Joe Gamer

Your friend Jeff here with the scoop on a new RPG I played when I went to Mobicon a few weeks ago.  Having gone to play 4e DnD but having not signed up for Living Forgotten Realms (the official Wizards Realms campaign) in time, Elizabeth (the Queen of the Tiny Kingdom) and I went looking around, checking out the cool gamer merchandise.  While we were skulking about we ran into a booth run byThe Wandering Men promoting a game called Untold, a card based role playing game I’d only heard of in the periphery.  We had some time before anything was going to go on, so when one of the team members mentioned he was doing a demo, we both agreed pretty heartily.  The first game was a lot of fun with my character freaking out on the rest of the party and the big barbarian guy throwing a charmed enemy at something we needed that was out of reach.  The game was so much fun we ended up playing in another demo the next day and would have played more if not for some of the other activities at the con.  Needless to say we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

To explain, Untold is, like I said, a card based role playing game.  It’s a tabletop RPG in the vein of Dungeons and Dragons, but all the player needs is a deck (representing your character) and one 20-sided die.  When making a character, the players assembled a deck of cards like in Magic the Gathering or games like it based on an amount of Untold Points as determined by the GM.  Each card has a value in Untold Points so if the GM declares you have 30 points to make a character, you have that much to use.  Each card represents something about your character.  There is the Race card that gives you the basic stats for your race and type, Aspect cards that increase each stat (Body, Mind, Spirit) and then the Swap Cards.  There is Story Swap (you must either have a story for the card or fulfill something in the story to acquire it), Site Swap (have to be somewhere or have something specific to use it), and Time Swap cards (takes an amount of time to equip, use, or ready the item or action).  It is important to not use all up all your UP with these cards because there is another set of cards you can have call Hot Swap cards that represent actions or spells that aren’t always active.  If you have 25 UP used toward a 40 maximum, you can use Hot Swap cards up to 15 UP.

The cool thing about Untold is everything is story based.  Your Apoc Churl (human barbarian, essentially) has a powerful tribal bow?  How did you get it?  Questions like that are essential to gameplay.  Let’s take an example real quick.  My first game I played a steampunk robot called a Klik Roller.  One of my Swap cards was “Diplomatic.”  After a series of embarrassing situations and harassment from the other players, I asked the GM if I could remove my Diplomatic card.  My character was stressed to the point of breaking and decided he had enough and was no longer Diplomatic.  Because of the freeing of some UP by removing the card, I was able to increase one of my Aspect cards to have higher stats.  But only because I could justify it in the story.

Untold is very customizable for both the GM and the player (giving it Untold possibilities!  See what I did there?).  I bought a bunch of cards and plan on buying some more.  I have a character in mind that I’ve already written up a story for and have a pretty good idea of the cards I’d use too.  It’s very easy.  I hope to do more articles on the game as I get more in to it and after we play it some.  The full rules are on Untold’s website along with setting information and a very helpful forum.

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

I have a few more thoughts on 4e, but this is mainly for those who are interested in playing in my campaign.  I am toying with a few ideas here and there, so I thought I would express them here.  It’s mostly about what I want to do if/when I DM 4e again as to make it more interesting for me and the players.

1) Continue where we left off: We were running through the first official Wizards modules.  I could keep going through them, but I’m unsure of the quality of the next one.  It seems very unique, but it’s just a big dungeon crawl.  I have the tools to make it more than just that (they have suggestions in the book) but if I run it verbatim its nothing but fighting.  Not as terrible as it sounds, there’s some pretty cool scenes, but just a warning.

2) Eberron: I know a few of us like the Eberron setting and I could run a bit through it.  I have a published campaign available that starts things going, but I can expound upon it or just use the books… either way, just suggesting.

3) Original setting: I can go out on a limb to make some crap up.  Not sure if I could be any good at it, since I haven’t done it before, but if I did it right it would be a lot of fun.

I’m thinking of restarting because of all the new stuff that’s out.  I’d suggest Dark Sun, but it won’t come out til August and I have already promised to run it when available.  However, with Martial Power 2 coming out tomorrow, there are Martial Practices available that I’m interested in seeing used (essentially Rituals for martial characters… stuff like Forge Armor, Forge Weapon, Alter Ego, Master Artisan, or Perfect Forgery that replaces the profession and craft skills).  If we continue, I will still give the option of reorganizing each character if you guys want so you can work with some of the newer things (Saul, Aria and Yuriel can trade a feat for Arcane Familiar, Pylia can swap out her class feature for a Beast Companion, etc).

Just let me know on here and I’ll toy with some ideas!

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

I’ll take a cue from my good friend and benefactor JoeGamer and share a bit of my own campaign.  I have, in the past, run a 4th Edition D&D game that moves through the published adventures Wizards have put out for 4e.  There is not as much of an overarching story as it’s more a series of episodes that take place within the “Points of Light” setting, the new default setting.  The party has been traveling through the Nentir Valley, righting wrongs and making a bit of money while they are at it.  The party consists of these people:

Saul: human wizard with a penchant for power.  Has a strict ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ policy.

