Followers?

This whole blogging thing...

...

Nice thought, eh?  SO much could be said to finish that sentence.  Excitement, misery, rejection, acceptance--all sorts of good things.

But for now, a mystery:  You see, it has been my common belief that a blog attracts followers over time by regularly posting interesting articles, opinions, views, etc.  'Interesting' is subjective, but it has to be interesting to someone.  My thinking went that, if you don't post, you don't attract followers.

But for some strange reason, the last several that have signed up have done so during what has been my slowest posting period since this blog was started.  I've posted very little recently, and yet a few people have still wandered in.  Don't get me wrong: I am thankful and flattered but also a bit flummoxed.

Of course, the whole 'followers' aspect of blogging is a strange beast in and of itself.  I mean, what does it really mean anyway?

And now to change topics entirely.  I apologize for not posting more often.  Life has been extremely hectic recently.  I find that when I enter the blogosphere, I spend the vast majority of my time reading what is going on out there.  There are so many good blogs these days.  And so many interesting topics to comment on.  So by the time I finish reading all of my favorites, my limited 'me' time is up, and I don't have time to post anything of mine.  I am going to try to rectify that--wish me luck.

Now THIS is the way to start a campaign!

Go read this.  THAT is the way to start a campaign!!

Don't like science-fantasy?  Who cares?  Take that general mold and fit it into the style of campaign that you want to run.

For instance:

You want to run a modern-day rpg?  Have the characters wake up in an overturned SUV, injured all to hell, not remembering who they are or how they got there.  Have several ambulances arrive to treat them OR have another identical SUV arrive with people in it offering to help them if they move quickly.  (Are the people in the SUV friends, foes, or something else?)

You want to run a superheroes rpg?  Have the characters wake up scattered in the destroyed remains of your campaign's version of the 'Hall of Justice'.  They don't remember what their powers are; they don't remember anything about themselves.  (Are they all good guys or are some of them villains?  Who did this?  Why?)

You want to run a standard fantasy rpg?  Have the characters wake up in a room, each in a bed, with no memories and with various physical injuries.  A man enters the room who seems suspicious.  He tells them that he found them in the (woods, ravine, dungeon corridor, etc) lying amidst a dead group of (pick your monster--but perhaps he doesn't tell them) and that he brought them back to his abode.  (All sorts of good question possibilities.)

You want to run a straight sci-fi rpg?  Frankly, very little to do differently.

You could follow steps 1-3 of that article exactly.  The rest will have to be altered as necessary to match your theme, but you need to use the attribute checks, some major combat encounter, and the clues that point to 'another one'.  Who is that other one and what is the connection to the player's party?  Those questions may never be answered or they might be the point of it all.  But THE POINT of all of this is that the players will start this campaign feeling the way that we all did the first time that we played an rpg.

This was probably the best blog post that I've read in the past week, and I just had to write something to complement it.

...

Although I have to be completely honest: Tonight has been a most fruitful blog reading evening.  Two other posts that I have to highlight are this one and this one.  The first talks a little about the megadungeon in your campaign; the second talks about something that most people who run wilderness campaigns probably never think of.  Both posts are excellent!  Hopefully, when I have time, I'll write a little something to go with each of those as well.

One Map Dungeon Contest?

I'm sure that most of the readers here have heard of the One Page Dungeon Contest, wherein a nice template for outlining a dungeon on one page was used as the basis for designing dungeons.  It started off as an idea (Sorry--I can't remember whose idea it originally was.) to free the DM from overly-detailed settings and the prep time necessary and to force a different experience in gaming.  The concept then grew into a contest in 2009 and then a second one in 2010.

Brilliant idea, and a lot of people executed it brilliantly.

I'm wondering if there is any interest in a slightly different kind of contest?  As the title implies, I am talking about a One Map Dungeon Contest.  How would it work?  Basically, I would draw a map of a dungeon--you know, some passageways, some doors, perhaps some rooms and caverns and some other stuff.  Then, YOU the reader would write the text for it to turn it into an actual dungeon.  (Obviously, the map would have to be really good to inspire people to write something for it.  THAT burden would be on me.)

