The Burden of the Undead.

I had an interesting weekend. Three friends and I spent the weekend in a camper watching geeky movies (Real Genius, Legend and Ghostbusters) and playing D&D. It was a blast.

Where I ran aground was the subject matter of the D&D game. Early in the game it was clear what was going on. The town we met up in was being attacked by skeletons and zombies. We went to the local cemetery to discover a cleric conducting necromantic rituals.

This isn't a bad scenario, however, it's starting to get a little common. One of the guys with us this weekend ran a D&D game that we played a few years ago. He started the game in a small town with a big set of catacombs. Lots of undead. We didn't stay in those catacombs for long, some doofus cleric destroyed the catacombs. I was the doof, but that's a story for another day.

A while back, I got nostalgic about D&D, right after Gary Gygax died. I started running a game. My game is, wait for it, a small town with a near-by necromancer cleric sending undead to attack the small town.

With a few minor differences, the scenario my friend ran this weekend and my scenario were basically the same. He and I played in the Catacombs mentioned above, but he didn't play in my Small-Town-Undead-Panic game.

Where I'm going with this is that the undead thing seems to be a very common theme and maybe it pops into people's minds a little too easily. I feel like I let my group down and maybe that's why, yet again, interest has waned on a game I was running.

Last night when all of this came to me, I was running around in WoW - I was playing a quest involving creatures that were essentially plants that grew from seeds. It occurred to me that that would be a cool way to transport an army. Show up near a town, scatter your seeds, call up a storm, then call up some sun - maybe even sun that lasted into the night! Then, blam! Little, violent plant guys running around eating each other and growing more powerful by the second! Cast some spell that allows you to control plants and you have a hell of a magic army that only required one wizard and a cart of plant seed.

SO, the point of this post: the next time you decide to run a game, let the dead rest. Try something a little different.

Plots are us!

One of you asked for it! (Thanks HollyKing!) This is Throw Away Plot #3!

Previously I threw away a plot for Star Wars and for Star Trek.

This time around, I want to throw away a plot with a Super Hero theme. This summer has been all about the Comic Book Movie. We have Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk and Batman movies dancing around our heads. In the past few years we have seen the rise of the Comic Book Movie with Spider Man, X Men, Fantastic Four and others ka-blaming through our local cineplexes. With teases at the end of some of these movies suggesting sequels and trailers for The Watchmen in the theaters - this trend will not end any time soon.

I have a spectacularly bad history with running Super Power games. I played in a great game while I lived in STL - but I should have taken a clue. While everyone else was running around in skin-tight suits, whomping people with mutant super-powers, my character had a Mac 10, a computer in his skull and shark cartilage armor. "Jakker" was more suited to a game of Shadowrun than a Supers game.

I played in a second supers game with the same GM. The game had a B-Movie feel to it - I think the GM had grabbed a copy of GURPS Supers and GURPS Atomic Horror and ran with it! The game was short lived but brilliant!

So, there I am, thinking, huh! I could run a Supers game!

I've never read comic books - I always thought they were over priced wastes of money. I would buy the omnibuses now and then - at $12 to $20 bucks, even in black and white - they were great ways to get some comic book into my life. But, really, I don't have a stack of omnibuses, just a few.

It boils down to the fact that I really don't get comic books. When I think super powers, for some reason my mind runs toward science fiction: powers would have some plausible explanation. In truth, comic books are pure fantasy. They are ancient myths with a modern spin. Superman would have been a god in another era. Spiderman is an animal avatar if there ever was one, same with Wolverine. Bruce Banner is a man possessed by a demon! The comic books have even pulled directly from myth, Thor and Hercules are still running around in pulp pages.

Yet, I have repeatedly managed to miss the point. I've run at least three Super Powered games - all failed. Proof that watching a few movies does not a good Supers GM make. The last was the most successful. It more resembled a Stephen King novel than something by Lee & Kirby and it lasted less than six months.

However, a while back I came up with an idea that I thought would be fun. It's almost Super Powers.

The story goes like this: NASA's SOHO probe detects a solar flare. The flare is pretty bad - so bad it burns out portions of the probe. The flare hits Earth and does lots of damage to the telecommunications system.

In the end, nothing is unrecoverable - the result is a day of interrupted communications but something that could have been MUCH worse. Life goes on and people have some great stories.

The NASA researches begin seeing some anomalies. First, the strength of the flare burned out the SOHO probe, why were the communication satellites not more damaged? Further, light travels from the Sun to Earth in about 8 minutes. Yet, the flare hit Earth in under four. The leading edge of the flare touched Earth before the much closer probe's information reached Earth. The particles in the flare were traveling much faster than the speed of light!

The NASA information is largely ignored as vital info from NASA often is (but I'm not bitter!)

