New Star Trek Television Series in the Works?

GiantFreakinRobot.com reports that a new Star Trek television series is being envisioned by David Foster of 1974 Entertainment.  They link to an interview on TrekWeb.com that includes a good deal of information about the potential project.  I'm not finding much information online specifically about Foster or his company, hence the lack of related links.  Despite this, he seems to have a rather fleshed out vision of where to take the franchise that doesn't include the changes from the reboot incorporated from JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek film.  IMDb.com still has a sequel to that movie slated for 2012 with seemingly all of its cast attached, though it has only been announced and it is unclear if production has even begun in earnest.  Frankly, I'd be fine if both projects go forward, no matter of their universes jibe with one another.  From my perspective, the more Trek the better!

Level 1 Human Baby Creeper

If you're a gamer and a parent of a wee one, you might want to pick up a Level 1 Human Baby Creeper from Jinx.com.  In their own words -

The casual RPG enthusiast will look at this creeper, chuckle, possibly buy it for their child, and move on. However, the avid J!NX gamer will inevitably flame this design with questions such as "Wouldn't a baby be level 0?", or "What is its class? Mage? Rogue?", or "My baby's INT should be WAY higher!", or "Does that high Charisma give my baby the ability to lead up to 15 henchmen?". We expect this. And that, my fanatical friends, is why we love you.

Pacificon Game Expo

Also this coming weekend is the Pacificon Game Expo.  In their own words -

The Pacificon Game Expo offers an amazing array of fun events for the entire Northern California gaming community. For 31 years, Pacificon has been the Bay Area's Labor Day Gaming Convention where friends come together and make new friends playing games through all hours of the day. The beautiful Santa Clara Marriott Hotel affords the perfect spot for gamers to while away the holiday weekend surrounded by a hotel staff that is expert at meeting our needs. You can find all kinds of games at the show, be it miniatures, board, card, role playing, or LARP, Pacificon has got it all!

CelestiCon - Labor Day Weeknd in Redwood City, CA

I mentioned last week that Dragon*Con was coming up again in Atlanta, GA, over Labor Day Weekend, a fan convention of all things SciFi and Fantasy with some gaming, but there's another event this coming holiday weekend for anyone who can get to the San Francisco Bay area, but in Redwood City, CA, called CelestiCon.  EN Worlder Spinachcat brought this event to everyone's attention over in the EN World General Forum and had this to post about some of the odderings -

CELESTICON is hosting over 150 events including RPGs, boardgames, Pathfinder Society, the War College with Dana Lombardy of the History Channel, Warhammer Tournaments and a Young Player's Room. / There is a whole litany of RPGs happening with a whole slew of Pathfinder events plus Cthonian Stars, Tunnels & Trolls, Dresden Files and lots more. / Special Guests include Ken Hite (Star Trek, Delta Green, Day After Ragnorak), James Ernest (Cheapass Games) and Ryan Macklin (Dresden Files) and many more! / Charlie Krank, the President of Chaosium, will be hosting a seminar on Friday night celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Call of Cthulhu and Kenneth Hite will be discussing "Keeping Cthulhu Scary" which will be awesome for GMs. And James Ernest will be doing a hands on boardgame design seminar teaching how you can publish your own games! James has published over 200 so he knows how its done. / The hotel is the Hotel Sofitel, one of the most beautiful hotels in the Bay Area with a luxurious pool and a very cool European flair. The convention has scored a great deal on the hotel rooms so check it out! If you are anywhere in California, Nevada or Oregon, CelestiCon would be an awesome weekend for you...and a non-gaming spouse too!

Chasing the Dragon and Not Finding Happiness

A recent thread on EN World begun by Bullgrit of Total Bullgrit Blog fame took up the discussion of what happens when a group of adventurers defeats a dragon but somehow doesn't find their treasure.  In the thread I recount one such event in a game I ran . . .

In a scenario I ran for a one-shot (therefore missing the treasure had no long term campaign implications), the adventurers fought and defeated a Steam Dragon (a sort of modified Mist Dragon) in his cavernous lair on a rocky coast. Despite the treasure being within reach, just beyond some steam geysers that were active enough to obscure the hoard from sight, it was not found. In the quick postmortem after the game I almost didn't have the heart to tell them what they missed, but I did since I knew some were wondering why there was seemingly little reward for their struggles.

