A Fine Day

Nothing amazing on the blog agenda today.  I've been busy learning how to use Paint.NET, and I really like it's functionality.  I downloaded a bunch of plugins, and man, this program rocks!  If you need a good graphics program, and don't want to spend a boatload of money, this is the ONE YOU WANT!  Forget GIMP.  Paint.NET has a fairly easy learning curve, and there are plenty of tutorials for the difficult stuff.  Two of the plugins let me make hex and square grids, which makes it perfect for cartography.  Here's a minor sample:

The map above was just something I did while learning how to use the different plugins.  I am very happy with the way it works.  So, all in all, I think this is the program I'll be mainly using for mapping.  By using different layers I can easily make player maps, and put propriatary GM info on a different layer.  Woot!  This thing will work great for dungeons and system maps for Traveller!  It's also great for other art work as well.  Okay, I've got to stop now.  Busy with so many projects...

the Monsters of Mayhem

Learning How to Use a Graphics Program

After an afternoon of yard work, then making dinner, I surfed the net while eating, and then decided to work on learning how to use Paint.NET .  I wasn't really in a map making mood so I played around with it, and then decided to see if it could be used to design a collectible card game.  Yeah, I know, many gamers despise CCGs, but I don't.  ( I actually sold my Magic the Gathering cards ages ago. ) Anyway, I thought it would be a good way to learn the program, instead of just messing around.  Here's what I did:

©2010 Frank Anderson, Jr.

Now, this was about an hours worth of work, but now that I know what I am doing it will go quicker.  Also, I'm not at my best drawing with a mouse, and plan on doing most of the work with pen and ink, and scanning it.  The game mechanics are just made up on the fly, but I do want this to be a simple, fun, and quick game.  The working title is, the Monsters of Mayhem, but I will probably change it.

I learned quite a bit from working on this one card.  One, that 2.5" x 3.5" is NOT a lot of room to work with.  I learned layers are your friends, and that there are no worries when you make a mistake.  Undo is a miracle!

Now, I could probably do so much more with one of the more expensive graphic programs out there, but it's just not in the budget right now, and Paint.NET does what I need it to do, and at the right price!  FREE!

Old West Roleplaying Games

Well, after only about 3 hours of sleep, I'm awake again.  I feel more rested than I probably should, due to the fact that I had been awake for nearly 32 hours before I took my oh so brief nap.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll be ready for a nap later.

Edited:  After I wrote this I crashed again, and slept about 8 hours.  Now I have yard work to do.  UGH.  I need a Zombie Apocalypse right about now.

Western RPGs

After I discussed wanting to run a Weird West campaign in my last post, I did some research and discovered there are many Western RPGs, some of which are still in print.  There's also a lot of skirmish level miniature rules for western style combat as well.  Plus, there are a few wargames set during that time period.  Check out White Wash City's Wild West Game Rules Link Page!  They've also got some great card-stock PDF models of a typical western town in 28mm scale for sale that looks great.

I have seen Deadlands before, and I knew they covered the Weird West genre.  I was slightly interested, but I was already "invested" into so many other games, I knew I probably would never play it.  I don't know anything about the rules, but it's still in print so they can't be that bad.  Deadlands also seem to have a boatland of modules, and supplements.  Eventually, I'll pick up a copy, and maybe even run a game, but right now I've got a hankering to write my own weird west rules.  In fact, I'll probably put my other RPG rules on the backburner for now so I can work on this.

In fact, I've got a lot already brewing in the space between my ears.  ( I think there's a brain in there, but I  don't know for sure.  I've never seen it. )  I've got a name, Kinship: Weird Meets the Old West, and a lot of basic ideas for NPCs, and scenarios.  I want the game mechanics to be simple, combat fast and fun, with a lot of flavor to enhance the role-playing, and chances for character development.  I don't want a "shoot em up' cowboy game.  Although, gunfights and battles are going to happen, I want it to be a bit more than that.  The primary setting will be Kinship, a struggling town, and it's neighbor, Death Gulch, a town mostly full of the undead, and not just your garden variety undead either.  These zombies will have a more than a passing resemblance to their prior humanity.  They just want to eat your flesh, before they have to tend to the chickens.

It just seems to me it would be fun to play or even run a Weird Old West RPG.  Something different anyway...

A Little of This and a Little of That...

If it seems like I'm jumping around a bit, it's because I'm jumping around a bit.  I've been awake close to 30 hours now, and still don't feel sleepy, but I know the crash is coming.  Gotta love caffeine...

The Featured Blog, ( Until it changes... ) is now Trollsmyth.  I really liked what Trollsmyth wrote in his latest post.  One of these days I will write an in-depth article on my views of the OSR, and role-playing games in general.

