March 31 Approaches... You Will Be Swallowed by the Green Devil Face!

The deadline for submissions to Green Devil Face, the zine of traps and tricks to drop into your own dungeons, is March 31! Then I can start dealing with the people that made submissions and deal with things like formatting and such. Cross fingers that the release date won't be any later than mid-April.

If you want a copy of Fantasy Fucking Vietnam, I'd get one rather soon. When Green Devil Face goes on sale, FFV is going to be "reskinned," so to speak, as GDF #1, with a cover and new introduction. Aside from being a rather odd commentary about online "old school" politics of the time (oh so long ago), it was set up as a 'funhouse dungeon' not to have a cohesive adventure to run a group through, but to have a lot on individual neat bits that could be stolen... and that had absolutely no relationship to each other. The idea wasn't "Pay some bucks for my incredible wit!" It was "Pay a few bucks for this little idea mine... and the wit's on us!" (of course, the amount of actual included wit was subject to debate...)

With Green Devil Face going forward and being a bit more clear about what it is (with no "scene politics" for the new material... well, deadline's not up yet so no scene politics yet!), I thought I'd slap a fresh new coat of paint on the previous release. And since it's looking so far like the new GDF will be in the 10-15 page range (barring a huge flood of submissions of course), there's a chance that the two of them together could still be in the minimum postage fee weight. It's going to be as inexpensive as I can make it, but there's not much I can do about postage costs so anything I can do to make that postage cost go as far as possible...

The good news for me is I got a booklet stapler while in Sweden (for a fraction of the cost they sell them for here in Finland) so I can do everything in-house. Did a few test booklets this morning (you should see my sweet Holmes booklet now!) and they look just fine.

What We Need is All We Need

Something's been bugging me about Wednesday's post. Something rather obvious.

If that set could be a reality, in that form, that would be all that we actually really need. No need to point to another rules set, no "graduating" from there to a more advanced or complete form of the game. All of the levels could be included in the box, as higher levels are really just a matter of extended spell lists, and OD&D and Meepo's Holmes Companion show that it doesn't take all that many pages to detail them (even if there is Mentzer level detail to the spells, it wouldn't take that much more room). This could be it.

Not that further supplements and adventures wouldn't be excellent, and even vital to the game (see my notes on that matter here), but the idea that the intro set should be anything less than a fully playable, never-need-anything-else product is foolish from a hobbyist standpoint.

What we need is not an intro to the game to be readily available and easily digested by people. What we need is for the entire game itself to be readily available (and easily affordable!) and easily digested by people.

Now I'm envisioning a game book in the form of a magazine, 128 pages, with everything in it, and the Mentzer-style tutorial intro as an attached (centerpiece pull-out?) item. Attach a covermount CD with various optional rules and adventures and idea-builders and maybe historical essays on role-playing and different methods of playing. Two versions: Book-with-extras for the existing hobbyists, and the box version for luring in the kiddies. I think this could be done with a retail price of under $15 ($20 for the box?), especially if third party publishers sponsor the deal through ads (maybe a pay-for-inclusion on the CD, like the music mags do it?) in the back.

I would still put dice and a full-length adventures printed adventures (and the reading guide!) in the box. Remember that the theoretical audience for this is people who have never played before. Kids who will see the cover art and go "Cool!" Give them as much as possible to work from.

Third Anniversary...

... of my getting back into the D&D swing of things.

Check this.

What I Want From What We Need

Grognardia's got a note about the lack of a true intro set that would be available in normal stores next to all the other games like Clue and Monopoly.

If there's one thing we've all learned, it's that we'll all be stone cold dead waiting for the trademark holders to produce what we want, what we need, or what's best for the hobby or the game. What we've learned is that we can do it ourselves.

What a huge bother it would be, setting all this up and attempting to market it. And that's all this would be... pure marketing, with no existing market, since the whole point is to introduce people who aren't already in, and do it in a way that's self-contained.

My concern for the purposes of this post:

What should be in it?

6 booklets, dice, and a few sheets of reference charts, that's what.

Yes, six booklets.

The first booklet would be just like pages 2 - 22 in the Mentzer Basic Players Book. A tutorial, introducing the basics of the game. (This one should also be mass produced as a freebie giveaway in game stores and maybe with specialty mail order shops to be dropped in with orders)

The second booklet would be character creation, class/race abilities, the XP charts, equipment lists, etc. This booklet would probably be very short.

The third booklet would likely be the largest, as it would have all the rules of the game. The nuts and bolts, as well as spell lists and that sort of thing.

The fourth and fifth booklets would be adventures. One would be a dungeon adventure, with do-it-yourself dungeonbuilding/adventure creation advice. The other would be a wilderness adventure, with world- and campaign-building advice.

