Reevaluating my non-gamer life Part 2: Good news a new fire is burning.

 CAUTION! LANGUAGE AND SAD STORY!

Reevaluating my non-gamer life Part 2: Good news a new fire is burning.

It has been quite a while since I have posted on my blog. Time has went by and it has been cruel. while I was writing the last blog post I was at a job that absolutely took all my free time. it had pretty much killed all chances of having any kind of gaming life that involved a campaign. My wife would also not want to go game because she also (supposedly) wanted to be a part of a campaign. I suddenly out of the blue get laid off while the job still had a few months left. What was sad is we had a guy that they had hired that was a former client troublemaker, anyway they hired him to solve all the problems that he had caused with our company. Kind of an indirect way to get revenge. But a snake is always a snake and a worm is always a worm. A BITCH IS ALWAYS A BITCH! This guy was watching our workers worked out in 105° temperature stacking scaffold material to be sent back to the office and claimed they were not doing enough even though he didn't know jack s*** about scaffolding. He got some people from our main office involved and got us all ran off the job in disgrace. I just know this is for as long as I live I will make sure that that guy doesn't get hired if there's anything I can do about it. 

I am probably going to make an NPC in honor of this piece of dog s***. It will probably be something disgusting like a half-goblin that lives in a toilet or something.


Now during this time I'd actually started to get weekends off and I actually started trying to get some people together to do some gaming and also I was going to clean out my Mead Hall which is my building that I use for gaming in as my wife and daughters had filled it up with her crap and we were possibly supposed to move as well but since that was not going to happen anytime soon I was getting my goddamn building back so I can do some goddamn gaming. 

Like I had posted before we tried to do gaming in the living room but that's not my style I have a 4 foot by 8 foot 1 inch grid dry erase board that I set across two tables it's literally fits the content of four sheets of graph paper maybe a little bit bigger! 

So like I was saying I suddenly get laid off and the only job I can find is with the same company scanning temperatures at a gate at less than half pay. One thing this job did afford me was I would work 6 days with two half days in between and then I would have 6 days off. I finally actually had a massive amount of free time something I have not had in over 10 years. 

This was also a time because here in Southwest Louisiana it's incredibly hot. It's not just hot it's also the goddamn humidity. Seriously you cannot stand outside without the sweat dripping on your back going down the crack of your ass. pretty much guaranteed if you're wearing lots of clothes like we do in the plants, you will beginning some kind of heat rash or skin problem. Not to mention massively bad sunburns and such. The sun literally Cooks your guts out.

Wouldn't you know it that in my goddamn Mead Hall the m************ air conditioner would have to go out! 

Just as I have started to have free time and started having the ability to clean out my building the worst case scenario happens and I'm also making less than half pay so cannot possibly afford a new air conditioner so once again my gaming life is set at a delay. One of the other issues as I've stated before is that termites had got into my building and ate a bunch of my books and they have also eaten some of the walls as well. They have long since been eradicated from the existence of this universe by massive amount of poisoning hope I live through it myself but they are f****** gone but the damage is done. 

I finally find a stack of Star Wars role-playing game saga edition along with the second revised printing of 2nd edition West end games Star Wars and a stack of bunch of other Star Wars content. I find a very awesome dude who wanted those books in the past that I make him a hell of a deal for about 150 bucks for $500 worth of books which is about the price of a small air conditioner. Life is finally going to work out and I'm going to finally be able to get gaming started in my Mead Hall I happily hook up the air conditioner find more termite damage much to my f****** anger but I still hook that bastard up and we now have climate control in the super hot ass building. But wouldn't you know?

Life never f****** gives me a goddamn break!

The day before I am scheduled to start cleaning out my building BITCHASS Hurricane Laura decides to show up in Southwest Louisiana and f****** destroy everything! 

ARGH! 

If you haven't went around and looked at some of the videos on YouTube of the aftermath of hurricane Laura so you can comprehend how bad it is over here people literally are homeless living in tents and some will never ever never get their house back. 

You have to be a complete f****** idiot not to insure your house when you live in a hurricane zone but there are some people that are that stupid. And before you call me a judgmental a****** one of the people in question that I'm speaking of who had no house insurance has two or three four wheelers and about two or three side by sides he spends money on other s*** farm more expensive than the small amount that house insurance is in this area.

So we are now suddenly without electricity without water luckily my Mead Hall that I had tied down (and that is the secret of hurricanes not destroying your stuff is too tie them down) so they can't be blown over and blow off survived. 

