Yes, while playing online does work it is a lot harder to pull out then you might imagine.Originally Posted by Big Andy
(From my experience anyway.)
While I've had games run for a year, and my current one has almost reached a year, the smallest thing can kill one.
Barsoom and Tekumel do ring bells for some.
=
Good idea! We've looked into this; we have bandwidth issues as well as hardware/software obsolescence issues, and the cost of the upgrades would be about the same as a trip to Gary Con - albeit in comfort, I'll admit.
The crux of the matter, as you point out, is my very object-heavy gaming style. I got into this habit a very long time ago, and I don't see myself breaking it any time soon. So, I dunno. We'll see what happens.
And yes, people in this forum do recognize the two; it's the people at the FLGS who don't - which astonishes me, in re Barsoom.
Last edited by chirine ba kal; 06-08-2016 at 12:55 AM. Reason: clarification
Yep. Played in an online game of "Bethorm" with Jeff Dee, on a virtual tabletop set-up. Great game - he did a good job - but the VTT required the ministrations of a separate assistant GM t keep the game moving. If I was going have ti do this, I'd have the technician running the computer and having an open mike at the table with a webcam positioned over the table for a view that everyone could see.
They do, just not here at the FLGS. Much to my astonishment.
Here, here, heed the words of the Glorious General!
Play what you like, with people you know, Uncle! Not necessarily with friends, acquaintances are actually better (hint: it's harder to boot out a friend if he or she turns out to be a bad fit).
If at all possible, try it with people new to the hobby. Way too many "experienced* gamers" have firmly set ideas "how RPGs should be". Just look at almost any thread...
But in all seriousness, this cannot be overstated: If at all possible, try to get new people interested in the hobby. As Jester Raiin would say, "the stars are right for that"...or in other words, "nerd is the new cool, as far as Hollywood trends are concerned" (which is what I would say, instead).
Also, try to get at least one or two women to try. The difference IME is, if women get interested in your game, they bring a friend to try it, too, and sometimes help with the snacks. If men get interested, at best they bring beer!
One of these is more favourable to growing your players network.
(Some people would say the above makes me a sexist. I would say that there's a reason why night clubs have "girl nights" where women don't pay entry tax, and possibly get other bonuses. If it works for businesses that aim to gather people for social interactions, and obviously works well enough that they're ready to make expenses...
*Most of them are actually "mildly experienced" even by my metrics, and you and Gronan have been playing for 2.5 times as long as I have.
Thanks, man!
Despite your dislike...start with a one-off, like a convention scenario. Then hint you might continue it. But at first, the codeword is "no obligations", and you have to mean it.
Also, adopt the "we play with whoever shows up" model. It actually leads to improving the attendance, my empiric experience says.
It seems many people are more likely to shaft the session when they know you'd cancel it, then when they know the other players would get to do stuff without them, and their character is going to pass that time in drunken stupor or fever due to an wound infection, or the like. It's important: no playing over what happened when they come for the next session-you just wake with a hangover, no memories, but the hangover passes quickly. The time that passed for everyone, passed for everyone. Period. The Referee has set his foot down, and won't budge.
That's just sad...and I don't mean for you, I mean for society.Gaming with friends is an option, assuming I had any I could trust not to rip me off. Had a great gaming group going since 2002, until people got visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. I've had a succession of 'friends', especially over the last five years, try to use me for their own purposes and damn me, the Missus, the game group, and the other gamers - especially the younger ones - in the process. It's all about their 'prestige', 'position', and their dreams of The Big Money; the last - and literally the last - visitors who were my 'friends' were the ones who offered me all-expense trips to Gary Con and North Texas RPG Con if only I would censor myself both in my blog and in this thread, as my comments were a 'detriment to their business interests'. Which is why I now screen guests very carefully, and am very careful about who is and is not a 'friend'. I've been burned too many times by people who talk very big, but turn out to be promising other people's money. Vaporware merchants, if you will, and greedy ones at that.
My solution would be to get acquintances to try. Don't talk about business prospects to them.
Indeed.We'll see; the wheel will turn. It always has.
Pictures, Uncle. You don't need to scan your props.
Just tell them you use props, and make sure to upload them pictures.
...VTT is actually heavy. That's why I play online, but not in VTT
With a laptop, this should be easy.
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward." - Rocky
Asen my friend, I agree with you about not needing rules for every situation. As you rightly pointed out there are some people who like this type of rules heavy environment. Not me though. My biggest beef with too many mechanics ( ie rules) is that it bogs things down and causes game sessions to degenerate into dice rolling sessions. Any way, IME at least. Your comment on opposed d100 roles is bang on, and where I would like my games to move towards, but my group is just too familiar and comfortable with D&D. We have been using it for so long that it's second nature for all, and time being such a premium for all of us I don't see us switching any time soon. Ultimately I would sooner have regular game sessions than "perfect" game mechanics.*scribbles notes for Youtube searches*
Nobody says you need rules for every possibility, Lord Shemek. Some people might feel differently, though, or simply want a rule they can employ in every situation - the latter exists at least since Traveller and Runequest, too.
