Confessions: DNDnext is Looking Favourable!

I really think I'm going to like DNDnext. There, I said it. Let me tell you a little story. Lately, I've been feeling a little nostalgic to play a little old-school D&D. To be clear on the subject, I'm not one of those people who bash one edition or the other. I like all editions: anything from 1st all the way to 4th. I've enjoyed many an hour playing these games, playing D&D to all hours in the morning, feeling incredibly tired the next day. I played D&D; pure and simple.

Don't get me wrong I love 4th edition I love the flavor, I love the mechanics, I love the monsters, but there's just something about 4th edition that is making me crave more than it has to offer. To give you little bit of a historical background I play D&D 3 times a week. I play game of 4th online using map tools with my gaming group from Toronto. I also DM D&D encounters at my friendly local gaming store and have been for the past 10 seasons. I also play a homebrew game of 3.5 edition each Friday night, and have been doing so for approximately 6 years.

Losing my Convention Virginity: GenCon, Here I Come!!

I guess the sign says it all.   No game left behind.  It should actually say no gamer left behind.  As I ponder my upcoming trip to Indianapolis, I realize that it is only about 20 days away.  How awesome is that.  from the day I booked my badge to the event registration date, time flew fast.  Not to worry though, I am prepared; well prepared booking-wise, but not quite aware yet of all the awesomeness I am going to be subjected to.

I have been gaming for 28+ years and have never been to a gaming convention, whether it was in Toronto (when I lived there for 10 years) or any other place for that matter.  In essence I am a convention virgin, at the age of 38, and my first one is going to be GenCon: I am scared out of my pants.  I am extremely lucky though, cause this year I am travelling with a pro convention goer, Derek Myers (Ameron from Dungeon's Master), who has shown me the ropes on how to register, how to get the best events and how to make all the travel arrangements.  Without him, I would not be in a hotel right next to the convention centre, nor would I be attending some of the cool seminars I am actually signed up for.

Overwhelmed is not a word I use lightly for the amount of events going on at GenCon.  The hardest part about this convention was finding enough time to to the absolute minimum I would like to do.  There is so much stuff to do.  Seminars on building chain-mail, board games galore, new gaming systems tables(that I will unfortunately not have the time to try while I am there), and most importantly D&D.  Here is a look at some of the events I will be attending at GenCon as well as some of the things I would like to accomplish on this trip.

The Gecken: Socially-Impaired, Obsessive and Overly Intellectual

We have all probably heard the terms geek and nerd thrown our ways when we were lower level humans. Some of us may have gotten the daily wedgie, a swirly, bullied, pushed around and even excluded from many facets of the "sane" childhood.

The fact that pop culture in the 70s-80s was a horrible time for the "odd" group.  Movies like "Revenge of the Nerds(1984)", "Short Circuit(1986)", were awesome but you could not admit for fear of being "even more nerdy or geeky".

You had to cater to the "tough-guy" movies, like "Deathwish(1974)" or "Platoon(1986)", where the men were macho and good looking and the all loved them in the movies.

Recent Changes to the Site

Hey all.  Just a quick post to tell you of a couple of new changes that have appeared on the site.  I have decided this season to podcast the recaps of the weekly encounters sessions.  I will be podcasting all the sessions of Web of the Spider Queen, season 9 D&D Encounters.

Click the following links to access the podcasts:

Web of the Spider Queen - Week 1, and the Web of the Spider Queen - Sneak Preview.

Secondly, I have added a pre-generated characters from 1st to 3rd levels of the original modules as well as some of the characters created by the good gents at Hit-on-Crit.  They were kind enough to let me use their work on the site, so go take a look, they have a lot to offer.

Take a look at the pregenerated page here.

Lastly, I have added a collection of possible great purchases for anyone's gaming table.  From condition arrows, to combat markers, to customized figurines.  Check out The Store tab and buy to your heart's content. I have listed here some of the content of the store.

Thanks for your continued readership and have a great weekend.  

Until next time, have a blast!

Keeping Monsters in Line in 4th Edition.

"Alright! the dragon moves up to the fighter and attacks!"

