Basic D&D Thursdays

Next Thursday will see the last part of my ongoing Call of Cthulhu campaign. At least, it should be as the players have reached some Mayan ruins where the climax will take place. Where they go after that - assuming they survive of course as the campaign has already claimed one PC - is for another campaign.

Last Thursday we started late and a player was delayed, so instead of doing half a game we decided to create characters for Big J's upcoming D&D campaign. We've played a lot of very enjoyable D&D 4th Edition and Pathfinder with Big J and he was looking at running a Dungeon Crawl Classics game (that's a brilliant rulebook, by the way, I recommend it) but he wanted to go back further than that. He wanted proper Basic D&D, with the old original rulebooks and everything.

We did the whole thing old style - 3D6 rolls, hit dice, the works. I'm not a fan of THAC0, in fact I pretty much hate it, but Big J wanted to stick with the basics so I'm good with that. We created a Fighter, a Magic-user, a Cleric and a Dwarf (that's me! Burgen Beerswiller!) and we ran through a couple of encounters to shake out the cobwebs.

I played Basic D&D a lot in the 1980s and it amazed me just how fast the memories came flooding back. I've not properly played Basic since then and yet I remembered it all. It was an absolutely amazing little run through and I adored every moment of it. I remember now why it was I fell out of love with AD&D 2nd Edition - it was because this lovely little game had become bloated and overly complicated and I missed the simple, quick games of Basic.

I am really really looking forward to Big J's campaign and can't wait to get back into it. I'm thinking of running a little campaign or two of my own!

RPG MASTERCHEF - Middle Dragon Earth Warriors

RECIPE: A very simple Middle-Earth/Dragon Warriors fusion style

INGREDIENTS: One copy of the Dragon Warriors core rulebook, the Dragon Warriors Bestiary, access to the Middle-Earth Wiki, dice and friends. And if you want to, try and get hold of a copy of a Lord of the Rings soundtrack, either the Howard Shore movie trilogy, or the Lord of the Rings Online soundtrack (I'd recommend the Lord of the Rings Online soundtrack as it works better as background music; the themes of the movie trilogy can be distracting).

INSTRUCTIONS:

First of all, limit the number of magic users in the group. In fact, it's best to drop them altogether. If you must use them, then limit the spell level to level two or three. That's up to you and your group, but in general magic use in Middle-Earth was very uncommon.

Then mix the careers as you see fit - a Knight would make a good Gondorian, a Barbarian would possibly make a good Wildman. You can aways find new careers in the Dragon Warriors Wiki, which is always a great help.

Splash in some humanoid races from the Dragon Warriors Bestiary, such as Elf and Dwarf, to fill out the options.

Season liberally with other sources, such as the 'Art Of ' books of the Peter Jackson movie trilogy and classic Angus McBride covers from the ICE MERP game.

SERVING:

You can use existing Dragon Warriors adventures with the names changed to suit a Middle-Earth setting quite easily. Basically, stick it on the table and smile. Trust me, your players will gobble it up.

'Mech action EXTREME! Why Fighting Fantasy rules

BattleTech: 'Our 'mechs are walking tanks against a backdrop of noble, warring houses across the stars'.

Robotech: 'Our 'mechs are derived from alien technology, and only they can save mankind'.

Fighting Fantasy: 'Our 'mechs herd fricking dinosaurs! SUCK ON IT!'

Who doesn't want to roleplay in a setting like this? Fighting Fantasy rules on so many levels it's not funny. Every one of their gamebooks makes a great source for material; settings, encounters and ideas. You may not like the system, but some of the campaign ideas are just excellent.

Above all that - piloting giant robots to control great big herds of dinosaurs. Epic.

Bill Slavicsek Interview

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Bill Slavicsek for Jedi News, and we talked mainly about his work on the original Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and his part in the creation of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

You can read the interview here.

As a Star Wars gamer who's been playing the original game since 1987 and was of the generation who devoured these books not only for gaming purposes but for new Star Wars material in general, the interview was both a joy and very enlightening.

Many thanks to Bill for taking the time out to talk to me.

Greg Costikyan interview

Last week I interviewed Greg Costikyan for the website Jedi News, one of the top three Star Wars fansites in the world where I'm the Roleplaying and Gaming editor.

Greg kindly took some time out to answer a few questions about his work on the original West End Games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, the D6 game that has kept me in Star Wars campaigns for twenty five years.

Click here to read the interview.

I also interviewed Bill Slavicsek; I'll post his interview next week.

Dredd - go and see it

That's it. No swanning about or long-winded crap, just go and see this awesome film, and then dig out your version of the Judge Dredd RPG and see it in a whole new light.

You're still here. You shouldn't be. Go and see it right now.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game

As you no doubt have heard, Fantasy Flight Games recently released a Beta version of their new roleplaying game 'Edge of the Empire'. The Star Wars fansite I write for, www.jedinews.co.uk, got hold of a copy for me at Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida and I'm happy to report that it's a very, very good game.

My full review will appear on Jedi News in the near future but I'll let you know a few things here. Yes, it uses custom dice, but there's a sticker sheet in the back you can use to put over the numbers on your existing polyhedrals, as well as a handy chart to interpret the numbers should you forget said dice. It uses a dice pool system and the symbols represent successes and failures, and a few other things in between. It does cover the Force - it's only a snippet but enough to give you taster of what's to come, and enough to use in a game. The layout is very pretty and the production values excellent even though it's just a Beta, but this is what we've come to expect from a Fantasy Flight Games product. The system itself is quick and once you get used to the symbols on the dice it's pretty easy.

