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		<title><![CDATA[Pen & Paper Games - Blogs - outrider]]></title>
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			<title><![CDATA[Pen & Paper Games - Blogs - outrider]]></title>
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			<title>Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser-Fritz Leiber</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/1251-Fafhrd-and-the-Grey-Mouser-Fritz-Leiber</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:20:08 GMT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[There were many influence books for original D&D.  Many of them are out of print or only just being brought back into print.  When I talk with people...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">There were many influence books for original D&amp;D.  Many of them are out of print or only just being brought back into print.  When I talk with people on this site, it is amazing to me that many of them have never heard of the books or the authors.  I find this a shame as most of them are a great deal of fun to read.  I will be starting this with the books by Fritz Leiber and his creations, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.<br />
<br />
<br />
   Fafhrd and the Grey Mousers are loners by nature.  Fafhrd is a barbarian from the cold wastes and the Mouser who is a thief with some magical talents.  Both leave their homes to go to the city of Lankhmar at the urging of their girl friends.  Fafhrd wants to experience civilization and the Mouser is there for to help his girlfriend avenge her selves on the thieves’ guild of Lankhmar.   <br />
<br />
   <br />
<br />
  The two meet while taking money from members of the thieves’ guild, become friends, and become targets of the guild.  The guild kills their girlfriends and they in turn do damage to the guild before leaving the city.  They do eventually return to the city and have series of adventures.    The tone of the series in general is lighthearted; the two heroes are clever and make witty comments as they are beating the bad guys.<br />
<br />
<br />
  There are seven books in the series and they go in chronological order.   The books are broken into series of short stories detail some part of Newhon(the world) and Lankhmar(the city).  So much of the original Dungeons and Dragons have some part of these stories imbedded in the substance of the game.  The thief character class is somewhat based on these characters and the idea of dungeons or dungeon-like places are here also.   <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
  You could do worse than at least checking out the first of the books, <i>Swords against Deviltry, </i>the second one is <i>Swords against Death.</i>  All the books have Swords as a common first word.    Give them a try.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>games from the past arduin</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/1035-games-from-the-past-arduin</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:39:36 GMT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[I know that many of you only know of D&D as it is the king of the roost, however back in the dark days of Role-playing circa 1975-1980 there were...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">I know that many of you only know of D&amp;D as it is the king of the roost, however back in the dark days of Role-playing circa 1975-1980 there were other games, some good, some not so good and some of them have influences on things to this day.<br />
  This particular game was named Arduin and it appeared in 1977 about the same time as the first edition monster manual.  Yes the monster manual was the first of the AD&amp;D books to appear.  Anyway Arduin was a setting written by a man named David Hargrave.  Arduin featured many new and interesting items that we borrowed and used for our D&amp;D games at the time.  The most feared was the critical hit charts.  Crits in third are weak in comparison to some of the results listed.  If you rolled a 20 then you rolled a percentage dice to see what type of crit it was.  Here are a couple of examples 01-02  head  penetrated immediate death and a damage range for the crit 4-32 also in case the creature didn’t have a head, a slime or something like that.  My favorite was 71-75 heart pierced die immediately with a 1-10 value for those things that didn’t have a heart. There was also a fumble chart.  You could hit yourself or possibly critically hit an ally.   Rolemasters crit system was derived from this in my opinion.<br />
  Arduin was one of the first proponents of the spell point system for spells after the Warlock game.  All spells had what was called a mana cost.  All spell casters still had to memorize their spells but could cast any or all of them without forgetting them as long as they had mana points to work with.  A caster would get mana points equal to  the spell casters intelligence x his level and divide by 4 if his int was 8 or less, by three if int was 9-12 and by two if greater than 12.  This was his power point allotment for a 24 hour period.  Spells were one mana point per level.  6th level spell =6 power points.<br />
  Some of the spells were outright nasty.  An example Masayukis mist of malevolent reason. A 5th level spell actually cost 5.5 mana points and .5 to maintain.  Effects a purple rolling greasy mist that moans and gibbers and moves at 80 feet a round.  All 2nd level or less just die, up to 4th level a saving throw or die.  If they save then they are suffering nausea, confusion, dizziness and watering eyes for 1-5 minutes.  Area of effect is 15’ cloud per level of caster.   There are nastier and worse spells in here. <br />
  Magic items- some very cool.  Javelin of devastation-when thrown it looks like black lightning, if it strikes depending on its plus to hit, it could do from 4-24 to 8 to 4-48 points of damage AND blast one to three levels<br />
