Back from the Med

After a 2 week jaunt throughout the island of Corfu, Im back, and pumped up with ideas for both my MERP campaign, and also a couple of other game ideas.

Firstly because it was just me and the wife, I was able to read a lot as well as undertake lots of reading too, which in part was the inspiration for the games, but also because I was without the usual distractions of TV, the Internet, and phones as well as work, I was able to focus on writing, and lots of it. Pen and paper, no word processing here.

Although the MERP campaign has already been written, I wrote in during my barren playing days in the early 90s, it was written in a vacuum, without play-testing. As I may have previously mentioned, this is the 4th time I have attempted to run this game, and so therefore the early parts of the game are "well-oiled". So far they have enjoyed the comfort of Bree, and gotten to know the surroundings and the people rather well. Every encounter revealing a little more of the dark plot ahead. Now I am moving onto what I would class as 2nd stage of the game, and has yet to be even play-tested, let alone proof-read. Still I am sure in the intervening years I have got better at running and winging games without the facade falling away.

The next stage is therefore the apparently simple journey to the ruins of Rivendell (this is the 4th age afterall) to see the wisdom of the few that remain, and get answers to why there are many factions of orcs roaming what used to be considered safe lands. As a stream of consciousness I wrote 12 pages of A4 notes in one sitting without pause. There was quite a bit on my mind.

The other material I began work on was the early stages of a Superhero game, but I want to "poll" my group and see what they would expect or want from a superpowered game.

The other major focus on my writing was Dune. No no no. Im not one of the lucky who bought a GenCon copy or each paid out over £ 150.



I am ashamed to say I have acquired a PDF copy of the book, and what little I have read, its rather bland and uninventive. Regardless I will use it as the basis for a Dune campaign. For me, I am sufficiently happy to use a simple home-brew system using coloured counters representing traits along with a "troupe" style of play. I also possess a "printers error" copy of the Dune Encyclopedia which is all the background material I need to run a game.

MERP, Holiday and Hawkwind (Starblazers)

An odd mix to talk about, but there you go.

The MERP campaign has finished it's first "book". They have discovered a growing plot in the north, specifically around Angmar and are about to travel to Rivendell for a meeting of great minds. Yes its full of cliches but the players are loving it.

Im off for 3 weeks to Corfu, its my first holiday of the year, and I intend (apart from spending copious amounts of time with my wife) to read 2 or 3 books whilst on the beach. Rumbling through my unread collection (which is shocking despite having not bought any books for almost 5 years) I think Im going to settle on 3 books - 2 fantasy, and 1 sci-fi. I havent made my mind up and it may yet change.

Still very excited about the Starblazers RPG, and been listening to my version of the Rock n Roll soundtrack to go with the game. Hawkwind - Master of the Universe album. Very prog/space rock, totally incoherent and derided, but to me Hawkwind used to make the kind of noise which goes perfectly with the space opera style that Starblazer would expect.