NTRPGCon 2012 Charity Game Video

North Texas RPG Convention 2012 ran a charity game videos are now online.  Game industry special guests included Sandy Petersen, Jennell Jaquays, Jim Ward, Frank Mentzer, Steve Winter, and Tim Kask.  Doug Rhea DM'd 1ed scenario, A Princess' Bauble, for them and several gamers who won a seat at the table.

Charity Game Thread at NTRPGCon forums.  All money raised by the Charity game is donated to the children's charity: varietytexas.org

Part One

NTRPGCon video channel and remaining parts of charity game.

Cavemaster, Play Review

I played Cavemaster at NTRPG 2012 Convention. But, I don't have a copy. I probably butcher some of mechanics (sorry Jeff).  There's much more to the system than I was able to experience in a one-shot. (In fact, flipping through rule book I saw scads of "abilities", four+ races, bunch of creatures and lots of good artwork.)  Consider this "review" a teaser.  I hear the Cavemaster rulebook will be in stores soon.  PDF now.  POD book now

tl;dr Cavemaster is fun, is original, and it was a big hit at convention.  I'm sure it would be fun for younger gamers and the mechanics would be easily comprehensible to anyone who can count.  But, it wasn't simplistic or "kiddy".  An old, curmudgeon like myself enjoyed it.


From Jeff Dee's Kickstarter page:

Cavemaster is a serious Stonepunk tabletop fantasy role-playing game of Pleistocene adventure using the Habilis game system.
...
The Habilis game system is a fictitious archaeological re-construction of the role-playing game rules first used by our Homo Habilis ancestors approximately 2 million years ago. Habilis requires no components that can’t be found in nature: rocks, sticks, and bits of animal hide rather than paper, dice, hex grids, or plastic or metal miniatures (though you certainly MAY use more modern components, if you wish). It requires no written language or detailed record-keeping either, and its mechanics are simple enough to have been passed down verbally from each tribe’s Cavemaster (CM) to his (or her) apprentice(s).

Fire hair and friends

The Standard Mechanic.  Every player had 6 stone cave person. We physically had six stones; four core stones, two different "talent" stones.  All stones same, just placed on different areas of our skin (aka character sheet).  When player wants their character to do something they pick up their four core stones and secretly divide them between left and right hands.  The CM does the same (with stones equal to difficulty of tasks or the core stones of creature being attacked).  The CM and player each pick a hand and whoever has more stones "wins".  There's various bonuses and penalties for all the usual things.  These are added/subtracted from count of stones revealed (rather than changing number of stones).  In addition if action is related to one of the character's talents, say throwing Javelin for Hunter or standing guard for Keen Sight, character get's +1 bonus.

In addition to being a measure of skill / level, stones represent how much hurt can be absorbed. A number of stones (core or talent) must be set aside equal to the amount of damage taken.  Example; if wolf bites me with total of 4 (stones + bonuses) vs my 2 "defense" I must remove 2 stones from my character sheet.  Choosing between my core ability (and thus future fighting ability) and my talents (sacrificing skill bonuses and abilities).

Picking stones and trying to outguess CM is surprisingly fun and entails a lot more strategy (minimize risk with even number in each hand, go for big kill with all stones in one hand, all sorts of bluffing and fake out, etc) than may be apparent from just reading about it.

I played Fire Hair, red headed cave woman.  A Hunter with Keen Sight armed with javelins. Our band was feeling fat and pretty happy with ourselves after feasting on a couple of wild boars.  When another member of our tribe came running up with tales of cannibal Pachock (Sp?) attacking and dragging away the rest of her band, including my sister!

Fire Hair and friends butcher wolves.

Well, after hour and half of healing wounds (from boar battle) and invoking the Cedar Spirit (a couple players had Spirit Affinities and could ask their spirit for aide.  Aide had to relate to the spirit e.g. Cedar; find food. Mammoth; scare away wolfs and used the standard mechanic) we finally went chasing after the bad things.  Only to be predated upon by some wolves.

This Cavemaster game was part of GameFest.  After few rounds of being gnawed on by wolves it was time to switch games.  A short but sweet intro to Cavemaster for me!

NTRPGCon 2012 Artist Panel

This year's North Texas RPG Convention's Artist Panel consisted of Diesel LaForce, Jennell Jaquays, Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Jason Braun. While fielding questions from audience each artist sketched a different monster from those submitted to the NTRPG "get your monster drawn by artist" contest.