  Monsters-Arduin had the traditional monsters but there were lots of others, so much you wondered how anybody survived in the wilderness.   Firesnakes breathes fire and constricts.  The flame breathe is 2-16 up to 3-24, if touched it does 1-8 points of damage.<br />
  Arduin introduced the concept of technomagic.  You could have firearms and blasters in your fantasy game.  “any technology so advanced will seem like magic’ as a philosophy.    You had a class that believed in technology and not in magic.<br />
  Arduin also introduced a plethora of classes beyond what D&amp;D had.  There were the rune weaver, the techno, the psychic, the courtesan, and many others.  Arduin also added new races for player characters such as the Phraints, a logical thinking insect race from space, the Saurigs, a desert dwelling lizardman race and deodanths, an undead time travelling elf race. <br />
  Arduin also introduced the concept of Natural armor, touch attacks limited hit points as well as giving abilities based on class and background.<br />
  It was all fun and exciting for us at the time.  We would call Arduin nuclear D&amp;D.  One thing for certain in a pure Arduin game that if you died it would be spectacular.  Most of the time you came out of a run maimed and changed in some way<br />
  There were eventually eight of the books printed.  The first three I consider the best.  After David’s death one distributor redid his game into a series of two books call the compleat Arduin but the color and flavor weren’t there and the game eventually passed into history.  <br />
   <br />
  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Hargrave" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Hargrave</a></blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>changes</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/937-changes</link>
			<pubDate>Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:04:52 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>I consider myself old school about a lot of things in gaming.  I grew up putting everything to paper and keeping copious records of my games. I found...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">I consider myself old school about a lot of things in gaming.  I grew up putting everything to paper and keeping copious records of my games. I found my first player by advertising in a gaming magazine.  He had some friends and we were off and running.  My major tabletop group I met while working in a game store and at least three of them are still with me after thirty years of gaming.<br />
   I find myself amazed by the progress of technology and how it has changed the gaming scene.  The proliferation of sites like paperandpen and others, players don’t have to actually meet each other to have a game.  I am currently running two games online as well as my tabletop.  Instead of players who live within twenty miles of each other, I have two players from Canada, one from Denmark, two from the Boston area, and some folks from Texas. <br />
  I am now using a graphics program to build encounter maps for the tabletop and online games.  I am now moving information about my campaign to a website (Obsidianportal.com) and have been doing so for the last couple of years.  I am translating my handwritten notes to my laptop and of course backing up the information.  What I haven’t done yet is to try the Skype or web cam live games yet.  It will come at some time.<br />
  What I have seen that I haven’t liked about the new technology, is the lack of commitment to games.  I have had people who come to you that want to play, create characters and then never show up or show up inconsistently and don’t notify you that they will not be there.  It has never been a problem with my tabletop game.<br />
  The other thing I see is the increase in things like social contracts and such to avoid what I consider common sense and courtesy.  It’s never been a problem in my thirty four years of gaming with well over a hundred different people in my various games.  <br />
  I expect that I shall continue to see more changes and hopefully most of it will be good.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/937-changes</guid>
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			<title>adventurer commandments</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/876-adventurer-commandments</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:47:06 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>This is written for the benefit of all dungeon style adventurers.  It is somewhat tongue in cheek and old school in style but should be of benefit to...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">This is written for the benefit of all dungeon style adventurers.  It is somewhat tongue in cheek and old school in style but should be of benefit to dungeoners. Please feel free to add to the list.<br />
    <div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">Commandments for adventurers</div></div>  1. You shall minimize losses by only keeping your distance from an unopened chest or door till the rogue is done.<br />
  2. You shall move to the side of the rogue after he is successful to ensure that he doesn’t get the best part of the treasure,<br />
  3. you shall have the either the heaviest armor or nimblest of the characters in front of the party in a dungeon to either set off the trap or find it before it goes off.<br />
  4. You shall protect the major source of healing because of he falls you will probably fall.<br />
  5. You shall make sure that the group has sufficient amount of materials to cover most problems. A lack of rope could be fatal.<br />
  6. You shall make marching order within the narrow confines of a dungeon.<br />
