Not So Productive Today

The group decided to take the night off.  Real life's big, ugly feet stomped all over the game this week.  So I had the night free.  What could I do productive.

Edit - Nope
Draw a Map - Threw away three and not liking the fourth all that much
Write a Review - Nope, but I hope to do it soon
Write a Post - Not this post
Antagonize the Wife - Accomplished

At least I got one thing done.  I doubt Ivy was pleased.  Brain is shot for the day.  Tons of work tomorrow.  Hoping to get some of my work in tomorrow.  I'm going to go read A Thousand Dead Babies.  That ought to cheer me up.  Actually its a very good adventure by +Zzarchov Kowolski.  I want to do a review of it this week so I need to read through it again.  I very much like this one.

So maybe I'm just prepping to do something?

Sleestakk Sunday: Sup'

This casual dude of a sleestak is brought to you by Angelleo 76.  Looks like he should have a pair of faded jeans, thumbs in the pockets, a sun worn cowboy hat and a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth.  This is one chill'n sleestak.

The wife and I are headed to the book store.  Doing more edits on a project of mine.  I'll announce it as soon as I can figure out this whole POD stuff.

Map Time! - Mining Camp of Abury

Another 4" x 6" card map.  I tried to give the creek banks some texture with some rocks, but it look very crude.  Ah well.  Kept this one very simple and overall I like the way it turned out.  I have about 16 or so of these little guys completed.  I did this one on a index card, wrote an accompanying card and laminated them together.

 
This is what the back looks like.  A simple overview.  A few stats.  A situation.  A little picture of a lizard man.  He even smiled for the camera.

Maybe I'm That Guy: A Bit O' the Rant

Last night I was reading an article about GMing and the psychology of dealing with players and running a game.  The more I read the more frustrated I got.  When I saw that the players and GM should have a 'safe word' in case things got too heated, I had a visceral reaction of wanting to punch the writer until he stopped moving. 

I'm all for folks getting along and having a game.  Gaming is supposed to be enjoyable, otherwise why do it?  But when you add pop psychology techniques into the mix on how to manage players and feelings...just saying it makes me want to throw up...it becomes a workplace situation where being politically correct must be observed when your killing a hundred imaginary goblins with an imaginary fireball.  Screw that.

People get into arguments.  It happens.  You don't need a damn group hug and pass the talking pillow around the circle.  Group dynamics work best when you get a group with a common sense of what you want out of the game.  The Monday night crew I game with are all 40's dudes who have been playing for years who enjoy making stupid jokes, making fun of each other and rolling dice.  We cheer and laugh at the failures as much as the successes.  Probably more at the failures.  But we come together each week expecting a break from our real life responsibilities and worries. 

Others want something else out of the game.  Maybe it becomes more to them than just a game and take it more serious when bad things happen to their characters.  That kind of person would not fit into our group.  I would hate to see someone come into our group and try to be serious.  I think they would get frustrated very quickly.  We have some grade A smartasses in our group.  Yes Ken, I am putting myself into that category. 

If you need a fricking safe word or a time out chair for your group than the dynamics need to change.  A person may need to go.  It's really no big deal.  There is no congressional right to game or to belong to a group.  If you have a griefer in your group you don't invite him back.  If it's a buddy of your get in his craw and tell him to knock it the hell off and let's have some fun.

Some people will think I'm simplifying the problem.  I would tell them they are complicating the situation.  I've been very fortunate in this regard, with annoying members of a gaming group.  If I don't like it I don't go back.  Why get angry and frustrated?  I can do that at work and get paid for it.  Minimize the bullshit.  Maybe that will be my safe word.

Or maybe I am just that guy.

Random Dungeon Room Creation at Lunchtime

The door is made of ancient wood that is falling from rusty bands of iron.  There are holes in the wood, but no light or sound comes from beyond the door.  If someone looks through the holes in the door they will see nothing but darkness.  Normal light will not work.  Magical light will allow the character to see 15' within.  At this distance he will see a statue of a horned creature with powerful wings and arms.  It crouches as if its about spring towards the door.

The door can be easily removed.  Inside the room the players will find eight such statues in various positions.  The one statue has a rod in its hand, he is a bit larger and has four arms instead of two.  The other furnishings in the room are stone tables and half pillars.  They are very basic in design.

The statues are gargoyles.  They are in hibernation.  If 8 points or more of damage is done to a statue the gargoyle will awaken, even though the gargoyles can only be harmed by magical weapons.  Once awaken it will release a gravelly shriek to awaken the others.  It takes a gargoyle 3 rounds to awaken from the hibernation.