Wouldn't you know just as we get electricity back and get everything going mother f****** Hurricane Delta comes and hits our area although nowhere is near as bad but for some people that already had a damaged roof with a hole in it a mirror category 2 hurricane (by the way Laura was a four when it hit us at 160 mph winds) it tends to destroy stuff even more so. So I got over the aftermath of that and have been chugging along.

I actually get to do one session of gaming with a good friend the guy that I sold the Star Wars books to and get to try out Pathfinder second edition finally. I can't say I totally dislike it I do say that it is a giant way too many rule convoluted mess of chunky rules. Though I do see it's appeal with the ability to completely customize your characters to the nth degree. This group also knows that I am a dungeon master and wants me to run a campaign for them.

So now finally everything seems to be going okay except the universe f****** hates me.

Now my dad has had health problems for quite a while at the age of 85 he recently had a heart valve transplant and is never quite gotten better recovered fully from it. The doctors keep screwing around with his medications and such trying to get him straightened out. 

But wouldn't you know after Hurricane Laura and then hurricane Delta my dad's somewhat got off his medications that he was supposed to be on and from there he has went downhill. 

So now my dad is in the hospital and it's not looking good he had a massive fluid buildup in his legs and almost had congestive heart failure. He also within a 3-week period has completely lost most of his thought processes and is in a very confused delirious state. This of course has disrupted my entire life once again. It is really painful to see your parent, the last one I have left suffering and going through really bad times like this. It is confusion he keeps trying to stand up and walk which he cannot do so unfortunately they had to restrain him to the bed which is pretty f****** horrible to see.

So as you can see my life is once again in shambles and I am a gamer who can't seem to get any game. The other day I halfway cleaned the Mead Hall but did not get finished. I plan to try and finish it real soon maybe actually roll some dice and run some great games to get rid of all this stress. I don't know about you but way back in the days of middle school and high school Dungeons and Dragons was what I used to help me escape from many of the problems in my life. It literally helps me cope with many things and was a great relief of stress that (not always LOL!) didn't include alcohol or drugs.

In my younger days while we were gaming it completely kept us out of trouble. In adulthood I found it to be one of the most inexpensive forms of entertainment that one could possibly do.

I am not talking about you Warhammer people you guys are f****** crazy with your amount of money that you spend lol!

So where is this post going? 

Well I'm hoping that my dad recovers and can come back home if not we're facing the super hard decision of having to put him in a rest home and then we're going to be left with his house which I have a little tiny house and my older brother still lives there who has nothing. I would love to keep the house but since my brother never got off his ass his entire life cannot possibly afford the place we could literally keep the house and use it as a gaming center. But unfortunately I'm going to have to sell it so my brother will have a place to live and the family home of almost 60 years is going to be gone forever. Strangely enough the neighbor girl that I grew up with has also moving after being there for about 60 years as well...


My God this post has been extremely long but what's the point? 

Well the point is is that I'm going to get the Mead Hall cleaned out and put my tables back up I say to the universe f*** you in your eye you piece of s***!!! 

F*** you and where you came from you're not going to stop me from f****** gaming you've done everything in your power to make sure I can't and I'm still going to f****** do it f*** you universe. I am going to game or I'm going to f****** die trying. The point is a new fire is burning and I will not let this b******* in constant barrage of suckiness win.

I hope some of you out there that are gamers that are working too much and you're not quite in your 50s like I am realize that you are working too much. We need to wake up and look around and see if you're actually living life.

If you're not, do so.

The last 10 years I've had no work-life balance it was just work work work work work balance no life at all. Don't be a victim of your own success and not live any life. If you're a gamer get out there and do some gaming stop doing other stuff that's wasteful and doesn't get you anywhere. This is like a new era like the '80s except no satanic panic.

Sees this time and especially we OSR gamers teach these youngsters how to use the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons rules to play like we did in the old days... 

Well I guess that's all I have got all the thoughts that I need to share at this point in time. I hope this humble narrator of this sad tragic tale has given you some entertainment and some food for thought. I hope that the next blog post that I put down is going to be a bunch of good news about gaming and it possibly my father will have recovered completely but we shall see. 

That's if our entire nation does not fall apart and we're not in some kind of new stupid ass civil war...

UPDATE: 11/16/2020 MY DAD DIED. 

