Time For Commitment

I started this blog with no other reason than to post primarily on gaming; of course, I make occasional side treks into other topics along the way.  I have been posting as the mood hits up until this point but I think it is time to come up with a set schedule.  I believe I will commit to post once a week for the foreseeable future; Saturdays will most likely be the day.  This will allow me to focus on just one post at a time and improve the quality of the posts.  That does not mean that I will not post more from time to time when the mood fits. 

I know I need to post on the following for the sake of completion:

• Finish the read through of the Adventures in Fantasy rules.
• More information on my Toldara B/X campaign.
• Fleshing out some of my ideas from my old gaming notebook collection. 

Those are just the topics that I am sure about using.  Just out of curiosity, what do my readers think?  Here is your chance to voice your opinion if you have a strong opinion on anything - what would you like to read more of, what would you like to see less of, what fits, what is out of place, or are you perfectly fine with reading whatever happens to catch your attention?

Escape From Camp Blood (playtesting components)

I have been searching through the internet for mail order supplies that may help when I get to the point of creating a prototype of the game board and pieces.  The game board can be found simulated  by using a large piece of poster board until the details get worked out.  At that point, there are various sizes of blank folding boards that can be used for the game board.  As you can see, the game board is not an issue at all.  The poster board is a cheap alternative to use during playtesting until a final design is determined. 

 

With the biggest obstacle out of the way, I turned to the rest of the components.  Along with the poster board - could be purchased at Dollar General - I could use the small index cards for the item and event cards used during the game.  I could even cut each card in half and that could serve as two cards.  For less than $5 I could have a big chunk of the playtest materials ready.  Granted, there would not be any fancy art or anything at this point BUT that should not be an issue since all of this is for purely playtesting use.

 

The final hurdle to the components is some sort of counters, tokens, etc. to serve as representations of the various campers and the slasher they are avoiding.  I thought about using pawns - and I might for the initial playtesting - but I really associate them with chess and other games instead of a game about eighties slasher films.  Then I stumbled upon these little figures called meeples and thought that they would work perfectly. 

 

 

I found these things at Meeple Source and they have a wide variety of board gaming supplies that I could use.  There are all sorts of game boards (just like I need), counters, various tokens, monster meeples, people meeples, giant meeples, and all sorts of other things.  Other examples are pictured below.

 

Now that I have satisfied my curiosity about gathering game pieces that will look reasonably well done for a reasonable price it is time to get back to brainstorming.  More later...

Escape From Camp Blood (another look)

Eric Baker, you asked for it and now you have it!  If you're interested in co-authoring this game with me then start brainstorming...

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My original post about Escape From Camp Blood was posted on May 21, 2012.  It has been almost a year and I have posted nothing else about it.  This post is the first in a series in an effort to move from concept to complete game.

 

Concept: The players are campers at a newly re-opened camp that was shut down due to some grisly murders that took place at the camp a few summers ago.  The killer was never found and it was assumed he drowned and the body was never found.  The murders begin again on the first night of the camp being open again.

 

It would be cool to include a back story for the original killings - why did the murderer go on a rampage, how many people were killed, who escaped, etc.  Also include some rumors about the return of the killer or what happened after the camp was closed.

 

Goal: The players are simply trying to survive the return of the killer and make it out of camp alive.  

 

There could be other goals also - stopping the killer by subduing him or killing him.  If all of the players are killed then alternate victory conditions could exist for the player to gather the most knowledge about the killer, pick up the most items, or last the longest, etc.  It will be up to the players to work together or go solo.  I am not sure if the killer should be controlled by one of the players or by some random method in the rulebook.

 

Components: The pieces needed to play this game would include the following.

• Game Board: Of course, the game board will be the playing area of the game.  This board will depict a typical camp scene with a road leading out, some cabins, a dining cabin, a maintenance shed, a baseball field, a river or like, some canoes, and a wooded area.
• Camper Tokens: There will be several tokens representing the different kinds of campers at the camp - jock, tough guy, cowboy, techie, punk, cheerleader, beauty queen, cheerleader, camp staff, etc.
• Killer Token: Represents the killer and does not start out in play.
• Cards: To increase replay value there will be a list of random events (plot twists?) and item cards that will have an impact on the game at random times or when they are discovered.  

 

It might be a good idea to have the game board be split up into several pieces that can be assembled in various ways so each setup and play experience will be unique.  Each one of the campers should have a special ability or something that sets them apart from the other campers; something that will serve as an advantage to that character. The killer will also have a list of special abilities that can randomly be determined by a die roll or something similar. The plot twist cards will represent events that can alter the game - cops showing up, bounty hunter, two killers, a fake killer, wake up it's a dream, etc.  The item cards will represent stuff that can give the players a further advantage such as weapons, cell phone, gun, etc. 

