The Future Starts Today!

Or some such thing. 

Happy 2025.

My blog is 12 years old and I didn't manage to post once a month on here. I don't know what 2025 holds but I'm trying to get back into the habit of expressing myself creatively on here.

I really struggled with my interests in RPGs this year. I've been with my Friday group 9 years now and our goals weren't always aligned this year. As a game retailer I'm often angry at whatever antics Wizrds of the Coast is up to and when it comes to my own personal money I often don't want to give it to them. Which means I have resented our DnD Beyond sub and really wasn't sure I wanted to even play DnD.

However, while WotC is often spot on in how it targets its customers. My store's Magic players, good people who are essential to my business' success, are often very happy with what they are doing. Even within my group there are people who are heavily critical but give them their hard earned sheckles with every new release.

Lets be frank: I'm lucky to have spent 25 years selling comics and games to our customers. I love my job and my customers. Its not my job to tell them what to play. Its also not my job to tell my group they shouldn't support WotC. I am the only member of my group that wants to move from DnD though.

It led me to realize that I don't enjoy the power level of 5th Edition. I like many of the mechanics but I'm drawn to the OSR due to its DM and player empowerment but most of my players were introduced to DnD with 3rd, 4th, or even 5th edition and they don't share that preference and that is okay. I struggled with just stepping back and moving on.

I didn't move on and instead started a 5.5 game.

Yeah...

I expected 5.5 to be a dumpster fire and it is a really well laid out and organized core book. The 2014 PHB had a small team and DnD was very much in danger of possibly fading away if its launch hadn't gone well by Hasbro's standards. The 2024 PHB takes into account the millions of new players we now have and the 2024 DMG is a significant upgrade over its earlier counterpart.

And like it or not DnD Beyond is a really good resource for a lazy player like myself. In looking at games like Savage Worlds or Basic Role Playing or Shadow of the Weird Wizard and their biggest miss is not having a tool like DnD Beyond. I get why they don't but it sure makes things much, much easier on everyone.

My 5.5 game is set in a version of Greyhawk and I'm about to finish my first adventure. Combat has been minimal because I'm often disappointed with it. Maybe its because I came from ADnD 2E but I don't like that encounters as resources to be managed and I'm a lot happier as a GM with exploration and interaction so we will see how it goes.

With all of that being said about DnD I'm a member of Mike Mearls' Patreon where he is building a fusion of 5E and BX (who isn't amiright?) that I'm finding delightful. Each preview really, really hits a sweet spot for me and while I really dig Shadowdark I think I'm going to like this better.

He's previewed the Fighter, Magic-User, Cleric, Rogue, an Ape & Mountain Dwarf ancestry, and a Miner & soldier background. I urge you to join it.

Monster Monday: Obstrevoi for Shadowdark

 

You can download a PDF here.

#RPGaDay 2024: Days 13 thru 25

Day 13: Evocative Environments - I really work on this but too often when a fight starts that goes out the window.

Day 14: Compelling Characters - I try to come up with good backgrounds and goals with my characters, but I've found it can take a couple of months to really nail who the character is.

Day 15: Great Character Gear - We mostly play 5E so we usually have some cool stuff. My current character, Hadrian Bluehawk (Human Level 18 Fighter Champion) has some amazing stuff that boosts his Saves, gives me an AC of 25, and I have a damn cool long sword too.

Day 16: Quick to Learn - I learn game systems pretty quickly and I've always loved getting new RPGs. I remember getting the Champions 4E rulebook and finding a Magic of Palldium Books 'zine and immediately wanting to get Heroes Unlimited...I just love RPGs.

Day 17: An engaging RPG Community - My current fave is the Shadowdark FB Group.

Day 18: Memorable Moment in Play - Through shenanigans are group volunteered to take on a whole fortress of sahaguin and one of the players was invisible and scouting underwater on a flying broomstick. I had found a Deck of Many Things and while we waited in safety offered the caster a draw from the deck. Her sorcerer blinked out of existence and the scout became fully visible and had to high tail it out. Because of his haste he wasn't able to free a fish person being tortured and we all gave him heck about it even though he had no real ability to help without dying.

Day 19: Sensational Session - The session before the one above had us meeting with a town to figure out how to deal with the sahaguin who had taken over an old fortress nearby. I volunteered us, as the only character that went to the meeting, to storm the fortress all by our lonesome.

Day 20: Amazing Adventure - For me it was the second adventure of a Deadlands game we were playing about 2 years ago. I really felt that the players were doing a great job of fighting evil in the Weird West.

Day 21: Classic Campaign - I've always wanted to run Horror on the Orient Express. Maybe one day.

