Return to Form: It's Not Over Yet

Hello all again.

It's been a while since I had much to post. Nearly a year. In that time I've had a couple of games take a brief hiatus (both of which are restarting soon) and an intermediary campaign ended and I took over as GM. With that eating up a bit of my mindspace, I haven't had much time for tertiary philosophy. With that concluded, I think I want to get back into the habit, but maybe not on as regular a basis. Mostly just as things come to me.

Hunter's Haven

Just a little writing practice this week, folks. Sit back and enjoy!

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Not two miles South of town, you find a lodge alone in the wilderness. The sign above the door claims it to be the Hunter's Haven. A fitting title evidenced by the gentleman dressing this morning's kill. Two older travelers occupy the front steps, smoking their pipes and sharing impossible stories of days long past. 

Within, you find more of the same; rough types spinning yarns of one-ups-manship and partaking of the house's best ale. The interior decor screams proudly the profession of the clientele. Walls are adorned with animal skulls and pelts of every color. Chairs and tables fashioned from bone sit beneath a chandelier composed entirely of antlers. Racks of bows and spears are placed evenly around the walls. Above the hearth hangs a truly massive skull of unknown origin. A blackened bow of impressive size rests reverentially across it's horns.

The proprietor, "Dodgy" Hollins, wipes the bar with a rag before pouring you a tankard of sweet smelling ale. His smile is warm and friendly despite the trio of scars running from his ear to his lips.

"Welcome, friend. Can I get you a room or are you here to hunt the beast too?"

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Hmmm? What have we here? Would this work for an intro? There's plenty to hint at story hooks. The place has some character to it. Too long, do you think? Does it have the right details? Does it need more? Less? What would you do differently if you were presenting this to your PCs?

Stay Classy?

Another Day Older

Well... another year, actually. Today I turn 30. The fun part is that I've met gamers who have been gaming as long as I've been alive. As I celebrate my third decade of existence, I've decided to take a few moments to relate the subject to tabletop RPGs, as I tend to do. I think this is as good an opportunity as any to explore characters and age.

Can I Borrow a Cup of City?

To this day, I have never once gone to a neighbor to ask for a cup of sugar. Between my love of tea and baking my own sweets, it'll probably never happen. To add to that, I've never been fond of borrowing anything from a neighbor. Too many questions about when it'll be returned... On the other hand I have no major compunctions against borrowing ideas. At least while conforming to copyright laws. Since we're here to discuss tabletop RPGs, this would primarily involve taking things from various other influences to add to my own little campaign world. In the case of this specific blog post, I'm going to borrow a city from an outside resource to use in a campaign, and I feel it would be good to discuss the reasons for doing so. Hopefully in the name of spurring thought through other people's heads.

Pumpkin Season

October is here and every year I make a point of celebrating. It's a pretty big month for me. Lots of birthdays in the family, my own included, as well as the whole Halloween thing. While I haven't gone Trick or Treating in ages, I do still kind of enjoy the particular flavor of this holiday. So much so in fact that my own version of celebrating October includes a month long marathon of horror movies to keep the spirit intact (no pun intended). 

For those in the tabletop RPG hobby, I highly recommend letting this season flow into your gaming for at least a session or two. If you're in a campaign, maybe let it dip into a one-off session for some Halloween fun. If you're not in a campaign, then it's the perfect excuse for a one-shot! Really quick-like, here's a handful of ideas to get you started.

Dead By Dawn

One of the most important points in any undertaking can simply be summed up as having the right man for the job. Or woman, but let's not argue semantics. With this past weekend dead and gone, I continue forward with the memories of two really good games. Oddly enough, both occurred in the same night for once. We started out with a Pacific Rim themed Mekton game. Mostly just a thinly veiled brawl, we settled in for a whopping three mass combats of Jaegers versus Kaijus. Wall to wall cinematic action. Not yet settled for the evening, we carried on into my first exposure to All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Another momentous event happened as a direct result: my first character death! And a TPK! (that's a Total Party Kill for the uninitiated)

This probably had less of an effect on me than it should by pure luck: it was a one-shot character rather than something I had run for months on end. I had heard of AFMBE so I kind of expected it. The best part of it all was that all deaths occurring that evening happened in what could be stated to be the best mode possible. Follow along with me while I explain my point of view.

Pub?

Sometimes in life we come across personal challenges or goals that may seem ludicrous in the eyes of others. We all have our own mountains to climb or our white whales to hunt, and after all who apart from ourselves can see any difference between our victories and our defeats? Stumbling blocks come in all forms, whether from outside foes or simple physiology. While standing on big rocks and learning to love the taste of cinnamon can be fine and dandy for most, I have something else in mind.

I have, this past weekend, enjoyed yet another movie penned by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. While I won't say that it's the best of their movies, I will say that 'The World's End' is an extremely enjoyable film. In it, a group of high school friends reunite in an effort to tackle one of the last great challenges of their youth, the Golden Mile. The goal of which is to drink a pint of beer in each of twelve pubs in their old hometown of Newton Haven. As with most incidents involving large quantities of alcohol, hilarity ensues. While I'll not go further into the film, I will say my inner GM was taking notes.