Topics

1

General Chaos / Castle Ravenloft - The Boardgame!

« on: September 25, 2010, 03:39:17 PM »

Damn! My wife rocks!

9/23 was our 15th anniversary, and she got me Castle Ravenloft as a gift. I've played the solo scenario twice now, and died early both times. The game is super hard, and designed to kill you.

It doesn't hurt the bad-guys that I tend to roll great for them and shit for me. 

2

General Chaos / Warhammer: Invasion, the "living" card game

« on: May 21, 2010, 11:34:23 PM »

Anyone a fan? I love this game! I got so burned out on Magic. I kept losing to guys who had money to burn, so they could always get the super-rare, super-expensive cards. Warhammer: Invasion, (WH:I), is a card game without the collectability factor included, so all players are on the same level playing field. It's great!

If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to give it a shot.

I have the core game that comes with decks for four of the races, (Dwarf, Empire, Chaos, and Orc), and I've also bought the elf expansion, so I now have the High Elves and the Dark Elves too. I'm going to run a small round-robin tournament of WH:I at the KantCon convention in Kansas City on Saturday July 10th. If you're in the area, please come down and play. I think you're gonna like it.

3

General Chaos / Ronnie James Dio - RIP

« on: May 16, 2010, 09:23:54 PM »

Ronnie James Dio passed today, Sunday, May 16th. He was 67 years old.

Heavy metal music was a huge influence on me when I was growing up, and Dio was one of the most influential musicians in my life. As soon as I read about his death on Yahoo, I hit iTunes and downloaded several more of his songs that I hadn't made the time to get yet. I'm planning on getting into my way-back machine tonight, become 16 years old again, and veg-out to everything Dio tonight.

I'm not sure if anyone knows this or not, but if you go to a heavy metal concert and you see everyone doing the "devil horns" hand gesture... well, RJD is responsible for making that popular at rock concerts. So everyone "throw the goat" in tribute to rock legend, Ronnie James Dio!

4

General Chaos / KantCon in Kansas City July 9th, 10th, & 11th

« on: May 03, 2010, 11:52:18 PM »

Hey guys, there is a small gaming con coming up in Kansas City soon, KantCon. Check it out at www.KantCon.com.

So far I'm just planning on going on Saturday the 10th. Each day has three organized gaming time slots. During Slot 2 I'm running/teaching folks to play the board game Age of Conan. During Slot 3 I'm running the Trail of Cthulhu adventure, "The Murderer of Thomas Fell". I ordered a copy of the card game Warhammer: Invasion, so I'm thinking about running/teaching that game during Slot 1. If not, then I'll find a game to play during Slot 1.

If anyone is interested in playing, come on down to KC and game with me.

5

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Running an investigative game

« on: February 17, 2010, 11:32:25 PM »

Hey Ross & Tom,

I really enjoyed episode 41, and I thought I'd start this thread so we can all share our ideas on how to run an investigative game.

As Tom noted in the episode, clues are critical in an investigative game, and if the players miss a clue, (especially a clue pivotal to the story), it can throw the game into a tailspin. Since I'm mostly familiar with Call of Cthulhu and Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying system, I'll base my advice on that.

Clues. If I'm designing a CoC scenario I'll try and tier the clues: Optional, Required, and Critical. Oftentimes, each individual clue will fit into multiple tiers, and depending on how well the investigators succeeded in their Spot Hidden or other investigative skill will determine how much of the clue they get.

If the clue is a major Critical clue, then I make it so that its nearly impossible for the investigators to miss the base information from that clue. For example, if it's critical to the adventure that the investigators know that the missing dilettante was taken to the old shipping yard, then I ensure that they get at least that amount of the clue. If the investigators succeed in their skill check by a certain degree, then maybe they also learn that the missing dilettante was recently seen cavorting with the dock-working scum, and that his "disappearance" may not be what it seems at first glance.

On a side note, the Gumshoe rules were designed around the basis that the investigators never miss the basic clues.

6

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Is the RPPR AP feed working right?

« on: December 24, 2009, 09:53:43 AM »

Hi. I keep getting an error message from iTunes about the RPPR AP feed not downloading/updating. Is this an iTunes problem or is it a real problem with the feed not working?

7

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / U-Boote Heraus actual play

« on: December 09, 2009, 11:32:51 AM »

Man, I loved listening to this game. I normally listen and then delete the APs, but this is one I am going to archive for later listening.

8

General Chaos / ShaunCon 27 in Kansas City -- Nov 19, 20, 21, & 22

« on: November 08, 2009, 06:40:00 PM »

If anyone is able to come to Kansas City the weekend before Thanksgiving, you might want to come play some games at ShaunCon 27.

I'm running 3 Cthulhu games there.

I'm running one Call of Cthulhu scenario on Friday night, the "Curse of the Yellow Sign: Act 1".

I'm running a Trail of Cthulhu scenario on Saturday morning, "The Murderer of Thomas Fell", and I'm doing another Call of Cthulhu scenario Saturday afternoon, "The Faculty Party", (a scenario of my own design).

Unfortunately, there is no advance registration. It is all first come, first served.

I hope to see you there.