BTW, "roll 1d100, see who got more, in case of doubt compare to attribute" is exactly an unified mechanic you can employ in every situation - and a rather good one, at that. That's what RuneQuest6/Mythras would look like if all rolls were opposed (and most are
Calling exception-based mechanics "modern" is simply untrue, but I agree. That's my preference as well
And now, I believe we've cleared the mechanics question, so can we get to the important stuff? I mean books, of course
So, here's my list. Apologies, try as I might, I didn't manage to constrict it to SF/F only, and some items might be counted as non-fiction. Ah well, you can pick and choose, obviously...
H.L. Oldie Everything is great, IME. But for RPG players, I recommend "The Hero Must Be (Al)One". No idea if it's translated, yet, and under what title.
Andrzej Sapkowski, "The Witcher" series and "The Hussite trilogy" (and some short stories).
Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong: The Water Margin
Loius Cha, Return of the Condor Heroes
Fritz Leiber, Lankhmar series
M.Moorcock, "The Eternal Champion" (though I like Hawkmoon best).
Lu Gong's "Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword" (and the follow-up, though it's not nearly as good).
REHoward, all books and novels and short stories
Jack London. Everything is worth reading, again, but "The Sea Wolf" is nearly mandatory.
ERB, the Amtor and Barsoom series
Frank Herbert's Dune. There's a reason I said "Frank Herbert", the others are more hit-and-miss.
JRRT's Silmarilion, and "Bilbo Baggins".
Roger Zelazni, "Amber", "Lord of the Light", "Crackerjack", "That Immortal", and "Lord Demon", plus his short stories (undeservedly left without attention, IMO).
John Brunner, "The Traveller In Black" stories.
David Gemmell, pretty much everything
K.J. Parker, The Fencer Trilogy (and his short stories).
Steven Brust, "Vlad Taltos".
P.J. Farmer, Image oft he Beast and Riverworld
Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
Mike Resnick, Santiago, The Widowmaker series, the Prophetess (?) series and the "Paradise","Purgatory" and "Inferno" books. Advice: only after reading those, read "Birthright: The Book of Man", too.
The Mabinogion, the Journey to the West, and the Icelandic Sagas, best read together.
Tetsuo Hara and Yoshiyuki Okamura, "Fist of the Blue Sky". (I find "Fist of the North Star" to be a bit too incoherent, but you might try it as well). Yes, I just recommended a manga! If the odds were better than 1:10^9 of you finding it, I'd have recommended the E.L.O. comic...which only ever appeared in Bulgarian, though (AFAIK).
Krali Marko's story (though you're unlikely to find that translated).
Sheherezada (?), "1001 Nights". Find the original translations.
Mahabharata
Ramayana
Beowulf
Gilgamesh
Ma Wing-shing: Chinese Hero stories (Yes, manhua).
Emilio Salgary, pretty much anything, but especially the "Malay Tiger"/"Sandokan" series.
Rafael Sabatini, "Scaramouche" and "Captian Blood".
Arturo-Perez Reverte, the Alatriste series and "The Fencing Teacher" (?).
"Fierabras", anonymous French "chanson de geste"
The Tale of the Heike
Abu ʾl-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi, "Shahnameh" (and if you find it all translated, you're lucky bastards
Homer, "the Iliad" and "the Odyssey"
"Hikayat Hang Tuah", though what goes for Shahnameh, goes for it as well.
Zahari Stoyanov, "Notes on the Bulgarian uprisings" (and if you find that one translated, then probably Shahnameh and Hikayat Hang Tuah have been translated a few years earlier
L.N. Tolstoy, "War and Peace".
Sir Mallory, "Le Morte d'Arthur"
At least, these are the RPG-relevant ones, and again, I'm skipping the "pure non-fiction" here
I like your list a lot! There are many old favourites on it like Gilgamesh and ERB, and many new ones to look at.
Shemek.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
Glad we agree on the matter
Yeah, you totally should. You're actually among the few people that can get easy access to the sources in Bulgarian, as we've establishedI like your list a lot! There are many old favourites on it like Gilgamesh and ERB, and many new ones to look at.
Shemek.
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward." - Rocky
yeah, you totally should. You're actually among the few people that can get easy access to the sources in bulgarian, as we've established
Слава богу!
Shemek
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
Breaking this down into sections, as I have some kind of long responses...