Everybody would have the exact same map to work with.  I'd have to think of some other criteria for the text--either a word or page limit.  Or not--maybe it's best to leave it completely wide open.  Also, I'd have to decide if any modifications would be allowed to be made to the map.

Similar to the original concept, I'd gather some people together to judge all of the entries and then we could announce the winners, etc, etc.

This idea came to me as I was thinking back on my gaming experiences.  I've purchased many modules in my day.  There were quite a few times when I was more inspired by the map included in the module than the written adventure itself.  Am I the only person that that has happened to?

Anyway, what do you think?  Is this an idea worth pursuing?

Dungeon Compilations

Awhile back, I commented that I was doing a little work with Tony Dowler, of How to Host a Dungeon and Year of the Dungeon fame.

If you aren't familiar with YotD, go take a look at it immediately.  His "mini-dungeons" are really cool and are great sources of inspiration.

Anyway, I've been doing a little layout work for him--basically taking his dungeons and gathering them together in monthly compilations in pdf form.  (The layout is very basic, but he is happy with it.)  They are all for free at the site; if you go there, they are all available down the right column under 'my games and stuff'.  If you are not familiar with his work, I highly recommend it.

The Business Side of Gaming

I seem to come back to it occasionally.  I just can't help it.  I enjoy reading about it, I enjoy trying my hand at it, I just enjoy it.

I recently came across a blog that I find very interesting: 20th Level Marketing.  I really like the post here about pricing products and sales.  I agree with him completely regarding his thoughts on pricing digital products.  Now if only more people (in the OSR) actually bought them...

F-22

No--not a 22nd level fighter.  Depending on which version you are playing, that could be fun, stupid, or just plain impossible.  I'm actually referring to the US Air Force's newest fighter jet.

Why?  Well, if you were to glance below and to the right, you would see that I have a soft spot for Concept Ships.  I just dig strange and creative aircraft and spacecraft.  If you follow this link, you will find yourself looking at a gallery of photos of the F-22 that are incredible and just dripping with awesomtivity.  Some of them would fit right at home on Concept Ships.

The other reason that I like this collection of photos is that IMHO some of the styling on the fighter would look fantastic on a suit of armor.  In general, I just think that the fighter is badass.  I have for a long time, and these photos prove it.

Map Roundup - 08 August

As I have been away from the blog for quite some time, it has been awhile since my last Map Roundup.

The first two links that I have for you are sactually a few months old.  Take a look:

Who doesn't occasionally do this?

Forgotten Realms: a post about the Forgotten Realms and maps ...

Now for some posts that are a little more recent:

Here is a Treasure Map that its creator constructed from bits and pieces of illustrated manuscripts.

Here is a nice post about maps and the ways that they can be made better.

And here is a map [with a very distinct (and useful) style] of an underground river.

Take a look at these two dungeon maps from the science-fantasist over at Planet Algol: here and here.

And while this post has nothing to do with maps, it does include an illustration that, to my mind, is one of the iconic 'maps' of D&D.

That's all for today.  Now that I am back in the swing, these Map Roundups should become more common again.

If you happen to see posts regarding maps anywhere in the blogosphere, please email them to me, if I have missed them.  My Roundups will get better if you readers help me with them.  Cheers!

Darth Schwarzenegger

So this post will have absolutely NOTHING to do with maps, or fantasy, or even rpgs at all.

In my younger days, in addition to being a player of D&D, I was also a Star Wars fanatic and a huge Schwarzenegger fan.  I suppose that I remain all of those things to this day.

Someone created a video of Darth Vader in Episode IV 'voice-overed' by Arnold.  (To those of you who are offended by the 'verbing' of nouns, I apologize.)  I just had to link to it.

