House Rules Podcast: Episode 2 is up!

 Episode 2 of our House Rules Podcast is up:  Gloomhaven Monsters and Initiative. 

House Rules: Gloomhaven

New Pod cast: House Rules

 I have a new pod cast that in which I contribute.  It is about house rules that you use for board games and Table Top roleplaying games.  If you have a few minutes, please check it out. 

House Rules

Trail Blazer Traveller Game Stamp Testing

Trail Blazer Traveller Game Stamp Testing 

I backed the Trail Blazer Fantasy Game Stamps in the past and recently had the opportunity to play test a new set of stamps for the Traveller RPG.  Specifically stamps that are used to map Sub-sectors of space.  

Questions from the Play Test Instructions:

1.) Did you enjoy using the stamps and stencils?

I like the stamps but found the stencils required more skill than I currently have to create a “good” looking effect.  It will take more practice on my part to get to where I feel comfortable using the stencils on my maps.  Right now, it is easier and cleaner in appearance for me to draw my routes by hand and use pre-printed hexes.  I am going to work on the stamps some more next weekend.

2.) Are they a useful tool for mapping a sub-sector?

The look of your stamps is fantastic and really helped me draw my fantasy maps.  I could create good maps with ease and speed.  This makes up for my own lack in artistic ability to draw fantasy maps.  The Traveller maps work similar.  I use either Traveller Map or IOS app sectors to draw and print my maps right now. IOS Sector Map App (see pic below).  The stamps are not quicker, but create a unique looking map.  I plan to use the stamps for my home brew and Trojan Reach campaigns.

3.) Which stamps seem essential, and which (if any) would you omit from a basic set?

First off, I love the LED stamp and would like a larger version of it.  It was a surprise how much I like using it. 

• LED stamp – Loved it, but I had to change up pens.  I tried using a fine point sharpie first and had to use one of my wife PIGMA MICRON 1 black ink pens to give it sharp edges.  Plus, my old man vision had a hard time seeing what I was marking.  
• Star Field – I tried it out and didn’t have much use for the stamp.  I even tried to use it with the asteroid stamps and didn’t like how it turned out. 
• Planets - I like the planet stamps and the idea of using circled and non-circled stamps instead of colors to denote the presence an atmosphere.
• Bases – I know the difference in the Navy Base vs scout base etc but it may be nice to give some examples in the guide. 
• System Starburst – I really like this stamp to denote the presence of water or not.  
• Danger Skull – This is one from the fantasy set that has been really useful in luring my players into danger.  They cannot resist going to the spot on the map with the “Danger” symbol.  I imagine this will be similar in traveler.  I can see not including this in the basic set, due to it not being critical to making your maps.  

In summary, the only stamp that felt out place was the Star Field.  For a basic set you may want to consider the Star Burst, and planets, and bases.  I would add the skull in with a second set or as an extra. 

4.) Were the guides adequate?

I followed the guides example of using solid and hollow version to denote the presence of water and/or atmosphere.  I am an old school Traveller van and had little difficulty using the stamps to align with the generally accepted charting and mapping keys.  It may be useful to provide a “recommend” map key for those that are less familiar with Traveller map symbols.  I have always liked an overabundance of graphic examples to come with instructions.

The stamp guide was very easy to understand and since I was familiar with the fantasy stamps it translated easily into using the new stamps.  

The stencil guide was little more difficult for me to follow.  I had not used your stencils for the fantasy set and it took me awhile to get a handle on how to use the blending tools and stencils.  Even then I had a hard time getting a consistent look on the paper.   I found myself referencing the guide frequently.  

I almost missed the water-based Ink part vs waterproof ones for the stamps.  If you had not mentioned it specifically in Facebook messenger chat, I would have rushed in and used the wrong ink.  I did not read the guide well enough and was eager to jump in and start testing.  The guide is well written and spells it out, I was just in a hurry and didn’t give it the attention it deserved.  

I am going to include pics and some notes that we discussed via Facebook messenger.

