Local item: MetaCon Fall 06

The MetaGamers, the University of Illinois gaming club, has scheduled another of their one day mini-cons. This time MetaCon will be Saturday, September 9th at the Foreign Languages Building. For further information check out this message board. I really got to get to one of these things, if only to scope out what all the kids are up to, game-wise. Thought I must admit that I'm half afraid that in the presence of all the college students I feel look like an oldster desparately attempting to be hip by hanging out with a younger set. I mean, I just called them 'kids' in this post. I'm not exactly over the hill here, but there is bit of a gulf between this adult-with-a-day-job hobbyist and the rampant college geeks, even though I used to be one of the latter. You like how I can take a simple public service announcement and make it all about me? Am I being neurotic or egomaniacal? Maybe both.

Totally Not My Problem

Running a high level D&D campaign has been freaking my shit out for a while now, but the situation has its advantages. For example at the end of last run I announced that the next adventure will take place in a molten lake of magma inside the crater of a volcano. And I'm not sweating about how the PCs will travel on or through the lava. With 20th level spellcasters in the group I just can't be bothered to give a crap about such annoying little details. The players know that there is going to be lava everywhere and I'm totally leaving it up to them to deal with the problem. At this level the DM doesn't need to hold their hands for things like this. If they can't hack it against a burbling volcano, what are they going to do next plot arc when Surtur starts laying the smack down?

it's not a contest, folks

Yesterday's blog entry from RPGpundit merits a quick response. He reports that some people at RPGnet are talking smack about the new incarnation of theRPGsite. Can we please all agree not to have a message board war? Anyone who stops and takes a moment to think about it will realize that a heated rivalry between the two sites is pointless and silly. Let's look at the facts:

• RPGnet is like 2 orders of magnitude bigger and awesomer than theRPGsite. It would take years of hard work for theRPGsite to achieve the same level of net presence as RPGnet.
• The new RPGsite is intended for a different audience. Consider for a second that RPGnet's tagline is "The Insider Scoop on Gaming". That's not what theRPGsite is meant to be at all. If I had my way theRPGsite would have a nifty tagline like "Gaming for Regular People". Not because everyone on RPGnet is some kind of weirdo, but because I want the site to have a more populist and less insider approach. Neither way is wrong, just different.
• RPGpundit and some of the mods at RPGnet may have some animosity, but RPGpundit is not theRPGsite and Eric Brennan is not RPGnet. Pundit is one man with a vision for the site and some admin powers. I think he's pretty cool but I don't always agree with him. I think a lot of the mods and admins at RPGnet are cool people, but I don't always agree with them, either. Some of the modding policies at RPGnet doesn't suit me, but that doesn't stop Cessna from being a total awesome guy, or VoiceofIsaac and A2K from being the cutest gaming couple I've never met in person.
• Anyone who thinks RPGpundit will use his admin powers to silence critics on theRPGsite doesn't understand the man at all. He'd much rather fight than shut you up!
• Anyone who suspects that theRPGsite is simply meant to be a 'bitch about RPGnet site' needs to point me to even one thread devoted to talking smack about RPGnet. I haven't seen any but if I do I will leap in, not with the mod stick, but with vehement and heartfelt arguments that theRPGsite is NOT an anti-RPGnet site.
• Even if theRPGsite becomes everything I hope it to be, RPGnet will still be the best place for many gamers. I know several local RPGnetters, some of whom will clearly continue to be better served by RPGnet even though theRPGsite looks like a better fit for me. For example if Kathleen and Josh (RPGnetters coeli and UnkaJosh) were to ask me for an opinion, I would tell them to stick with RPGnet. Not because I don't want them at theRPGsite (I do) but because I think RPGnet's approach better fits them. Just like I would send a hardcore D&D-only fanatic to ENworld first rather than either RPGnet or theRPGsite.

So let's not fight, please? It's not like there isn't enough room on the internet for both sites. Pundit, this plea goes double for you. If we're going to do this, let's do it right. Keep things positive. Getting up in RPGnet's grill won't help your cause right now, even if some of them are picking a fight.

new 1st edition AD&D module

This is the sort of item I feel morally obligated to pass on. Pied Piper Publishing has released a new module for the original version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, written by Rob "Robilar" Kuntz and illustrated by James Holloway. Called CAS1: Cairn of the Skeleton King, it is suitable for parties levels 4-7 and looks totally retro-awesome. The Pied Piper site is down as I type this, but RPGnet has a favorable review and copies are floating around eBay. If I still played with any of my old crew from high school this would be the perfect type of thing for a one-shot.

