Inspiration

What would you use this for?

Sometimes odd items get used for strange purposes. I ran across this $3.00 item while I was shopping today. If you know how my brain works, you can likely guess why I drug it home. Kudos if you can also identify what it was intended for. I’ll reveal the results in the next few days.

Sir Dylan’s Leather Helm

Sir Dylan's Helmet

The helm above is what I concocted for my nephew, Dylan, to add to his Halloween Costume. I barely managed to get it complete in time for his school party. Not quite what I was looking to do. Between the short time frame and my sinus infection, I didn’t take any detailed pictures. The design is based on the Leather Helm by Baron Sir Gerhard Kendal presented by the The Armour Archive.

Happy Halloween, all.

Tomes of Antiquity: The Elements that Constitute a Roleplaying Game

Back in January 2001, Gary Gygax started a series of articles in Dragon Magazine under the title “Up On a Soapbox” with the subtitle “What the Heck is a Roleplaying Game?”. I was interested in what he had to say so procured the Dragon Magazines. Up on a Soapbox is a lousy title for the series. The subtitle could be debated as well. No worse than many blog posts I suppose.

In the article, he stated he was refuting the statement “roleplaying is impossible with D&D in any form”. He didn’t really do that either. Instead, he listed a set of criteria he felt were necessary in any role playing game. Having the entire list as key elements wasn’t critical for the qualification either. The sixteen elements he compiled are as follows and include the original words of the survey.

The Elements that Constitute a Roleplaying Game
Rate each component that is important to a roleplaying game from 1 (least) to 9 (most). If you believe any element does not belong in the game, give it a 0.

1. Building (construction, land acquisition, and so on)
2. Business (an occupation aside from adventuring)
3. Character Development (detailing the game’s personas’ histories)
4. Combat
5. Economics
6. Exploration (both dungones and larger discovery)
7. Intrigue
8. Politics
9. Problem Solving
10. Questing
11. Random Chance (encounters, resolution of combat, and so on)
12. Role Assumption (staying “in character” in actions and thoughts)
13. Story (backstory and in play)
14. Strategy
15. Theatrics (occasional histrionics and sound effects)
16. (You name it and rate it:)

The survey also requested people indicate if they were female as well as if they were new to role playing. Since I’m not going to re-run the survey at this time, I did not include them in the list.

The associated 2/3rds of a page article didn’t delve into more formative description of the elements. Gygax did expand the definitions and descriptions in the ensuing articles. Given it has taken me a week to complete this very post, I shall not either. Although I plan on sharing more thoughts from the series as well as my own interpretation in the future.

For reference, the series began in Dragon #279 (January 2001) and continued in issues 280-284 and roughly concluded in issue #286.

Tomes of Antiquity: (The) Dragon Magazine

Dragon magazine, originally launched as The Dragon magazine, was published for 31 years. The Dragon debuted in June 1976 as a publication of Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) as a replacement for The Strategic Review‘s brief run. At some point, the publication was renamed Dragon Magazine from the original The Dragon magazine. In 1997, after the purchase or TSR by Wizards of the Coast in 1997, publication was of the magazine was shifted to Washington state from Wisconsin. In 2002, WotC licensed the rights to publish both Dragon and Dungeon magazines to Paizo Publishing.

In April 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced that it would not renew the licensing agreement with Paizo Publishing. Paizo Publishing released the final Dragon Magazine #359 in September 2007. WotC’s released a statement regarding non-renewal of the contract stating, “Today the internet is where people go to get this kind of information. By moving to an online model we are using a delivery system that broadens our reach to fans around the world.” The follow on content is now delivered via D&D Insider under a subscription model.

Wizards of the Coast released an electronic copy of Dragon and The Strategic Review covering the original 250 issues of Dragon and the 7 editions of SR in 1999 under the title Dragon Magazine Archive. The release was short lived due to subsequent copyright issues and quickly ceased publication. Used copies are still available but have risen significantly in price sine the release. The underlying documents are in PDF format but the CD collection provides a searchable front-end for content.

