Ninja

The Dungeon World game moves ahead.

I have secured a needed 4 players and I have created a Maptool campaign to support the game. You can download a copy at www.austwiz.com download section.  Its a lot simpler than the Savage Worlds campaign I did some time back, thank goodness.

The biggest problem we were having was getting everyone a working copy of Maptool. The latest Java7 bug is a major headache, even if it is easy to work around. The other problem we found was that the campaign file needed more memory than the defaults (double the default values), which only manifested itself in macro errors... probably because of all the light I am using.

Anyways things are go for Sat 26.

I havent done anything with the card game lately. Sort of burnt out and giving it a rest for now, will return to it soonish and see if the time away has given me a better prospective.

Dungeon World

Well I was meandering around looking for a new game to try and I looked at Dungeon World, but it just seemed a bit wierd.  Something in the main rule book just didnt make sense, or seemed to be missing.

Well the answer was the Dungeon World Guide. It filled in the gaps, that there is no initiative, that players drive everything, that the GM reacts to player actions and doesn't generally make actions (Moves) - although they can.  It was a light being turned on.  Which begs the question of how the main rule book got through editing and testing in its current form? In retrospect it is all obvious but in retrospect is way too late.

Anyway, now illuminated, I am very keen about the game. I tend to avoid narrative/cinematic styles but this one seems to have a really good balance. I've gathered a group of players to run a online game session using Maptools. I've started work on a DW framework for Maptools. I've worked out a new world with LOTS of blank spaces (that is a really good feature of the game). I've worked out a starting dungeon adventure.  All I need to do now is run it...

I also noticed that a new Pavis book has been released: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/100150/Pavis:-Gateway-to-Adventure?term=Pavis.

I'm a Glorantha freak, have been since RQ2 came out, so I leapt to buy. Only it is a little dissappointing from a first initial look thru. A lot of the art is from earlier books, although there are some nice new bits. A lot of the content is from earlier books also.  Its sort of a re-edition of the original Pavis with bits and pieces from several other sources added in.  There are new sections, and the book is written for HeroQuest, so I am expecting when I actually read it, it will have been worth buying... lets hope so.  I'll let you know.

First final copy done:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByRDntFIy1GPYjFrRGZ2RGJ3bms

I will sit on this copy for a time to see if anything glearingly obvious occurs to me. Plus I have sent copies to several people (the playtesters) in the hope of feedback.

Its all a little stressful, the closer I come to a release copy the more I worry about the obvious being overlooked. I know that proof reading your own files is a dangerous thing, you are often too close to them to see clearly. But what the heck, its really not the end of the world, merely an exercise in fun.

Well I am close to a final draft of the SSUnderworld rules, they are off with my proof reader (who fell asleep after 5 mins of reading them, but that is normal, she is better in the early mornings).

Did some pictures for the startup.

This is to celebrate my 101st Kickstarter.

My success rate has been pretty good, not only with funding but I havent actually given up on any at this stage. 

Green ticks indicate received.

Blue >?< indicate in the mail.

Dates show last update in KS.

I've been throwing around the idea of a role playing game for quite some time. Its been through various iterations, evolving as I did. There was an early version that was tremendously complicated and very detailed, something I am sure many of us do. Since that version it has been down hill all the way toward simplicity, inspired by such things as The Fantasy Trip and Savage Worlds.  The latest incarnation I find quite appealing as I have finally come up with what I think is an original and interesting game world.  It has become obvious to me that the 'game world' is extremely important to a role playing game, it simply has to grab you, and grab you fast. Nearly all the games I have bought are because they had what appeared to be a fascinating environment. Bugger the rules, mostly, if the game world is unique, and presents something awesome then I am in (like Flynn!).

Your standard fantasy world of elves and dwarves and small people (so over done now) is still the standard on which everyone, mostly, builds.  With a few exceptions however they are all nice, barring dark elves etc. They all play the classic role of being man kinds allies against the 'dark foe'. Well not in my game!

The game will begin with a large fleet of humans landing in a new world. They are fleeing the total destruction of their old world. They make land fall and find themselves in a world with elves, orcs, goblins and dwarves. Only they are all hostile, after all this is their land, and humans are the invaders. Only there are 10,000 humans all in one concentrated spot, which makes for a formidable presence. Not to mention that they are completely unknown.  And it works both ways. Nobody knows what the other is, what they can do.

The players will be humans, the vanguard of the human invasion. It will be their job to explore, encounter, overcome, negotiate and trade with the occupants of the new world. It will be their job to ensure that nothing surprises the main colony of humans as they dig in and try to make a new home.

In the new world the elves are the really nasty bad guy. They have ruled the other races for a long time with arrogance and contempt. But over the last 100 years the dwarves and the orcs have been conducting a bush war whose aim was to kill as many elves as possible, to whittle away at their numbers whilst maintaining their own. This has worked, but it has depleted everyone. The world is sparsely populated, and even though orcs and goblins can replenish the numbers quickly they have been taking the brunt of the repercussions.

This will be the world that the players will have to deal with. Hostility, mistrust, constant violence and danger.