 

Expansion Material: Just as every good - or bad, to tell the truth - 80s slasher had sequels after the success of the initial film this game could have expansion material set up as sequels to the original game and story.  All of the stuff in the expansion sets could be related to the theme of the expansion.  It could be used by itself or mixed in with the original set.  Some possibilities include:

• An expansion giving more detail and play options in the forested areas.  Maybe there is a cabin out there with the Necronomicon inside...
• An expansion could have the camp grounds open one more time with beefed up security and new playing pieces related to it - camp security guard token, new weapons, new campers, etc.
• An expansion turning the setup around by having multiple slashers going around the board trying to get the most kills.
• An expansion that details the lair or hideout of the slasher and the players have been captured and must get out.

Other Thoughts: A few ideas about the continued development of this game.

 

I know the control of the killer can be done in a traditional manner by having one of the players control the killer or by having some random method of controlling the killer outlined in the rule book.  I want to do something different.  I want to come up with a system where each player always controls their camper but the control of the killer rotates around the table.  This is one way to simulate the random focus of the slasher in some of these movies.  I can remember the killer changing his attention from one person to another at times.  It is just an interesting thought I had.  

 

I know there are some differences between the 80s slashers and the more modern slasher movies.  This could actually be the focus of one of the expansion sets. 

 

This post is a much better explanation of the game concept I had in mind.  I will develop each one of these ideas in greater detail in future posts.  More later...  

 

 



I Got Bit

Some time in the last week or so I got bit by the writing bug.  I remember some random ideas popping in my head during the work day.  I wrote it down so I could add some detail later.  Then another idea came, followed by another, and then even more.  I seem to write better when I have several projects going at one time.  I can jump to another project instead of being stuck on the only one I am working on at the moment.  Yes, focus is a good thing but I need variety in my writing projects or my output starts to dwindle off pretty bad.  The following projects are currently in development as future posts.

Adventures in Fantasy: I am going to either scan the reference sheets or type up new versions; it depends on whether or not the information in the official sheets is all that useful.  There always seems to be a table or two that really should have replaced with something else in these type of resources.  I am also working on a character sheet for this old game.

Back to the Dungeon RPG: I am working on a supplement to BttDRPG that basically serves a similar purpose as Greyhawk back in the OD&D days.  I am shooting for a 32 page document that will show the house rules and custom mods for my campaign world Toldara.  I am also working on a character sheet for this game.

Old Gaming Notebook: I am starting to develop ideas for expanding on the original ideas and move closer to making complete games out of some of these concepts.

SteamCraft RPG: I have a pdf of this game BUT I am waiting on the hardback to arrive in the mail any day.  I definitely will be doing some posts on this game.  I am enjoying the pdf but I work much better with printed product.  Posts are coming soon,

USR: I completed version 1.0 of the generic character sheet.  I am still writing, testing, & revising the Outbreak RPG book.  I need to come up with another name because I found out there is already a zombie type game by the name of Outbreak - d'oh! I am also working on doing some USR to B/X monster conversions. 

WordPress: I have started experimenting with a blog at WordPress just to see if I am missing anything.  I like to try out several options before deciding on a product and in the case of blogs I did not do that.  If anyone is interested you can check it out at The Old Gamers Notebook to see the contents.  There are only two posts so far and - at least in the early stages - there will be some overlap between old posts here and there; there will be new posts there mixed in wit the old.  This is mainly just an experiment to see what all the free version of WordPress has to offer.  If I like it then I will maintain a separate blog there.  Regardless, this blog you are reading right now is staying and will continue to be developed. Basically, I just need to scratch my writing itch.  If I do not write something when I get the urge then it is probably gone or it will block me from writing most anything.  Writing is something I enjoy and would love to do it professionally but it does not come easy for me and I am not very confident in a lot of it.

There is everything I am writing on at the moment.  Some of it will be regular posts while some of it will make it into the A to Z challenge. Stay tuned...





   

(Mobile Post) Escape From Camp Blood

This is an old idea of mine. I never put anything on paper but it would have qualified for an entry in an old gaming notebook.  I have been a fan of the Friday the 13th films since the 1980's and always wanted to do something to show my appreciation.  One idea that keeps coming back to me is a board game that plays out like the basic plot of the films - a group of teenagers are staying at the camp grounds and must keep away from Jason so they can survive the night.  A few thoughts about the game are presented below:

The goal of the game is to avoid the killer and escape the camp.

The game board will depict some cabins, a lake or river, baseball field, and a large wooded area.