Runequest SRD released

Mongoose Publishing has released a zipped doc of the new Runequest System Reference Document and Developer's Kit. Click here for the official Mongoose RQ page or here for a direct link to the file. Over at theRPGsite several peeps have put together PDF versions of the file, which can be found in this thread. That looks like blatant pimping, because it is. But in all fairness I found the announcement of the RQ SRD there before I saw it at any of my other sources.

Osric: perverted or pragmatic?

I brought in a new PC for the World of Alidor campaign, a barbarian/scout called Osric the Slayer Osric was inspired by Conan (of course), a lesser know Howard character named Black Vulmea, and King Osric, Max Von Sydow's character from the first Conan movie. The basic conceit is that my guy is Sydow's Osric before he usurped the throne, the same way the Conan stories tell of his days before he wore the crown of Aquilonia upon a trouble brow.

In our latest adventure the PCs befriended a band of centaurs who helped us fight a band of invaders from across the sea. As is normal for our DM, we were each handed a stat card for one of our allies. If we want the NPCs to help, we're responsible for running them. Unlike previous occasions these centaurs had no real personal info, so we were left to give them an identity if we so chose. I named my centaur Uthrekka the Amazon Centaur.

At one point during the adventure the PCs and our half-equine allies were camping out in a forest on a chilly night as autumn was setting in. The DM narrated something like "you huddle together for warmth". This left Osric with two options: share a blanket with one or more of the other dudes in the party or attempt to canoodle with a woman who is a horse below the waist. The DM didn't really express an opinion on Uthrekka's behalf, so I got to make the call. At the time the choice seemed obvious: when in a doubt a semi-babe is better than no babe at all.

It was never made clear how far things went with Uthrekka. My own boudaries leans towards being circumspect about such matters at the game table and no one else asked for the details of Osric's and Uthrekka's night together. Heck, I was so coy about the whole thing some of the other players may not have even realized anything unusual happened.

Whatever happened that night, the situation raises some interesting questions. What are the cultural and legal boundaries for inter-species coupling? We know that half-orcs were outcasts in most pre-3E settings, but nowadays those guys are pretty tame stuff in a world full of templated half-dragons and half-fiends and whatnot. Is sex with a dragon bestiality even though they can be fully consenting adults? Are half-fiends citizens with full legal rights or abominations to be put to the sword? These are the kind of questions that could come up in any D&D campaign, not just the World of Alidor.

Then there are the questions surrounding Osric and Uthrekka's particular situation that I need to answer at least to my own personal satisfaction. What happened that night? Could Uthrekka be pregnant from the encounter? Is a half-centaur a viable hybrid? Do they still have feelings for one another? Is one party in love and not the other? And if they did have sex, what won't this guy screw? My mind boggles at the cross-species couplings that present themselves by a simple flip-thru of the Monster Manual. Maybe the best answer for all concerned is that they cuddled to keep warm and leave it at that. Not the most titillating of all possibilities, but this is a D&D campaign, not Furry: The Yiffing.

more theRPGsite.com news

RPGpundit asked me to be one of the admins over at theRPGsite.com and I have accepted the position. At times Pundit's approach to online interaction can be a little... agressive. Yeah, let's go with that. I may end up playing the Murtaugh to his Riggs. As far as stupid message board antics go I really am getting to old for this shit, so when I took the job I did so with the proviso that if this shebang gets too big or too stupid I won't be around for long.

That being said, I really like his vision for theRPGsite.com and I want it to work. I think there's a place in the hobby for another vigorous hub of online activity. Especially a new site that espouses RPGs as a hobby. I know that sounds stupid. Of course RPGs are a hobby. But if you look at several major sites it would be hard to tell that. ENworld is the playground of the hardcore D&D enthusiast. I can't follow the technical details of some threads and I'm not exactly what you would call an outsider to the two D's and an ampersand. The Forge is about games as art. And RPGnet seems to be as much about the RPG geek lifestyle as the actual playing of games. In retrospect maybe that as much as the modding is what caused me to stop posting there. I couldn't keep up with the kids who were more into the geek life than I.

All three of those sites are places that serve a useful function and I don't hesitate to recommend them to people whose needs would be served by what they offer. But if your approach to gaming is a little more laid back, then maybe theRPGsite could be the place for you. If you're the kind of person who thinks that roleplaying is supernifty but also understands that it's just a hobby, maybe I'll see you over at the new RPGsite.