Look what arrived in the mail..

Holmes Basic Set

It took over 3 weeks to arrive but much to my delight it is finally in my grubby little hands. I also got dungeon modules B1: In Search of the Unknown (included in the set) and X1: Isle of Dread. Planning on picking up B2 Keep on the Borderlands at G1-3 from Tactics sometime soon. Exciting times ahead!!

Sunday Night Update!

Doug loves blog posts

So it's Sunday night and I am sitting at a dinner table on my laptop whilst my beautiful Tanya is studying for her test tomorrow. On the eve of my final weekend before I return to uni I have come to the realisation that I had accomplished nothing that I had set out for myself to do during my summer break. Although that sounds bad my goals were pretty pointless:

1. Complete every Zelda game
2. Finally complete MGS
3. Become slightly less awesome

Although none of them have been done yet (damn you MGS!!) I still had a pretty good holiday. Rediscovering my love for pen and paper games, I DMed my very first adventure....it was a disaster, but an enjoyable one. I had picked up the Pathfinder beginners box to run for a workmate and his friends who seemed to actually enjoy the game despite me constantly having to try and figure out the mechanics (lots of book referencing). I did enjoy being the DM though, I just didn't enjoy Pathfinder. I've played 4E and 3.5 in the past and even though I do enjoy playing them, at times I feel suffocated by all the mechanics. My discovery of the OSR and eventually joining my DCC group is the highlight of my summer.

In other news St Patrick's day is coming up! I plan to once again get blindly drunk and listen to way too much Dropkick Murphys. Also looking to give Binary Domain a play, that games seems like all the right kinds of crazy. I'm awaiting the arrival of the Holmes basic box in the mail along with the core AD&D 1E books which has me insanely excited. Until Dungeon Crawl Classics actually releases (pre-ordering foil cover this week) I plan on being lost in these books.

Galaxy Foamposite

Want.

Lazy, lazy post.

Haven't updated in a while which is a bit of a disappointment, but I really haven't had anything to write about! I've continued to play Dungeon Crawler Classic RPG on Monday nights with some people from Japan and it has been extremely fun. The combination of a great game along with great people  has me constantly counting down till Monday nights. I'm once again getting the itch to try and DM a game and it seems like I am probably going to give in. Still contemplating on what system I am going to use as I have the AD&D 1E core books coming in the mail but I am also thoroughly enjoying DCC RPG and am becoming quite familiar with the system. The Adventurer Conqueror King System is also on the cards but I still haven't finished reading through it.

My DCC Character

Mission Hill

I used to love this show.

Wassup?

I never get sick of this video

Want.

Nike Air Foamposite One

Everytime a new Foamposite colourway drops I never have money. So depressing.

ACKS!

Sunday night reading

Dungeon Crawl Awesomeness

This game has become my new obsession.

The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is a set of roleplaying rules inspired by old-school Dungeons and Dragons, that attempts to capture the essence of a classic dungeon crawling adventure. DCC started off as a set of modules created by Goodman Games for use with 3E D&D along with 4E and some adventures actually being adapted for the original Dungeons and Dragons. The game itself isn't set for actual release untill around April (hopefully), but Goodman Games has released a beta version of the game on their website for free (here).

As soon as I saw that cover I was in love. I recently attempted to run a game of Pathfinder for a workmate and his friends, it was a disaster. They all had fun, which is the point of the game really, but for me there were just too any rules and conditions to manage. The game ran really slow as I kept having to refer to the book and right from the very start players were all min/maxing their characters. This wasn't my idea of fun. That's not to say the game is bad, there is a lot to Pathfinder that I love (which is why I tried to run a game) but as a DM with no experience that game is just too much.

DCC RPG is the game I want to run. The game wears it's inspiration on it's sleeve, it takes what is good about oD&D and improves on it, much like what Pathfinder does to 3.5 although not as literal. In my opinion the greatest features introduced by this game is the character creation and 0-level gameplay. The focus is to create your character points first, you roll 3d6 for each of your ability scores in order (with no re-rolls) and choose your 0-level occupation (by rolling 1d100). The idea of 0-level play is that your characters start as regular people, you are not a hero yet, and so you start off with an occupation (eg. blacksmith). This starts you off with basic equipment for your career along with associated skills.

With 0-level gameplay each player is advised to make between 3-5 characters EACH! All these characters will be randomly rolled with differing abilities/occupations with some obviously being better than others. These average people will then set out on their first adventure, obviously not all are going to make it. The idea is that at least half of these characters will die, which ever characters are strongest or are most protected by the player will survive till the end and become adventurers. I feel that this helps players see their characters as more than just stats, their care about the character they want to play and will attempt to make sure that character survives and with the random nature of character creation it is impossible for a player to try and mix/max their characters.

The simplified rules and original character creation are what really make this game stand out to me, but the games charm in general is what I'm probably going to remember the most. The art and design of the game evokes a pulp fantasy aura, chock full of mystical creatures and grand quests. It has a certain campiness to it that really appeals to me. I seriously can't stop reading through these rules and have so many ideas of crazy campaigns I want to run. Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is a must purchase.

tl;dr DCC RPG = Awesome

Left Boy

Left Boy = Artist I'm most excited about for 2012

Random Idea: Adventure Time RPG

Adventure Time is one of my favourite cartoons of recent, heck it might be one of my favourite shows in general. The show is about the a boy named of Finn along with his dog/best friend Jake and their adventures throughout the magical land of Ooo. The world of Adventure Time is something that I really want to try and use as a campaign setting.

My idea would involve the PCs playing as a group of kids who have been magically transported to the Land of Ooo, trying to figure out how it is that they arrived and how they can return home. Summoned by Princess Bubblegum, the ruler of Candy Kingdom, they learn that Ooo's two greatest adventurers (Finn and Jake) have dissappeared and that a great evil is coming. It is up to the PCs to find the duo and save the world.

While it's not the most original storyline in the world, I feel that it's something that suits the Adventure Time perfectly. A group of kids in a magical world partaking in a dungeon crawling adventure full of peril....what's there not to love?

First Post!!!!!!

Hello, my name is John and this is my blog. My girlfriend has bugged me multiple times in the past to write a blog but I've enevr gotten into it, simply because my life is boring. In 2012 that changes! Look forward to exciting posts such as 'This video is crazy: link' and 'Follow my girlfriend.' :)