I'm Gonna Live Forever...

Paizo is holding a OGL 3.5 design contest!

"With the end of the print editions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, Paizo has lost a conduit to find new talent," said Lisa Stevens, CEO of Paizo Publishing, "so we decided to launch an RPG design contest similar to American Idol, giving unknown talent a chance to get noticed!"

Starting October 31, 2007, any eligible person will be able to submit an entry into the contest. For the open call, that entry will be a wondrous item using the 3.5 SRD. Each entry needs to be 200 words or less, and must include all of the proper mechanics and flavor. Judges will announce the top 32 entries on November 28; those contestants will advance to the first round of public voting, where they will be assigned a new design task, and their entries will be posted on paizo.com for the public to read, critique, and vote on. The designers garnering the most votes will continue to subsequent rounds, and the ultimate winner will earn a paid commission to write one of Paizo's upcoming GameMastery Modules!

Looks like it could be a lot of fun. Frankly, I'm tempted, just for the chance to possibly get paid to play in Paizo's playgrounds. If any Trollsmyth readers enter, let us know so we can wish you luck!

Some Pottage is Too Hot, Some Pottage is Too Cold...

But according to Jocelyn Robitaille, the pdf called "Harn Pottage" is pretty close to just about right:

Overall, I’ve found this product to be mostly helpful if you’re looking for non-epic, low-fantasy seeds. Therefore, I’m awarding it a 4. My feeling is that it’d earn a 5 if I was at all familiar with Hârn, and reviewing it as a straight-forward Hârn supplement.

In the end, it’s free, so you can’t really afford not to check it out!

It sounds like it might be a nice mix with Mr. Bezio's Phoenix Barony setting.

Whither Paizo?

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about whether or not Paizo will adopt D&D 4.0 for their future products. This isn’t the idle chatter you might think. Sure, the marketing juggernaut that is WotC will make it appear like everyone and their grandmother is flocking to the new version of the game, but I recently learned that an astonishing number of AD&D 1^st edition players never migrated to 2^nd. I can’t remember the exact number, but I asked Mr. Dancey about it directly over at the Fear the Boot forums. I want to say something like 50% of 1^st edition players never converted to 2^nd. The whole point of the OGL was to create so much new content for 3.0 that there would be something for everyone, and nobody would be able to ignore it.

The problem now, of course, is that a lot of different companies have a lot of work invested in 3.5. A lot of players also have a lot of money and shelf space devoted to the current incarnation of D&D. Will they convert to 4.0? Why should they? A certain amount will, due to momentum. And 4.0 might bring in new players. But what if the new edition causes the market to fracture further? What if D&D players decide that 3.5 is a better game? What would happen to the market? What would happen to WotC and D&D?

As for Paizo, I think they should just bite the bullet and go True20. ;)

A Review of Epic Proportions

This just looks like a great idea to me:

As I’ve just started reading the rules I thought it might be fun to do an entire thread documenting not only a review of the game, but the opinions, deductions, and problems of a typical gamer (that’s me) as he reads and attempts to gronk a new game for the first time.

I plan to contribute a step by step review of what I read and absorb day by day (and I’m going to take it slow, since I’m very busy). Then I plan to go into any opinions I might have of that, and ask any questions I may have of the fine people reading. Following that I hope to see any other discussion on the topic at hand (usually a chapter of the rules).

I hope to end the whole shebang with a playtest of the game and an actual play report (my group willing). Not sure if I will use the sample adventure (haven’t read it yet) or write one of my own.

Frankly, I can't think of a better way to review a game for others to learn from. It may not be quick and concise, but RPGs are a product with a long tail, and require a significant investment in time to play. So a longer, more in-depth review makes perfect sense to me.

- Brian

Blumboman Reviews Mythic Role Playing

"Unofficially," whatever that means.

