Legend of the Five Rings

We played L5R last night, and despite the low player number (GM + 2 Players + 1 New Player) it went rather well.

4 of the players couldnt make it, all for genuine reasons. Im well aware of the summer break being a big issue for getting players back on the RPG wagon.

Still it gave me the chance to catch up on my notes, create a new character for the new player and get underway with a small side-trek to introduce combat and more background story.

One of the nice side-effects of running a smaller group of characters is that they get to perform roles they dont normally entertain. So our resident ninja/shinobi was virtually forced to fight face-to-face as opposed to sitting in the trees and picking off targets.

Next week we should be back up to our normal quota of players 7 + 1GM.

One other bit of good news was I got my hands on Legend of the Burning Sands.



Using the same system as L5R, this game has been promised for over 10 years, something the back-blurb at least is honest in mentioning. Its still in its sellophane wrap having been bought on my behalf from www.leisuregames.com. Im looking forward to a quiet evening this week to savour every page.

L5R Pt 3 & 4

Our GM is ready to start running the 3rd and 4th parts of his Legend of the Five Rings campaign, with the added extra element of the recently released, Legend of the Burning Sands, an addon that AEG has been promising for over 10 years.

Its the first session after my summer break, and I came back to the group finding out that as usual its hard to get everyone back into the routine again.

Of the 8 of us playing, 3 are out of action due to work, holiday or family pressures, but normal service will resume. I dont mind this as it moves the emphasis around between the players. If one player/character is a little loud and likes to be the centre of attention, when they are not there for a week or so, the dynamics of the group and adventure changes, and generally for the better (only int he short term.)

Gurth, our GM for L5R, has written parts 3 & 4 back to back and will run them as such. I have been taking lots of notes as we play, as I have a terrible memory between sessions, and as the resident Scorpion, I need to keep up to date with all the intrigue going on. I am not sure I will write them up until after the campaign is over, as Im not the greatest fan of "actual play".

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.

StarBlazer RPG is Out

See this

and then buy this

Vampire in the Wings?

No game this week, as previously mentioned, but we did have a summer jolly last night (Saturday) and got drunk to the early hours on the morning in our cowboy and indian themed party.

During the drunk preceedings we think we maybe have recruited a new player with the lure that we dont just play fantasy and science fiction, but horror games like Vampire.

Oddly enough I passed it off as drunk ramblings, but today I have received 2 phone calls from people saying they want in on a Vampire game. Who am I to disappoint, but there is the small matter of MERP to finish first.

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.

Life after MERP

So whats next on the GM front?

Well, we have L5R all ready from our other GM, which I believe is going to be a double barrel campaign, i.e. he is going to be combining 2 adventures into 1.

This suits me fine as it gives me more time to canvas for whats next and give me time to develop some ideas.

Off the top of my head;

Werewolf: Dark Ages - I need to finish off the 3rd part in my time-travelling trilogy.

MERP - I'm sure the guys wont let this game disappear, as they all seem to be having a blast.

Deadlands - this one kinda died because of 2 players who didnt like the system or the world. Of the remaining players, they all loved it. Of the 2 players who didnt like the game, 1 has left and the other is an infrequent attendee.

And as for new games, well there is Hollow Earth Expedition a pulpy action game that manages to merge every element of the genre I love. And then there is the very new Starblazers RPG, a space opera RPG I have been anticipating for a year or so now.

I am sure there are others, like RuneQuest, a game I had prepared before MERP took over, that Id like to run, say a Big Rubble/Pavis game.