Origins 2013 Report

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Finally starting to get back to normal after attending Origins 2013 in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend. I had a really good time this year and consider it another successful year for Origins. I am going to hit a few of the highlights for me and also note a couple of things I think Origins could improve upon.

Online G+ Group Reunion

I have been running a Dungeon Crawl Classics game online since late summer of last year. We’ve had a very stable group and the group continues to meet every week even now. From this same group I spent about two months plays in a Dungeonslayers game before my scheduling became a little more complicated.

Months ago we decided we would meetup at Origins in person. We actually pulled this off and I was able to meet several folks I had only known virtually and game with them pretty much the whole weekend. That really added to the experience of the con this year for me. I had a great time playing games and running games for them as well as just general socializing and hanging out. We had folks from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Indiana by the time the whole weekend was done!

The Gaming

I actually did not play in any official events this year. Instead it was all gaming in the open gaming areas or at the Geek Chic tables by the Big Bar on 2 when we could get them. I ran two Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG sessions (The Waystation and The Tower Out of Time). Both sessions went very well. I had seven players for the Saturday afternoon session!

I also played in a DCC RPG game one of my friends ran, the 13th Skull. That one nearly ended in a TPK only two hours or so in, but a well rolled Invoke Patron by the elf fixed that for us! We ended up successfully completing the module in amazing success!

One person from our “reunion” ran Gamma World 4e. That was a late night game and was a good time. I am not sure I fully get Gamma World or that it is the game for me, but I still had a very fun time at the session! And another person ran Basic Fantasy RPG. Had a lot of fun with that. We generated our characters at the start of the session with 3d6 in order which can lead to some interesting characters to play. Quite enjoyable!

The Dealer Hall

There were of course many trips through the dealer hall. I was pretty conservative, but did pick up a few things.

8 DCC RPG 3.x modules from the Buy 1, Get 3 Free booth
Chessex Factory 2nd Battlemat (smaller than my megamat)
A 12-sided hit location die to determine scarring in DCC RPG
30-sided die that doesn’t roll all the way across a con table from Lou Zocchi
A 7-sided die from the same
a d20 to replace one I apparently lost during the con

Picked up some souvenirs for the kids on Sunday when I toured the dealer hall with them.

The Origins Experience

While I had a great time at the con and the Origins staff always seems to pull it off and run a smooth event, I do have a few suggestions to help put some folks minds at ease.

Communication

First, communication! The Facebook group is pretty active, use it to help get information out there. People get nervous when things are handed out at the last minute or when registration opens after Gen Con’s does. If you can’t get things opened sooner, at least communicate with folks on these types of things. It just helps people feel more confident in the preparedness of the con.

This year the lines were short, I picked up my badge with no issue and friends running events had no issues. But prior to the con folks were wondering how prepared the Origins staff was. The end result is things went smooth – you have the hard part done, now just communicate to people so they aren’t left wondering or doubting!

Open Gaming Area

My group was planning on relying heavily on the open gaming area this year for a lot of our games. We wanted to play with each other and trying to get big groups through the registration process all at the same table can be problematic. We all purchased full con badges, so we paid our money – we just wanted to have a more flexible schedule and easier time playing games together.

The open gaming area this year was small – thirteen tables I believe. A friend posted a pic of the area on Wednesday before I got there and was pretty worried about how our plan was going to work with so few tables. There were certainly plenty of areas to have more tables throughout the con.

Now in the end, it did not work out too bad. We found a table when we needed one, though one was a little cramped, but it work out. I think the Geek Chic table area in the Big Bar on 2 helped with some of this, but we could only get those tables for 3 hours at a time. Regardless, put out some more tables so finding a spot to game with friends at the last minute is not something to be too worried about finding space for.

Costume Contest versus Open Gaming

On Saturday I was running a game in the open gaming area, along with a lot of other folks. And then the costume contest rolled in. The costume contest was held in the open gaming area. Not in one of the vacant ballrooms right next to the open gaming area, but in the open gaming area. Folks crowded around our table, it was too loud to hear what was happening even when leaning in to the table. This was not a well thought out idea!!

We ended up moving our game into one of the empty ballrooms. Luckily that was much, much quieter and things worked out for us. No idea what happened to all the other open gaming folks that were there at the time.