Each player will control one token representing a different type of teenager - jock, punk, prep, country guy, etc. Each one can do something special such as hotwire a car, etc.

The killer will either be controlled by another player or by some random method in the rulebook.  Of course, the killer has specials such as stealth, etc.

There will be random item and event cards to increase replay value.

Just some random ideas I needed to get out of my headed. More later...



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A General Update and Assorted Ramblings...

Between life in general, an increased work schedule at my job, two kids, and the significant other about to start on her summer semester of college it has been busy around here.  I slacked off on the easiest place to slack off - my blog - but things seemed to have slowed down somewhat and returned to "normal" so I should be posting somewhat regularly now.  My general thoughts about moving forward with this blog are presented below.

I started this blog for topics of various role-playing game interests and have stuck to that for the most part.  I have dipped into other areas such as movies, comic books, music, and professional wrestling just to name a short list.  I thought about tightening the focus of this blog to nothing but role-playing related posts and banishing the "off-topic" posts to another blog somewhere.  I really do not want to maintain two blogs and Eric over at Memories of the Mayfly pointed out that these "off topic" posts give a better picture of the blog author and their interests.  Put simply, from this point on this blog will be focused on gaming BUT I will also post about my other interests including sports, movies, professional wrestling, and just about anything else.  I will probably not post anything resembling politics or religion just because they can be so divisive and I would rather have a fun dialogue here without real world conflicts that so often turn into something resembling blind allegiance.

Some of the gaming posts to look forward to include the continuation of my read through of both Adventures in Fantasy and Perilous Journeys, a continuation of posting information from my old gaming notebooks, and information on my home campaign world of Toldara.  AiF is cool just from a historical perspective and Arneson's involvement while PJ is basically Lejendary Adventures done right.  That is why I want to finish my posts about them.  My old gaming notebooks were full of ideas and I want to get them uploaded and updated so I can expand on them in the future.  I have already posted some of this information and will continue to update them in the future to offer them for download once they are completed. 

 My attempts to get some of the old gaming group together to game again has not been completely in vain.  Jamie, my friend of over 30 years, is definitely going to participate.  He is planning on getting his girlfriend to try it out and I am planning the same thing.  That should be interesting.  I hope both of them like it so that will be four dedicated players.  I met another old school player, Ed, through Jamie.  That brings our total up to 5 participants.  That is a good sized group and will give us some variation among styles and characters.  As Jamie and I are the only players from the old group this group will not be a reunion game but it will definitely work.  All that is left is to come up with a game system to use.  So far, the systems proposed are B/X D&D, Castles & Crusades, or RIFTS.  It really does not matter to me what we play, just that we play.

I am now half way through the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy.  The first book was a very quick and easy read.  I am enjoying the books so far.  Katniss is a strong female lead character and not a damsel in distress that constantly needs rescuing.  It is a very refreshing perspective and take on the action and adventure genre.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.    I still have not seen the movie but I am sure that we will see it on DVD soon enough.

I just started watching the Game of Thrones season 1 DVD set.  I actually already watched the first two episodes because we had a free HBO preview for a week or two and was able to see catch them when they originally aired.  I was pretty disappointed that I would be unable to watch the other episodes as they aired but I knew that I was going to get the DVD as soon as I could.  As I am a book person, I wonder if I am missing a lot by not having read the books yet.  Anybody got any opinions?

I have lost 13 pounds in the last month - all thanks to eating better.  I have done nothing fancy like joining the gym, signing up for Weight Watchers, or anything like that.  I am not currently in horrible shape but I just would like to "drop a few pounds" to feel better about me.  It's all been done with portion control and better decisions.  I am happy that my available wardrobe is expanding to include pants that would not fit comfortably a month ago.  :-)

That should just about cover everything.  I could probably go on and ramble for a while but I know when to turn the faucet off.

   

        

   

[Old Gaming Notebook] Fantasy Board Game Project II

I posted my initial thoughts for this board game design here; the original name of the post was Dungeon Crawl  I have not added to that initial post in a while but after posting the video for Hero Quest, Dark Tower, etc. I got the itch to expand upon the idea.

Name
This design will be temporary known as the Fantasy Board Game Project.  Yeah, I know that is real creative and all but I just need something to call this project for the time being.  That name pretty much sums up my intentions so that is what the name will be.  I originally wanted Dungeon Crawl but there is already a similar product with that name.  I also wanted Dungeon Delve but I believe that is taken as well.  I know there is another product by the name of Dungeon Quest so that is out too.  Maybe I will come up with something in the process of designing this thing...