Characters vs Pawns

There's something I see pop up from time to time, more often with inexperienced Game Master of Roleplaying Games than with those who have been around the block.  It has to do with plotting a game.  While this might work fine with a tournament game where the goals of the characters are defined in advance, it rarely works out well in campaign games.  This tends to be the truth of it because of how plotting limits the range of choices players can make and affect through their characters.

The fewer choices that a plotted game allows the players to make, the more akin to a board game such a game becomes.  Once players realize they have limited choices to make, the more they feel that their characters are merely pawns in a game where destiny is a foregone conclusion.  While it is possible to roleplay those situation in-game as if the characters do not have fore-knowledge, the players are not making meaningful choices that can affect the outcome of the game in ways that are not predetermined.  This goes against the grain of most roleplaying games, at least in common campaign formats.

For tournaments and one-shot convention or gameday games, this can be the norm and that's all well and good, particularly since in such structured play winning or losing the scenario is often understood to be possible.  But for campaign roleplaying games there is rarely the intent to have winners and losers.  Each moment of roleplaying games is meant to be its own reward and players are, under ideal conditions, allowed to glean as much from the experience as can be garnered.  In campaigns, once the players feel that their characters are merely pawns in a prewritten story, they will become divested of the primary motivations inherent behind a roleplaying activity.  At that point, we might as well break out a board game and remove the pretense that meaningful choices are actually possible at all.

Illustrated OD&D Wandering Monster Tables Poster

I don't currently run an (O)D&D game but this poster had me thinking how cool it would be to have this on the wall nearby while running one.  It's was being sold briefly by Paul from Bag of Holding website.  If they reissue this for any reason, but particularly to help raise funds for the Gyagx Memorial Fund, I think I am going to have to get one for the wall of the Game Plus Roleplaying Game Room!

Dark Fiction Magazine Contest

A Facebook Friend, Sean Preston of RealityBlurs.com, clued me into an uncoming deadline for all of you would-be writers of fantasy fiction so I thought I would ahre it here too.  Midnight August 31st, 2011, marks your last chace to electronically submit 1,000 words of Epic Flash Fiction through the Dark Fiction website.  There's prize money involved and the details are beyond the link to check out for yourself.  If you have it in you, let it out!

Dragon*Con

This is one of the big conventions that I have yet to attend.  It seems to be a lot more diverse and much more fan oriented than GenCon which has a RPG Company slant and Origins which used to (though maybe not so much now) had deep roots in the wargaming community.  The picture I get from the website is that everyone has a good time and lots of folks really cuts loose.  It takes place this year over Labor Day Weekend, generally a good time for those who work to get away for an extended period, but also difficult for returning students to fit into busy fall schedules.  This gives me the impression that the attending crowd is going to skew a little older than the mid-summer conventions.  It started primarily as a Science Fiction and Fantasy fan convention but appears to have plenty of gaming too.  It's a little late to get on board for this year but I think I might have to include it in my 2012 schedule along with a handful of others.  My last five years have been very busy outside of the hobby but 2012 looks to be a year for much more gaming oriented activity.

Products of their Time

As I read over past incarnations of various roleplaying games, right back to the very earliest examples, I am struck by the fact that they were very much products of their time. I do not envy the position of the progenitors of tabletop roleplaying games as they struggled to define then what so many of us play and enjoy today. I can see how the rules were shaped from earlier tabletop wargaming rules and I have to wonder if those originators had any idea just how much mileage was in those gaming vehicles and their future incarnations. While many of the early tabletop RPGs are no longer available in print or even electronic formats, many have taken new forms or been closely emulated by fans of those original rule systems. EN World has recently compiled a list of many retro game offerings.  Even if you don't wish to step back in time and play those games, it's nice to know they are there.

Liz Danforth's GenCon Wrap Up

Artist, a writer, and library consultant, Liz Danforth, wrote a recent article for LibraryJournal.com wrapping up her thoughts on this year's GenCon.  Liz has worked in the gaming industry for years as a freelance game illustrator, scenario designer, and game developer.  Her efforts toward using roleplaying games as a teaching tool are well known and part of her experience this convention involved Namaste Entertainment’s Storybricks, an electronic game platform that attempts to more fully leverage roleplaying, and which is described on their website as -

Using emotive AI and our proprietary Storybrick technology, our first title will allow players to create their own stories within a pre-existing world. Unlike mission editors our Storytailor removes the need for scripting and allows even the casual player to let the imagination run free.

