Here’s a ton of links that I found interesting at the time– some are still quite intersting. Combing through was also a good chance to update my RPG Styles page.
(It’s amazing how many links are already broken. I’ve eliminated all of them that I found.)
On a whim I decided to see what’s up with one of the old wargames I loved, Full Thrust. I was very surprised to find that the game’s maker, Ground Zero Games is offering the rules for free as downloads from their website!
How cool is that?
I’ll try to upgrade this to 3.2– it has a lot of convenient features (particularly anti-spam and organization) that I’d like. Unfortunately, I’m flying blind, so I’ll back up and cross my fingers… but posts and comments could be lost if I’m too klutzy.
(Um, I now notice that they’re advertising 3.2, but it’s not out yet. So no worries for a while. Plus the backup is easy (and done).)
July 16th and 17th, we’re being joined by Chris, Dave, and Misty for a weekend of board gaming and Happy Dragon. Regular gaming should resume Sunday July 24th.
If you’ve got any thoughts, timing issues, or the like, let us know. We hit 7th level, huzzah. Level up and be ready for more gaming goodness.
Bangs explained Another of those threads that I’ll reference from my RPG Styles page.
Fate 2e htmlized FATE’s getting to be one of my favorite systems, so this html version is a nice thing to have. Some errors have been corrected, which is also nice.
(and some late entries)
For Dad– Treasure Generator (.zip file), NPC Equipment Generator (.zip) & Random Hook Generator
Lousy GMs and Lousy Players Poll results. A good thing to check against, to keep yourself on the straight and narrow.
Eliminating Manerisms Some good ideas on rotating casts & the like.
For Zack: Living Greyhawk, Home Regions
Here are a few things that happened over the weekend… interesting stuff.
The Plame mess summarized: DKos Diary and Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings
Supreme Court Nominees. Lots of background about the nominees and analysis of O’Conner’s term.
What oil prices will affect demand? An economic analysis
I hope everybody has a good 4th of July weekend! I’m looking forward to the fresh air and three days off… it should be a very nice break. Hope your sparklers are bright.
The following weekend is Sunday July 10th. Kev, it looks like your observation was correct– there’s not enough interest in Shadowrun, particularly not enough to continue without Trish. Fortunately, Dad says that the last few weeks of thinking about a character and playing with concepts has recharged his batteries, and he’ll be ready to pick up the D&D game come that Sunday.
Does 2 pm work for everyone? Is there anything else we need to work out?
Over at Blog, Jvstin Style , we’re asked:
Today marks the 340th anniversary of the reincorporation of New Amsterdam by the English into the colony of New York. Its an important and momentous occasion, a turning point not only in the development of New York, but America in general. ((L.E. Modesitt Jr. Ghost books, as a divergence, have a Dutch-dominated New York and New England surviving British attempts at incorporation).
So, the handover of a valuable colony or country between rivals…and the people in the colony caught in the crossfire…
I liked the whole Maquis sub-plot for Star Trek, but that’s pretty much a done thing. Since I’m gearing up for Shadowrun, let’s see where inspiration leads me.
In Lunchtime Poll #31 Li asks:
I’ve said before that I tend to think of roleplaying as improv theater to a certain extent, and pacing is an important part of any production. To a certain extent, I think that if the timing is managed well, it’s invisible to the players. So, what are your thoughts on pacing?
Pacing, done well, is wonderful. Unfortunately, when I GM, I’m usually busy juggling other things and attempts at controlling it are often doomed. There’s a perfectly functional solution– make the players responsible for it. The “if you think it’s dramatic, join in”, is a good way to hook people and keep their interest even while off-screen. Sure, plausability can stretch, but if everyone’s excited, let plausibility break.
Ok guys and gals, the other thread I just started the ‘News in the Shadows’ thread is going to be a fairly constantly updated thread with the various headlines and basic shadow related info your chars would find out about during the week, either on news nets, shadowland bbs, or word of mouth from their chummers.
I’m going to ask that you try to check here Friday or Saturday each week, basically to keep yourself (and your character up to date on going on’s). If you don’t check, then your character is not keeping up on the news so you may have to rely on word of mouth from the rest of the group.
I’ll use this as the thread for the out of character info/talk as we go thru the game. So check back here often.