. However, when you light 6x6 underground passages on fire, it's hard to get out.

Just feeling a bit nostalgic today. Thinking about past adventures and looking forward to new ones.

I Love The Library

Hey, look what I found for two dollars at a library book sale.

The Classic Gaming Wordle

Poll Response 9

This week's (or more accurately, three weeks ago's. I just left it "Poll closed" for three weeks. How unprofessional.) poll asked simply "Megadungeons?". The readership has shared, and with surprising regard. I expected megadungeons to be an acquired taste, a niche. Yet 66% of votes said "Yay", and 33% stated "Awesome!". However, 50% responded "Nay", and 33% disgustedly chose "Blech!".

My personal opinion on megadungeons is that they provide memorable and exciting adventure locations, but only when crafted with variety and creativity. 10 by 10 rooms with orc and chest shan't have a place in a megadungeon. Thanks for responding.

An Attempt At Romance

I was asked to write a romantic story. The only condition was that one character was to be named" Lovely." This isn't my area of expertise, but here goes.

Lovely stepped into the moonlight. It illuminated her face, and she gazed around in anticipation. Her journey through the forest to meet her beloved had ended here. Gary appeared, smiling.

"Lovely!"

"Oh, Gary!"

Thay embraced. Lovely met his sparkling blue eyes, and her face creased with worry.

"But my father!"

Gary frowned.

"Do not worry, beloved."

Then Lovely's father appeared, accompanied by armed guards.

"Father, no!"

Gary stepped forward, then quickly fell back, as the father had ordered his guards to attack. Gary took fifteen crossbow bolts, and promptly collapsed. Then the father took Lovely and hid her away for eternity.

The End

On Neglecting Your Blog, and a Thanks to Readers

I have not paid due attention to Off to Jupiter lately.  Real Life has got me again. I've read everyone else's. (In fact, I've spent the last few hours delving through my Google Reader for the week and a half I was gone) But the only posts I've done lately are either PhotoShop Fridays or the occasional Poll Response. I'd like to start writing better posts, to start posting more often, and to follow through with promises. With that, 100 posts is coming fast, and there will be some sort of surprise for the readers. Thanks for staying faithful and for reading my little blog.

Off the Grid...Again

I'll be gone for about a week. Apologies in advance if I don't respond to comments or anything like that.

PhotoShop Fridays! 10-28-11

Today's PhotoShop escapade features Iron Man. I called the pic "Iron Fury", as it seems the Armored Avenger just received a severe beatdown, and isn't happy about it!

Poll Response 8

This week's question was "Do you use a premade setting?" I extended the poll a few times, at first because of the lack of responses and then because of the number of responses. There were 9 votes, which is a pretty good turnout for my little blog. 2 of you guys used Ebberon, and I'm gonna guess one of them was Brendan. 1 uses Call of Chthulu. 5 create their own. 1 chose "Other." He who picked "Other", curiosity is overwhelming me. Comment and tell everybody?

PhotoShop Fridays! 10-21-11

For this week's PhotoShop escapade, I was inspired by the upcoming Arkham City video game. Since we all know the Joker's as mad as mad can get, I figured even his eyesight would be altered. So with that, I present to you...Joker's View of Batman.

Click to embiggen.