And he likes it:

Still, I’m more than satisfied, considering the nine bucks sacrificed for this amazing product. It’s a great, fast-moving and rules-light system on it’s own, and an awesome adventure aid accessory (Yay! Alliteration!). You can literally, and smoothly, start in a blank game world, and have an adventure constructed around you as you play, whether it be alone, with some friends but no GM, or with friends and a GM, who acts more as a referee with a knack for controlling the game than a GM. I highly recommend you get this book, no matter what system you play.

I'm very curious about this system. When I'm flush with disposable income again, I'm highly tempted to check it out.

Get Some Pants on, Lady!

More lovely art from Wayne Reynolds, for Pathfinder.

Via the Paizo blog, of course.

He-Man. No, seriously...

I'd pay to see this flick.

Mongoose Reveals Combat System for Traveller

Well, it's actually just the initiative system. And yet, it's so elegant, and so wrapped up in everything else, it's not fair to say that.

And the folks at RPG.net seem all a-drool over it.

There are some details I'm unsure about, like how often you reroll your initiative, or what happens if everyone gets it up past ten, things like that. But it looks like a very slick design.

Dragonlance Trailer

Well, a rough version of the trailer is out, and there's not much good to say about it. The motion is smooth, but it's disguised by the stiffness of all the characters involved, hand-drawn or cgi. The cgi is especially egregious, with little done to disguise its mechanical nature. The mob of draconians all clanging their swords on their shields is probably the worst offender, but the motions of the dragons, who seem to be flipping around in zero-g and not soaring through the air, or the motions of the heroes, who exhibit no sort of follow-through when they swing their weapons, or that bird at the very end, who flaps his wings without bending them... stiff, stiff, stiff.

The really bizarre thing is that the animation screams low budget and cheap, but the music and voice talent want to be high-budget. Frankly, I think the blame for this resides solely with the animation team. They don't appear at all to have worked up to the standards of the rest of the crew. But I could be completely wrong, and blame might more fully reside with the producers who failed to arrange the proper funding for this film.

I have no idea of their respective budgets, but the animation I've seen so far fails to measure up to the "Record of Lodoss War" OVA from 1990, which made extensive, sometimes painful, use of recycled animation, but didn't have the benefit of computer animation. And computer animation can be a powerful tool when combined expertly with traditional cell animation, as was seen in "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas". The creature designs are especially noteworthy in that film, and the soaring snow roc was beautiful to watch, especially after it snatched up the heroine and carried her to the top of it's mountain lair, snow drifting from its wings. By comparison, the dragons of Dragonlance, which still resemble ugly crossbreeds of snake and duck, move like spastic puppets, without any sense of weight or flight.

I'll probably rent this one when it makes its way to our local video store, but I really don't see adding it to our collection. And I'm not going to encourage the Trollwife to see the trailer, because I'm fairly certain if we do, she'll refuse to watch the movie. :(

There are a Thousand Stories in the City...

...and Craig over at Treasure Tables thinks you can't tell just one.

There's a been a bit of happy thread necromancy at the GMing Forums at Treasure Tables, and this one is golden:

To quote Inigo Motoya from The Princess Bride', "Let me explain, no, that would take too long, let me sum up"

A typical Side Events table I use now has the following columns:
Characters' actions
Characters' orders (magic and masterwork items on order)
Antagonists' actions/plans
The Weather
The Moons
Civic events
City news
City rumours

Most column entries have only half a dozen words in at most, but these can blossom into a wealth of detail and opportunities for the players.

This sort of thing doesn't just work for urban campaigns. The entire world ought to be busy about its own ends while the PCs are shaking its foundations. You don't need something as ornate as Craig's tables. Just having a few yearly festivals at the turnings of the seasons will make your campaign world feel more real for your players.

How Dr. Rotwang Learned to Relax and Love the Random Encounter Tables

You know...the old me never would've done what I did on Thursday. But the new me totally did, and it felt goooooooood.

Starting this blog, and talking about the gaming-related change of mind-set as I do, has really had a positive effect on me. My gamemastering style really is changing, and it's for the better. I feel...

...I feel like a new GM.

Continued here.

Did he Ever Visit the Stonewall?