Deep down gaming blues... Steppin Back PII

In the LAST depressing post about gaming life was not too good. I went through a creative phase with a rules light variant to everything called DUNGEONPUNK RPG but that excitement has waned as well. It's just a hard concept to write down it seems...I did get a surprising response but some nameless person one starred me. At least say why you think it sucks that bad... BUT anyway...

I get back into a creative mode for Back to the Dungeon RPG and start having ideas flow. Things keep coming to me. Then when I go to get my BttDRPG folder, it was simply gone. Not just kinda I set it somewhere there it is! NO! I mean it's now to the level of a paranormal event gone. I mean WTF where the hell is it gone! 

I have looked every possible logical place I could have put it. I have looked into every possible illogical place I could have put it. I have looked for an entire month.

With the lack of response from my players and the entire universe making sure I can't game, no one would have or could have stolen it. I have much of it electronic but there are papers that cannot be redone from their moment of inspiration that are now lost.

None of that matters anyway as my attempts to create an ongoing campaign that actually allows characters to grow instead of game jumping and much to long sessions of making new characters for the next cool game continues it's onslaught.

The new group of players I pulled together for BttDRPG have slowly started the "hey I got this game we can try!" while the universe from the other direction foils any and all plans of gaming.

One of the chosen people that I chose for his game mastering skill surprisingly didn't even want to join my campaign vision YET he complains of game switching.  

None of these people actually have more than five sessions of any one game. I have heard that three games is the average fro this little group. Piles of characters siting around. Now it is a part of my group. Meh! 

There are groups out there actually developing their characters and actually having campaigns. I can't really try and rudely barge in with my vision.

SO if you are actually having life workout where you can actually get gaming to happen AND you actually have a campaign going, savor it. Some of us are watching life go by and can't do anything about it.     

Stepping Back....

😒My last few games I ran, I feel went like crap. I am so trying.

I used to be a fantastic Dungeon Master.

I have also had huge spans of time where I was working turnarounds so huge spans between games. The campaign, no matter how hard I have tried just does not go anywhere. You know when you have written a great adventure and knocked it out of the park. You know when you put obvious hints. The players also seem to have amazing abilities to roll 20s as well which would be exciting but they do it almost every combat. 

I am burnt the hell out. My rules don't excite me anymore. Still so much more to do but I don't feel like messing with them anymore. 

Going to go back to Basic, Delving Deeper, Basic Fantasy, or Labyrinth Lord. I want 3D6 in Order, save or die, "give the players nothing that they don't work for" gaming.  

The last session, nobody showed up at the dudes house. Some were sick and some just ignored the game time posting so screw it. People ought to know that one can tell if you look at their Facebook posting. I will let someone else run games. 

I am done as a game master for the time being.   💀

Can't Seem to Make Gaming Happen.

Been down lately. Real down. My main stress release is gaming but that does not seem to ever happen. I also seem to be the only Game master for Fantasy Gaming. Tried to collect a few other Fantasy Game Masters but they have failed to produce (even though many have claimed to be really good game masters.) or don't want to do it. I have tried for years to start an expeditionary campaign of old using Back to the Dungeon RPG which shares the workload between game masters but it never seems to happen.

You know when you are really on target with an adventure or module you write. You know when one is kinda half ass and sucks. Especially if you have been gaming since 81 yet my well written games lack fire. I am getting burnt out as a game master as well.

I can't really explain it other than many of my players are non adventurous adventurers.  I am not a killer GM but they are careful to the point of making the game boring at times.

They take NO chances save a few of the characters. One adventure (one claiming to be one of the best GMs in the world in his younger days) even suggested that the party go back to town because the dungeon was dangerous.  

The party tends to not go the way of the adventure such as exploring a mountain in the distance that has nothing to do with the adventure or is a separate part of the adventure. Even throwing in blocker monsters does not stop the wandering. 

People also don't always show up thus screwing up the continuum.

My terrible schedule also lacks any consideration for life. Around the middle of this year I worked almost 2 months straight then another month. I am about to work almost 4 months straight once again. I am afraid that may gaming group will die. 

5E Musings?

So far it looks like just another version of 3rd Edition with just a few things left out.

The monsters thus the work of the DM has been shortened but not enough. Maybe they will have the monsters on cards or something.

The introductory modules can rot on the shelf at the prices they are wanting for the thinness of the product. Maybe if I did not already feel goug4ed already.  

The artwork and what they want to do with the Forgotten Realms looks really good.

