Not Your Average Geeks
Pen & Paper
Game Master Roundtable – Intro
Jul 22nd
There are two kinds of people in this world, those who build and those who play. This is the Game Master’s Roundtable; a gathering place for those of the former and those with the desire to rise above mere content ingestion.
For those unfamiliar with the role, a Game Master (a.k.a. GM, Dungeon Master, DM, referee, etc.) operates as the manager and guide for a group of players. Most often, the GM is responsible for constructing the game world and adventure that the players will experience. There are thousands of tools available to a Game Master to assist in creating these worlds. For game settings that are much more popular, there can be a plethora of pre-made content. A Game Master can use this content to alleviate some of the work required in constructing an enjoyable experience. A more experienced GM will often forgo the use of pre-made content in an effort to create a truly unique and custom tailored experience for the players.
It takes a variety of skills along with a healthy dose of time and dedication to create an enjoyable end product. While we all must ultimately figure out our own approach, it can be extremely helpful to learn from the experiences of others. Through this column, myself and other GMs will share our advice, tools, ideas and general thoughts with the hopes that something we have to offer can enrich your gaming experience.
Stay tuned each and every Thursday for more thoughts from the GM’s Roundtable.
-Sim
Our heroes take a page out of BP’s book
Jul 21st
The Charnel Lord
After a peaceful night’s sleep in their fortified room, the adventurers of the Epic Fail adventuring group set off deeper into the halls of the Pyramid of Shadows. All was well until they entered a non-descript hallway, and suddenly two of their party were catapulted down a steep ramp and into a charnel pit inhabited by a very hungry tentacled beast. While it might not have been so bad if the party’s paladin had been thrown down the chute, in this case it was the Wizard and Ranger that ended up in a pit full of blood and rotting meat, being chewed on.
As the rest of the group attempted to figure out what had triggered the trap, the cleric of Pelor used his magic boots to leap over the dangerous area to inspect the rest of the hall. However, this led Splug the goblin to assume that he too could make the jump, which led to him joining the Ranger and Wizard in between a rock and a hard place. Two NPCs that were traveling with us (members of a criminal gang that were also trapped in the pyramid soon joined them. More >
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only hilariously failed dice rolls.
Jul 15th
Our little gaming group just can’t get enough. In addition to our weekly 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game, we’re about to start a Dark Heresy game played entirely over Google Wave. 
Dark Heresy is a pen and paper RPG set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, in which humanity has spread among the stars and is under siege from various alien races and evil forces. The players take on the role of underlings sent on missions by a powerful Inquisitor boss.
The world of Dark Heresy can be extremely lethal, and there is lots of potential for things to go hilariously wrong, so this should be a pretty entertaining game. The fact that we are playing it over Wave also means that we will hopefully be able to focus a little more on noncombat events and roleplaying than we tend to in D&D.
We are just in the planning phase at the moment, and haven’t even rolled the characters, but keep a lookout for a weekly game update once we get started. I’ll try and distill the game down to the most epic or entertaining parts for that.
The Adventures of the Epic Fail Adventuring company
Jul 14th
As I discussed in my earlier post on the subject, Sim, myself, and a group of our friends have an ongoing weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. This post will be the first of a weekly column detailing the highlights of the adventures our player characters find themselves involved in.
Alteria - Nentir Vale (map by Sim)
First off the party’s name came from our friend JJ, who’s Dragonborn Paladin has a nasty habit of failing even the easiest dice rolls and falling off high ledges. It’s statistically unlikely just how bad that guy rolls. You usually don’t even need to ask what he rolled, as it’s enough to just see the look of despair on his face while his character is hanging on for dear life.
The party began in the town of Winterhaven, which had a kobold problem, like so many small fantasy hamlets seem to. Investigating this led us to Keep on the Shadowfell
to stop a cult of Orcus from opening a portal to the Shadowfell.
After stopping the cult evil plans (just barely), we ventured to the much larger city of Fallcrest, where we learned of a slaver ring that had abducted several people, including a goblin friend of ours. This led us to Thunderspire Labyrinth
where we eventually did away with the slavers, ran off an evil mage, nearly died many times, and were reunited with our goblin companion, Splug.
The party then headed off to collect a bounty on the notorious gangster Garash Vren, only to find themselves sucked into the Pyramid of Shadows
The Pyramid of Shadows, session 4
The pyramid is a very dangerous place, with one or more heroes being knocked unconcious almost every session so far. This session saw the group exploring deeper into the first level of the pyramid, in search of powerful magical weapons supposedly stashed in an armory near where they had last rested.
D&D Encounters
Jul 10th
If you’ve always wondered exactly how Dungeons & Dragons worked, but weren’t willing to buy the books and actually run a game with some friends, D&D Encounters is a great way to get a taste at minimal cost to yourself.
Encounters are held Wednesday nights at local game stores all over North America. All you need is to show up with dice (although depending on the store you may be able to borrow some your first time. If now, they shouldn’t run more than $5 or so). You are provided with a character sheet, and will be grouped with 4-5 other players for that nights encounter.
Dungeons and Dragons comes out of the basement.
Jun 22nd
When you hear the words Dungeons & Dragons, your mind probably goes straight to something like this:
That’s what I thought of for the first 24 years of my life, so I can hardly fault you for it, but more recently I’ve learned the truth.
About a year ago Richard started nagging a bunch of us to try D&D with him. He’d bought the new 4th Edition books and was itching to start a game. He’d also just bought a house, so he had the perfect place to host it. Eventually five of us agreed to give it a try and the adventuring party was born (I actually missed the first session, but was there for #2 and onwards). One of the things that really helped build our enthusiasm was listening to the podcasts of the creators of the Penny Arcade and PvP webcomics playing D&D. If you haven’t played before, they give an excellent idea of how the game works and are absolutely hilarious.
These days, seven of us meet at Rich’s house once a week, order pizza, consume beer and Elizabeth’s baked goods, and continue the adventure. Richard started as the Dungeon Master, for taking the party from level one to four or so, where Justin took the reins and brought us to level seven. Currently I am DMing the official “Pyramid of Shadows (Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure H3)
We use Lego minifigs instead of pewter miniatures to represent our characters and enemies. This allows for plenty of customization. Below is a group photo of the party as it stood when Justin was DMing. Today we have swapped several characters out, but this should give you an idea of how it works. We also use a Chessex Megamat for RPGs and Miniature Figure Games (34 in x 48 in)
From left to right, the part is as follows.
Not pictured is Fortuno Velut Luna (elven ranger), played by Justin, who was DMing at the time. He is now back in action.
There will definitely be more to come on the subject of D&D, so make sure to check back for updates!