Some stories continue to grow, even after the last book is closed:

Rowling said Dumbledore fell in love with the charming wizard Gellert Grindelwald but when Grindelwald turned out to be more interested in the dark arts than good, Dumbledore was "terribly let down" and went on to destroy his rival.

That love, she said, was Dumbledore's "great tragedy."

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said.

The audience reportedly fell silent after the admission -- then erupted into applause.

Rowling, 42, said if she had known that would be the response, she would have revealed her thoughts on Dumbledore earlier.

I'm surprised, but not shocked. Say what else you will about Rowling, but she's always been true to her characters, no matter what. Bully for her!

Frankly, though, I'm interested in seeing more characters like Dr. Who's Captain Jack. I can't shake the feeling that our infatuation with sexual identity as a defining personality trait is a bit myopic. A character like Jack, whose sexuality is "Yes, thank you!" feels like a breath of fresh air.

WoW Players to Camp Wal-Mart?

The title says it all:

The World of Warcraft TCG: Now With Tedium!

Quests for Breasts!

And the Google-bait just keeps a-comin'!

Like to play RPGs? Hate breast cancer? Willing to roll dice and eat cheetos for a cure? Check it out!

Confessions of a Part-time Game Pusher

At first, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, about how sexist it was, how it was infantile and insulting.

But now that folks are actually reading it, Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress is getting some surprising praise:

For what its worth, I bought this book for my fiance, and she whipped through it in two days. It's now on loan to several other friends of ours. It was extremely helpful to her and she loves to rp now. Another friend of ours is designing a dungeon to run for her and her boyfriend. So say what you will about the book, but it was the best money I've ever spent on gaming.

This brings to mind other observations I've linked to about gaming and the female of our species. Let's hope this book gets passed around more.

You can find a pdf excerpt from the book here.

Linkity-link Strikes Back

Once again, a gaggle of neat links at Treasure Tables.

Or should that be a herd of links?

Flock?

Murder?

Say What???

Ok, I’m about to do something that anyone who wants to build a successful gaming blog should probably never, ever do.

I’m going to admit that I’m not down with the cool kids.

It’s been creeping up on me slowly, especially since the publication of D&D 3.5. It’s gotten to the point where I can read a post on a message board about D&D and have no freakin’ idea what they’re talking about.

For instance, there’s this post over at RPG.net:

When I started the campaign I'm running, the party was a rogue, a spellthief, a paladin, and a favored soul. After a few sessions, I wrote in a ranger and a multiclasser intent upon cerebromancer. Long story short, it seemed like a balanced party: 2 skillfuls, 2 bruisers, 1 healer, and 1 blaster.

Then I kicked out the cerebromancer because he didn't show up to four sessions in a row, the spellthief is now playing a soulbow (long story), and the ranger is bowing out due to other commitments.

Now the party has no crowd control, and I don't know how to fix it. I really don't want to add another player because it is already hard enough to organize games with the five schedules I'm currently juggling.

Wha? I don’t even know what a favored soul is, but I assume it, like the soulbow, is a new character class or prestige class from a non-core book. That’s not such a big deal.

But when did players start building characters around themes like “crowd control” and “blaster”? When did such considerations become so vital that a DM would think the game was broken if the party didn’t have someone who could handle them?

You can see a bit of befuddlement in the responses:

You're the GM. You control what the players come up against, and the party won't need a character to do crowd control unless you choose to make it necessary. So don't.

To which the OP says:

That doesn't really help me much because you're telling me not to use:

summon monster spells
swarms
minions
more than 4 enemies in any one encounter

Uh, no. Not really.

Listen, I don’t want to sound snotty, and this ain’t another take on edition wars, but this is a fault-line in a rather serious culture clash built around D&D, the core of our hobby. There have always been different flavors of the game, different ways to play it, but we’ve always started with the same basic assumptions. Whether you were playing a traditional dungeon-delving game, or something with a lot of politics and urban intrigue, the old balance of stealth, healing, muscle and firepower was understood. It was simple, vague, and flexible, and most of them could be replaced by hirelings or magical aids in a pinch.

