And another campaign bites the dust...

Again, been fairly quiet, though it's at least been less than a month since I posted anything here.

Work... well, it's still hectic and still nuttier than a jar of peanuts.  Everybody wants everything done at once, and as always I simply don't have the time, which frankly gets a bit annoying when half the stuff I'm doing really should be the responsibility of another department.

Got to hang out a bit and have a nice dinner with a couple of my former co-workers.  After missing the November get-together due to illness, it was nice to see them again.

Still cranking out the Heroes on Demand articles on a weekly basis for the Gaming Security Agency, and to be honest I was quite tickled to hear Brian "Fiddleback/Agent 00" and Dave "GM Dave/Agent 42" give this long-running article series a mention on GSA Briefing #5.  You can listen to it here: http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/27/gsa-podcast-briefing-5/

Also been watching episodes of Young Justice via Netflix, and I'm really enjoying this series.  I never read the comic book, but I'm a big ol' fan of the DC Animated Universe, particularly the Justice League and Batman Beyond, and enjoyed Teen Titans as well, so I'm very much enjoying Young Justice, particularly Robin (just finished the episode "Downtime").  Also been getting in some older-school gaming by way of Final Fantasy I (level-grinding to get ready to take on the first Elemental Fiend) on my iPhone and Dragon Quest 8 (just starting on the monster-hunting for the fighting pit) on my PS2.

Sadly though, it seems that the Marvel Heroic RPG campaign I was in (in which I played Darkhawk, a favorite comic character of mine from back in the day that's seen a surge in recognition over the past few years after lingering in comic-book limbo) has come to an end, as the GM simply doesn't have time to come up with scenarios anymore (increased job responsibility and small child will do that to a person).  In a way, it seems kind of fitting to the game's comic book roots that series staring our rather oddball cast of heroes suddenly got cancelled.  Ah well, such is the way of things, and it was fun while it lasted.

Also, I think the semi-regular Dresden Files game, in which I play a youngish (early 20's) White Council Wizard by the name of Danny Copperfield, is winding to a close.  The GM has set the stage for a potentially catastrophic event; you know the drill, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.  If you're a fan of the series or at least know the background of the Dresdenverse, the short version is that someone (or more likely several someones) is setting the stage for the supernatural equivalent of World War III, dragging the Winter Court, the Summer Court, the White Court of Vampires, the White Council, the Denarians. and even a couple Freeholding Lords (such as Gentleman Johnny Marcone and Donar Vadderrung) into a big ol' apocalyptic fracas of a scope that would make Buffy crap her too-tight pants in terror.  And it's up to a lone White Council Wizard, a freshly-minted Knight of the Cross, a junior SI detective, and a Summer Court changeling to find out who the guilty party is and stop this mess. So yeah, no pressure (I wonder if that counts as a self-compel on my "Habitual Snarker" Aspect?)

Upside though is the Saturday group (most of it anyway) is getting back into Legend of the Five Rings, so I get to step back into the role of Usagi Hiro, Topaz Champion aka the "KIller Bunny" (an in-game nickname give how devastatingly effective some of his batojutsu attacks have been as well as his Yoda-esque style of fighting).  A bushi of the Hare Clan (one of the many Minor Clans in Rokugan), Hiro's been a fun character to play, being kind of the "odd man out" given the rest of the group are Major Clan samurai (Crane yojimbo, Mantis priestess, Scorpion socialite, and a Dragon investigator, though I think the last one is pretty much gone at this point).  The GM has been using the "Heroes of Rokugan: Champions of the Sapphire Throne" series of modules, adapting them to a slightly different version of Rokugan.

As for the Wednesday group, while the Marvel game is done, I may very well be picking up the GM reins to run Star Wars: Edge of the Empire for them.  Our next get together (which won't be until January) will be me running my conversion of the old Star Wars Gamer adventure "Rendezvous at Ord Mantell."  I've not put this one the web, as I'd like to give it a second "shakedown run," particularly in light of some of the changes FFG made.  As there is also the Beginner's Box due out later this month, itself with an introductory adventure, I may very well wind-up running that instead, following up with "Crates of Krayts" and "RatOM" if there's enough interest.  Most of the players are interested in giving the new system a try, and I'm already playing in one EotE game so I don't mind being the GM once again.  There was some initial talk about a campaign using D&DNext, but after how the last playtest went, that notion pretty much got sunk.

Speaking of Edge of the Empire, the Order 66 Podcast, the original podcast dedicated to Star Wars RPGs, had it's swan song for Saga Edition this past Sunday, bringing a close to several years of entertaining and informative podcasting about what I honestly think is the best d20 system to have hit the market (Mutants & Masterminds is a close second though).  This however now paves the way for Order 66 to focus on Edge of the Empire and the later materials from FFG's Star Wars RPG line.  Will be a tad odd at first to hear Chris and Dave jawing on about a system other than Saga Edition, but I'm sure it'll be just as enjoyable as their SWSE-based efforts.

Well, that's about it for this month.  On the off-chance I don't make a post until next month, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The Doom Pool podcast

If you've got an interest in Margaret Weis Production's Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game but haven't yet taken the plunge, either to buy the books or get this game on the table, then I encourage you to check out the brand new podcast, "The Doom Pool," to be found right here.

They just released their second episode, and so far Jason, Bryan, and Daryl have done a good discussion of the doom pool mechanic (1st episode) and the effect die (2nd episode), as well as giving several of the published hero files a pretty in-depth review, both how they work and don't work (and Sentry gets what is, in my opinion, a much-deserved bashing almost across the board).  They've got an actual play segment at the end of each show, but sadly there's some audio issues that makes it very difficult to hear everyone, particular Bryan/Spider-Man (which is especially unfortunate as it sounds like Bryan was really getting into character) and Susan/Beast.  However, that portion is prefaced with Jason discussing where he made mistakes as the GM/Watcher, and why he made some of the rules calls that they did.

They've also got their own sub-forum on the D20 Radio Network (which isn't quite as d20 dominated as used to be), located over here.


Seriously, give these guys a listen.  They're informative and entertaining.

Actual People, Actual Play Podcast

I started listening to this podcast a couple days ago, pretty much focusing on their episodes pertaining to the Dresden Files RPG.

Have to say, it's been quite interesting to hear their take on various things in comparison to what I've experienced in playing in a Dresden Files game with my usual gaming group. Also a bit of a relief to see that our group wasn't alone in stumbling with various bits of the game, notably the declaration of scene aspects or fishing for NPC aspects. Having played a Wizard, I do agree that the spellcasting aspect of the game is a tad math-heavy up front, but then again I cheated a bit and devised all of my PC's "commonly used" spells up front, with a note as to which ones were rotes, so that when I wanted to sling a particular evocation or work a particular bit of thaumaturgy, I had most of the math figured out ahead of time and thus didn't slow up the game for anyone else.

Anyway, I do suggest giving the Actual People, Actual Play podcast a listen, as they do cover a number of games, with some of their more recent episodes focusing on Star Wars Saga Edition, a system that is quite near and dear to my heart.

Order 66 Podcast - You RP What You Sow

So the latest episode of the original Star Wars Saga Edition gaming podcast hit the intertubes quite recently, and yours truly got a mention as part of their "juicy bits of web goodness" segment.

This episode begins a discussion on the various Jedi Service Corps, starting with the AgriCorps and what it means to be a member of said group, including how to play a character whose heroic career had a less than auspicious start as well as some solid suggestions for building such a character.