October 2010

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Mana from Heaven (WR&M)

October 28, 2010 in Books, Rules, Seeking Feedback, World by Fitz | 5 comments

For a couple of years now I’ve been whining and moaning about how I’m not a system guy. I’m not. I’ve accepted that. My attempts at system often end up muddled messes that don’t scale well. And that has stymied me a bit as far as Moebius stuff goes.

Well, today I ran across a blog post today from John Payne over at Nevermet Press about Old School gaming. And he mentioned a game called Warrior, Rogue, and Mage that’s evidently been getting quite a bit of press since it’s debut a few months ago. Evidently I’m oblivious, but that’s nothing new. :)

Warrior, Rogue, and Mage (or WR&M) is a light rules system for fantasy roleplaying that’s been released under Creative Commons by Michael Wolf (Stargazer from Stargazer’s World and Stargazer Games). But beyond the free aspects, it is damn straightforward. And it embraces many of the ideas I was trying to implement in the revamped Moebius system. However, unlike my failed attempt at rules-light, WR&M provides a simple combat system that just… works!

So I think that with a little massaging I can easily migrate the Immortals’ Wake and Age of Phaedrus fantasy settings to use Stargazer’s system. And Covert Directives, which is more of a near-future cyberpunk setting, might be able to take advantage of some of the work started a few months ago by Mark Meredith at Dice Monkey for Pointman, Hacker & Thief – a modern spy adaptation of WR&M.

That leaves me with a bit of a conundrum however regarding the Creative Commons (CC) license of WR&M. The main game guide is licensed under the Attribution (cc-by), Non-Commercial (cc-nc), and Share-Alike (cc-sa) conditions.

Though “cc-by” seems to allow me the freedom to create a commercial product based on WR&M, the “cc-nc” and “cc-sa” conditions would seem to override that and not allow me to create a commercial product. I’m good with CC’ing any system tweaks (i.e. a “Moebius”-themed set of races, skills, and talents), but would like to release products for a small fee on RPGNow.com or in other venues.

Can anybody clarify how that would work? I *love* the system and am happy to extend it and allow folks to use my extensions as long as they attribute the extensions to me and the base game back to Stargazer – but I don’t want to make my setting details completely free… Seems like a catch-22.

Anyway… Minor quibbles… Back to devouring WR&M to better understand the ins/outs of the system…

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Momentum, or a lack thereof…

October 26, 2010 in blogs, Seeking Feedback by Fitz | 5 comments

So here I sit, wondering at what topics to address on this blog. The concept of Moebius Adventures is very much alive, and yet I have not released anything since the Core Rules book came out a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve attempted to revive the efforts of writing and publishing, revising and editing… but it’s never left the starting blocks.

Now I’m left without a current gaming group (had to leave the D&D group I was playing with due to time/travel/scheduling issues) and without a current writing project beyond the RPG review site I started – Game Knight Reviews.

I’m looking for some inspiration to get me going again – a raison d’etre to stay more than marginally involved in gaming. And without a group, that’s tough to do. So I’m guessing that’s going to be my first goal. Getting some folks together or joining something down here in Colorado Springs.

Since I recently reviewed Johnn Four’s book – Filling the empty chair – I think I’m going to start using some of the concepts from Four’s book and see what I come up with for a weekly or bi-weekly group.

But I’m interested in what other folks have done when they’ve hit this kind of a dead spot… What have you done to rekindle the ideas and creative juices when things have gone dry? Let me know in the comments – I’d love to hear your answers!

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Book Review: Martial Flavor – Chaotic Shiny Productions

October 21, 2010 in Books, Chaotic Shiny Productions, DriveThruRPG, Hannah Lipsky, Martial Flavor, Reviews, World Building by admin | No comments

When you look up the word “martial” in the dictionary, most definitions tend towards the use of a few key adjectives – warrior, warlike, or military. So I’d be lying if I said that the Martial Flavors book from Chaotic Shiny Productions focuses on mostly peaceful people. Most of these cultures could be described as mercenaries, raiders, or warriors whether they believe in the chain of command or the power of the strongest sword.

At a mere 55 pages, Martial Flavor has to be one of the most colorful supplements I’ve seen in a while. Color, art, fonts, and text boxes are used to provide a layout that’s easy on the eyes and convey details on multiple levels.

The use of color works well to denote different sections, such as green for the titles, introduction, and table of contents, and a red/green pattern for The Daikort Pack, a green/brown pattern for The Elessim, etc. And each section is laid out consistently from group to group – starting with a vignette, an overview, appearance, hierarchy, rituals, races, sample characters, powers, and feats.

The full color and black and white artwork used on the front and back covers and inside provides not only a great way to break up the text, but provide a feel for each culture’s dress and appearance as well as what’s important. For example, for The Daikort Pack, we see a full color picture of an fair-haired elven maid wearing leather and a plate breastplate, which tends to indicate she’s more ready for a fight than to go frolicking in the woods in which she’s standing. But for The Elessim, there are three horses in the picture on a broad grassy plain and one rider. Something tells me the horses are important!

The black and white art was also quite striking...

→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here...

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Book Review: Filling the empty chair by Johnn Four (RoleplayingTips.com)

October 19, 2010 in Advertising, Arizona, Books, Filling the empty chair, Gamer, Johnn Four, Reviews, RoleplayingTips.com, Website by admin | No comments

When you’re in school, it’s easy to find gamers. I remember playing with people in junior high and high school, in college and even immediately after college. But at some point it starts to get difficult. People have jobs and families and other commitments that don’t let them game as often as they’d like. Or maybe they’ve had to move for some reason (work, family, or school being the big three reasons)… Or perhaps a game has just drifted apart over time as they sometimes do.

How do you find other gamers in your area? Well, Filling the empty chair from Johnn Four of Roleplaying Tips fame (RoleplayingTips.com) aims to help you find other like-minded individuals near you to keep your gaming habit alive. Finding a good gaming group is sort of like finding a good pair of sneakers. You may have to try a few out before you find a good fit, and even then they may wear out over time. But don’t be discouraged… As Four says in his Introduction, “Gaming is too important as part of living a balanced, healthy and enjoyable life. Do not let it go by the wayside.”

The book starts by providing a list of eight pages of some of the best websites for finding gamers online. Sites include everything from some of the RPG-related Meetup.com sites and NearbyGamers.com to RPGRegistry.com and PenAndPaperGames.com. I’d never heard of many of the sites listed, but hope to take advantage of some of them to put a new group together myself.

The bulk of the book however is dedicated to tips on finding a group or recruiting players. The 28 tips included cover everything from having business cards you can pass out if you find someone who’s interested to hanging out in game or bookstores to inviting your family and non-gaming friends to join you. It’s never too late (or too early) to bring new people to the hobby.

→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here…

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