Now, however, some players are seeing mechanical realities that others are oblivious to. Yeah, you can blame MMOGs, I think. Tank, blaster, healer, buffer, mob control. For a successful high-level raid, you need all these areas covered, and with multiple PCs. Otherwise, you get clobbered at your weakness, and your team falls apart.

Thing is, pen-and-paper games ain’t MMOGs. In addition to the above mentioned power of the DM to adjust the opposition, the players have a lot more options than just what’s listed on their character sheets. I have always, and still do, throw my players up against opposition they simply can’t slug it out with, toe-to-toe. I just make sure I always give them a chance to run or overcome, if they are clever.

Most of my players have always been able to do it. I’ve never, ever, had a TPK (though I have had a few Total Party Captures, but that’s a feature, not a bug). I’ve thrown low-level characters up against liches and dragons, mid-level characters against demon princes, and high-level characters against gods.

The key to making such encounters work is flexibility. Let the players be clever. Let them negotiate, let them use the environment to their advantage, give them a chance to escape and then find their foe’s weakness. Players should feel that running away to return, better prepared, to fight and win another day is a viable strategy. This, after all, was the way the game was designed to be played.

Ok, that’s a pretty bold statement, isn’t it? Where do I get off making it?

Simply look at the adventures given to us by the creators of the game. Mr. Gygax’s “Vault of the Drow” was not intended to be “fair”. There’s no way a party of the appropriate levels could fight their way through the drow city that is the centerpiece of the adventure. But methods were given to allow the players to get into the city, to walk the safer streets and learn what they needed to accomplish their goals. Stealth, guile, and deception were encouraged. And this wasn’t a low-level adventure where Mr. Gygax was forced to throw the heroes against something far beyond their abilities just to have something interesting. This was an adventure for levels 10-14.

But the designers back then didn’t pull any punches on low-level parties, either. Take a gander at this map of the Caves of Chaos, the dungeon for the classic “Keep on the Borderlands”. What you’re looking at is a horseshoe valley peppered with cave entrances. Each warren is home to a different set of challenges. There’s nothing to prevent the ill-prepared party from entering any of them. A party that doesn’t do its research is as likely to face the powerful evil cult of warriors and clerics as they are the tiny band of kobolds.

Research is a vital part of this sort of play. The players are expected to ask about the dungeon before they go charging in. The old modules all included lists of rumors, some true and some false, that the party might pick up. Inside the dungeon, it was expected that the PCs would attempt to capture members of the enemy, and question them for details of what other dangers they might face. If you were lucky, rescued captives or dissident members of the local population might even be able to draw you map of part of the dungeon.

Do players still do things like this? Or do they quickly jump into the maze, go toe-to-toe with everything they face, kill it, and then move on until they need to rest, heal, and restore their capabilities? Just how much is D&D played like a MMOG?

And it’s not just the players that have left me bumfuzzled. The designers are doing it, too:

I'm working on magic items right now. A previous version of the rules had magic items that were just too complex and too numerous, so we're stripping off a couple layers of complexity. You won't be a magic item Christmas tree any more, but you might be a Christmas shrub or a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

What does this mean? Doesn’t the DM still decide what magical goodies the PCs get? Did they somehow make low-magic campaigns against the rules? Making the magic items less complex, sure, if that’s what you want, go for it. But how are they going to make them less common? Isn’t that up to the DM?

Yes, I know the Challenge Rating system assumed a certain level of magical equipment to be on hand. But again, that only applies if the party is going to go toe-to-toe with the monsters. Is that the only sort of encounter people play today? And how do these assumptions affect character creation? Do players feel they need to maximize the utility of their character, always creating the same build because that gives the most benefits, just to measure up to the Challenge Ratings?

Do folks feel trapped, needing to create an “effective” character rather than a fun one, or the one they’d like to make?

If this is the state of D&D among even a tenth of its players today, then 4^th edition, assuming it honestly addresses these issues, can’t come soon enough.