I can't see any reason a serious Pathfinder player would stop playing Pathfinder over 5E.

I could see a GM looking at it and thinking how much easier it could be.

IF I were WotC I would have returned to a much simpler game with modern options (like BttDRPG) and then came out with incredible artwork and modules. I would have had D&D Television shows animated and live action, movies, more video games, and got the game out quicker.

Is the BlogOSRsphere dying off?

Is the BlogOSRsphere dying off? 

It seems to be waning a bit.  Oh there are people who post quite a few times a week but not like it was just a few years ago. It is kinda nice to be able to keep up with the blog post though.

It is very much alive though! 

Some of the main players have stopped posting or have slowed down to a mere trickle. Some have fallen to scandals or have made scandals.

Still every day there is at least something interestingly posted for the love of the game. 

I know that I am here for the long haul whatever that is even though my blog is one of the least of the OSR blogs. 

It seems that the OSR has not really moved forward at all if you compare the post of Chicago Wiz way back in 2011.

Does something needs to happen publishing wise to get the OSR ball rolling again? I don't think that is ever going to happen (save the release of Adventures Dark and Deep but that's just me getting excited about a product that I have yet to buy) again. 

People are still going to publish Retro Clones (Neo-Clone, Simulacrums, Fantasy Heartbreakers, etc.)  but the chance for glory has passed. 

I hope to be proven wrong on that statement but we shall see...

People seem to be very happy with the RPGs they are playing.


What needs to happen that would re-excite (Like it was a few years ago!) the BlogOSRsphere? I think people getting out there and playing and posting about it. 

Some sort of organized play starting on a local level and then possibly becoming state, regional, and then possibly national and posting about it.

TARGA needs to come back. 

Some really good ground breaking home made modules and house rules! 

New race and class options! 

Wait, that still is going on !  

In my area, RPG Gaming seems dead though rumors of groups existing in secretive insular little clans. Old School Gaming locally has a few small sparks but they never seem to ignite. If there is an OLD campaign that has existed since the late 70s and early 80s in my area I don't know about it.  

What to do? What to do?

Utter contemptible piece of s#!+ !!!

Utter contemptible piece of s#!+ !!!

Well once again the gods have pissed upon me. Half my master document has simply disappeared. Like 40-60 pages of document. From below the druid spell list on back just simply disappeared.

XXXXXX IT!

I have it in PDF form from 11 24 2012 but it will have to be completely redone unless I have another old copy saved back and a huge amount of work is lost from that time. It will have to be all reformatted and refitted.

SCREW YOU UNIVERSE!

It happened on 11 29 2012 at 8:00 pm. when I copied and pasted my spell list to assist me in creating magic items on a test file all information below that point just went poof for no other reason than to be a dick of a universe.

I have copied and pasted shit thousands upon thousands of times with no fail on shit that really didn't matter to me.

I would have been kind done with this stage and in full playtest mode but the gods suck and are cruel.

Maybe I ought to just delete all of it...

XXXX!

What a strange place I am in my RPG life.

SO I am in this strange place in my RPG life. For years I have started and not completed so many RPG projects for no reason other than to just write them. I would say most games get about 60% or so before I burn out.



I go back to them here and there but always am reminded by self doubt or wrong direction why I burnt out AND GET REBURNT OUT.

Strange though that I am about 99% finished on many of my games and have even completed a few in the last few years. If you get a chance take a look at Horror World my Zombie Apocalypse game. I am 99% finished with Back to the Dungeon. I also am 99% finished with STARCLADS Sci Fi RPG. Done with NOVEL Hero's Mag a nearly freeform Supers RPG.

Back to the Dungeon RPG will get worked on for another few years but it is getting really close to a 1.0

All of these playtest versions are free and one day I may sell them but there really is very little to NO money to be made in the RPG business at least in this current business model. I have really innovative business models that I won't share here but I have elsewhere.

I am in such a gaming void as my gaming group broke up once again but that is OLD news.

Alas yet another boring and short post but I hope thought provoking.

Vote for NEITHER!

Classic Fantasy Role Playing Game: Update

Well I am back to having thoughts of releasing the rest of my CFRPG.

It's like 99% done but after the Word Processor Formatting Demon Possession Problems I had I kinda gave up.

The announcement of D&DNext was kind of a bummer but at the same time I like what I see but I also just am not excited. Maybe it's the few thousands of $$$s they already got from me.

I dunno.

