The Next Expansion

For the longest time, and even up until last year, I had two inviolate rules about gaming.

1. No MMO’s. I didn’t have the time and they seemed like having a second job that I paid instead of it paying me.
2. No CCG’s. They cost an insane amount and it seemed like too much stress.

Last year, about this time, I broke Rule #1 and started playing World of Warcraft. I levelled like mad to try to catch up to my buddies who had been playing for years, and enjoyed that. Eventually, I got to 80 and the daily quests and constant grinds for gear caused me to quit. (Although, I did start back up again this week to try some PvP, which I hadn’t done before. I understand relapses are part of this game.)

This month, I finally broke Rule #2. The same friends who talked me into playing WoW started playing the WoW collectible card game. At first, I was skeptical. I’d played a little bit of Magic: The Gathering before, but there were a lot of complex steps (and I was NOT playing with patient people so it left a bad taste in my mouth). Suddenly I’m playing a game like Magic, but streamlined and WoW-flavored. There were classes that did different things and ally cards with people I recognized. A friend let me borrow his Death Knight starter deck over lunch one day, and after that I got hooked.

The Red Bearon’s Treasure

I started my collection by buying a box of the Dark Portal set. They were on clearance at Wal-Mart (though more expensive than the link I posted). I also picked up a couple boosters from Drums of War. It just so happened that in one of these boosters I got The Red Bearon, which is a Loot Card that can be redeemed for an in-game item in the WoW PC game. I wanted $90 more than I wanted to ride around on a bear, so basically I got the rare and pleasant experience of having a lot of guilt-free money to blow on more WoW cards. Especially given my previous predjudice toward CCG’s, it was exhilarating to do something rash with no fear of repercussions.

The box and the boosters I’d purchased by this point had given me several options as to what kinds of decks I could build. Since I played a female orc enhancement shaman in the PC version, I decided to go with the stuff I was familiar with. Sure enough, a lot of the powers and totems I knew were represented, and I threw a deck together.

And promptly got my ass handed to me by SirGeekelot’s mage deck. And my friend Brian’s Death Knight deck. (The same one he’d hooked me with! O cruel irony!). So I started buying some more boosters and getting some more cards. But it seemed like I was getting a lot of chaff I didn’t want. So my Magic-veteran friends introduced me to a new world: that of buying single cards.

Meet Hot 5/5 Protector Singles Today

Initially, the prospect of reading up on what I wanted and just getting those cards seemed incredibly cheap and wonderful. And for a few minutes, it was so. Some of the totems I wanted were a dime, some allies were 40c. I found a healing spell I wanted for $2. I could deal with this. Then I got to the old Shamanic staple, Earth Shock.

TEN BUCKS? For ONE card?!! Naturally, when I began to complain to my friends about such things, they laughed and said “and you’ll probably need 4 in your deck if it’s a really good card”. A chill ran down my spine, and I realized I needed to do some reality checks before I started blowing money like crazy.

In the end, I did wind up buying one Earth Shock, and 4 of its cheaper (both in-game and IRL) cousin Tremor Shock. And since I had a bunch of free money, I bought a hideous crapton of Shamanic goodies like totems and shocks and weapons. I accidentally the whole free money. (The whole thing!) And it was EXHILARATING.

Who Says There’s No XP Awarded In CCG’s?

I learned a lot in the past month. Here are some of the highlights, in convenient bulleted form:

• Always Use A Condom – Those sleeves are for protecting your cards AND for helping you shuffle. And shuffling with sleeves is way different than regular card shuffling (which I never learned to do, so it prevents Card Game Embarassment Syndrome).
• Organization Is Your Friend – Imagine, if you will, a box containing 500 cards of various types. Imagine now stacking them all by type and then throwing them into a loose bag and praying they stay together. Imagine also it taking me 20 minutes to FIND my deck before I could even think about playing. Once I got a deck box and then a long cardboard box designed for cards, I put my play deck aside and arranged the rest by type/class/etc. I’ve been MUCH happier since.
• Have A Plan – The more I play, the more I see how the cards interact with each other. Know your own deck, and know your friends’ so that you can design yours to better counter theirs. It will help your game, and also make shopping for cards a bit cheaper since you’ll be hunting for something specific instead of having a “gotta collect everything” mentality. (Usually.)
• Respect The Beast – This game is incredibly fun, but you have to keep at least a few brain cells on what you’re spending. I’m having trouble now because I’m still in “shopping spree” mode from my Red Bearon card, and I still want more. Set a budget for yourself. Don’t exceed it. The rent and food are more important.

