This video is not really RPG-related but too awesome not to be shared!
Enjoy!
I am probably not as familiar with the exploits of John Madden as some of my American readers, but I found this video funny nevertheless. Please enjoy!
By the way, have you ever had to deal with a “replacement dungeon master” and things got wrong? If so, please tell us about it in the comments below!
Category : Advice, Fluff/Inspiration, Freebies, Humor, RPG, RPG tools, Random musings
I’ll admit it, naming non-player characters and places in role playing game is HARD! If you are not careful you’ll end up with names your players will make fun of for years to come. The noble and serious NPCs that will be the key to the plot will not be remembered for his generosity or secret knowledge, but for being called Uacs Oftin.
Ok that may be a little exaggerated, but I’ve had real experiences. When naming settlements in a map, never do it late at night, you’ll end up with a town called Unoc. Whenever my players saw the name on the map they asked “Where are Doc, Trec and Cuatroc?” (That’s pretty basic Spanish but just in case, that’s a play on the numbers uno=one, dos=two, tres=three, and so on… Hilarious I know). Sadly that same map had a nearby town called Scret, dangerously close to escreta. Having a town name shit, well that pretty much sets an expectation right there. And well the list of NPCs with funny names is long…
I can hear the advice “Well Roberto, don’t name places or NPCs on the spot, do it ahead of time…”To what I say, that’s all well and good but I like a little improvisation, I like to keep things fluid and sometimes you must name an NPC on the spot and you better be ready for it. So here are a few tools and short cuts I use…
The Everchanging Book of Names, this is a handy dandy name generator that allows you to generate one name, or lists of names, from real world cultures to popular campaign worlds and fiction. You can print out lists ahead of time to use while you play or, if you use your computer while gaming just keep the program running and open it up when you need a new name. The names it generates are all fantasy names so you need other tools for different genres.
To create consistency and plausibility I try to select names of certain cultures or places in my campaign world from specific real world cultures, so baby names websites are very useful, like Baby Names and Baby Hold, which allow you to search by letter and cultures.
If you play sci-fi games there are sci-fi name generators on the Internet, but many generate funny versions of your name for specific settings, which sorts of defeats the purpose. There is a Star Wars Galaxies name generator for the races available in that MMO. This sci-fi name generator allows you to generate names for Star Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly, or generic names for aliens, locations, and planets. All in all a great resource!
For modern games naming should be easy, just look at the TV, pick up a newspaper or simply look online. Wikipedia’s list of most common names by region is useful when you need that foreign spy to have the right sounding name.
I’m not a fan of random superhero names; to me it seems their names convey so much of what they are, that leaving it to chance is just wrong. But when you absolutely must name a hero or villain on the spot, well there is Seventh Sanctum. That website has all sorts of generator, from the names of Mecha, Organizations, to Anime Powers.
Those are just a few of the tools available out there, this barely scratches the surface. I’d love to know, what tools, generators or lists do you use for your games?
Those of you that follow me on Twitter (and if you are interested you can find me as @sunglar, but be forewarned I do ramble on) will know that besides RPGs I work way too much, been called a workaholic, and literature. Currently I’m participating in the second book club I’ve belonged to and loving every minute of it. I think books clubs are great opportunities to share ideas, discuss topics and engage in social interaction sometimes with people close to you, other times stretching your wings and making new friendships.
Book Clubs are certainly more prominent in popular culture, from being the butt of jokes like in the recent comedy Date Night, to appearing in the first episode of the third season of LOST. I recall somebody telling me they did not know of the concept of a book club until they watched that episode of LOST. I belonged to a book club in 2004 and we read some bestsellers, literary classics and lesser known books, but the composition of the club was mostly “lay people”, i.e. not role players. The current book club has only been together for a couple of months and we’ve read various popular books (Shutter Island, Wicked, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire) but this time around the mix includes fellow role-players, geeks and scientists so our reading options are certainly more varied!