Day 22: Notable Non-Player Character - There was a charlatan and PC foil, a tiefling named Krent D'Midnite that I always enjoyed bringing on screen.

Day 23: Peerless Player - My buddy AJ, he always has great characters with fully detailed back stories and he always stays in character.

Day 24: Acclaimed Advice - No gaming is better than bad gaming.

Day 25: Desirable Dice - several companies make d4s that aren't those lousy caltrops. I love them. 

#RPGaDay 2024: Days 6-12

 

RPG that is easy to use - Dragonbane by Free League. Its easy to learn, it uses a roll under mechanic, and easy to make characters.

RPG with 'good form' - I'm not 100% sure what this represents but I'm going to go with Shadowdark because it is a great blend of modern and old school mechanics and very accessible.

An accessory you appreciate - The DnD 5E battle board which is made like the board of a board game and has stone squares on one side and grass scares on the other.

An accessory you'd like to see - This is more of a book, but I'd like a Forgotten Realms setting book for DnD 5.5.

RPG you'd like to see on TV - I'd like to see a series featuring Drizzt and his companions.

RPG with well supported one shots - Shadow of the Demon Lord.

RPG with well supported campaign - Pathfinder 1 and 2.

 

State of the Planes: August 2024

Interesting times is the best way to describe the last year or so for me. When WotC pulled their OGL crap early last year I spent a lot of time looking at an alternative to DnD for my group and my customers and it was all kind of for nought.

My group is entrenched in 5E which has caused some issues for us...well me in the ensuing months. Most of the players are roughly 15 years younger and some of them either a) love 5E or b) have no interest in trying other games. 

Me? I love RPGs and own a T-O-N!

Things have gotten to the point I've spent a lot of time thinking if this group, that I've been with for at least 8 years, might not be the best fit any longer. At times its really been hard on my Anxiety and its also made me think about taking another sabbatical. What has been the most difficult is that we have always had one-shots on off-nights for the DM and two players don't have any interest in them any longer even though one of them used to play numerous systems with me 2-3 nights a week. It has reminded me of my first group and that wasn't a great association for me. It's easy to say "no gaming is better than bad gaming" but it can be real scary sometimes to contemplate that and it makes me a little sad that I feel that way.

However, in the midst of all of this, I find myself both impressed with how WotC has marketed 5.5 and even kind of excited to see it in action. Not real sure what that means but we'll see.

We had a pretty successful DnD Camp for tweens in July and we are trying to work out how to continue that for those younger players once school starts. I'm not sure that I fully agree 5E, in full, is a great RPG to teach new players but I'm downplaying skills and feats and using Ability Checks for most things. The kid's imagination is so refreshing and the experience, which includes my youngest in her first game, has been really rewarding.

That has led me to I contemplate if I should start a new group for players looking to try out 5.5 and so I find myself brainstorming DnD campaigns and contemplating what is best for me and my store. The jury is still out and I have a few weeks before 5.5's launch on September 3rd.

As far as finding a suitable replacement for DnD to sell in stores Savage Worlds...specifically Deadlands was the most successful option. We mostly just saw reduced DnD sales over the same time frame and I probably should've have pushed myself to learn and teach Pathfinder 2E but I really don't want that much crunch in the RPGs I run these days.

Lots to think about as a fan and merchant of RPGs at the moment and I'm kicking the can down the road since I can. 

It's weird thinking about leaving a group and forming a new one, but I've done it before and will probably do it again. The time playing these games is supposed to be fun for me and them or why are we doing it, right?

I have played around with Matt Collville's RPG and it's intriguing with its lack of To Hit rolls. That mechanic is growing on me. I've also backed Nimble 5E which removes the attack roll as well, but I need to see more of that game. I'm pretty disappointed in Kobold's Tales of the Valiant though, I'd hoped it would have been a bit more divergent but it is what it is.

Nostalgia has me looking at Champions/HERO System too. I have a second Wednesday group but we mostly just chat and laugh. I think that might be what bothers me about the Friday group, we used to be like that and now we aren't.

It will work out. I think I'm more mature now and can walk away if it's for the best instead of burning bridges, which I've done more times than I care to mention.

Hopefully, I'll get back to posting...well more than just here and there. This blog was born out of the OSR and the timing of the DnD Next playtest so maybe 5.5 will help me get it back on track?

Be well.

#RPGaDAY Day 5

RPG with great writing: Hmmm...Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 2nd Edition. The Bestiary is one of the most fun book I've read.

#RPGaDAY 2024: Days 1 thru 4

First RPG bought this year? Bugbears and Borderlands.

Most recently played? DnD 5th Edition.

Most often played RPG? 5E, again.

RPG with great artwork? Deadlands.