tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69495554088869714662024-03-19T05:19:32.128-07:00Tinkerings & TumblersINTENSE GAME STUDY - tear 'em down and see how they bleedBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-18253163941899885142020-11-01T14:25:00.016-08:002020-11-01T17:25:38.771-08:00In Search of OD&D Part 3: The Northern Shores of TamerthyaIn part 1 and part 2 of this search for OD&D, I asked the question: does my old friend Mike
McDowell's 1992 game style, the one that has for years haunted my
memories as being so immersive that it blurs the lines between fiction
and reality, exist anywhere other than the past? Also, I detailed my brief research of Dave Arneson's first fantasy campaign setting called Blackmoor, because Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-4874606126632930562020-10-19T19:35:00.010-07:002020-11-01T18:37:41.159-08:00In Search of OD&D Part 2: Ancient Blackmoorian In my previous post, part 1, I reminisced about my favorite game session of Dungeons and Dragons and asked the question - Does my old friend Mike McDowell's 1992 game style, the one that has for years haunted my
memories as being so immersive that it blurs the lines between fiction
and reality, exist anywhere other than the past? (source) About a year ago I watched a well made Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-29985713654518868562020-10-14T20:05:00.012-07:002020-11-01T18:38:25.765-08:00In Search of OD&D Part 1: 1992In 2017 I started playing role-playing games again after close to 20 years of hiatus. I've been looking for answers ever since. (source)Way back in the 90s I had played two dozen or so games of Dungeons & Dragons using TSR's then popular 2nd edition rule set. Most of the games seemed similar in style to me and could best be described as one shot games where one of my Dungeon Master Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-31086711845513648862020-08-04T20:45:00.006-07:002020-08-06T21:03:27.695-07:00The Fight On! Compiled Index +4
Way back in 2008, many up-and-coming role-playing game writers combined varying portions of their proprietary artistic game content to create a quality fanzine named Fight On! This outstanding publication was devoted to the earliest sets of rules for RPG's, such as Original Dungeons & Dragons, 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Empire of the Petal Throne, and several others. Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-81864086854139956872020-05-25T15:40:00.003-07:002020-05-25T15:40:44.685-07:00The Cult of the Goat
Having prayed through the night for the guidance of Torm, the revered cleric Nermus aproached fellow cleric Fulgoth Tannerson with a proposal. He explained to the dwarf that he would be willing to try to raise Reardon Gray and Naill Ravenwing from the dead at a discounted rate in exchange for the completion of a task that was of a personal nature to the holy man. Our adventurers were to journey Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-51399611554896430342020-05-20T20:07:00.001-07:002020-05-20T20:10:23.587-07:00A Grisly ReckoningBack by popular(?) demand!
I had originally taken a break from writing the summaries of the adventures of my AD&D group due to the ever changing pace of life. This was initially met with minor protest but has more recently been protested by at least an additional person which greatly amuses that part of my psyche that is always in the back of my mind telling me negative things about Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-13872856400561920852020-05-01T21:29:00.002-07:002020-05-01T21:36:23.748-07:00Songs of the Dead
Session four at Castle Xyntillan was a good time
for all. The finalization and implementation of my much anticipated
dungeon master screen provided a major boon for the ease of play that
was experienced throughout most of the nearly four
hour first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. Before laying
out the recap of that very satisfying adventure I’d like to brag about
the Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-74598033718349991652020-04-28T11:18:00.002-07:002020-04-28T11:18:35.639-07:00Brain in a Jar
The third session of the Castle Xyntillan, 1E Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game that I'm running had me sweating at times. The finalization and implementation of my custom dungeon masters screen that I have detailed in my previous blog post has been delayed because it's just a lot of information and layout to sort through. This missing game play aid had me sweating at times. Although, Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-11951522564185454702020-04-26T14:15:00.001-07:002020-04-26T14:15:09.296-07:00Necessity Is After the back to back Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games that I ran last weekend, it occurred to me that I was going to have to buckle down and do some research to evolve my knowledge base so that in-game resources and rulings would not seem so haphazard or vague. I started off by searching high and low for a competent dungeon master screen to use for reference during game play. The more I Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-80629997374457136402020-04-21T17:47:00.002-07:002020-04-21T18:05:09.753-07:00It's All Fun and GamesSession two of my new 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game did not disappoint. Picking up where the crew left off, Reardon Gray, Fulgoth Tarneson, Alighast the Goat Wrangler, Barry the goat (or is it Jerry?), Ray the war dog, Raudel the carpenter (a Non-Player Character), and Gunner Tarneson were running from a mystery group of humanoids. However, the group of heroes were able to Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-78405844902463767332020-04-19T01:34:00.000-07:002020-04-21T18:48:33.740-07:00Ready or Not
I've begun filling the role as a Dungeon Master for a 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game set in the Forgotten Realms and more specifically in the province formerly known as Sespech. The adventure began on the 16th day of Tarsakh, 1367 DR and will pick back up next time on the
18th
***there are no spoilers on this page***
Every moment of refereeing this game was a rude Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-8897994961192129752020-03-31T11:39:00.000-07:002020-04-02T14:33:02.947-07:00The Return of the Town CrierWhat to know about me.
I am most times filled with a sense of urgency which has been both a blessing and a curse. Decades ago I was given a choice and made, in retrospect, the wrong choice. It doesn't matter what the choice was or the fact that everyone makes mistakes. What matters is the outcome. What I had in the waning years of those decades ago moments, was purposeful drive. These last Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-26326704359989652142019-11-23T18:06:00.003-08:002019-11-23T18:06:51.122-08:00Private WorldsWhile reading my 1977 copy of David Arneson's The First Fantasy Campaign, published by The Judges Guild, I began to notice that the author was suggesting that the entire fictional world that a Game Master was controlling should undergo periodic changes even if the players were not directly interacting with some of the unexplored or unknown regions. For example, let's imagine that the Player Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-55904912000772577642019-11-08T20:15:00.002-08:002019-11-08T20:57:50.231-08:00Lots to LearnAs stated in my last post, I've been reading a vintage book written by Dave Arneson,
the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. The book is entitled The First
Fantasy Campaign and was published by The Judges Guild in 1977 which was
three years after original D&D was published by Tactical Studies
Rules (TSR).
Surprisingly, by the third page in, I had already begun to have some
difficulty Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6949555408886971466.post-50717211668769713042019-11-05T15:43:00.001-08:002019-11-05T15:49:08.053-08:00A New Beginning I've never blogged before but it seems appropriate for the new efforts that I'm undertaking. I'm a role playing game enthusiast. In addition to attending a local convention named Tsunamicon for the last three years, I also collect RPG books and aides and until recently was a player in a local Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition weekly game. About a month ago, my good friend Nathan Deer, who also Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08153252601078178753noreply@blogger.com1