Ten feet above the floor is a small ledge.  There is a secret door in the wall.  It opens to a small chamber with 30 gargoyle eggs.  Each weights 20lbs and made of stone.  The gargoyles, if kept in optimal conditions, will hatch in twelve years.   If they are brought into the sun they will permanently remain stone eggs.  A health gargoyle egg can fetch the price of 1000sp to nearly 5000sp depending on the market.  Spoiled or Stone eggs are a high end novelty that can get 100sp at a market. 

Hack and Slash Therapy: Pocket Adventure

Lunch time at work.  I need some dice and an orc to kill.  I'm thankful we are gaming tonight.  I think I might create something I can stick in my pocket and use during my breaks.  Do a small pocket adventure.  Have a table of random characters, roll one.  Have a table of random encounters, roll one.  Have a table of random treasure, roll one.  If you're guy beats the baddie then you get the loot.  Record the score of you guy in the book.  Keep using the guy until he is defeated.  Record score, sorta like the old high scored of video games. 

It would be a d10 system.  Easier to find numbers on random things 0-9.  An orc may have a hit target of 3 or above.  A ogre may be 5 or above.  And each monster would have a number of hit points for lack of a better term, but in this game one hit does 1 damage.  And orc would have 2 health, and a ogre might have 4 health. 

Treasure would be multiplied by the health of the monster.  Say I randomly rolled 5gp was the treasure and killed an orc, my score would be 15. 

What do you think?  Lunch time is over and there are no dice or orcs in sight.  sigh

Lulu Purchases, Part 2

This is the second of three orders I made from Lulu when they had their 40% offered during the holidays.  I searched for older products I've been meaning to look at.  From left to right, I bought Paul's Dungeon Master Notebook by +Paul Hughes, Tomb of the Iron God by +Matt Finch, The Nameless City by Alphonso Warde and Ruins of the Undercity by Kubuki Kaiser.

When I see a deal like the 40% at Lulu (plus there was free shipping so I needed to take advantage of the opportunity) I browsed entire categories.  Lulu is difficult to find things unless you know what your looking for.  I'll search under one of the game systems, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lords or OSRIC.  Then scroll through and see what strikes my gaming fancy.

This time I wanted to get 'modules' that have been out for a while.  Ones I've looked at and never bought.  I think I had a copy a Matt's Tomb of the Iron God, but having a hardcopy is always preferred.  My wife my argue since I have outgrown my gaming shelf and I declared that I need an entire room.  Shit for one hand, wishes in the other, let's see which one fills up first.

The one oddball of the group is Paul's Dungeon Master Notebook.  He created the very cool Random Dungeons (which I should have gotten also) and the successful Kickstarter, Random Dungeon Generator as a Dungeon Map, which in turn inspired the web game Dungeon Robber.  Which, by the way, I suck at.  The reason I grabbed the DM Notebook is that I'm interested to read how other play the game.

Ruin of the Undercity, is a DM-Less dungeon generator.  I love the idea, but have no idea how it works.  I need to sit down with this one and dissect it and find all the organs and gooey parts so I can build my own.  I've always wanted to write a Choose Your Own Adventure.  I would read them on the bus to and from school to pass the time.  I'd like to do one for The Manor.

The Nameless City, I bought it because it is a Swords & Wizardry adventure, probably my main system of choice.  I was a little disappointed in the condition it arrived in.  The cover was scuffed and bent.  I sent an email to Lulu about the situation and I'll let you know about their customer service.  This will be the first time I've contacted them about a damaged product.  I am not a pristine keeper of gaming lore, but if I'm buying it new, I'd like the privilege of scuffing and bending my books first.  No idea about this adventure.  +Johnathan Bingham did the art which is a very good thing and it looks like Matt Finch edited it, another good thing.  Now I need to find a few minutes to sit down and read it.  Maybe next weekend.

The remaining Lulu purchase I'm waiting for is +John Stater's Blood & Treasure, The NOD Companion.  I went for the hardcover version.  I'm a huge fan of his Blood & Treasure system, it's the system my group is using on Monday nights to crawl through +Ken H's Monteport mega-dungeon.  My order history says it's still 'fulfilling' my order.


So with Lulu's great discount sale I was able to score a ton of great books.  Including the first order of Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Retro-RPG.  I'm glad I got it when I did.  Dominique Crouzet decided to pull it from Lulu to do more edits.  I really liked what I saw so far and plan to mine it for ideas.

Friday Question

If you only had time to get involved in one game this year, which or whose would it be?  Could be a particular person, setting, system or more likely, all three combined.