I’m having a lot of fun with this game, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to give it a try. Even if you’ve played Magic for ages, there are some game mechanics that make the game refreshing that you might want to take a look at (like raid decks, which I’ll be covering soon).

I’m off to go prepare my deck for this weekend’s festivities. Until we meet again, remember: “If It’s Not Shaman, It’s Crap!“

This year at GenCon, Dante, Vanir & I participated in a Zombie Murder Mystery night with Yax from Dungeonmastering.com (special thanks to Avatar Art for hosting).  It was a crazy fun time, partly due to the excessive amounts of Root Jack consumed at the table, but mostly because it was a fun game.  And now, Yax & Nicholas have published the game, so you can host your very own Zombie Murder Mystery!

Basic Run-Down

The Zombie Murder Mystery starts as an all-out bidding war!  Everyone bids for basic stats and special powers.  After the bidding concludes, the game begins.  You’re all gathered at a remote mansion, and you discover that someone here is summoning an army of zombies… it’s someone in this very room!

The game continues as you hunt for clues to discover the identity of the necromancer.  And it ends when you figure out and kill the necromancer, or the ritual is otherwise stopped or completed.

Impressions from the Play Testing

OMG! What a fun game!  The rule set is very light, so there’s really nothing to get in the way of roleplaying, which is really the focus of the game.  Either you’re busy trying to figure out Who’s the Most Evil of Us All, or you trying to keep everyone from figuring out that it’s you!

There’s pressure to figure it out soon (or delay them just a little bit longer), because as soon as the ritual is completed, BAD THINGS will happen.  This kept things moving forward, which was instrumental as the Root Jack took over the brains of some of our players.

We played with a mixed group: some of the players were old friends we’d roleplayed with before and some where new friends.  I think this added a little extra fun because it really made me pay attention to everyone, instead of just basing my game on what I knew of my friends; I could guess what Vanir was thinking, but I had to put a little extra work into guessing what some of the other players were thinking.

It’s a Crazy Good Time

I highly recommend the Zombie Murder Mystery for anyone! It’s a lot of fun, and I think there’s some good re-play-ability in it, as the story will change every time as a different player is the necromancer.  The GM portion of the rule set also gives you some ideas on how to include your own elements, so as GM, you can change the details of the game and keep it new.

You can read more about the game and purchase it here.  Enjoy… but as the game says… Trust No One!

4E Rituals provide a lot of opportunity to add some roleplaying color to your character.  Whether you want use them in the midst of the game or out of the game for additional character development, rituals can be lots of fun.

My Current Favorite Rituals

I’m currently playing a Bard and a Wizard.  My Bard uses the Traveler’s Chant (PHB2) to help the group get from Town A to Town B a little bit faster.  It’s a handy little trick to have in your repertoire.

But my Wizard… she’s really the ritual mistress.  She used the Tenser’s Floating Disk (PHB) to avoid floor traps we were unable to disarm.  Recently, she’s taken to the magic item creation with the combination of Enchant Magic Item (PHB) and Transfer Enchantment (AV).

Adding Some Roleplay Magic

When Eaerenel the Wizard was ready to flex her item creation muscles, I wrote a little story to describe creating my Shimmering Armor (AV) using the Enchant Magic Item ritual.  Since Eaerenel specializes in fiery spells, I decided to include fiery elements in her rituals.  So in my little story, Eaerenel uses a fire as her focus during the ritual; it’s a little step beyond the book that allow me to create a unique experience for my wizard.