Modes of Play
The ultimate goal is to provide a satisfying play experience in several modes of play:

• solo: single player sets up the game board with monsters, treasures, etc. and goes through the adventure alone.
• group:  multiple players - either cooperative or competitive - play through the adventure.
• quasi -RPG: an almost full on role playing game with a GM and a group of players.

Task Resolution
I think a simple, easy to follow universal task resolution method would be the best fit for this game.  I think the Action Result Table detailed in this post could serve the purpose well.  The ART could be put on a corner area or some other convenient spot on the board.

Characters
Characters will be defined by a simple set of statistics such as Melee, Ranged, Move, and a few others.  The character class will also have a special ability such as a thief being able to find and remove traps or a wizard being able to read magic scrolls found in the dungeon.

Game Components
In addition to the rule book, there would be a game board or several game boards in the initial core set.  These game boards could be mocked up pretty easily by using some of the boards found in the chess or checkers sets at any of the dollar stores.  Everything else in the game would be represented with a counter.  Each character would have a counter to use on the board while there would also be a matching character card with an illustration and game statistics for the player to reference during play.  All monsters, traps, treasures, etc. will be represented by a counter placed on the board.

Expansion Materials
There is a potential for a lot of expansion past the basic game.  There could be solo sets based on avoiding a  minotaur in a twisting maze or something similar.  Any expansion would include the necessary boards, counters, and rule information included.

The above is just some initial ideas.  More later...

Reclaiming Old Gaming Stuff?

I am making a trip to my parents house in the near future.  There is some old stuff of mine over there that I am supposed to go through and decided if I still want it.  With any luck there will be some of my old gaming stuff in the contents.  The items that should be there include the following:

*  A folder full of old V&V characters from an old campaign.

*  Starter Traveller boxed set.

*  Dragons of Underearth microgame.

*  Various old gaming notebooks with a set of super hero rules designed that I designed with one of my friends.

*  Maybe a surprise or two?

I would like any all of this stuff to be there so I could maybe add a V&V character to my blog or something similar.  Fingers crossed...

[Old Gaming Notebook] A Supers Campaign

I have played several of the superhero role playing games that have been published over the years; including Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes, Villains & Vigilantes, Champions, Heroes Unlimited, Super World, and a few others. I always preferred the ones that used Earth as the setting for the game. I was also a big fan of the Wild Cards series of novels. I came up with an idea for a supers campaign but I never did get around to fleshing it out and running any games using it. There are probably some pretty close parallels between Wild Cards in some areas. It's been a while since I read those novels, so who knows? Anyway, here are some ideas for the campaign setting.

The Setting
The setting for this game would be a parallel planet Earth in "modern times". The timeline and history of this fictional Earth would parallel the history of real Earth in every detail up to approximately the Vietnam era. At that time, the U.S. government (and others) would start experimenting with creating super soldiers to send into combat. This event would be where the big differences between the parallel Earths would begin to take place. Note: If I were to do this today, I would change that part of the back story. I would start the super soldier experimentation with the terrorist attacks on North America. As a result of this experimentation, the rise of super beings would forever change the world. Some of these beings would fight on the side of good while some would fight on the side of evil. Imagine how the existence of super powered beings would effect history.

Three Generations of Supers
Campaigns could be set up in one of three basic points in history.

• The first generation of supers would be the result of the terrorist attacks on North America. Of course, I would probably change that to include the entire world. Maybe there were several countries working on a post-nuclear class of weapons. Among these scientists there was a group of radicals that wanted to prove a point. They set off these new weapons and the results are not completely as predicted. Some of the people caught in areas where these weapons were deployed develop super powers. These supers would be considered Altered or Mutated Humans.
• The second generation of supers would be from governmental experimentation. These would be supers that the government would "control" and be used to combat rogue supers and fight in conflicts. There would also be governments that have early technological designs to fight with or against supers. There would be Altered, Mutants, and some techno heroes in this part of the timeline.
• The third generation of supers would be the modern day of the setting. Supers are around due to the terrorist action, the reaction of the various governments, some of the descendants of the first or second generation supers have carried on the powers, and now there are supers due to weapons manufacturing corporations getting producing their own stuff.

Other Notes
I also thought that the tone and feel of the game could be enhanced by using quotes from appropriate sources to match the tone I wanted to get across. Maybe use a quote from the Bible such as Gen 1:26 " And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion..." at the beginning of the chapter detailing the history of the world.

I still need to figure out a way to bring in the other types of supers - aliens, cybernetic, magic, psionic, etc.

This is, obviously, just the beginnings of an idea. I kind of left the path of the original idea and just went with how I would update it now but it gets the idea across. I think if little details like the quotes and historical parallels were fleshed out it could be a fun campaign. I may turn out to be another project that I just do not have the time for...

