For quite some time the crew of RPG Circus and me tried to figure out how to get me on their show. Alas because of the different time zones this has been more problematic than we anticipated. But when I decided to attend Gen Con this year, we planned to record something in Indianapolis.
So on one of the “Four Best Days In Gaming”, Mark, Jeff and I (Zach was running a game at this time) sat down at the Champions restaurant in the Marriott hotel, had some great food and talked a bit about Gen Con.
This little talk made it into the latest episode of RPG Circus, which is finally available! I also want to use the opportunity to thank Jeff, Mark and Zachary for having me on the show. They are the nicest people and I can’t wait to meet them at Gen Con 2011 again!
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!
It’s Friday and it’s time to give you some more free stuff!
This week’s Free Stuff is: Sword and Sorcery Saga
Swords and Sorcery Saga is a free website containing information, links, and downloads for a Swords and Sorcery conversion of Wizards of the Coast’s Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition.
On the Sword and Sorcery Saga Website they wrote this stuff up: This page is a central location for links and resources for Sword and Sorcery Saga, my sword-and-sorcery conversion of WotC’s Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition. Right now it is primarily a link farm, but as time goes on I’ll be adding HTML versions of the ruleset, resources such as monster compendiums and so forth.
So take a moment and check out Sword and Sorcery Saga. Download their files, and check out their links. As always be sure to thank Sword and Sorcery Saga for all their free stuff!
Category : Fluff/Inspiration, Guest Post, RPG, RPG tools
The Computer I Do Most Of My Writing On. I am a bit of a G1 Transformers Fan.
Over the last few years I have been reading books on management and starting a business. I really enjoy reading books on these topics and I have benefited greatly from reading them.
One book that has had the biggest impact on my life is Getting Things Done by David Allen. This book has taught me how to manage myself and others. No book has had a greater effect on me then this one. It is filled with priceless advice and tips that have helped me get my work done, reduce stress and keep everything in order. I can not recommend this book enough. Even if you have no desire to write or start your own business, this is just a good book for life general.
The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss has been the biggest motivator for me to produce something and to start my own business. Whether I will or not has yet to be seen. This book has motivated me to create something, to make something and put it out for the masses. What I have chosen to create is a Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition adventure.
I hope to use Stargazer’s World as a platform to chronicle my progress and share with everyone what I have learned and how I am overcoming any obstacles along the way. I will continue do posts on other RPG topics. I have no intention of only writing about the progress I am making on my D&D adventure. I still have a video review of GameScience dice coming up. I also will be attending PAX in Seattle this year. Something I am very excited about attending as well as writing about, but more on all of that later.
For now I just want to announce to you, the readers of Stargazer’s World, that I am creating a Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition adventure. I have completed a lot of work on this project so far and I have a lot more work to do before it’s all done. I hope when it’s all over I have something to be proud of and something other will get enjoyment from.
Inspired by Youseph’s and Bridget’s Gamescience dice reviews, I searched the internet for more information on Gamescience dice. I watched a couple of YouTube videos of Lou Zocchi explaining why his dice are far superior to any other dice, before I stumbled upon this very interesting video about the D Total!
I didn’t get any of those at Gen Con, because they were a bit too expensive for my taste. But the D Total is definitely one of the most impressive dice I’ve ever seen!
Category : D&D4e, DDI, Freebies, Other Systems, Pathfinder, RPG, RPG tools
I know free stuff is usually Youseph’s topic but I discovered this website this week and I’m thrilled. As you doubtlessly know I’m a Pathfinder RPG fan and have run a weekly game for the past year. Even if I don’t play D&D 4th edition I can tell you many things I liked about the game, one of them was the ability, with the DDI, of printing power cards. I’ve wanted something similar for spells for Pathfinder for a while now. I know there are commercially available sets in RPGNow but I was reluctant to spend money on them, some of the samples did not impress me.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered theGM.org and the handy dandy Perram’s Spellbook! This is a free application that allows you to create and print spellcards for the Pathfinder RPG, including the Advanced Players Guide and some other Paizo books! You can even create custom cards…
I love this web application! Kudos to Jefferson Jay Thacker, aka Perram, for this! Go over and check it out, it is well worth it.