If anyone wants to contact me, my email is jonhook@gmail.com

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RPGs / Chaosium's Halloween Adventure and BRP Adventure contests -- I won!!

« on: September 25, 2009, 10:48:20 PM »

Hi guys,

I just found out today that two adventures I wrote, one each for two separate contests by Chaosium, are each a winning entry in their respective contests!!!

I wrote a Basic RolePlaying (BRP) adventure set in WWII where the PCs play Special Forces Rangers who have psionic powers, since the US had been working on it since the mid-30's. The PCs get orders to infiltrate a Nazi camp that they suspect is also in the midst of developing psionic powers. This adventure uses the Psionic rules from the BRP book, and it also introduces three new psi-powers. This adventure is titled "Operation: Mind Storm".

I wrote a classic Call of Cthulhu adventure set on the Miskatonic University campus on Halloween Eve. The PCs can be any 1920s character type that they'd like, but a faculty member or student would fit in the best. The Miskatonic University English Department is holding their annual Halloween party. I night of spooky poetry reading, spiced tea, and hot coffee. What could go wrong? This adventure is titled "The Faculty Party".

Please look for these from Chaosium soon! 

10

RPGs / Sci-Fi RPG

« on: September 18, 2009, 04:12:32 PM »

I'm thinking about starting a sci-fi rpg game, via pbp of course. I recently picked up an older game called Manhunter. It's a sci-fi game with the basic premise that you are a band of bounty hunters looking to collect bounties from across the galaxy.

I find that to be a bit of a narrow premise for the game, so I'm thinking of expanding it out to something more akin to Firefly/Serenity. You and your teammates are known as Contractors. You go through the galaxy picking up contracts, (ie: jobs), and fulfilling those contracts. Maybe it's manual labor, maybe it transportation of goods (legal or illegal), or maybe it's picking up a bounty.

I've got some ideas on how to combine low-tech and high-tech so that it hopefully will coexist happily.

I probably won't be ready to solicate for players until the new year, but would anyone be interested in playing just based on what you've read so far?

11

General Chaos / GEN CON loot

« on: August 19, 2009, 05:31:02 PM »

If you went to GEN CON, then list your loot here. What did you come home with? And pictures would be nice.

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RPGs / How goes Gen Con?

« on: August 14, 2009, 03:24:36 PM »

How goes Gen Con? Can someone please clue-in those of us who couldn't go?

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RPGs / ShaunCon 27 (November 19-22 in Kansas City)

« on: July 22, 2009, 04:07:45 PM »

I know it's a bit early, but I wanted to announce that ShaunCon is coming up again in November. It is always the weekend before the Thanksgiving weekend.

I just submitted two Call of Cthulhu games that I am going to run there. The first one is "Curse of the Yellow Sign: Act 1 - Digging for a Dead God". This scenario is written by John Wick. It is a small enough "sandbox" scenario that I think I can easily run it in the 4 hour allotment.

The second is "The Faculty Party". This is a scenario that I wrote. This is my Halloween Contest entry that I just sent in to Chaosium. So even if it doesn't make the cut into their monograph, I still want to run it at ShaunCon. My scenario is also a "sandbox" format, so I feel very confident that I can run it too within the 4 hour time limit.

If anyone is able to attend ShaunCon in November, and would like to play in either of my games, please let me know and I will keep you posted on how to register for my games. If it is anything like last year, players will have the ability to register online for specific games so you can reserve you spot at the table.

Ross & Tom! You guys were able to attend last year and we ran and recorded Murder of Crows. That was an ok game. I really really really think you guys will love John Wick's game, "Digging for a Dead God", and I can't help but feel like a proud papa on my game, "The Faculty Party". I would absolutely love it if you guys could come to ShaunCon again.

I hope to see you guys there!

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RPGs / I sent in my contest entry last night

« on: July 21, 2009, 11:14:32 AM »

Chaosium is running a couple of adventure contests; one is for a BRP adventure, and the other is for a Halloween adventure. The BRP adventure can be of any setting or situation as long as it is written with the BRP rules. My submission for that contest is my  "Operation: Mind Storm" adventure; a WWII with psionics adventure. Some of us are playing that adventure now on Role Play Online (RPoL).

I finally finished my Halloween entry last night and emailed it off. That adventure is called "The Faculty Party", and it is a classic Call of Cthulhu adventure. The Miskatonic University English department is having their annual Halloween party, when something nasty crashes the party.

I will put a call out to run it on RPoL soon. Until then, I've got my fingers crossed! 

15

General Chaos / My insane work weekend

« on: July 18, 2009, 05:07:00 AM »

Hey guys,

Thought I'd decompress a bit and tell everyone about my crappy weekend that I'm having. I have to work some insane hours this weekend as we practice for a major code deployment that will occur in 3 weeks. So, not only do I have crappy hours this weekend, I will again in 3 weeks.

I am in the office as I write this, 4am Saturday morning, Central Time in the US. I got here at 1:30am. This shift ends at 5am, for me.

I will be back at 9:30pm tonight, and that shift ends at 6am Sunday morning. Gak!!!


Why couldn't I have been a career arsonist? They keep their own hours and really love their work... so I hear.