What are y'all up to these days?

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Spent most of the day between Darkest Dungeon and working on my house rules document for my White Star game-- tried to show some restraint, but I can't help myself. Kept it to under two pages, at least.

Two rules about character creation: alternate stat-rolling system, and alternate hit die rolling system.

Then it's just a class list, and a bunch of niggling little tweaks to reconcile the classes from two genres: merging the Paladin with the Star Knight, and the Cleric with the Mystic. I still need to mess with the Druid a little bit, and I want to give the Bounty Hunter the option of "Ranger" spellcasting with Druid and Illusionist spells. Included Timothy Brannan's (White) Witch and Warlock as options.

Also have "Elf" and "Dwarf" and "Gnome" as alien classes.

Looking forward to Wednesday.
 
So I suddenly felt inspired to do a short Western rpg with the same system I used for my PocketQuest game. ORtrail ORtrail came up with an initial cover concept for me, and I watch Tombstone again for some inspiration. Here's the cover I've got so far:
Smoke_Wagon_Cover.jpg
 
Still writing a review for Dungeon Babies.
Never even dreamed there would be a game that leaves me perplexed and not knowing what to say, but there it is and I've already accepted to write a review for it:shade:.
 
ORtrail said:
The character sheet is even better. Prepare yourselves people! :grin:
Click to expand...
speaking of....
SW-_CS.jpg
 
urbwar said:
speaking of....
SW-_CS.jpg
Click to expand...
1) Wanted: Dead or Alive really shows the expected endgame for many Wild West PCs, doesn't it?
2) I'm pretty sure those "Wanted" posters in the Wild West made no mention of "pronouns"...and if they had to mention one, it would be under "quirks":shade:.
 
Today I traded doing something I'm passionate about but takes all my time and pays little (teaching) for a job I'm neutral about but gives me more time with my family, more hobby time, and more money (working for the power company). I'm sad to give up teaching, but instead of grading papers at night, and sometimes on weekends, I'll be hanging out with my family, working on house projects, hiking, reading, and working on and playing RPGs and board games.
 
Ossian said:
Today I traded doing something I'm passionate about but takes all my time and pays little (teaching) for a job I'm neutral about but gives me more time with my family, more hobby time, and more money (working for the power company). I'm sad to give up teaching, but instead of grading papers at night, and sometimes on weekends, I'll be hanging out with my family, working on house projects, hiking, reading, and working on RPGs.
Click to expand...
Heh. I once played with a teacher who had so little personal time she had to grade papers at the table with us.
 
Wednesday was a bust. Two of my three players missed the first session, one justifiably sicker than shit, and the other... still pretty justifiably, took his grandkids to a movie. But the first session? It's a bad omen.

The remaining player built a combat droid PC and helped me set up a lot of stuff for the campaign going forward.
 
Ossian said:
I ran a game every other week while a teacher. Game prep was me reading the published adventure for an hour or less right before the session started.
Click to expand...

I tried teaching while running a Roll20 campaign last fall. Made it all the way into November but then had to pause and start up again "next season" (this summer). This time I doubt I'll make it through August, especially if my Kickstarter gets funded and I actually get to take on creating a module line.

So I totally hear you on leaving teaching for something that gives you more free time. I'm already finding myself modifying how I teach and what I assign to help compensate and leave some hobby time during the academic year. Summers just don't offer teaching gamers enough for a year-round pursuit. I feel I may be close to "quitting the day job" too!
 
Went back to work on Smoke Wagon, as I spent the last two days training someone at one of my job sites. Given the rules I'm using aren't long, I'm almost done. I had the mechanics finished, now just doing character creation. I'm working on the "classes" (called Professions). Also, made a back cover the other day: Smoke Wagon Back Cover.jpg
 
I ended a months-long gaming drought with some online board gaming and it was like a cool drink of water after a few weeks in the desert. I have to admit I have been bummed out for the past few months after my face to face game of Carcosa lost traction due to scheduling issues. Game day is often the highlight of my month and it's been sorely missed. For as long as I can remember I've been running my face to face games in the old stupid rockhead way where the entire session is scrapped if one or two people can't make it. It's just not working any more and I need a new approach.

