I just got back from camping in the NJ Pine Barrens for the weekend. Great fun. There were lots of moments where I felt like I was watching other people enjoying their vacation while I could do little more than sit in a chair watching the river. But I fished, I spent lots of time reading and writing. It was a good weekend.
My wife and I spent more time than I expected talking about Pennsic. We're working more and more to make labor-intensive camping-style vacations like Pennsic more fun, less chore-like. We've decided that when we make it beack to Pennsic, we're taking it easy, buying food when we get out there, cooking little, and enjoying more things together.
Which was what our weekend trip was like. I'm still nursing a ruptured Achilles tendon, so there wasn't much for me to do. But we had fun together. Neither my wife nor my kid are terribly interested in SCA activities, and I'm much more interested in having fun as a family than I am in experiencing more SCA stuff...we'd likely enjoy a relatively short Pennsic vacation in the future...a short week, where I'd fight and fence a little, shop a bit, and experience so much more together.
We all went out last week to be part of a western martial-arts class. The boy was bored, my wife ended up doing a little nature walk while I talked to the instructor and witnessed the class. It interesting when there's not a whole-geek household (or a household where we don't geek out about the same things...my wife loves the natural world and local history, I'm a gamer and history / literature buff, my kid has developed a strong appreciation for video-games, far beyond my interest). But we've learned to accommodation each other. This may not sound remarkable, but I know too many families that can't seem to do this. I'm glad we can.
We took a day trip to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire last year, and we all had a great day. My plan is to have another weekend-vacation out there, where we could all have fun at faire, then spend the rest of the weekend chilling out in a hotel. With a pool.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Lord of the Rings gaming coming back
Have you seen pics from Cubicle 7 of the new Lord of the Rings role-playing game, The One Ring?
Well, take a look.
I'm a sucker for nice presentations, and the pics alone make me want to add this to the collection. The dice in the next-to-last picture are nice, though I think I would rather use Q Workshop "Elven" dice. The maps look nice, and I guess that's to be expected. You just can't have a Tolkien game and not have gorgeous cartography.
It reminds me of their Doctor Who - Adventures in Time and Space boxed set, which included some equipment cards, blue dice, and a sheet of "story points." I enjoy boxed sets with props and extra bits (anyone seen my small collection of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay?). I can see myself getting The One Ring just for the cool bits.
Am I interested in playing in a Middle-Earth setting? The usual argument about playing in a setting like that is that all the cool stuff has already been done. I never quite got into LoTR gaming, but I blame the people who introduced me to LoTR gaming...rabid fanboys who forced their own love of the setting on the players, and punished any deviation from their image. I've had the same problem with Dragonlance, Star Wars, Serenity, Star Trek, Forgotten Realms, Call of Cthulhu...same as most gamers, I imagine.
If you love a piece of literature or fiction like that, enough to want to run a game in that setting, then you are going to want to spread that love to the rest of the layers. You want them to be as rabid about the things you love about the setting as you are. But then, you get folks who want to play quick-drawing space pirates in a Starfleet-based Star Trek game, or are playing Forgotten Realms just to kill Elminster*. Things just don't work, and you declare that they just don't get your artistic vision or some such thing.
I ran a Star Wars game for a few years. The players played it like they were CIA agents in the early 1980's. They spent a great deal of their time destabilizing planetary governments, making propaganda videos, assassinating heads of state, organizing military coups...nothing at all very Star Wars like. There were no heroic Jedi Knights fighting to restore the glory of the Old Republic. This was the kind of story we wanted to build together. And we spent a lot of time sitting, talking about what we all wanted to do with the story. And we built it all together. If I were more of a rabid Star Wars fanboy, I'd be upset. But they wanted to do what they wanted to do with the setting, and I had to be cool with that.**
So I hope that people have fun with The One Ring, and make their stories their own. Best way to make it succeed.
*And can you blame them?
