Kind of an odd day today

I woke up this morning at 5:00AM with my left side more or less paralyzed, it kind of freaked me out a little until I realized I wasn't having a stroke, but in fact somehow my left side had managed to "fall asleep". I knew I was OK when my face was fine and it was just my arm, torso and leg that were numbed, needless to say my wife was at first concerned, and then unimpressed and kind of cranky that I woke her up so early. She went back to bed, I shambled around until I got my blood flow and feeling back, by then I was good and awake, so I just made coffee and started the day.

At about 9:00AM my mother called to tell me they had a bunch of Lab Coats in my size at the Dollar store in Oswego. I was skeptical, because my mom usually buys me stuff that doesn't fit me; this has been going on since I was in high school; but I said to go ahead and give it a shot anyway, since it was only a buck. She bought me two, because they came in white and light blue, and I'll be damned if they don't fit. Why the dollar store in Oswego has a supply of giant sized Lab Coats I could not even venture to guess, but now I can use it to infiltrate all manner of places I am not supposed to be :) I actually just periodically put it on and wandered out of my office and told everyone assembled that "I needed some more test subjects".

The weather is changing and I can feel it in my bones and with a sinus headache that you all would not believe. I never take medication for pain, my philosophy is that if I do, then I might build up a tolerance to the medication and it won't work if I really need it. Today I have been taking double normal human doses of Ibuprofen just to keep it at a level I can live with. I guess it didn't help that I had to do a lot of driving around today too, I swear that minivans are designed for the wee folk. There's no head room, especially when entering or exiting the vehicle, and no leg room while driving. Ye Gods, but I miss my old Impala, she was the best of my truly bad-ass cars. I sold her to my brother and he killed her in something like a month. But when she was mine, she was fast and had enough room inside to stretch out, she was a pleasure to drive. She was fast and beautiful and had enough space in the trunk for four full grown men. I'd never be able to afford to drive the poor thing anymore, gas prices being what they are, she had an Oldsmobile 350 rocket (I got the engine out of a '75 Cutlass) with 4 barrel carburetor under the hood. This is what she looked like-

Anyway, I finally got the rest of my order from Warlord Games in the mail today, here are their pictures from the website-

Mona did manage to snap off the standard at the bearer's hand though when she tried to straighten it. We also had to get every available Mastiff, because we have a Mastiff here. Her Name is Harmony, she is quite elderly, nearly 12 years old now.

I also got this package from EBay, which I won mostly just the things I figured would be a bargain because I'd be saving on shipping, the Vikings were the only thing I won that I really wanted, the rest was just cheap and I figured I'd find a use for it eventually.

These are Black Tree Designs "Unarmored Vikings with Swords", perfect for my current B/X D&D game.

These shield transfers are all Templars, 4 packs for smaller shields, 4 for larger. I got them all for $1.00.

These are Old Glory Ancients, obviously, Hoplites advancing, which I do not currently have any real use for, I just figured since they were cheap and I'd be saving on postage anyway.

The stuff I really wanted from this seller went into a bidding war that got too rich for my blood.

I also finished "The Mongoliad- Book One" today. I am torn as to what to read next, but I am thinking it's probably going to be the "Small Business for Dummies" book that I ordered because I want to start a small business, and I figured a "For Dummies" book would tell me in plain terms whether or not it was a viable option. They've never led me astray before, I am a smart guy, but there are topics I don't know anything about, they are a good way to start learning.

Character Questionnaires

This blog post over at Adventuring Archives got me to thinking about the whole idea of character back stories and how they fit in with the game world and all.

You see, I am of two minds about the subject, especially now that I am hardcore Old School; on the one hand I like the immersion that it brings a new character into the game world, on the other a single dagger blow might wipe that same character out wasting all the time and energy put into a decent, campaign immersive back story.

There were periods in my DMing over the years where I would give bonuses to people for coming up with a good back story for their character, anything from 100-250 XP to start out with, or an "Heirloom" of some sort that would be helpful, but not campaign breaking for a low level character to have that their class could use. Now, there were downsides to this too, I had to give DM approval to any back story. Some were so poorly written that they were just dreadful to read, others were written with power-gaming in mind, a lot of them seemed to skip over the part where I gave them extensive notes about the campaign world and were entirely inappropriate from that angle, and then some players just didn't care enough to try and either turned in crap or nothing, because the reward wasn't worth the effort.

Now, if you really want to go old school on this, just use the "Secondary Skills" table from the DMG and assume that's either what your father did or what he apprenticed you to do at a young age. Unearthed Arcana adds some tables to cover family and social status. Oriental Adventures is where random family generation and family history really shine, but rolling up an OA character can take a while, so you're adding time to character creation to draw the character into the setting, and that character still may not survive the first encounter.