The Pathfinder Legends

Players: Kornak, 1st-level Half-Orc Barbarian

Today was a solo session, playing with only Kornak and myself. He discovered the merchant's village of Canam, in the kingdom of Hinden. Kornak casually visited the smith, and was scorned and insulted by the dwarven owner. (Those dam racist dwarves. Get it? Dam. Because they build structures and...nevermind.) He quickly left and headed to the local stables, made small talk with the owner, gawked at the prices, and subsequently left. Outside, in the village square, the commoners fled, screaming. Striding into the villlage were Darkened knights and a mage (the Darkened will be in my bestiary). The whispered. "This is ours."Their smoky skin and intimidating blades struck fear into Kornak's heart. He ran to the nearest building and warned the occupants. One ran away, yelling "I'll get Tark and Eil!" Kornak marched outside, ready to face the darkness. He raised his greataxe, flying into a rage, and charging the Darkknights. A split second later, a leather-clad, bearded ranger drew a hunting axe and ran into the fray. Tark. A robed man, tall and thin, grasped a staff in his bony fingers and stood back. Eil. Kornak proceeded to swing his axe with fury, driving the Darkened back. Tark found chinks in the armor of the monsters, and drove his blade into his enemies' weak points. Yet the warriors fought back, and the Darkened mage held his own. His hands sparked. He raised them toward Kornak, chanting. A wave of fire erupted from the spellcaster, enveloping Kornak.  Kornak roared in anger and bashed away at the mage. Eil pointed toward the half-orc, muttering. . A powerful wind flew from his hand, stifling the flames and blowing back a Darkknight. The heroes fought on, and soon the evil was vanquished. Not knowing what else to do, Eil and Tark guarded opposite sides of the village. Kornak, looking for profit, sold the armor to the local tavern as a decoration. He buried the Darkened's blades, and took the mage's gauntlets for himself. Kornak headed to the local inn, and spent the night in a small room. That is, until about 6:15 in the morning, when the sounds of battle drove their way into Kornak's head. He bolted outside to find another party of Darkened. Eil and Tark were already immersed in battle, assisted by a few villagers armed with rocks. Kornak growled, and unleashed his fury. The Darkened were dead within a minute. The three warriors had a short conversation. Tark, Eil, and Kornak were to keep watch over Canam. But knowing Kornak, he'll probably forget.

Photoshop Fridays! 10-14-11

So, inspired by Jeffs Gameblog, Knights Of The Black Banner, and Gothridge Manor, I've decided to start a weekly post, called...Photoshop Fridays. These will showcase my Photoshop projects, and are around for two reasons. One, to have a weekly post, so I'll have a dependable posting schedule. Two, because the blogosphere could comment with compliments/criticism, thereby increasing my PhotoShop skill. (Hopefully) With that, I bring you...The Dark Tower.

Click to make large. (Or, embiggen)

The First Two Heroes

So since I've got players for the new campaign, I thought, in the style of Rather Gamey, I'd profile them. Since I never asked them if I could use their names, I will utilize substitutes.

Kornak- Ever had that player with no judgement? He'll fight a dragon at first-level, armed with a walking-stick. He'll stand up to gangs of thieves that could kill him faster than he could draw his sword. He insults royalty-in the throne room. Yet, somehow, he survives. And man, is he entertainment.

Jeremiah-The cold, calculating gamer. Ready to fight, but by "ready" he means he has five back-up plans and seventeen daggers hidden on his person. A fan of stealth, and an even bigger fan of giving his characters afros.

Jeremiah the Monk

We've got another character for the new Pathfinder campaign. Today was created Jeremiah the Monk, a martial artist of the highest caliber. Well, as high-caliber as you can be at first level.

Loviatar No. 2

It's pretty great to get something in the mail that isn't a bill, or an ad, or a notice from the HOA that says your grass is a quarter-inch too high. So naturally LOVIATAR is a way better envelope to pull out of your mailbox than anything else. And man, this issue was cool. The intro gives the reader an understanding of the zine's inner workings. The following Pathfinder article is amazing. It's well-written and understandable. The stats are cool. And the maps are much better than mine. The World of Darkness article is descriptive and intriguing. And then there's the GURPS article. Wow. There's some imagination for ya. A pleasure to read.

The city of Baldur's Gate has been entered into my homemade campaign setting. It's north of Seaview(a city), and part of the country of Hinden, on the coast of the Tethys Sea. (For those of you who would like to know.)

New Character

Our newest character-a replacement for the rogue I killed on his second adventure, is Kornak the Half-Orc Barbarian. He's a bit closer to orc than he is man, attempting to win respect among others despite his intimidating nature. That, and his stench.

Poll Response 7

This week's question was....

Would you purchase a Pathfinder bestiary containing around 25 monsters and selling for around $10?

80% of you said yes. 20% said they would, but for another system. But then they didn't specify which system. So I'm afraid whoever you are, I will not be making a bestiary involving your system. But I am planning on making a Pathfinder one. If I'm done soon, I can give it away in a 100th post contest. We're at 82, folks. Four posts a week (average) equals...about five weeks. That should be enough time. Hopefully.

The Land of Al-Kharid

My first attempt at Hexographer has worked out pretty well. This is the land of Al-Kharid, where my Pathfinder campaign is starting off.  Each hex is one-half-mile. It might be too sparse, so it'll likely be edited.

