A Role Playing Games Blog
Feature
Let’s all put our minds together, RPMN Blog Carnival anybody? Social Media and its impact on RPGs!
2November 18, 2010
Please note that this post first appeared on the Role Play Media Network. If you want to participate in the proposed Blog Carnival please link back to the original post. Thank you!
Building off form Michael’s earlier post today, I think that collaborative endeavors like Blog Carnivals are a great way to build a sense of community, start discussions and collaborate in some way despite distance, differing views or tastes. How does that sound to you?
Since this network is a RPG themed social media outlet I propose our first topic should be the impact of social media, firstly in the RPG hobby, and secondly how the evolving social media changes what we do as bloggers, podcasters, etc.
As a relative newcomer to the blogging scene I have just plunged right in to all the possibilities. At the moment I am just blogging, but I’d love to podcast and here in the RPMN participate more activelly and help promote a sense of community, or partnering up, to not only cheer each other on, but to help and aid each other when we need technical help, inspiration, discussions, etc.
Personally I am also using social media to keep in contact with my gaming group. I use a combination of e-mail and Facebook posts to remind players of our game schedule, distribute information about the campaign and do some campaign upkeep between sessions or when sessions need to be reschedules or cancelled. On the off week when we can’t meet I can use Facebook to do some light role playing and keep the events of the campaign fresh on the player’s minds despite interruptions.
I have even used my posts on Stargazer’s World to showcase fiction about an upcoming campaign, granted with limited success, but experimentation is part of the social media experience. You have to try it out and see if it works. I’d love to try Wikis and maybe a dedicated forum for my long running campaign, but not all my players are as interested in social media as I am. Any idea how to motivate and involve players in the experience to enhance RPG games more?
We even have used social media as a way to bring together the role playing community in Puerto Rico where I live, and through online forums and groups organized RL activities like geeknics (picnics for geeks) and demonstrations at local conventions. A stronger, better informed and more unified RPG community, virtually and in real life, translates to a more vibrant and involved hobby.
How does that sound, any takers? Doesn’t have to be everybody… If we write it they will come!
Feel free to join in and offer your views and opinions on this matter. Make sure to link back to this post so we can hear what everybody has to say. Thank you in advanced for your participation.
Have a good day everybody.
Freebie: Arcane Heroes
2November 1, 2010
Yesterday I finished my first play-through of Fable III, the latest game by Lionhead Studios. For some reason this game inspired me to create a 5-paged roleplaying game which uses a few elements similar to what we see in the video game.
Characters in Arcane Heroes are members of ancient bloodlines which have produced many great heroes (and dreadful villains) in the past. But the world has changed, the industrial revolution has shaken up the old order. The ancient bloodlines are all but forgotten, but in these dire and gloomy times, heroes are needed more than ever.
Arcane Heroes uses a simple dice pool mechanic and contains all the rules needed to play a game. Currently there’s no real campaign setting nor a character sheet. Since I have pretty much written the whole document in one session earlier today, it’s not edited nor play tested. (Hmm, why I don’t participate in any 24-hour-RPG contests is beyond me…) So, you have been warned! 
If the rules survive the first playtest I might release a more complete edition of Arcane Heroes (including a setting and a character sheet) in the future. You can check out Arcane Heroes by clicking here. I’ve also embedded a preview into this post which you can access by clicking “Continue Reading” below.
[UPDATE]: Some people are not comfortable with Scribd, so I added the download to my Google Site as well.
The dice are falling!
1October 28, 2010
RANT WARNING! The following post contains hyperbole, conjecture and unfounded opinions. Read at your own peril.
These days there is a lot of speculation about the death of the pen and paper RPG industry. Those who see the glass half empty make some excellent points about units sold and speculate whether RPGs remain a viable business. Those who see the glass half full proclaim that there are ups and downs and that as long as there are people playing there will be role playing games.