Beware: The language in the video is definitely R-rated.  Watch it here.

Maps for Sale

So this is going to be a bit of a strange post.

You see, I'm going to tell you about three of my products that are for sale at RPGNow.com.  I'm going to give you links to the product pages so that you could, if you so desired, purchase them.  But then, as you approach the end of this post, I'm going to tell you NOT to purchase any of them.

I don't want you to purchase them at this point.  For reasons that I discussed a long time ago here, I don't think that these products are worth your money.  Okay, you say--if they're not worth my money, drop the price to make them worth it or remove them from the website or do something other than write a post about them.  Actually I am, but more on that in a moment.  First, the products:

Hand Drawn Maps, Volume 1.  A simple product containing 10 maps of various fantasy locations--a few dungeons, a keep, and a small town.  It contains only maps--no text, no description, nothing but the maps themselves. It first went on sale in January 2008 for $1.50 and has remained that price ever since.  Unlike Locales, Volume 1, which was my first product, HDMV1 did not include any work of my own but was the work of a cartographer who hung out at the Cartographer's Guild who held the moniker Terrainmonkey.  It was my small attempt to highlight the great things that were going on over at the Guild.

Caverns, Tunnels, and Caves: Volume 1.  Another simple product containing 16 maps of--you guessed it--caverns, tunnels, and caves.  No keys, no descriptions, just 16 maps, black and white with a grid.  It first went on sale in February 2008.  Initially on sale for $1.90, it is now selling for $1.25.  What I wanted to do with CTCV1 was include maps of underground areas that looked more 'natural' than typical D&D maps.  As someone who enjoys looking at maps and has done a little bit of caving, I realized that most maps of cavern and cave systems in D&D weren't very realistic.  I was hoping that this would fill a niche in the market.

Caverns, Tunnels, and Caves: Volume 2.  Identical to the first, this time containing 15 maps.  It first went on sale in September 2008.  Initially on sale for $1.75, it is now selling for $1.25.  Same idea as CTCV1.  I am ashamed to admit it, but at the time I wanted to put something out and couldn't find the motivation to do what I should have done, which was work on Locales, Volume 2--something I still haven't done.

So those are the three products.  If you were to purchase all three of them, you would spend $4.00, and for that money, you would receive 41 maps of gameable locations.  What you wouldn't get is any text or description, beyond the titles of the maps in HDMV1.  Worth it?  That depends on you, but I would say probably not.  (Although there are a large number of gamers out there who can be inspired by a decent map and find great utility in standalone maps, why would you spend money for them when there are so many free maps floating around?)  Looking back now, it certainly was not worth it when, instead of $4.00, those products cost you $5.15.

Since I do not feel that these products are worth the $4.00 that I am asking for them, I recommend that you DO NOT purchase them.

What is my point in all of this?  Let me tell you:  I am going to do some things to, hopefully, make them a little more worth your hard-earned money.  I am going to take these 41 maps, spruce them up a bit, combine them into a single document, and put them up for sale.  I'm not sure what price I'm going to charge, but it is going to be something less than $3.00.  Further, I am going to discontinue the sale of the three original products at that same time.  Are those maps worth the small money that I am soon going to charge?  Again, that depends on you, but I think that they just might be.

Last thing.  The new product will be called Basic Maps, and its cover will look like this:

A Third Post?!

Yes, I'm going to make a third post -- the third in a row -- that includes a link to the Bottom Feeder.

Today, Jeff Vogel wrote a good design post for his next computer game project, Avadon.  I am linking to it, because I think that it contains lots of good ideas for adventure/campaign design.

In the broad spectrum of ways to design a campaign, some people think about and decide every detail in advance, down to the Nth degree.  Others, like James leans toward the other end of the spectrum and, in fact, prefers to learn about his campaign world through play.  Regardless of where on that spectrum an individual DM falls, the post that I link to above has some good thoughts.  I recommend it.

And I'll try to post about something else next time.