It was dark except in the circle of light cast by the fire.  Kalicia dance above its flames as Eaerenel sat close by, her old apprentice robes cradled in her lap.  A quite settled over the mage and her familiar, disturbed only by the faint crackles of the flames.  Eaerenel was in deep meditation, drawing out magic from the warp and weft of the universe.  Time passed, but it was irrelevant to the spellcaster in the midst of her ritual.  After nearly half an hour, a casual observer might notice motes of magic beginning to gather around Eaerenel.  If she noticed the swirl of magic gathering around her, she gave no indication.  Soon, the swirl of magic became too dense to clearly see the wizard or her phoenix.  Eaerenel tossed several pieces of gold onto the fire, and it seemed that the magical motes followed them into the flames.  Then, she tossed her old robes into the flames, but instead of burning, the robes seemed to be absorbing the magic.  Nearly an hour had passed since Eaerenel had begun her meditation, and when she opened her eyes, she lifted her new robes out of the fire.  They shimmered with the dancing patterns of a fire and soft sparkles of gold.  Eaerenel shrugged out of her journey robes and donned her new Shimmering Armor.

When Eaerenel made some Screaming Armor (AV) for the party’s Warlord, Atka, she had to use both rituals together since Screaming Armor is only available in Hide, Scale or Plate and the Warlord wears Chain.  So Eaerenel after created the armor, she used the Transfer Enchantment ritual to move it onto the Warlord’s chain.  I took a little bit of liberty with the description (after getting the DM’s approval), and instead of actually creating the armor then transferring the enchantment, Eaerenel created a ghost of the armor over her fire, then transferred the ghost’s enchantment to the chain.  Again, it was a unique combination of elements that really let me be creative with my character.

The midnight hour was the only appropriate time for this creation, for only during this timeless state of night was the darkness and despair deep enough for creating Screaming armor.  Eaerenel sat in the light of the fire, Atka just beyond the circle of illumination, waiting in the shadows.  Eaerenel was unaware of the warlord’s presence, however, as she sank deeper in to her meditation, calling the magic to her.  The swirl of magic became overwhelming before Eaerenel tossed her bounty of gold coins into the fire, and the magic flowed into the flames.

Instead of tossing the hide armor into the fire to complete the enchantment, Eaerenel held out her hands toward the flames, as if warming them.  The hide armor in her lap glowed slightly as the enchantment took shape; a ghostly twin to the hide formed in smoky lines over the fire.  When the enchantment reached its full potential, Eaerenel clapped her hands together once, and though the image over the fire vanished, wisps of smoke wrapped around her hands.  Atka stepped into the fire’s light, and Eaerenel again held her hands out, this time towards the warlord, and specifically, her armor.  Smoky tendrils extended from Eaerenel’s hands to Atka’s armor.  The chain absorbed the enchantment, and as the ritual neared its completion, screaming faces began to appear in smoky outlines.  There was no doubt now that this armor had the ability to strike fear into her enemies, and Atka grinned a wicked sort of grin in anticipation of her first chance to evoke that fear on the battleground.

So Be Creative

It’s your character, and you can be as creative as you want to be.  You don’t have to do anything special when using your rituals, but if you want to add a little extra flavor to them to align better with your character, there’s plenty of room in there for you to be a little more creative.

I won’t lie… yesterday’s discussion of Group Storytelling was pretty exciting for me, but now its time to dive further into the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 (DMG2).  Because I want to cover some specific items, this is not a comprehensive review of everything contained in the next few chapters of the book.

Advanced Encounters

The excellent examination of campaign building continues into the second chapter of the book, which covers more advanced encounters that include encounter specific objectives.  The addition of a “ticking clock” type of scenario involving a wounded captive, a ritual taking place, or sneaking into a secured area are as old as D&D itself, however intentionally engineering and placing these encounters can be a bit difficult.  This chapter explores each of these scenarios (and more!) and gives some advice how to structure them so they are more easily implemented in your campaign.