2qm33f.png

I've decided to bend my creative energy towards hosting an online open gaming table. The TLDR is that I host a game at a set time each month and whoever shows up, plays. Not only does this give me a new creative outlet and address scheduling issues but it allows for a larger pool of players with varying degrees of interest and commitment.

Edit. I want to start a thread to solicit ideas, solutions, and feedback for an open table project, what would be the best way to do that?
 
Last edited:
Fenris-77 said:
I just re-watched Tombstone yesterday and when Kurt Russel growls skin that smoke wagon I thought of you.
Click to expand...
That's where the title came from. One of my two favorite lines in the movie (the other being the time Doc tells Ringo "I'm your Huckleberry:smile:
 
urbwar said:
That's where the title came from. One of my two favorite lines in the movie (the other being the time Doc tells Ringo "I'm your Huckleberry:smile:
Click to expand...
Just a small item of trivia. When Val Kilmer said the line “I’m your Huckleberry” he actually got the line and the script wrong. The actual line says “I’m your huckle bearer” but since the cast didn’t know what a huckle was, they thought he said it right. They don’t use the word “huckle” much any more but in the 1800s it was the term for a handle on a casket. They didn’t use the term pallbearer back then but rather “huckle bearer”.
 
Ronnie Sanford said:
Just a small item of trivia. When Val Kilmer said the line “I’m your Huckleberry” he actually got the line and the script wrong. The actual line says “I’m your huckle bearer” but since the cast didn’t know what a huckle was, they thought he said it right. They don’t use the word “huckle” much any more but in the 1800s it was the term for a handle on a casket. They didn’t use the term pallbearer back then but rather “huckle bearer”.
Click to expand...
Interesting. In the glossary I'm putting together (taken from a book/website I found), the term "I'm you're Huckleberry" means "I'm you're man" or "I'm the man for the job". So his mistake actually fits those scenes with Ringo perfectly imho.
 
urbwar said:
Interesting. In the glossary I'm putting together (taken from a book/website I found), the term "I'm you're Huckleberry" means "I'm you're man" or "I'm the man for the job". So his mistake actually fits those scenes with Ringo perfectly imho.
Click to expand...
About 5 minutes ago, my best friend argued the same point and there seems to be some question of which expression the real Holiday used and which was supposed to be in the script. I apologize if I got it wrong. However I will point out that the term huckle bearer had, at the time, become common in American expression with the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn three years prior to Ringo’s death. I’m or I’ll be your huckle bearer fit with what Holiday was telling Ringo’s too. He is saying he is about to kill him - which he did!
 
Ronnie Sanford said:
Just a small item of trivia. When Val Kilmer said the line “I’m your Huckleberry” he actually got the line and the script wrong. The actual line says “I’m your huckle bearer” but since the cast didn’t know what a huckle was, they thought he said it right. They don’t use the word “huckle” much any more but in the 1800s it was the term for a handle on a casket. They didn’t use the term pallbearer back then but rather “huckle bearer”.
Click to expand...
And yet I see "I'm your Huckleberry" in the net, oh, and it was used in a major computer/PS game as well (EA UFC 4). I guess language drift has already happened.
 
Ronnie Sanford said:
Just a small item of trivia. When Val Kilmer said the line “I’m your Huckleberry” he actually got the line and the script wrong. The actual line says “I’m your huckle bearer” but since the cast didn’t know what a huckle was, they thought he said it right. They don’t use the word “huckle” much any more but in the 1800s it was the term for a handle on a casket. They didn’t use the term pallbearer back then but rather “huckle bearer”.
Click to expand...

That's what I heard as well. Makes sense to me, but what do I know? Either way, it's a killer line in an exceptional Western movie.
 
Our Masks* GM messaged me on Whatsapp that he's prolonging his stay with his gf in the Philippines for another month. Also, he stated he doesn't feel very motivated to continue running the Masks campaign at the moment. This puts more pressure on me to finally fucking prepare and run something again!

* Masks of Nyarlathotep
 
I just had a GM-ing nightmare. I don't mean I had a bad session- I mean I literally had a nightmare about being a GM.

I had apparently agreed to run a D&D game at a con. I get to the game room, expecting ~5 players, and there are ~20 people standing around waiting to play. I recognize one of the players as an IRL friend and pull him aside, saying something about how this is way more people than I expected and I have no idea how I'll pull it off. I was hoping he would offer to split the group and run for half of them, but he just said something along the lines of, "You can do it."

