Friday, April 30, 2010

Test-play for new adventure! Can't believe it.

As I've stated here, the clouds have parted a bit, allowing for a weekend game with an adventure that has potential to be the next PRG release. But just as quickly as the clouds parted, they will swallow me up again, so if play-test goes well tomorrow night, I'll need to pop this one out asap (because I'm not sure when I'll have the opportunity again so soon).

So, yes, although I am officially still on a temporary vacation from publishing to take care of some real life ordeals and necessities, it looks like I'll be able to take a quick vacation from my vacation.

Besides, I believe the last thing I published was way back in November of '09. Unthinkable! Gotta get something else out before I duck my head back under the surface for another six months. Right? Right.

Tomorrow, my players will adventure through my new Labyrinth Lord module A Promise of Vengeance Fulfilled, for levels 5-7. I have such high hopes that this one will be PRG's next published module that I've already begun the artwork!

Your well wishes for this session is appreciated because, man, I'm super excited to sit at the gaming table again.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Rumors in the Southland! A horror to investigate!

Could it be?!

Rumblings in the southern parts of the Known Lands. An evil overlord, 10 years dead, has exacted revenge from the grave.

Is it really him, back from a decade of unrest? We shall find out this Saturday!


(Out of the chaos, my blue moon for gaming has risen, and I had to jump at the opportunity before it sets...and it will.)

The frenzy a sold-out book can cause

Congrats to Michael! :)










Also, I have posted this elsewhere, but some dude is attempting to sell the previous edition of Labyrinth Lord for $999.98!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Passed some dice on to my little nephew

Last night my wife and I watch my little niece and nephew (ages 11 and 8, respectively), and I busted out the Labyrinth Lord game in place of the Star Wars (Episode 1) Monopoly set we had planned to play.

You see, I've played a couple games of "D&D Lite" with these two in the past, and for the past several months, my nephew has really been hankerin' to play, reminding me every time he and his parents come to visit. We just never could find the right time for a quick game.

Recently, I thought about those past games we played using extremely simplified and watered-down rules. Both my niece and nephew had a blast. However, I began playing D&D around my nephew's age, and the older guys I played with definitely did not water down the rules. In fact, since I was the tag-along young kid in the group, I believe they purposely did not pull any punches, hoping for my character's quick demise and sending my annoying little butt home.

Although I did not plan to build up a cruel death dealing dungeon for the kids to lose their characters, but I did want to start playing the game a bit more closer to the actual rules.

The simplified version went something like this:

You could be a Knight or a Wizard.

No abilities, XP, or Armor Class.

You have eight Hit Points.

For everything (attacks, spells, stealing, saving throws, whatever), a 10 and over on the d20 is a success (or a 9 and over with a +1 weapon).

Every time you're hit, you lose one hit point. At the end of the encounter, hit points are regained.

Of course, as you can tell, there are no rules for a character to become stronger and more powerful via level advancement, but it wasn't my intention. I just wanted a "beginners" gateway RPG for the kids, offering them a basic understanding on how to play. Just a quick story hook, kill some monsters, and find the treasure.

And it worked! Like I said, they had a blast. So now that they have a basic knowledge on how to play an RPG, I wanted our next game to adhere a little closer to the rule set.

So last night, out came the Labyrinth Lord book and my quick Monty Haul adventure Treasure Crypt of the Salstine Pirate. My niece played a thief, my nephew played a magic-user, and we rounded out the party with a cleric and fighter NPCs.

I will admit to watering down a few details (including the monsters), but not by much. They survived and had so much fun that my nephew wanted to go home and download the Labyrinth Lord game right away. My niece had fun, but she is the type that goes with the flow, is up to play any game, but not one to pursue a die-hard interest in RPGs (I'll continue to work on that!). She does, however, at age 11, play a mean clarinet.

Before my nephew left with his parents, I told him to wait for a minute as I dug into my dice bag. I sorted out a mismatched set of old and new poly dice, put them into a zipped baggie and handed it to him. As gamers, we all remember our first set of polyhedron dice, and my hope is that he will, too.

Our next game will be the Tomb of Horrors. ;P