Showing posts with label #RPGADAY2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #RPGADAY2020. Show all posts

Sunday, August 9, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 9. Light


#Light

I could post about actual light, but I already did that last year under my series on 52 weeks of magic

No, I won't rehash that. Instead, I will post on making light. Of play, of games. 

Sometimes, a one-liner or good joke can make or break or possibly both a good session. One of my favorite gags came at the expense of my whole campaign. And I wouldn't change how things played out for the world. 

The PC's got clobbered by my antagonists. Most of them died thrice over. However, a cleric survived through all of the bloodshed. I didn't pick up on the fact that he was leveling like crazy. 

As the rest of the party rolled up new characters for the third time, he was collecting new spells. One of them was Quest. 

Since I didn't expect that the party would would get to 9th level against this particular antagonist, that character was not protected against a 5th level spell. And when the cleric unloaded on him, the effect was spectacular as it was effective. 

"I charge thee with a quest to bring me the most perfect grilled cheese sandwich."

I was really sick of that particular antagonist, so I didn't mind this outcome. But it turned in to brick joke. The guy ran off to find that grilled cheese sandwich which put me on the spot to come up with some other plot line. As this new plot line developed, the poor victim kept returning with grilled cheese sandwiches. 

"Master, here is the most perfect grilled cheese sandwich." 
"How do you know it's perfect?"
"Chomp... It's so good." 
"The perfect cheese sandwich has been defiled by your bite." 
"I know...  I know, but it was so good!" 

The table erupted in laughter each time we landed the joke. Eventually, I had to turn the DM reins over to someone else because the joke was killing my adventures. And that too was "so good". 

While this is a story of making too much light, everyone should try to bring some levity and light to the table. It is play, a game after all.  

Friday, August 7, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 8. Shade


#Shade

Shade is an interesting word. As a line artist and stippler, I generally don't get in to shading. But sometimes, it has a it's uses. When you try something new, it's a good idea to limit the scope of the whatever it is. 
This process is more natural to me than any type of shading.
But it's usage is limiting. Things become exciting with the use of color and shading. 

This is four shades of blue grey. It's still limited but more lively. 

This piece has 5 colors. What a difference one more shade makes. 
And this is my favorite. It has 5 colors, purple, green and blue, plus black and grey. Each color has only 2 shades. But those shades make it dramatic. 

Shade goes along ways towards coloring the world. When applied to characters in a game, shades of this or that make them come to life. Often, it doesn't take much to shift or shade a character from a paper cutout to something more lifelike. 

#RPGADAY2020 7. Couple

Day 7, Couple. 

Well, it's my wife's birthday, so I gonna go with that. 

She prefers games with solid rules, like Risk or Monopoly and with the option to flip a table. So, yeah, Risk or Monopoly. She doesn't like D&D or anything else with fluid rules. But she does love whimsy.

A few years back I forgot to order her a birthday cake. As I went out the door to get her a cake (really, any cake) she said, "I can't wait to see what you had them put on it." 

"Oh, sh---." I found a cake, but there was nothing on it. It was the plainest, white colored cake a cake could be. My kids insisted that we decorate it and shouted out all of these insane ideas that couldn't be done in a day, let along 15 minutes before a party.

I told them, "I got this." The clerk looked at me like I was insane. I asked if she could draw a line, starting and ending two black circles, the size of dimes. The clerk shrugged and drew what I asked for. She had no idea what it meant. 

The kids cheered. The clerk was startled. They told her it was the best cake, ever. She muttered, "Okay?" 


When my wife opened it, she shrieked, "BAYMAX CAKE!" right along with the kids. 

She loves structure, I love chaos. We're a good couple. 


Thursday, August 6, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 6. Forest


#Forest

That is a big word, for six tiny letter. When I think of a forest, I think of my children who grew up in and around forests. Spring, summer, winter fall, we're always in the forest. 


Magical. 

Wild. 

Dangerous. 

Protective.

Harsh.

Safe. 
Winters so still and so cold that your own body heat hovers like a cloak as diamond dust floats in the air. 
A forest at night, that holds back the worst of the storm.
As winter recedes, spring reveals secret trails.
Primeval places where children roam free.
And find cool waters in summer.
Which breaks to autumn where the blaze of leaves matches the sun. 

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 5. Tribute


#Tribute(s)

I have some wonderful artwork from a well known artist in the field.  These creations are pyromancy. The brown areas are created with a torch and the colored areas appear to be watercolors. They are as cool as they are fascinating.