Tucker's Kobolds Invade teh Intrawebs

Via Jeff's Gameblog, a link to an online version of the old Dragon article "Tucker's Kobolds". It was, if I recall correctly, an editorial. I remain skeptical (I'd think a cloud kill coupled with a dust devil should have wiped those rotten buggers out), but it's still inspirational.

Dementor Porn!

Um, ok, not expecting a ton of Google hits on that one. (Though you never know. Believe it or not, I actually got a hit from "Walrus Porn".)

I've been lax in keeping you up-to-date on Håkan Ackegård's updates to his online galleries. There's good stuff in all of them.

Starting with his safe-for-work gallery, there's a sketch of Douglas the Dragon, some heroes, and a lot of cute, fluffy bunnies. Over at his NSFW Playelf gallery, he has an arm-wrestling "Tough Elf Gal" with ears out of World of Warcraft, and some anthropomorphic vixen girl pics. But be sure to catch " Evil Plot Foiled at the Masquerade Ball", an older commission that's amazing in its detail. I think it's a bit too busy, too much action happening all at once, but it's the climactic moment of the battle, and I'm certain it's exactly what the folks who commissioned the piece wanted. It's a wonderful showcase of Mr. Ackegård's command of anatomy, his flexibility as an artist, and his exacting attention to detail. I think the composition is a bit rough, too busy at the top, like I said, but it still stands head-and-shoulders above much of what you'll see even in books by WotC and White Wolf.

Finally, a ton of new stuff can be found at his extremely NSFW Grigbertz gallery. Have I mentioned before now "Dungeon Encounter"? Interesting, but it left me wanting. It feels too simple, asks too few questions. I think my major beef with it is the lack of anything interesting about the lizard fellow. Without any ornamentation, equipment, or decoration, I'm not inspired to indulge my interest in para-anthropology. Still, it's a technically exceptional piece.

Next come some playful "Bride of the Beast" sketches. "Julie in Trouble" is especially imaginative, and feels a bit more like a brainstorming session for a few pages in a comic book. Mr. Ackegård's ability to suggest so much with a few simple lines and some shading continues to impress me. The more finished "Pillory at Nighttime" is, of course, the bit of dementor porn I mentioned. Ok, it's not really a dementor, but it could pass for a close cousin, right? Er, ok, mebbe not...

"Playtime in the Garden" is classic Ackegård. A pretty girl, indecently clothed (but with her ankles disguised), is encountered in a lovely setting. The setting is a bit more ephemeral this time, indistinct, but still peppered with those little details we've come to expect.

"Leash" is a return to the Nethack illustrations. Have we seen this Valkyrie before? I want to say yes, but a cursory search didn't turn her up. A bit of bestiality in this one, so you've been warned.

If wolves are not your thing, how about nuns? "Worship" is another depiction of bondage nuns being naughty in the world of "Pontifex Maximus". It's much softer than his usual stuff, and I'm guessing it's chalk and pencil. Scarlett's anatomy is a lot softer than normal, and the girl almost looks rubbery rather than flesh and bone. Still, if you like your erotica with a soft focus, you'll find something to appreciate in this one.

And then something a little different. Our "Pontifex Maximus" heroines are transported to a technologically sophisticated world, something feeling a tad cyber-sorcerer-punkish. The feeling is very much "Shadowrun" or "Torg". I love "The Techno Town Bazaar" for its little details: the rat-girl's pistol hidden beneath her makeshift counter, the way the wolf-guy has an inflatable tome hovering over his book store, the guy checking Scarlett out as he walks by. I'm not a huge fan of latex, so "Plastic Scarlett" isn't nearly as interesting for me. The next work, however, is a wonderful bit of Ackegård whimsy: "Bondage Witch vs. the Hoverboard Gang". You almost feel sorry for the poor gangers. Who is their captive? What are Scarlett's plans for her? You can make up your own story, of course, or follow the link to a podcasted story by Nobilis. I haven't listened to it yet myself, so I can't tell you what it's like.