Aria: half-elf warlock that has fallen into a pact with a spirit of the Feywild.  Extremely beautiful, she knows how to get what she wants, when she wants, and how to deal with the situation if she doesn’t.

Pylia: elf ranger, a stoic sort of wilder.  She rescued her mentor from captivity, and fights to find her way in the world.

Yuriel: This genasi swordmage shakes the world with every step, daring anyone to face him and his Mistress, the Raven Queen.

These heroes have faced the necromancer Kalarel, worshipper of Orcus and shut down a portal to the dark realm of the Shadowfell.  Realizing Kalarel was selling slaves captured from local farms, the heroes then delved into the ominous Thunderspire Labyrinth, where they encountered a mining town called the Seven Pillared Hall run by the Mages of Saruun.  There they defeated a gang of slavers, cleared a Duergar stronghold of the vile Dark Dwarves, and pinpointed a rouge mage who desired to take all the secrets of the Mages of Saruun for himself and Vecna.  The heroes succeeded in defeating him, securing an alliance between themselves and the mages that could become rather beneficial… especially since they found a map that pinpointed a… ‘place of power.’

I really enjoyed my first foray into DMing, and as far as I know the players enjoyed the game.  I got a lot of rolled eyes due to the new system, but I really enjoyed myself.  So if the players want to give any insight as well as anybody who has any questions, feel free to ask!

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

Sometimes when you are bored, you look around for things to do. Personally I have a rather vivid imagination in as much as whenever I endeavor to do something, I like to picture myself in the ‘universe’ that my activity takes place. It’s the minute storyteller in me. For example, when I play either version of Warhammer I like to name my commander and flesh out the stories that my battles tell to me. A game isn’t fun unless I can immerse myself in it. That’s where Pokemon comes in.

Pokemon, for the un-initiated is/was a hugely successful roleplaying game series that started in 1996. As a child, it captured my imagination because you play a 10 year old child that partakes an adventure around the world (or your particular region) to befriend the varied creatures called Pokemon. 13 years, several games and remakes later, I haven’t exactly kept up. I started the game when I was nine years old! Why would I keep wanting to play it as a 22 year old? It is because of the immersive nature of the game. Each game builds on the last. New Pokemon, regions and features are introduced each time, increasing the mythology of the game. There are numerous “trainer types” that the player fights, giving the idea that you can be whatever trainer you want to be, from the innocuous Bug Catcher, to the versatile Cool/Ace Trainer.

No player has the same team, and even if they do that doesn’t guarantee their Pokemon have the same moves and abilities. That makes it worthwhile to me. Look anywhere online. You will find people roleplaying in forums, designing “themselves” as trainers on Deviantart, making “Trainer Cards”. I love it all. Still not sure what trainer I would be classified as, but that is but one source of identity related to the game.

Now I recently delved back into the Pokemon world due to a bit of insistence on my part to my wife Elizabeth. When she was younger the only video game she played other than a Volleyball game on Game Boy was Pokemon Yellow. Now she plays as many or more video games than I do. She has a Dsi my mom bought her for her last birthday, so in order to see if she’d like Pokemon still, I convinced my parents to buy her one of the newest iterations of the Pokemon Series, Pokemon Diamond. Well long story short, she got it and now that’s almost all she plays. Not to be outdone, I picked up Platinum, the companion piece, to compete against her.

Let’s just say she has around 20 hours while I’m clocked in around 9 and a half. So with the hobby gaming scene a little light around Hattiesburg, I find myself drawn to the Pokemon Trading Card Game League that runs in Brandon, Jackson, Laurel and the like. I feel like a kid, but it’s not such a bad thing. Therefore I posit if you are interested in an immersive experience that can spark imagination (at least active imaginations like mine) then don’t hesitate to play Pokemon again. It caters to the role player, the level grinder, the OCD collector. I did and I’m glad of it!

© 2010, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

Hello everyone and welcome to the odyssey that will be the gaming habits of one Tiny King Jeff.  I am your Royal Shortness, Jeff, also know as Jeff Hollingsworth.  I promise I’ll try to make this as painless as possible.  I’m 22 years old, married to the most wonderful woman in the world, a Christian (because that’s important to me), and a dedicated gamer.  I don’t have as much experience as JoeGamer or LynnGamer, but I’ve got passion and that’s got to count for something right?  Right?  …right?

Anyhow, I play a good amount of video games as well as D&D and Warhammer.  I’m a huge fan of the sometimes bashed D&D 4th Edition so there will be a few posts here and there about new developments on that realm and why I care so much.  So here’s to what I hope becomes a beautiful friendship!

© 2009, Jeff Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.