Click to embiggen.

Review: Green Lantern-Sinestro Corps War

I just finished Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War, and I have nothing to say, but...wow. The writing is perfect. The art, better. Brutal. Unforgiving.

SPOILER ALERT/ALERTS
The GL Corps granted lethal force? The battered, bloodied troops standing up to the forces of fear, confident in their power? Kyle Rayner, Parallax? John Stewart's sniper rifle? Hal Jordan harnessing the very power he fights? Flippin' Sinestro? What more do we want from comics? Geoff Johns has created a masterpiece. Sinestro's twisted mind provides insight into his motivation. Arkillo's brutality and savage nature battles with Kilowog's inherent gentleness. The book is a chronicle. A chronicle of a war, told in immaculate detail. And I loved every minute of it.

Five power rings out of five.

It's The Stark Raving Bugbear!

Pathfinder Sessions 1 & 2-9-10 and 9-23

Desert

We have only one player for our first couple sessions. One-on-one is a challenge, because one has to balance encounters for only one player. Our adventurer was Kenswyn the 1st-level Rogue. He made his way thorough a small dungeon and came up to the surface world-in the middle of the desert. Kenswyn spied a village in the distance (Sabiir-see last post) He marched toward it, the sun beating down upon him, when he heard a voice. Five men, armed with shamshirs and daggers, masked, stood before him. Kenswyn failed to understand what they wanted. (Language barrier) Blades were drawn. The rogue backflipped into the air and was promptly pulled down by the hand of a muscular bandit. He was shoved to the ground. His pockets were rifled through, his possessions scattered. He ran. Five-to-one. He met his end at the blade of a bandit. Wow. Not even two game sessions. I am quite the GM.

 A shamshir

Sabiir

The People of Sabiir

Borrowing from Jeff's Gameblog, I've assigned actors(or just people from the Internets) to notable NPCs in my new campaign. Thanks also to Planet Algo's NPC trait tables and A Character for Every Game's Beggar Tables. The first overworld game will take place in the Sabiir settlement, deep in the arid deserts. Here are my notable NPCs. 

Ceigu the Elf will be Alex Pettyfer. Ceigu is a non-native hunter. He's a bit obsessive about maintaining equipment and does not react well to strangers. He's also quite greedy.

Ilyx is a desert native. He is a carpenter and is known for his gracious and compassionate nature. He often wears a bronze circlet.

Tieck, despite her looks, is actually a great companion. She is loyal, a respectable armorsmith, and her half-orc nature provides great ferocity in battle.

Krazid is a 57-year old gnome beggar. He constantly wears a metal skullcap and has disheveled hair and clothing. He often wears a cowl and veil. Lacking teeth, he often scuttles through the gutter, grabbing and eating insects.

Pixid, aka Julie Andrews, is a halfling sculptor. Her grandmotherly nature is only offset by her jealousy of other sculptors.

Bestiary

What system/s would YOU buy a bestiary for? What price? How many monsters?

Poll Response 6

I asked if the gaming hobby was accepted by your peers. 33% said yes, 33% no, and 33% only associate with other gamers. Since three people voted, the data isn't very "real", but I thought it was interesting.

General Audiences

So I guess my blog is rated G. I'm debating if that is good, because it's all-ages friendly, or bad, because it means I'm trying too hard to be all-ages friendly. Hmm. Sorry about the lack of posting lately. Most free time has been devoted to learning the Pathfinder rules, which I think I have down by now.

A New System

I did it, I made the jump to Pathfinder. Although I love GURPS, recently it's become overcomplicated and honestly, not very fun. Combine that with the vast amount of 3.5e and Pathfinder resources, and it was an easy decision. I'm very excited to start a new campaign(we won't be transferring characters) and learn the new system. I also want to subscribe to Loviatar, and get me some Pathfinder zine action. The Core Rulebook will be arriving in "2-6 business days". The next step is to buy some new dice.

GURPS is Too Complicated

Oh, man. I need to do some simplification.

Poll Response 5

75% of you said brick and mortar stores were the best place to buy RPGs. The other 25% said Amazon. My position is that brick-and-mortar is best if you can find a gaming store. I cannot.  Therefore, my second choice would be Amazon.  I think that was the most exciting post I've ever written.

