RPG Anthology Weekly Update

Work continues on the Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs. As of today I have received over 350 reviews from the seven Anthology Reviewers who, by all accounts, are busting their tails getting these reviews done before the end of the month. There were 135 nominations made to the Anthology, and now every nomination has received at least one review at this point.

On the art front - My open-call for volunteer Anthology Artists also had a bigger than expected response. Seventeen artists signed up within the first two days after the announcement, and I'm happy to report that I've selected four of them to help with the Anthology. Each of these artists are uniquely talented and have very diverse styles. Moreover, as best as i can tell, they are also all fans of RPG blogging community so there's a second level of connection as well. Please join me in thanking them for offering to help! The four artists are listed below along with links to their online galleries:

• John Keegan @ http://www.jamesmkeegan.com/
• Lee Barber @ http://www.crithitcomics.com/
• Hugo Solis @ http://butterfrog.deviantart.com/
• Jennifer Weigel @ http://neartpk.blogspot.com/
  

Currently they are working on sketches of border designs and page numbering graphics while we wait for the reviews to be completed. Also, I've asked them to sketch concepts for the cover of the book - so hopefully I'll have some to show the community soon. Once the reviews are done, the artists will have the opportunity to work in earnest on interior artwork for the book. It should be exciting to see what comes out it.

On the funding front - earlier in the week I announce a T-shirt fund raiser to help raise the funds needed to provide free copies of the book to the volunteers, contributing authors, and artists. Unfortunately, no one has bought one yet (can you say "flop"?) but I have received requests from three people regarding straight out sponsorship of the project or advertising (two people) within the book - both of which I am open to. My goal is to raise about $600 to cover the costs of these free books, so if you are feeling generous during this holiday season please consider being an Anthology Sponsor by donating to the project using PayPal.

That's about it for now. Have a great day!

DIRECT SPONSORSHIPS WELCOME!

The Skill Challenges of War - Part 2: The Complexities of War

The first post can be found here. The series is part of a the 5th RPG Blog Carnival - "Transitions & Transformations" being hosted by Critical-Hits.com. I would also like to announce that this series will be feature two guest authors in the next week or so: the authors of MadBrewLabs and At-Will have both agreed to share their talents at developing these skill challenges.

The Complexities of War
Before we get into usable 4th Edition skill challenges for war-time campaigns a few points should be raised. The more I think about this series the more I think it could be very easy to make these skill challenges very complicated; especially if you thinking about how each skill challenge contributes to some greater war effort. So, in order to limit our scope somewhat, lets agree that _how_ the success or failure of an individual skill challenge affects the greater war effort is beyond the scope of this series.

However, while creating a system such as the 3.5 Victory Points might be beyond the scope of this series (see Heroes of Battle for more info), it strikes me that most, if not all, of the Skill Challenges for War could use a set of modifiers (bonuses/penalties) to help guide the DM in adjudicating the results of individual challenges. For example, modifiers could be determined for if you greatly outnumber the enemy, if they outnumber you, if you are defending your homeland or attacking theirs, if you have superior force strength (levels) or are attacking more powerful opponents, the number of days you have been 'active' on the battlefield, the inspiration of your leaders, etc, etc. The list could go on and on. We could take time making such a long list that might apply to each of the skill challenges we are going to develop; or we could squash them all into a much shorter table. The key to these and most any skill challenge is that they need to be playable, simple to run, and you do not want to introduce a new mechanic to the game unless you absolutely must.

Thus, what we will do is create a simple table that will apply to all the Skill Challenges of War that you will see as part of the upcoming posts in this series.

Skill Challenges of War (war modifiers)

Major Advantage +3

Minor Advantage +1

Minor Disadvantage -1

Major Disadvantage -3

This is a bit like the p.42 DM's Best Friend (+/-2 bonus rule) in the DMG, but the main difference is that these bonuses could stack. The DM might ask the players "What kind of advantages and disadvantages do you think you have?", then merge those to his or her own list and come up with a final net bonus or penalty. For example, you could have a skill challenge such as "capture an enemy commander" which might require six successes before three failures. The enemy might be attacking your hometown, but you might be greatly outnumbered so your commanders have decided to make a tactical withdrawl with, hopefully, an enemy leader as a hostage. You could imagine a fairly large number of debatable bonuses or penalities to such a situation - but as the DM, you would sum them up into one modifier to use throughout the skill challenge. We will call it the war modifier, and it could apply to any or even all of the individual skill checks that are made as part of the overall skill challenge.

I'm hoping to have the first of these skill challenges out by tommorrow or Tuesday (it has been a very busy last week or so). Until then, stay tuned! and good night.

Around the blogs...

Saturday morning == links to what I've been reading all week! Enjoy! And let me know if there's something I missed or you especially enjoyed yourself.

