Well, after a couple of weeks of intense constant grading, mentoring, reading, testing, and such, I've hit a lull in things at school. I'm not complaining. I'm actually very grateful. I can spend some time thinking about the games I'm running or in, catch up on reading other folks' blogs or FB posts, and just relax some. My evaluation meeting went well this morning, so I presume they'll invite me back for another year of teaching. Cool.
In getting caught up, I read that Jean Wells passed away quite suddenly and quite young. I often read her work in the Dragon. Like so many of the other folks (Arneson, Gygax, Bledsaw), I never got a chance to say "Thank you for a great game". That's why I always try to make it to the North Texas RPG con. I get to tell Tim Kask and Steve Winter and Jim Ward and Paul Jaquays and Rob Kuntz and Frank Mentzer and Erol Otus, "Thank you".
Remember, life's too short to play games which are no fun. Life's too short to be unhappy with who you are. Be yourself. If other folks don't like who you are, that's their problem.
Those who mind, don't matter. And those who matter, don't mind.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Trying Again
Well, I'm obviously not a blogger. Life's just too busy. However, with a combination of an election year plus a new edition of my favorite game (though, they left me behind last edition), I figure I should try to do something with this. Maybe it'll just be a place to record the previous game sessions as well as throw out some gaming ideas I get. We'll see.
So, right now, I'm in two gaming groups. The one group (the McK group, as I call them) has been playing Pathfinder. We started several years ago with 3rd Edition D&D, then switched to 3.5. When 4th ed came out, we were all so turned off by its pandering to video gamers that we kept playing 3.5. Then Pathfinder started to trickle into our awareness. It looked interesting but the rulebook was $50 and as big as a college textbook. Initially, I was all "oooo...cooool". Then I decided it really wasn't for me because I was already having trouble making 3.5 work when I DM'ed it. It was just too complex, combat took forever, and the min/maxer's in the group made allegedly challenging encounters into child's play. I gave up on it when a group of 8 6th level characters killed TWO adult dragons. Yeah. Not one, but two...and they were adult. That's when I told the group that if they wanted me to run a D&D game, it will be house-ruled 1st ed AD&D. And more than likely, it would be OD&D in the form of Swords & Wizardry Core. Period.
And that pushed one of the other DM's to step up and start running PF. I randomly rolled as much as I possibly could, even the choice of feats. The min/maxer's are appalled at my character. The best part for me is the Wand of Wonder he bought. I love screwing with them all.
In my other group, which my wife calls "The Grown Ups", we're playing Flashing Blades which is/was published by Fantasy Games Unlimited. They're mainly known for publishing Villians & Vigilantes. It's been fun. The game sessions are recorded here. Unfortunately, the GM is giving up gaming for Lent. (I know!) So, one of the other players is going to be stepping in with Space: 1889 using Savage World ruleset. I'm curious to see how this works since I've read the ruleset but never had a chance to play it.
That's enough chatter for now. Maybe more later. If I don't forget I have this thing....which I did for a while there.
So, right now, I'm in two gaming groups. The one group (the McK group, as I call them) has been playing Pathfinder. We started several years ago with 3rd Edition D&D, then switched to 3.5. When 4th ed came out, we were all so turned off by its pandering to video gamers that we kept playing 3.5. Then Pathfinder started to trickle into our awareness. It looked interesting but the rulebook was $50 and as big as a college textbook. Initially, I was all "oooo...cooool". Then I decided it really wasn't for me because I was already having trouble making 3.5 work when I DM'ed it. It was just too complex, combat took forever, and the min/maxer's in the group made allegedly challenging encounters into child's play. I gave up on it when a group of 8 6th level characters killed TWO adult dragons. Yeah. Not one, but two...and they were adult. That's when I told the group that if they wanted me to run a D&D game, it will be house-ruled 1st ed AD&D. And more than likely, it would be OD&D in the form of Swords & Wizardry Core. Period.
And that pushed one of the other DM's to step up and start running PF. I randomly rolled as much as I possibly could, even the choice of feats. The min/maxer's are appalled at my character. The best part for me is the Wand of Wonder he bought. I love screwing with them all.
In my other group, which my wife calls "The Grown Ups", we're playing Flashing Blades which is/was published by Fantasy Games Unlimited. They're mainly known for publishing Villians & Vigilantes. It's been fun. The game sessions are recorded here. Unfortunately, the GM is giving up gaming for Lent. (I know!) So, one of the other players is going to be stepping in with Space: 1889 using Savage World ruleset. I'm curious to see how this works since I've read the ruleset but never had a chance to play it.
That's enough chatter for now. Maybe more later. If I don't forget I have this thing....which I did for a while there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)