The Pink Dice Chronicles

I'm not going to be at Gencon this year.  Spring of 2014 I severely injured my back and I have been recovering ever since.  As the stars of Gencon rise this year, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, with perhaps returning to work in my future this fall.  And next year, I look forward to being able to attend Gencon.  Next year I will be in good enough shape to walk all over without issue for the first time in many years.  2016 Gencon is a big goal for me now. Gencon, just like a weekly game, can be a big source of joy for a lot of people.  It certainly is for me. At the end of the day, know that our hobby brings happiness to a lot of people, and that is something both to be proud of and to respect.

Sunday nights I started playing in a new game in Ebberon.  Last time in Ebberon I played a bard.  This time I wanted a different kind of character. Karola ir'Tennet is a noble, granddaughter of the minister of Korth, sent to track down Emerald Claw enemies in Xen'drik.  She is a trained assassin (rogue) and vengeance paladin of Dol Dorn, trying to earn military glory in her homeland. Karola wears black armor so she can sneak more easily.  She wears a shield and carries a rapier to kill those in her way.  When possible, she lunges at her victims when they are not looking, killing them outright, if possible. She moves quickly, dashing around the battle, taking stabs and then taking cover.  When the kill shot comes, she reinforces it with the smite of her god. Karola speaks with a thick Eastern European style of accent.  She reminds me most of Aeryn Sun from Farscape. She is militaristic and hurts as easily with words as with a blade.  She is...

I used to always play the lawful good / chaotic good character.  I was the paladin with an inner struggle and a drinking problem.  I was the hero that wanted to always save the day and didn't need to get paid.  Then something changed.  After reading again and again about the dangers of lawful stupid and rogue vs paladin, I decided not to be limited.  I decided to play the chaotic neutral character, a person motivated differently that didn't really care about ideas like good and law. In the beginning, it was just a way for me to avoid entanglements with alignment.  With a chaotic neutral alignment, no one could argue alignment over my actions. It was the ultimate flexibility.  My character was batman without all of the hand-wringing over innocent people. Then, as a GM, it started to sink in.  I played this way because I hated alignment.  I hated playing with people that broke the social contract and fought against other PCs.  I hated ...

My Wednesday Drednaught game has arrived in a large city, Athkatla, the City of Coin, a city of politics and intrigue.  In such scenarios, as well as many others, the depth of the worlds is reflected in the numerous NPCs and their relationships, organizations, and goals.  Capturing, organizing, and defining a large number of related NPCs can be a real challenge, Unfortunately the tool I need for this job does not exist. What I need is a social network tool that allows me to manually add nodes, define their relationships to other nodes, and allows me to capture pertinent information and their image as part of their node.  The whole interface needs to allow me to change focus of the central node for when they pop up in game.  As an added feature, it would allow me to display a full size version of their portrait on a second screen.  Displaying NPC stats in a secondary screen would also be a nice feature.  An XML template for defining stats would provide gam...

Tarrak is a dark gnome that grew up on the streets of Skullport.  He scratched by with what he could beg for food and eventually graduated up to minor thievery and pickpocketing for more organized factions within the Dredge.  He came to know people and even like some of them.  One of these people was the local trade negotiator, a halfling named Maybach. Maybach, as often happens with negotiators in Skullport, turned up missing, and Tarrak saw his opportunity.  He found a loak that looked just like Maybach's and started negotiating trades under his name.  The money was better than Tarrak ever imagined, but the good times didn't last.  Maybach's body turned up and Tarrak was soon under suspicion of murder.  He fled to the surface in hopes of finding a safer way. Somehow he ended up in a temple of Savras, half dead from wounds sustained during his escape.  The local temple cleric tended his woulds and fed him to get him back to good health. ...

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This Code of Etiquette will become a standard part of all games I host online henceforth, subject to further refinement. Etiquette of the GM The GM will maintain Rule Zero: Everyone has fun. The GM will not make changes to character rules (i.e. class, race, feat, or trait specific rules) after character creation without agreement of all players unless it conflicts with Rule Zero. The GM will attempt to maintain a clear set of rules, ensure that players are following them, and not change them arbitrarily during the campaign. The GM will make rule-consistent judgement calls to keep the game going, but may research controversial calls out of session and report back to the players. The GM will make every effort to keep session going on schedule, and will notify players as soon as possible if a session will be cancelled.  Rescheduled games will include all players. The GM will use player feedback, character backgrounds, other player-generated content to influence the game....