** As said during one LARP: "The rest of us are playing Call of Cthulhu, and Tony's playing Kult."
Well, take a look.
I'm a sucker for nice presentations, and the pics alone make me want to add this to the collection. The dice in the next-to-last picture are nice, though I think I would rather use Q Workshop "Elven" dice. The maps look nice, and I guess that's to be expected. You just can't have a Tolkien game and not have gorgeous cartography.
It reminds me of their Doctor Who - Adventures in Time and Space boxed set, which included some equipment cards, blue dice, and a sheet of "story points." I enjoy boxed sets with props and extra bits (anyone seen my small collection of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay?). I can see myself getting The One Ring just for the cool bits.
Am I interested in playing in a Middle-Earth setting? The usual argument about playing in a setting like that is that all the cool stuff has already been done. I never quite got into LoTR gaming, but I blame the people who introduced me to LoTR gaming...rabid fanboys who forced their own love of the setting on the players, and punished any deviation from their image. I've had the same problem with Dragonlance, Star Wars, Serenity, Star Trek, Forgotten Realms, Call of Cthulhu...same as most gamers, I imagine.
If you love a piece of literature or fiction like that, enough to want to run a game in that setting, then you are going to want to spread that love to the rest of the layers. You want them to be as rabid about the things you love about the setting as you are. But then, you get folks who want to play quick-drawing space pirates in a Starfleet-based Star Trek game, or are playing Forgotten Realms just to kill Elminster*. Things just don't work, and you declare that they just don't get your artistic vision or some such thing.
I ran a Star Wars game for a few years. The players played it like they were CIA agents in the early 1980's. They spent a great deal of their time destabilizing planetary governments, making propaganda videos, assassinating heads of state, organizing military coups...nothing at all very Star Wars like. There were no heroic Jedi Knights fighting to restore the glory of the Old Republic. This was the kind of story we wanted to build together. And we spent a lot of time sitting, talking about what we all wanted to do with the story. And we built it all together. If I were more of a rabid Star Wars fanboy, I'd be upset. But they wanted to do what they wanted to do with the setting, and I had to be cool with that.**
So I hope that people have fun with The One Ring, and make their stories their own. Best way to make it succeed.
*And can you blame them?
** As said during one LARP: "The rest of us are playing Call of Cthulhu, and Tony's playing Kult."
Thursday, July 21, 2011
News from DriveThruRPG.com
Do you get the DriveThruRPG.com weekly newsletter? If not, you're missing out on some good gaming news.
The thing that got me today was a write-up for John Wick's new game: Wicked Heroes: Children of the Mirror. Here's a setting where a sorcerous mirror is the origin of superpowered people. But Wick put his spin on them:
This is the kind of superhero setting I want to know more about. These are the kinds of heroes I want to get to know.
The thing that got me today was a write-up for John Wick's new game: Wicked Heroes: Children of the Mirror. Here's a setting where a sorcerous mirror is the origin of superpowered people. But Wick put his spin on them:
Each born with one Blessing, one Curse. But if one kills the other, he
steals her Blessing, adding it to his own, replacing his Curse with hers.
They are faster than us. They are stronger than us. They are better than us.
This is the kind of superhero setting I want to know more about. These are the kinds of heroes I want to get to know.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Short update about being hopeful
So, next month, I may know if I can fence again. I have some physical therapy ahead of me, I understand.
This is bugging me just a little, because I've been planning on buying a new sword and some new armor. I'll like to try out SCA cut-and-thrust fighting, and I've found another western martial arts group in the area.
So, for right now, I hope for the best.
Something else to look forward to: Castles and Crusades game this coming weekend.
This is bugging me just a little, because I've been planning on buying a new sword and some new armor. I'll like to try out SCA cut-and-thrust fighting, and I've found another western martial arts group in the area.
So, for right now, I hope for the best.
