Writing the Game: Pen and Paper Journaling
This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is "Writing the Game", and it got me thinking about my own efforts to get return to "pen and paper" preparation. I say "return" because most of my game prep is digital; sure I have printed books I refer to before and during the game, but even those have PDF equivalents.
Crisis on Infinite Munchkins
Munchkin is a reality-mashing, planet-destroying “let’s see you try and save this Earth, Superman!” cross-genre machine. After 10 years of expansions, Steve Jackson’s opus to killing monsters and taking their stuff has incorporated almost every speculative fiction genre imaginable, all of which beg – nay demand -- that gamers combine them.
Given that this month’s RPG Blog carnival is about cross-genre mashups in role-playing games, I thought it was a good time to visit the best of these Munchkin crossovers.
The Lunchtime Game Master's Toolkit
When some co-workers and I decided to try our hand at a lunch-time role-playing campaign, I knew that game prep was going to be critical to making it work. But not the sort of game prep I normally did; this was all about the physical game prep.
We're playing The Day After Ragnarok using the Savage Worlds rules, and thanks to Ken Hite's numerous adventure generation tables, the scenarios practically write themselves. No, the part the essential part of making this campaign work was making sure I knew where my towel was.
Dice. Initiative cards. A battle map. Miniatures. I have all of this stuff in my game room ... but we're not playing there. We're in an under-ventilated, odd-smelling basement conference room whose only virtues are privacy, a table, and a dry erase board.
The Bones: The Dice of Shame
Gamer Traveler: Games & Travel Blog Carnival Roundup
The Gamer Traveler has posted a round up of the "Games & Travel" blog carnival from January 2010. This was a cool topic, and one I wish I'd taken the time to participate in (perhaps I will, retroactively).
While I think many campaigns tend to hand-wave away travel (perhaps after one too many random wilderness encounters during their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons days) it can make for some great adventures. Heck, one of our most memorable Star Wars campaign arcs involved our heroes bouncing out of hyperspace into a proto-star nebula. They barely escaped the nebula with their lives, the ship's outer hull having been melted into what we're now calling "star forged armor".
New Year's Gaming Goals and Resolutions
I typically don't make New Year's resolutions, but since my Dire Liege has asked for some, I find myself inclined to oblige him. Specifically, Berin Kinsman at UncleBear.com is leading January's RPG Blog Carnival, which is delving into "New Year’s Gaming Goals and Resolutions".