Agreed. This is the basis that I've invited people into my games over the years, and in the past it's worked very well. Currently, the issue is one of 'outreach'; because I work from 3:30 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, I have very little opportunity to meet and talk to people. I've been out to the local gaming shops, but several of them are very, very specialized and are in effect private clubhouses for their regular players. Had no luck in them, as all the residents want to talk about is the set of rules that 'the house' plays. Anything other then that gets no traction; example, Tower Games in South Minneapolis, where it's Warmachine and Warhammer 40K and nothing else. I've even had issues with trying to get them to order stuff for me from their suppliers - if it's not something for the two sets of rules, they won't even do a special order.Here, here, heed the words of the Glorious General!
Play what you like, with people you know, Uncle! Not necessarily with friends, acquaintances are actually better (hint: it's harder to boot out a friend if he or she turns out to be a bad fit).
If at all possible, try it with people new to the hobby. Way too many "experienced* gamers" have firmly set ideas "how RPGs should be". Just look at almost any thread...
But in all seriousness, this cannot be overstated: If at all possible, try to get new people interested in the hobby. As Jester Raiin would say, "the stars are right for that"...or in other words, "nerd is the new cool, as far as Hollywood trends are concerned" (which is what I would say, instead).
Also, try to get at least one or two women to try. The difference IME is, if women get interested in your game, they bring a friend to try it, too, and sometimes help with the snacks. If men get interested, at best they bring beer
One of these is more favourable to growing your players network.
(Some people would say the above makes me a sexist. I would say that there's a reason why night clubs have "girl nights" where women don't pay entry tax, and possibly get other bonuses
*Most of them are actually "mildly experienced" even by my metrics, and you and Gronan have been playing for 2.5 times as long as I have.
The other two possible venues are the game rooms at The Source and FFG's Event Center. The Source requires a booking ninety days in advance of the proposed date to reserve a table, and the reservation can be cancelled at any point if the store is running a promotion, tournament, or other store-related event. FFG prefers thirty days on bookings, but requires a $50 table fee to hold the table; they do not cancel, once they get the fee. Both places will certainly allow 'drop in' / 'pick-up games', but there is no certainty that there will be a table available when one arrives.
So, I am limited to Saturdays and Sundays. Maybe I should put up an ad:
09_10_2013_shackleton.jpg
Agreed; it's how I run all my non-campaign games.Despite your dislike...start with a one-off, like a convention scenario. Then hint you might continue it. But at first, the codeword is "no obligations", and you have to mean it.
Also, adopt the "we play with whoever shows up" model. It actually leads to improving the attendance, my empiric experience says
It seems many people are more likely to shaft the session when they know you'd cancel it, then when they know the other players would get to do stuff without them, and their character is going to pass that time in drunken stupor or fever due to an wound infection, or the like. It's important: no playing over what happened when they come for the next session-you just wake with a hangover, no memories, but the hangover passes quickly. The time that passed for everyone, passed for everyone. Period. The Referee has set his foot down, and won't budge
Part of my problem with conventions is the logistics involved. If I take anything more then my personal luggage, I have to drive - miniatures and scenery do not travel well - and my options are limited:
Con of the North - Twin Cities
Annual; 1 hour drive time; 2-3 hotel room nights; 400-500 attendees
Mage Con - Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Annual; 4 hour drive time; 3 hotel room nights; 300-400 attendees
GameHoleCon - Madison, Wisconsin
Annual; 4-5 hours drive time; 3 hotel room nights; 300-400 attendees
Gary Con - Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Annual; 6 hours drive time; 5 hotel room nights; 900-1000 attendees
HMGS Great Lakes - Chicago, Illinois
Annual; 8 hours drive time; 3-4 hotel room nights; 400-500 attendees
I have a library of 'stock' games that are all packed up and ready to go; since I have limited room in the basement, I've got most of my scenery and terrain all packed up in plastic tubs - for any particular game scenario, pull tubs ABC and XYZ and you're all ready to load the van - instead of loading things into the house, it's out into the truck. The problem that I'm facing is that I can either do the logistics of setting up and running the game / event or actually run the game itself; I just don't have the energy or stamina to do both. I found this out the hard way at a game I did at FFG's Event Center in June of 2013, and again at Gary Con in 2015.
If I had reliable and responsible help with the logistics, doing conventions would be quite possible. I don't have that help, and so doing conventions would be problematic.
Last edited by chirine ba kal; 06-09-2016 at 01:27 AM. Reason: typo, sorry
Yes, very much so; when I was looking at doing a play-by-(e)mail campaign, I was assuming that all the Hlaka scouts had little digital cameras - like the two we actually have - and would be brining back photos of the areas that they were tasked to be looking at by the players. And I have lots of file photos of the collection, too, so this would be very doable.
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