Check it out more fully in her article and on Namaste's website.  I know I'm going to keep a close eye on thias as it is further developed.

A 1993 Liz Danforth Hobbit sketch for MERP.

Mithril Jacket?

It appears that Klattermussen has developed the Mithril Kevlar jacket that can be worn unobtrussively as sportswear.  In their words -

Mithril Kevlar Jacket is the winner of OutDoor Industry Gold Award 2011! The jury’s opinion: ”Kevlar has been used in this softshell jacket for the first time, making it last a lifetime! A great contribution to the topic of sustainability!” We are very, very proud about this award.

The Mithril Kevlar Jacket has the same construction as the regular Mithril jacket but is made of a heavier Kevlar reinforced material. Slightly warmer and with a little higher MFR value (0,9), this material is designed to protect motorcyclists when crashing at high speed. We just couldn´t resist having a jacket made of this fantastic material. So we bought some sample material and made Mithril Kevlar jackets for ourselves. Then when they were seen on the cliffs everyone wanted one! So here it is, but it´s only made in small numbers so speak to your retailer and be prepared to wait. Intended for all outdoor activities, low to medium wind, medium to high activities. 75m screamers on your favourite slab, anyone?

This picture was shared on gawkerassests.com -

Conan the Barbarian (2011)

I've posted briefly about this before but since it is being released today I thought I'd mention it a little more extensively, insofar as including links to as many trailers as I can find for it.  I'll probably post more about it later, after seeing it.  Enjoy!  (*edit* Or don't, because I now have and I don't recommend it.  My review follows the clips below with major spoilers!)

 

About the best thing I can say about it is that the script and direction reminds me of early Sam Raimi television work.  This does not appear to be intentional and is not what I had hoped to see in this long awaited retelling of the story of Conan.  Herc, Xena, Jack, and even Cleo would not be pleased to be compared to this movie.  There's camp here and it seems to be accidental for the most part which is not good.

As for the cast, Momoa is not a bad Conan but the dialogue he was given ruined any chance he had at setting a new standard for the iconic barbarian.  Rose McGowan stumbles around in her scenes in platform footwear that would embarrass a glam rock band and her delivery as the daughter-witch Marique just doesn't fit with the tone of the scenes in which she hams it up.  The various underlings on both sides of the conflict are either paper-thin villains or cliche sidekicks, all of which feel shoehorned into their scenes, and there are many more of them than are necessary.  I thought Stephen Lang did a fine enough job as the main antagonist, Zym, but his efforts are predictable due to the writing.  Rachel Nichols's Tamara seems lost much of the time or perhaps her worst takes were chosen for the final cut of the film.  Ron Perlman collected a paycheck and appears to know he is helping set up a story that will never really get off the ground despite the unusual way in which he helps bring Conan into the story.

There are tons of WTF moments, like when a happenstance location for Tamara and Conan to make love is suddenly available, but on the rocky shore of a otherwise deserted coastline and obviously below the high tide mark, yet conveniently filled with dry straw.  Or when McGowan's Marique captures Tamara and Conan figures it out because the witch has lost a "nail."  And there's a supposedly abandoned outpost chosen for a meet, and ruse of an exchange, but oddly there are tons of signs that the place would seem to be inhabited, like barrels upon barrels of explosive oil.  And how does Zym get the final piece of the mask to stick back together?  It has no power without the pure blood of the pure-blood (see what they did there?).  That blood takes another twenty years to locate, ostensibly so Conan and Marique can come of age, the former to seek revenge on someone whose name Conan doesn't know though everyone around him has vast knowledge of the unnamed king, including the long time friend with whom Conan has shared countless adventures.  Don't these friends ever talk to one another?

Portions, only portions, of the various action and fight scenes were worthwhile. Each one shows promise, but ultimately have some segment of them break the immersion with a bad cut or poor directorial choice. The coach chase is, at times, laughable.  Perhaps only the fight scene in the trailer when Conan is young holds up in its entirety. There are a lot of fight scenes, lots, so one would think that more of them would be good. Even the big effect of the sandmen, fairly well stolen from the Mummy franchise, feels unsatisfying.