"Hey, don't you remember that the dragon is dazed from my attack last round?"

"S*&#, I forgot!  Now he has no more actions and has done nothing threatening to the party!  SIGH!"

Do you ever experience anything like this at your table?  I do...and quite often at that.

D&D XP: PC's Want to Know...or do They?

We sit at the game table, sometimes once a week, sometimes once a month, sometimes once a year, but it does not matter.

There is a certain progression we expect from playing this game every week, which comes in the form of experience point and eventually, leveling up.  Everyone wants to level up for a few reasons:  More hit points, better powers, more challenging monsters.

Some people like to calculate their XP using the rules and the XP allocation tables in the Dungeon's Masters guide.  Some people like the roleplay, to be told to level up when it is necessary, not worrying too much about how much XP they are going to get.

Closet Gamers: Their Friends Think They go to Poker Every Friday!!

I know.  I owe you all a couple of posts.  I have been busy with a lot of things these days.  Good stuff, I hope coming in the next couple of weeks.  Nothing huge mind you, but some tweaks to the site and some information being added.  Loving the year so far.  But enough of me.

I have been endorsing the "Reading an RPG in public" motto that the escapist has been promoting for years.  It occurred to me that there are still people out there that are embarassed to play RPG's in public.

I have had member of various groups tell me later on as we have played together for a few years and tell me that they could not tell their friends they were gaming every Friday night.

Read an RPG in Public Week: March 4-10

While checking out the latest information in regards to GM day, I happened to stumble onto a great idea put forward by The Escapist.

For those of you unfamiliar with The Escapist, they are a website promoting advocacy of the game we love the most.

For a few years now they have been advocating to publicly advocate reading RPG books in public places and taking the photos of yourself reading these books in public.

I thought to myself: "Quelle idée géniale!" and decided to participate by:

a. Writing about this awesome sounding idea on my blog site,
b. Taking a photo of myself reading something RPG related,
c. Help dispel the stigma attached to RPG games and gaming in general by helping promote an event such as this one.

March 4th: GM Day

Happy GM day to all those GM's who make gaming on a regular basis possible.  


It is easy to be a player, but to be a GM...well it is the only reason we players are able to play.


So a big thank you for putting up with us players and hope you continue to crit us and make us sweat during our games!!!


May your dice roll 20s!


Sincerely,
Alton

Inspiring Radio for your Gaming Table

http://www.radiorivendell.com/

All aboard the live radio stream.  Check the article at Stuffer Shack where I interview 'Lord Elrond', the creator of the live 24/7 streaming fantasy music radio station. Visit Radio Rivendell to support them, cause there are not many jewels like this one on the net.

Valentine's Special: Some of Fantasys' Great Couples

What is valentines day, but a day to show the ones you love the appreciation they deserve.  I personally think that you should try to show these people appreciation for what they do for you everyday.

Anyways, back to the post.  This post is just a fun post outlining some of the great couples we have come to love - or hate (it is up to you).

Take it as it is.

Searching for images is hard for any other setting than dragonlance.  So I improvised for the rest.

I Used to Have a Home!

This weekend while I was travelling back from Toronto, I was spending the tedious 6 hours thinking of random stuff when all of a sudden - Blammo!!! Whatever happened to adventurers having holds, keeps and castles?

Today is 20ft Radius' 1st Birthday

It is funny how time flies when you are having fun.  There has been a lot going on in life and for some of the year had to take some time off.  I cried a little laughed a little.  It was a hard year.  

One of the bright point of my year was the blog.  It has allowed me to write about plain old stupidness.  I would like to thank some of the people who have stopped by and paid me a visit.  I am not a technical person at all and learned to whole blog thing (or what I know so far) by myself. That was one heck of a challenge for me.  Many an hour I spent trying to fix something or even figure something out instead of taking the time to write.  

On the bright side of an otherwise chaotic year, I have been writing, not only for my site, but for Stuffer Shack also. I wrote a few articles for Tourq Stevens (owner of the 'Shack and great all around guy) and was ecstatic that he gave me the opportunity to do so.I would like to shout out to Ameron from Dungeon's Master who gave me pointers on what blogging was about.

