Diary of a Failed Game Designer

Cars this is a BMW M3 from 1985 And This is a BMW M3 fro 2013 Both of these ars are pretty darn cool, fast, and drivable. Some folks will say they like the  1985 M3 more, for whatever reasons.  It could be nostalgia, aesthetics, or they just like the ride whatever the reason Th dig the 1983. Some folks love the newest BMW M3 and will shout from the mountain top that it's the best ever. The dig how fast it is, all of the bells and whistles, perhaps they just like the NEW of it. Both views are perfectly fine and acceptable.  I have noting against someone who digs classic BMW's and I also can see the 2013 BMW M3 is pretty bad ass in it's own right. I would not judge anyone over their opinions about BMW's. On the other hand BMW folks will argue endlessly about what model of their beloved bimmers are the finest and why. They will talk sway bars and disc breaks until their  faces turn blue. From the outside it looks silly but to them it's darn important. We do the same th

The Industry of R.P.G.s Despite what I said at the game table a few months back, when Shards of Thimbral was just a bunch of ping pong balls bouncing around in my brain, and despite some thoughts I have had in the past I have an admission to make. I'm never going to be part of the industry of Role Playing Games. What that mean sis I don't think I'm ever going to ask anyone for money for what I do. I don't think this is me going back on or giving anything up. In the past week or so I have reevaluated a few things about my self and about gaming. I would consider this a statement of self evaluation and an evaluation of what I really enjoy about this hobby. I can not take the games seriously enough to maintain the focus it would take to put something out there. Don't get me wrong, I write this blog, I play three times a week, I put a lot of thought and effort into the hobby. I don't plan on changing. What I'm changing is what I want to get out of it, I want to

(This will be a long one) I am so glad this is a long post, I'm very exited about this one. I love to know how other GM's think and play and why they game like how they do. For me how others approach the hobby is a source of  never ending curiosity. I tend to find allot more commonality that I would expect, even among seemingly diverse gamers. I wanted to write a post about different GM's and their thoughts on player character life span.  To that end I went looking for some guest writers. On G+ I asked the question: How do you as a GM feel about player character life span and PC Death? Please don't Hurt me? or Nightmare level? The second question was how central in your setting are the characters are they the main heroes? or more like Cogs in a greater machine? My overall goal was to find out how other GM's view characters and handle the player character position within the game world, so that I could use that information to inform my work on Amazing Adventurers and

They announced the release dates for the next edition of Dungeons and dragons, which will be called appropriately enough "Dungeons and Dragons." Other blogs have reported the dates prices and times, in much more detail than I have the brain for. like this one: Dyvers reports all the  D&D release poop we can handle. As for the rest of us, that group of  abnormal-s who like to write our own games what does this mean to us. It means hang on to your  Fucking hat. Get ready because on July 15th when the  new basic box drops, the R.P.G. blog-o-sphere is going to go crazier than an ape on Carmen Miranda's hat. Then in August it's going to do the same thing again, when the P.H.B. hits the general masses. And so on. Every one who does this is going to have an opinion about the new product. Some blogs will publish pointed and intelligent reviews. Others will just troll the new edition mercilessly, still others will regurgitate what they read on other blogs. It will be a

In the spirit of our game Amazing Adventurers and Incredible Exploits I give you: D100 Random and sometimes silly things that can happen to or be witnessed by your PC's while they are just sitting around getting piss drunk at the local bar. A nasty bar fight breaks out, none of the player characters are involved but, someone drops a rather fancy looking dagger during the fray         Church bells ring, the inn keep jumps to work and starts fastening down all the windows and doors, the locals being to file into the basement without saying a word.         A child runs into the room shouting that he found a human skeleton down by the creek.         A caravan arrives from a distant land to the south; they bring rare trade goods, news and rumors.     Someone tosses a lit torch and a large jar of lamp oil through the window, mayhem ensues.         One at a time each employee of the inn gets sweaty then very pale, they start dropping like flies, in the throes of some mysterious illness.  

What if that fighter doesn't die? Recently in our AD&D2ed Game a wizard got kicked off the side of a cliff by a Rhemoraz. He landed in the bottom of a 100 foot gully, face first, on a broken spear being held by another unfortunate dead soul tossed there during the battle. He was as they say well and truly dead. Before I had finished describing his fall I could hear the player tying up his new character over Skype.  That was a cut and dry death , the illusionist was in over his head and paid the ultimate price for party and kingdom. Pour some out for our fallen comrade, whats his name. Not every character death is as cut and dry. There are times when characters get the living crap beat out of them, but the situation is simply more mundane. Dice are fickle and even a careful player can get in over their heads pretty quickly. Here is a proposal: Use this If you are playing with characters anything over 5 th level which I know is not high level by any means but it’s more about

This is one of those “I’m not going to go sharing this all over G+” blog posts, so if you read this good on you and thank you for   perusing the dust pan games blog. I promise to you the readers that for as long as I do this as a hobby I will never take myself too seriously.

I asked the  people in our regular RPG group if any of them had any ideas about casting a wider net with this blog. (because yeah I want you fin folks to read this pablum.) Best answer! (From guy who plays a Dwarf fighter no less.) "Posts about Tits" Fucking genius. I Love those guys.

      I was flipping  though and old game notebook from an old AD&D game I had found up in my attic the other night and I came a crossed the description of a cursed sword and a paragraph of where it had come form and where it had gone. That was my habit at the time, if I made an item I wrote a quick blurb about who made it where it came from and how it  ended up where ever it was when the players might find it, I'm glad I had all that creative  energy back then because I don't think I have it in me to be so thorough anymore. I thought this sword was particularly nasty sounding, so I wrote it up a bit more completely. Perhaps some one could find a use for it in their games. I was thinking, Having a string of murders that can be traced to some poor soul holding this sword could make a for an interesting Jack the Ripper style murder mystery plot. The Story of Mailik and Hyrum:      Seven skeletons of seven priests each with a silver dagger sprouting from the back of its neck h

AD&D second edition with active attributes. Just spit-ballin here. Let’s say we are playing AD&D second edition. (Because I do once a week so it’s fresh in my mind) Allow each player to choose an attribute to use as their character’s focus. No two party members may have the same focus attribute. (Unless you have more than six players in which case you would have to.) Divide each character’s focus attribute attribute by 3 and round down if you have to round a number. Give each attribute a pool of pips (represented by poker chips, pennies, beer caps, broken florescent light bulbs whatever.) During the game on the players turn they can spend one pip from any attribute to modify the scene in some fashion as it relates to that attribute, without rolling. Player to NPC interactions should still be role played as they normally would but if the player really wants to get the job done, they could spend a pip. Pip’s refuel whenever the GM says they do, usually after extended rest, or bet

Throwback brain dump post. I used to do this quite a bit but have gotten away from it..I think I should do it more often. Why not a broad stroke versus fine stroke mechanic, how about letting the amount of importance an encounter carries be the regulating factor in how detailed or lengthy the combat is. This is like mook rules with a graded scale from Mook to powerful opponent. Say for example your character is facing a group of mooks and you get one action per round. That action could be “kill mooks” or “run away” or “intimidate” regardless of the action the intent of the action is to END the encounter. If the player is successful then the character kills the mooks or gets away from them or scares them with his deep man voice until they shit. If the player fails the character suffers some set back, such as a stern mook beating, but regardless the encounter ends, it just ends with a character failure. However if the Character faces a more powerful opponent the gm might say this encount