  7. You shall not split the party for two reasons, one is to weaken the party, and two is keep the gms sanity intact.<br />
  8. You shall think about what you will do before it is your turn.  This will save time in the combat.<br />
  9. On division of loot, a good plan is to create an extra share so if there are emergencies in the future there are funds available.<br />
  10. It is important to make sure you trust the person whom you give the extra share to hold.<br />
  11. On division of magic, it is good to give the proper items to the proper people to ensure group survival.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/876-adventurer-commandments</guid>
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			<title>first online chat game part two</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/840-first-online-chat-game-part-two</link>
			<pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:00:01 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>This is a continuation of my impressions about online chat from the July 14 blog.  Now that I have some additional experience doing a chat game I...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">This is a continuation of my impressions about online chat from the July 14 blog.  Now that I have some additional experience doing a chat game I have taken some additional steps to try to improve and speed up the experience.  I decided to use maps and posted them to the group site and had everybody reference them for combat.  This is working out ok.  I have the maps gridded so the players can at least have a common reference.  There are a couple of drawbacks one  is  ,  the players have far more information than they should about the layout of the place and two, I have to create a second map for secret passages and other secret places.<br />
  The second thing that I have done is to use the cut and paste function to use for room descriptions.  I have the descriptions already written out for a room and just paste them.  I also do the same for any of the npcs more favorite sayings. I have a priest of Tyche in one game.  Part of his morning ritual is to roll two dice and pray to his deity.  I just cut and paste it.  I find this speeds up some parts of the game.  <br />
  The toughest thing is still the time for rolling in combat.  I tend to have lots of little guys attacking putting pressure on the players. It means lots of time spent rolling the dice roller.  I am thinking of asking the group to allow me to roll real dice and apply the damage as needed.  I think that will speed up some of the combat. <br />
  Still the other thing that slows down the game is waiting for the players to do their part.  I never know if they are multi-tasking or just gone to get food or bathroom break or something.  I would suggest that they informed us and gave some general instructions about what to do while they are gone.<br />
  I still prefer face to face but I can see the draw of the chat game for many players.  I’m now going to experiment with Play by post.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/840-first-online-chat-game-part-two</guid>
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			<title>first online chat game part two</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/839-first-online-chat-game-part-two</link>
			<pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:58:22 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>This is a continuation of my impressions about online chat from the July 14 blog.  Now that I have some additional experience doing a chat game I...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">This is a continuation of my impressions about online chat from the July 14 blog.  Now that I have some additional experience doing a chat game I have taken some additional steps to try to improve and speed up the experience.  I decided to use maps and posted them to the group site and had everybody reference them for combat.  This is working out ok.  I have the maps gridded so the players can at least have a common reference.  There are a couple of drawback is  one,  the players have far more information than they should about the layout of the place and two, I have to create a second map for secret passages and other secret places.<br />
  The second thing that I have done is to use the cut and paste function to use for room descriptions.  I have the descriptions already written out for a room and just paste them.  I also do the same for any of the npcs more favorite sayings. I have a priest of Tyche in one game.  Part of his morning ritual is to roll two dice and pray to his deity.  I just cut and paste it.  I find this speeds up some parts of the game.  <br />
  The toughest thing is still the time for rolling in combat.  I tend to have lots of little guys attacking putting pressure on the players. It means lots of time spent rolling the dice roller.  I am thinking of asking the group to allow me to roll real dice and apply the damage as needed.  I think that will speed up some of the combat. <br />
  Still the other thing that slows down the game is waiting for the players to do their part.  I never know if they are multi-tasking or just gone to get food or bathroom break or something.  I would suggest that they informed us and gave some general instructions about what to do while they are gone.<br />
  I still prefer face to face but I can see the draw of the chat game for many players.  I’m now going to experiment with Play by post.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>experimenting</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/808-experimenting</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:49:00 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>When I decided to reboot and restart my 3.5 game, I had decided to do some experimentation with it.  The group had been with me for a period of years...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">When I decided to reboot and restart my 3.5 game, I had decided to do some experimentation with it.  The group had been with me for a period of years and I thought we were getting a little stale.  We added   new players to the group to shake up the pecking order as a start.<br />