1. Wyatt over at Turbulent Thoughts posted "Alignment: The Phony Issue", which was timely since I'm still developing an article about alignment for Polymancer. He basically praises 4E for getting alignment "out of the way" and offers up several reasons explanations why this is a good thing. "Teamkiller Fucktards" FTW!
2. Zachary posts "Is This a RPG Magazine Renaissance?" over at RPG Blog II. Some good insight as to the current-state-of-the-RPGs - and maybe a window into things to come. This post goes well with Berin Kinsman's "Roleplaying’s Next Big Thing" which I also thoroughly enjoyed.
3. M.gunnerQuist @ Xeveninti posts "Ramblings about Pathfinder vs. 4E" where he writes "The 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons is fantastic for old school-style sandbox campaigns." I simply could not agree more.
4.  Finally, along a completely different line of thinking, GnomeStew author Patrick Benson posts "The Setting is not the Role Playing" where he points out the important difference between roleplaying and setting development. Not many supplements are aimed at developing roleplaying - more often they are setting development sources.

Probably my shortest "Around the Blogs..." what can I say? I've been busy with this Anthology project, yeah?

Have a great weekend!

Mother Nature as Inspiration

Mother nature proves again and again to be the best source for new creations and monsters for my games. A few months ago I posted about Trilobites, and then followed up with a 4E type stat block for the buggers. Well today, I'm presenting The Bot Fly Larvae. My vision for these creatures in Dungeons & Dragons would be they would be parasites of large-sized or larger creatures; and offer up a second wave of enemies once you've defeated their hosts. Alternatively, the presence of these bugs in the bodies of the defeated could be some sort of organic treasure or a resource for specific Rituals.

So today, I give you the real-world version of The Bot Fly Larvae.

Read the whole article from Popsci.com if you really want to make yourself sick.


What's more interesting is that a related species of parasitic fly-larvae are considered a delicacy by some cultures.

"In cold climates supporting reindeer or caribou-reliant populations, large quantities of Oedomagena tarandi ("warble fly") maggots are available to human populations during the butchery of animals. These are relished in modern times by Eskimos as important seasonal luxuries containing high levels of protein, fats and salt. Copious art dating back to the Pleistocene in Europe confirms their importance in premodern times as well" -- Wikipedia.

Now we have inspiration for not only a new monster, but possible a new class of items for use in game. For example: the larvae extracted from the flesh of dead mythical creatures are rumored to possess magical qualities to anyone who eats them.

For me, mother nature always seems to be a reoccuring source of inspiration. Where do you get your inspiration for new content in your games?

I HEART Gygaxian Naturalism - RPG Anthology Fundraiser

In an effort to raise money to help cover the costs of the upcoming 2008 Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, I've opened a "store" (chuckles) at Cafepress.com and plan to offer a few fund-raising items that carry the theme "icons of the RPG blogosphere". The first two of these are shown below.

"What costs?" you may ask? Well, first and foremost I want to offer each of the contributing authors, artists, and volunteers for the Anthology (at a very minimum) a free copy of the book. In addition, I hope to offer each of them the option to choose their favorite local, independently owned gaming store as the recipient of a second copy of the book on their behalf. This will be good for the publicity of the book and also possibly generate some positive reviews from non-blogophiles (a major goal of the project).

The cost of printing these books is expected to be about $5.50 each (a discussion can be found here); thus for 30-odd authors (an estimate), 10 to 15 volunteers, and 50 or so FLGS's I'll need to raise about $550 plus the costs of shipping, etc. Its not a huge amount of money - rather cheap actually - but it's also not something I able to supply at the moment. This is where, hopefully, you can make a difference.

Below you will find two items that, should you find the generosity or spirit to purchase, will help support the Anthology project immensely. Please take a moment to consider each of them. Direct sponsorship of the Anthology project is also welcomed (please see below). Any and all funds received will be used, in their entirety, on the successful production and promotion of the Anthology. I'm not in this for personal gain - the satisfaction of seeing this Anthology published will be reward enough

I HEART GYGAXIAN NATURALISM
Shown below are a bumper-sticker and a T-shirt that pay tribute to James Maliszewski, RPG designer and blogger of Grognardia. His post about so-called "Gygaxian Naturalism" sparked one of the longest threads I've seen on Paizo.com's Community Forums; and prompted me and several other RPG bloggers to write about the same topic as well. I'll also tell you that many, if not ALL of the Anthology Reviewers have simply loved James' post. Thus, the idea popped into my head to make a T-shirt that might raise some money to support the Anthology project and highlight a gem of the RPG blogging community.

IHGN T-SHIRT : $11.99

Cool, midweight 100% cotton available in a XS to 4XL sizes. $8.99 of the cost is CafePress.com's cut, and the remaining $3.00 will go to help support the Anthology.

IHGN BUMPER STICKER : $3.99

These high-quality 3" x 5" stickers are printed on 4mil vinyl using water and UV resistant inks – meaning no fading in the sun or bleeding in the rain. $2.99 of the cost is CafePress.com's cut, and the remaining $1.00 will go to help support the Anthology.

DIRECT SPONSORSHIPS WELCOME!

Readers who are interested in directly sponsoring the Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs project are welcome to donate whatever amount they feel comfortable with. Sponsors of the project will be highlighted in the Anthology once it is published; and you will have the the deepest gratitude from myself and the volunteers who are working so hard to make this project a reality. If you would like more information on direct sponsorships or advertising possibilities, you may also contact me directly by email: jonathan DOT jacobs AT gmail DOT com. Thank you!

Note - In case any of you are wondering - I contacted James Maliszewski prior to posting this to get his "blessing" to go ahead and use a phrase he coined.

Final note - gaming content will return to The Core Mechanic very soon...