In addition, this chapter explores designing encounters for both small and large adventuring groups, providing ideas how to apply the mechanics of encounter creation in 4e to each of these different types of parties.  Again, much of this information would’ve been handy to me a few months ago as we were began our 4e campaign.  We went from a small group to a large group in a very short time, so the ability to scale encounters properly would’ve been nice to have.

A Wonderful World of New Terrain

The DMG2 contains five pages of new terrain.  The descriptions are pretty excellent, and I can see using them to construct some significantly cool atmosphere instead of the standard trees and rocks.  One of my favorites, Fey Circle (don’t judge me, ok?), allows you to teleport five squares as a minor action if you start within the circle.  I can see some creative ways to use this to change the dynamics of an encounter.  Combining this terrain with a secondary encounter goal is an interesting notion that I might use soon!  Also these terrain elements are very flexible, many doing damage on a “per tier” basis so they scale as your characters move up in level throughout the adventure.

In addition, this section contains Terrain Power rules, which outlines how the players can use terrain elements as weapons or tools for their benefit.  It’s nice to have some tables around this type of action as well, I know Vanir loves to take parts of “the set” and use it to his advantage.  Now I know how much damage to do when he pushes over a giant boulder on something!

Last, but not least is the section on designing traps.  Everything in the DMG2 appears geared toward building of a good narrative, and this section contains an inset that describes the types of traps to avoid in your campaign and another inset that explains ways to make your traps more fun.  The combination of good advice and interesting sample traps is inspiring… my adventuring party is going to be in for some excitement!

This week marks the release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 (hereafter known as the DMG2).  I must say, I have been eagerly anticipating getting my hands around this book since I got a few sneak previews at GenCon.  I have read some reviews by other members of the RPGBloggers Network, and there is a lot of excitement surrounding this book.  So let’s dive right in.

Group Storytelling

This chapter alone is a mandatory read for anyone that is a Dungeon Master.  This chapter is primarily the product of Robin Laws, author of one of my favorite books to date on dungeon mastering – Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering.  Mr. Laws outlines several storytelling devices including  how to build drama, use of a mechanic called pass/fail branching, and how to construct the best possible narrative with these tools.

In addition to narrative-building tools, this chapter contains a section on soliciting and incorporating player input which allows the DM to collaborate with their players in order to craft encounters and campaigns.  This mechanic is fundamentally important, and (happily) has been one that I have used for years in my campaigns.  This chapter provides a notable addition in the form of discussion around the limits of collaboration in encounter and game design.  Again, this is an area of DungeonMastering that is often done incorrectly and the advice presented in this chapter is invaluable.

Vignettes and Drama

This chapter also presents the concepts of vignettes, which are small shapted scenes that enable you to infuse your games with more player interaction.  Some examples of this (presented in further detail) are flashbacks, dream sequences, and teasers.  These appear to be used as “glue” to hold together encounters within a game session… a small amount of extra pizazz for your session.  These vignettes feel considerably similar to the episodic content that we have outlined over the years, only miniature in size and usually short running.

Finally, at long last, some guidelines are presented relating to roleplaying experience.  This is presented as “Drama Rewards”, and is built around the amount of time spent in valuable, meaningful roleplaying aimed toward the advancement of plot.  I was thrilled to see this in the Table of Contents, and even happier once I read the ideas on how to dispense these rewards.

Companion Characters

Finally, this excellent chapter concludes with detailed rules surrounding creating companion characters: both monster characters and uniquely crafted companion characters.  Included are instructions for keeping the companion characters consistent with the rest of the party in abilities, damage, and game balance.  Probably the most striking concept about this chapter is how the author adeptly provides advice on how to make the companion character a natural part of the story arc, including their background motivations and traits.  It was truly eye-opening to see this process committed so clearly to a few charts and rules.

I have consistently had difficultly in creating meaningful companion characters, so I suspect this portion of the chapter will get a lot of exercise.

