You can...play RPGS?

Rian Alasuum

Admittance: I have never played a table-top RPG. I'm new to the hobby, having GM'd on and off in 2006-2007, and really starting to play  in early 2011. But I've never had a playing role-until now. One of my players has created an entire homebrew system and campaign setting, and we played a solo game this week. The system is very simple, focusing on four main attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Agility) and very, very heavy on roleplaying use. Many skill checks are just "rolled" through. The world is one of tense survival, where everyone boasts some sort of elemental affinity. Because of this, even Jimmy the blacksmith's apprentice can whip a fireball at your head. However, as a direct result of this widespread power, magic is rare. My character was named Rian Alasuum, an elven fire-wielding rogue. I also know a little magic. For some reason, I had a lot of fun.  And, it gave me insight into the"player's mind". So GMs, try playing a game or two. It's fun, and beneficial to your GM'ing career.

Learning From Skyrim

-Placing questgivers in population locales, and leaving it up to the players to discover quests.

-Dragons are special.

-Monsters are scary. They are intimidating.

-Everything should be detailed. The villager's home should contain foodstuffs. The mage's castle should hold spellbooks.

-The world should be immersive. It should feel real.

4 Campaigns and Lovin' It

Firstly, this marks a exact two-week blog hiatus. Secondly, my three-person gaming group is playing four campaigns at once. Not only are we continuing our Pathfinder campaign, but we are playing West End Games Star Wars, Resolute Adventurer Genius, and West End DC Universe Role-Playing-Game. Tonight was character creation night.

Resolute, Adventurer, Genius- RAG is a relatively rules-light system that is set in the glorious world that is early 1900s pulp. The created characters are Billy Steel, a naive American cat burglar, and Marc Jones, a materialistic smuggler.

Star Wars Roleplaying Game- I Gm'd SWRPG a few years ago, and the campaign ended after a few sessions. No one was properly gripped or entertained. So we threw out the  Imperial-Rebel war setting, and replaced it with the Jedi-Sith epics of the Old Republic. The first character is Kodo Anarath, a young Jedi obsessed with hunting down his master's killer, Darth Malgus. The second is Kaheed Mitrus, a Yaka bounty hunter only satisfied when a full credstick is in his pocket.

DC Universe Roleplaying Game-I found this game for two dollars at the local library. What I love about the system is the high-quality character creation, which allows for very cool power customization and equipment generation.The first character is Pulse, an energy-wielding former Marine. The second character is being planned now.

The Game Table-Playing Outside

70 degrees in December. Gotta love the Southwest.

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.

The Classic Gaming Wordle

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.

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.

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.

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.