NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Well, yesterday I posted links to a few New Year's resolutions made by other RPG bloggers - and now its time for me to fess up! Especially now that Berin has asked us all to lay down our resolutions for the upcoming year. So here we go... my to-do list with all things RPG...

FIVE THINGS FOR RPG BLOGGING

1. Finish and Publish the 2008 Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs. Top of the list, of course! I'll skip the status report for now (that'll be tomorrow), but just know that the project is cruising for the finish line. I'm stoked! It's going to be awesome!
   
2. Get the Anthology in the hands of at least 5 people who own and operate friendly local gaming stores. The whole point of the Anthology was to bridge the gap between the RPG blogging community and the rest of the gaming community that, if online, usually hangs out in forums. Putting out best work on the shelves of game stores is the best way to do this.
3. Collaborate with RPG bloggers on a published game product. With the Anthology not even finished, this may be wishful thinking, but I would love to actually produce new content as part of a collaborative project and publish it online as a PDF or via Lulu. I've already collaborated with three bloggers, Madbrew, Gamefiend, and Jason, and it worked out very well. I hope to continue this trend.
4. Pitch and get published at least one article for an RPG fanzine such as Dragon, Kobold Quarterly or Paladin. If I manage to do this, it will be my first "official" publication in RPG industry - barring the Anthology of course.
5. Hit 500 Feedburner subscribers by the end of the year. This is probably the least likely to happen; but I'm working on it. Posting daily has been difficult, and I don't want the quality of my content to suffer because of it. But, I still firmly believe that this is the best way for me to continue expanding my readership. My goal for 2008 was to hit 100 subscribers before the years end, and I just narrowly made. Maybe I'll be lucky and manage the same this year.

My Own Personal Gaming

1. Game as a player in at least one table-top RPG campaign. Honestly, I don't talk about this much - probably should - but I'm nearly always the gamemaster for whatever RPG I'm currently engaged in. I'm lucky that my wife also games, and now she has offered to take up the helm for our next campaign as the DM. wohoo!
2. Try at least two new table-top RPGs. This one I'm really hoping for. I probably won't have time to play in more than one campaign or game group; so to do this I'll have to hold off on 4E gaming to do this. Nonetheless, Star Wars SAGA and 4th edition Shadowrun have really peaked my interests lately and I would love to try them out if only for a one-shot.
3. Start a Diablo III game, and game with people from the RPG blogging community. Once this game is released, I know I'm not going to be able to say No. It just looks too arcade-like awesome fireball explosion cool. I'm waiting patiently for now, but that old online gaming bug is creeping up on me...
4. But some new Dice. I really want those game science dice. I'll probably just order them today.
5. Try 4E D&D without miniatures. My group thinks its not possible to do because the game is so grounded in having to purchase miniatures for combat resolution. I think it is possible, albeit with a few - ok a dozen or so - house rules. If I manage to do this, you'll be sure to hear about it

Thanks!

Around the Blogs... New Years Resolutions...

Maybe I'll come around to making my own New Year's Resolutions, but for now I'll link to all the RPG bloggers who have already made theirs. This way... we can all hold their feet to the fire come next New Years! Hahaha! What's even better is this month Berin Kinsmen of UncleBear.com is hosting the RPG Blog Carnival - and the topic is "New Year's Gaming Goals & Resolutions", so I expect many many more blogs making resolutions as the month passes on by.

• ChattyDM's New Year's goals.
• Oddysey's made her 8 resolutions at How to Start a Revolution in 21 Days or Less.
• Nuketown's got a great list of resolutions, including "Write for three other gaming web sites/magazines" - something I hope to also accomplish.
• Of course, MadBrewLabs and At-will both have their own resolution lists; and I'm happy that they have both added "more collaboration with other RPG bloggers" to their lists. We've already worked together on the Skill Challenges of War series (still ongoing), and I look forward to future projects as well.
• While not really a resolution list - Greywulf has put together a 2009 Dragon Calendar as a free-downloadable PDF. Very cool - go grab it here. Thank you GW!
• James Maliszewski, author of Grognardia, presents his prophecies of 2009 in "What the Future Holds". As to the need for a big name publisher to pick up old school RPG games, JM says "the reality is that such products aren't going to reach gamers who aren't plugged in to the back alleys of the gaming world". Probably spot on correct.
• And finally, my favorite New Year's resolution list - GEEKDAD at Wired.com presents his list of 10 cool things all geeked out. My favorite? "Will not feel bereft when Battlestar Galactica finally ends, by remembering that Caprica is coming in 2010". You sir, may have another beer on me.

That's about it for this morning. Have a great weekend!

