Tomorrow is Independence Day. Or Itsenäisyys Päivä if you want to get all native.
Sunday I celebrate my 34th birthday. Actually I'm celebrating it on Monday morning at a certain restaurant when it opens (damn Sundays).
And most of the weekend I'll be at the girlfriend's house, which means no frequent posting here, if at all. But I do have some notes.
I've fallen in luuuurve with Holmes D&D. Combine that with certain fan-made expansions and there are some really good ideas that bridge OD&D and more modern forms. One thing I will be doing over the weekend is sketching out ideas so when I return I can present an official way to calculate Dexterity for The Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Games and Their Modern Simulacra. And then get back to my research.
I'll also be deciding what I want in my Official Folder. Yesterday was Tax Return Day (when everyone gets their 2007 tax refunds... this country is weird) so I bought some paper supplies and notebooks. I'm converting all my A4 sized-stuff to A5, and gotten a hard binder to hold it in, so I have to decide exactly what all will go in. Holmes' D&D, Meepo's expansion, Gygax's "D&D is Only as Good as the DM" essay, Michael Curtis' Dungeon Alphabet, a copy of the Creature Generator (with some some reorganization notes included), a reformatted Central Casting: Dungeons, and perhaps Finch's City Encounters and Eldritch Weirdness.
What goes in your Official Folder? What else should I have in mine?
Sunday I celebrate my 34th birthday. Actually I'm celebrating it on Monday morning at a certain restaurant when it opens (damn Sundays).
And most of the weekend I'll be at the girlfriend's house, which means no frequent posting here, if at all. But I do have some notes.
I've fallen in luuuurve with Holmes D&D. Combine that with certain fan-made expansions and there are some really good ideas that bridge OD&D and more modern forms. One thing I will be doing over the weekend is sketching out ideas so when I return I can present an official way to calculate Dexterity for The Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Games and Their Modern Simulacra. And then get back to my research.
I'll also be deciding what I want in my Official Folder. Yesterday was Tax Return Day (when everyone gets their 2007 tax refunds... this country is weird) so I bought some paper supplies and notebooks. I'm converting all my A4 sized-stuff to A5, and gotten a hard binder to hold it in, so I have to decide exactly what all will go in. Holmes' D&D, Meepo's expansion, Gygax's "D&D is Only as Good as the DM" essay, Michael Curtis' Dungeon Alphabet, a copy of the Creature Generator (with some some reorganization notes included), a reformatted Central Casting: Dungeons, and perhaps Finch's City Encounters and Eldritch Weirdness.
What goes in your Official Folder? What else should I have in mine?
This is probably a more exhaustive answer than you want, but I happen to be revising my DM binder today, so I've been thinking about it. Right now, my DM binder contains:
ReplyDelete* A "Men & Magic" section with my full rules document (integrating Vol. I with some elements of the supplements and The Strategic Review) and the EGG piece "The Dungeons & Dragons Magic System". My new setting uses only Fighting Men and Magic-Users, so I have to edit the rules document soon.
* A "Monsters & Treasure" section with new monsters and Ioun Stones from Review; "Demonology Made Easy: or, How to Deal with Orcus for Fun and Profit"; "Varieties of Vampires"; and, "Blueprint for a Lich" -- one of the few Lakofka offerings I ever liked; and notes and stats on my own homebrew monsters.
* An "Underworld and Wilderness Adventures" section with some cool dungeon maps and a lot of Review/Dragon articles: the original "Solo Dungeon Adventures" piece for OD&D; an article called "Orgies, Inc." with the first iteration I've seen of the "xp only for gold you spend" variant; "Designing for Unique Wilderness Encounters"; "Let There Be A Method To Your Madness"; "Random Events Table for Settlements and/or Settled Areas"; and "Pits", which first taughted me that 1 in 12 of the people encountered in pits are beer merchants. I've also got Mythmere's "Primer" and some notes by TFoster on dungeon design; notes on assorted Underworld regions, rooms, tricks, traps; notes on some cool stuff from the 3.5 product (!) Dungeonscape; and a list of themed levels and demi-planes.
* A "Setting" section including "To Select A Mythos" by Bob Bledsaw and an absolute buttload of handwritten notes.
* An "NPCs" section.
* A spare copy of "Ready Ref Sheets" with holes punched.
I love Holmes as well. It's a terrific version of the game with its own unique flavor and I've been tempted to use it more than a few times myself.
ReplyDeleteI just started putting my binder in my GoogleDocs folder, which works well for the documents and link type of stuff, but not so well for pictures, maps, etc - so ultimately, I end up printing what I need to take to games or to long visits at the in-laws ;)
ReplyDeleteIn my paper binder, I like to have one or two throwaway dungeons/encounters, "just in case".
In my virtual binder, I have the enter Grayspar7777 thread, chopped up into his "overall DM" comments, his "zombiepocalypse" game recap and his "elements" worldbuilding. Although his mechanics were 3e, his approach to DM'ing is fantastic and gives me a lot to think about.
I also have my houserules printed in my paper binder and in my virtual binder.
I realized that I should have provided a link to the Grayspar7777 thread: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=471897
ReplyDeleteI carry the following in my little white 1974 D&D box:
ReplyDelete1. Men & Magic
2. Monsters & Treasure
3. The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
4. Supplement V: CARCOSA
5. The Random Esoteric Creature Generator
Funny you should ask--I just posted about putting together my "Advanced" D&D folder.
ReplyDeletehttp://shirosrpg.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-i-spent-my-thanksgiving.html
Thanks for the reminder on the Dungeon Alphabet. I'll certainly be including that in my planned "Basic" D&D folder.
I'm pleased to see my doggerel in such esteemed company.
ReplyDeleteI really need to start assembling a ref's notebook for the first foray into Ol' Nameless. I need to hash out a few more house rules before I undertake such a project, however.
I've got your creature generator, Matty Finch's city encounter tables, TSR's random treasure and monster tables (can't recall their exact name), and Judges Guild's Ready Ref Tables. And copies on Fight On! Of course.
ReplyDeleteGclub8 คาสิโน รูปแบบใหม่ เปิด ให้บริการ 24 ชั่วโมง ด้วยระบบ ฝาก ถอนเงินแบบออโต้ PGSLOT จึงทำให้ได้รับความนิยม เว็บไซต์ คาสิโน ชั้น 1 อาณาจักรมีเพรียบ และ กองทัพเกมส์ เยอะมากนานา
ReplyDelete