I’m a glass half full kind of guy myself and instinctively try to see the best of any situation, so count me among those who think RPGs will survive the current slump in sales, if there is one. Mind you I’m not challenging the analysis of the numbers out there. I do not work in the RPG industry, nor do I make any money from it. I am just a fan writing my thoughts in a blog. I did use to work at a comic/gaming store fifteen years ago but that was ages ago, and the way we interact with our sources of entertainment has profoundly changed since then.
I won’t use any of the newfangled terminology out there but suffice it to say the publishing landscape has changed profoundly over the last ten years, so has gaming (electronic or otherwise), and how we spend our leisure time is something our own parents find weird. Since RPGs fall into all those categories I believe it is inevitable that we would see some profound change in our hobby.
In the lasts few decades we stopped being passive receivers of entertainment and began to interact with it. When I was growing up there were three TV stations and I had to see whatever they were showing! I remember as a kid turning off the TV just before a show ended (to the endless complains of my friends) and then playing out the ending as I believed it would happen. Now we have hundreds of channels and every conceivable niche (well almost everyone) has a TV station. Are you into food, travel, cartoons, crime or soaps? There is a channel for you!
The internet has even broadened that offering, fans make their own versions of shows they love and interact with creators and other fans in ways we only dreamt of before. I grew up expecting the future I saw in The Jetsons but ended up with something much more amazing (Except for Jersey Shore! What is up with that?).
I really believe we are in the midst of a profound change in what is traditionally classified as media. Blogging, digital publishing, POD, e-book readers, these things are restructuring a landscape that resist change. People are always afraid of the unexpected, much more so when the changes are ongoing an unlikely to stop in the near future. We are in the midst of a revolution not unlike the Industrial revolution, but this time it’s the revolution of information. Actually it has more in common with Gutenberg’s Invention of the printing press, who knew that Police Academy guy had it in him!
We just don’t sit back to entertained; we want to control it, to make the choices, to interact with our entertainment. I think pen and paper RPGs were part of that change. You no longer had to read about the fellowship taking the ring to Mordor, now you could actually tell the story, ride the eagles and get there sooner (sorry I know it’s been done to death, but it DOES make sense!). RPGs were part of a change, not the only influence mind you, but an important part of realizing WE could tell the story. It happened right along the development of electronic games, and as an example of the influence of RPGs, see how many of our electronic games integrate ideas originally develop for pen and paper games. If there had been no role playing games to begin with, the world’s most popular MMO would be a beautifully rendered version of Pong. I’m not claiming this happened in a vacuum and that RPGs are the sole influence, but the organic interaction of all these elements (and I said I’d use no fancy words) is part of the evolving landscape of games.
Are games selling in the volume they were in the heyday of the 80’s? I guess not. But there is a much more fractured market for entertainment. It used to be we would go to the theater to see a movie and then wait for it to be shown on TV. Now the movie is available in the cinema, and on a DVD in a box in the gas station, or we can get it delivered home, via the mail or through our TV, game console or online. Likewise the options for games used to be cards, dice, board games and then RPGs. Now we have game consoles, card games, games in our phones, and don’t get me started on smart phones and tablets!
Change is happening all around us and it won’t be over for a while. Maybe in twenty or thirty years we will have a new media landscape that stabilizes; although I doubt that at the rate technology changes that will be the case. Change will be the new status quo.
What does all this have to do with pen and paper RPGs? Well right now RPGs may not be a viable business for everybody, and I admire those that have properties they want to see grow for branching out into other media. RPGs are a niche market, always were and always will be. Games are not selling the same number of physical books you say, well there is a slew of new digital products coming out. Are they all of the same quality as physical books? Well that is debatable.
Barriers to publishing meant some of the less than stellar stuff never saw the light of day and you expected a certain level of quality, but now if you have the right software you can put your stuff out there. This requires that the consumer be a little more savvy, and guess what, the same tools that allow the ease of publishing also allow for the buyer to be better informed. And this is not a problem for just pen and paper RPGs, but for music, fiction and movies as well. And it is all so subjective, one person’s junk may be another another’s gold.