The Skill Challenges of War - Part 11: Find and Ambush the Supply Train

The Skill Challenges of War is an ongoing series here at The Core Mechanic written by me, and two excellent guest bloggers: MadBrew and Gamefiend. Please check out the previous posts in the series and let us know what you think or if you are planning on using any of these skill challenges in your game. Previous articles in the Skill Challenges of War series are under the label WAR.

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FIND THE SUPPLY TRAIN

A major offensive is expected in the morning. Your commander has ordered you to find, and possibly ambush, the supply caravan for the enemy forces before nightfall. You assemble your company and get to work immediately.

The PCs, and an assumed company of soldiers under their command, have been tasked with finding and hopefully destroying an important supply route for the enemy army. They have less than one-day to complete this task, and can not expect reinforcements to arrive to assist them. Once found, a subsequent Skill Challenge of War or a combat encounter may follow to determine if the supply train is destroyed, captured, or if it reaches the enemy forces.

SETUP: You must find the enemy supply train before night falls and the supplies reach the main body of the enemy army.

LEVEL: The PCs’ level +1.

COMPLEXITY: 2 (6 successes before 3 failures).

PRIMARY SKILLS: Diplomacy, History, Insight, Perception, Nature, Stealth.

Diplomacy (Hard DC): Seeking information from local war refugees, you manage to get lucky and find one that knows the location of the enemy supply caravan’s previous overnight camp. This information aids you and your company in finding the caravan. A success provides a +2 bonus on any Perception or Insight check made to find caravan’s current location as it moves towards its destination, in addition to being counted as a success for the challenge. If this is attempted more than once, word spreads to enemy spies who feed the PCs misinformation and it counts as a automatic failure.

History (Hard DC): You look to your previous experience fighting this enemy, or seek advice from seasoned members of your company. A success indicates you can reasonably predict a few limited routes that the enemy might take through the region, giving their training and outfitting.

Insight (Moderate DC): Your keen knowledge of the enemy mind gives you a solid hunch on how the supply train would make its approach to the enemy army’s main body.

Perception (Moderate DC): Mounted scouts from your company (or possibly the PCs) are sent out to search for the caravan. If the caravan has already been found, then this skill could be used to find an appropriate location ahead of its path to lay an ambush.

Nature (Hard DC): You believe your knowledge of the terrain of this region may provide an advantage in stopping the supply train from succeeding. A success provides a +2 bonus to your next skill check; while a failure proves detrimental with -2 penalty. This use of Nature can only be attempted once for this challenge.

Stealth (Hard DC): Once the supply caravan is found, you decide to lay a trap ahead of its current position and lay in waiting for it to arrive. A success is counted twice for the overall skill challenge, whereas a failure indicates the supply train’s forward scouts discovered your trap and change course. It thus counts as a failure, and you receive a -2 penalty on your next skill check to lay an ambush.

SUCCESS: The PCs managed to locate the supply train in time to set up an appropriate ambush. The Skill Challenge should be followed by a level +1 combat encounter. If no failures occurred during this challenge, then the PCs should be given a +3 bonus to their initiative rolls and the enemy should be considered completely surprised for one full round at the start of combat.

FAILURE: The PCs were either not able find the supply train, and the enemy was reinforced prior to the major offensive the following day. The DM may decide on a war modifier penalty for future Skill Challenges of War that depended on the success of this challenge.

The Two BEST RPG Blog Posts in 2008

Happy New Year!!!

Progress on OPEN GAME TABLE: The 2008 Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs rolls on! Last month, the Anthology Reviewers finished their work beyond all my most optimistic predictions. It was a marathon month of RPG blog reading for me, and no doubt for those actually scoring the 135 nominations for the Anthology. By midnight last night, I received over 750 reviews (!!) from 13 reviewers covering RPG blogs as rare or as common, as outstanding or as craptacular as they come. The Anthology Reviewers will be revealed on Monday, along with example of some of the artwork submitted by the Anthology Artists.

But for today, for the New Year, and for the readers of this blog... I give you by overwhelming scores the two BEST RPG BLOG POSTS of 2008. Why two? Because both of these posts were scored far above the median (technically, they were 'extreme outliers') for every single category the reviewers were scoring for. And here they are:

Extreme Makeover: Tavern Edition
by Storyteller, while guest blogging at ChattyDM's blog.

Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games
by Ben Robbins, author of the RPG blog ars ludi

Haven't read these posts yet? Well, by all means jump over there and check them out. These and many other excellent posts will hopefully be featured in the Anthology when it comes into print in the next month or so (assuming of course, the authors agree to allow me to publish their works). Stay tuned, more excellent RPG blogging is on the way...

And THANK YOU to everyone who has shown so much support for this project for the last 3 months!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

BEST WISHES AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM

THE CORE MECHANIC !!!

MAY 2009 BE YOUR YEAR FOR THE BEST GAMING YOU HAVE EVER YET TO EXPERIENCE!!!

WOHOO!!!