RPG Blog Carnival: The Future of Roleplaying

The Carnival is being hosted by Roleplaying Pro.  The topic chosen for this month is the Future of Roleplaying.  Apropos for me as May is always the month I contemplate the future.  I’m no longer well-versed in the cutting edge of technology.  So I cannot wax eloquent on storing character sheets on a thumb-drive and downloading them to the GM’s electronic table.  I don’t have my thumb on the pulse of the hobby.  My thoughts on what games may be the “Next BIG Thing” would be highly speculative at best and the more likely completely inaccurate.

What is the future?  The future is commonly accepted to be that portion of the time line that is anticipated to occur after the present time.  In the most literal sense of the word, Sunday’s D&D game is the future.  I’m assuming though the question is projecting out a little further than that.

This hobby has no future if the only ones enjoying it are middle-aged men and women who are trying in vain to recapture their young-adulthood.  To me the future of the hobby is currently sitting in my living room.  PIT #1 graduates this month and then heads off to basic training.  When I asked her what she wanted for graduation presents she looked me in the eye and listed off the following: Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition, Necessary Evil Explorer’s Edition, and as many AD&D books as I could spare.

PIT #2 is currently thumbing through the AD&D Complete Wizard Guidebook.  He is trying to maximize his character for our Sunday game.

PIT #3 usually fights with his sister over who gets to read the rule books first.  When Shainter arrived in the mail, it vanished.  PIT #1 had absconded with it.  When I finally got it back, it proceeded to vanish again.  PIT #3 had snuck it out from under my nose and was reading up on it.

In our Sunday afternoon game, The GM and I are the only ones in attendance over the age of 20.  All of my Friday evening and Saturday afternoon players are teenagers.  I think the future of our hobby is secure.

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The Magical Gnome, a new Play by Post RPG Forum

I’ve been having a lot of fun playing in a PbP game using RISUS rules. It was one of the inspirations for the TwitteRPG (which is still accepting players).  However I received quite a few replies of regret, ‘I’d love to play but the time zones would be a problem’.  I was thinking what could I do to make TwitteRPG available to those fine folks.  Then it hit me, could we do a PbP.  I broached the subject with a few of the individuals who expressed an interest in TwitteRPG and was met with an enthusiastic response.

One of the respondants was the Gamefiend over at At Will.  He mentioned he was thinking of starting a PbP over at 4Etopia.  We decided to collaborate on a dedicated PbP forum.

Announcing The Magical Gnome a dedicated Play by Post forum hosted by the NING network.  This is a free network and to use it you’ll need a free membership.

The site is still under construction and the forums rules of conduct are still be written.  But the basic premise is any game any system.  Announce the game on the main page and then start a group for your game.  There may be underage members on the network so please mark games appropriately.

You can run your games or join available games.

Announcing a Magical Contest.

Vulcan Stev’s Database is proud to announce our first contest.  I’m looking for magical items.  Any magical item, fully described and statted out in the system of your choice or systemless.  Items will be judged on creativity, coolness, and “Wow” factor.  The winner will receive a copy of Open Game Table at my expense.

All submissions will be collected together and posted as part of the RPGBN Shared World Project with full credit going to the original author of each item.

Deadline for Submission is May 22.  Winner will be announced June 1.

TwitteRPG: First Report on the Bold Experiment.

Last night at 7:00pm CDT I attempted the first running of TwitteRPG.  It was a success but not in the way I expected.  Let me back up just a bit, Wednesday evening, Viri from the Bard of Valiant was on Twitter venting her frustrations at WoW.  Somebody suggested playing a tabletop RPG.  Viri replied that there was nobody to play with.

Inspiration struck, Viri was online with quite a few friends and we were communicating in real time.  This was 90% of what we needed for an RPG game.  Without preamble, I typed ‘You are in a damp passageway.  Traveling on you come to an intersection.  What do you do?”

Viri replied that she listens with a better than average notice skill.  I typed back “To the left you hear the muted sounds of laughter.  To the right you hear a deep throaty voice call ‘Come here little adventurer.’  Viri replied “I go left.”

By this point, I was getting other comments on my little attempt to cheer up my friend (and later discovered folks commenting on the Twitter feed on my Facebook profile).  Right then both Viri and I were called away from our respective keyboards.  When I returned I had quite a few “What happens next?” Tweet replies.

