A to Z: Strange New Worlds

Tomorrow starts the A to Z Challenge. I wanted to give a basic primer on the format of my posts. For the next month all of my posts (except on Sundays) will look kind of like this.

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System Name: This will be the common name of the system, and the name the primary planet will be known by.

Sector: This numerical address corresponds to the system’s location on the map I drew for the sector.

Star Number & Type: Stars will be classified using the Morgan–Keenan system which should look familiar

Planet Number & Type: Planets will be orbiting the primary star (first listed) unless otherwise noted. Planets will be typed according to the S&S class descriptions:
A,B,C: young, newly formed planets
D: Lifeless, might have atmosphere
E: Primitive, single celled life
F: Desert World
G: Water World
H: Habitable, Star Trek M or Minshara class
I: Superworld
J, K, L, M: Jovians, small to large
N: Rogue
O, P, Q: Wild planets (think the Genesis planet)
R: Restricted, classified by the Federation (the planet of the Guardian of Forever)
S: Rocky worlds with silicon based life
T: Ice worlds
U: Former class H worlds that are inhospitable due to environmental destruction (gamma worlds)
V: Weird, out of phase/time etc.
W: Planetoids
X: Hell worlds
Y, Z - Special (for the DM to determine)

Inhabitants: Name and description of the dominant sentient lifeform. Will often use the bumpy foreheads from S&S2e.

Description: Description of the primary place of interest

Adventure Seeds: Things to do to your players

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I hope that you enjoy it!

Virtual Table Tops

I feel a little bad only just getting to this months RPG Blog Carnival hosted by Gaming Ballistic, but it's a good topic, and one definitely worth addressing - Virtual Table Tops.

While I've done a fair bit of gaming over G+, I've only recently begun to use a VTT. Everything prior was just the table top of the imagination, as things were described, rather than shown. It's just a step removed from being at the table, really. The hardest part can be figuring out everyone's voice, and showing things on the camera if you have a map or a picture. The virtual table top kind of addresses that last issue...

So what about that? I haven't run a game with a VTT, but as a player I've used Fantasy Grounds 2. Getting to see the battle map, with the monster and player tokens, getting to see the images that the DM has picked out to illustrate the various NPCs, the world map, all of it is just the biggest advantage to using a VTT over just using skype or G+.

On the other hand, if everyone isn't really comfortable with the program it can slow things down. I've definitely noticed that, being a novice with the program. The other thing that I've noticed is that with the chat feature, when other PCs are whispering with the DM, it's easy to get distracted, and since typing takes longer than talking, what might take a moment in person, takes much longer. So when the DM and a player are whispering everyone else is just sitting on their own computers, waiting.

Overall, I think with VTT's can bring a lot to playing online, and I'd recommend that DM's running online games check it out.

Sunday Inspirational Image: Neo-Kathmandu

By Sarel Theron

I'm an OSR Superstar!

Tenkar announced the entries that made the first round cut, and I'm on the list!

Sort of. I'm listed as "Davis Brawley - The Jester Laugh" when it should be "David Brawley - The Jester's Laugh"

Ehh, close enough. But now I have to think up a monster for Swords & Wizardry... and I've been completely focused on getting my Strange New Worlds A to Z challenge posts written. I'm so not in the fantasy mindset right now. I've been watching some DS9, Farscape, and Outcasts to help get me in the right mood, and it's been working. I've already finished through K.

Anyway, here are the two items I wrote that didn't make it.

Doorbuster
This enchanted 2 handed hammer causes 2d4+2 damage, and gives a +1 to hit. It will always force open a stuck door, and has a 4/6 chance of opening locked doors. Using it on a door will result in a random encounter roll (as appropriate).


Enchanted Thread
This spool of embroidery thread can be used to create a variety of magical items. Each spool is enchanted to a certain power level, corresponding to a level of wizard spell. A wizard may use the threat to create a scroll of any spell he knows (1 day/level) of the correct level. Clothing may be embroidered to provide various magical protections (AC bonus, resist heat/cold, etc.). In rare cases, wizards have embroidered the skin of a living being (themselves included) as a form of temporary body enchantment.

Neptune's Pride 2: Triton

Neptune's Pride 2: Triton is a space strategy game that plays at something much closer to real time than most games, spanning weeks instead of hours.

It's a fairly standard setup. You start with 6 stars, and 7 opponents. There are a host of uninhabited stars of various quality that you can capture and develop. Each star is given a base rank, which you can improve through developing your terraforming skill. On top of that you can improve the 3 stats of a star - Economy, Industry, and Science.