Back to the drawing board

One of my favorite elements of the Group Storytelling chapter is the DM’s Workshop insets.  These asides take you into a situation and explains how to apply one of the concepts in a real game scenario.  Many of us RPGBloggers have gone through a lot of effort to relate our own experiences in this same fashion; this advice is very attainable and easy to understand.

For the rest of this week, we’ll be exploring more features of the DMG2, including Advanced Encounters and Skill Challenges!

So, I know you were expecting Dante to be posting about the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 since it releases today, but you get me instead.  Don’t worry, Dante will tell you all about the DMG 2 soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a little something with you.

It All Started with James Wyatt…

One of the first things that caught my eye as I was flipping through the book was one of the insets, where James Wyatt describes his experiences with his son, who wants to play a fire archon.  Who among us hasn’t wanted to play an awesome character, but somehow, it didn’t fit into the standardly published player options?

The inset tells the story of how Master DM Wyatt combined various elements and developed a fire archon-like class for his son.  He concludes by pointing out that the character class is really important to the player, and if a players wants something non-standard, the DM should work with that player to develop something that works without being unbalanced.  Great advice!

But Here’s My Two Cents’  Worth…

The best part of this story is that it illustrates two very fundamental concepts of D&D.  First, the game can be flexible; just because the rules don’t specifically map out every single eventually doesn’t mean your group can’t make something happen.   The published ruleset is designed to provide guidelines and structure upon which you can impose your own imagination.

The second element I see here is the cooperative nature of the DM-Player relationship.  This harkens back to something Bill Slavicsek and Andy Collins discussed during our interview: there should not be an emnity between the DM and the players.  As players, we’re not engaged in a battle to “beat” the DM; as DMs, you’re not “out to get” your players.  It should be a cooperative environment that allows the players to help the DM tell a story.  And because it’s cooperative, if the player needs something, like help customizing a class to fit the character concept, the DM should be willing to help make that happen.

So Remember…

This isn’t about who wins; it’s about having fun.  So if something is impeding the fun, discuss it and see what compromise is available so that everyone is happy.

Now, get out there, roll some dice and have some fun!

Astute readers of our About Us page may recall that I have a wife, whose Internets name is Efreak. She’s very pretty, and an awesome mom, and I love her dearly. We will be celebrating 5 years of marriage next week, which is both surreal and wonderful. However, there is one part of our relationship that continues to vex me. You see, as a gamer, my fondest desire is simply to play games with my wife and have fun with her. Why is this a problem, you ask? That’s why I’m writing this article, silly!

In Which Vanir Relays The Origin Story Of Stupid Ranger To Provide Backdrop For His Tale

Way back in late 2003, my bachelor days were coming to a close, and I’d been dating my now-wife about 8 months. My longtime karate buddy Dante was back from college and job hunting, and we invited him and his wife (Stupid Ranger, who I’d only met a couple times before), and we invited them over for New Years at Efreak’s apartment along with a couple of her college friends. After thoroughly disturbing the other guests (I believe the phrase Dante used during Charades was “the Right Testicle of Our Lord?”), we decided it was so much fun we wanted to get together more often. I forget whose idea it was to play D&D, but I was thoroughly excited about the idea. I approached my lady-friend with the idea, and she was apprehensive about it. Eventually, I successfully pestered her enough to try it.

It was rough for her at first, especially the roleplaying, but she got the hang of it eventually. And so the four of us, along with our friend John, embarked on a year-long adventure that would come to be known as the Evensbrook campaign. Efreak played a little rogue gnome named Goudy Sans Sarah (she’s a graphic designer – if you don’t laugh, she will negatively readjust your kerning). I loved that campaign. I thought Efreak did too. I was wrong.

In Which Vanir Completely Chubs His Perception Check

Things went really well for a couple months. But slowly, the frustration she was feeling started to get the best of her. She was too scared to tell me she wanted to quit, and I, of course, was too blinded by the fact that I had a wife who played D&D with me to notice. However, I did start to take notice when she started referring to game night as “F#$*ING D&D”. It was, at the time, like a bomb went off in my face. That sucked. A lot.