Taking an old school approach, but of newer vintage, both versions of Hackmaster do the job pretty well. The parody version 4th edition Hackmaster, can be played straight, I have done it, but you have to rely less on randomness and more on point buys for Quirks and Flaws, otherwise it can go south fast. Hackmaster Basic is a lot more realistic in it's Quirk/Flaw random assignment. Both versions also build a family for you, so you can rip that section directly to your Old School D&D game if you want, hack D&D with Hackmaster. Now I'll put in a good word for Hackmaster, both 4th edition, which saved me from 3e D&D and Hackmaster Basic, which I have a lot of things I like about it, but it is a little too rules heavy for my current tastes. Seriously, if it wasn't for Hackmaster, I would have quit gaming probably.

So I guess I'd like everyone to come equipped with a basic idea of who their character is and how he or she fits into the world, the Character Questionnaire is a nice idea, it asks not just for a pysical description of your character, but also about your hometown, your place there, your friends and family; all stuff I can use as a DM to make a more immersive experience for my players, but I guess I can see this questionnaire being abused too. Making your acquaintances all Arch-Mages and yourself a Prince and stuff like that.   

Heroes and other stuff too

I got an email this morning from Dave Millward, the designer of the original Heroes RPG, which is something of a Holy Grail for old school collectors and any old school gamer should just want to check it out. Anyway, I digress, I got this email from him because I was one of the people that tracked him down and begged/badgered him into doing a reprint, or a print on demand, or just photocopying his set for me to see, or something. He decided that wasn't good enough and was pretty happy that his low print run game from 1978 was so fondly remembered, so he is doing a new-ish version with an increased page count, and more, and expanded tables. Some rewritten. Heres a link to the new website for a truly old school game, support it and he promises expansions; and a picture of the pretty new cover for the new book- slated for a September release.

I also got this miniature in the mail yesterday, but was busy and didn't get a chance to blog. I didn't have much else to say anyway, so it would have just been a boring EBay picture of a miniature still in it's packaging. I wanted to check out the Celtos line, I had bid on a bunch of them, but got sniped at the end and only got the one guy. Which made him pricey (for me) because of shipping, I rarely buy just one miniature because of my frugal nature. I did win three others from a different seller, but they haven't even shipped yet.

Lastly, my Emerald Empire character, Akodo Kotaro made level 210. I am not really sure why the game is still running when Facebook told us they would shut down the app in early June, but I have played the hell out of it trying to complete old story lines and make levels, just to see how tough I can get before the game is gone.

Another in a line of busy days...

I actually was too busy today to have too much gaming related to report other than what I got in the mail and what have been reading. I am nearly finished with "The Mongoliad", although it is only book one and I have already pre-ordered book two. I have been working a lot behind the scenes on my alt-Rome and Alt-Egypt areas in my Garnia World campaign, with my collaborators. Well, mostly I have been trying to bounce ideas off of them and getting a lot of "Yep, sure, that sounds cool.", when I was hoping for a little more thought provoking discussion. But, it's been mostly via email, so I guess I should have expected less.

I got home too late to take John to his 4th edition game too. He wasn't happy, but he took it well. I am definitely playing something here on Saturday, with whoever shows up, so that'll be good.

Anyway, here's my mail-

My wife insisted on this, and made me buy it on Father's Day. I told her if she's making me buy expensive miniatures from overseas it's put up or shut up time. She paints like a pro when she wants to, it's getting her to do it that's the killer; but she has a soft spot for animals and the cart put it over the top.

These guys I found on EBay, they're from the same line and I am sneaking them into her queue. Dead men are always useful as casualty markers for wargames, and I have several sets of ancients rules; plus they make for good encounter dressing in D&D games. I actually have more from this line yet to come.

This I was informed was worth it for the pictures alone, especially at the scandalously low price I got it for. It has clearly been sitting on a store shelf since it was printed, it's brand new.

This I only include to show my interest in reading actual histories and my studliness as a shopper, brand new $4.00 including shipping.

Dungeons And Dragons: Book of Vile Darkness Trailer

I am going to go out on limb here and assume that they are basing this on 3rd or 4th edition between the straps and buckles leathery S&M look and the unfamiliar spells, but the fight choreography wasn't bad, and they sexed it up some. Maybe it won't suck and it will usher in a new wave of good fantasy films, and bad ones that we will grow to love- like "Hawk the Slayer".



Anyway, I had no games this weekend, my back is still out. I have gotten a lot of thinking, research and actual writing done on my Garnia World campaign, and done a fair bit of reading; mostly about the Chinese, whose culture and history I am weak on, and the Mongols, who I am strong on, but I have a specific area that needed more study. For fun I am still reading "The Mongoliad".