I need to get my Neo-Clone out to the world as a personal quest as there have been a few members of the "community" that have naysayed your good and kind Eldrad.

I stayed classy and did not respond in a FuhQDiK but I should have. I will not say whom but it still bugs me although a long time ago.

BUT I must say the rest of the "community" is the cat's meow! Except for a few that never...Oh never mind.

I am so close but this gamer's block that I have! BUT I must admit every time I look upon an old D&Dish type game from modern to olden I get bugged.

The oldens and the clones the same (some say stupid) restrictions that hamper role play.

The modern the same overcomplicated CLUNK that hampers role play.

"Uh yeah my Half Unicorn Vampire Half-Dragon Were-Bulette Lich with a Shirley Temple Template Fighter Thief Death Wizard Exotic Dancer Uses her or his Damper Jet Plane Feat and does a five foot step and warps back in time using his Alter Time Space power to get an opportunity attack with sneak damage ans critical hit because he is a Quadruple three weapon specialist. That's a uh 4+7+16+93+1d20! I roll a uh 234 yeah! WHadda ya mean you have a reverse megaton feat??" Pages are flipped the rest of the night looking for the rules! LOL!

The solution?

A game as simple as the classics but with SOME of the options of the new BUT without RULES bloat.

Easy to Run and Easy to Play!


My Game! The one that had very little to no response from the OSR Blogger world due to way too many games bloat form the OSR but at least they are mostly all free!


BUT it would be argued by a few that I am wrong! Some in the OSR like the restrictions!

Many if not most of the New School don't even pay attention. LOL!

"We only play 4th Edition"
"We only play Pathfinder"
"That old stuff is OOKIE! Stuff!"

Forgive them Gods of Gaming! They know not what they do! OR maybe it is I that does no know! LOL! I am going to bed.

Hero's Mag: The "Free Form" Version of the Game.

Multiple Versions of the same game! Yes I am an insane flip flopper!

So here is my most updated version of Hero's Mag in the Free Form version. It is free form BUT there is a dice roll mechanic added to solve disagreements on how things should go outside the story.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUV0pVTmZjTUlVRk0

I have had quite a few gamers LOVE the freedom of it all AND a few HATE it with full passion. Even if they never tried it.

The "free form" tends to short the circuits of rule's lawyers and min-maxers as well. The claim by a few of them is it gives the Game Master too much power. Game masters have that anyway!

Go and download and print out the rules and make it into a fold over booklet. Then make a few characters.

Make a super team.

Make them interesting.

Don't just let them be great at everything make them flawed. Give them problems like their girlfriend is cheating on them, drug and alcohol problems, family members are terminally ill, the character is terminally ill, mental problems, unemployment, homelessness, real world problems in a supers world.

Non Playing Characters are a breeze because there are no attributes just as brief or as long as you would like. Make a sheet for each character of who these NPCs are and how they effect their life.

Make sure and have all the sights and sounds of where the story takes place as well. Our world but with supers added.

Make sure all of the iconic supers (don't copy make your own versions) have aged and now are facing old age and death thus making room for new Supers.

In fact in my notes the main super group based in New York was killed by a third plane during 911 so the entire city of New York and surrounding cities are now know as The Criminal Playland.

How did a mere bomb kill supers? It was an antimatter bomb in the third plane. There is literally a gaping hole and residue antimatter left on the scene.

The L.A. based team is full of troubles as well as they are facing internal strife and troubles from gangs.

The Houston Based Supers are having problems with The Cartel as they have all been targeted for assassination as well as any friends or family.

Classic Fantasy RPG Update

Well I decided to cut and paste the S&W treasure table and I shall modify it accordingly.

After making the Back to the Dungeon Zine I really am thinking about getting my CFRPG back on the burner.

IF I can get this sucker is a state that I don't want to tear down and redo I may be happy with it. I can't help but think there are people not satisfied out there and want the style of old with some of the options of new.

BUT anyway switching from nights to days and have to wake up in a few hours after sleeping most of the day.

Some more rantings about CFRPG

The CFRPG is going really well. Editing is happening in spurts in DnD Charlie's life. Far more than I could do being CUT OFF from a full computer and the internet and having severe ADD.

I was having some deep gaming thoughts while trying to cope with work the other day. Agree or disagree with this philosophizing.

Old School = Less Rules but with More Restrictions
New School = More Rules but with Less Restrictions

We all know the More and Less part of the Rules.