In retrospect, I can’t say I’m really surprised there was a breakdown of communication. It was during our first year of marriage, and wow did we need to spend some skill points on that. And we eventually got through that and a lot of other stuff in the years to come, but gaming was one thing we never really saw eye to eye on since. We’d play a little Rock Band every now and then or the occasional game of Scrabble, but by and large we’d just hang out and watch TV. And, as previously stated, my heart’s desire is to game with my wife. So, it never really sat very well with me.

Consequently, every couple of months, I decide to try another game and see if she’ll play it with me. Usually, it’s a videogame. And unfortunately, it usually results in her getting frustrated and not wanting to play anymore. Which sucks, and is not the outcome I wanted at all.

In Which Vanir Discovers That Level 5 Married People Have More Skill Points

This very cycle was perpetuating in my living room yesterday night, this time with Carcassonne on the Xbox 360. I’d recently played the tabletop version with friends and enjoyed it, and thought perhaps it might do the trick since the console version did all the math for you. Well, she got frustrated again, and I got frustrated again, but something a little different happened this time. I’m not quite exactly sure what, but I think our communications circuitry might have finally adapted.

We started having a very enlightening conversation as to what it was we both want out of games. I’m certain we’d tried to have this conversation before, but this time it worked a lot better. The things I enjoy in a game are somewhat typical of a lot of “gamer” types. I like twitch games and shooters, but I have a special weakness for turn-based strategy (disclaimer: I suck at it, but I love it) . I like a lot of interactivity in my games, and I like to feel like I’ve accomplished something when I finish one. And, as you may have guessed, I loves me some roleplaying.

Efreak, on the other hand, loves games of chance. She likes Rock Band. She absolutely hates strategy games. When I asked her why, she said she gets so stressed out that she feels like she’s going to have a heart attack. That’s when it started to make a little more sense to me. When she comes home from work, and she’s frazzled out of her mind, one of the things I’ll frequently hear her say is “I don’t care, I just don’t want to decide anything“. She’s been making decisions and stressing out at work all day. She doesn’t want to do it at home on top of all that. Decisions aren’t relaxing for her, ergo strategy games aren’t relaxing for her. And here I was picking a lot of turn based stuff because I thought it would be slower paced (and I like it). My dear wife informs me a lot of women feel like this.

How in the hell did I miss this? So what does she find relaxing? “Traditional” games like Life,  in which you don’t have to decide very much. The excitement of winning a race just from random chance appeals to her. Card games (sadly, the only one I really know is poker, and that’s only because… well…). Games that you can use your brain on (but not strategy) like Trivial Pursuit. I don’t understand why she likes Scrabble. I’m usually thinking two moves ahead when I play that game, but whatever she does it makes her more than a match for my limited intellect.

There is also a certain amount to which, for some reason, she gets intimidated because “you’re so much better at these games than I am”. I don’t generally pwn the crap out of my wife every time we play games, but it’s a factor nonetheless. Playing a game of chance, in this case, makes her feel like she’s on equal ground.

In any case, it’s plain to see we’re different kinds of gamers. Now, the trick is going to be finding where that Venn diagram intersects so we can have some fun together.

In Which Vanir Ponders The Road Ahead

Well, the road ahead for damn sure contains Boom Blox, as that’s one game Efreak specifically said she’d love to play with me. And she’s a huge Beatles fan, so this is a no-brainer. We’re also going to head out to our FLGS and try to find some stuff we’d both enjoy playing.

In the meantime, I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone with similar experiences as ours to either tell your tale, or (better!) to share what you’ve done that helped you. We surely cannot be the only couple who have gone through this!

Ultimately, it comes down to one of our old standbys here at Stupid Ranger – the only thing that matters is that everyone at the table is having fun. Finding out how to do that in one’s marriage might take some time and effort, but I can’t really think of a better reason to get back on the horse and keep trying.

Until next time!