Everyone Else is Doing It?!

Taking the advice of Ameron from Dungeon's Master and indulging in the frivolity of these questions, here are my answers to the questions from Zak S's website "Playing D&D With Porn Stars".

1.  If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of, what would it be?

The Gem Sorter.  An old character of mine, Onomat Opoeia, was trying to get out of hot water after being caught in the King's treasury.  He convincingly told the King that he was testing his new invention the Gem Sorter (really just filling a sling of gems and trying to release them in their various colours in seperate piles).  My DM thought it was inventive and gave me a chance to totally pull it off, but roled a 1.

The DM Cannot Do Everything For You

4th Edition D&D, especially Essentials, has made gaming more accessible to the general population.  No longer is it a game for the hardcore nerds and geeks. WotC has opened the possibility to everyone that just want to come in, take a seat, and just play. However, those that choose to just come in and play still must understand the basic rules of character creation and the general combat rules when playing their characters.

I am frustrated with the lack of initiative new gamers bring to the table.  I can understand if you are a brand new player, who is just trying the game for the first time and want to see what it is like.  I can understand that some people are exceptional learners and have trouble absorbing information from written works.  I can also understand that buying all the books is costly and can really put a dent in your budget, especially if you are a student at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary level.

Gaming in a Small Town

I don't know about any of you, but 6 years ago I moved to Elliot Lake, Ontario, and I now feel like it is time to get out.

I moved to the "city" with my wife to be able to afford to go back to school and eventually become a school teacher.  The cost of living here is amazing and cheap. We have everything we can possibly want; a house, a car, money to travel.  The only thing we do not have up here is a social life.

D&D New 5th Edition Announced for 2014

It`s official; Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is on its way - or whatever they will call it.  After only 4 years, the staff at WotC are now starting to put together rules for the new edition of D&D.  What kind of changes are coming to the game?  I don't think anyone knows.  In the new Legends &Lore article entitled: Charting the Course for D&D, Mike Mearls announces the brainstorming steps of the new edition to come.

I a m not surprised by this announcement (the interest seems to have waned over the years), yet surprised at the up frontedness of the announcement.  I guess it is better to hear this from the horse's mouth than to circulate unfounded rumours.  Mike gives a link to a review by the New York Times.

Many people; friends, family, and some of the top blog writers were invited to attend a session in Seattle for some early playtesting of some of the new ideas for the new edition.

Finally: The Hobbit Appears

I am totally stoked!!  The 1st trailer for the Hobbit made its appearance recently and I just saw it.  I don't care what any of you think, but I love Peter Jackson's work with LOTR and all his other movies.  Take a look at the trailer.

If you have trouble viewing this video, access it here.

Hopefully Back on a Regular Basis!!

I have been absent for awhile. For the last couple of months I have been under an incredible amount of stress. This is not an excuse: it is a fact. So I am back and will hopefully be posting between here and there. It has been a busy summer, travelling out of country for over a month.  Other contributing factors have influenced my absence to the wonderful world of blogging. 

I am committed to bringing and trying to give new ideas, new perspectives to gaming in particular. Little by little I will try to return to the board and commit to quality articles.

Thanks for reading and welcome back!

Alton

Character's Character - Magnum Opus & Bam Bam

Magnum: I, Magnum Opus, dish out the hurt!
Bam: Um... Me crush.

DM: In the distance you spot a cave entrance. You can see a faint light flickering inside.  Bam Bam, you catch a whiff of something foul in the air.  Like a combination of rotting food and dirty socks - it's definitely goblins.
Bam: Me smell goblin. Me like crush goblin.
Magnum: I, Magnum Opus, wish to approach the cave.
Bam: Um... Ya, me like crush goblin.  Me need new socks too.
Magnum: ... (looks quizzically at Bam Bam)
DM: OK, you both start walking towards the cave.  The odor becomes stronger; Magnum you notice it now too.  Magnum, you think you see movement inside the cave!
Magnum: I stop.
Bam: I charge!
DM: Initiative, please!