A few days after the flare, some strange things begin happening. Odd, unexplained accidents. Persons vanishing, appearing elsewhere, not knowing how they got there. A series of cat burglaries where nothing of real value goes missing.

Finally, a reporter pulls the threads together. His story begins with a string of beads that were stolen from the Heathrow airport. They were on display in the concourse. While digging an underground elevator shaft, a "kitchen midden" was discovered; essentially an ancient garbage dump. Archaeologists were called out to preserve what they could - they found some interesting pottery shards, bones indicating the local cuisine at the time and some other broken artifacts, including a broken string of glass beads. One of the beads was green glass and a bird had been cut into it. The burglar stole just the beads, worth no more than a few hundred pounds to a collector. A gold ring displayed next to the beads was left behind.

A 12 car accident in Chicago resulted in three deaths and dozens of injuries. However, one young lady walked away untouched. The reporter interviewed her and noticed a bead she wore on a silk cord, she found the brown, unglazed bead in an antique shop. The bead had been carved into the shape of a turtle. When the bead was carbon-dated, it was more than 3000 years old. The reporter goes on and on, detailing several incidents surrounding these beads.

In game terms, each bead gives some gift to the wearer; a power or some advantage. The beads can be any shape or size, made of any substance. Beads have been dated as far back as 10k years, but none newer that 2000 years. The beads often appear as a simple bead with a engraved design, some are cast into very complex and intricate designs, others are just a wooden bead with a painted on animal or pictograph.

Once the reporter comes forward, the race is on! It's about this point that I would bring in the players. Each player has a bead. The bead should be interesting but not super powered. Say, "underwater breathing", not "immune to bullets". Almost immediately, I imagine that the players would discover that they can easily trade the beads and the power follows the bead. They could also discover that the beads work together, so if a player had a bead that made him grow larger, and he put on a bead from his teammate that gave him fur and claws, he'd look like a werewolf! If he put on another bead, he could shoot lightning from his claws, etc.

Once this is revealed, the players are going to want more beads. So is everyone else on the planet! They will want to talk to archaeologists, collectors and antique shops to find more beads. Imagine buying super-powers, not to mention super fakes, on eBay!

We can then begin connecting all kinds of fun, historic, pseudo science and conspiracy. From crop circles to ley lines to Stone Henge to the Nasca lines to Atlantis. Where did the beads come from? Who made them? Why did they make them? Why did they reactivate? Will they be more powerful at a place of power, say an Aztec temple or Easter Island? Are they more powerful on a clear night with the whole Milky Way showering them with star dust?

Of course there are some, like our cat burglar, who got a jump on everyone else. "Scorpio", as she likes to be called, has the Heathrow Beads, as well as others she has stolen. She begins going after those that own beads, either buying, intimidating or killing them to get to her goal. Soon, she has a rather impressive necklace, not to mention an impressive collection of powers. She will be quite a challenge for the players.

I thought it might be fun to keep the astrological and astronomical associations going, introducing other villains with zodiological names like Pisces and Cancer. Even Aries and Mars could walk the Earth, and, for fun, Betelgeuse.

The great thing about beating a foe in this game: his powers now go to the group. The group increases in beads and thus power with each success. The group can also trade amongst themselves, changing and improving their powers as they go. I figured that eventually, certain beads would show up that enhance other beads or even protect them. Beads with just about any power imaginable could appear. Combining them could make whole new powers. One could even have "sets" of beads, each has a power, but as more of the set are brought together, other powers are unlocked. With the whole set, a large power is unlocked. There could also be beads that add no benefit to the user, but give benefits to the party, etc.

How do you control the power level of this game? A guy with a vest of beads will be darn near invincible and maybe without weakness. First, control the number of beads. There were only so many made, only so many can be around. Next, the beads are destroyable. Thus, in a fight, players might lose beads - but so might the bad guys! (This keeps guns and sharp-shooters in play!) In the end, I think a game like this could get very out of control unless the GM ran it with an iron hand.

Eventually, someone (player, NPC, villain) is going to try to make a new bead. They will likely destroy several to discover the technology, maybe dozens, even hundreds. Will they succeed? Will they create an even more powerful bead? Will their bead fail catastrophically? That's up to the GM and some rolls on "Craft: Bead".

The coolest part of this for me: props! I'm a GM that believes in props. In this game, each player could actually wear their beads! A bag of cheap wooden beads can be purchased at any big box craft store. A few minutes with these beads and a Sharpie or a paint pen and you would have some decent props. String them on some hemp or silk cord and BINGO! Cool props for your players!

I've thought several times of writing this up in detail and trying to get it published. I still reserve that right!

Gaming Daters?

