Joe Gamer

I DM a homebrew DnD 3.5E campaign on Wednesday nights and occasionally someone cannot show. When it is our host or I who cannot show, there just isn’t a game. When it is one of the other players however, we typically game. Our most recent game was canceled because the current adventure is supposed to highlight the two rogues in the group and the primary one could not show. It is always disappointing to call an entire game. I considered running a one-off for the other players, but I don’t want to get too far away from the central story. I joked to the other players via IM chat that they should all take the Leadership Feat like the character Clay, and then when someone doesn’t show the players could all play a follower or cohort on the side. At this point I realized that Clay, with a 19 Leadership Score, has nearly fifty low level followers (40 1st; 4 2nd; 2 3rd; 1 4th; 1 5th). Currently the group is half a continent away from their base of operations, but that doesn’t mean things stand still at home. With that in mind we gathered for a night of character creation.

We have five players in addition to the DM, so when one is missing we need four characters. Clay’s 19 Leadership Score provides exactly 4 2nd level characters, and I thought this was perfect. During the course of the night we created the 4 2nd level characters, 2 1st level characters, 1 4th level character, and 1 5th level character. Additionally, Mori’s protege was detailed as was a hireling for Kitty!

Now when someone can not game, we don’t have to continue the main story without them, we can pick up a side game in the same story with characters that add depth, pathos, and (dare I say?) verisimilitude to the story. Most importantly it spares us an otherwise boring Wednesday evening.

Do any of you do anything similar for your canceled games?

© 2010, Joseph Little. All rights reserved.

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 picked up Fantasy Flight’s Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Set. I was quickly impressed with its massive volume and weight but put off somewhat by it’s considerable price (MSRP $99.95). I should have gotten it though Amazon.com (click the link above to the product or the ad below), but I’m creature of impulse, and I was there, and it was there, and well I can drop that kind of scratch – (if my wife says so). I wanted to rip into it immediately, but waited until I bought it. Then I had to wait until I got in our car. THEN I still had to wait until I got home. OK, truth to nuts, I didn’t make it home. I had to stop over at Monkey Lord’s place and I ripped it open there.

I’ve seen previous incarnations of Warhammer’s attempts at a RPG, and while I’ve never played it I was always impressed. I could never get into the groove of the game or find anyone willing to run a game so I never got a chance to play. That said, it didn’t prevent me from purchasing one of the editions (5th I think) for myself. It currently resides someplace on one of my bookshelves drawing all of the other books around it into it’s own orbit. Here I’m imagining all of the books being pulled close to the Warhammer book due to it’s own gravity and the book saying “I win”. So when I saw this new product on the shelf, turned over the huge box in my hands and noticed that it contained 35 special dice I knew it had to be mine.

Being both a Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight product, the artwork is of course brilliant. Once the rather huge box is opened, one finds many cards, counters, and yes – dice. So many dice. Also included are four soft bound books: one for all players, one for wizards, one for clergy, and one for game masters. The books can be purchased separately, but in reality one boxed set is needed by a gaming group. Finally the discerning eye will find three simple card stock boxes which at first impression have no real purpose. Seems these are how one keeps track of his or her character’s cards between games. I find that both interesting and a bit annoying at the same time.

By simple examination of the contents, it may not be easily discernible how one plays the game. While the archetypal polyhedral dice are present, they are not covered with numbers but with archaic symbols instead. Character sheets are double sided but only about 1/3 the size of a standard sheet of paper. The cards vary in size, shape and meaning. I imagined that the game may be played on two levels: as a classical RPG like Dungeons and Dragons or a pseudo-board game like Warhammer Quest or Descent. I can tell you now it is purely a Roleplaying Game.

I’ve considered that adding cards to an RPG might be benificial, but I had yet to see it actually put into action. This game does this and does it pretty well. The cards represent talents, abilities, insanities, and wounds that a character acquires over the course of his or her career.

The books are not difficult to read if read thoroughly and in order. If you wish to simply thumb trough the books and get an idea of the character classes and what each is capable, then you will NOT be happy. Thumbing through the books can be a very annoying experience as the Player’s Guide is designed to teach and is not designed to be a reference. I’m not entirely happy with the order that the concepts are presented either as some concepts are referenced before they are explained. If you have patience though, the concepts eventually become clear.

The Game Master’s guide presents some additional core concepts as well as some game master advice. Since many of the basic concepts of how to play have already been covered in the Player’s Guide (you will read that one first won’t you), many of the new concepts presented in the Game Master’s guide are less annoying to learn. The Game Master’s guide also provides a short adventure to get things started and while I haven’t played it yet, it feels like the presentation was a little hurried. I’ll comment more once I run the adventure myself.

There are a variety of starting character professions included in the set. Players choose a profession for their character which provide a number of special abilities and possible directions for progression. As a character gains experience, he or she may purchase advancements that include stat increases, access to new abilities, and even a new profession. Characters get a bit of a boon if they follow their profession all the way to the end of it’s advancement, but eventually the character must choose a new profession if he or she wishes to continue to advance. Each profession has exit professions that generally expand or compliment the current profession. Player that run a wizard or a member of the clergy will need to thoroughly read the wizard’s guide or the clergy’s guide respectively. The one main drawback to the set is that there are only a limited number of professions, but that will be addressed with expansions (of course).

Expansion is not only planned, but already here. The very first thing I realized as I read the books is that everyone is going to want their own Extra Dice Set and they are now available. Honestly you’ll probably want 2, more if you have a lot of disposable income and don’t like other people touching your dice.

Also, the first expansion of character classes, The Adventurer’s Toolkit, has been released though I have yet to examine these. Both items can be found on Amazon, and I’ve also seen them at hobby stores and even Books A Million.

© 2010, Joseph Little. 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.

Wednesday nights is the single nerdiest night of my week. This is the night that several of my friends and I gather for our “weekly” Dungeons and Dragons 3.5Ed Game. The cast of characters includes:

• Clay Barrett: A rather promiscuous and constantly randy male Lesser Aasimar Favored Soul.
• Mori: An impressive female Greater Aasimar Fighter who wields dual blades.
• Thurkear “Aust” Caex: A mysterious male Fey’Ri Duskblade with a nack for getting into trouble.
• Aisha Kuroneko : A female Nekomimi (cat girl) Warlock who flirts with evil like a cat plays with a mouse.
• Olley Tallowish: A very short male Halfling Rogue and candle maker with a penchant for very tall women.

Together the band forms the Bent Blades, so named because each of the party carries at least one curved melee weapon.

The game centers around a small settlement called New Fort Brawn. Where a small band of adventurers is needed to search for the scattered remains of a statue of the Old Fort Brawn’s greatest hero. The these pieces are needed is because the head of the statue has become animated seemingly with the soul of the hero himself. If the pieces of the statue can be combined and reunited with the hero’s regalia, Old Fort Brawn’s greatest hero may be restored to life, but for what purpose?

© 2010, Joseph Little. All rights reserved.