"Bondage Witch Appreciation" is another quick sketch in the same series. We finally catch up to Sofia in "Mole's Tavern". It's not quite as rich as "Bazaar", but is still fun. "Outside Looking In" offers us another sketchy Ackegård cityscape to frame the lovely Scarlett. Finally, "Chibi Scarlett" (in black-and-white and later in color) is exactly what you'd expect.

Turning to something different, we finally get a bit of story from the Savage Tide world. I must confess to being a bit confused by that name. Most of the pics have been in a forest, and completely lacking in tides. Maybe there's an allusion I'm missing?

Anyway, we have a series of pictures featuring the druidess Jenn we've seen a few times before, as she is forced to endure a druidic hazing ritual. There's some amazing work done with perspective on a few of these, and the angles shown are something I can't remember ever having seen before, though the idea is obvious and delightful, once you see how Mr. Ackegård tackles it. The stoneshaped restraints and wicked pixie are the sorts of creative turns that Mr. Ackegård excels at. I'm very much looking forward to more work from him based on this world.

Gleemax Leaking Out All Over the Place

There's not much new in this article over at "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" about the online gaming tools being developed in parallel with D&D's 4th edition. More of note is that people outside the circle of pen-and-paper gamers are beginning to hear about it and discuss the possibilities.

Everything Old is Kinda New Again. Kinda.

Mr. Dancey seems to be a good touchstone for sparking ideas just lately. He’s most recently given us a peek into his Ryan Dancey’s Storyteller’s Guide to D20 Games. The core appears to be opening up the game to improvisational input from both the players and the DM. I’m curious how he’ll tackle the issues of trust. The Trollwife and I have been playing games in this style for just over a decade now, I think. It grew out of our trust for each other. She’s long known I DM by the seat of my pants, weaving ideas out of random bits of inspiration that float too close to escape, right there in the middle of the game. And I know she’s more interested in a fun game than simply “winning”. She also understands that adversity, wonder, and depth, both in character personalities and their interactions, make for a better game. If she wants to throw in a kindly old uncle, an ancient legend about a trickster-god otter, or a hallucinogenic plant, just off the spur of the moment, I’m more than happy to take her idea and run with it. Our games are like jazz jam sessions, riffing off one another to create something far cooler, deeper, and powerful than either of us could create alone. I’m curious to see how Mr. Dancey tackles the trust issues that are at the heart of this sort of play.

(We’ve had less success with me as a player. I tend to be far too passive as a player, mostly because I’m horribly out of practice and I worry about stepping on her toes too much. We have the same problem when we go dancing. I’m thinking maybe salsa lessons are in our future.)

I’m also intrigued by similarities in theme that I’m seeing in this thread over at RPG.net. These older versions of D&D had a lot of blank spaces on the map. The idea was that the DM and players would fill in a lot of the holes. Nobody knew what your D&D game would be like. In the early days, campaign settings were few, and it was assumed your DM would make up his own.

Today, things are very different. We’ve got entire books devoted to a single monster. We have giant, choke-a-mule tomes like Ptolus, complete with hand-out menus for in-game restaurants, discussions of local customs and fashions, and enough adventure between two covers to take your characters from the earliest days of their adventuring careers all the way to post-world-saving retirement.

Paizo’s “Pathfinder” books are an excellent example. The adventures are complete in every detail. The world is fleshed out, every NPC has a name, personality, relationships. The settings are described not only as they currently exist, but also with histories. The setting of each adventure is complete and hangs together like a work of art. The adventures are lined up in order, with a narrative flow and rising and falling action that give you the sense of taking part in an epic saga.

Things were different that Christmas, lo these many years ago, when I got the Basic D&D boxed set that included the Moldvay red book. The rulebook was only 64 pages long, complete with character creation, combat rules, spell and monster catalogs, DM advice, and sample maps. Also in that box was the classic adventure “Keep on the Borderlands”. KotB was about as unlike a “Pathfinder” adventure as you can possibly get. First, nobody had names. Even the Castellan and his neighbors had no names. No discussion was made of their relationships to one another. Was the blacksmith his bastard brother? Or just a simple hireling? The module gave you no clue. This lack of detail extended to the “dungeon” as well. The monsters in the Caves of Chaos also lacked personal names. Even the deity worshiped by the evil cult was unnamed. We did get a bit of description about how the different monster groups related to one another, which were allies and which were enemies, but little more.