They really try to cram a bunch of picturesque locations into the script, and while the mattes they use for the long range shots on many look pretty good, we really don't spend much time anywhere and the locales are underdeveloped, sometimes even being bolstered by a bit of dialogue just to remind us of the one-note nature of them. One character reminds us when we are in the City of Thieves while another makes sure we know that the monastery location is a peaceful place, set apart from civilization. Some of the setting and scenery is passable, while other images reek of cheese. The skull cave stands out as being particularly uninspired, though the underground sequences below said cave do show promise. However, as good as they look, the direction once again breaks all of the tension by feeling confused and rushed. The sacrificial wheel on which Tamara is chained toward the end above a crevasse taken from Mount Doom is bound to plummet and it does, and we yawn, and it gets jammed part way down and fought upon, and blah, blah, blah.  And how does Conan manage to destroy a portion of the bridge to finally win the day?  It, like much of the movie, is poorly executed.

I liked, however, the way the villains transport their ship.

Put this in your Netflix queue or maybe see this at a cheap early show but don't pay full price or shell out for the 3D version (which I admit I didn't see but there's no amount of in-your-face that's going to make up for having the rest of this movie in your face).  Although the thief that is saved from some guards toward the midpoint of the movie seems to be begging to be in a sequel, I'll bet he renegotiates that commitment out of his contract.

Foam Carving Dungeon Walls

Want to turn your game room into a cool looking dungeon?  YouTube's PandemicCemetery (Dave of Pandemic Haunt Productions) has a few videos to show you how!

Play Dirty: The Dirty Dungeon from John Wick

Here's a YouTube video from 2008 that presents a fun dungeon crawl experiment that you can use with any game system (that has dungeoncrawls, of course).

Gary Gygax Movie?

Michael "talien" Tresca reports over on the Examiner.com that there is a movie about Gary Gygax.  He got this scoop from Gail Gygax's Facebook page but followed up to find out more details.  Check out his article here.

Dungeon Bastard - Best Axe

There's a new video from the Dungeon Bastard.  If you haven't checked out his vids, take the time to catch yourself up!

Lord of the Rings (2000)

Our weekly group took a couple of weeks to try and beat the Lord of the Rings (2000) cooperative boardgame from Fantasy Flight Games.  This was released in 2000 and designed by Reiner Knizia.  It's for two to five players and takes a little over an hour to play.  The first week, while learning the game, we had four players and got most of the way through Mordor before the last Hobbit fell to Sauron.  The second week with five players we got our asses handed to us the first try, collapsing in Shelob's Lair, but beat our previous week by getting even father into Mordor, though we failed to get all the way to the end.  It's a tough game to beat.  Although we have two of the expansions, Friends & Foes plus the Sauron set, we want to try and beat it as is before adding more complications.

Loviatar RPG Zine

There's a new small press effort to cover the RPG scene available from EN Worlder HelloChristian called Loviatar.  It covers all sorts of RPG interests and is well worth checking out for yourself.  In his own words . . .

Zines are humble affairs. They're not flashy, polished nor published for profit. I don't think I've heard of a zine that ever broke even. Zines are written because their creator has a passion and he or she wants to share that with others. Nevertheless, zines do cost a bit of money to produce and mail. Loviatar carries a price tag of $3. Of that amount, $2.32 goes toward printing, mailing and PayPal fees. The remaining 68 cents is saved for eventual freelance fees, expanded page counts or perhaps an annual color cover.

While blogs are a wonderful tool for connecting with people who share similar interests, there's an anonymity to the process. It's easy to insult someone from the safety of an avatar with a codename. It's harder to actually sit down, write a letter and drop your anger in the mailbox. Zines are a much more personal and direct way to communicate. You might read and forget a blog post. You're more likely to save a favorite zine for years.

The traditional zine format has been the digest, which usually sports a cardstock cover and is stapled along the spine. Page counts, the means by which the zine is laid out and the methods of printing vary, but creativity and an earnest desire to share and communicate are universal.