  What I did was to take some of the Malhavoc  press books, <i>when the sky falls</i> and <i>when a god dies </i>as a start.  I had a meteor strike Beldorn, my homebrew setting.  The consequences from this were that the arcanosphere, the medium which all magic was cast was disturbed.  Mages would cast as  if a level lower, this includes anybody who cast arcane magic and divine magic would act slower. All divine spells would be delayed in their effects. Also healing spells took a toll on the caster.  A healing spell would inflict damage on the caster and the upper level raise, resurrect and resurrect true would cost experience points.  In addition, the meteor also released a second gas which increased the abilities and power of the undead.  This allowed me to use lots of stuff from <i>Libris Mortis </i>and things from the <i>Book of Vile Darkness.</i><br />
  I also wanted to try the Gesalt idea from the <i>Unearthed Arcana </i>because my group and I felt that multi-classing wasn’t worth it as written.    I also added some feats and other things from <i>Pathfinder </i>and <i>the collected book of Experimental Might </i> from Malhavoc press into the mix.<br />
  The result has been pretty good.  There is a different feel about the game.   The players are again unsure about what is going on, so they are looking for different options for solutions to various problems and this is a good thing.  Its keeping me on my toes also.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/808-experimenting</guid>
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			<title>Encounter cards</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/755-Encounter-cards</link>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:34:04 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>We were having a discussion the other night about random encounters. Im kinda in the middle about this. You could argue the journeys the adventure or...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">We were having a discussion the other night about random encounters. Im kinda in the middle about this. You could argue the journeys the adventure or just a passage of time. One guy wanted to make encounter tables for each and every area of his setting.<br />
I suggested what I had done. I do encounters on a more general level like woods, plains, hills etc. and I do them on 4x6 cards that are colored. I got them at staples but I suspect they are easily found. For woods, I use the green cards, the blue water encounters, red for hills and mountains, yellow for deserts and white for everything else. <br />
During the week I will do up a couple and put the information on the card about the creatures that might be encountered. If they are not used or even if they are, they are put into a card box to be reused. This takes care of any general encounters that I might want to use in the future. I currently have about 75 cards for each general type of terrain.<br />
For special places or creatures that I know to exist I will create special encounter and will keep it near my notes for the region that the group may be in. This way it creates a consistency that the group will know in the future.<br />
For example the Elvana Woods, currently within my campaign. There will be more possibility of meeting Green Warders and Coohies than deer that might be within a nonelvish woods. I would make sure that I have the special cards for the Cooshies and Green warders and randomly grab a couple of others for possible encounters. <br />
I believe it has the advantage of time saving during the game, The encounter is already set up so you can get through faster and easier than looking it up in the book or pdf.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/755-Encounter-cards</guid>
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			<title>Old Games</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/683-Old-Games</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:28:03 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>The last couple of weeks, I have been looking for old games that I had fun with in the past.  I have been looking for Boothill, Stormbringer, Gamma...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">The last couple of weeks, I have been looking for old games that I had fun with in the past.  I have been looking for Boothill, Stormbringer, Gamma World, Metamorphis Alpha and Justice Inc.  I have run these games in the past as either one shots or mini campaigns.  My memories of them are fond.  <br />
 <br />
I am aware that many of them are still around, Stormbringer is now Elric, Gamma World is under a new label, Justice Inc is now Pulp Hero and am unsure if there is a replacement for boothill.  Its just not the same.  Pulp hero I believe requires the Hero system rules.  Gamma World is a different system completely.  I have seen that I can go through drivethrurpg and get the MA rules.<br />
 <br />
I realize though that I dont have the time that I had in my youth to work with and run these games and would there be anybody interested in playing them?</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>successful campaigns and styles of dming</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/640-successful-campaigns-and-styles-of-dming</link>
			<pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:42:56 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>The other night we had a spirited discussion on the chat room about styles of dming and successful campaigns. 