But don’t set aside an area for open gaming and then schedule other events (loud events) to happen right there in the area.

Day Passes

There was a fair amount of controversy on this one. For several years the con has offered day passes or family passes that allowed access to the dealer hall for a low price of $10 or $15. That was available this year, but only on Saturday.

Please, please reconsider this. Let it be available on all days or at least on Saturday and Sunday. I like to bring my wife and kids for a walk through the hall. We always spend money there, souvenirs for the kids, jewelry for my wife, etc.But Saturday is often booked with gaming for me, making Sunday the better day to bring them up for a walk through the con.

This year my wife could not make it and luckily I could do actual con badges for the kids who were 9 and younger who were free. But this won’t always be the case. This will generate lost sales in the dealer hall as far as my family is concerned. If I need to spend $20 on a badge just to let them tour the dealer hall it isn’t happening.

Positive Origins Experience

Despite some of my complaints above, the con was a great time. The staff I interacted with was friendly and waiting in lines was minimal. So for me it was another successful Origins convention for me. I do hope the convention staff will take a look at some of the comments above though as I think they have the hard part done and simply improving communication and listening to some of the feedback would help Origins thrive.

Looking forward to next year already!

DCC RPG Podcast: Spellburn

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

For the past several weeks I have been working on a “secret project”. The time has come that I can reveal what I have been working on, a Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG podcast called Spellburn!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Jim Wampler, the art director for Gygax Magazine and a Save or Die podcast host. He asked if I was interested in a trial run as a podcast host. My DCC RPG articles here at the Iron Tavern and G+ activity had identified me as someone excited about DCC RPG. The other partner in this was Jobe Bittman. Jobe’s name keeps popping up in various RPG circles, one of the more recent times for his winning of the Mystery Map competition Goodman Games held last year.

Jim and Jobe already had a solid framework in place. They had a website up and running and arranged to have us under the fold of Wild Games Productions. I readily accepted the offer of a trial run and a few days later we were recording the pilot episode of Spellburn. We had a great time and we seemed to gel together as a trio of hosts quite well.

With the first episode in the can, I earned a place as a host on the podcast! The first episode is currently available from the website and will be available from iTunes as soon as it is approved. Be sure to check out the site as we continue forward. We also have a forum over at osrgaming.org. The second episode has been recorded and will be released soon.

I am looking forward to working with Jim and Jobe as the podcast continues! If you are a fan of DCC RPG or old school gaming in general, be sure to check out an episode.

Origins 2013 Prep

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Origins Game Fair is this coming up weekend in Columbus, Ohio. The dates are from June 12-16 and it takes place in downtown at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. This is a local con for me. Sometimes I only make it out for a day or two and other years I make it out for the whole convention.

This year is a year I will be spending a lot of time there. I have a multitude of folks from some of the online gaming campaigns I enjoyed this year on G+ coming into town for the con. There are literally people arriving from the north, south, east, and west to all meetup face-to-face for some gaming fun this year!

I was going to prep some Swords & Wizardry and run some of that system, but I had some last minute real life stuff pop up and I ended up defaulting back to Dungeon Crawl Classics for the games I am prepping. I will be running The Tower Out of Time at least once. I am also planning to run The Waystation from Purple Duck Games. I will likely read through Portal Under the Stars for a quick funnel to run for those that have not played it or read it too closely from DCC RPG rulebook.

I have access to The Tower Out of Time as part of the DCC RPG World Tour. Goodman Games has a system setup where judges that run a certain number of games can earn themselves some pretty cool swag. Judges for these events also get some swag to hand out at their tables as well. The box of player swag arrived late last week, so I am all set for Origins!

I still have a few more things to prep before the show is upon us and I am running out of time! The blog will likely be a little quiet towards the latter part of the week.

If you are interested in crossing paths while at Origins, be sure to follow my Twitter handle. I find Twitter a great tool for impromptu meetups at cons. I will also announce any last minute games I run (likely of the DCC RPG variety as noted above).

G+ Event Banners Redux

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

At the end of March I posted six banners for G+ Events (they work well for Facebook cover pages and Twitter banners too). Recently G+ updated and increased the size one could use for G+ event banners making the ones I posted at the end of March unusable.

Bigger banners for events are cool! So here is a new set of banners for use in your G+ Events that work with the new larger size.

