Old School D&D

     I am going to try and sum up Labyrinth Lord's, as well as original D&D's, appeal to me. The characters are created easily enough since they are rolled up randomly. It is a bit like meeting a person for the first time and you are getting to know them. Also they can be such fragile things, sometimes you end up running your but out of danger. Another appeal for me is the way adventures and monsters were written, sometimes a room is just a room and a creature is just a creature. There just happens to be an ornate statue in the middle of the room or there is a strange looking cow munching on the moss in some subterranean cavern. If the DM wants to, he can make it sinister or just look sinister.

     In the very early 80's, we were visiting relatives in Eastern Ohio and an older cousin had some weird books called "Dungeons and Dragons". Of course I wanted to look at them, I was into science fiction and fantasy, but I really fell for this game. I could do whatever I wanted, be bad or good, make mistakes, and yes, even help people. It really put my love of fiction into overdrive and gave my something to look forward to when visiting family out here. I owe a debt to my cousin, who I have not seen in over twenty years. I wonder if he still plays.

     So maybe a portion of the games appeal is it's reminder of times long ago. Along with the ability to pretend, to do things I cannot normally do, like face down giant rats under a mill or saving a someone from some horrible fate. Well, that's all for now, take care guys.

Labyrinth Lord!!

     So, a few weeks ago I played in a game of Labyrinth Lord that a friend of mine ran at a local game store. It was my first time playing it, but I knew what to expect with it being a retro clone. I knew most of the people there and everyone just turned up the fun factor, even when the dice were not going our way. Now I have this overwhelming desire to play/run this game. Then the next weekend, my friend showed me a kick starter for Dwimmermount, a mega dungeon written for Labyrinth Lord and the ACKs system. James Maliszewski is the man behind it and it looks amazing, bringing me back to when I first got into Dungeons and Dragons. Which should not be a surprise as he has a blog all about gaming from that era, check out  Grognardia here http://grognardia.blogspot.com .Also the Dwimmermount link is here http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/142014231/dwimmermount?ref=card . Check this stuff out and please let me know what you think.Take care everyone!

Deadlands Game part 2

     So we last left our posse of grizzled hombres in the the town of Avarice sitting in the guest cottage of their friend, wondering what was really going on. The Professor brushed them off and said she had to go out to check on some research. She gave them a basket of bread, meat, and cheese for their dinner and was then on her way. After talking it out a bit, the guys decide to check her research in the main house, which involves opening a locked door. If it's your friend's house, is still considered breaking in?

     They locate her study, open her desk, and begin examining Ms. Chamber's notes. Everything seems harmless enough, maybe they are not needed after all. Oh look, someone has recently put a lock on one of the desk drawers. One picked lock later and they are looking at the Professor's original notes. Certain words have been scratched out but with a bit of work they can make it out- skinwalker! This ominous piece of information sends our group in search of Ms. Chambers.

     It is now evening in Avarice as they move through town, looking for their friend. There is a light on at the stables, so they sneak a peek inside. The Professor is speaking to four hooded individuals and gesturing to the stable boy, who laying tied up and gagged in the corner. So the Preacher kicks the door open and starts shooting as the menacing hooded figures advance upon them. Three of them attack with knives while the last one has a set of nasty red claws, and they soon find out why when his (?) hood falls back to reveal a hideous mass of muscle and bone, but no skin!! Our guys manage to keep it together and take these guys out, but Ms. Chambers has escaped out the back.

     That is how we ended our last session, unfortunately we are having trouble setting up a new game. When we do I will let you all know how it goes. Take care and please leave me a comment.

Work, Work, Work (and my Deadlands game)

     I have been very busy due to work related issues, and I do not see it slowing down anytime soon. This means I will be shooting for one post a week. On the plus side of things my group got together this past Sunday and we played some Deadlands.

     Last game ended with the guys (Johnny, Richard, and the Reverend Josiah Love) getting off the train in Avarice. Well, the Reverend needed help off since he had been shot up during a train robbery. The group turned over a bandit they had captured and the corpse of one they had killed.