  
The first will be about successful...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">The other night we had a spirited discussion on the chat room about styles of dming and successful campaigns.<br />
 <br />
The first will be about successful campaigns. I believe that we can all agree that everybody should be having fun but is there more beyond that? One of the guys said although everybody died they were having fun. I wondered since the group all died the objective of the campaign was not met. To me a campaign that is successful is one where everybody has fun and a goal is met. I like it when it changes my world in someway and I have found that my players appreciate it more. The groups in the past have overthrown evil overlords, made kings and ambassadors or have started enterprises that carry on to this day. Sure I have also had want I considered non successfull campaigns but the first criteria of having fun was met. What about you folks?<br />
 <br />
The second discussion was about the style of dming. I prefer the setting to create the adventures and allowing the players to make their own stories. The other guys felt that the characters needed to be built for the adventure and a motitivation found for them.<br />
 <br />
They pointed out if I allowed the players to make their own choices that the game could bog down with one guy wanting to shop, another wanting to blast everything in sight another doing something else. This was a valid point but I have found that my groups tend to priortize what they want to do and will work together to accomplish one goal at a time.<br />
 <br />
The other guys felt that just giving the players the background wasnt enough of a motitivation for them. They needed a goal before they could adventure. I asked if they weren't interested in that adventure what would happen. They responded that they had back up contingenices.<br />
 <br />
Both will work but what do you folks think?</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/640-successful-campaigns-and-styles-of-dming</guid>
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			<title>getting somebody to play your BBEG(big,bad evil guy)</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/631-getting-somebody-to-play-your-BBEG(big-bad-evil-guy)</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:42:13 GMT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[I have been fortunate in the past to have somebody play an big boss type.  He couldn't play in my game but wanted to make a contribution.  I let him...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">I have been fortunate in the past to have somebody play an big boss type.  He couldn't play in my game but wanted to make a contribution.  I let him play the head of the thieves guild, I gave him information as to what I had and he ran with it.<br />
<br />
He thought of things that I hadn't and it made a difference in the style and tenor of the campaign.  I realized that he had taken some of the control of the campaign and I found it refreshing that I also had to react as the law enforcement of the city would and this affected some of the players decisions as to what they were doing.  This went on for about six months until real life intruded and he left the area.  He had helped enrich my campaign immensely.<br />
<br />
I would recommend this to those dms who have friends who would relish this.  On the site you meet in a tavern, there is a section for those who wish to play the evil overlords in somebodies game.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>city adventures</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/597-city-adventures</link>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:16:11 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>I decided that I wanted to do a city adventure for the two games I am currently running.  This marks a departure for me and my old group. We used to...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">I decided that I wanted to do a city adventure for the two games I am currently running.  This marks a departure for me and my old group. We used to have a combination of things within the campaign.<br />
<br />
What I did to help set it up was to create a dateline with regular events, and special events.  In another forum the guy described how he did his.  I chose excel to make the table.  I set up the dates, I have a program which does the weather and I put that in one of the columns as well as the phases of the moon.  I broke the rest of the columns into civic items, religious items, political items holidays and others.  <br />
<br />
I then set dates for the political meetings, holidays, and other events on the timeline so the city would have a flow to it.  This way players travelling about the city could run into a holiday parade, a city wall being rebuilt, a strange ship coming in.  As the timeline continues I fill out what the players have done and whats continually going on within the city.<br />
<br />
It has been working out well thus far.  I would highly recommend doing this.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>great to have people help in your game</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/584-great-to-have-people-help-in-your-game</link>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:11:05 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>I ran my face to face game yesterday.  The group was to invade a ship to sink it.  The ship was carrying a large amount of pepper which the owner of...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">I ran my face to face game yesterday.  The group was to invade a ship to sink it.  The ship was carrying a large amount of pepper which the owner of the ship wanted to flood the market driving down prices significantly.  Some interests opposed it and hired the group to remove the ship.<br />
<br />
I had some friends who I contacted to run the crewmen.  I gave them the stats the layout of the ship and a bit of direction and let them work out the defense.<br />
<br />
They gave me the basics of their defense and I ran the the game.  There were 4 pcs and about 12 npcs. I only took care of a couple  of them and my buddies handled the rest.<br />
<br />
The fight was long and tough for the pc's but in the end the pc's did win.  <br />
<br />
If it were just me, the fight probably would have been more of a cakewalk for the players.<br />
<br />
I would recommend to all the DM's that if you can in a big fight have some friends come help.<br />
<br />
I also tried what I thought was a simple morale system for the npcs.  I assigned them a value on a d20.  The npc's had a base value of 17.  The first time that they were attacked they would have to make a morale test.  If passed they would fight, if failed either surrender or flee.  Each 10% of their hit point total that they took would require another check and with each 10% damage the morale value would go down by 2.  Seemed to work ok.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