To use these banners for your own events right click and save the image to your own computer. When creating your G+ Event you can choose Change Theme and select the Upload option. Drag the uploaded image to the box or browse to the location you downloaded the map banners to.

Enjoy!

Map: Old School Blues

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

It is Thursday! Time for a random table! Er, well – today I am posting up a map instead. I have a few more weeks worth of random tables planned, but today I am taking a break and posting up a map. It has been several weeks since I have done a map post.

All of the maps I have posted here (and over at G+) have been hand-drawn maps, typically caves and other underground structures. I have been doing several map commissions recently which have been a lot fun. And I have also done a few tavern-style maps which has been an interesting twist from the typical cave or dungeon look I have been doing.

Today I branch out a little bit and worked up a map in Gimp in “old school blue” style.

I find these blue-style maps sort of interesting. I mean really, they are pretty simple. Many of the hand drawn maps I have been doing include much more interesting terrain features than one would find in some of these “old school blue” maps. The nostalgic chord these “old school blue” maps strike is pretty deep though. Something about them just conjures up memories of many a long night spent delving into the depths of the unknown.

This map has been left unnumbered and I have not populated it with anything. Let your imagination roam with this one!

This map is free for personal use and released under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA.

Shrine of Srisatha

Swords & Wizardry House Rules

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

I should be finishing up the S&W adventure I am writing for Origins 2013 in Columbus, Ohio in a few weeks, but instead I find myself putting my initial house rule document together for Swords & Wizardry!

I have mentioned Swords & Wizardry on this blog before, but as many know it is a retro-clone that hones in on the Original D&D brown booklets. It does a lot to clean them up and smooth over some of the rough edges without adding a plethora of rules to the system. While I own the OD&D booklets, it is nice to have a system that is readily available to new players in either physical or electronic format.

I have gone back through the rulebook in prep for my upcoming game to take my first shot at house rules and my own clarifications for the system. Some of the items below are house rules and some are just clarifying a particular option that will be in use for games I run. The house rule document is a living and breathing document and will certainly morph as actual play continues.

So here we go…

The S&W House Rules

Character Stats

Ability Scores: Roll 3d6 six times. Arrange the results as the player sees fit. If character seems utterly hopeless, consult the GM for possible options.

Hit Points: Roll your hit die twice, take the highest result.

Character Classes

Assassin: The assassin may add their level as bonus damage on a successful backstab. This bonus is added after damage is doubled, tripled, or quadrupled.

Fighter: The multiple attack ability gets better as the fighter advances in level. At 5th level the fighter gains one additional attack against 2HD creatures for each level he exceeds 5th level. At 10th level the fighter gains one additional attack against 3HD creature for each level he exceeds 10th level by. At 15th level the fighter gains one additional attack against 4HD creatures for each level he exceeds 15th by. At 20th level the fighter gains one additional attack against 5HD creatures for each level he exceeds 20th level by.

Equipment

Shields: The character may opt to sacrifice their shield to absorb all damage of a successful melee hit against them. This destroys normal shields, rendering it useless.

The shield can be used in a similar fashion against damage causing spells and breath weapons. If the spell or breath weapon grants a Saving Throw the shield can be sacrificed to automatically succeed at the saving throw. Spells that do not normally have a saving throw allow one for half damage. Use of the shield in either fashion destroy a normal shield, rendering it useless.

Magic shields can also be used in this fashion. When used in this manner the shield has a 15% chance of not being destroyed. For each +1 modifier above +1 the shield has an additional 10% chance of not being destroyed (i.e. a shield +3 has a 35% chance of not being destroyed).

Combat Encounters

Ascending AC: Ascending AC will be used from the GM’s side of the screen.

Combat Order: Combat order will be used as described in the S&W Complete rule book. The alternative methods are not being used.

Fumbles: Fumbles will be used. Rolling a 1 on a d20 attack roll causes a -1 to hit until one round is spent recovering (i.e. not attacking).

Criticals: A critical hit grants a +1 bonus to damage for that attack.

Movement in Melee: Moving past a combatant in melee results in a free attack on the person moving by the occupied square. A person bearing a shield is able to prevent someone from moving by them in combat.

