Ridiculing the Ignorant Pt 1 (Old Blog)

This is going to be an unfortunately regular series of articles, some short and others long, in which I ridicule the ignorant and uninformed, simply because they appear not to have a solution to an obvious problem.

Notwithstanding the fact that RPG.net has been a topic of discussion, I shall pick on one poor sod. http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=242875

In this very short thread, the author, has bought an old ADND boxed set of Dark Sun. He declines to say whether it is 1st or 2nd edition, but it only really matters depending on if you think Brom is Dark Sun and vice versa.

In the thread the guy has read the setting and books (I doubt in details) but then beggars the question as to what to do with the game. I'm sorry but if you have read that much material and are still fucking clueless, then you really are in the wrong hobby!

Just answering/replying to this guy surely must rank you as a prick or at the very least encouraging the jerk. Suggesting he buy the supplements (by a follow-up poster) to make a workable game actually playable is so funny, that its sad. I mean if you are that bereft of ideas that even Dark Sun leaves you a fuckwit, Im glad you are not my DM!

I think it is fair to say that regardless of how poor or badly written (Im sure I will prove myself wrong very soon) role-playing material is, at the very least it must stimulate the mind, otherwise why read it. Just watch the tv instead!

Originally posted 30/01/2006

Exiles & Boycotts - Yeah I know they arent the same! (Old Blog)

Seeing as I have imposed a self-styled Exile (as per Cessna), I have decided to answer my critics here, as opposed on the boycotted RPG.net forum. I fully expect NO ONE to read this but it does massage my ego.

I firstly would like to say Sponsored Links (Green underlined hyperlinks embedded within the text of an article or forum) are akin to spam and spyware. In previous months surfing the internet and finding these "hijacked" links could only mean one thing, you have spyware or a virus on your machine. So when I find myself surfing on RPG.net and seeing a link be highlighted, my first reaction is "fuck" I have a virus or at the worst a spyware program running. Hunting around using all my usual programs reveals my machine is clean, so how come. A bit of searching later and RPG.net are using sponsored green links to help pay for their internet access etc. Which is a bit of a pisstake considering they just raised nearly $3,000 to buy a new server.

My posting on the Sponsored Links Discussion Board went as follows
lose the ads or lose any respect.
Im boycotting this forum until they are gone.

The immediate reply from a forum MOD was rather nice, UberGnome

 I don't really know how to reply to this without coming off as a snarky bastard, so I'll just say that we'll still be here should you ever decide your moral crusade is fruitless.

So not only do MODs sound like snarky bastards (their words not mine), but they also consider my moral crusade pointless. Valandil pointed out that I had indeed made almost 500 posts and that I felt that RPG.net owed me a service. Well no one owes me anything, In fact the service I get from RPG.net isnt exactly worthwhile or really relevant, but as soon as I get "charged" for surfing on a forum, I leave. I have posted larger numbers of posts on other forums and never felt that it should be charged for. Ironically if people actually had to pay for each post they did post, I think there would be (a) less of cuntish posts such as a complete quote of the original poster, followed by "I agree" and (b) less cuntish borish banal posts to start with for cunts to actually agree with in the first place.

One kindly gentleman suggested that indeed I could always turn them off, but that involves putting a cookie on my machine and activating cookies, well sorry Im not prepared to do this for many reasons, but the most apt one right now is because I cant be fucking bothered.

 

Originally posted 30/01/2006

 

animalball (64.234.17.78)

16th Dec, 2007 00:39 (local)

Fear not, lawbag-- I've been boycotting RPG.net ever since they permabanned me two years ago for stuff I wrote on my own site.

SOLIDARITY!

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pete_darby (194.60.106.5)

17th Dec, 2007 11:56 (local)

Not so much boycotted as gave up: spent more time on the forge, then on knife fight, now... well, a lot of google reader feeds.

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lawbag (83.104.27.178)

18th Dec, 2007 11:21 (local)

If you are ever to made to feel unwelcome on a forum then leave, quietly or otherwise.

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Hobby Spamming

A while back, DriveThru RPG, (an on demand PDF website selling digitial copies of role-playing games), had a week of letting registered users downloading free versions of previously full-price games. One day they were $ 19.99, the next they were $ 0.00. Now this is great on many levels as it gives people the chance to try out the PDF service, look at games they wouldn't normally look at, but there is a downside which might not normally be realised.