The sixth booklet, which would be just a dream (more than the whole idea) and least likely to get in, would be a reading (and viewing) guide. Appendix N come to life, if you will, discussing various elements of the genre and perhaps where the inspiration for certain mechanics originated from. Not in-depth critical essays or anything, just a breezy walkthrough. It will give the whole thing context, because there is no reason to expect that the 10 - 12 year old kid we'd be targeting would have any clue about Jack Vance or HP Lovecraft or even RE Howard, and a lot of the stuff in the game (MAGIC SYSTEM) is just going to seem so foreign and unrelatable to someone whose entire fantasy education is Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies.

Because this is just an intro set (and should be clearly marked as such), the booklets and dice can be made of the shoddiest materials available. I'm talking newsprint, with not even covers on the individual booklets. The art can be that evocative black and white traditional lineart. The box itself needs to be twelve kinds of heavy-duty cool though, with superior quality art and materials.

But the intro set should also be its own fully self-contained game, going to perhaps level 10 to 12 or whatever. Certainly advertise the other versions of the rules and entice people with all the cool add-ons and ideas to be had in them, and in the adventure modules, and in the game-enhancing supplementary products, but nothing more than the intro box set should ever be needed to play a game. We're trying to create gamers and hobbyists, not suppliers of a continuing revenue stream.

An Arneson Quote

"The most fun was when the players were stuck about what to do next. Some of the discussions were priceless!"

I don't know what it's like when you guys run games... but I agree with this. When the players decide to do something, then oh god, I have to manage resolutions and select/invent/pretend to know which rules to use and everything prepared after that point might have to be altered to take current actions into consideration... work, work, work!

But those times when players are not sure what to do next and are arguing amongst themselves and selling outrageous plans and strategies to each other... why, I'm having so much fun that I often don't even look at those wandering monsters dice I'm throwing!

Open Game Table is Out Now!

Ad copy from The Core Mechanic:

"Open Game Table aims to bridge the gap between the RPG blogging community and the broader table-top gaming fan base by showcasing the best talent in the RPG blogosphere. Within these pages are 47 blog posts from 32 top-quality RPG blogs, plus a Foreword written by RPG luminary Wolfgang Baur. After six months of hard work, I am very happy to say this anthology is finally here for your enjoyment!!!

Packed with the best in RPG blogging and over 60 illustrations, this book is Pure Gold. The anthology chapters cover a wide variety of topics for fans of all table-top roleplaying games, including:

1. Play Style;
2. Game Play;
3. Characters & Players;
4. Monsters & NPCs;
5. Encounters, Settings, and Locations;
6. Adventure Design;
7. Campaign Setting Design;
8. Classes, Action, and Equipment;
9. RPG History & Commentary; and
10. The RPG Toolbox.

This anthology is the result of the hard work of nearly 100 volunteers, authors, editors, judges, artists, and designers. A true grass roots effort; it is a tour de force of the RPG blogging universe.

The book is shipping from Lulu Marketplace and Amazon.com for $22.95. Soon, it will also be available from Indie Press Revolutions."

I've got two articles in there ("Guide to Adventure Writing" and "Is This How D&D Is Supposed to be Played?"), and other names you're familiar with (Maliszewski, Bowman, Rients) are also in there. It's almost kind of pointless promoing a book about exposing the blogs to general gamerdom in a blog (we know already!), but it would also seem weird to just ignore that it's out. My local game shop stocks some things through IPR so it might be cool seeing something of mine on an actual retail shelf, and if this project has any feet, it would be worth it just to get the West Marches essays out there.

Inspirational Music Videos

Not just songs, but music videos (official or not), that just get that role-playing style creativity spiking.

Frustration

As one project races towards completion (I hope to have something to announce by the end of the week oh no I've jinxed it), and another looms large after that...

I stay off of message boards for the most part these days. I find that blogs make it easier to filter out junk. If a blogger appeals to your general tastes, you read him. If not, you don't. On message boards, you've got to learn half a million names and figure out what each is all about through a patchwork of topics, and then topics you're interested in get siderailed by people you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire, and...

Yeah. For the most part when it comes to gaming now, I just read the OD&D board, the blogs on the right when a topic seems interesting (more interested in reading theory and history and facts and opinions on the day's topics than about people's games), and RPG.net (because I love a good car wreck and I find myself disagreeing with almost everything written there by everyone, top to bottom, and it's a deadly oppressive atmosphere to boot... like a meta-gaming 1984 netLARP. It's fun looking into bizarro world...).

The big advantage of blogs is you don't have to be considerate of other people. lotfp.blogspot.com is my house as far as I'm concerned, and if I want to lean back and put my muddy shoes up on the sofa while scratching my balls, I will. That's what it's for, really.

I'm thinking of all of this because, well, Dave Arneson just threadcrapped me. Which is fair enough, I know I've probably threadcrapped my fair share on boards, and probably far more than I realize (since I really don't intend to do such things unless it's just ridiculous). But I have experience with how celebrities are treated and how they react to criticism... mostly on music boards. Musicians join message boards where their praises are gloriously sang, and then leave in a huff (decrying the rampant negativity) when someone dares criticize the smallest thing they've done. They don't address criticism and don't want to explain themselves to a critic. They just want to bask in the sunshine radiating from the asses of their adoring public. Then all the other posters, who enjoy having the musician there to witness their fellating, get mad at the guy who drove Mr. Prissypants away and then it's just a mess.