Ranged Attacks into Melee: A miss when firing into melee may result in striking a friend in engaged in melee with the initial target. Roll another 1d20 against the friend’s AC to determine if damage is dealt. Spending one round aiming negates this penalty.

Retreating from Melee: The enemy gains a free attack against the person trying to leave melee.

Death and Dying

Death: A character at 0 hit points or lower continue to lose 1 hit point per round. A character dies when they reach their character level in negative hit points. (i.e. a 5th level character dies at -5 hit points.)

Gen Con 2013 Wizard’s Booth

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Browsing my Facebook feed a little earlier today I noticed a post by Margaret Weis noting that Wizards of the Coast was apparently not having a booth at Gen Con 2013 this year. That post was made on Wednesday this week and I was a little surprised I had not seen more commentary on the lack of a Wizards booth at the show.

I had seen an email from Gen Con earlier in the week that the exhibit hall map was released. So I headed over there and downloaded the map to take a look. Sure enough – no Wizard’s booth! Now the map does have a disclaimer the document is a living map and subject to change, but at this moment there is not a Wizards of the Coast booth listed on the map.

I did a little more looking and did find some info over on Gen Con’s forums where some others noted the lack of a Wizard’s booth. It seems they will be focusing their efforts on the playtest area instead of manning a booth. A tweet from Mike Mearls also backs this, stating their booth is the playtest area.

I think this is an interesting decision by Wizards to not have any presence in the exhibit hall. Granted they do not really have any product to sell this year. They are still amidst their D&D Next playtest, the only significant product they have been releasing has been reprints from older editions and PDFs of DriveThruRPG. But it still seems odd for a major company in the RPG industry to *not* have a booth at Gen Con.

Thinking back though, last year the booth at Gen Con was fairly unspectacular. So perhaps we should have seen it coming.

What do you think? The end of RPGs (I’m being facetious!)? A shift in major players in the RPG industry? Or simply saving money for a spectacular D&D Next rollout next year?

Random Table: NPC Traits

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

open clip art library

I have been accused in the past of having some NPCs that were very “cardboard-like”. Some had little personality, no unusual mannerisms, and just another voice among many. My group at one time even bought me a guide to playing NPCs.

While working to improve that area of my game, it is still an area I struggle with. So today’s table for Random Table Thursday is a list of 20 NPC traits. For that next barkeep the PCs meet if you neglected to do your homework you can roll up a trait on the fly to give that barkeep some distinguishing characteristic.

The Iron Tavern welcomes suggestions for next week’s random table. If you have suggestions for next week’s table feel free to leave a comment to this post or over on Google+!

Roll (d20)	NPC Traits
1	speaks quite loudly, even in inappropriate locations
2	uses hands frequently when speaking, gesturing, moving restlessly
3	constantly yawning, dozing off
4	speaks very quietly, just above a whisper
5	rolls an ornately carved metal cylinder across their knuckles, repeatedly
6	strong body odor
7	wears glasses, takes them on and off numerous times when conversing
8	constantly blinking
9	very observant, comments on fine details often missed (unique items on one’s person, rings, mannerisms, etc)
10	meticulous, frequently brushing lint from clothes, straightening hair, etc.
11	very empathetic, seems to listen to people with genuine concern
12	constant complainer (weather, food, lack of sleep, etc)
13	lacks personal space awareness, tends to stand or sit too close to people
14	flowery aroma
15	always seems out of breath, even when having been seated for a length of time
16	stutters
17	frequently snacking, taking handfuls of nuts and granola from a pocket
18	uses very proper and verbose speech
19	smokes a pipe, fiddles with tobacco can in vest pocket
20	overly polite

Random Table: Tavern Names

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

image by nicubunu

I was running short of time this week when I wrote up this week’s random table. Due to that I went with something easy, Tavern Names! These names are ready to be used on the fly or during your session prep to breathe a little life into the next tavern your PCs step into.

The Iron Tavern welcomes suggestions for next week’s random table. If you have suggestions for next week’s table feel free to leave a comment to this post or over on Google+!