What many players DON'T like are the Old School restrictions. Like what? For example in many Retroclones Elves can't be rangers or druids? Why? They live in the freaking woods. It would seem natural that they would be able to be rangers and druids but these restrictions are held onto and in my opinion need to be written out of the next generation of Simulacrums.

Damn these sacred cows!

For many new players the cat is out of the bag on races being able to play the class they want. Every time I pull out an Old School game and start explaining the restrictions of what class each race can play the "this sucks!" face comes out and they just don't play.

This is with new and old players alike. Level limits do the same thing. They chase away players and can't really be explained without forcing the story.

Now I understand that a DM could force his story to explain the rules but that restricts in a small way some of the stories freedom and the player's fun. Now it may not restrict it at first but when your demi-human goes down every time due to lack of hit points and progresses so slow that the player gets bored and gives up because he is not having fun anymore what then?

I want as many race and character options as I can get to be able to play what I want but without the game ever getting rules heavy and I really think the CFRPG has done this very well.

Most of all it's easy to run and easy to play. Fast flowing and large combats are very manageable by Player and GM alike.

The CFRPG will be know as a Neo-Clone as it it's going to be somewhat a Retroclone but with many of the modern options. Most of all it will be easy to run and easy to play! Easy to make a character in about five minutes.

I know the purpose of the retro-clones were to be able to recapture the Old School Style of gaming but so many of the ridiculous restrictions restrict the fun while so much of the New School Style's huge multiple volume rules you have to stop and look up or can't play without computer cut and paste assistance restrict the fun as well.

Now I don't stand here upon a hill poking bears with sticks challenging the powers that be I just have my opinion formed from my observations of what is going on with gaming here lately.

Oh did I also mention that there are plans to have a published version of CFRPG but like many of the clones out there I plan to give it away for free as well. Not only that the books will be in a format to print them out yourselves and put a cardboard cover on it making it look very close to the size and style of the LBBs.

There may even be a small business opportunity in printing them out yourself as well.

CFRPG Update.

Well my partner in crime D&D Charlie on my yahoo group has been pecking away as the editor of my CFRPG. So far he has the document looking professional. I got kinda teary eyed on how good he made it look.

I never seem to have time to keep this going but seeing all organized is well INSPIRING!

So far there has been no open bridge between the old and new school gaming and I hope this may be the answer for a few people. Old school simplicity of rules with new school options WITHOUT getting bogged down in huge rulebooks.

Easy to run and easy to play.

Free to very cheap, pay if you like it or not, free to kids, print it yourself, make copies for your friends, distribution model. Once perfected there could be a POD version but that is far away for now.

I hope other people take the rules and...
Make books of more spells!
Make monster manuals!
Make more races and classes! More options the better but still keep em simple.
Make Modules! Lots of modules!
Fanzines!
Living Campaign Based on your real world geography?
Would people oppose a free approval process where one's creation would be checked over and approved so not to come out with a game killing class or race?

So is there room for another retro-clone? Yes, No, and Maybe.

Is there room for a Bridge-Clone? OR whatever you want to call what the heck we are doing? I don't know. I will have to hear what people think.

BLAH

Due to lack of time interest and drive I am putting CFRPG on the backburner and just working with LL/AEC for now and my setting. When I get a good few weeks off with money in the bank I may sit back and finish...or...start and stop on it again.

Writing a game is hard...

If any of you in the Yahoo Group want to work on the skeleton that I have feel free to do so. For the love of god someone please correct my grammar and layout.

What Do YOU want out of a Classic Fantasy Role Playing Game?

What Do YOU want out of a Classic Fantasy Role Playing Game?

So what I am asking is for the people who have not made their own Old School Rules (but want too!) is to join with me in making the ultimate/kinda good mixture of Old School with New School Options rules set.

This game may be the ANSWER that you have been looking for.

Hobbyist need to apply! Join me and at least get credit for helping make this game. Are you are sick of the Simulacrums that repeat the rule restrictions of the old days.I never really liked Race Classes. No skills and feats! Quick to make a character. NO FULL PAGE MONSTER STATS!

EASY to run and EASY to play!

This game could be the ANSWER that you have been looking for. If not still have fun with what you like to do!

Join me at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFRPGOSR/.

IF you are not satisfied with what rule systems are out there then Join us!!!
We need to combine the new school with the old school to achieve the gaming independence that we truly want!

You need and want to have a game that is simple to create a story. As a GM in the CFRPG you CAN create any story you want.