The people who have offered their product for nothing, it would seem, have been provided with the email addresses of everyone who downloaded their product, giving them a valid reason (as per the terms and conditions of the site) to send you unsolicited emails advertising their future games.

I use a slew of Hotmail accounts for registration purposes, so I know the source of these new emails that I am starting to get. Luckily they are hitting the SPAM folders and will continue to do so, as like most people, I downloaded a few choice games, looked at them, and then saved them away, most likely to be forgotten.

Homage to Hackmaster? (Old Blog)

After putting it off for years, I finally played in my first proper DND3.5 campaign. The GM is experienced but hasnt run a game in a fair few years, but the players are ready to give it a try, including me.

It didn't take long for us to realise that no matter how hard you try, combat is just a series of attempts to roll high on a D20 to hit the monsters. Now there is nothing wrong with this, its just that whatever role-playing attempts are made, e.g. descriptive methods of attempting to gain an advantage over a monster or situation or any combat edge is nullified because it isnt in the rules. It doesnt really matter what kind of character you are, its all about your Base Attack Bonus!

Well we intend to finish the short Eberron campaign, simply because he bought all the books and because we do have fun as a group, but not with the game itself. One new player commented about how little role-playing we did, and here is the perfect example of game which discourages role-playing to gain any advantage. Its closer to Hackmaster, in a weird way, DND is a badly implemented and unknowing tribute to Hackmaster. I would be happy to never play a D20 game again. Sorry.

Originally posted 16/01/06

Bookmarks Pt 2 - Jeff Rients

Jeff Rients is or was a regular at the old RPG.net forum, and was one of the early adopters to join the rival and more open forum therpgsite.com.

Now this isnt a little rant about rpg.net, Ive done that in past blogs and on my other gaming rant blog, but rather why Jeff Reints' is a bookmark.

Putting it simply Jeff has some good ideas on the gaming industry, but mostly on what it takes to make a good game better. He has created a three-fold gaming system/style which seems to work for most things.

He finds 5 random links himself that he finds interesting and posts them all up. They all have a gaming theme.

Whilst it is fair to say he has gone off the boil of late, he still is worth me checking in on him at least once a week.

jrients (4.159.104.147)

19th Nov, 2007 03:19 (local)

Thanks for the kind words. I'm unfamiliar with the phrase "off the boil", but I think I follow. I'll readily admit my material has taken a bit of a left turn recently, but then so has the rest of my life.

Please take anything I say about the industry with a large grain of salt, especially when I try to make predictions. I've pretty much given up on gaming industry prognostication after a string of spectacular failures.

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lawbag (81.137.161.230)

21st Nov, 2007 13:47 (local)

I tried to be honest about my opinion.
Unlike the 'pundit though, you do occasionally talk about your family which does make you human.

Thanks for the comments.

As for "off the boil", imagine the finest cuisine put on the "back burner" of a cooker, and it starts to simmer as opposed to boil. So what I was saying was, that the quality is still there, but either not to my taste, or building up for a return to form.

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Ill Breeds Boredom

Been off ill over the last 2 days, which has kind of pissed me off because it looks as though my visit to Dragonmeet may well be cancelled, which is a shame as I had fully intended to get a copy of StarBlazer RPG, En Garde, jonnynexus' book, Games Night and a couple of Legend of the Five Rings books.

Im still holding out being able to make it, but I suspect if I do, Ill end up driving as opposed to leaving it up to public transport.

angusabranson (84.9.37.116)

30th Nov, 2007 09:58 (local)

To soften the blow a little if you can't make it - the Starblazer Adventures book isn't going to be ready for Dragonmeet. Everyone worked really hard to try and get it completed but time was against us.

Chris will be running some Starblazer games though and have prints and sample chapters available to look at.

But sadly no book :(

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En Garde Forum is now Up

Just an update to say month turn 1 has been completed, still looking for new players, and that we have a new forum up in place.

Parisian Duellists

L5R - Whats Next

Seeing as its not me who is running Legend of the Five Rings, it does give me a chance to reflect and get ready for next games to come.

I have the desire to finish the Freeport Trilogy as it has an ending worthy of the effort - even if the group are heading in the wrong direction.

But as to what comes next, well thats an open book as far as I am concerned, but I do have a few "pages" bookmarked.

Firstly, Serenity. I really would like another player or 2 to join in the boost up the crew numbers. There is a story to tell and I suppose Id be happy to finish that off with the current group, but I doubt I'll continue as part of the success of the game is the dynamics of the group.