The NTRPG crew is scanning the originals and will be posting them and the monster write-ups.

The next step in the contest is for one of these drawings / monster description combos to be selected.  Have the artist make a color, refined? version (maybe, I'm not so clear on this part).  Get sculptor to create a rendition and then make minis in time for NTRPGCon 2013.


While not my favorite drawing (it's hard to pick just one really), nor my favorite monster write up, the upside-down inside-out thing-that-should-not-be would be a most bad ass miniature.

The original sketches were auctioned off Saturday.  I bid on and won the LaForce and Braun drawings.  I would have bid harder on the others but I already won three artist panel works by Jaquays, Dee, and Otus at last year's NTRPG auction.

More NTRPG posts

Diesel LaForce / Fleshmaw

Jennell Jaquays / upside-down inside-out thing-that-should-not-be

Erol Otus / ?????
I forget name, Vertimixx?

Jeff Dee / Stone Guardian
dig the tail, sorry for poor photo

Jason Braun / Seeping Horror
click to embiggin and see whatsit caught

The sketches are posted with permission and copyright the respective artists or NTRPG.

NTRPG 2012 is Over

Survived another four day long North Texas RPG Convention!

Have 3-4 posts worth of stuff which I'll post over next couple weeks.  This is just short summary of what you missed by not going ;)

Each year (I've gone three times now) NTRPG Convention has grown both in size and goodness.  About 2-300 people this year I guess.  Smaller con, with a tremendous guest list who not only show up but run and play games.  This year I played with Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, James Ward, Tim Kask, Steve Winter, Frank Mentzer.  That's a significant portion of the graduating class of old school.

In addition to games and rubbing elbows with early progenitors.  There's artist and designer panels, bunch of raffles, interesting vendor tables, art displays, auction, Three Castles Award, collectors, and a bunch of current "OSR" game authors, publishers, artists and enthusiasts.

Thursday

After leisurely drive up from Austin, checked in, and browsed the vendor tables.  Sadly DM for Urutsk Worlds of Mystery was unable to attend.  But, I got in on Jimm Johnson's Skull Mountain game.  

Friday

Tavis Allison ran Adventurer Conqueror King System which I've been wanting to check out.  Sadly, I made mistake of registering for first session (Adventurer) and not a latter Conqueror or King session.  Which may have been for the better as I sort of got charmed and helped the dragon to capture the party and totally derail the "plot". ;)

Artist Panel Diesel LaForce, Jennell Jaquays, Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Jason Braun.  While fielding questions from audience each artist drew a different monster from those submitted to the "get your monster drawn by artist" contest.

That evening I survived Tim Kask's OD&D game.

Saturday

Star Frontiers was the 2nd RPG I owned as a wee teenager.  I finally got to play it, a Vrusk technician under Steve Winter's gamemastering. But, that's not only game I played, convention organizers had a surprise.  More later.

Raffle in which I won Dragon Magazine #1 and #2.

Stars Without Number by Kevin Crawford won the Three Castles Award.

DCC RPG DM'ed by Michael Curtis.  Review forthcoming.

Sunday 

Continued Father John's adventuring in Mythrus Tower.  (This campaign runs every con, every session).  John got some gold and some xp, but importantly survived unlike several adventures who were permanently lost on the 5th level.

One Week Till Free RPG Day

Free RPG Day, yay!  Saturday June 16th.


Free RPG Events at Dragon's Lair, one of several Austin area FLGS.

NTRPG Live Streaming

Old School style don't mean not using new-fangled technologicals.
Cross posted [slight editing of links and formatting]

David Rhea will be doing all video for the con this year. This includes video streaming. Assuming we have fast enough internet we will be streaming events this year. Please check out the NTRPGCON channel at www.ustream.tv/channel/ntrpgcon Here is the current schedule. We may stream random games as well but these are the main "events" so to speak.

Thursday

2PM - 5PM : Charity Game
5PM - ??? : Chainmail Game

Friday

8AM - 11AM: Circvs Maximvs
1PM - 5PM : Q&A Panels
7PM - ??? : Mythus Tower(Tournament)

Saturday

9AM - 10AM: Expect the Unexpected
10AM - 2PM: Circvs Maximvs - CHAMPIONSHIP
2PM - 3PM : Expect the Unexpected
3PM - 4PM : Artist Panel
4PM - 5PM : Raffle/Auction

Game Mechanics Have Little Worth

[Edit,


Want to make clear I'm saying this from perspective of me and my blog / posts.  Not in broader context of everyone else.  Specifically did not intend and apologize if it's taken as an "insult" or "bitch" to/over/about anyone else or their ideas/posting/games/etc. 


