Short Break

As you have noticed, I've been a bit behind on posting. This is due to starting back at classes last week (or was it the week before? I can't even tell now) and trying to get used to it again. (I haven't been in classes for years...)

So, while I attempt to reach equilibrium with my schedules I'll be taking a short break -- might throw the occasional random post up, though.

VTT: Fork in the Road

Taking out security cameras

This week sees the last of the PAYDAY focused articles on VTT. I'm ending it simply with a feature of the game that is a core idea of most tabletop RPGs: multiple paths to success.

Dungeon Blueprint: Labyrinth Lord

Busier week than I had planned for which means today's post is going more announcement-like. Last week I mentioned choosing a system to really focus on for examples, content, etc. and I have chosen one -- Labyrinth Lord. This is an OSR title with a free, no-art version of its rules in PDF as well as a very cheap art-included version also in PDF.  My main reason for picking it is its relative simplicity. (Also, it works with their Mutant Future line and I love me some post-apocalyptic goodness.)

Next week I'll have some real content with a short, detailed level using either the base Labyrinth Lord or Mutant Future. (Probably MF.)

Fiction: Editing Pt. 2

This week in Fiction sees a very light edit. Last week's Fiction piece was fairly short and not too terribly done, I think.

Also: Spent most of my night looking at typesetting sites and all kinds of stuff for the TeX/MiKTeX/LaTeX program(s), instead of editing. Oops.

VTT: Heisting the Heisters

Setting up a fake drug deal to get inside.

In the continuation of the PAYDAY VTT's, this week I toss around the idea of stealing from the stealers! Thieving the thieves! Heisting the heisters! Yeah, you get the idea.

Dungeon Blueprint: Rhyme Time

This week on Dungeon Blueprint I attempt to create rhyming poem riddles. Or something like that. Also, deciding on a game system to use for these articles.

VTT: Time & Trouble

Drilling...

"The drill's jammed, get it going again!" a shout bellows over the roar of automatic weapon fire. Bursts of flame illuminate the surrounding warehouse, bullets ricochet off of concrete and a few find their mark, sending a security guard crumpling to the cold, hard floor.
   "We've got a police assault incoming!" a voice crackles over the radio. Suddenly, the surrounding windows burst inward, spraying shards of glass all around, as a SWAT team swings in with guns blazing.

That's a fairly typical scene in PAYDAY: the Heist, a PC-based FPS game developed by OVERKILL Software and published by SOE. I've been going through it the past few days and have come up with some ideas that would work well with tabletop gaming (indeed, they're already apart of it). Enough to cover this week and the next two, in fact.

Fiction: S&B Part 2

Here's part two of what I'm calling Stew & Boss. It's a working title. Yeah.

Same as before -- this week is unedited, raw writing with next week's installment being cleaned up a bit. I'll likely keep this up until I have a better idea of what to do with the post. Or time to do it properly. Whichever comes first.

Dungeon Blueprint: Wasteland Towers

It's a hot day in the rocky wastelands of a charred little planet. Dotting the surface and all over the horizon stand massive, rotting structures -- the towers of the ancients. The sites your ancestors built to reach the heavens and escape the hell below them. You often wonder about them. The ancients. How they managed to create so many wonderful things and how they threw it all away.

Fiction: The Editing

Still working on the Fiction post idea, but I think I have something I like. So, starting today I'm going to take last week's bare-bones bit of fiction and do a bit of editing to it to try and spruce it up. Next week I'll see about repeating the process -- new bare-bones piece one week and editing it the next -- till a story is finished.

VTT: Creative Solutions

This week I'm taking a look at 'solving problems' (killing monsters) the creative way with some inspiration from newly released Orcs Must Die! 2 (OMD!2).

Spring Traps + Lava Pits = Fried Orc (and Gnoll)

Dungeon Blueprint: 2D20

Starting off this week with a new weekly feature in testing -- Dungeon Blueprint should focus on my own tinkering with pen and paper RPGs. In this first installment I take a brief look at a mechanic I'm thinking about using: 2D20.

Fiction

Another weekly post in the making. I still have to decide what exactly this will be used for -- the focus is going to be on fiction writing. So, this week I have a bare-bones, unedited scene as a bit of a placeholder:

Introducing: VTT

In this inaugural post, I attempt to resuscitate this blog and embark on a new weekly feature. VTT – Video to Table – is focused on taking elements of video games and discussing them around tabletop gaming.

I could think of no better game to feature than the DayZ mod for Arma II. This mod functions very much like a standard tabletop RPG – there is an open world, perma-death, plenty of risk versus reward scenarios and story elements are crafted through a player’s actions.