Today, this would be seen as a half-assed adventure, incomplete, and barely playable. But back then, it was exactly what we needed to get our games started. The key to getting the most out of KotB is understanding that it is not an adventure. It is, instead, a setting.

Some folks have laughed, for instance, that the NPCs in the Keep itself have no names, but they do have stats and treasure. The implication is that players are expected to slaughter the inhabitants of the Keep and take their stuff, like the stereotypical psychopaths that many assume we played back then. The truth is, you were not supposed to do any particular thing. You could do anything! KotB doesn’t assume the players are going to be allies or friends of the Castellan or the other inhabitants of the Keep. The players could join the evil cult in the Caves instead. Or they could play the two sides off each other, “Yojimbo” style. No assumption is made, and so all possibilities are left open.

This applies to the names as well. Yes, Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” books were an inspiration for D&D, but also listed in the back of the Moldvay basic rulebook as potential sources for ideas are Karl Edward Wagner’s Dark Crusade, H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Baum’s Oz books, and Burrough’s Barsoom novels. Other than a basic Iron Age level of technology and the existence of magic, little was assumed about your setting, and simply naming the inhabitants would color your world in broad strokes. What do the blacksmith and his finished works look like? You get a very different mental picture with each possible name: Snorri Torvaldson, Rajik bin Jabal, Titus Asinius, Vor of Helium, Jack Pumpkinhead. It’s amazing what something as simple as a name can give you. The blacksmith’s home and workshop may simply be a rectangle on a map, but Snorri’s is built of heavy timbers with daub-and-wattle walls and a thatched roof, while Titus’ home is built of bricks, with a tiled roof and arched windows. Rajik’s wife is covered from head to toe and veiled, so that only her eyes can be seen, while Vor’s wife wears nothing but jewelry, each piece lovingly crafted by her husband when he was wooing her. The sword (normal) for sale in Jack’s shop is probably a cavalry saber with brass basket hilt and red tassel, while the same sword hanging on Snorri’s wall is a broad, two-edged blade with a lobed pommel.

This was the genius of D&D in those days. The game was a thin skeleton, a bare frame upon which you and your players hung the themes and styles you were interested in. Were the players noble and proud knights, seeking to stamp out injustice and raise the banner of civilization in the wilderness? Cut-throat mercenaries, eager to spill blood for the highest bidder? Foppish rakes looking for distraction in a world slowly slouching towards collapse and dissolution? Basic D&D and KotB could do it all. Yes, some assembly was required, but back then, that was half the fun. Just as with the ubiquitous use of house rules and homemade monsters, setting, themes, and styles were all up for debate.

Now Ryan Dancey seems to be beating on the same door. As D&D approaches it’s newest incarnation and we hear about “power sources” and various setting assumptions, Mr. Dancey is suggesting a style of play in which the players learn to be open about what the games they play will feel and look like. I’m not suggesting here that Mr. Dancey is attempting a throw-back to the way we played D&D back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Rather, instead, I’m suggesting that there are common themes of trust and invitation, a greater openness to tinkering, twisting, and putting your own stamp on the game. I’m also not suggesting that there is an absolute dichotomy here. D&D 3.5 still requires a lot of imagination and is still very open to a wide array of settings. But as the game has adopted a more rigorous set of rules, it’s begun to fence in a lot of what used to be open pasture. D&D 4.0 seems to be moving further in that direction. It’s going to be fascinating to see how ideas like Mr. Dancey’s are embraced, and how the interaction of the various play styles influences the development of D&D, and RPGs in general.

Every Link in this Post is NSFW!

But they shouldn’t be.