Here are a few of the other games that I have chosen to run, and curious to know what other people think of whats on offer.

Werewolf: The Dark Ages - yes I know I said Id never run this 3rd part, but I find the idea alluring still to run a game set in the dark ages. Not because the skies were black, but rather the period of history where we know so little of the occurings.

Twilight 2000 - there are enough military and gun nuts in the group that this could be fun, I think having grown up in the 80s, calling myself a child of the bomb, its fair to say I'd like to run a game set in the era (which is now history rather than the future.)
Engel - angels and demons in a devastated future, I've wanted to run this the moment I heard about the game, let alone actually now owning it. I am not 100% sure Ill run it as a D20 game or use the Arcana system which is available online

Orpheus - a role-playing game about a ghostly detective agency, limited short run campaign written by White Wolf

Deadlands - carrying on from where we left off

I have a few one-shots lying around that might be interesting;

Judge Dredd - the original Games Workshop flawed edition

Paranoia - the new XP edition

&

Warhammer 40,000 RPG Demo Adventure - we are all fans of the WHFRP game, and this should just be a perfect extension of the game. I loved Fading Suns RPG, and this game will be even bleaker than that little effort.

Bookmarks Pt 1 - The RPG Pundit

http://www.xanga.com/RPGpundit

One of the most interesting bloggers around. Thats assuming you like controversy, role-playing games, hard-line gaming opinions, pipe-smoking (which I don't but I overlook it) and lots of interesting political debate and information on Uruguay.

The RPGPundit, to give him his correct title, is a kind of internet personality who cares little for the people he may upset with his rants. He campaigns strongly against a generation of role-players whom he dubs the "swine". By definition, a swine is someone who deems role-playing games to be some sort of high art, and that by playing (through acting and narration and other nonsense) are in some way raised above the masses who role-play for fun or social interaction. He specifically targets Ron Edwards and his Forge forum with his GNS theory as well as the entire catalogue of products produced by White Wolf for its World of Darkness role-playing games.

I thoroughly recommend you reading his blog from the beginning, I believe he started back in November 2005, but he does repost some old classic posts just to confuse his readers.

Amongst his credits are writing Forward to Adventure, a role-playing game based on old school gaming, administering http://www.therpgsite.com forums and rpg portal, and running numerous historical based campaigns.

You might not agree with everything he writes, but at least he does have something interesting to say.

En Garde PBEM

Just a short note to all those who read this blog that there is a PBEM game of En Garde currently underway. It just started this month (October 07).

The link is below;

Email

orchq@hotmail.com

or visit the group

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Engarde_Parisianduelists/

PRESS RELEASE (For what its worth)

orchq wrote:

Hi All I wish to run an email based game of En Garde. Any one interested in playing let me know. If I can get about 10 players this will become viable. En Garde! is a semi-historical role-playing game in which characters take on the personality of a gentleman in 17th or 18th century France. It was originally published by Games Designers Workshop, but after they discontinued the game, it was reprinted under license by The Small Furry Creatures Press (SFCP). En Garde! provides a simulation of swashbuckling as seen in Errol Flynn films, Cyrano de Bergerac and the Three Musketeers. Players take on the role of a Parisian gentleman in a situation where status is a goal to be achieved above money and social climbing is a way of life. Characters attempt to gain power and glory by being seen in society, using people, cultivating friends in high places, winning the hand of fair ladies and, of course, by fighting duels to uphold ones honour. Rivalry is intense and friendships a valuable commodity. En Garde! is open-ended in its objectives, like many other role-playing games. Characters come and go in a historical situation that continues to progress. Within the game, a character's objective will be to become the most notable person in Paris, along with which go wealth and power. How long he will stay at the top will depend on his wit, since there will always be plenty more people prepared to do the dirty on him in their own quest for status. The nature of the game makes inter-player communications a necessity, since it is often extremely difficult to progress alone. This makes for a very friendly game, where players group together for mutual assistance and often come into other players or groups with conflicting interests. Most games have a very lively "press" where characters' views are exchanged in an often heated but (almost) always polite and genlemanly fashion. The game will appeal to anyone who enjoys role-playing, history and negotiation in games. Cheers az

Legend of the Five Rings

Not a great lot to talk about. First session, character creation and bedding in playing our various clan roles.

We have a Phoenix Shujenja, a Lion Bushi, Dragon Monk and for myself, a Bayushi Scorpion.

We have all the clan books we need and all the players.