I wavered publishing this post, as it is very introspective.  Probably should have stuck with original title "A Confession".]

DCC RPG has got me thinking about game mechanics and house rules again.  Which, in the grand scheme, is very pointless*.

I've claimed that I can run a RPG with nothing more than a source of randomness (a die) and method of persistance (pen and paper)**.  It's a bit of a fib as "nothing" includes 30 or so years of playing all sorts of games, studying history/psychology/game theory/story structure/etc/etc.  Still, it's not a boast.  Anyone could do it.  It mostly requires accepting that rules are a largely ignorable detail.

Content is what matters.  In RPG terms content is a bunch of stuff.; story, pacing, challenge, surprise, DM skill.  In short and bit non-answerish; The ability to make playing a game fun.

RPG mechanics.  Some will have advantages for playing agnsty, interpersonal relationships of vampires.  Others for hacking one's way through a mythic dungeon.  Others for simulating life in medieval England.

But, poor content is probably gonna make a poor game no matter the mechanics.

I should be posting about content like many of great authors in blog roll to the right.  

But, I can't stop houseruling. It's what I am. Professionally (software dev) and personal (game hobbies, my philosophy/religion), are all about analyzing a tangle of requirements / constraints and working out optimal method(s) of achieving the desired end result(s).  And, writing out ideas in blog posts is excellent rubber ducking.  I also have gamer ADD.

* It's not pointless in that I derive much enjoyment endlessly twiddling things in endless and unachievable quest for the "perfect" mechanic.  It is pointless in that it's endless and unachievable and already done to death.

** That sounds like a cool convention event.  RPG Improv!

Recovering from Injury

I've been using the following hit point recovery rules in my afterwork Gold and Glory campaign.  It is abstract and makes no claims to realism.  It is amalgamation of and inspired by EPT, Carcosa, OD&D and many blog posts.

First, Death and Dismemberment.  There are two types of damage; hitpoints and injuries (from DD table, broken bones, missing limbs, and the like).

Injuries include a largish penalty to Constitution (Con < 3 means coma).  They take a longish time (days, weeks) to heal.  [End of every day character rolls to recover point of Con. All healed up when original Con is reached.] Constitution modifies rolls on DD table.  So, adventuring while injured increases risk of death or (more) serious bodily injury.

At the start of each session all characters roll their hit dice (adjusted by current Constitution).  This total replaces their current hitpoints only if it is greater.   Represents recovery of stamina, luck, healing of minor scrapes, etc.  And is the character's max hitpoints until they reroll hit dice (at start of next session).  Healing, magical or otherwise, can not recover more hitpoints than this total.

There are non-magical ways to recover hitpoints during session. E.g. swigs of whiskey, post combat recovery.  Magic is mostly used to prevent bleeding to death or healing "real" injuries from DD table.  Healing is always based on hit dice of healee.  E.g. swig of whiskey heals 2 dice.  That would be 2d10 warrior and 2d4 for wizard.

Resting heals injuries (and linked Constitution penalty), not hitpoints.


The sessions I've used this are short, two hours.  It might not be as keen with longer sessions.  Maybe need to have a midpoint where hit dice are rolled again.

Blogroll Additions

Blogger fixed the "I can't fracking add to my blog roll" issue.  So, I've been busy...


Link and why

http://exonauts.blogspot.com/  Need more spacey awesomness in my life.

http://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/  Duh, dinosaurs.

http://www.awesomedice.com/blog/ History of Dice and Balthazar but mostly the S.I. (unexpected).

http://unto-the-breach.blogspot.com/ Have a weakness for alphabets.

http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/  Recommended by Henchman Abuse with promises of random tables.

http://apolitical.info/teleleli/ Short posts, full of awesome.

http://monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.com/ Pants.

http://www.rolang.com/ Tables.

http://worldofalshain.blogspot.com/ Despite the horrid to read yellow on red, pics of monsters who want to eat me.

http://theyaqqothlgrimoire.blogspot.com/  This quote "I'm not saying new-wave rpgs are shit: I'm saying any new-waved mod of D&D would be shit. Remember 2e? That was shit. A shitload of fucking shit."

http://dangerousbrian.blogspot.com/ Awesome English civil war fantasy setting.

364 days

A year, I could waste a lot of zombies in a year.