Something else to look forward to: Castles and Crusades game this coming weekend.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Laziest post ever
Have I mentioned how much I love Castles and Crusades?
Yeah, laziest blog post ever, but its been a while.
I'd go over and upload some maps to this, but I have a blown Achilles tendon, and can't walk to well.
I will say, though, that I'm very energized to get back to fencing once I'm healed. If I heal correctly. I miss my swords.
Yeah, laziest blog post ever, but its been a while.
I'd go over and upload some maps to this, but I have a blown Achilles tendon, and can't walk to well.
I will say, though, that I'm very energized to get back to fencing once I'm healed. If I heal correctly. I miss my swords.
Monday, June 13, 2011
At my age, I have to pace myself
Sometimes, I get really lucky.
A short time ago, I hit a nearby used bookstore. I found a bunch of treasures there, including an old Deities and Demigods (which ended up being the big find...more on that in another ost), as well as an old Avalon Hill war-game. Stuffed along the few gaming books and wargames, I found this little gem:
An old Tournaments Illuminated from 1983.
How awesome it that?!
The inside is full of typewritten pages and hand-done drawings. Articles range from, "What my Award of Arms Means to Me" to a history of kites. Its beautiful...a zine that represents the down-and-dirty, grass-roots feel of the earlier SCA. Its obviously a work of love and patience.
I love that do-it-yourself feeling that I get from this magazine. The cottage industries that are supported by the hobby certainly make any SCAdian's life easier...certainly, I wouldn't have half the gear or garb I have if I had to make it all myself and rely on my own craftiness. The feeling I get from seeing an old periodical like this, though, is more counter-culture, more small-community feeling.
At my first Kings and Queen's Rapier Tournament, there was talk about the Cording System's email group. This was the mid to late 90's; I was broke, and didn't own a computer yet. I asked how I'd keep in touch with the rest of the group if I didn't have access to email, and was told, "The 21st century is in a couple of years. Get with the times." The irony, of course, that the woman telling this to me was wearing an attempt at 16th century clothing and carrying a rapier. We all laughed. Now, I couldn't imagine an SCA without the web.
In 1983, how many days a week did you work on your hobby? How often did you communicate with other members? How important were your local buiness meetings or armoring nights or sewing gatherings? Today, I can be in constant contact with any number of members. If I want to, I could be on my local group's email list, the local region's email list, the local region's fencing email list, my kingdom award's email list, the kingdom fencing email list, etc. And I was...and more. And eventually burnt out.
It was hard for the SCA to feel special when I was being bombarded with news and info all day. It was hard to feel like I could devote any time t my other hobbies. Suddenly, if I wanted to paint, I felt like I should be making an effort to paint heraldry...that sort of thing. Of course, no one made me feel that way, but with the SCA always in my field of vision, it was hard to ignore any possible SCAdian use for anything I did. The SCA started feeling really...mundane.
Focus on any one really cool thing long enough and you're likely to tire of it. I know people in various fandoms who eventually burn out. I know die-hard convention goers, war-gamers, LARPers, board gamers...the list goes on...who get tired and need time away. Sometimes you need that time to make something feel special again.
I know people who felt that way about church, too, and other social activities. Hit the same nightclub week after week without stop, without breaking routine, and watch yourself loose the motivation to dance, to smile at the barmaid. We have enough free time on our hands that anything can eventually become boring...we grow apathetic, develop a sense of ennui that replaces our excitement and passion.
I'm a geek, and that isn't likely to change. I'm nearing 40, and I still play role-playing games, I play war-games, I'm a SCAdian, I might even LARP again if the opportunity presents itself. I've edited, playtested, and written for gaming products, and spent way too much time thinking about obscure rules from old, yellowing game products. I can't turn down a game of chess and I still read comic books. I love swordsmanship and find it difficult to pull myself away from old fencing manuals. And horror of horrors, my 10 year-old thinks its all cool. If I want to have the passion to get him interested in medieval costumes and gaming books and painting minis and chess, I have to learn to pace myself. I'm not getting any younger and, thankfully, it doesn't look like any of the things I love are going away anytime soon.