As with all new games there's a learning curve, especially with one that uses it's own symbols on a die, but all in all it's pretty easy to get into and exceptionally good fun. Fantasy Flight Games have also opened up discussions on their website for playtesters to share their experiences, ideas and gripes, which is all part of a Beta test.

There's plenty more I want to talk about but that will have to wait for my review on Jedi News. But thumbs up, FFG - I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product next year.

Eric Gibson of West End Games

Remember West End Games? I do. I remember it fondly, as it produced my favourite Star Wars roleplaying game. Sadly, I also remember when it faded away.

Eric Gibson, the guy in charge of WEG in it's final days, all but disappeared from the gaming scene after the problems with Bill Coffin's Septimus D6 game. He's not been around for a while... but recently he cropped up on www.d6online.com with a long post about where he's been, and some of the realisations he's had. It's a very honest post, and makes for interesting reading.

Hello, Folks. Long Time No Speak

Hello all. It's been a while -- a long while -- since I've been around here. I just thought I'd stop in a say "hi." It's been about three years or so since I started moving towards a vacation from game publishing and began WEG's transition to a hiatus. It's good to see other folks have really taken up the cross of creating D6 and D6 variant material under OpenD6.

Since putting down the pen, I've finished some schooling and gone to work in the 'real world' again. In my time away I've also managed, in reflection, to learn more about myself and where I went wrong with WEG. Though I think I already knew it back when, I really realize the immense number of mistakes I made. The company and the game(s) really fell victim to my many faults: laziness, arrogance, ignorance, fear, anxiety, problem avoidance created by years of depression. I've had a chance to look back, see that I have been my own worst enemy and to accept that fact that, in campaigning for a fan base for our games, I became responsible to those fans in ways that I had not previously acknowledged. I'm not suggesting that simply being a fan meant you were really owed anything beyond what you paid for, but you do have an honest expectation to have your trust rewarded with honesty and integrity. I appointed myself Captain of this ship and forgot that, as Captain, I had work harder and smarter than everyone else. Simply put, I didn't do anywhere close to enough. I made lofty plans and failed to do what I knew needed to be done to make those plans a success and rather than be proactive with inevitable issues, I did almost nothing and took a reactive roll at best. I came to expect so many problems that I spent most of my time as damage controlman, and failed to acknowledge that I willingly steered into the path of so many torpedoes. For that, I'm deeply sorry -- to you all, and to myself.

WEG was a labor of love, to be certain. It represented a dream and it was a dream that I let wilt and die all by myself. This may come off as a mea culpa; an insincere apology to seek sympathy or favor. Though I have certainly done that in the past, it's definitely not what this is. I kind of think of it more as an alcoholic or drug addict who has finally committed to quit, and must seek out his or her loved ones to apologize for hurting them. This is for me, so that I'm able to forget the mistakes of the past and focus on moving forward into the future.

So, some of you might be a little confused and wondering what this means. Well, it means nothing more than I wish to be done with dirty, oily memory of mistakes I've made. That is all. This doesn't mean that I'm leaving the tabletop game world behind, nor does it necessarily mean WEG or myself are moving out of hiatus. Being completely honest now, I do have a strong desire to come back and create games again. I've had several ideas that I wanted to explore for many years now, both in RPGs as well as Boardgames. That is the reason I've completely resisted releasing the West End Games brand to other people. But, if I am to ever "come back" I need to do it right. Basically, I need to rebuild WEG nearly from scratch -- new business plan, proper financial planning and analysis, and a much tighter running ship. It also means that I will never again make promises to fans that I do not know I can deliver, as promised and on time.

So, I guess if you are any good at extrapolation, you can probably figure out that I've basically (90%) made up my mind to return to creating and publishing games and that I intend to, very soon, start the initial ground work to possibly make that happen. But, I have a long road ahead and there are numerous very real issues that can put further delays, or possible permanent stops, on those plans. I'm making no promises and no formal public announcements. I'm telling you all because you all are the foundation of OpenD6 and the WEG fanbase and you deserve to know, if only informally -- and this is kind of a diary entry, to help me work out what is in my head and my heart.

As usual, I'm too verbose, so I'll stop here. I've got stuff to do anyway.

Thanks,
Eric Gibson

Use the Force, Jon...

*Knock knock*

Ignore.

*Knock knock*

'Go away! I'm playing Call of Cthulhu'

*KNOCK KNOCK!*

'Oh, for the love of...' - Storms to door and flings it open - 'Who the hell...?'

'It's me.'

 

'No! I'll never join you!'

'Come with me - together we can rule the roleplaying group as game and gamemaster. Your last GM never told you what your favourite game was'

'He told me enough! He told me it was Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay!'

'No... I am your favourite game'

'No... NO! NOOOOOOOO, it's not true! It's impossible!'

'Search your feelings - and your dice bag, they'll all be D6s - you know it be true!'

'Nooooooo... nooooo... nooooooo.....'

Blade Runner: New ideas for... ah, who am I kidding...

I'll never get to run or play anything like this. Not just because it would be difficult to get my players emotionally involved in a game, which is what I think gaming in this setting would require, but we've got so much more lined up for when I finish my current Call of Cthulhu campaign that we'll not get it slotted in.

We've got Dungeon Crawl Classics coming up, one of the players wants to continue his Pathfinder Pirates game, I've also agreed to a new Star Wars D6 and Fantasy Flight Games Edge of the Empire games, and there's a million and one playtesting games I want/need to run.

So sit on the backburner, Blade Runner. Maybe one day. I don't know how long it'll be before I get to run even one session of you. I don't know how much time I have.

Who does?

*cue leftover The Shining footage*