A Role Playing Games Blog
Non-RPG
Puerto Rico Role Players: spreading our wings… And our horizons!
0November 29, 2011
If you regularly read my posts you’ll have noticed that from time to time I talk about the Puerto Rico Role Players group. Along with writing here in the blog, that group has been a big part of what’s motivated me to become more active in promoting and sharing with others my love for role-playing games. It started out as a Facebook group (back when Facebook had locations by city or region) and has gone through three versions as that social network has changed its platform.
I know there are a lot of people who dislike Facebook, their policies and what not. Some have migrating to other social media like Twitter, Diaspora or Google+, but I’m still there. Somewhere (and I just can’t find the source right now) there was a report that said we Puerto Ricans still predominantly use Facebook over other social media options. So my staying makes sense. I keep in contact with a lot of friends, and there is an active community of my fellow islanders in said service.
Facebook has also served the group well; we went from almost disappearing about three or four years ago to a group with over 370 members. Still there are limitations to what can be done there and we’ve begun to take the first tentative steps into the broader social media landscape.
We have created a Puerto Rico Role Players page in Google+, in an attempt to share information about upcoming activities and other important RPG news with our circle of followers, which is still small but hopefully will grow in the coming days and weeks. We also have a Gmail account for the group, prroleplayers@gmail.com where we can be contacted.
I don’t think I have mentioned it before but we also have a presence on Twitter, @PRroleplayers that account is run by none other than our Boricua in exile Daniel Perez, also known as @Highmoon, who was instrumental in the creation of spaces where gamers in Puerto Rico could communicate and for that we owe him and continue this journey.
We’ll also soon be re-launching a website a fellow Puerto Rico Role Players member created which is undergoing some modifications, so I’ll make sure to write another post when that happens.
Are we leaving Facebook? No! I think it has been, and for the foreseeable future, will remain our main contact point. But now there are other options to reach those Puerto Rican role-playing game fans that may not be in Facebook.
Dear reader, I have one request to make of you… If you know of a role-player from Puerto Rico who may have not heard of us will you be so kind and point them our way? We will appreciate it!
What was, what is and what will be
0November 23, 2011
After a few days being sick, I finally went back to work today. I think this is a perfect opportunity to give you an update on what’s going on at Stargazer’s World at the moment.
What was 
Sunglar has been very busy in the last few weeks which has had a great impact on his post frequency. Yesterday he posted about his hopeful return to a more active presence in the game community. He also reminded me that I’ve written my 900th post recently. I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t reminded me, oops.
This is a good segue into the next thing I want to talk about. As you all may know I had a great idea for NaGa DeMon that is much harder to design than I anticipated. And since the end of November is drawing closer I doubt it will be finished in time. But I don’t want to abandon the project entirely. I want to continue to work on it and I think I will try to get some more help and advice from the community. Later this week I will start sharing what I have done so far here on the blog.
Our new feature “Ask The Stargazer!” started last week and I hope I can answer another of your questions later this week. And if you haven’t done so feel free to send in your question. Details on how to contact us are in the sidebar to the right!
What is 
A lot of my free time is currently occupied by both Minecraft and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. As some of you may already know I am running my own Minecraft server. A few days ago I moved the server to a new host. We used that opportunity to start a new world. Minecraft recently left beta status behind and the release version brings a host of new features I have to try out ASAP. Interestingly enough Minecraft turns more and more into a sandbox RPG, which I like a lot. Aside from mining and building, you can fight monsters, get XP, craft potions and even enchant your items. Cool stuff!
And when I am not trying to get my Minecraft server running I am playing Skyrim. I have always been a fan of the Elder Scrolls series and Skyrim is in my opinion the best game of the series so far. The new classless system is a lot of fun and my current character is some kind of battlemage fighting in heavy armor and using a bound sword in one hand and a spell in the other. In addition to that I love the crafting system. Hopefully I can get my smithing skill high enough to be able to create Deadric armor soon.
While playing the game I have been wondering several times if an Elder Scrolls pen & paper game would work. I am actually surprised that the creators of the series never released one themselves. The world of Tamriel is highly detailed and is much more unique as most people think. And from what I’ve seen it should even be possible to transfer the rules system used in the game almost 1:1 to the game table. On the other hand Tamriel would probably work with most game systems. Savage Worlds, Runequest or even FATE might be a good fit. The skill perks in Skyrim are mechanically not that much different from FATE’s stunts. When I find the time, I might actually work on an Elder Scrolls pen & paper project if my players are interested in such a game.
What will be 
Some time ago Robert from Ancient Scroll offered to write guest posts for Stargazer’s World. He already sent me a couple adventure ideas that I’ll publish over the next weeks. The adventure ideas will be for various genres and with no particular setting or rules system in mind. We hope you will enjoy them.
Aside from that I still have a few reviews in the pipeline. As you probably know from the Doctor Who RPG unboxing video I posted a while ago, this is one of the games on my list. The other one is The One Ring. Both games by Cubicle 7 look awesome and as soon as I have the time I will post my reviews here on the blog.
I think that concludes my official “State of the Union” … eh … “State of the Blog” speech for this month. If you have any questions, comments or ideas, feel free to post them below!