I was over at Lectric Lich’s corner of GayGamer.net, and saw there was much ado about a picture of a sword:

There's only one problem... The picture of Blackrazor... well... it kind of looked like a... um... well, the kids online are calling it a vajayjay (whatever that is). Ahem… in two different ways.

You can see the pic in question here.

Um, no. No it doesn’t. And if any part of your girlfriend’s anatomy is metallic, spikey, and sports a bizarre, orange catlike eye, dude, you’ve got problems.

Seriously, if you’re the sort of person who gets bent out of shape about pictures like this, let me tell you, this is *exactly* why you don’t get invited to the cool parties. This stuff really gets into my craw. It’s juvenile, it’s stupid, and it gets people tiptoeing around each other on eggshells. Grow up!

It’s this sort of thinking that makes pictures like this NSFW. This may be the most thematically beautiful piece I’ve ever seen by Fredrik K.T. Andersson. It’s sweet, it’s expressive, and it celebrates some of the most important things in life: the wonders of childhood, the joys of motherhood, the bonds of family, the importance of taking time to simply enjoy being alive, and the power of simple exploration and curiosity. That some people will undoubtedly find it offensive explains a lot about why the world is as screwed up as it is.

And it wouldn't at all surprise me to find that many of those same folks would be offended by the mere existence of a site called GayGamer.net, or, at the very least, find it "problematic".

Eventually, everyone must undergo their own Copernican Revolution, and realize that the world does not revolve around them. Everything is not about you. Everything does not reflect back on you. Nor does it reflect upon everyone else. We are all responsible for our own works, and little else, either for credit or condemnation.

And seriously, go kiss a girl. It won't be the end, or the beginning, of your life.

/rant

Smoochin' Buddha in the Funnel of Love

Or maybe "All Roads Lead to Culture Club". I don't mean to be a Dr. Rotwang fanboy, but while perusing Jeff's Gameblog, I found a link to the good doctor's Adventure Funnel. This is a very cool little tool to help you get your ideas organized into an adventure for your players. Combined with the previously mentioned "Three-tiered Conflict Webs" and "Backdrop Plots", the Adventure Funnel looks set to help you create wonderfully complex and textured adventures.

Dragonlance Movie Rated at PG-13

Which is promising news. Even more promising are the snippets of music we've heard, including this Qualinesti Hymn. Seriously, if all I knew about the movie was the music by Karl Preusser, cast list, and rating, I'm not sure I'd be able to contain my excitement about it.

However, we still have those awful dragons to contend with, and the fact that it's straight to DVD. I'm hopeful, but not much more than that at this stage.

Storn From Start to Finish

This is old news, but somehow I missed it. Storn has an example on his blog of how he works, starting with the commission and working through the different stages, complete with sketches. Neat stuff, and he's got some good news about his career on a more recent blog entry. Here's wishing him more good fortune!

Linkity-link!

Lots of great links over at Treasure Tables yesterday. I especially recommend "Backdrop Plots" and "Three-tiered Conflict Webs".

The Year of the Wasted Buddha

Here's a belated happy birthday wish to "I Waste the Buddha With My Crossbow", which turned 1 year old back on Sunday. Here's hoping for many, many more.

And if you need proof that Dr. Rotwang is an exceptional blogger, you need only look here for an example of his excellent taste.

New RPGs A-comin'

I'm not the only one who's been bit by the game-making bug. Ryan Dancey has finally decided to put his money where his mouth is and create the game he's been thinking about over the past few months. His goal is nothing less than the transformation of the RPG hobby. You can read about his vague, early-stage plans here.

If you want to see an actual game in the process of being made, the ever-interesting Levi is blogging the creation of Hoard - Dragons at War. Unfortunately, it's not about dragons at war with other dragons, which would be hella cool. It is about dragons at war with humans who are weakening the barriers between their world and the realm of diabolic forces in order to maintain their civilization. Looks like a global warming/pollution metaphor to me, but don't let that turn you off. Levi's one of the deep thinkers in our hobby who questions everything. I'm expecting cool stuff from this project.