WargamerX's Game Blog

No more Kickstarters for me. Too disgusted by the crap planning by both "professional" game company's and RPG authors as well as by amateur game authors who despite professed intentions, have no appreciation of why a group that has provided them seed money expects that they actually; 1) Have a plan 2) Have a final draft of what they plan to produce - so all the "other" stuff - editing, art, publishing, distribution - can be what you are concentrating on. 3) Get a "game face" - yes, your product is something that you may love doing, but you tookother peoples money on the promise to make it happen so set your dislike of some of the less fun parts of the journey and whatever politics or weird ideas you personally have aside and...just get it done. Instead, how often have I seen clowns running off to GenCon or some other convention to "promote" their product - yeah, right. I'd have no problem, really, if they provided the...

Played in a wonderfully crazy Dungeon Crawl Classics game last night hosted by Stephen Murrish on G+. It was a great funnel with 0-levels making deals with demon lords for the resurrection of their pony, rabbits with murderous intent, root babies trading secrets for blood, intelligent ape/orcs, and this guy..

My first effort as part of DCC's Road Crew 2016 was ALSO a Black Powder Black Magic funnel! (Creepy Minds thinking alike - see James August Walls own detailed write up). I was definitely influence by having a nice collection of 25mm western minis and a number of old west miniature buildings... My scenario was based on the old Boot Hill rulebook scenario the Battle of Coffeyville. In the original, the Dalton gang was robbing two town banks at once and the townsfolk were trying to gun them down. Since this is DCC, the Darlton gang also had employed a necromancer as a diversion in exchange for some of the "ghost rock" in one of the banks. The Daltons were all 1st or 2nd level warriors and only had to make it out of the bank for the necromancer to bring on his zombie army at the other end of town (ie Boot Hill).   To add some spice for the players, each player's four zero levels represented a group in the town; sheriff and deputies, town drunks, Mexican cowboys, I...

Years back, I was at a convention in Biloxi, Mississippi and saw a guy running a massive dungeon crawl with miniatures and an enormous miniature dungeon, using the D&D 3.5 rules, The thing took up maybe ten large tables. Coolest thing ever. And I always wanted to do something like that - although the dungeon and how to build one on an economy escaped me. Fast forward a decade, and I am sitting at mt workbench looking at a Miniature Building Authority castle and some Dwarven Forge dungeon corridors...and I think, hmmm maybe I could run Sailors on a Starless Sea at a miniature convention. In this case, Fall In at Lancaster, PA in early November. Thus a project was started...which I am still nervous about, yet less so after my CCPA gaming group allowed me again to use them as playtesters for a mad scheme... Here are some pictures. The mob approaches the mysterious keep... A view of the courtyard, abandoned chapel, the sinkhole, the tower, and the well of souls. ...

So, I am running a play-by-post of 12 to Midnight's Last Rites of the Black Guard. Lots of open story and plenty of handouts and detailed information, maps, etc. Perfect fit for me, since I've never run a published adventure "as written".  Anyway, they just found the "occult basement" And the zombie living there... As I said; 12 to Midnight and I share a fetish for maps...good stuff and plenty of them! And in my World's Largest Dungeon game...we are still on the third ring of rooms, level 1...

Confession. I am a fan of the Batman mythology, the extended story, and  of writers and directors and actors who DO their homework.   As a result. I have found new nerd love in the Fox series Gotham. 1) I am convinced that Castle is now insane with jealousy of Jim Gordon, regardless of whether Inara turns out to be Mrs Gordon or Harley. 2) Whether or not he is up to the awesomeness that is the Joker, Cameron Monaghan and/or his director or writer earns my regard for the filming of this scene, or well, the entire scene...of Gordan's interrogation of Jerome. In two screen shots, watch them, Monogham subtly channels first Jack Nicolson's Joker, THEN in the next  camera shot Heath Ledger's lip smacking Joker. Well done sirs, Well done. Slow clap.