UPDATED: Donate to charity, get free Ascendant time

We’re a little behind in our fundraising efforts for Childs Play, so we’re going to go all-in. For the last day of 2010, we are offering free Ascendant time on Obsidian Portal for your charitable donations. All you have to do is open your wallet and help provide toys and games for sick kids stuck in hospitals around the world.

Update: It’s been a great day, and we’ve met our goal and then some. Thanks for all your help and generosity. If you’re still interested in an Ascendant subscription, check out our subscriptions page.

Looking for a Content Director – Be our voice on the Web

Dan, our beloved Content Director for the past year, is moving on and we need someone to step in and carry the torch. If you have a knack for writing and a passion for RPGs, you’re a great fit.

Put your money where your heart is.

<– Use the widget to donate!

Child’s Play, the annual charity brain-spawn of 2 of our beloved geeks Mike ‘Gabe’ Krahulik and Jerry ‘Tycho’ Holkins, has raised over a million dollars this year for bored sick children across the globe. Last year, we participated by creating the +1 Obsidian Portal Chest of Wonders, and it was GLORIOUS. It was also a huge trunk literally heaving with swag that I had to carry up a flight of stairs.

Blast from the past: Newsletter from December 2009!

Hail, Adventurer!

Here it is, almost the end of November, and we have so much news we just had to make an update! So, here they are, coming at you in no particular order.

1) Did you read this month’s copy of the newsletter? If you did, not only did you learn some invaluable information, but you also learned of our AMAZING THANKSGIVING T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY. What’s all this, you ask? Well, by becoming a fan of Obsidian Portal on Facebook, you enter yourself in the drawing! On Thanksgiving day, I’ll pick three fans at random, and those three fans will get one of our exclusive, impossible-to-find, one-of-a-kind t-shirts! I’m wearing one right now, it’s very nice. So what are you waiting for? Become a fan today!

Dynamic Characters Sheets via the API

I know it’s a pain to write a DST. The dev kit is probably horribly out of date by now, plus you never really know how your DST will work until you upload it live and play with a real character. I try to encourage people from the start to get their code live on the site as soon as possible, but it’s still no fun to write and edit HTML (or any code) in a textarea. But, all that could change thanks to a recent update.

The ideal app

What if you could edit your DST files in your favorite text editor and never have to copy and paste it into the textarea? I’m imagining a desktop app where you select your HTML, CSS, and Javascript files on your local machine. Then, as you edit your DST locally, you can click a single button and the app syncs it to the server. Then, have a browser window open to a test character and you just refresh it. No more copy/paste, no more need to play with textareas. Smooth as silk.

Halfway there

Unfortunately, the ideal app doesn’t exist, at least not yet. But, I’ve taken the first step and added DSTs to the API. All the puzzle pieces are in place to make this a reality. They just need to be put together.

Can you do it?

I’ve got the API updated, but that’s about as far as I can take it. It’s been ages since I’ve done a desktop app, and I wouldn’t even know where to get started. Plus, I’ve got more features and bug fixes to work on than I want to think about. I need someone to step up, grab the reigns, and take it from here.

If you’re interested, or have a better idea, please come join the forum discussion. I’m really excited about the potentials of the API, and I think this app (or a better one!) would be a perfect fit.

Breaking the Rules, Writing in the Margins

UPDATE: We didn’t tell you that this is by the one and only Dave Chalker, Editor-in-chief of Critical Hits.

One of the things that stuck with me after attending a talk by game designer Monte Cook was his opinion on character sheets. He wasn’t talking about layout, or amount of stats or any of that: he was talking about the margins.

Totally stolen image from Dave's girlfriend, E.

More so in older editions of D&D, the margins of the character sheet were used to mark aspects of your character that didn’t conveniently fit into the rules. Cursed to never be able to find true happiness, cool scar running along the PC’s arm, pursued by a scorned lover, paralyzing fear of water.

There are so many great tools in modern RPGs that it can be easy to lose all the non-rules parts of characters, especially for DMs. When there are rules for every character flaw or lasting scar, it can be tough to break out of the mold.  Here are three quick tips to try and bring some of that back.

Give PCs Unexplainable Powers

When your story fits with it, you can tell a PC that he has the power to do something- he just has to tell the DM. Don’t write out the rules. Instead, have that player jot down a note in the margin like “Can invoke the power of Unnamed God” or “Overcharge a spell.” You can make some notes on what that means to you, but don’t share the exact effects. When they do that, you can describe the additional effect based on the situation they’re using it.

By keeping the exact benefits changing, you can preserve the mystery for longer. Or, use it as a springboard to develop into a full-fledged power that the PC gets to keep.

Tie-in Strange Circumstances

When giving out rewards to the PCs, whether it be treasure or something more intangible, consider tying it to something strange. Maybe the sword that they discovered has an unusual smell. Maybe the new spell discovered has an added descriptor of “might cause madness.” Perhaps when spending the treasure, the character finds that it refuses to be spent on certain things by sending impulses to the character.

The trick here is to make it not entirely “your character has found something that he worked hard to get, and is now hosed.” These rewards should have some extra benefits to go along with the quirks, otherwise, the players probably won’t bother. Also it’s good to keep the effects from being strictly mechanical drawbacks.

Record History

When the heroes have become well-liked in a region, have them write it down somewhere on their sheet. When the party encounters a hag and it curses one of the PCs, have that PC write the curse down. When the character almost drowns in an encounter, have them write it down.

By putting it on the character sheet as a defining moment, it’s more likely to be remembered and referenced. Let the characters drive this- if they are trying to strike a bargain in another city, they can say “well, we’re well-liked in this city…” and you can have the character recognize them from this exploit: “Hey, my brother in law is from there!” Same with the more negative examples. If a player sighs and says (even jokingly) “oh, the hag’s curse is finally going into effect,” bring that into the game. Then later, that can be turned around if the player decides to deal with the curse, and emerges from the experience all the better.

By busting out of the rules that are provided, no matter the system, you can add extra flavor in a way that can only be done at your table, and not by a ruleset. Try it and see, and let me know if you’ve done anything similar.