Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Chapter 12 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner and co. enjoy some well deserved down time in Chapter 12.

Happy Holidays, gang! Man, what a couple of months I've had. To sum it all up, I've been sick a couple times and been having problems with my gall bladder. Delightful! So things are moving a little slower here than I'd like. Ah well, we shall persist.

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Chapter 11 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner and co. solve a new problem in Chapter 11.

If it's not one thing, it's another. Doctor's appointment tomorrow, hopefully we'll get me sorted out so I can get back to my routine.

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Chapter 10 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Consequences catch up with Reiner in Chapter 10.

I've been pretty ill all week so audio files will be a bit delayed.

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Chapter 09 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner battles a wyvern and the party has a few too many drinks in Chapter 9 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Session 32 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

The Greylord Magiya are prepared for surprise cougar.

OK, folks, we have internet at the new house so schedules can go back to normal! I will post a Barking Up the Wrong Tree chapter this weekend and then we'll be back in action for realsies style.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Chapter 08 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner prepares to battle a wyvern in Chapter 8 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Session 05 :: Tranquility, a Dragon Age RPG Campaign

The mages get in over their heads in the last session of our Dragon Age RPG short campaign. We do intend to continue this down the road and make it a "trilogy" of sorts. Stay tuned!

Music by Artofescapism

Need to get caught up on all the sweet all-mage-party action? You can do so here!

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Hiatus

Real quick: I've got some stuff going on right now so schedule is going to slow down for the next couple weeks. Shouldn't be any longer than that but life is crazy and you never know. Here's my Inktober doodle of Kata from Barking Up the Wrong Tree to apologize: 

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Chapter 07 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner storms a castle in Chapter 7 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Session 04 :: Tranquility, a Dragon Age RPG Campaign

The mages get the heck out of town in our Dragon Age RPG short campaign.

Music by Artofescapism

Need to get caught up on all the sweet all-mage-party action? You can do so here!

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Session 31 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

The Greylord Magiya rush their prize back to Merywyn, we learn what Elenora's been up to, and the city is besieged.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Chapter 06 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner remembers his dreams and wishes he didn't in Chapter 6 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Session 03 :: Tranquility, a Dragon Age RPG Campaign

The mages poke some bears they maybe shouldn't in our Dragon Age RPG short campaign.

Music by Artofescapism

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Session 30 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

The Greylord Magiya enacts their plan versus an Iosan army.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Chapter 05 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner deals with the aftermath of Astrid's problem in Chapter 5 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Session 29 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

The Greylord Magiya sets out to return what was taken from the Motherland.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Chapter 04 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner is roped into helping out in a situation he's not entirely comfortable with in Chapter 4 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Session 02 :: Tranquility, a Dragon Age RPG Campaign

The mages continue their adventure in our Dragon Age RPG short campaign.


As you can probably tell, life has returned to some sort of rhythm and I'm experimenting with some new posting schedules. When I get it nailed down, I'll let you all know. The important part is that you can expect the trend of multiple posts per week to continue.
Music by Artofescapism

Friday, September 15, 2017

All Gates Continues:: a New World of Darkness 1st Edition Sequel

We revisited our hard-working friends from Crane Co. by popular demand on Memorial Day to see their various coping strategies and to delve deeper into the mystery.

Music by Monroeville Music Center

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Session 28 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

Things are getting tense for the Greylord Magiya as new information is brought forth.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Chapter 03 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


Reiner and co. continue their exploits in Thedas in Chapter 3 (txt version here).

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Session 01 :: Tranquility, a Dragon Age RPG Campaign

A Dragon Age RPG short campaign taking place in the midst of the Mage-Templar War, in which Randy has convinced everyone to play a mage.

Music by Artofescapism

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Session 27 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

In which prisoners are tortured, loyalties are defined more clearly, and plans are made.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Chapter 02 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of our game. You can now read Chapter 2 here (or the txt file here). If you're jonesing for some audio files, never fear! I'll be posting more Greylord Magiya this weekend and adding in a short Dragon Age RPG campaign to the mix.