The goal is to make one complete rulebook then from there expand by making Books of Magic, Monster Books, Class and Race Books all made by others. Of course it will have to go through approval process but nothing too stringent.

I plan to if ever I finish my/our game to have it free and/or cheap.

If you want to help then join my Yahoo Group.

PS: Send me your email and I will send you a copy as well. Be warned it's not edited or finished.

My non-Perfect RPG

Well I finished my races, classes, spells, equipment, monsters, and NOT treasure.

Monsters ah Monsters, they are just mostly 3 stats. AC HD and Move with a brief description of damage and the monster.

After spells, Treasure Tables really suck. Have not made any yet. Oh how I dread.

I mean my spells are still only BARELY described hoping that GM Fiat and judgement will make the final decision.

The best part of the game is GM Fiat. The GM not the rules are the ultimate judge in this game. The other part is the GM not the players need to learn the rules. The players will just play their characters and have fun.

I also made the game to be played FAST! I decided on using the BASIC style of initiative.

It works.

It works with HUGE combats.

The game should be easy to run most of all and allow the GM to tell a story with fast action and deep story. EASY to run!

Hope to playtest this 4th of July with my Pathfinder Group as I am running out of patience with PFRPG.

I hope to start a spark and let it burn. This is not going to be another Simulacrum but a hybrid of old and new.

I hope that I can get comments good or bad to let me make this into a great RPG. I know that there will be many disagreement from those who have their own ideas but I have been gaming for 30 years and I know what makes a great game despite the intent of other designers.

No one purposely designs a game bad they just don't think of the practicality of their rules all the way through.

The Old School stuff I left out was Level Limits, Racial Limits, Weapon vs Armor Restrictions, and other stuff...

New School I left out Skills, Feats, Whole Page Monster Stat Blocks, Stupid Huge Hit Point Amounts, Level Adjustments and many other things.

Well been drinking and got to get ready for bed and work.

Feats defeat.

Well why were Feats created? In new school gaming the idea was to provide a way to do cool things.

Like tripping someone.

But why do you need a Feat to do things?

In a game with Gamemaster Fiat things such as a bullrush, trip, sundering of a weapon were done on the fly by adding a few points of difficulty to the too hit number or subtracting from the player's roll.

Wow in this short article I just provided you with an unlimited source and list of feats.

How the hell do you do it?

Oh lord it is really hard! Get your minds out of the gutter slimes! It's really hard to write a freaking game. Even simulacrums that many accuse of it being "just copying". Well you shut the F*&^%K up and try to do it yourself. Oh I didn't think so Beeearch!

Many of us have "a take on what we would like to see" and THINK we can do it to but NOOOO! You won't and you can't. Either no free time or not the patience when there is free time. I envy those with that little extra spark that can get off their ass and write a game.

Hell trying to write up a decent module with production value is a task as well.

Lord knows I have built and burnt down my take on the OSR rules and such. Then loooooooose interest and then write a few lines. Should I truck on or gather a team? Should I just write a supplement of house rules? Damn a game is a huge undertaking!

SO my question to all writers and creators is : "How the hell do you do it?"

Swords and Wizardry Complete Rulebook

Full power old school feel!

This book expands the Swords and Wizardry Core Rules (http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/) to cover all of the early phase supplements from the 1970’s. It creates a 1-volume resource allowing the players and game masters alike to create and run adventures and campaigns that will last for an entire lifetime. The game is supported by a vast array of adventures, and other resources that are produced by Frog God Games.

This is the game you played 20 years ago. It’s true to the original style and philosophy that made the game great. No “Spot Checks” here. Simple, flexible rules that allow players and game masters alike to roll play and roleplay. This stand-alone tome provides all the rules you need to play the game. Its easily transferable as a rules set for other retro-clone games as well as those old dusty modules you still have in the attic.

In 1974, Gary Gygax (1938-2008) and Dave Arneson (1947-2009) wrote the world’s first fantasy role-playing game, a simple and very flexible set of rules that launched an entirely new genre of gaming. In the year 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (holder of the “Dungeons & Dragons” trademark) released the “Open Game License,” which allows third parties, like us, to use various intellectual properties historically associated with the Dungeons & Dragons game – although not the actual trademarked name itself, and with specific terms and restrictions.