If you have never participated in a Book Club group I greatly encourage it. To me role playing games are first and foremost a social activity, the interaction, sharing fun times with friends, are amongst the highlights of gaming. All that being said, the idea of an RPG themed book club has been buzzing around in my head; I’ve thought of the possibility of selecting books of interest to role-players or maybe even selecting an RPG rulebook and discussing it. It could be via a message board, a chat room or even an actual conversation using the communication services out there in the internet.
There are virtual Book Clubs out there, and I know there was even an RPG book club in EN World at some point. So the question is; are any of you out there interested in a Stargazer’s World RPG Book Club? Would you rather we read a novel of interest to gamers or a rulebook and discuss it? If there is interest we could organize something…
Let me know what you think!
Category : Advice, Humor, Pathfinder, RPG, RPG tools, Random musings
I’ll admit it, I was a holdover. I didn’t make the switch to an iPhone until last winter. Before that I had an ancient Palm Treo that worked perfectly well for years. I used it to browse the internet, and on it I planned many adventures and campaigns. I had used an iPhone and loved it so when I had the chance to end my old mobile phone contract and switch I took the plunge.
Despite all the controversy surrounding the recent iPhone 4, for me the iPhone is a great tool. I use it for all sorts of things, including organizing my campaign! I use it to take notes, do prep when I’m away from the computer, read PDFs (easier said that done in some instances) and recently, I’ve even run a game straight from the iPhone!
So what does the iPhone offer that has enhanced MY gaming experience? I can’t attest for all the applications out there. I haven’t brought that many, I haven’t gone app crazy; many of the ones I use are free. I’m currently running a Pathfinder RPG game and these are the tools I use on my iPhone to make running my game easier:
Dice Bag (can’t find it on iTunes anymore) – This was the first game related app I downloaded the same day I got the iPhone. It’s a VERY simple dice roller that allows you to roll all the typical dice as well as 3d6 and 4d6 dropping the lowest die. No fancy animations, just the sound of rolling dice. As simple as it seems it did what it said it would, randomly generate numbers.
Awesome Note – I got this when I was trying to find a better option than the Notes app that comes with the iPhone. Michael recommended it and it has lived up to the expectations. I love what it does, the interface, how you can organize notes and integrate information. It also uploads notes to Google Docs which is a great feature. I use it for gaming notes, not only for this campaign but for future games. I even wrote some blog posts with it while traveling.
GM Toolkit – A free app I recently downloaded. It has a dice roller, including the possibility of rolling series of dice and applying different modifiers, say 10 rolls of a d20, each with a +5. A feature that allows you to generate random rooms (something I am yet to use) and a random name generator as well as random name generator for unusual places, both great features when you have to come up with a name on the fly!
Pathfinder Reference Document – And the cream of the crop! The Pathfinder Reference Document on the iPhone. Before getting this I would go to the website containing this information, but I no longer need to do that. The whole Reference Document at my fingertips. I can search for specific subjects, the interface is easy to grasp and the bookmark feature is very usefull. It was only $4.99 and this is probably the app I use the most on my iPhone, after Angry Birds!
I know I may be a little late on the iPhone bandwagon. There are some excellent lists and posts about apps for gaming; I’ve consulted EN World’s on more than one occasion. On this post I’ve just considered how the iPhone has enhanced my face to face gaming experience. There are many other ideas on how it could, and has, enhanced electronic gaming, be it Play by e-mails or Play by Posts. I am yet to get an iPad, I can only imagine all I’ll do with that…
Just so you know I have a 32GB iPhone 3Gs, and have not switched to the iPhone OS4. Recently I tried an HTC Evo with the Android OS and thought it was great, who knows what the future holds!?
Do you use your iPhone for gaming? What apps do you use?
Fellow RPG blogger Jeff Uurtamo recorded this video this morning, when the Exhibit Hall has been opened for the public. It’s something I had to share with you guys!
It’s hilarious, isn’t it?