     So, in game we picked up several days later after Josiah had a chance to recover. They find out that their friend Professor Annabelle Chambers has been out working outside off town, but she should be back soon. While waiting at the saloon they ask some locals if they know anything about what the Professor has found. About this time, a man rushed in to get a drink before he went to the sheriff. It seems animals had dug up that fella they buried a couple days ago. The group asked him some questions and then decided to go with him and see if they could help. Eventually they ended up at the cemetery investigating the grave and coming to the conclusion that it was not dug up, something came out of it. They decide to follow tracks that lead away from the grave and which eventually get obscured by wagon tracks.

     About that time a buckboard wagon approached, heading towards town. It halted and their friend, Ms. Chambers leaned out and asked if they would like a ride into town. They accepted and began their conversation by asking what she had found and why she had been so worried and secretive. Apparently she had misinterpreted some local lore, but it ended up being something harmless. If they want to stay in her guest house, that would be fine, but there is nothing to be concerned about.

     And I have to stop right there, I will let you all know how it turned out later on tonight. Take care!!


     

Your niche group may seem big from the inside, but...

     This past week I was playing in a Heroclix sealed booster tournament, and while I waited in line to purchase said boosters I listened to the two guys ahead of me.
Guy 1: "Pathfinder Battles, what's that?"
Guy 2: "Looks Mage Knight."
That was the extent of the conversation, they did not make the connection between an rpg miniatures game and Dungeons and Dragons. At first I was surprised, shocked even, and then I realized that if they had not tried rpg's that they would be unfamiliar with them. They would not be on the inside. Sometimes when you are on the inside of a fan base it is hard to realize how big (or small) it is.

     I think we should all get together and see how we can expand our hobby. To make it something to proud of, no matter who you tell it to. Take care guys!

Sunday's game and Sentinels of the Multiverse

     So this past Sunday's game did not go off as planned (only half of the group showed) but one them had just bought a copy of Sentinels of the Multiverse, so we played that. It was the first time playing it for the three of us but we caught to the basics pretty quickly. The players pick from ten different heroes who each have there own deck, then they decide which villain (of which there are eight) to fight and which environment (of which there are four) to fight in. Needless to say it gives it a lot of replay-ability, which we saw by playing it twice. For the record we were beat both times, though the second game went better as we caught on to how to use our powers and stuff.

     The first game we picked  our heroes and fought the villain Citizen Dawn in Megalopolis. She becomes immune to damage if five or more citizens (read her minions) are in the discard pile. Our strategy seemed straightforward, we had to hurt her and do minimal damage control on the citizens. We started out doing alright, but were quickly locked down by the minions various abilities. Basically we were stuck in a downward spiral with no obvious way out.

     Our next game was versus Omnitron in the Savage primalis(?) and two of us picked different heroes. This went a lot better but still ended in a loss. I think we need more players, at least one. Still I really had fun playing it and felt it captured the comic genre admirably.

     Well that is all for now, please leave comments and questions, and I will get back to you. Take care, bye.

Where to stand in the edition wars?

     A quick little post here in case any of you have not been hipped to this great and hilarious web series Dungeon Bastard. Check out his latest episode here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRZ1CYYIsCg
Go on, I'll wait here until you're done.

     Back? Good. We should be working together to build up our community and not squabbling like a bunch of kids at recess. Like I have said before, play what you want you want and respect other people's choices for whatever game they want to play.

     I am looking forward to seeing what Wizards comes up with, but if I do not like it I have plenty of other games to choose from, and why waste my energy complaining about what is wrong when I can enjoy something I like.

     I will be returning to finish my 4E game in a couple months and hope to complete that campaign with more amazing moments. They left off having just raised the demolished tiefling capitol from within the Starfel crater and set it (reformed) floating above the gaping chasm. Jinx will have a hand in helping their ruling class establish order and the wizard, Quorien, will get an urgent missive from the scarlet spire asking for his aid. Oh I have some great plans when we return, hehehe.

     Take care and please fell free to leave a comment.