Long drives and Podcasts…
2October 18, 2011
Podcasts and me, it’s a relatively new affair. Despite being an avid radio listener (and I listen to AM talk radio so I’m used to the crazies! Mind you AM radio is different from what I gather it’s like in the US, there are still lots of character but different political views seem better represented) I didn’t make the transition to podcasts until recently. That doesn’t mean I was unaware of them, just not interested.
Before I had a smart phone I had downloaded and listened to the odd podcast, mainly something featured in an internet post, and the first gaming podcast I ever listened to was Fear the Boot and it was their first Ryan Dancey interview. I downloaded a few more episodes, but listening to them on the laptop didn’t work for me, I always had something else to listen to. When I got my smart phone I began to explore the podcasting options out there.
The first one that really got me was The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. I was really into it for a while, but with the bad taste the end of the series left in my mouth (let this be a lesson to you, never lick your TV, no matter how good the series is!) I quickly stopped listening, they have some other themed podcasts but they never caught my fancy.
Then I dipped my toe into gaming podcasts when I joined a gym and once again began to listen to Fear the Boot. Alas going to the gym didn’t last too long, and neither did my podcast listening days! Flash-forward a couple of years and in the middle of the hectic year I’m having podcasts have made it back into my life.
The first tentative steps were taken with This Just In… From Gen Con. But recently I’ve been traveling a lot for work, spending almost two hours on the road (yeah it’s a LOT to me, that’s island living for you!) every day; after a couple of days talk radio seemed to be regurgitating the same topics so I decided to dive back into podcasts, and I am so glad I did.
Since I’ve been writing for the blog I’ve discovered many fine podcasts and through the blog and social media I have been lucky enough to interact with some of the fine podcasters out there. In a way it’s a different perspective…. So what have I been listening to? Glad you asked!
Caught unaware…
7September 6, 2011
I am not a closet gamer! By that I mean I do not hide my love for role-playing games. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you know I regularly post about RPGs and other assorted geek interests. I actively support my local gaming community as much as I can. Heck I blog about it!
People around me know about role-playing. Coworkers and acquaintances know that I play “the game” on Tuesdays and know about the “geek picnics” I get involved in periodically. I talk about RPGs to my non-gaming friends (which there are not many of since most of my friends actively game or have gamed with me at some point in their life) when they ask about it. I am not pushy and try not to force my hobby on the uninterested.
Role-Player’s Cant
12August 25, 2011
Tell me if this has even happened to you. You sit down to play for the first time with a group of gamers who’ve been at it for a while (be it a few months or many years). As the new guy or gal there you may feel a little trepidation, there is of course the expected period of adjustment, and then someone uses a phrase that has no meaning for you and everybody start laughing. A common word to which you attach no particular importance elicits a reaction from the others around the table. If you can identify yourself with this experience then you have witnessed what I like to call role-player’s cant!
True many of us (well at least in similar age groups and from similar cultures) may share some references we throw around at the table. Like brushing off a terrible critical as “just a flesh wound”, calling a particularly deadly weapon the “holy hand grenade of Antioch” or calling any mysterious chivalrous order the “Knights who say Ni”… Thank you Monty Python, we are in debt to you! But this is not the type of patois I’m thinking about. I’m referring to the words, phrases and concepts that form around a tight knit group of friends over a period of time.
I began to think about this after writing my post on “puerco papers”. This is a concept that I associate with my immediate group of gamers and I know that when I have used it outside that group I have always had to explain what I’m referring to. Daniel (@Highmoon) left a comment on how I was introducing our very own terminology into the greater gaming community, and that got me thinking. I asked around my friends and players for suggestions, and began to compile the words and phrases we have come to use over the years in our groups. Let me share some with you…
Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 4!
5August 24, 2011
I fear this whole Gen Con retrospective might be getting a little old, after all Gen Con ended 2 weeks ago. With all the complications I’ve had to write these posts you’d figure I’d get the hint the universe was trying to tell me something. Heck, last night as I was getting ready to write this last post (yeah its finally over!) a tropical storm hit Puerto Rico. You might say the fates were against me.
Well the fates be dammed! I intend to finish this thing even if it’s the last thing I do. (If Michael sees the readership number plummeting and you see my name stricken from the authors list you’ll know what did me in!) I’ve covered RPGs, other games, “stuff” (t-shirts, artists, authors, et al) but this last post is about the most important reason I went to Gen Con. What was it? Read on…
Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 3: On to other stuff…
0August 22, 2011
So we’ve covered role-playing games (and I missed a couple of things but I’ll get to that in my next post), other games and minis, but there is so much more to do at Gen Con. One of the things I wanted to get where t-shirts. My last time around I stocked up and while most were worn to tatters, but a couple lasted through the years… So getting new shirts was high on my to-get list. Unlike some games that were impulse buys with t-shirts I took the time to shop around see what was available and I brought the ones I wanted on the last day.
The Off World Designs booth had the official Gen Con t-shirt for sale so I stopped there and got two for friends (including the esteemed creator of this blog to whom I am yet to ship his shirt, shame on me!) and while there I picked up their Boba Fettish t-shirt for a friend. While I love their designs, and just browse their webpage to see some great ideas, in my circles they are probably the best known geek shirts purveyors, so I get to see their shirts on friends… I wanted something different!
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