Been two months since my last post? I'm getting WORSE at this! :)

Anyway, I have recently discovered a new way to find other gamers in your area. Do you have a profile on a social networking site or dating site? Use your favorite game as a search keyword and see if there is anyone in your area playing your game. Ask them if you can join whatever game they are playing or offer to GM for them and their friends.

It's a great way to meet new people. Most dating sites or social networking sites are free. And, better, you get more gaming in your life! Go try it out and tell us what you discover.

Another throw away plot.

You all might remember that I gave away a good plot a few months back - well, at least I thought it was a good plot. You can read that here.

Well, I have another one for you. My Star Wars group is talking about switching to the new Saga rules for the Star Wars RPG. Might be cool. We're still talking. I won't have to buy any books as I got my books for Xmas.

See, a friend of mine got a discounted core rulebook, got excited and wanted to play. As you can tell from my entry there in November, I was hot to play anything. So, I told the guy, I'll run anything you want after Xmas - I'll put the books on my list with high priority. My wife feels pretty safe buying me gaming books - especially if I point them out on Amazon. Cool. He wants to play something before the movies, something like Knights of the Old Republic and he wanted to play a Wookie Jedi.

Oh! Was I ever hip to that?! I dove into Wookiepedia head first! Before I knew it, I had floods of great ideas.

I told him to build a first level Wookie, best to be a Fringer type or a Scoundrel. (I hear the classes are different now, I didn't know that then.) But, I didn't want him to actually be a Jedi yet, just be Force Sensitive. And that's all I told him, other than the fact that I was setting the game before KotOR.

Matter of fact, I intended to set it WAY before KotOR! Something like 20,000 years before KotOR!

My thought was this: a Rakatan ship carrying wookie slaves crash landed on a planet in the middle of no-where. The ship was never found. The wookies freed themselves, and the Rakatan technology got loose and did to this planet what it did to Kashyyyk; namely, terraformed it.

A few thousand years later, the wooks were happy, healthy and unaware that their planet lay between Hutt space and Xim the Despot's empire. Xim and the Hutts fought a terrible war - and I thought it would be fun the make this poor little wookie planet one of the battle fields. I could just see Xim's giant battle droids taking on Klatoonian soldiers and Hutt droid tanks! All the while the PC would be in the middle, trying to save his home world. How epic is that?

I figured I would give the PC a phrik Rakatan sword. Sure, it pulsed with the Dark Side, but if the PC pumped enough Light Side energy into it, the weapon would change and become as good as a light saber in many ways, maybe even better. I thought I might get a Force ghost to act as the PC's mentor on the ways of the Jedi and the Force. I also figured there might be a Rakatan Star Map lying around that would point the PC to a non-hyperdrive fighter, like, oh, this one!

In the end, the guy in question was just too busy. He never even finished making his character. Too bad - I think this could have been a fun game. As before, it's yours to use - enjoy!

Bought a PSP

As my long time readers are aware, I have been looking at console games recently. If you aren't aware but want to be, read this post.

In that post I talked mostly about buying a a Nintendo Wii. The Wii is still a rare system, Nintendo is having a lot of trouble keeping up with demand. I guess that's good for them.

I was recently at a friend's house and was shown a copy of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, which is only available on the Sony PSP. I really hadn't seen much on the PSP. I'll admit that consoles are new to me, except for my venerable GBA SP. The PSP was quite light, bright and impressive for such a small device.

A couple of days ago I tripped over a "new" game: Warhammer 40k: Squad Command. Well ... I thought it was new. The videos of it out on YouTube had me under the impression that it wasn't even released in the States yet. It pays to look at the date a video was published on YouTube and to do a little further research. Turns out the game was released here last fall. It can now be had for $20. I've long been in love with the Warhammer 40k universe and the video games released for it have often been quite good.

So, between these two games, I was drooling!

I talked with the wife. I still hadn't bought a console and have been talking about it since Xmas. We went out and bought me a PSP last night.

I've been having fun with it. One of the things I love is that the games are cheap to begin with. The newest games aren't $60, they're $40. Plus, there is a whole line of "Greatest Hits" games that are $15 to $20 bucks! Last night I didn't buy SWB:RS, it's $40. I did buy Star Wars Battlefront II and Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories. Those two games cost me less than the one Star Wars game. I haven't played either of these games, so it's all new fun territory for me.

I do plan to follow up these purchases with the Warhammer 40k game and with Dungeons & Dragons Tactics - also $20 bucks!

Loving My Gaming Life.

You have a family life. You have a private life. Some of you might even have a sex life. I have a gaming life.

I've got two good gaming groups. I played D&D this past Sunday and the group is working with the 3.5E rules like a well oiled machine. We need a few more PHBs, I might have to break down and buy a few new ones, but that seems to be the only problem.

