Blog Archives

Free System Friday: WR&M, Oh My!

Yes, I too read that title as Master Thespian George Takei, but I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s Free System Friday! That’s right, it’s the day of the week where we (Obsidain Portal) introduce you (our honorable reader) to something new, something fun, something free. Why? Because it shouldn’t always cost a buck to have a little fun with friends, and because the best things in life are free anywho. So lets get right on to it.

This week’s free system is: Warrior, Rogue, and Mage by Michael Wolf (a.k.a Stargazer). Here’s an excerpt from DriveThruRPG.

Warrior, Rogue & Mage is a simple, lightweight roleplaying game that allows a group
of players and a game master to experience epic adventures in a fantasy world filled
with wondrous magic. This book contains the complete game rules, including character
creation, combat, magic, equipment and monsters, as well as a complete fantasy
setting, the Fallen Imperium of Vaneria.

Although WR&M uses three basic fantasy RPG classes in its name, it doesn’t make
use of classes. Players are encouraged to create their characters freely without having
to fit them into archetypal roles. Warrior, Rogue and Mage are actually the character’s
basic attributes, which measure their capabilities in combat, stealth and academics
respectively.

That’s all well and good, but what does every-one’s favorite RPG Blogging Critic Wyatt Salazar have to say about it?

Obviously he likes it. So what are you waiting for? Grab some friends, grab some dice, grab the rules, and play WR&M now!

New System Thursday

It’s back with avengence! Today we’re adding not one, not two, not even ten new systems. That’s right, today we’re turning the knob to 11.

1. Chronica Feudalis  (Make a Campaign Now)
2. Aces & Eights (Make a Campaign Now)
3. Lejendary Adventure (Make a Campaign Now)
4. Fireborn (Make a Campaign Now)
5. Hero System (Make a Campaign Now)
6. Dragon Age RPG (Make a Campaign Now)
7. DC Adventures (Make a Campaign Now)
8. GUMSHOE (Make a Campaign Now)
9. Star Trek RPG (Make a Campaign Now)
10. Lamentation of the Flame Princess (Make a Campaign Now)
11. Legends of Anglerre (Make a Campaign Now)

Power To The (Married) People

Two weeks ago I got married to the geeky girl of my dreams. Josh Buergel friend, game designer, and all around great guy officiated our small ceremony at a local coffee shop. I got a real kick out of what he had to say, and I hope you will too.

I’m not planning on doing a long speech, but I do think that a momentous occasion like this richly deserves some of my unique strain of blather and I’m afraid the cost of my participation here is that you have to sit through it.  I feel like a recitation about the benefits and difficulties of marriage is at least somewhat inappropriate, but at the same time, it’s worth reflecting on what brings you both here, in front of friends and perhaps more importantly baristas.  A marriage really is a different phase of your relationship and no matter how casual the ceremony, the commitment is never a casual one.  A marriage is about mutual respect, first and foremost. Without that, eventually the cracks will come.  If you maintain that respect, you can solve everything else.  You’ll both make mistakes and triumphs, you’ll both have bad days and great days, you’ll have days when you wondered what the hell you were thinking.  But none of that matters if you keep your respect for each other and yourselves.  All of the great things of a marriage flow from that respect when combined with your love.

But enough of that!  Congratulations on levelling up your relationship!  Among the benefits you have gained this level are the following powers:

New Feature: Quick Previews

I’ll be the first to admit that our Textile input isn’t exactly the easiest thing to use. Getting linebreaks to work and text to look right can be a real chore. Trust me, we’re working on it.

However, a good interim fix is to reduce the turnaround time between writing the text and viewing it. To that end we’ve added a quick-preview feature for wiki pages and adventure log posts. There’s really not much to explain. Just click the preview button below a textarea and you can see the magic.

Give it a shot, and I think you’ll find that it makes formatting your posts much easier. Edit a little, preview, edit some more, preview, rinse and repeat.

Player can’t make it – Cancel or Frantic Reschedule?

This happens to me over and over: At the last minute, a player (or the GM, myself even) announces they can’t make the scheduled time for the game. However, they’re free on X or Y night that week, so can we reschedule? Frantic emailing and forum posting occurs, lots of negotiating, and we usually end up getting nowhere, just messing up everyone’s plans for the rest of the week. Maybe 1/5 of these frantic exchanges results in a successful reschedule. We’re all just too busy to juggle everything like that.

To combat the craziness, I’ve tried instituting a No Rescheduling policy, but then I love playing so much that I break my own rule, hoping against hope that everyone will change to accomodate me. This usually has the exact same scramble-to-no-avail outcome.

Is ours the only group where this happens? How do you handle it? Is there any solution? Is there anything we could add to Obsidian Portal that would help facilitate (and make less crazy) these discussions? As always, I’m not promising anything, but I have a little extra time to think tonight, as our game has been canceled at the last minute. 🙁

The Question!

Many people seem to be missing the question I’m asking here. Maybe I’m not clear. I’m not asking how many you need to play the game, or what your policy is on attendance. Here’s what I’m driving at:

If a player can’t make it, but suggests a reschedule to another night of the week, what do you do?

In my case, it always becomes a mess and usually results in nothing getting accomplished. Do you have a better way? I’d love to hear it!

Update: Cool Tool

A Twitterer recommended that I check out WhenIsGood, and it looks very close to what I need. Maybe we can steal this idea for Obsidian Portal at some point.

Another ENnie!

Thanks to all your hard work and your votes, Obsidian Portal won a 2nd ENnie. We took the gold in the Best Website category, beating out some really tough competition, especially the Pathfinder Wiki and the d20 Pathfinder SRD.

You won it, we accepted it

Of course, I have to point out that Obsidian Portal is only where it is today thanks to all the hard work of the thousands of GMs and their players who use it every day to make their campaigns more fun. Ryan, Dan, and I keep the machines running, and we add features when we can, but it’s all of you who fill it with great stories, wacky characters, and breathtaking worlds. For that, we express our deepest gratitude.

Pics or it didn’t happen

I didn’t get as many pictures as I’d like, but here’s what I got.

Yes, that’s exactly what I was wearing when I accepted the award. Everyone loved the costume, as the ENnies are about geeks awarding geeks.

Just your average, everyday wasteland savage, riding high on his latest win and enjoying a beer. I thought I was going to a GenCon-style bar, but it turned out to be pretty far outside the con-zone, so everybody was looking at me like I was crazy. I guess you have to be a little crazy to dress like that. Hey, it’s what we do.

Jerry (dreadgazeebo), and I celebrating the win at lunch the next day. Jerry is holding this year’s medal, and I’ve got our gold from 2009.