Tempted by FATE

I have been tempted by FATE. I am still deciding on which of my favorite rules light generic systems to run a game with. That list has grown by one. My list now comprises of ;
 1. Risis by S. John Ross
 2. Story Engine by Precis Intermedia
 3. Fate by Evil Hat Productions

I downloaded the two books and some other goodies. I only paid a few bucks for them (currently the game is pay what want).
 I can justify this by knowing that I will buy the hard copy when its out. Fate comes in two flavours Core and Accelerated. The Core book comes in at whopping 310 pages! Kinda of much for a light RPG. This is however at the pocket book 6 by 9 inch format. And much of the book is give over to help in running the system and not the rules. The other book, Accelerated clocks in at just 50 pages in the same 6 by 9 size. More of what I expect from a system of its type.
  I'm not crazy about the cartoonish style artwork in the book, it's kind of a put off. It makes me think that the system is not for serious role-playing. I haven't had a chance to read it in depth yet. But at a glance so far I like what I see. Accelerated ditches the skill system of the core rules and replaces it with something called approaches. Approaches are a set of dice modifiers based on how you approach a task rather than which skills you use. I was at first skeptical. But however I have always detested skill systems in role-playing games. Approaches can help define your character without resorting to skills or stats allowing greater flexibility in design and play. I haven't made up my mind yet. Whether or not this is the system I will use. But I do consider it to be a solid entry on the list. I might just have to go pick up some fudge dice and fire up the printer and print out a copy of the Accelerated edition.

P.S> thanks to all of you still reading this blog during the long gaps in posting.

Too long of a Break

Hello, yes I know its been a while. I took a break. A short break that ended up being a longer break. After not posting for some time it became harder and harder to post something. So I just let it go for a while. I didn't mean to go this long but stuff happens. My fancy new speech to text program was supposed to help but it actually made it worse. Its kind of awkward talking to no one with people around. So I had to try to post at night. But its summer and the kids are up later. And I would get too tired to post so I would put it of til another day. That other day ended up being months later, sorry.
I am flattered that people kept looking at the blog despite not having written anything new. Thanks for hanging in there and waiting. Next stop new posts.

Appreciation Day

I own close to 300 rpg books. From perhaps two dozen systems. They all sit on shelves in my basement games room. Except for one. My Swords and Wizardry White Box rule book. It resides in my bed room, on a shelf near my bed. I read it frequently. It will be my choice rules for when I finally run a game again. Why? Well because I am a lazy GM. Its light and I don't have to remember a lot of rules. And its progressive, ascending AC is an option. (its one of the few things from 3rd ed liked). And Class as race is something that fits with my current ideas of a classic fantasy world. And its free. I'm not cheap but why pay when you don't have to. I will have to wrap this post up for now. A storm is coming in and I don't want the power to go out before I post this.

 -I will post more later.

Magic-Users, Ditching the Robes

At its core D&D is really about combat. The most exciting part of the game really, is fighting monsters. You load up with armor and weapons go off and kill something and take its stuff. Sell it. By better armor and weapons and go off and kill something else and take its stuff. That's the core of it let's not fool ourselves. Okay, there's that role-playing stuff and character interaction and development etc. etc.. But I'm not concerned about that right now. Instead I'm focusing on combat. Characters are defined in terms of combat. Hit points are how long you can last an combat. Attack Dice (level) is how well you can hit your opponent in combat. If these things increase as you gain experience then how come you gain experience from anything not combat related? Gold for experience points, I don't think so. Experience points for just showing up to play? Not a chance. Okay getting back to the characters.

The fighter, kind of self-explanatory so no further exposition is needed here. The cleric, well that's easy combat support right? A little bit of fighting a little bit of healing. It's easy to see why both of them are here. But the magic user, a scholarly Wizard in robes with a dagger? Why is he here? I have an idea. Let's ditch the robes. Let's stop pretending that he's a scholarly Wizard. What he is actually a combat specialist. The cleric is really just another fighter that can do some other stuff. The magic user is a magic using fighter. Yes he is a fighter. He has hit points (combat). And he has attack dice(combat). Now we have an explanation for the term magic user, a title not many prefer. The stereotypical bearded be-robed mage surrounded by books would never venture out on his tower. Why have combat stats for him? Am I making sense yet? Let's sum up.

The three original character classes in the game are all just fighters. You have the basic fighter. And two support fighters with special abilities. Try to imagine a magic user looking more like a thief and now you can see perhaps something different.

In my world I picture of school for magic users. In which they learn to use magic in combat. Wizards who don't study combat are not magic users.Magic users gain experience from defeating enemies in combat just like fighters because that's what they train for.

A New Era?

Okay it's been a while. I'm trying something new. I'm dictating this on the Dragon Naturally Speaking program. I don't know about you but I find typing almost as difficult as writing by hand. As a child I was diagnosed with dysgraphia which is a condition that makes it difficult to write. I was given a typewriter to try in alleviate this problem but I soon realized I was as equally useless on a typewriter as I was with a pencil or pen. By high school I'd given up on cursive script and went back to printing. I took a keyboarding class as a result of the new computer curriculum in school space but the teaching style clashed with my style of learning, I don't think I remember passing the class. I only became proficient on a keyboard after getting my own computer and using the chat program. The pressure of trying to respond quickly forced me to finally learn to be a better typist. But composing on a keyboard still difficult for me. That's why my entries in this blog have a tendency to be short and sweet and to the point. Also I figured like myself I tend to not want to read reams and reams of script. My eyes tend to glaze over when I see long-winded blog entries going on for hundreds of words. Many times during the process of crafting a blog entry it has taken days days to get through the editing process of whittling down what I want to say into what I would want to type. Sometimes the process would be to difficult and I would avoid it altogether. Leading to long gaps between blog entries. Like you've might've noticed. So now armed with this brand spanking new technology needed perhaps I could crank out a few more blog entries than ever before. It might take me a while to figure out this program. But I will try to post more often, definitely. So here is to a new era for this blog, hopefully.

Please stand by.

Calling Grognardia, Are you There?

 That's odd, I thought. No posts from Grognardia. No posts in a while. Five weeks now.
Ok That's not right. Yeah so many bloggers don't post very often, myself included. But however its weird for James Malizewiski not post. That guy is a machine, a blogging machine.
In 2009 he posted 675 times
In 2010 he posted 759 times
In 2011 he posted 629 times
He slowed down in 2012 only posting 345 times.
But lately He only posted once in December and it is been 5 weeks since that.
So why do I care? Well he was the primary inspiration for this blog.
And I value his opinions about gaming and I always look forward to reading his blog.
On a more personal level he is kind of a mentor in absentia.
The massive number of entries he maintains is something to aspire to.
And he is part of this community of gamers.
So I am worried a bit. I hope he's alright and its nothing.
So if you are reading this and you are a friend of his,
 (meaning its OK for you to contact him) give him a call or e-mail or whatever.
See if he is alright and let him know that I was thinking of him.
And looking forward to his next post.