The Grand OGL Wiki

I've long been a supporter of The Grand OGL Wiki.  I have some content from CMG up on the iste and there are many more publishers ho have also thrown their weight behind the effort including Purple Duck Games (who hosts the wiki), Mongoose Publishing, Atlas Games, Sean K. Reynolds Games, Monkeygod Enterprises/Highmoon Games, Clockwork Golem Workshop, Paizo Publishing, 12 to Midnight Games, and many others.  Mark Gedak, of the aforementioned Purple Duck Games, and others maintain the site and bring new content to it on a regular basis.  Anyone is welcome to pitch in, so if you have some time and find this growing concern worthwhile, plunder it and maybe even help to expand its offerings!

Back to School Deals for Craty Hobbyists

Back to school sales are a tabletop gaming hobbyist boon. Keep an eye on local sales for all sorts of gaming and crafting goodies at excellent prices. Some of the best deals I find are at Walmart, Walgreens, Target, and other chains. Some things to watch for include -

Glue - White glue and glue sticks are useful for all manner of tabletop gaming projects. Many places, particularly big box stores, will have white glue and glue sticks on sale for as low as a quarter or a dime in the smaller portions. Watch out for glue sticks that have color in them, though, as the bleed through can botch up an otherwise good looking project.

Paper - From legal pads to lined loose leaf paper, pads and reams or half-reams are available in quantities and pricing that make stocking up at this time a year a must. Also, check the other sections for better pricing on printer paper.

Graph Paper - I mention this separately from other paper because it can sometimes be shelved apart from its cousin and then forgotten while shopping. It can be tempting to get grids at smaller than four squares per inch but be cautioned that while it might seem you can get more drawing on the page, you might also find it tougher to reference during gameplay. Be certain to also look for hex-grid paper while you are at it.

Pens, Pencils, Crayons & Markers - Make sure to grab plenty of writing instruments at this time of year. A couple of packs of pencils and pens are always handy to have around but don't forget that colored pencils and crayons can be very useful in color coding your creations. Plus, keep your wet erase, dry erase and permenent markers separate so you don't wind up ruining a white board, battlemat and other maps that you might have laminated so that you can mark them up temporarily.

Also, grab a pencil sharpener or two and keep an eye out for hole punches, folders, binders, rules, tape measures, pencil cases, scissors, post-it note pads, construction paper, poster board, and some places will even discount their foam board at this time of year. As always, with the hobby stores, make sure to check their web sites for coupons before heading out.

Albany Gameday XVI - Sept 3rd, 2011

I want to give a little plug for EN Worlder guedo79's organizational efforts for the Albany Gameday.  Here's some details in his own words . . .

"What: Albany Gameday XVI
Where: Zombie Planet Albany, NY
When: Sept 3rd. 9:30am to 7pm

Albany Gameday is a free event that takes place twice a year at the Zombie Planet in Albany, NY.   Local gamers gather to play board, card, and roleplaying games in a loosely organized fashion. Albany Gameday XIV will be on Sept. 3rd, 2011 starting at 9:30am and running until 7pm.  Games have been formed and we are ready to take players."

Slots are here on EN World. Post to sign up.

Get your Geek Chic Freak On

For a few years now, the Geek Chic team has been producing high end gaming tables, as well as seating, for tabletop gaming geeks everywhere.  They have coffee table, dining table, and full blown gaming table options available.  Of the former, they have the Envoy, the Rift, and the Hoplite, which I like the best of the coffee tables.

Of the dining tables that turn into gaming tables, they make the Spartan, the Portal and The Emissary.  I think The Emissary combines the best features of the three without sacificing leg room.

But the true Geek Gamer is going to want a dedicated game table, space permitting, and Geek Chic provides either The Vizier or The Sultan, the former has simplicity and the latter extra utility.

All of these tables close up to produce a more subtle look when not gaming.  Check out their site for more views and other details.

Gale Force Nine

The gaming geniuses at Gale Force Nine have revealed some new releases at Gencon Indy 2011 over the last few days, some of which I find very impressive.  (Everyone already knows that I am a big fan of their Econo Bases!)  Check out their Battlefield in a Box offerings as well as their new game mats.  Some very useful stuff for your tabletop gaming of all types.  I particularly like the Merchant’s Bazaar and Abandoned Hamlet.

