Holiday doldrums

Holiday season , my least favorite time of the year. Setting aside the fact i was born on xmas day and got screwed on presents every year. The holidays mean family obligations. Seems to get worse each year. More and more of the month of December gets eaten by holiday parties and family gatherings.
The holidays this year are costing me 2 regular nights of gaming. Since we only play every other week that means an entire month.

Dont know why lately the gaming bug is hitting me harder and harder. I think i am missing playing more then anything. I have to believe there are alot of gamers in my postion. Perpetual gamemastering can wear a bit. I am chomping at the bit to play. Unfortunately no one in my current circle of friends has the slightest desire to gm.

Online MMO's do not cut it. Think i may have to bite the bullet and get a web cam so i can play in constantcon on google+.

Unrealised games i have at various times desired to play in.

1. Humanoid campaign.

2. City campaign , a sort of D&D meets private eye.

3. Traveling show, group of preformers who travel about thieving/grifting and having adventures.

Guess i can always hope that oneday i will get to play again. 

Eight adventure seeds

1. Caravan merchant was robbed by humanoids/bandits 5 miles back and will pay a handsome reward for the return of a prized holy symbol

2. Local lord's store houses are being robbed. He will pay pay well for the capture of the culprits (kobolds)

3. The mayors son says he saw an owl bear outside of town. Everyone is in a panic. (its a fake some bandits have an old skin and are using it to detract from their smuggling).

4.The local lords son has been captured by a rival. He will pay for your group to deliver the ransom.

5 . A traveling knight has set up camp by a local bridge and is demanding a toll, or best him in lances.

  The local lord has lost 3 men trying to drive him off.

6. Local temples relic has been stolen. Everyone believes the local knight errant has taken it for some purpose. Will your group go challenge him for the relic.

7. The local wise woman was killed by maurading orcs. The townsfolk want justice!

8. The friendly Treant in the local woods has begun acting erraticly. He randomly attacks farms or strangely plows a field. Find out what has happened and fix it if your able.

Merry xmas!

A little Dungeons and Dragons plus Christmas turned up this gem.

The only gaming present i ever recieved was from my dad. One Christmas he let my sister and I pick our own presents. My sister chose a Dance-a-rella doll and i chose the 1st ed Gamma World box set.
That Christmas also marked the only time i got family members to game with me. My dad and my sister both played in my first ever Gamma World game. I still have the book and map from that set. The dice to it long lost. I think i threw the box out. (stupid i know) To this day GW is always my first love of gaming.
Getting people to play it is another story. I learned long ago D&D is where the people are. From time to time i manage to get a session or two run , but it is like pulling teeth.

Tomorrow is my birthday (worst b-day ever!)

The end of spell lists for clerics!

The Vancian style of magic system has been around since the begining. Nealry from the begining there have been spell casting variants. Look out world here is my version.

When a cleric announces his actions and intent to cast instead of declaring..."I cast cure light wounds". Clerics will now declare..."I call upon my deities favor and pray for cure light wounds".

The Game master will have to track spells perday by level for the cleric. With a simple piece of scrap paper and 1 minutes time this can be preped before the game begins. Just check off each spell slot as it is used.
The GM decides if the deity grants the spell, denies the spell or sends and alternate spell.
For GM's who are unsure of the deities whims or those who desire a bit of the trusty random chart.....

1 - spell denied
2-9 lesser or alternate spell granted. (granted alternates should be of the deities main focus)
10-17 Spell granted as desired by cleric.
18-19 Spell granted with a bonus  (wisdom bonus added to damage or healing..durration etc as GM desires)
20 Bonus spell (higher level granted or grants an extra spell slot for the day)

Working for living

Well I am gainfully employed. Seems like forever since I had to be so responsible.

I am doing Helpdesk work for a big server hosting company. (to remain nameless)

Undead reaction table (for mindless undead)
1 Blank stare
2 Emotionless stare
3 Fixed stare
4 Unblinking stare.
5 Drools and stares
6 Slavering charge while staring.

Double bonus gaming post....

Magic items as works of art, and relics in their own right.
Next campaign I run will be founded on this principle.
Every magic item in the land is a work of art, created for a spefic reason. This means EVERY item will be unique. I Will not allow duplicate magic items. There is no magic item assembly line. The idea that a wizard or cleric would mindlessly churn out copies of sword +1 is lame and stupid.
No two magic items will ever be the same in my worlds again.

This idea was an out growth of my specialised wepons. (see the blogs first few posts for examples of those)
The days of +1 sword/armor/wepon/etc... are gone.

Next time.... Cleric spell lists begone......

Proof in the Pudding.

My Google-fu is weak it seems. I could only find two instances of modern retakes of Emirkol the Chaotic.
From Dungeon Crawl Classics...

A fine example of the old being new again.

This time in color!

I know both Hackmaster 4th ed and Castles and Crusades have tribute pieces to Emikol, but i am at a loss to locate them on the web.

For comparison the actual "Street of Knights" from Rhodes.
There are countless pics of this street posted about the web.

This is what I imagine when i am in a medieval city. Tight roads stone buildings and...Emirkol.

Old maps reused

One great thing about basing a campaign on Earth, I can use old maps! Heck even Google Maps is useful. While working on my Mystic Earth campaign i was wrting up the area now know as France. Based on the time frame I am using the Merovingians are still the rulers of this area. I Google the Merovingian kingdoms and wala!

Perfect printable and historicaly correct. The down side is alot of time period I am using there are no maps available. Therefor I use the closest time period i can find.
For Paris in the mid 6th century i have to make do with a map from the 11th century.
Still looks fantastic for a game map even if slightly anarchanistic.

The web truely is a wonder.

Iconic art

Early editions of D&D are often raked over the coals for being ammaturish in art quality. I will agree alot of the early art was rough.  The early art was also very inspirational. Some of the most iconic pieces still inspire the artists of today to homage the early greats.

An example...

This piece by Trampier graced the AD&D DMG. It evokes feelings and creativity. I know of at least two  homages of this piece.

While the current crop of art gracing 4e materials and Pathfinder are definatly profesional, I find them lacking. The Dungeon punk look doesn't do it for me. Along with the Manga inspired style turn me right off.
There is such a thing as classics. Prefering the "classic" style of art of early D&D is where i stand.