I downloaded Paint.Net and so far I'm happy with what it can do.  It's much better than MS Paint, and has quite a few nice features.  Looks like I found a good graphics program for mapping.  Check it out!  I even found a tutorial for making maps with it, over on the Cartographer's Guild.  I was trying to download TerraJ, a fractal mapping program, but I had problems, and the download went all wonky.  I may try again later.

Of course, before I get all "techno-mappy", I still want to make a few maps "old school style" with graphite and colored pencils, graph paper, gold and silver glitter...  wait, I've said too much.  Colored pencils may be a bit too fancy.

I'm still struggling with Scribus, but I've made much progress the last couple of days.  One problem I'm having is that I can make the PDFs fine, but when I check it out, I can't seem to highlight any of the text to copy it to the clipboard?  I'm stumped.  I sure I've got the security setting correct.  I've scoured the Scribus Wiki site looking for an answer, but have had no luck.  UGH.  Maybe, I'm just to wired and tired.

I've been working on Crunchmaster, my homegrown RPG rules, but still have a long way to go.  Crunchy as crunchy can be!

I've also been wondering if there's a Boot Hill retro-clone?  I've had this itch for a long time to run a Weird West campaign.  You know, nothing too revolutionary or even new,  a cross between Wild, Wild, West, old westerns, and that old series from Heavy Metal Magazine called Tex Arcana.  You can read the entire series here. 

It would be great!   A mix of horror, westerns, and perhaps a bit of steam punk.  Were-coyotes, wicked snake oil salesmen, masked vigilantes,  "Hi ho Electrum, away!"  I could even throw a bit of Kung Fu in as well.  "Yah know Sherriff them der Rowdy boy's are gettin' well... rowdy agin. Watcha gonna do bouddit?" ( Can yah tell I'm a Native Texan? )  High Plains Drifter meets Frankenstein's Monster.  Oh, and the Sherriff!  Wait, I can't spill all the beans... So what's not to like?

See that's a big problem.  My mind NEVER stops thinking, or creating.  I don't have time for it all, but I do try.  Some things I do forget about, but it eventually gets dredged back up, and now I keep copious amounts of notes.  I've even been working on a CCG based on my cartoons that were published in Japan.  These would be self-published, and I've already found a place that does POD collectible card games.  It's really not that expensive either.

Okay enough rambling I think I'm fading fast.  When you read this I'll probably be fast asleep.  Let's see going on close to 31 hours now... but I kinda feel like I could go on for 10 more.

The Skull of Xectopax

Late last night I was deleting files from my hard drive, and found something I had forgotten I had downloaded.  I was about to delete it, but decided to see what it could do.  It's a little Windows application called Ruins Generate, and it's really not that spectacular.  Here's a screenshot of one I did last night.

Well, what can I do with this?  Hhhmmm? A Partially Operational giant skull? In a Crevice? Guarded by Lycanthropes? Whaaaaat?  Hhhhmmmm... whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Okay, I can work with this. First things first... it's in a desert region, in a crevice, which would have to be a big crevice, because it's a giant skull. Now about that skull, hhmmmm... why is it Partially Operational? Oh yeah! It's a magical artifact! Plus, it's not just a giant skull, it's a GIANT SKULL. The skull belonged to a member of a race of super-giants that are long since extinct. It's the Skull of Xectopax, and even though it's only Partially Operational, it's still cool.

A Bit of History and Information About the Skull of Xectopax

Untold ages ago, a Mad Wizard found the Skull of Xectopax, and created an Artifact. Using magic long since forgotten, the Mad Wizard created a magical contrivance for flying through the air. No wimpy flying carpet for the Mad Wizard! This was the Skull of Xectopax! The skull was so enormous that the Mad Wizard constructed a chamber inside the cranial cavity for a pilot, and a passenger, with plenty of room left over for cargo.

The entrance is a circular hatch on the top of the skull, and is made of metal. The Skull of Xectopax requires a special key to open and operate, and only one exists. Once open, there's a ladder that allows easy access to the inner chamber.

The controls to operate the Skull of Xectopax look very technological, with levers, switches, and glowing crystals, etc, and when a character enters with the key, a hazy magical screen appears showing the view in front of the skull. ( You don't see out of the eyes. ) Inside and outside of the skull, there are many small "gadgets" and crystals that are attached to the skull, and probably have something to do with it's various functions. Most of which are now, non-operational. However, a magic-user with the right spells and knowledge, MIGHT be able to repair the skull. There are also glyphs and runes of various types carved on the outside, and some of these are also made of metal. The skull also appears to have been repaired many times, with patches, bars, and strips of metal.   There may even be an arrow or two stuck in the skull.  The eye sockets are covered in a clear crystal, and if activated from the control panel will glow with a bright light.