"The vinyl mats may be marked with WET-ERASE markers to temporarily alter terrain areas or make other notes about battlefield conditions during play. The Game Mats measure 20” x 30” and are marked with a 1” grid."

Stefan Pokorny volunteers to sculpt the Gygax Memorial

Some big news from the folks over at the Gygax Memorial Fund . . .

"The Gygax Memorial Fund is thrilled to announce that Stefan Pokorny has volunteered to sculpt the memorial in Lake Geneva. Stefan is well known to gamers as the founder and chief sculptor of Dwarven Forge. Stefan is also a classically trained sculptor and artist who was commissioned to create a beautiful portrait of the former Czech ambassador in the New York Public Library. As a lifelong fan of Gary's helping to create this memorial is a dream come true for Stefan. The Gygax Memorial Fund is excited to find a sculptor that also considers himself an avid gamer as well. The stories Gail, Luke, and Stefan shared over dinner last night were a testimonial to how much Gary's memory means to people and the way that the vision of his memorial is bringing people together."

Return of the Garage Sale Finds

Had some good luck out on my walks this weekend in regard to some garage sale finds.  First up, at one of the nine I wandered across, I found a nice ruin, I think for an aquarium, as well as three nicely carved wooden horses in 1/28 scale, a bear carved from stone, and a little wooden dog.

But the best of the finds was a Plano 45102 Rod Case Adjustable 4.25″ x 64″ x 106″ (I'm not sure it's the "-6" model) for a meager five dollars.  This one is in great condition with hardly any wear.  A new one would cost around fifty dollars.  These make great map cases, especially if you have a Chessex Mondomat.  The connectors for the shoulder strap of the telescoping tube I got from Blick's just couldn't hold up to the weight of vinyl mats plus laminated maps.

I only spent about seven dollars for everything, Plano case, ruins, animals, all!

Johnn Four's RoleplayingTips.com

You'll note that Roleplaying Tips (dot com) has roleplaying as one word.  Johnn's been doing his work sharing great tips, along with those of his following, for many years.  Bookmark that site and return to it regularly when you are interested in becoming a better Game Master or even a player!  For even easier access, subscribe to the eNewsletter.

Roleplaying - One Word

In my personal lexicon, "roleplaying" is a single word.  There is no hyphen.  There is no space between.  It does not describe two separate things merely tied together by punctuation or proximity.  It is a single word that denotes a function and an action joined so closely together so as to describe a more specific type of pursuit.  When this activity is then tied to the word "game," it describes what I have come to know over nearly forty years of tabletop hobby gaming as a pastime that means fun.  It's not the only way to have fun but there is a way to join in this pursuit that is unlike other activities, unlike other types of games.

I want to be clear.  "Role" is not just about what part your character takes in battle when playing a roleplaying game.  That is thinking too restrictively for such games.  A player character is meant to have a life on and off the field of battle.  What happens away from battle is meant to be more important and in some cases supposed to define the reasoning for why battles take place, or at least define why a player character might become involved in the first place.  Without the motivations and circumstances that drive armed conflicts they are little more than senseless violence, both for the character and the player that controls him.  That type of game is largely unsatisfying.  One might as well be playing a computer game with no human interaction or pressing a lever and waiting for the next pellet to drop.

I am also not a fan of the type of game that reduces roleplaying to a series of minor decisions based on the defined mechanics on a character sheet followed by a roll of the dice.  Too often this is a thin veneer designed to allow the letters RPG to be stamped on the box.  This design mentality is at its most egregious when it is also a way to streamline play between combat encounters.  This is fine for non-roleplaying games where the narrative is simply in place to add some flavor and context for combat but is short shrift for true roleplaying.

I'll spend more time on this and other design concepts in the coming days and weeks.  I hope others will find my thoughts compelling enough to stay tuned and even spread the word.  And remember, that word is "roleplaying."

Moravian Pottery and Tile Works

My brother has been back out East for the last decade and for a couple of birthdays he has sent me tiles from the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works.  Their home page is on the Bucks County website.  The two I now have are handmade tiles that he felt I would particularly like, and I do.

One is of a jousting knight and the other of a dragon.

The backs bear the makers marks from 2007 and 2009.  I hope to visit the works someday and also check out the Mercer Museum which includes many "working" exhibits on crafting.