I think this year I will have a chance to play in several games with different folks.  Looking forward to getting out there a little more and playing in that huge sandbox.

Maps for Hire!

+matt jackson does these things called maps.  He draws them himself.  A lot of them.  People need maps.  If you are reading this post then you probably need a map.  Well step right up and take a fuck'n look at this, Matt has designated his collection of Moleskin Maps as Pay What You Want.  That means he is putting the Jedi Vodoo Mind Maloik on ya.  You are will get the first one for free and chuckle.  Then you'll look at it and let it sit.  You'll grab the second one, but this time you throw in a dollar.  What the heck you like it.  The third one is right there, okay you'll get it, you've got some store credit built up, you throw him a fiver to make up for the first one you got.  Then you notice the fourth one.  The last one.  You grab your credit card and donate your child's college fund.  Matt knows what he is doing.  You have been warned.

Do yourself a favor, grab all four at once and put a tip into the jar, otherwise his Jedi Vodoo Mind Maloik will have you emptying out your bank account. 

But seriously, if you have a seriously cool game then you'll need some seriously cool maps.  Matt makes seriously cool maps.  So look not further than Moleskin Maps.

GM Games Sales Report: December

This is the last sales report of the year.  Had a very good month, netting a total of 77 sales.  I had a new release this month, Execution Corner.  It is a map and one-page write up of a location to throw into your game.  I plan on adding more to it real soon.  I have another project that I'll be going through the 1st edits soon.  I'll need another set of eyes to look at it for a 2nd pass.  It will be the first product that will be POD.  I'm looking forward to and dreading going through the set up process.

Here's hoping next year is just as fun.  I want to GM a few more games.  Learn how to use Roll 20.  Playtest a few adventures I have in the hopper. 

Enough of my babbling, on to the numbers.

December 2013

Knowledge Illuminates: released February 16th, 2011, print version released October 29th, 2012
PDF: 5 (18)   Print: 0   Total Sales: 399 (173)

The Manor, Issue #1: released May 5th, 2012
PDF: 8   Print: 2   Total Sales: 319 

The Manor, Issue #2: released July 4th, 2012
PDF: 8   Print: 2   Total Sales: 236 

Cave of Seiljua: released September 9th, 2012
PDF: (14)   Print: N/A   Total Sales: (521)
 
The Manor, Issue #3: released released February 7th, 2013
PDF: 8   Print: 2   Total Sales: 142

Mini Manor: Faces Without Screams: released April 19th, 2013
PDF:  (6)   Print: N/A   Total Sales: (257)

The Manor, Issue #4: released July 28th, 2013
PDF: 8   Print: 1   Total Sales: 90
   
Where is Margesh Blackblood?: released August 12th, 2013
PDF: 0 (14)   Print: N/A   Total Sales: 14 (167)

The Manor, Issue #5: released November 21st, 2013
PDF: 14   Print: 2   Total Sales: 73


Execution Corner: released December 15th, 2013

PDF: 17 (94)  Print: N/A  Total Sales: 17 (94)
_________________________________________________
Total Sales for November 2013
PDF: 68 (146)   Print: 9   Total Sales: 77 (146)

Total Sales

1279 (1213)

Past Year in the Manor

I didn't do this last year and not sure if I did one of these year end posts ever, but for some reason I feel like doing one this year.  I think its been a good year overall for my gaming.  Bought too much stuff again, but you'll have that.  My vices are few, but intense and one of them is gaming stuff.  Here are some general numbers for Gothridge Manor this year.

Number of Reviewed Products:16
Crawl! No. 8: Firearms
Tombstones of Terror
Life of Rage OSR Edition
Adventures Dark and Deep: A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
Rory's Story Cubes
Adventure Fantasy Game
Verloren
World War Z
6 Iron Spikes & a Small Hammer
Gnomes of Levnec
Lair of the Orc Shaman
Kefitzat Haderech
Citadel by the Sea
Moleskin Maps 4
Moleskin Maps 3
Menagerie of the Ice Lord

I'm glad to see I did at least 16 reviews.  I would like to do more this coming year. 

Number of Maps Posted: 21
Little Laminated Maps
Mini Map Time!
Map Time! and a Question
Map Time!
Map Time!
Campaign Map Funneling
Mega-Dungeon Map Time!
Map Time...I Know, Again
Map Time.  Again!
Map Time! 
Campaign Map Time!
Map Time!
Map Time!
Map Time!
Map Time!
Map Time!
Map Time!
Map and Adventure Under Construction
Map Transformation
Map Time!
Dungeon Map

I hope my maps were a little more creative than the post titles.