And hey, if you disagree with the naysayers, don’t get all riled up about it. We don’t have to agree, but neither do we need to rip each other’s heads over it. Why can’t we all just get along? I don’t think pen and paper RPGs will return to the “glory days” of old. But the hobby will not die anytime soon, it will just be different, and that’s fine for me.
Introducing the Stargazer’s World IRC chat channel!
1October 15, 2010
Stargazer’s World now has a chat channel!
This channel is accessible both by chat client (mIRC, Xchat, and so on). It is also accessible by a browser-based Java applet on the network’s website. I will provide instructions for both forms of access:
Using an IRC Client
0.) If you do not have a client but wish to use this method, download mIRC for Windows, Colloquy for Mac, or Xchat for Linux (Xchat for Windows cuts itself off after a trial period and is, in my opinion, far too expensive for a program which is free under Linux). Be aware that mIRC asks you to pay after a trial period, but does not actually cripple itself after that period; it’s on your conscience and honor whether you pay the requested money. Spend some time learning how to use the client — help files!
1.) Point your IRC client at the server irc.sorcery.net on port 6667, 7000 or 9000.
2.) Join #StargazersWorld
Using the Stargazer’s World Blog Chat Page
1.) Go to http://www.stargazersworld.com/irc/
2.) Follow the instructions.
Using the Network Website Java Applet
1.) Go to the Sorcerynet website, http://sorcery.net/
2.) Click “Chat Now” in the top bar.
3.) In the page that loads, enter your chosen nickname in the “Nickname” box, and “#RPMN” in the “Channels” box.
4.) Give the applet time to connect. You’ll know when you’re in the channel.
5.) Begin chatting!
Be aware that your chosen nickname may be registered by someone else for their personal use. If you see a warning message, change your nickname, or the network may change it for you to something like “Nonick-3B4AE”.
A Few Basic Guidelines
1.) Be respectful. The occasional curse is fine, we’re adults. Racism, sexism, generic attacks on groups of people, countries, etc. will be frowned upon. No personal attacks, no stalking, and any arguments will have a lid put on them if they go beyond civil disagreement. Finally, try not to gross out your fellow chatters, please.
2.) Please try to use decent spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar. Some folks really don’t care to hit the Shift key, and that’s fine too, but txtspk will be frowned upon unless it is used in humor or illustration.
3.) There are only two forbidden topics. These are politics and religion. These two topics are easily the most contentious subjects in society today, and lead to far too many arguments, especially online. Use common sense: talking about the fact that the United States has a bicameral Congress is fine, because it is factual, but talking about the doings of the Senate, the behavior of a particular figure, the “real” causes of such and such war, etc. is across the line. As for religion, again, factual statements are fine, but anything beyond that is not permitted. If an op asks you to stop, please do not argue the case, even if you believe you have not crossed the line. There are plenty of other places to discuss these two topics.
If you have IRC experience and wish to be considered for a channel op (admin) position, contact me either here or in the channel. My nickname on IRC is Corvus. I will not automatically op everyone who asks; this isn’t a personal judgement or an insult.
Gaming fiction weal or woe?
1October 11, 2010
Role playing games are so entrenched in their literary roots, from Beowulf to El Cantar del Mio Cid, from Howard’s Conan, to Tolkien’s Middle Earth that it is sometimes hard to separate one from the other. Inevitably role playing games in turn spawned fiction based on the games, their character’s and the campaigns. For me the Dragonlance Chronicles were a formative experience in my development as a gamer. These days you can’t visit a book store that doesn’t carry some gaming fiction from Warhammer 40K novels, to Eberron and everything in between.
As much as I liked gaming fiction when I was a teen, I pretty much gave up on it years ago. I can’t recall the last game related novel I read. Looking back there were some gems, like the original Dark Suns novels (loved them back then, don’t really know how they’d stand up to a re-read) and some utter duds like Dragonlords of Mystara (how I despise that book). Still gaming fictions survives and people continue to read it so I guess there is an audience.
