As 2009 draws to an end (and some, including myself, would say "Thank goodness"), we look toward 2010 and consider our resolutions for the new year. I think for 2010 I'm going to try something different. Instead of resolving to do things within my grasp but rarely achieving the vast majority of it, I'm going to go for the gold star and resolve to do the unlikely if not impossible.
Resolution #1: Purchase the New Star Trek RPG
Yes, I know, there is no new Star Trek tabletop RPG. My thinking is that my resolution to buy one will make someone out there take notice and make one. There is going to be an MMO for Roddenberry's sake! C'mon!
Resolution #2: Run an ongoing Star Trek RPG campaign with my Dream Team group
This one is virtually impossible as my Dream Team consists of people whose schedules rarely coincide twice a year at best. Of all the resolutions here, this has the best chance of happening if only for a few months.
Resolution #3: Return to my High School Weight
My thinking here is that if I fail and make it only half way, I'll still be in the best shape I've been in since I was in my twenties.
Resolution #4: Meet the Perfect Woman
Seriously. I'm getting sick and tired of all the sex I'm having with imperfect women. Ha! Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.
Resolution # 5: Be a Better Me
Perhaps the hardest of all and yet the most necessary. I've let myself get down in the dumps a bit this year to the point where its reduced the power of my forward momentum. Not stopped it mind you but I can tell I'm not going full-speed-ahead as it were. I need to shake out the cobwebs.
Ok, #4 and #5 I'm going to actually do.
2010 is looking better already.
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Barking Alien
Unfamiliar with the Tamaranean Festival of Friendship? Well, perhaps you would enjoy a peaceful and solemn Kal Rekk. No? Surely you follow the happy traditions of Life Day?
Well whatever your beliefs, know that Adam and I, the one and only Ambassador Barkley, wish you and yours a time of love, peace and goodwill toward little, blue, furry things from Antares IV.
Y'know, I've even heard of some primitive species who celebrate this thing...curious.
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Barking Alien
Or perhaps maps as art? Hmmm...
Anyway, with maps always being a commodity in need in the gaming hobby I thought I'd post of few of mine. These are relatively recent, thought by no means brand new. I have removed the words (locations names and the like) so you guys and gals can add your own if you'd like to use the maps in your own games.
This first one is actually not a map but an image inspired by a Mutant Future post by Jeff Rients...
Up next, this is an island mini-continent I designed for a one shot D&am
p;D adventure. Its really just a photoshoped out the wazoo variation of someone else's map I found on the web (though barely recognizable now)...
This is a barren wasteland planet we crash landed on quite by accident in an old Traveller game. I modified it sometime later for Star Trek I believe. Its originally a texture map of Mars with World Machine and photoshop effects added...
Last but not least, this is a map of my primary D&D campaign world. I used photoshop to alter a google earth map and combined it with another map of the Earth I found elsewhere on the net. My world is supposed to be an alternate Earth so it works perfectly...
Well, that's all the time I have today gang. Hope you like these and good gaming to you all!
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Barking Alien
Continuing my ponderings from the other day, I am drawn to the conclusion that for many, the idea of using or running only one game is very appealing.
Jeff Rients was kind enough to comment on the subject and indeed says he sometimes wishes it were all about Encounter Critical, that awesome retro-hoax game created by none other than the extremely talented S. John Ross (whom I might add is also a fellow Star Trek fan and someone I once had the pleasure of working with).
In my mind its not just that playing one game and one game alone is difficult for me to envision, its also virtually impossible for the same reasons it appeals to others.
I am a bit of a genre junkie and snob and I don't really believe in the one size fits all game world. If I'm running Ars Magica for example, there are no Warforged in my game because in my opinion, they don't fit or belong there. Ars Magica is historical, folklore based fantasy and arcane robots just don't appear that regularly in such a setting. Likewise I don't have magic in my hard Sci-Fi Traveller or publically known superheroes in my 'World of Darkness'-type campaigns. These elements break the parameters of the described milieus and shake the feel in a fashion similar to breaking ones 'suspension of disbelief'.
I don't like throwing everything possible into one game. More accurately, I like throwing everything appropriate in. Appropriate to me I suppose.
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Barking Alien
Guys like Jeff Rients, Zak S., James Maliszewski and Taichara amaze me. Not only do they post almost daily (albeit with the occasional brief hiatus) but they consistently deliver quality posts that make me laugh and think (the two most important things you can do in life). I find myself thinking about gaming daily but I often find it hard to come up with a reason to post my thoughts. Generally, I stop myself from generating a new post on the subject I am toying with in my head with five simple words, "Will anyone care but me?"
Anyway, today's post isn't about those creative and prolific masters of the gaming blogsphere I idolize, although it could be. No my misled friends, this post is really about something else...
How do GMs of a given game, keep playing that game and only that game for so long? This primarily applies to my experiences with fellow gamers who play D&D but it could apply to any game. Essentially, I know people who've been gaming for 10, 15 and even 20+ years who only run and/or play D&D.
How is this achieved? What is it about this game that makes that possible? Better yet, I can't even imagine running only Star Trek and that's my favorite. It would be like eating my favorite food three meals a day for years. I would get sick of it after a week.
I do want to run a game more then once a month for a long time but I also want to run a few other games each month that have nothing to do with it. I'd have to in order to keep my sanity. Ideas pop into my head with little rhythm or reason and if I'm running D&D and have an idea better suited for Traveller than I don't want to change it to fit my D&D game, I want to run it in Traveller or perhaps another suitable Sci-Fi game.
For me, gaming works best when you don't dump all your eggs into one creative basket. If I could I'd run one game for my fantasy ideas, one for my superhero ideas and one for my science-fiction ideas. Each would be run once a month, although I could probably run the Sci-Fi one a few times each month as I tend to come up with more concepts for that genre.
Anyone want to share their experiences with this sort of thing or am I alone in my need for multi-flavored madness?
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Barking Alien