Originally conceived as a general gaming publication, Dragon was frequently derided as an advertising tool for TSR. Much of the content was focused on Dungeons and Dragons including many preliminary looks at rule changes, which later became part of the core system. Dragon magazine featured many world class artists, game authors and and game designers. In addition to introducing rules features, many game viewpoints and ideas were expressed in the pages of Dragon.

If you are looking for a particular article or author, The Dragondex provides a searchable index of the magazine, which is very useful. Additionally, The Acaeum provides a more high level index with publication dates and cover scans.

If you can overlook Dragon as an advertising vehicle, it has certainly played a major role in the history of role playing games. The 31 year spanned a great number of changes. It provided a vehicle for introduction to many gaming authors and their subsequent works. Anyone play Forgotten Realms by some guy named Ed Greenwood? While I have a far from complete archive of the magazine, I am looking forward to going back to re-read many of the interviews, articles and game elements.

Convergence Dawns – Mount Evans Take 2

As I previously stated, our semi-annual gathering of the old gaming group is rapidly approaching. For the first time in Convergence history we will be returning to DU’s Mount Evans Field Station. Last spring was a challenge due to heavy snow to get into the facility. We had a great time in the larger lodge/dorm building

Field Station Cabin

This time around we’ll be in the smaller cabin facility. The accommodations are not quite as nice but we’re going to have a smaller group. Luke is out due to his wedding. Kevin is questionable given his recent move. I’ve never stayed in the cabin but its the same great, very remote location. A little more preparation is required since the nearest town is 20+ minutes down a winding mountain road. The only firm plan I have this time is I’m bring some steaks to grill. Nights will be cool but the day time should very friendly to outdoor gaming.

With the date just under 3 weeks away, I had a twinge of panic. I am the only established GM showing up thus far. I could work on pre-planning games but it has yet to pan out for me. I’m also more experienced at running games off the top of my head. Each and everything I have tried to pre-plan either doesn’t work out well or doesn’t get played at all. So I’m officially winging it.

The players will get to select the games. I’m not going to pack many rule systems. I don’t need them nor do they. If they choose something completely outside of my comfort zone, so be it. I’ll adjust.

All I will confirm is Kevin will be subject to some Panty Explosion at the hands of Randall if he can make it.

It should be a good time.

Gygax Interviews & Quotable Bits

My nascent project is to compile a list of the numerous interviews Gary Gygax took part in over his career. Eventually, I hope to get copies of all the interview media in one format or another. It will take a long while but I find them to be more inspiring than the game materials he published. If nothing else, I will learn a lot.

Today, I was struck by one of the questions in the theWeem interviews (part 1) (part 2) :

Weem: Speaking of you playing, you also run games (DM) of course, what is your favorite house rule?

GG: … I generally ignore rules, not add more house ones. If the game is flowing smoothly, the players immersed in the actions of their characters, fun being had, then all is well. Rules are meant to facilitate that through explanation and quantification of things that are nor actual (spells, monsters, etc.). I see no benefit in adding more unless the enjoyment of the game is somehow enhanced by such. …

Do you have a favorite Gygax quote? Pointer to an interview, you enjoyed? Comment away.

Print on Demand? Dead or in Hiatus?

I’m getting old. I just cannot read through an electronic document containing a rule system and garner an understanding of it. My brain must be hard wired. I need a book in my hand I can read and then flip back and forth to re-read a section. All very possible with soft copy rule systems and I have no issue with them.

I want the physical book in front of me. Worse yet, I am not happy with a bunch of printed pages unbound. I truly want the book format, soft or hard cover. Perhaps my psyche was imprinted when only bound texts were available.

I was ecstatic about the rise of the self publishing industry. So much new material was available for fogy’s like me or in electronic format for the people who preferred that mechanism. Somewhere along the line, the self publish industry burned a few bridges. Apparently quite a few. I cannot comment on the situation but when the bulk of the rpg community choose not to utilize those services, I have to believe there is a valid reason.

Is self-publication a dead end? Or are the few players in the industry too onerous to work with currently? I find it a sad state of affairs. I cannot stand reading the pdf’s but there is no alternative for many quality publications. I will not buy them because I won’t read them. Not fully.