The only power that remains operational is flight, that is, aside from the glowing eyes, and eerie green glow, but that's more for effect than anything else.  Nothing hurts an army's morale worse than a flying green skull breathing fire!

Fortunately, ( or unfortunately ), the key is in the possession of one of the lycanthropes. A werebear who leads the Guardians of the Skull of Xectopax. ( Well, they don't actually know it's the Skull of Xectopax, but it does sound good... ) The lycanthropic guardians are of all types, and have banded together and formed a religion based on the skull.  Yes, there are conficts and in-fighting, but for the most part they work together.

The skull is in a large crevice that is in the side of a mountain. The lycanthropes have built a crude stone wall with a stout wooden door, to guard the entry way, but access can be found by climbing up the mountain, and then down inside the crevice, but they would still need the key.  Or the characters could fight their way to the skull, and hopefully find the key.

Once the characters gain the skull they can fly it over the wall.

Okay, that was fun.  I think I'm going to make this into a module.  There's much more I want to add, and it needs some work.  This was a quick first draft, and it's kind of disjointed, but I like the concept, and to think it was inspired by a little Window's application.  Ruins Generate indeed!  I almost deleted it!  Now it's a keeper.

Here's another one, it appears to favor Partially Operational Skulls guarded by lycanthropes.

And finally, one so bizzare, that it might take me a bit to come up with something for this!

Okay, enough fun for now.  Remember keep rolling those dice! And keep clear of those Dangerously Operational animated entertainments!

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Woot!  I was in for a surprize today when I was reading comments left on my blog post that I wrote yesterday.  ze bulette, blogger of Dungeons and Digressions , left a comment saying I should check out his post about followers, because I had mentioned that I had 12 followers, and that it was 12 more than I thought I would ever have.  So I go and check it out, and discover that I was Dungeons and Digressions 100th follower, and there was a contest, and I had WON.

What did I win?  Well, I won the following:  A copy of Bruce Galloway’s “The Highest Level of All Fantasy Wargaming”, and a box of Otherworld Miniatures’ Pig Faced Orcs.  So today I am a happy camper.

So, not much else on the blog agenda for today.  I hope everyone has a good Easter!  Now, I will do my Happy Dance, because I won something!  Trust me, it's a rare occasion.

Randomness

April 1st came and went, and I didn't post anything.  I had this great idea for an April Fool's Dungeon, but it just didn't motivate me that much.  Then I thought of something else, but meh...  I decided to take the day off from blogging.

So far I'm really happy with what I've done here on HDWT.  I have 12 followers, and that's 12 more than I thought I would have.  This is the 21st post.  I think the next milestone should be 50.  If I make it to 50, that will be good.  I don't have an accurate hit count, because I accidently deleted my original counter, but I think I may have had around 500 hits.

When I first started this blog, I considered writing a mission statement, a statement of purpose, but the more I think about it, it would, or might, limit me in what I want to do with HDWT.  However, here's a brief statement of purpose:  I want to promote gaming in all it's manifestations, whether it's role-playing, wargaming, or board games, and as a adjunct to that, to encourage and foster creativity, and utilizing it in gaming. Have Dice ~ Dice Will Travel is also a journal of my return to gaming after a long hiatus.

So I have a fairly simple "mission statement", and covers what I want to do with HDWT.

On another subject, I like old school, but I'm not dogmatic about it. I like to think of myself as "cool school".  Hah!  Maybe that will catch on, I need to define it better.  Some of the blogs I've read seem to come from the "cruel school", but hey, to each his own.  Okay,  enough digressing...

As I said before, I like old school, but I'm not married to it.  I haven't played D&D 4E, but I wouldn't be opposed to it.  I really doubt I would buy the books, they seem way too expensive to me.  I could go buy used copies of 3.5 for less than the price of an 4E D&D book!  Oh, and I haven't played 3.5 either, remember?  I took a long hiatus from gaming.  A looooooooooong hiatus. 

I think the last RPG I played was Rolemaster.  In fact, I remember what happened to my character.  He received a mortal wound, and was gushing blood.  He had 10 rounds to live, if I recall correctly.  He made some amazing rolls, and took revenge on the beast that was responsible.  While I was fighting the beaast, the other players were chatting about how they needed my magic items, and planned on looting me.  I wasn't really happy with this, and in the cavern we were in, there was a lava flow.  So to thwart their greedy plans I ran and leaped into the lava.  The GM laughed, and the other players were, to say the least, ticked off at me.  Ah, good times...

It looks like I won't be able to attend the North Texas RPG Con.  I had forgotten about a prior commitment, and since it was largely my idea I can't back out. However, I'm still working on attending Texicon, so that's still up in the air.

Okay, enough rambling.  Everybody have a great weekend, and hopefully you will get a chance to game, and roll some dice.