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Get caught up on all the sweet text-based action here.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Chapter 01 :: Barking Up the Wrong Tree, a Dragon Age RPG Text Game


I'm pretty excited about sharing this game with you. Josh, whom you know from such characters as Vandestelka in the Greylord Magiya and Miles in our nWoD Halloween game, and I have been filling in some of our free time with some text-based RP over a messaging app. We both share a love of the Dragon Age setting and so have decided to entertain ourselves with the Dragon Age RPG! It's been going well thus far so I've decided to share it with you all, too. So, without further ado, please enjoy reading the first chapter of Barking Up the Wrong Tree. (Or, you can read it here in .txt format.

Art by Randy (and all copyrights and whatnot), whom you know as Kirill, Mark from Document Services, and more! Buy some of his stuff here.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Session 26 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

In which we have a party and meet some old friends.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Discbound Notebooks for GMs and Players


I took my beautiful white discbound notebook to GenCon with me this year as my be-all, end-all GenCon reference. I loved every minute of it. That makes four well-tested, well-loved discbound notebooks that I use currently: GenCon, Rifts campaign, player notebook, work notes.





I know what you're thinking: "those are those girly things crazy scrapbookers use, why would I want to touch one?" Good question; they have definitely been marketed to and adopted by a specific niche of folks. The answer is that they combine all the good things about three-ring binders and spiral notebooks. It is easy to take things in and out, move things around, punch holes in just about whatever to stick in there, etc. Because the rings are close together, you can punch an index card with stats on it to pop it in and have it hold securely. Take the card out for use in your game, put it back in later. You can add pocket folders, dividers, sheet protectors, and pretty much anything else you might add to a regular binder. The pages are surprisingly secure, too. My Greylord Magiya note pages, for example, rip through the holes almost immediately upon use so they're kept in the binder with those little reinforcement stickers and hope. I haven't had any issues like that with pages in my discbound books (save for an experiment in creating my own pocket folders and those lessons have been learned).





Expect more on this in the future as I've become completely obsessed. In the meantime, here's some resources for you:

Levenger makes some classy, high quality discbound products in their line they call Circa. I have been especially coveting these discs that can hold your pen.

I love the look of Dokibook's Discagenda discs with a hole in the center of them. Some of their stuff is a little...flouncy for my tastes but it's hard to say no to stylish discs in solid aluminum.

Most of what I get is the Arc system from Staples. Everything's inexpensive and good enough quality for my purposes. Staples is also home to the Martha Stewart discbound line, which has some nicer covers with elastic built in and interesting colors.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Delayed

Well guys, I didn't get an actual play posted, I've been painting gatormen minis like mad. But hey, we're here having fun at GenCon. Have some pictures!

















Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Frivolous Gaming at GenCon 2017

Hi folks! I'll have another Greylord Magiya session posted this weekend but in the meantime, who is excited about GenCon?! If you can track me down (or are attending one of my games) I'll have a special treat for you. Speaking of games, I'm running two sessions of my IKRPG adventure Just an Urban Legend. I'm excited to share IKRPG with other gamers and hope I can convert some of them. In general, though, I'm keeping my schedule very light due to my current mobility issues. I had some serious knee surgery at the end of June and have only been able to start bearing weight on it about two weeks ago. My exhibit hall prowling and aimless wandering will have to be kept to a minimum and I may end up just lying around quite a bit. Outside of my games I'm running, I have a few seminars I'll tentatively attend and one game with my pals from Crit This! and the Esoteric Order of Roleplayers. Will I continue my streak of finding a Slenderman cosplay? We can only hope.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Session 25 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

We start a new season with business attended to and Zerkova's promotion.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Session 24 :: the Greylord Magiya, an Iron Kingdoms RPG Campaign

The newly formed B team of the Greylord Magiya explore rumors of a device of possible Orgoth origins. Loosely based on the first part of the Immortality published adventure.