Of course the Internet has changed the landscape of game related fiction. No longer do you need a publishing contract to write stories about your favorite game, you can publish what you write in the Web and share it with the world. I realize that fan fiction is a touchy subject, some authors embrace it others condemn it, but think what you may it’s out there. I guess my point is that the barriers to publishing your stories are crumbling. Of course making money out of it, well that’s another story!
There is also another use of fiction in a game related way, fiction you write for your games, be they face to face or in one of the many available online permutations. Despite my disinterest in game related fiction I personally love to write fiction for my games. I love to create my own settings and campaigns (Hello my name is Roberto and I’m a compulsive home brewer!) and short pieces of fiction are, for me, a way to cement the setting and it allows me to share the campaign with my players.
Over time I’ve come to realize not every player enjoys this, not everybody is interested in readying for the game, some people just want to play, not have game related homework. That is fine and good, and in recent years I try to parcel out my writing and give out details in small manageable chunks. In fact I’ve begun the practice of writing one page hand outs about specific details of the campaign. I figure if there is something important for me to say, I better say it in one page.
Still I think there are some great opportunities to use longer pieces of fiction to set the stage or introduce a campaign, making sure everybody knows what to expect and ideally to start up some pre-game conversation. If you can write, it doesn’t have to be perfect, just enough to get you ideas across, by all means put words on paper. If you don’t write, there are short stories you can use to convey the feeling or themes of a game. Taking the idea of fiction to another medium, even watching a certain movie together or playing an electronic game can get across your vision of a new game to your players.
I’m currently planning my next game, a superhero game with a twist. The characters are supers in a world where none existed before. I know it’s been done before, but I think I have some original ideas to play around with in such a setting. And besides, one of my players has always asked me for a game like this and I figure it’s about time to make him happy. For this upcoming game I have written some fiction I plan to share with my players pre-game so we can begin planning for it.
This time around I figured I’d try something different and use the blog to share this information not just with my players but with our readers. Get some feedback and make you all part of the presentation and planning of this new campaign.
I’ve written some gaming fiction and posted it on the blog before and the feedback was great. But that was just the brainstorm of a possible sci-fi campaign that is still in flux. The feedback has helped and I’m still working on the revision of what I wrote and a follow up to that. What I’ve written now is an introduction to a new campaign; you dear reader will be reading this just as my players are reading it for the first time. This is a new experiment for me. I plan to post one short piece of fiction about the campaign every day this week, so by Friday you, as well as my players, will have an idea of the game we’ll be playing.
This is not set on stone; after all it will not be just MY game. I want some feedback from my players and you out there as well. I hope some of you find this interesting. If you are NOT interested in game related fiction I apologize in advance, I’ll get back to other topics next week!
So in closing; expect the first post about the campaign along with this one. What do you think of gaming fiction? Do you enjoy it or do you avoid it? I’d like to know…
RPG books on the iPad
5October 6, 2010
One of the reasons I was interested in getting an iPad was to be able to use it as a PDF viewer since I own a lot of RPG-related PDFs. Initially I thought about using an ebook reader like Kindle for that purpose, but alas these devices are currently not fast enough to display complex PDFs adequately. It usually takes to long to switch from one page to the next. And especially artwork-intensive full-color RPG PDFs don’t look that great on a black and white epaper display.
RPG PDFs on the iPad
When I first had the chance to try out a friends’ iPad I noticed that PDF viewing worked great. Flipping pages is pretty fast in most cases and the size of the iPad is big enough to be able to read the books comfortably. I have to admit I still prefer a printed book over reading it on the iPad, but it’s definitely an improvement over viewing PDFs on a netbook or desktop PC. Why? The tablet format of the iPad and the multitouch screen makes navigating through any document feel very natural and intuitive. It’s very close to the real deal.
There are three apps I can wholeheartedly recommend for viewing RPG PDFs on the iPad:
-
iBooks
The official ebook reader software from Apple does not only access the iBook store, but also is a pretty good PDF viewer. PDFs are uploaded using iTunes. Alas you can’t access any online storage services using iBooks which limits the amount of stuff you can take with you. But it’s pretty fast when it comes to viewing PDFs and it’s free.You can download iBooks here.
