What I'm Backing on Kickstarter:

What I'm Backing on Kickstarter:
After Winter Dark Campaign Setting

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Gaming Fun!

Well, last night I ran and finished of the first part of my newest C&C campaign that I've started where we completed the 'Rising Knight' by TLG.  This was an excellent starter for the campaign and I treated it much like a 'pilot' for a TV series.  The audience in this case were the players themselves.  Essentially I tried to pick up cues from the players in term of the type of game they were looking for.  When I first started the adventure (it went on over a period of 4 sessions) I presented plenty of opportunities for roleplay as well as a lot of combat.  As it turns out -- they like a good story (and who doesn't) but they seem to be a bit shy on the roleplaying.  Now I want roleplaying and character development to happen but I've always found that this depends on the strength and confidence of the players.  Sure, it helps if the GM goes all out and tries to develop memorable characters but in this case, as I soon learned, they had been trying to pick up cues from me.  It's been a learning process for everyone concerned.  That said, what they wound up getting was plenty of action -- maybe too much action as I proceeded to put the party through the grinder.

Everyone had fun though it was almost a TPK at the end.  Now that the first part is done, I will begin to prepared the next adventure (I'm running the Umbrage Saga) and will be doing a few things.  One... each subsequent part of the adventure will be reduced to 3 sessions which will constitute a module.  Yes... it will mean that certain things will be cut but it will enable me to keep the pace very quick.  At most, there may be a bridging session from one session to another to keep the flow relatively smooth.  All in all, only core concepts and events will be kept ... there will be a bit more narrative to help fill in the blanks and tell the story... but I hope that the essence of what the adventure sage will be successfully distilled and enjoyed.

What I hope to do, once this is done is to post what / how this was done in case others wish to adopt some of my ideas.  Suffice to say, last nights game was F-U-N.

On a related note, last night was also the night where I started to include a couple of ideas from the CKG.  I figure there will be some material which will be adopted for the campaign going forth though I think there needs to be some work in terms of HOW we choose to integrate this new material.  Since getting a physical copy of the CKG is a bit of a pain, I adopted to go for the PDF edition (despite it being a bit overpriced IMO).  Shipping to Canada is a bit of a deal breaker so a dead-tree copy can wait (making the digital option strangely economical by comparison).  There is some neat things about the book but I confess at being disappointed initially.  I am warming up to it and while I am underwhelmed with a lot of the material in the first part of the book, I am enjoying other parts of the book.  A review will be coming along once I finish digesting the material.  At any rate, there are certain things I will be adopting and making available to my players for the rest of the campaign.

On a different note (but still in the fun category), I also scored these at the dollar store a couple of days ago:



12 crocs of different types ... all of a good scale in relation to the 25 mm used (aka 'Heroic Scale' such as what is used for the D&D minis) all for $1.  I suspect there will be some swamps in the near future.

M

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

After the Siege ...



Well, it's been more than five months since my last update.  The Fall Season was a very rough one with work (9-5 job where overtime took on a new meaning) and generally a day to day stressful and taxing routine became the norm.  Arcana Creations was the first to suffer with all this as various plans and ambitions fell to the wayside.  Many things have continued to change in the gaming industry but things have started getting back on track and my online presence has been beginning to re-assert itself since the new year.

The nicest compliments I have received have been from people who remember the work I have started to do and there have been a couple of offers of encouragement along the way.  As I predicted (though for different reasons) half a year ago, Arcana Creations is changing how it will go forward.  Thankfully, I have the full support of my publishing partner as well people who have worked with me in the past on various things.

It's time to rebuild.

It's time to start outlining a couple of the ideas I have and get the ball rolling on some of these.

First of all, Victorious is still being done.  Work had stalled largely last fall but I've been in communication with the author and things are still a go.  I hope to have some exciting news on this front soon enough as various aspects of this are still getting sorted out.  But I have a much clearer vision of what this should be and what it needs to be as it moves forward.  The fuse has been lit on this...

Secondly, while my love for Castles & Crusades has not diminished, I have never been one to be in complete agreement with the way that TLG has been developing the game nor have I been satisfied at what has happened with the fanbased Society.  I can't really change either of these but I can try and offer support in other ways.  While I don't exactly think it is the 'Rosetta Stone' of Role Playing Games, it has at least indirectly helped fuel the creation of other similar games which draw inspiration from classic Dungeons & Dragons.  With all this in mind, and the support of Brave Halfling Publishing, a small periodical will be produced which will support C&C (yet be compatible with others).

The idea of developing a periodical through Arcana Creations is hardly new and I have discussed this on and off shortly after the start of 2010.  However, I realized that the scope of that project is much too large and resource intensive to even contemplate taking on.  This periodical shall be short, inexpensive, and regular.  More importantly, it is secondary to regular projects Arcana Creations is working on.  I had a working title for it -- until I realized it was already a registered trademark of another periodical.  I guess it will remain unnamed for now.  :)

Aside from those two projects, Arcana Creations will be converting some of its material for the Pathfinder RPG.  While it is not my game of choice, it would be foolish to ignore that many do play and buy Pathfinder products.  Talks are being finalized with someone who will be doing the actual conversion work which will leave me be to focus on the more important objectives.

At this point, I would like to extend my thanks to the following people (in no particular order) who have encouraged me in these difficult times:

John Adams, Keith Hackwood, Bill De Franza, Mike Stewart, Todd Pote, and Robert Doyel

M