Names for Swords

Stonefriend

Icebane

Stormfinder

Rainheart

Elvish Swords

Elendi

Aien

Innalatar

Aliatar

Thanks to Rusty Battle Axes' Random Blog Post table!

Spec Ops Mission 8-28-11

Most of the game took place right here, in the alleyway.
Thanks, Google Maps!

So yesterday was the kickoff of our new Special Ops campaign. The players were independent agents that were hired (under the radar) by a higher-up in the army, who knew one of the players from his history with the Green Berets.


WARNING! Cliche plot ahead!


The team was to capture a shady arms dealer who was in Madrid currently. What followed would be described as a disaster in the real world, but as awesome in a game.  Madrid's citizenry seeing gunfire and subsequently running and screaming until the police were alerted. The police then chasing the agents. The agents chasing Ian Riage (the arms dealer) and his guards. The guards trying desperately to escape, hindered by the fact that Madrid streets are small, their car was hitting 120 mph, and that Riage was gravely injured. Mayhem. But extremely fun mayhem.

Tweet Tweet!

Off to Jupiter is now on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/#!/OTJblog

Poll Response 5

So we don't like us some Pathfinder? Why?



(I'm working on getting that logo done)

Level Up Your GURPS Characters

1. Estimate how many enemies they have defeated that were more powerful.

2. Multiply by four.

3.Estimate how many were less powerful.

4. Add to total without multiplication.

5. How much treasure have they (currently)? Calculate in est. worth. Divide by number of game sessions played. 

6. Add sums together.

10-100 First Level

101-200 Second Level

201-300 Third Level

...and so on...

Let's say Bill the Fighter has defeated 25 orc warlords and 6 ogres. (31 x 4 = 124) But Bill has also defeated 12 kobolds and 6 unarmed Halflings. (18) Bill has a full set of leather armor, a shortsword, and 6 copper coins, and 29 gold coins.  (200 + 300 + 6 + 29 = 535) Bill's played in seven games. (535 divided by 7 = 76)

124 + 18 + 76 = 218

Bill the Third-Level Fighter

GM Badges

Strange Magic has a post with GM Badges that describe one's GM'ing style. So, I thought I'd give it a go, and on that note, here are my badges.

Folly's Badges

Tactics-Very Important. Charging into battle without thought and strategy gets you killed.


Story-I do my best to tell an interesting story (which the PCs usually change)


Player vs Player-One of my players is plotting to take out another player right now.


Mirror- A week ago someone said, "It'd be awesome to fight a full-on dragon". This week the PCs fought a Blue Dragon.


GM is In Charge- Uh-huh.


Improvisation-I have a map and stats for NPCs. Everything else is improv.


"Beer-and-Pretzels"- We don't have serious games. I have spent half a game session watching players knocking on villager's doors and harassing them.


Tinkering-You know what? Sometimes, there's too many rules. Sometimes, I want to swing a sword without checking for encumbrandce, speed of swing, sword strength, chance of breakage, etc., etc.

I'm Too Ambitious

I've been thinking about new games and new campaigns, and I've made a list of things I'd like to try.

GM'ing a GURPS Special Ops/Spy style game

GM'ing an Alien Invasion game.

Pathfinder-as a player
Continuing my current fantasy game

Suggestions?

Poll Response 4

 "An original logo" won the poll 5 to 2. Prepare for...a logo.

GURPS Session August 11 '11

The players finished the first level of my dungeon. The game lasted about an hour and a half, and was described as "hard". Well, I warned them! (Evil GM laugh) Halfway through the players had found crossbows in an armory. They were subsequently charged by three bugbears. The first received a bolt to the chest. The second received a bolt to the chest. The third ran in terror. He then received a bolt to the back. Oh well. Bugbears were made to be defeated.

A Corrupt Businessman

My Victims...I Mean, My Players

So I've created HeroMachine versions of the players that will be braving my dungeon. And this dungeon? This is my most difficult dungeon yet. About 60 rooms, spread apart four levels, filled with traps and monsters and treasure to be won. A TPK may be scored today. Here are my victims, Elfina the Half-Elf Ranger and Canin the Protector.

Library Problems

Is it weird to get 30 to 40 books from the library every time I go? Maybe, but I think it's great!