I have no idea if Arneson would react this way, but I don't feel like dealing with the drama if he does.

But I do fiercely disagree with everything he said, and I'm going to address it here, in my house. Listen if you wish.

Arneson's quote:

As I have said many times before. Work with what works for you. But be very aware that this adds complications and draw you and your players away from the real treasure, THE STORY. Always remember too that the PLAYER WOULD actually not know the monster stats etc. The have to learn them the hard way Maybe you pack train is loaded down with hundreds of obscure scrolls and tomes. Mine weren't.

"Roll the dice and I will tell you you hit!"

Where to begin?

Work with what works for you is about as non-useful as non-advice gets. It doesn't answer any question and actively suppresses discussion if you're not sure if something would for you in the first place. I'm asking because I don't know, right? And as if someone was in danger of dumping something that did work for them?

But that's nitpicking, because when this "advice" is given it feels like it's a reflex action of message board response (or a disclaimer along the lines of IMO where someone neuters their own opinion) and not really something people think too much about when they say it.

But be very aware that this adds complications and draw you and your players away from the real treasure, THE STORY. I can be uncharitable and say that this sounds like sour grapes that I might be using an only-Gary book with the version Arneson co-designed. I could be rather inquisitive and ask how exactly a fresh set of creatures to add variety to the creatures in the OD&D books might add complications, but then he might be thinking that the Greyhawk multiple attacks/variable damage system adds complications as well.

I could rip apart "THE STORY" as something to be treasured, as such a thing can not be safeguarded or drawn to or away from without destroying the very essence of why I play (to discover the story, not to write it!), but that's a fairly dead horse in this community. Although if we go along with the assumption that the story would be compromised by using the Monster Manual with OD&D, I'm still completely at a loss how that would happen.

If he really does mean that a slight mechanical complication of multiple attacks, or having to eyeball AD&D stats to OD&D (like old-timers, and surely after 25 years of gaming I may lay claim to at least that title, don't have constant experience eyeballing AD&D-Mentzer-2e (and back) conversions) really does damage the quality of plotline that the referee is supposed to be presenting to his players... well then... wow. And not a good wow. If that's the case, then I suppose we should be glad that the other half of the authorial duo took stewardship of the game.

Always remember too that the PLAYER WOULD actually not know the monster stats etc. The have to learn them the hard way goes along with "Roll the dice and I will tell you you hit!" This is dick refereeing. Not to mention it burdens the referee with more secrecy and bookkeeping than necessary. When combat happens, I freely give out a creature's AC and damage potential. I don't care what the player rolls, I just need to know if he hit, and if he did, how much damage he caused. Often a player's combat turn comes up, "Nope, nothing this round," if it's the party against one enemy. I roll enemy combatant to-hit rolls and damage in the open, so players get that information. Sometimes I give away hit points when it's the end of combat and winning and losing is coming down to who gets the next good swing in.

Maybe that gives away too much, but I figure once you're actually in combat with somebody/thing, you're going to be aware of the basics real quick. You'll know when a foe is on the ropes and ripe for the kill. First level characters aren't the incompetents they are often made out to be. A first level fighting man is a veteran for crying out loud. And if something is standard enough to be in a published monster book (you now, standardized), I figure legends have gotten around. Especially if a player guesses the monster from a verbal description rather than "You see a troll."

Maybe you pack train is loaded down with hundreds of obscure scrolls and tomes. Mine weren't.

Maybe my pack train is loaded with a great variety of tools so as to give me as many options, ideas, and inspirations as possible without being limited merely to my own imagination.

It's Almost March 31, and This Wasn't Even My Idea

"I had a dream where I was wearing this skirt with the green devil face," she says.

"Uhhhm. OK," I say.

And she made it. She says she's wearing it for our trip to Stockholm this week.

Which is a good excuse to remind you of two things:

• Green Devil Face submissions need to be in by March 31. I know every single person reading this has some weird trap they've always wanted to see in print. (Grimtooth, are you out there?)
• I'll be gone the next few days, so those of you who enjoy trolling the blog have carte blanche until I get back.

Seriously though, if she's going to make a skirt based on a 1978 David Trampier illustration, she should probably play in an actual game a time or two. HINT HINT. :P :P

I Have a Forum

Not that I've used it that much, but it is just sitting there, so if anyone wants to talk about anything even tangentially related to this blog or my RPG writing or anything at all that might seem to make sense together with the terms "LotFP" and "RPGs"... go here.

For an added bonus (and perhaps a source of embarrassment; I haven't looked at these posts in many years) you can search to the beginning of the forum and some of my RPG thoughts from 2003 or so when I was putting my own game together...