It is expected as we continually search for ways to make our gaming better that trends will emerge.  Periodically, one of these simple rules will be “discovered” that can really take your gaming group to the next level.  I hope that these “Simple Rules” articles will illuminate these minor epiphanies and hopefully help your gaming groups improve.

Simple Rule: Varying your gaming schedule keeps the campaign moving forward.

We are all busy people, with day jobs, kids, other social obligations (for some of the more outgoing nerds), and other hobbies.  The simple dynamic of requiring a group to come together in order to roleplay is often one of the more difficult challenges that busy adult gamers often face.  Our gaming group is comprised primarily of busy, busy people so scheduling is a major issue.

This past week, we embarked upon a weeknight gaming session.  This is extremely rare for the gaming groups that I have been in recently, and since several of our group members have children I suspected it wasn’t going to be that successful of an endeavor.  I’m happy to report that I was dead wrong about this – the weeknight obligations were very apparent ahead of time, the group was aware that the session would be time constrained and planned accordingly.

Dinner orders were placed ahead of time and food was there ahead of the players, allowing us to quickly enjoy some Chinese food as we settled into the incidentals of getting ready to begin gaming.  We had started the session by 7 pm, and had a productive (albeit somewhat short) session.  We had plenty of time for roleplaying and got a good-sized battle accomplished before the game wrapped up around 10 pm.

These sessions appear as if they will be good for certain things like bridging minor plot points, small encounters, and some “town time”.  They might not be as well suited to large epic battles or very intense protracted roleplaying, as there still were a few distractions relating to food, the kids needing to get homework done, and the like.  But if you go in with your eyes open about the limitations around a weeknight session, it can be a powerful tool to prevent multiple-week long delays in getting together as a group.

It’s all about velocity.

This rule needs not apply only to weekday gaming sessions.  It’s more about varying your play schedule to ensure you can keep the momentum of your campaign up.  The worst thing with medium-to-large expanses of time between gaming sessions is that there’s always the rediscovery period that has to take place.  “What actually happened last time?”  “What was that guy’s name we talked to last time?  What was it he told us?”  “Why do I have an evil staff of power?  Should we be worried about this thing?” are some of the questions that might clue you in that its been too long since you’ve gotten together as a group.

Finding a way to have a shorter session outside of your normal group schedule can be a powerful tool in keeping the progress of your campaign moving forward.  If you’re an experienced Dungeon Master you might be able to plan things such that you have some smaller encounters or little gating plot points that can easily be made to fill this shorter session, its all about scope for you at that point.

Do you have any simple ideas that have made your campaigns or gaming groups run more smoothly?  Bring ’em up in the comments, or email them to me and I’ll write an article about the good ones!

It’s review catch-up time here at Stupid Ranger! Today, I’m reviewing the Star Wars RPG Legacy Era Campaign Guide. This book has been out for a couple months, but it might be worth a look if your Star Wars campaign needs some new life.

136 Years After A Long, Long Time Ago In The Same Galaxy Far, Far Away

Unfortunately, I walked into this having neither played the latest incarnation of the Star Wars RPG, nor having read the Star Wars Legacy series of novels upon which this campaign guide is based. Thusly, my knowledge of this era of the Star Wars timeline comes completely from this book. It kind of reminds me of when I picked up a ton of Who’s Who in the DC Universe and The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe comics when I was a kid, and knew digest versions of all the characters’ histories without actually having read the comics. So, based on that, allow me to give you a brief synopsis of the setting you’re plunging your characters into if you use this sourcebook:

The book even starts out by saying something to the effect that Obi-Wan used to refer to the rise of Palpatine’s Galactic Empire as the “dark times”, and if he saw these times he would probably call Palpatine’s time the “sort of dingy grey times”. The galaxy is a freaking mess. The New Republic is gone. The Jedi are all but wiped out, and the few that remain are outcast fugitives. A new Galactic Empire took over everything, but then the Sith overthrew the Emperor and now a Sith Lord sits openly on the throne. The overthrown Emperor still is trying to get his old job back. By the way, did I mention the new Sith Emperor (Darth Krayt) is a freaking sandperson? There is, of course, a Skywalker around to try to save the universe. Except he’s a bounty hunter, and he’s kind of a douche. Mostly I say that because hunts Jedi sometimes. However, he has a hot girlfriend from a race of sex people and a secret agent mom. And he’s trying to be better. He swears! Except he got kidnapped by Darth Sandpeople and now he’s learning how to use dark side stuff, but for good.