My Setup and paper used:

 

   

Pics of my stamping:

  

 

LED Stamps:

 

 

Stencil work:

     

2020 A Year in Review

2020 was an interesting year, below is a list of events that occurred this past year:

 

Watched The Mandalorian...wow!

Covid...nuff said!

Traveled with work to Arkansas 1 time, which is 4 less that last year.  I am going to count that one as a win!

My son is now 6 years old

Read a lot of good books; Peace Talks & Battlegrounds (Dresden Novels), A couple more Columbus Days novels:  Armageddon & Brushfire, and I am currently working my way through Ready Player 2

Went to GENCON 2020...but it was online and virtual...weird but fun. 

Our ongoing Marvel (FASERIP) campaign on Roll20 has been retired due to a death of one of our friends.

 

 

Thing that I didn't get to do this past year but want to change in 2021:

 

Slacked off on my blog for the past couple of months.  I got very busy with work, and I know, excuses…excuses.

 Take my son to the Zoo, he still wants to see an Aardvark!

Just so I can be like everyone else at New Years, loose about 20 lbs.

Write more, practice practice practice!

Continue playing D&D online and hopefully get to play some board games in person again!

 

I know its quick and just a list of experiences but I feel better getting them down on paper.  I do have a few game reviews that will be coming up in a couple of weeks.  I promise!  I also am going to strive to be more regular with updates, and share more of my thoughts and stories.  Happy New Year!

 

- Jeremiah

Seeds of Wars: The smart web application for RPG realm management

 

Seeds of Wars: The smart web application for RPG realm management

I am an old fan of the 2nd edition Dungeons & Dragons Birthright setting.  For those of you are not familiar with the Birthright setting, it was created by Rich Baker and Colin McComb under the banner of TSR in 1995.  The setting is made for the AD&D but with the twist that the characters have a divine bloodline that grants them the ability to govern and rule a Domain (country).  This setting has a rich history and detailed set of campaign sourcebooks for specific Domains that PC can control or interact with during the course of play.  Even though the game is long out of print it has a loyal fan base that have worked hard to keep it alive and relevant with each updated edition of D&D over at the Birthright.net fan site.  One of the challenges for this type of play is the amount of book keeping required for Domain upkeep of the PC realm and the upkeep of the neighboring realms.

 Birthright Box Set from TSR

Back in 2018 the team over at Seeds of Wars created and a Kickstarter for an updated set of Realm Management tools for this type of campaign play.  They were unable to secure the rights to apply their new system to the original AD&D Birthright setting they released the updated system for a new original world of Ceres.  The 2018 Kickstarter was successfully funded and an updated version of the realm management system was delivered to backers.  One of the stretch goals that was not met was a proposed web base App to help with book keeping.  The creators pledged to return with a new Kickstarter to focus on the web based support. The new Kickstarter campaign can be found over on Kickstarter at Seeds of Wars: The smart web application for RPG realm management.  The Kickstarter campaign has just over a week left as of the writing of this article and they are close to meeting the goal for the campaign. 

In full disclosure, I am a backer of the campaign and huge fan of the original Birthright Setting and The Seeds of Wars team updated version of the rules management system.  I would encourage readers to take a look and spread the word to others that may not be aware of Kickstarter.  The out of print setting of Birthright is a small group of loyal fans and an even smaller group of people who would interested in a Web App for helping with Realm maintenance and upkeep.  Any assistance to spread the word of this Kickstarter would be appreciated. 

New Edition of Heroquest!

 For the past two weeks I have been watching clock count down to today.  It was a mysterious announcement centered around the 1980s boardgame Heroquest!

Today Hasbro announced a new version of the game and they are crowd funding the game on Hasbropulse.  If you have a few minutes, head on over and check it out!

In Memory: Hemo (aka John Williams)

A friend of mine passed away yesterday.  His name was Hemo, otherwise known as John Williams.  You see I know his name but he was introduced to me as Hemo via online gaming.  So that became the name that I know him as.  I was introduced to Hemo by our mutual friend Eric Whiteaker, it was inside the MMORP (massive multiplayer online roleplaying game) World of Warcraft.  Another interesting aspect of my relationship with Hemo was the fact that I have never met the man in person.  This may come as a surprise to some people but over the years I have formed very close friendships with others via online games.  Those people are very dear to me and hold a special place in my heart.  Hemo was one of those.