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			<title>first online chat game</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/554-first-online-chat-game</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:24:36 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>Last night I ran my first online chat game.  I was curious about the feel vs face to faces games that I have been running for many years.  I found...</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">Last night I ran my first online chat game.  I was curious about the feel vs face to faces games that I have been running for many years.  I found that it was more tiring than running a f2f game.  Speech is so much easier than typing constantly.  I also found that it seems easier for the players to lose track of whats going on with all the text flying about.  I think the dice roller isn't truly random, watching other people roll and within the game the extremes seem to crop up more often.<br />
   Another interesting thing is that I have always use miniatures or  markers for the positions of the players and bad guys.  It was again different telling the players the actual distance and other things without a map in place.<br />
   Given that, I thought it was fun.  I could pm the players about making rolls in secret and pass information.  It was interesting how the players did pass the information.  I did miss tonal inflections and when I run a f2f I will get out my chair to do things so the players have a better idea of the npc and such.  <br />
  I'm looking forward to trying this again.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/554-first-online-chat-game</guid>
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			<title>my house rules</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/521-my-house-rules</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:27:42 GMT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[I think that every dm or ref does something different than the rules state. Here are some of mine.  my game is 3.5 D&D 
  
Combat: I have inititiave...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">I think that every dm or ref does something different than the rules state. Here are some of mine.  my game is 3.5 D&amp;D<br />
 <br />
Combat: I have inititiave rolled every round.  I personally like the chaos that ensues with people sweating whether or not they will be in a bad pickel.  Some claim it takes longer, we have been doing it for so long its second nature.<br />
 <br />
For this current campaign, I used the actually con score + con modifier for starting hit points.  It allowed me to be tougher on the players and gave them a little more lee way.<br />
 <br />
Non class skills now cost one point but are still limited.  I believe it allows the players a little more flexibility in choosing some skills that they may want to try.<br />
 <br />
I have done feats every other level instead of every third.  There are so many feats out there that it is difficult to pick and chose.<br />
 <br />
I took a rule from 4th and am allowing two stat increases every 4 levels.  The players are the stars and should be treated as such.<br />
 <br />
Also with the background information given to me by the player, I give them a free feat, usually a skills style feat.  I also try to make them from sources they may not have.<br />
 <br />
Comments?</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/521-my-house-rules</guid>
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			<title>memories</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/502-memories</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:13:14 GMT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[Last night I was rummaging through my stuff and found my boxed set of original D&D from the 1974 printing. I had gotten the box set for christmas of...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">Last night I was rummaging through my stuff and found my boxed set of original D&amp;D from the 1974 printing. I had gotten the box set for christmas of 1975 and started my first game in May of 1976 with one player. It soon blossomed into a rotating group of 16 at a public library and was very noisy. Fortunately the room was pretty sound proof from the main library.<br />
I remember going to a convention and finding Greyhawk, Blackmoor and Eldritch Wizardry and spending all my money on these books. Items from those three books found their way into my campaign.<br />
I also discovered Arduin and the corresponding three books and much of them was brought into the game. <br />
I also remember the excitement of the monster manual, orginal ph and dmg when they came out.<br />
From the group of 16 came a core of six guys and we played every other sunday at a friends place. That group hung together for five or six years before school and work broke it up. Soon afterword came a new group who lived more locally and a new group of six guys were immeshed in my game. Part of this group is still with me today some 29 years later. <br />
There were additional groups and when second ed was introduced we went through the changes with a fine tooth comb and went on adventuring with nary a stop. <br />
Third edition introduced me to a new group of players, many younger than the life of my game and more fun to be had.<br />
Its been 34 years since I started this and I still really enjoy designing adventures and my still growing campaign setting. My estimates that over one seventy five players have passed through the confines of my campaign setting. The setting itself has gone through ages corresponding to the editions of D&amp;D and AD&amp;D, except for 4th. <br />
Too much passion for the game I guess but I found it so much more enjoyable than sitting in front of the TV set over the years.</blockquote>

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			<dc:creator>outrider</dc:creator>
			<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/502-memories</guid>
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			<title>this is from my campaign on obsidianportal</title>
			<link>http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/entry.php/484-this-is-from-my-campaign-on-obsidianportal</link>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:51:51 GMT</pubDate>
			<description>Greetings to all 
  
here is the link to my setting 
  
http://obsidianportal.com/campaign/16</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote class="blogcontent restore">Greetings to all<br />
 <br />
here is the link to my setting<br />
 <br />
<a href="http://obsidianportal.com/campaign/16" target="_blank">http://obsidianportal.com/campaign/16</a></blockquote>

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