This book is an unofficial, “re-stated” version of the original Gygax & Arneson rules (0e), created using the Open Game License. This original game consisted of a boxed set of three booklets: Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. Four supplements were also written by Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz and others between 1975 and 1977, containing options for expanding the game with new rules. Collectively, all those booklets are often referred to as “0e,” standing for “zero edition,” and we mention the “Original Game” from time to time in this book, as a reference point. Swords & Wizardry re-describes selected rules from all seven of the Original Game booklets, taking some and leaving some. In general, Swords & Wizardry adopts class, monster, and spell rules from all the supplements, but sticks to the simpler combat mechanics from the boxed set and the first supplement only. Tim Kask, the first editor of the Dragon Magazine(TM), the first employee of TSR, Inc., and the editor of Supplements 2-4 for Original Dungeons & Dragons (TM), has more to say about that in the Foreword.

The Swords & Wizardry rules are extremely short, compared to the multi-paged rule-libraries required to play most modern role-playing games. Yet this game contains within itself all the seeds and soul of mythic fantasy, the building blocks of vast complexity, the kindling of wonder. “Edition Zero” is so powerful because it’s encapsulated in a small formula, like a genie kept imprisoned in the small compass of an unremarkable lamp. Take this framework, and then imagine the hell out of it!

Estimated Retail Price: $39.99, limited edition signed, numbered, hardcover (100 copies) and pdf, $19.99 perfect bound softcover and pdf (200 copies only of the first printing), $9.99, pdf only.

Estimated Page Count: 128
Authors: Matt Finch
Scheduled Release: November 2010

I quit playing 4E for an undetermined time and other musings

Well I told my gaming group that I was just burnt out on 4th edition. Yep I know that is former post I said I was going to put away my OSR setting and embrace the 4th edition and just shut up and play!

AND play we did. I was playing a cleric. The battles were few but LONG. We had in the past discussed that the players need to know their characters and use strategy. Much strategy was used and many monsters fell. It still took too long and many battles just drug along.

Due to my job I had to give up the DM chair and we had some of the other members running games.

The system is fairly clunky. The monsters have a full page of stats. Why? Worst of all everything except minions has way too many hit points. Why would someone design a game in a way that purposefully makes battles last over 30 minutes?

I thought they play-tested it for over a year. How can there be so much errata? Then the Essentials are coming out which is a whole another version.

I remember one battle where a character did over 30 points of damage to a gnoll and this had just only bloodied it after 20 minutes of battle.

Slow. boardgamish, no story just battle, well I just stopped having fun or at least very much fun.

I had suggested many times for my group to try my LL mega-dungeon but I always got the blow off and the statement "I only like 4th". I always stated that we did not have to stop playing 4th but every so often try another system.

The standard answer was "I only like 4th" even though many of them have never played anything else or very little of anything else. In the past when anything else was going to be ran they would not show up that day.

So we were back to the every Saturday only playing 4th edition and it stopped being fun. I mean I love my group of friends but every weekend we were just playing a game and using per encounters, dailies, healing surges, too many hit point, too much math, too many rules, and it just got all the same. I asked my wife and my 14 year old what they thought. They too had not been having fun for a long time either. That settled it.

What about the fear of your character dieing? What about running out of spells and supplies? What about having to go back to town to heal up? What about it being a challenge?

A game where your character had fought and clawed his way for every XP he ever got.

SO..

I told my players for an undetermined time no 4th for me and soon I will be playing something else. The reaction was not surprising and I was not surprised by "I only like 4th and only want to play 4th" and one of the players said that if any other game was ran "he would not be attending".

I was even schooled on how I should have finished the 4th game that we were playing and then they would think about another game.

I did not recall asking them to stop playing 4th nor would I ever. I do not want this to end friendships but they seem to be taking the less than savory path. I will continue to be friendly and hope the best for them.

I only asked for them to try another style of gaming and was shot down for at least as long as I have had this blog save a few sessions.

OTHER MUSINGS

So the new Red Box is out? It only cover 2 levels. Gee sounds like a sample more than a game sight unseen. Gee I told WOTC to do that back on their forums during the first really crappy 3rd edition boxed set.

It's causing a stir and that is good and now the OSR Game Writers need to get off their asses and make a real basic set.

There needs to be a LL/AEC, OSRIC, BFRPG. and/or S&W (S&W is already kinda basic though) intro/basic set.

It should cover all the races and all the classes up to 5th level.

Have a selection of monsters and a guide on how to play as well as an adventure included.

Make it cheap. Get it out there!

A boxed set? Possibly but the OSR publishers need to get off their asses and take advantage of what is going on.