Roll (d20)	Tavern Names
1	Plate and Mug Tavern
2	The Rusty Bucket
3	Whistler’s Pourhouse
4	The Fallen Phoenix
5	The Smokey Alehouse
6	Tolenka’s Taphouse
7	Fading Fast Tavern
8	The Singing Siren
9	The Silver Tankard
10	The Weeping Mermaid
11	Rose’s Taphouse
12	Firehouse Ales
13	Broken Mug Pourhouse
14	Red Griffon Taproom
15	Broken Keg’s Tavern
16	Flying Albatross Alehouse
17	Brannon’s
18	Fat Sylvernia’s
19	Purple Dragon Pub
20	One Legged Ogre

Edition Warring

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

This post started brewing last week after the boingboing.net post titled Old School Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards of the Coast’s Problem Child by Peter Bebergal hit the net. In fact I had about half a post written last week on the topic before deciding it needed to cool off a bit. I still question whether I should post this particular post, but I think the topic needs addressed even at risk of this very post itself being taken in a way I did not intend it.

Edition warring as a label

The “Edition Warring” comment thrown out to label viewpoints you disagree with is not a valid argument or debate point. It is equivalent to simply trying to shout someone down because you disagree with them. Anytime you respond to a viewpoint about an RPG system you do not agree with “the person is edition warring” or “the person is just trolling” you are not helping make the situation any better. If anything these comments as a reply to discussion are doing more harm than the original post.

Edition warring versus discussion

I have spent a fair amount of time hanging out on various discussion forums, social media networks, and such in search of good discussion about RPGs. It is my hobby and I like to talk about it with peers. Good discussion does not mean only discussing the good things about systems, but it also means discussing things I think one system does less well than another. It means discussing systems I like and systems I dislike. It means stating reasons why *I* do not like something in a system and why I do like something in a system.

In the course of this discussion I am going to read posts and articles I do not agree with. I am going to reply with opinions that others do not agree with. This is not “edition warring”, this is discussion about RPGs. It is why we are here on discussion forums – to discuss RPGs, warts and all.

Actual edition warring

Now that is not to say there aren’t any posts that are “edition warring” in nature. There are posts that cross the line of being opinion and into the realm of saying people are “choosing the wrong system” or “you are doing it wrong if you choose that system” or “you aren’t playing the game if you play it that way”. Those posts are inflammatory and are treading into the realm of “bad wrong fun”. But the majority of posts I see being labeled “edition warring” are not guilty of this. Posts stating ones opinion and what they see as pros and cons of a system or their system preference is not this.

Back to the article

Let’s go back to the article that triggered this post, Old School Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards of the Coast’s Problem Child. This article falls into the category of someone posting their opinion and thoughts on the Old School movement and its impact on Wizards of the Coast. This is an example of someone providing their opinion on that topic.

This article was not an opening salvo in an “edition war” and it was not a “troll”. It was an author walking the audience through what he thought the implication of the OSR movement was on Wizards and the current D&D game.

If after you read this article you found yourself on discussion forums or social media networks making proclamations like:

“That guy thinks feats are from magic the gathering, and roleplaying left when 2e introduced new rules…. that is a way back edition warrior”

“it’s just Standard Edition War Tract 101…”

“it is just another cheeto beard old school gamer”

Then you were part of the problem. In many ways I think if that was your first response you are likely more of the problem than the initial poster who did not make an attack on people, but rather stated his opinion. These statements did not discuss the path and conclusions made, but rather tried to dismiss the commentary under the “edition war” or “troll” guise.

That does not mean you need to agree with the post or the path he took to reach his conclusion. By all means, contribute to the discussion and disagree with his statements and conclusion. I know I did not agree with everything in the article.

I saw good discussion on how roleplaying was easily possible in newer versions and that was not something unique to AD&D or earlier. I saw people discuss some of the copyright topics mentioned in the article. I saw people discuss what the Magic the Gathering influence was in the game and whether or not that was a statement they agreed with.

Discussion

My point is. Don’t be so quick to label a viewpoint not your own as “edition warring” or “trolling”. Those labels do not help and just increase the negative vibe of the RPG community more than people posting opinion pieces for discussion. People in the RPG community are much too quick to shout down opposing viewpoints under labels of “trolling” and “edition warring” when there has not been an opening shot in the most recent “edition war”. Next time you see an article that you do not agree with, slow down, breath and think what exactly about the article do you disagree with. Address those points in a respectful manner, but don’t resort to name calling or stereotyping views you do not agree with.

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