One of our group helped the session by serving rice crackers and sake - long may that continue. How the hell the Japanese ever managed to fight drunk on sake is beyond me!

Rolemaster - Thats Roll Master to You

Well the penultimate session of Rolemaster has been completed, and everything is back on track.

Having met a brutal wall of violence in the previous session they decided to walk away from the Freeport 2nd part and pursue something to amuse themselves. With a cleric losing her faith I had help from a fellow player in getting the party back on track, but in the meantime I still had to deal with getting them finished with Freeport.

I told them that there is a 3rd part, and that Im putting it on hold after the 2nd part to give another GM a shot (L5R 3rd Edition), and will return once that has been finished.

I did give them a break, but with a proviso of which they have no clue about.....................

Rolemaster vs The Party

After having beaten the party up from pillar to post for the last 8 weeks, they are finally approaching 2nd level, and are having second thoughts about entering any form of violent combat for fear of critical hits.

So

Rolemaster 1
The Party 0

I have actually been really mean to them, but given them a break once (when the dice result was too severe), but they have suffered some very severe breaks of their own.

RPG Quote of the Day

If the players don't amuse the GM, then the GM will amuse himself at their expense.

--Dave Arneson

Rolemaster <> StarFleet Commander

We didnt play Rolemaster on Sunday. Usual Summer holiday interruptions. 1 player at a Kung Fu summer camp and the other woke up nursing a hangover from hell.

2 players and a DM is a bit too hard to handle, so we had the choice to cancel or try something new. One of our group is a keen wargamer and boardgamer, and at short notice whipped out StarFleet Commander, a slightly simplified version of Star Fleet Battles and had a ton of fun all the same.

w00hoo (86.152.93.183)

13th Aug, 2007 14:58 (local)

Hmm, no that two player feeling, we're in the same boat with our fortnightly game in Tonbridge. About to give UKRoleplayers another hit with an 'any players' request. I've been running the Serenity with two players for it's length apart from the odd 'guest appearance' and it's do-able but not great, makes a lot more work for everyone and I prefer gaming not to feel like work too much! It'll not be enough for the Buffy game when the Serenity finishes though...

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lawbag (62.69.73.216)

13th Aug, 2007 16:34 (local)

I ran a Werewolf campaign for 8 players. Got the short end of the straw whilst running it during the summer months and in 4 sessions, I ran the campaign I had 4 different pairs of players. Keeping the story continuity going was a nightmare, and the end of game scenario was attended by two players who were clueless as to the events happening around them.

I ran a Victorian Age Werewolf story, and it was a mixture of Sherlock Holmes, Mage and Call of Cthulhu.

Serenity works only with multiple players, anything less than 4 and you are really struggling.

The golden rule is, the less players you have, the quicker you burn through the material.

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lawbag (62.69.73.216)

13th Aug, 2007 16:35 (local)

On a separate note, not really a Buffy fan, but I do understand the game has some interesting gaming concepts.

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Rolemaster Continues

I am really enjoying running my Rolemaster campaign. A straight up mixture of classic high and low fantasy, borrowing heavily from 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition (A)DND modules. I chose RM as it is a system I know and love, and enjoy the thrill of random combat, especially its legendary critical tables. But I choose the DND modules as it represents classic Dragons and Dungeon type adventures, neither of which ICE (publishers of RM) managed to encompass.

I have the Freeport trilogy well under way as I enjoy town based adventures, but as a short interlude we are going to be playing the Warlock or Firetop Mountain DND3.5 conversion by Myriador Games.

Once that is over, they will return to Freeport for the 2nd and subsequent parts, and I have an itch then to take them through either the Drow War Trilogy or the Temple of Elemental Evil. I believe Im up for running both with ease as I have a good group, albeit only 4 players, but no one has yet to have played in any of these adventures so far.

I wont be writing an actual play of the events as (a) it doesnt really matter what we do I doubt many people will be interested and (b) I dont think the events of the game are worthy of a write up. I tend to reserve write-ups to games I create out of my head and those developed by the players.

So I Started Gaming Again...

No this isnt a smoking story, but a great feeling akin to smoking, in that our group is back together again. After last weeks character generation session, this week we began our first full on session, which despite reading the adventure, turned into one long ad-lib session.

Its Rolemaster, but running classic ADND, DND and 3rd Edition DND adventures for that dungeon crawling, dragon-slaying feeling. After a couple of dodgy moments I feel in control and back in the swing of things again.

As always, now the adventure is underway, let the rule-reading begin.