So yesterday on the spur of a moment I decided to try to run an RPG game with a little more planning.  I announced in the early afternoon that I would be running TwitteRPG later in the evening.  When I got home from work I had quite a few “Would love to play but can’t tonight replies”.  I also had quite a few request for the rules.

The end result? there is interest in running an RPG over Twitter.  However, folks would like more advance notice.  Folks would also like the rules.  So towards that end I will write up the basic rules this weekend.  We will also schedule the next game rather than it be a spur of the moment.  In short, the experiment was a success if only for the fact that it showed a definite interest in the game.

Announcing a Bold Twitter Experiment

Tonight at 8:00pm EDT, 7C,6M, 5p, we will be running the experimental TwitteRPG.  You must be following the GM, @vulcanstev at Twitter.  This is an experiment.  I’ve seen how much fun the #Twittervillestuff is generating and wanted to try something along those lines.  Viri from the Bard of Valiant and I tried last night until Real Life suddenly called us both away at the same time.

I was having a blast with it and want to open it up for the Network folks who are on Twitter.  Please if you’d like to play let me know by 6:30 CDT so I can get the Tweetdeck filter set up with everyone.

#TwitteRPG  – tonight – @vulcanstev DM

RPGBN Shared World Open Invitation: Cities & Dungeons

My invitations are bearing fruit.  Shent Lodge over at the World of Alidor has graciously donated use of his wandering city Cork.  This introduces the next open invitation.  Do you have a cool city that you’d like to see used?  An awesome dungeon that’s gathering dust somewhere?  Let me know the link and I’ll get it added to to the page for Ayuhwa

This invitation is open to all readers of the network.

Why am I doing this? because there is all sorts of creativity across the readership of the network, and not everyone signed up for the world build.

Is having a blog a requirement? No I am extending this invitation to all readers.

Please note that this invitation applies to the land of Ayuhwa only and is covered under the Creative Commons License.  You retain all copyrights to your creation.

Ongoing invitations:
Unique Magical Items
Super Heroes to join the ranks of the Watchmen of the Justice Avengers

RPGBN Shared World Invitation: Unique Magic Items.

The first in the series of open invitations for the RPGB Network Shared World(Blogeria?) project.  Please note this is for the land of Ayuhwa only and not the world as a whole.

This first invitation is for unique Magical items to be sold in Ye Olde Shoppe of Magicks, a retail chain store found in all major Ayuhwa cities and border posts.  Ye Olde Shoppe of Magicks sends it’s buyers across the width and breadth of Blogeria (I’m really liking this name more and more) searching for unique items of magic.  Are you the Lord of a Kingdom of Blogeria and wanting your unique magical items for sale through a reputable retailer?  Are you a wandering Wizard seeking to supplement your income by providing your goods to someone willing to buy in large quantities?  Submit your items of magic for our review and one of our buyers will contact you shortly.

OK that’s the in character pitch.  Here’s what I’m looking for.  Do you have a unique magical item you’ve written and posted at your site?  provide the link and I’ll include it fully credited in the write up for the land of Ayuhwa.  If you are one of the world builders I’ll include the ‘fact’ that it comes from your land.   Again leave the link in a comment.

RPGBN Shared World Project: An Open Invitation

This is a very exciting project and I’m proud to be a part of it. However I’ve seen some remorse across the Network along the lines of “Shoot I missed the boat on this one. Towards that end, I am opening up Ayuhwa for some shared input. Would you like to contribute unique magical items available only in your home country and in shops in Ayuhwa? Do you have a city your aching to share with others but you missed the deadline for your own country? Would you like to contribute something to this project even though you’re not part of the world build?

Towards that end I am opening up the borders of Ayuhwa (with some restrictions). For example: The Watchmen of the Justice Avengers has their Hall of Justice located in Ayuhwa, even though the Dungeon Masteris the only Ayuhwa native. You can still contribute your own hero to the mix.

I’ll be holding open invitations for contributions. This is open to all members and readers of the network and will be protected under the Creative Commons License. Your contributions will be used in Ayuhwa (and your corner of the world if you have one). All credit for your contribution will remain with you.

The first invitation is unique magical items. I’ll be officially posting that invitation tomorrow.