Economy gives you money every 24 hours
Industry builds your warships
Science gives you science points every hour to develop various skills: Banking, Manufacturing, Weapons, Range, Scanners, etc.

Improving good stars is cheaper than bad ones, but in the end its total number of stars that will win the game. However, if you have lots of good stars that you've improved, you'll be better off than your opponents if they developed their lesser stars.

Diplomacy and tech trading are very important aspects of the game. Alliances are usually temporary at best, and at worst a ruse to lure you into a sense of complacency from which you will be attacked.

Because of the time it takes to get from star to star (hours) nothing happens in the game quickly. Generally you really only need to check in for a couple of minutes once or twice a day. So while a game may take weeks to play out, it doesn't really rule your live.

Below are pictures from my current game.The first is an overview zoomed out of the whole game. I'm Orange. Purple, Blue, and Yellow have already quit the game, but will be run as non-aggressive AIs for the remained of play.The stars with white centers are ones that are in my scanning range. The ones without color are unclaimed.

And this picture shows where the action is is taking place, at least in my part of the galaxy.

The purple player has quit the game, and I'm mopping up the last of his stars. I'm allied with Red against Green, but he wasn't supposed to attack till Friday morning. At least this should distract green until I go for it tomorrow. That ship in the lower left side with 159 attack ships is 28 hours our of Rastaban, the orange star in the upper middle of the picture.

Things can take an excruciatingly long time to happen.

There are a number of really funny play reports about how the game ruined friendships. This one in particular about the first version of the game made me really want to play. You'll be laughing, I promise!

Hercules

I really appreciate the subtle intensity that The Rock has chosen for this role.

Also, this is going to be a fantastic D&D movie! Dire Boar, Dire Lion, Hydra, Cerberus... Snake-men!

I am a little sad that Kevin Sorbo didn't get even a cameo.

My Ten Favorite RPG Products of All Time

A couple of weeks ago Dyvers posted a list of his top 10 RPG products, and he also wanted to hear what his reader's lists were. I'm a little behind in my blog feed, and I only just read his post, but I still wanted to get in on this one. These are my top 10, in no particular order.

10. Star*Drive Campaign Setting for Alternity - I love this setting. It's a semi-explored, semi-colonized area of space with everything you could ask for - mystery, political intrigue, military conflict, strange new works, precursor artifacts... I've stolen liberally from it for numerous games, especially Star Wars. It was a shame when TSR got the rights to Star Wars, and killed the Alternity line.

9. Star Wars 2nd Edition - Before the prequels, before the expanded universe, West End Games published over 140 adventures, supplements, and journals expanding Star Wars in all sorts of interesting ways, all the while keeping true to the feel of the universe and keeping the rules set remarkably unencumbered with unnecessary bloat.

8. Stonehell by Michael Curtis - Stonehell was one of the first, if not the first, OSR product I ever bought. Michael Curtis' megadungeon encapsulates what is to me the essence of what a megadungeon should be. While the Castle of the Mad Archmage might be closer to Gary's style of megadungeon, and Barrowmaze has fantastic theme and mood, and ASE captures the gonzo, Stonehell is closer to what I want to play and to run, and I can't wait for the second half...

7. Birthright Campaign Setting - While it isn't perfect, Birthright manages to do a lot of really interesting things, and not just with domain management. Realm spells handles "10th level" type magic really well, bloodlines and the abominations are amazingly interesting and flavorful, and playing in a land that isn't points of light or on the frontier was a nice change of pace... if only I could have gotten more players to want to play....

6. Creature Catalog - I've written about it before, but this is the best collection of monsters out there. Sure, there are some stinkers and overlap, but there are so many great beasts that make up for it.

5. Nobilis - It's a work of art as much as a game.

4. Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue - I can't tell you how many hours I spent I flipping through this D&D version of the Sears Catalog. It's just got such wonderfully setting appropriate and flavorful items and descriptions.

3. OGL - I have to praise the Open Gaming License. While it isn't exactly a product by itself, so much of the OSR wouldn't exist without it. Plus I got a lot of good mileage out of 3.x.

2. D&D 4e Core Books - Yes, a bit of a cheat with this, but 4e does a lot right. I know there are many in the OSR (and many outside of it too) who think it isn't worth the paper it's printed on, but I am still impressed, especially coming to it after the bloat of 3.5. 4e let me run games with minimal prep, without having to have a massive statblock that took hours to prepare for high level monsters that my players would kill in minutes.

1. The Rules Cyclopedia - This had to come in at #1. It's my desert island RPG.