I want to take a few minutes of your time to tell you about Hemo and who he was to me, and how he affected my life.   To do that I need to give you a small amount of context and background.  I lost my father when I was 28 years old.  He was absent during a large part of my teenage years as well due to divorce.  I also lost my step dad several years later.  Both my father and step dad were great men who didn’t have enough time.  It’s been difficult to keep a father figure in my life.  Remember this point comes into play later.

Eric belonged to a raiding guild Calamitous Intent and wanted to bring some of his real life friends into his WoW world and share the fun and friendship he had found online.  Several of us were lured into this game by Eric’s siren song of fun!  We formed our own guild and fumbled around and generally got in our own way while we played.  During that time several of us expressed an interest in trying to raid, but with the exception of Eric, none of us had the skill or experience to actually pull it off.  Enter Hemo; he was taking a break from Calamitous Intent’s raiding schedule and thought it would be a fun project to teach us newbies how to do some old school raids.

We started to progress as a guild during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion of WoW.  It was painful.  We were very motivated, but lacked any raiding background.  Most of us only had a functional knowledge of how to use our characters in a raid environment.  He patiently worked with us to explain the boss mechanics and even give pointers on how to use our characters more effectively.  I remember how flabbergasted he was to learn that I was Druid healing with no add-on’s.  Which by the way.  I have never used an add-on, and I think I did fairly well as a healer.

This process continued over the course of the year.  Over time we moved away from the older raids and improved our skill enough to eventually become a competent raiding group.  We even managed to take down the Lich King.  We would spend hours filled with laughs, jokes, arguments, and stories.  Some of the stories are more true than others but that's how stories go…

As real life started to interfere with our games, some of us would drift out of the social circle for a bit.  We would always manage to find our way back a few months later.  It was always as if we had never left when we would come back.  Our game of choice has changed over the years; WoW, 7 days to die, Marvel superheroes (old school RPG via Roll20), etc but the games didn’t really matter.  It was more about hanging out with friends and sharing our lives and stories with each other.

At some point Hemo figured out my daily routine and knew that I got up in the mornings around 4:30AM to do my business in the bathroom.  He started sending his famous memes and videos.  This happened several days each week and it put a smile on my face to see those wacky postings.  When I asked him about it he just laughed and then promptly doubled down on the amount and volume he was sending.   They were always hilarious, and he knew that he had a captive audience for a few minutes each morning.

Then came the day that I became a father.  After 8 years of trying, my wife and I had given up that it was ever going to happen.  One day that all changed and I was suddenly a dad.  As any father can attest; I was excited, scared, and didn’t really have a clue what the heck I was doing.  It was during this time that I found myself alone with Hemo on Mumble one day.  We started talking about some of my concerns/fears about being a dad.

Hemo spent the better part of 4 hours listening to my concerns and sharing parts of his life.  He told me of his success stories with his own family and about the times where, I quote, “he screwed up colossally”.  It helped set my mind and heart at ease to hear from someone that I respected that he had not done it all perfectly.  This conversation we had over voice chat is one of the most important ones I have had as an adult.  It helped me find my center and feel more prepared to tackle this whole dad thing.

Over the next several years, Hemo and I would have more conversations along those lines.  I would be seeking advice about the next parenting hurdle I had encountered.  His advice wasn’t always a direct answer, more often than not, it was a cautionary tale of the mistakes he had made, and perhaps I should try another approach.  I took these talks to heart.  I  push forward and do my best with Joseph and my family everyday. 

I know he was special to everyone who knew him, and that we all have our stories about who he was and how he affected our lives.  This is how he affected my life.  He didn’t replace my Father or Stepdad, but his guidance, advice, and open ears definitely helped me find my path to being a better dad.

I did give him cursory thanks each time we spoke, but I never got to tell him sincerely,

Thank you Hemo.