Yeah, the galaxy is pretty screwed. That’s where your PC’s come in.

Everything Old Is New Again

One interesting thing about this campaign setting is that since the galaxy’s all effed up, people tend to reuse stuff. They explicitly say you’ll see weapons, ships, characters, etc. from every other era of Star Wars because it’s all still around. Probably the coolest part for me about this is encouraging players to make their characters a descendant of a Star Wars character they’re familiar with. In addition to just having this be a cool-factor for roleplaying purposes, characters descending from certain families get special abilities. For instance, Skywalker descendants (in addition to the chance to not be a douche) get a power that increases their force powers greatly when they use it. Descendants of the Solo family get some sort of mechanics bonus. (No idea what to do if you’re descended from his kids he had with Leia. That’s probably another sourcebook.)  My favorite of these was if you’re descended from Greedo’s family – in which case you get a survival check bonus. I’m guessing that’s either because of karma. Maybe it skipped Greedo’s generation?

There’s lots of new ships and places to go and races. There are a few new classes of note. My personal favorite are the Imperial Knights, who guard the deposed Emperor. They’re like Jedi, except they only work for the emperor and they’re not about mysticism, just using the force to protect and defend like any other tool or weapon. Also, their armor is based off the stuff Darth Vader made his out of, which apparently made him way better at lightsaber-duelling. The Sith also have a specialized Knight Hunter class, trained specifically to kill anybody who isn’t using a red lightsaber. Their armor is based off the Crimson Guard’s. Sort of.

Do, Or Do Not. There Is No Try.

This seems to be like a book that will make Star Wars: Legacy fans who also play the Star Wars RPG really, really happy. For the rest of us, I’m not real sure. To be fair, it’s not really the designers’ fault. The campaign guide gives you a very shallow overview of the events that have occured, and some history and (usually) pictures of all the new stuff you’ll be using and doing, but I get that same feeling I had when I first played Knights Of the Old Republic. Everything seems kinda Star Wars-y, but you’re not really invested enough in it to care. KOTOR, by way of excellent storytelling, won my heart over. You’ll probably have to do the same with your players if they’re unfamiliar with this new stuff.

My only real complaint with the book is that finding anything specific inside it is very difficult. There’s a broad table of contents, and there’s an appendix that lists people by challenge rating, but for other stuff you have to hunt for it yourself. Things are arranged by faction rather than by what it is. I tried to look up Rogue Squadron, whose section I wanted to mention in this article, and eventually stopped trying.

Barring that frustration, if you liked the Legacy books or you want to try something new, I think this would be a worthwhile buy.

I did realize something very important while reading this book. In this new setting, Darth Krayt basically wipes out 10% of the populace of Mon Calamari and enslaves the rest. If I ever become a Sith Lord, I’m modifying my lightsaber to coat everything it cuts in a layer of fried breading and I’m going hunting at Mon Calamari. My name will be…. Darth Cuisine.

As Vanir previously mentioned, the StupidRanger crew had the distinct honor of interviewing Andy Collins and Bill Slavicsek from Wizards of the Coast.  Both men have contributed to the gaming industry in very significant ways, so we elected to take the opportunity to explore their backgrounds, ask their thoughts about campaign creation and some DMing advice, and finally ask a few questions about their favored classes and villians.  We’re happy to present for you excerpts of our interview.

Background and History

Dante:
We were all curious about how you got started in the industry.  Can you tell us a little bit about your history?

Favorite Classes, Favorite Villians