The week before my other group played Star Wars. We had a great time. That group is a race car!

I'm totally in love. I don't think I've had this much gaming in my life since I first moved out to Seattle. At that time I got about one game every week or two. So I'm about tied. It's not as good as the last nine months I spent in St. Louis - but this time I have a job. So I got that going for me.

In between games I'm playing a ton of WoW and having a great time there, too.

How will this benefit you? Are you surprised that I want to benefit my readers? Don't be! This site is about making our gaming lives better for all! When I get a chance, I plan to publish the materials I'm producing. Either on this site or professionally. So, keep your eyes on this site for more features to come!

Actually Gaming!

It's like I woke up in Bizarro world! I'm actually gaming!

I write a gaming blog, shouldn't I be gaming all the time? Well, the truth of the matter is that I work a day job and I have a wife. I love my wife (I simply HATE my job) and these things take up a lot of my time. My friends all have jobs and significant others and obligations of every sort. So, getting games together is darned difficult. I call this unfortunate state of being "adultitis" - I have used the term on this site before but I don't know if I have ever defined it. Adultitis is the condition where a busy adult does not have the time for playing games like they had when they were younger.

Having said that, I'm excited to announce that I am gaming way more than usual. I have been playing d20 Star Wars with a group of friends for a while. I started the game about, oh, three years ago. We played for a bit over a year. Then, we ran another game for a while - a less than successful GURPS Super Heroes game. There is nothing wrong with GURPS. It's me. I have tried to run Supers in the past and failed. Well, I failed again. I should know better, I know NOTHING about comic books. A couple of X-Men movies doesn't make me an expert!

One of the members of the group took pity on me and decided to start running Star Wars again and we all jumped back in - that has been going for about six months. I guess I did something of a good job with my SW game - as the new GM has introduced several story elements I created. Very cool!

Anyway, we have been regularly playing about once a month. We have a game scheduled in a week or so. We pretty much play every three to five weeks.


The day after Gary Gygax died, I got a severe case of nostalgia. I'm sure a lot of you did. You can see it in the post I made on this site. So, I sent out an email to all of my friends. I got almost no response to that email. One sent a funny music video - his only response. One said he couldn't as he is planning to go back to school - understandable. Others said they were busy; severe, inflamed adultitis - also understandable.

But I didn't hear from two people that have been begging to game, especially D&D. I found that odd.

Well, then, days later, these two are all excited! Sure they want to game! So, we settled on D&D 2nd Ed. since we had books from a game we played years ago.

Then, they wanted to invite a family member and his wife and their kid. I had no problem with the kid coming, but I don't get along well with the kid's parents (the kid could use a break from the parents, anyway!)

One of them wanted to invite their ex-spouse. Fine. They invited this person and that person's new spouse decided they were invited, too. I didn't really know this person, but I wasn't informed until day of the game that they were coming. No sweat.

Well, we had a group of six - plenty! And, frankly, we had a great time. Everyone was cool and we had good group chemistry. I think this is going to be a good game with a fun group. The best part is that they want to play often! We gamed on the 15th of March, we're gaming again this Sunday and we are looking to game again on April 13th!

The only problem this group ran into was 2nd Ed. (2E) D&D. I haven't played those rules in years, and I've gotten used to playing d20 by playing Star Wars. However, I didn't want to make people buy books, and at first, it was only going to be three of us. I had a book, they had a book - we could relearn the rules together.

This didn't work so hot when the group doubled in size. Worse, some of the players were real D&D grognards and brought what books they had: 1st Ed. AD&D books! So people start making characters with combinations of 1E and 2E books! I had totally lost control!

We got through the day and, as I said, had a pretty good time. I have spent the time since last game convincing the group to go with the 3.5E d20 rules. You can download them for free, and with 4E about to hit the market, 3.5E books are going to flood the books stores for cheap! Part of me wishes I had gone with 3E - the used book stores are swamped with those books now. But, we wouldn't have had the download option. A good portion of the group is young people with limited cash flow. As it is, I have spent about $100 on new books - got some pretty good values at Amazon, but it's still a lot of money.

So, I have ended up with a second great group and I'm having a bitchin' time learning new rules from brand new (they cracked when I opened them!) gaming books! What could be better?


How about a third group?


That's right. When it rains, it pours! I have a whole different group of friends who have been talking about putting together a game of Unhallowed Metropolis. Until they started talking about it, I had never heard of the game. But, now I have and I have been introduced to a new term: gas-mask chic. It's an interesting game concept. I haven't bought the book yet - I'm not sure the group is actually going to form up, much less form the Blazing Sword - if you know what I mean. We'll see.

Thank you, holy spirit of The Gygax - you have blessed me with an abundance of gaming. My cup runneth over!