Music by Kosta T

Miss any of the previous episodes? Get caught up here.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Favorite GM Prep Materials

I will get back to posting our actual-plays, I promise. I have a laundry list of excuses but I'm sure you're not interested in any of them. In the meantime, enjoy this blog post.

I'm an analog sort of GM. I like books. I like binders. Prepping for a game with a nice pen and smooth paper, books open and strewn across the table is a nigh religious experience for me. I realize this is not for everyone. Take my friend and fellow GM Sean, for example. He has his tidy little tablet. He keeps his prep notes on there. He keeps his game books on there. What physical books he has are not for other people to touch (unless he's quite fond of you...or you're sneaky.) It's safe to say we're pretty opposite ends of this particular spectrum. I hate reading digital products. My prep work for our Savage Rifts campaign did not begin in earnest until my actual, physical copies of the books arrived. They were licked. It was glorious.

All that being said, I thought I'd share some of what I like to use to make sure my game prep sessions are utterly satisfying.

First, let's talk pens. While it may be at odds with his love for digital gaming products, Sean has a deep and abiding love for nice writing utensils and turned me on to the deep deep rabbit hole that is Jet Pens. There, I found the perfect solution for my needs: the Uni Style Fit gel line of multi-pens. The Uni Style Fit Meister 5 Color Multi Pen fits all my needs as a GM: different color inks I can pick myself for color-coding notes, a mechanical pencil option, and an eraser. Jeez. Love this thing. I have two. I can have four different shades of blue and still have a pencil available, too. All this in one pen body that isn't nearly as fat as you might think it is. If you want something a bit classier or you only need a few inks, try the Uni Style Fit Meister 3 Color Multi Pen with it's beautiful metal body and slimmer design. My only beef with this one is that it has no built-in eraser. Jet Pens has even compiled their own handy blog post about it.

Even more difficult than finding the right pen has been putting together the right notebook. I did binders for a long time. My Greylord Magiya binder has gone through a few permutations and ended up with a softer cover and some paper I printed myself. I discovered law ruled paper on Printable Paper and found that it was ideal, though the lines are still too wide-set for my preference of tiny writing. I slapped a dot grid on the backside and whammy, I had some pretty great paper for my game prep.

Concurrently, I fell in love with B5 sized binders. Maruman and Kokuyo both make some deliciously silky paper to write on and the size was perfect for a game table. I use mine for my Wednesday One-Shot games, where I have less to bring to the table and keep with the notebook. The big downside is that B5 paper reams for your printer are a bit pricey and so I never really got around to printing things out to fit into the notebook. The hole punches are also a bit over-the-top expensive!

So here we are now, with our Savage Rifts campaign in its infancy and I'm working on my first scenario to run at GenCon. For my brief stint running Pendragon, I had tried out a discbound notebook and was pleased with it. That campaign was short-lived. I used the same notebook again for the Imitation of Life short campaign and liked it even more. It's been called back into duty for Savage Rifts and I am smitten. It has all the joy of a spiral-bound notebook with the convenience of a three-ring binder. I got bigger discs for the inevitable note-glut of a long, character-driven campaign. I got materials to make another book for my GenCon EVERYTHING, including notes for my scenario I'll be running there. I'm hooked, folks. You can punch your own paper or use any of the papers pre-punched for discbound notebooks. Including odd-sized pieces is easy; even small items like index cards (my favorite for stat cards) or notes passed at the table can be punched and stay secure in the notebook thanks to the many rings. My biggest problem is that most of the other folks using discbound notebooks are rabid scrapbooking people, so a lot of covers you'll find are printed with inspirational quotes, flowers, butterflies, and generally look like the craft store equivalent of a hairball. Fret not, though; you can keep it classy (or downright intimidating to your players) if you put your mind to it.

It should be noted, however, that dear Sean has fallen under the spell of discbound notebooks, too. I've seen with my own eyes some alleged game prep on actual paper for the Deadlands: Reloaded game he runs. In a discbound notebook. Clearly, they are irresistible. Mind you, I haven't actually been able to verify that it is actually game prep as I am a player in said game, but I believe him. Mostly.