I had a busy day today...

...But mostly it was spent working on my other blog and trying to decide what stuff to auction off on EBay. Check out my "20 Questions about the Mistlands" post on my other blog (button to the right) and let me know what you think of this unique area of my campaign world. I also had a Doctors appointment, and was prescribed a medication that my insurance company refuses to pay for, which is becoming all too common lately. I went back to my doctors office and got samples the drug company rep left them.

I also, of course got a bunch of stuff in the mail from EBay, almost all Star Fleet Battles universe stuff-

The non-SFB universe stuff is a copy of Heritage Models "Star Trek - Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier". I knew they must have made all those miniatures for a reason, it's copyright 1978 though. The other two books are "Starfleet Academy Training Command- Line Officer Requirements" Volume 2 and Supplement. Pity Volume 1 didn't make it into the set. They are copyrighted to 1987 D. Schmidt, and there is an ad in the middle of the supplement to order more Star Trek and other sci-fi stuff from "New Eye Studio", lots of blueprints for ships, and some more Starfleet guides, a catalog for their Battlestar Galactica, Space:1999, Star Wars and Dr. Who stuff.

Of the SFB universe stuff I got a few doubles in there, but one of them was the Prime Directive rulebook, and if we ever play an extra will be handy. One was Carrier War for F&E, but this one is still in the shrink wrap, so I think I'll be able to resell it pretty easy. The last was a Captain's Log, that should resell easy enough too.

Heat makes for a short post today

It's in the 90s here again today so my computer sounds like a jet engine. I just wanted to let everyone see what I got in the mail today-

Yes "Tomoe Gozen" FINALLY arrived, if it had made it here two days ago I'd have started reading it instead of "The Mongoliad", not that I am not enjoying my current reading.

I also got these guys-

I like that the package is literally printed 25/28mm Ancients and then hand written in Celts/Germans 10.00; like the people at Navigator Miniatures couldn't quite decide. The scale is definitely 28mm, but true 28mm, not "heroic"; and a good look at them makes me think way more Celt than German, maybe I'll make them Belgae. Caesar described them as both Celt, well Gaulish actually, and German.

I am also thinking about listing some of my old school stuff that I have doubles of on EBay, all of it is used, mostly in fairly good to pretty darned good condition for it's age. Do you all think it'll be worth my effort, or is it just collectors who want pristine stuff when it comes to modules and supplements and such?

Forcibly being drawn back on task

I have several projects running at any given time, any regular reader of my blog knows that by now. I think it's obvious from my reading list lately that I have been mostly working on my Oriental Adventures project, but also my Garnia World project has taken a lot of my time too. You can read about Garnia World on my "Other Blog" to the right; it actually incorporates the Oriental Adventures thing too.

A week or so ago I found a couple of really excellent deals on EBay. Most of that stuff came in the mail today.

This is a Bushido Clan Warband for the Hundred Kingdoms miniature battle game from Black Orc Games. Bad paint job, and two of them are mounted on flying bases for a more Wuxia feel, but they didn't alter the models in any way to make them look right or balance. I can fix all this though.

Yes, I bought another cheap copy of the 1st edition Legend of the Five Rings RPG rules. I read a recent comparison review that said it was better than the 2nd edition and I have tons of stuff for the 1st edition.

I also got these two modules, one came the other day, but I think I forgot to post it's picture. Now I have that entire series, I am destined to GM it.

The first six Archers.

The other six Archers.

The first six Infantry.

The other six Infantry.

These were the real deal though- an entire, small Crab army and the paint jobs and basing are pretty damned sweet. Two of the heroes are unfinished, but the entire bunch only cost me $26.00+ 6.25 shipping.

Now I have been looking into converting the L5R RPG roll and keep system for at least the OA section of my Garnia world, it seems so simple and I hear it is the only game system in the world that satisfies both Hack and Slashers AND real hard core Role Players; like the kids in the theater department at SUNY Oswego. I might be able to draw them away from White Wolf.

So anyway, here I was spending the last day or two looking into finishing/remaking a Jacobite rebellion miniature battles game that I started work on when I was in high school, then this flood of Asian themed RPG and wargame material hits me from the mailbox.

I finished "Lords of Grass and Thunder", and found it to be rather good. Each of the books set in that fantasy Asia of Curt Benjamin wrote seem to get better, and it left obvious loose ends for a sequel, but it was published in 2005, so I am not going to hold my breath.

I started "The Mongoliad". Good so far.

Oh yeah, this came in the mail the other day too. I don't know how I forgot to mention it.