Upcoming invites: Cities, Monsters, landmarks, other cool things by suggestion

RPGBN Heroes: The Dungeon Master.

My good friend Dr. Checkmate issued this challenge to Uncle Bear and myself  using the Savage Worlds setting Necessary Evil, create a super powered being named The Dungeon Master.  Uncle Bear’s take on  The Dungeon Master is quite unique.  However, due to the “Heroize Yourself” thang discussed by other network bloggers.  I couldn’t help but make mine a hero.  So thanks to Dr. C and Uncle B. for the inspiration for the hero version of STEVe (just an FYI Dusty Rhodes is the DJ name I used on the air at the college radio station during the late 80’s)

Name: Dusty Rhodes/The Dungeon Master
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d8, Healing d8, Knowledge (RPG) d10, Knowledge (Computers) d10, Notice d8, Repair d10, Spellcasting d8
Charisma: 10; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Power Negation (needs access to electricity), Weakness (water can short out power), Quirk (tends to monologue), Loyal
Edges: Arcane Background (Super Powers), Dodge
Gear: Wireless computing devices on utility belt
Super Powers: • Absorption (4)  • Ageless (1) • Matter Control (4)   • Super Sorcery (5)  • Teleport (1)

Dusty is a nerd in the classical sense.  He spent more time with his beloved computer and RPG rulebooks than he did in actual social situations.  One day while sitting at his computer statting up his teh kewl new monster he was struck by power surge.  Instead of frying, Dusty found himself charged with electricity.  Dusty then discoverd he suddenly was able to channel electricity and manipulate matter into the forms of his creations for his various RPG games.

With more experimentation, Dusty was able to bring his creations to a limited form of life.  The constructs are fairly mindless and attack whatever Dusty instructs them to attack until they are destroyed or destroy what they attack.

Dusty has what appears to be a teleportation ability when in reality he travels the electrical grid.  He carries his mobile devices on his belt to keep tabs on “trouble” spots because Dusty loves to help his fellow heroes.  How much help?  Well that’s debatable.  Dusty will give the heroes cryptic clues on how to defeat the villains and provide them with Teh Kewl Attack Assistance before leaving for the next trouble spot.  If Dusty leaves before the battle is done, the heroes have just as much chance of being attacked by Dusty’s creatures as do the villains they are fighting.

Dusty’s main weakness, due to the electrical nature of his power, is of course water.  Water attacks will disrupt the electrical cohesion of Dusty’s constructs.  Also Dusty will be unable to “transport” out if sufficiently wet.  Without access to the electrical grid Dusty’s powers are limited.  Dusty is loyal to a fault to the entire hero community.  He will leave one battle if he thinks other heroes need his help more.  Dusty also tends to monologue, “Now face the power of my Dire Bear.” (think Silver Age platitudes).

Dusty is trying to figure out ranged attacks using his electrical powers but as yet is still unsuccessful.

A Hearty Thank You and Welcome to the Network’s Readers

Thank you for adding my blog to the network.  I would like to introduce my new readers to the RPG section of the Database.

I am not as avid a D&D player as some of you.  My D&D gaming during high school fell victim to the “Devil’s Game” scare of the mid-80’s.  It was only recently that I’ve been playing again, thanks to my daughter (PIT#1).  I actively play D&D 2e on a weekly basis with her gaming group.  My first experience with 4e will be this Saturday when I cover world D&D at my FLGS.  So although I enjoy D&D I am not very conversant in it at this time.

I actively GM games for the open game night at our local youth center.  My system of choice is Savage Worlds and we currently have a running Stargate campaign using the Savage Worlds conversion for that fine game by Alderac.  I have a Necessary Evil campaign in the works for my players at their request.

I struggle with coming up with my own ideas, apparently I’m not alone.  One of the exercises that I’ve been attempting recently is to start thinking outside the box.  My children and I have been reviewing movies for a number of years, so recently I’ve been looking at the movies we’ve reviewed and trying to figure out how I’d use the universe from the movie in various gaming scenarios.  I’m also flipping things on their heads and looking for inspiration in some not so obvious places; fortune cookies, commercials, TV.

Thanks for stopping by.   It is my sincere hope that you find something here worth reading.

What movies would you like to see the family review with a subsequent article about gaming in that universe?