Each was done by the amazing Deven Rue. You can also find her on Facebook in addition to the aforementioned website. She's known for spectacular maps, but I can say I loved her teapots and slippers first. 

As you can see, I added an "s" to "tribute". I have a few more. Next up are the author-artist duo, Michael DiBaggio and Shell "Presto" DiBaggio, the creators of the Ascension Epoch series. I reviewed one of their books a few months ago, here. Shell Presto DiBaggio also has a Youtube channel for her artwork. I love watching these videos. 

Ok, so what is the tribute in these two? Well, believe it or not, I wrote a little OSR book called Zero to Hero which contains 50+ descriptions of medieval professions as character types. After I started following the DiBaggio's on MeWe, it sparked a memory. Historically, scribes fell into two categories, an illuminator and an author. And very often, they were husband and wife teams. It's nice to see traditions don't fade. So I added both types of professionals to my book after following them. 

Zero to Hero: Uncommon Heroes
Zero to Hero
Zero to Hero

My third tribute comes from the Introduction of that same book:

"And my parents, who instilled a love in gaming in me from a very young age." Thank you Mom and Dad! They are also a wife and husband authoring team. My mom is a publisher and my dad is an author

These five people aren't the only that could have the label "tribute", but if I kept going, I'd be here all night. Five people for prompt number 5. Seems right. 

Be sure to check all of these great creators out. 


#RPGADAY2020 4. Vision

#Vision

The first thing that popped into my head was The Vision from the MCU. He is a wonderful warning for DMs of all stripes. Far too power and woven in the fabric of the problem but not the world, he is difficult character to handle. 

There is a going to come a point where your players make their characters something other than what you foresaw. There is the temptation to knock them down a notch, so they conform to your vision of what you planned. 

Don't. 

Not only for all of the reasons presented to the MCU version of Vision, but because what happens at your table is not just the DM's vision, but the player's as well. Your stories are the plan, the vision you have but your players have so much more in mind. They have a vision, too. 

Edit - HA! Crossplanes.com had nearly the same idea. Even better, he has a character sheet for The Vision





Sunday, August 2, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 3. Thread


#Thread.

This one is tough. It has to be. Every campaign, no matter the system or rules starts with an idea. How that idea changes over time is the thread. 

Rather than suggest any number of things, I would rather remember some of the epic games that would have gone off the rails if I didn't have hold of that thread. 

I started a campaign without any real idea of where things were going. I pulled out B2 The Keep on the Borderlands and let things go where they would. 

I didn't see where it was all going, but it was a hell of a lot fun. First the player bailed on searching the Caves of Chaos. They did a bit of reconnaissance and returned to the Keep for a few NPC or different characters. They picked up a dwarf and cleric, to round out a party of a thief, a wizard and two fighters. Good call, I thought. 

These two new characters didn't do much fighting, which is odd for a party not to risk their NPCs over their own characters. Well, of course somehow two of my players started playing the NPCs as PCs. I didn't expect that, but I was fine with it. 

The next surprise was the PC negotiating with the Kobolds. That wasn't terribly surprising, but the party went back to the Keep and returned with a door. A door they stole from the keep. The dwarf installed it for a kobolds. From this secure area, they advanced on the orcs above. Once they cleared them out, they stole another door from the Keep.  

"Are you guys planning on moving in or something?" I asked. 

They were. 

I have to say this wasn't our main campaign, but it was a nice place to escape to when other things weren't working out in our main campaign. The thread in this case was humor, exploration and enjoyment. 

I still have a brick joke about the quality of doors, which creeps it's way into every campaign from this one. It's been 30 years or more, but this thread is still alive despite not being the one I meant to create. 







#RPGADAY2020 2. Change


#Change. 

Timely prompt word. I need to change my website to conform with the newest version of blogger. It's kind of annoying but has to be done if I want my gaming site to keep on keeping on. 





Saturday, August 1, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 1. Beginning.


#Beginning. 

I don't know where it began, but I know how it began. It began with my parents. Way back in '77, they took me to my very first con. And then another and another. 

I recall a zillion different games. Mostly WRG, but tanks, dragons, rayguns and so many other things I hadn't seen before and perhaps some I will never see again. But I won't forget them. 

Since then, I've read a hundred different games and played more most of them. And the the process continues. 

As my son reads his copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Essentials Kit, I have two other kids that I have encouraged to enjoy their own creative ventures. Sure, they don't do games as much as their brother, but they have their creative outlets, art, music, stories, etc. Which are just as different as Wargames Research Group is from D&D, but it's a beginning. I hope I've given them a beginning as good as I had.

Thanks for the beginning, Mom and Dad.