-
GoodReader
GoodReader has a lot of cool features like PDF annotations, web download, or Dropbox support. The PDF viewing engine is as fast as iBooks but you get a lot of additional features like accessing files over WiFi. If you don’t mind paying 99 cents you get a perfect replacement or addition to iBooks. You can buy GoodReader here.
- Dicebook
Dicebook is not only a PDF viewer but it also contains a dice-rolling function, which can be pretty handy at the game table. I’ve written a review of this app some time ago, so check it out. Dicebook sets you back $1.99 and it’s available here.
RPG products in other formats
Aside from PDFs some fan-created documents are available in .RTF or .DOC formats on the web. Although both formats are not really optimized for being viewed on a tablet device, GoodReader handles these formats pretty well.
Recently RPG publishers have looked into other digital formats as well. While PDF has become the defacto standard for digital RPG books, some companies have been dabbling with special ebook formats like the ePub format supported by Apple’s iPad and other devices. PDFs have some major problems when it comes to mobile devices: a) it takes a lot of processing power to display them and b) PDFs have a fixed format and don’t scale too well. The ePub format solves both these problem but it’s hard if outright impossible to layout an ePub document like a regular RPG rule book. EPub is definitely a great choice for novels or text books but it doesn’t work as well when RPGs are considered.
Richard Iorio from Rogue Games was kind enough to send me a couple of Rogue Games’ ePub books to allow me to check them out on my iPad. I have to admit they are looking pretty good, but they contain mostly text. As far as I’ve seen there are no tables or sidebars which are usually very common in RPG products. The format works good enough for most adventures or setting books which contain mostly fluff, but I have a hard time imagining what a RPG rule book in ePub format would look like.
What may the future hold?
Some magazine or newspaper apps show what the future of RPG books on the iPad and similar devices may look like. In case of RPG books it would be easy to include all kinds of cool features like a search function, dice rollers, initiative trackers, perhaps even a character generator. The question is if RPG publishers have the funds necessary to pull something off and if there are enough people interested in buying such an app for their device. That’s something only time can tell.
Telling the story my way…
10September 28, 2010
As a long time Game Master I like to try different ways of telling a story. My latest session serves as an example. The previous adventure had ended as the players set forth on a sea journey to a place they had heard of since the beginning of the campaign, a voyage that should take about a month, but they began their travel full of hope, optimism and expectation. The session began with the players in the midst of things, surrounded by undead, being healed by a mysterious ally on the docks of the city they were travelling to. More enemies are closing in and some of their major enemies are at hand!
I gave them a rundown of the situation and rolled for initiative. The fight was brutal, two characters were felled in battle and a major NPC died, another PC near death. The PCs managed to run away from the battle, separated and confused. In the aftermath I turn to my players and say “27 days before these events…”
This is something I have tried before. I’ve had sessions begin with a combat and then work back to how the players got there during the session. Other times I’ve played sessions that have turned out to be a dream or an imaginary story told by someone else about the players. Some instances have been more successful than others and like everything, the more you do it the less of a surprise or a thrill it becomes.
I’m sure I’m not alone in this, ideas have come from endless sources, from RPG advice to the conventions of movies and TV shows. But the structure and nature of a role playing game session make it difficult to use some of those techniques. Foreshadowing and “cut-aways” are probably the easier to pull off. Inspired by the countdown to Za’ha’dum during the third season of Babylon 5 I had a similar countdown going to a major campaign development for about two months, beginning every session by telling the players “so many days until such and such.” They began looking for clues and trying to figure out what was going to happen. When it happened I had created expectations that did not disappoint. (more…)
You have a question about an existing or upcoming Stargazer Games product? Ask away! You want to know what we think about a recent development in the RPG industry? Send in your questions. You always wanted to know what we think about game X? Send us an email.