A short time ago, I hit a nearby used bookstore. I found a bunch of treasures there, including an old Deities and Demigods (which ended up being the big find...more on that in another ost), as well as an old Avalon Hill war-game. Stuffed along the few gaming books and wargames, I found this little gem:
An old Tournaments Illuminated from 1983.
How awesome it that?!
The inside is full of typewritten pages and hand-done drawings. Articles range from, "What my Award of Arms Means to Me" to a history of kites. Its beautiful...a zine that represents the down-and-dirty, grass-roots feel of the earlier SCA. Its obviously a work of love and patience.
I love that do-it-yourself feeling that I get from this magazine. The cottage industries that are supported by the hobby certainly make any SCAdian's life easier...certainly, I wouldn't have half the gear or garb I have if I had to make it all myself and rely on my own craftiness. The feeling I get from seeing an old periodical like this, though, is more counter-culture, more small-community feeling.
At my first Kings and Queen's Rapier Tournament, there was talk about the Cording System's email group. This was the mid to late 90's; I was broke, and didn't own a computer yet. I asked how I'd keep in touch with the rest of the group if I didn't have access to email, and was told, "The 21st century is in a couple of years. Get with the times." The irony, of course, that the woman telling this to me was wearing an attempt at 16th century clothing and carrying a rapier. We all laughed. Now, I couldn't imagine an SCA without the web.
In 1983, how many days a week did you work on your hobby? How often did you communicate with other members? How important were your local buiness meetings or armoring nights or sewing gatherings? Today, I can be in constant contact with any number of members. If I want to, I could be on my local group's email list, the local region's email list, the local region's fencing email list, my kingdom award's email list, the kingdom fencing email list, etc. And I was...and more. And eventually burnt out.
It was hard for the SCA to feel special when I was being bombarded with news and info all day. It was hard to feel like I could devote any time t my other hobbies. Suddenly, if I wanted to paint, I felt like I should be making an effort to paint heraldry...that sort of thing. Of course, no one made me feel that way, but with the SCA always in my field of vision, it was hard to ignore any possible SCAdian use for anything I did. The SCA started feeling really...mundane.
Focus on any one really cool thing long enough and you're likely to tire of it. I know people in various fandoms who eventually burn out. I know die-hard convention goers, war-gamers, LARPers, board gamers...the list goes on...who get tired and need time away. Sometimes you need that time to make something feel special again.
I know people who felt that way about church, too, and other social activities. Hit the same nightclub week after week without stop, without breaking routine, and watch yourself loose the motivation to dance, to smile at the barmaid. We have enough free time on our hands that anything can eventually become boring...we grow apathetic, develop a sense of ennui that replaces our excitement and passion.
I'm a geek, and that isn't likely to change. I'm nearing 40, and I still play role-playing games, I play war-games, I'm a SCAdian, I might even LARP again if the opportunity presents itself. I've edited, playtested, and written for gaming products, and spent way too much time thinking about obscure rules from old, yellowing game products. I can't turn down a game of chess and I still read comic books. I love swordsmanship and find it difficult to pull myself away from old fencing manuals. And horror of horrors, my 10 year-old thinks its all cool. If I want to have the passion to get him interested in medieval costumes and gaming books and painting minis and chess, I have to learn to pace myself. I'm not getting any younger and, thankfully, it doesn't look like any of the things I love are going away anytime soon.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Mini-Reviews, Part 1
The Dying Earth Role Playing Game
Encourages large vocabularies, cheating and verbal dueling. Its like "English Degree: The RPG."
Cthulhu Dice
Dreidel for the dead generation.
Encourages large vocabularies, cheating and verbal dueling. Its like "English Degree: The RPG."
Cthulhu Dice
Dreidel for the dead generation.
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