So we sit down at the table, and thankfully at least at this point, some of the people have wandered off, so now the group is down to 12 or so. It's at this point that I realize I have no equipment with me at all. No dice, no rulebooks, no notes, not even a pen. And I don't have anything mentally prepared, either.

Looking around the table, I see that a few people have dice, but no one else has a rulebook, either. I try to convince myself that it's okay because with such a large group, we won't have time to get rules-heavy.

So I ask, "We're all here to play D&D, right?"

In response, rather than saying "yes" or "no," one woman rattles off what sounds like the opening chapter of a fantasy novel, which causes the woman next to her to get up and leave.

When the would-be author finally pauses, I interrupt and suggest that we go around the table (starting from the opposite side as the would-be author) and they can each tell me about the character they want to play. For some reason I skip the person to my immediate right, who is understandably upset about that.

The "tell me about your character" activity goes about as poorly as you would expect, considering I had given them literally zero information about the setting, rules, etc.

Thankfully, at this point I realized I was dreaming and didn't actually need to see the session through to the end. Woke up a little confused about what had just happened.
 
As I await my two commissions for Smoke Wagon (and work on some adventure seeds), I find myself getting too many ideas again. I got this silly idea to do a game where you play various non-human races like Hobgoblins, Goblins and such, who send a party to attack the tower of an "evil" Elven wizard who keeps sending adventurers to attack their homes. I got inspired by a piece of art I got from a Patreon I supported years ago, and ORtrail ORtrail pointed out (which I was oblivious too when I wrote it) that the title comes off as a pun given the art work.
Storming_THe Wizards_Tower.jpg
 
I've been on vacation away from home for the last 10 days. Lots of behaviors I want to change when I get back tomorrow.

Starting with more gaming. Not sure how to get this done since groups are pretty...volatile these days. But there will be pleas for help in the LFP/LFGM thread.
 
Bunny and I had a good time playing Eldritch Horror with fellow Pubber. The Ancient One was Yog-Sothoth but a wildcard event with Ithaqua resulted in a TPK. It was so close! After softening Ithaqua up with call the storm, Ashcan Pete was was loaded up with a Winchester and dread curse of Azathoth to finish him off but an unlucky zero successes on a die pool of 7 lost the game. Great fun!
 
Brock Savage said:
Bunny and I had a good time playing Eldritch Horror with fellow Pubber. The Ancient One was Yog-Sothoth but a wildcard event with Ithaqua resulted in a TPK. It was so close! After softening Ithaqua up with call the storm, Ashcan Pete was was loaded up with a Winchester and dread curse of Azathoth to finish him off but an unlucky zero successes on a die pool of 7 lost the game. Great fun!
Click to expand...
If that Simlasa Simlasa he told me he was going to be playing that in a Pub game. I need to give it another try sometime. I played it once with a girlfriend while hunkering down in isolation during the summer of 2020. While the game says it is suitable for 2 players, it really should advise you to play with two characters each. We got overwhelmed by events very quickly. While I can really enjoy a narrow TPK, it's not nearly as fun when victory never even seems possible. We got heavily into 7 Wonders: Duel after that, so we never gave it another try. That's a perfect two-player board game.

I got in some good board gaming today. After a day at the beach yesterday, my nephews asked to play Lords Of Vegas, which is the game I have successfully substituted for Monopoly in my family. It was a great game with it remaining neck and neck between the four of us, and lots of wheeling and dealing.
IMG_4571.jpg
 
Baulderstone said:
If that Simlasa Simlasa he told me he was going to be playing that in a Pub game. I need to give it another try sometime. I played it once with a girlfriend while hunkering down in isolation during the summer of 2020. While the game says it is suitable for 2 players, it really should advise you to play with two characters each. We got overwhelmed by events very quickly. While I can really enjoy a narrow TPK, it's not nearly as fun when victory never even seems possible.
Click to expand...
You are absolutely correct. I find Eldritch Horror is borderline unplayable with only two characters on the board because effective board coverage is nearly impossible. When Bunny and I play Eldritch Horror with just the two of us we play two characters each.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top