My Favorite Chart:
Mr. Blue created this chart for my Manors.  So cool.

Ha!  Really love this chart.  Mr. Blue, I would love to see an updated version.

Products Released this Year:  6
February, The Manor #3
April, Mini Manor: Faces Without Screams released for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day.
July, The Manor #4
August, Where is Margesh Blackblood?
November, Manor #5
December, Execution Corner

I'm very happy with the the number of releases I had during the year.  In 2014 I would like to get four issues of the Manor released along with side projects.

Things I Failed to Follow Through With:  2
NaNoWriMo
Commenter XP

While I did not follow through with NaNoWriMo I did get a lot of writing done and it got me started on a couple of projects.  Commenter XP became too much paperwork although I want to do something in the future that is much easier to calculate. 

Conventions Attended:  1
Con on the Cob

I'd like to get into a couple more cons next year or at least game days.  And I hope not to get sick as hell next time.

Most Visited Posts
Campaign Map Funneling - 975
Friday Question: Diseases - 974
1000 Posts - OSR Mega Bundle Giant Giveaway - 854
Mega-Dungeon Map Time! - 734
Thoughts on How to Keep a Mega-Dungeon Interesting - 720

The Map Funneling and Diseases numbers were greatly enhanced by my linking them to Reddit.  Still, I've seen a large increase in hit this year. 

Best Event at the Manor
1000 Posts - OSR Mega Bundle Giant Giveaway

This was amazing.  So many people donated to my giveaway to make it a bug event.  People I'd never spoken to before were very generous and I was able to give four people 15 different PDFs and RPGNow gift cards.  

On-Going Posts
Sleestak Sunday
Friday Question
Map Time! 
GM Games Sales Reports

Sleestaks are getting harder to find these days, but I do enjoy the hunt.  Friday questions always seem to get a good response.  Map Time!, who doesn't love maps?  And the GM Games report is a peek at my numbers and how I do things.  Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. 

Blog Gamers I Met Over the Year:  5
+Ken H - The Rusty Battle Axe
+Chris C. - The Clash of Spear on Shield
Dylan Hartwell - Digital Orc
+Bryce Lynch - 10 Foot Pole
imredave - Forgotten Runes
+Dan C. - The Dungeoneering Dad

All of these fine folks I met at Con on the Cob.  I even managed to get Chris join our Money night group....sucker.

Thanks to everyone who takes time out of their day to check out Gothridge Manor.  Here's to the new year and all the cool gaming stuff it will bring.

Early Sleestak Sunday

This picture comes from The DeviantMakepeace.  Sleestak have surrounded the the kids from the Ark.  I barely remember the Ark show.  I think I even had a big wheel version of the ark when I was wee.  Surprisingly I recognized the kids and their uniforms.  The ark kids are moments from being slung up in a net and fed the moaning sleestak god in the ever smoking pit.

Map Time! Double Time!

A couple more mini maps on 4" x 6" cards using Sharpies and colored pencils.  I've been liking the smaller canvas.  I can pump out more and use the scanning process to make them larger. 

Loot in the Mail

When Lulu had its 40% off and free shipping and needed to get something even though I put a temporary halt to my game spending, holidays and all.  But with both coupons I had to get something.

I have a ton of the books from Lulu so I wanted to pick something completely different.  As in, something I hadn't heard of or tried.  Still a gaming book.  Let's not get all weird.  I found Fantastic Heroes & Witchery.  +Timothy Brannan suggested I take a look at it and on his suggestion I bought it.  With a name like Tim, how could he be wrong?

A Review at a Glance
Just got it in the mail about an hour ago and I really like what I see in the contents.  I bought the paperback version.  While it is a retro-rpg it looks like its taking on a few curves and backroads not normally traveled.  The class section looks interesting and something I am extremely interested in at this time.

The layout is very nice.  Double column deal with good art.  Most of the art looks to have been purchased on on-line or public domain pieces, but I think used well.  And what I think is original artwork is very nice.  EDIT: Tim Brennan said the author did much of the artwork inside.  Even better.  Cover is simple and cool.  A mage pissing his pants while a fighter is wondering if he shoves the mage into the dragon's mouth if that will give him enough time to get away.  The print is nice and dark, easy to read. 

I'm very excited to sit down with this 400+ page bad boy and have a look at it.  So far I am giving Fantastic Heroes & Witchery a healthy thumbs up.

If you want to grab a copy here are a couple of links to go surf the ether.
The paperback version will cost you $24.62.
The hardback version will cost you $36.22.