[A World in Ruins...] Developing the Idea

A World in Ruins... is an old idea I had for a post-apocalyptic RPG that I wanted to design.  I never did any serious design work on the project but I did mention a few details on this blog here and also here.  I would like to throw out a few ideas out about how to develop this premise into a full blown game.  If everything goes smoothly, this will be just the first of several posts that serve to put a little padding onto the very basic idea I put in one of my old gaming notebooks years ago.

Rules System
There's probably two different routes I would most likely take when it comes to the rules:

• Use an existing open system (D20, Microlite20, etc.) and customize it to run the game.
• Design a new system from scratch.

Regardless of the decision, I am more interested in playing these days than tracking a ton of stats, conditions, modifiers, etc. so it will most likely be a game of medium or low complexity.  I do want to use a system that will allow for variety in certain key areas - characters, weapons, etc. - but not be overly complex.

Background
Every game needs a story and a big part of the story in this game is concerned with what exactly was to blame for the state of the game world today?  There are actually quite a few options:

• All out nuclear war between the nations of Earth.
• A catastrophic nuclear accident that spread from one central location.
• A terrorist attack on several nuclear facilities that doomed the Earth.
• An asteroid, meteor, comet, etc. crashed into the Earth, rotated the axis, and caused death and destruction world wide.
• Something else?

As with the rules system, I am not worried about portraying "100% true to the science and facts of the matter" details.  I am simply concerned with telling a good story and providing a good background for the game world.

The World of the Present
It is now 100 years after the event that devastated the Earth.   Technology and progress has been set back dramatically.  There are pockets of civilization here and there but the human population has been drastically cut down.  The birth rate and survival rate is tragically lower than decades before.

Types of Characters
There should be several different types of characters to play in this game.

• (Pure Strain Humans) Some of these humans will be descendants of human civilians that made it through the catastrophe and managed to stay alive.  Other humans will be descendants of military personnel that were locked away in safe bunkers; or, in homage to The Morrow Project, these military personnel could have been placed in some sort of suspended animation and awakened after the catastrophe to reestablish the nations of Earth.
• (Human Mutants) People that were mutated as a result of the catastrophe.
• (Mutant Animals) Several animal species could have been mutated and gained an intelligence level closer to that of humans.
• (Others) There could be extraterrestrial or extra dimensional species available for play also.

Whatever the options available for player characters wind up being they need to fit with the background.  Obviously, the mutations would be better explained with a nuclear reason for the catastrophe.

Dangers
There should be plenty of danger and obstacles for the characters in their fight for survival.

• (Other humans) If the PCs are alive in this harsh reality, then why not other groups of humans that have banded together?  Some of these could be cannibals, religious zealots, or even worse.
• (active robots) There could be places that still house old war machine robots that have come back online recently.  Maybe the programming of these robots got corrupted?  Maybe the robots do not recognize the players as humans if they are mutants?
• (mutant animals and plants) If the radiation affected the human PCs then it surely affected the animal life also.
• (other) Maybe the PCs could encounter life visiting Earth from other planets or dimensions?
• (environment) radiation poison zones, old military complexes, etc.

That's a start with some ideas about how to design this game.  Of course, exploration and survival would be some of the major goals of the player characters.  I am sure I missed something in this brief exploration of game ideas but maybe I will think up some more details later...

Taking Care of Business...

In a continued effort to get all of my ducks in a row here is a list of goals that I would like to accomplish with this blog:

Short Term Goals

• Complete my examination of Adventures in Fantasy.
• Complete the entries from my Old Gaming Notebook.
• Make one post every day in a single month.
• Post more of my house rules & ideas for AD&D, 3E, Microlite20, RIFTS, and more.
• Post about my campaign world, Toldara.
• Offer draft 2 of MicroToldara for download.
• Offer draft 1 of Classic Fantasy Role Playing for download.

Long Term Goals

• Post about actual play with Adventures in Fantasy.
• Develop ideas from the Old Gaming Notebook into complete games.
• Decide on a set posting schedule and stick to it.
• Get my Toldara co-author (Alex) to participate in some of the blogging.

That's a good start.  This list will be modified and re-posted when appropriate.

[Old Gaming Notebook] Fantasy Board Game Project I

(The following information is presented as it originally appeared in one of my old gaming notebooks.)


In a Nutshell
Heroic figures explore dungeons, mazes, and other areas facing monsters, traps, and other hazards to reach their goal.


Components
1 Hero Rule Book
1 Controller Rule Book
x# Map Boards
x# Hero counters
x# Monster counters
x# Trap tokens
x# Hazard tokens
x# Treasure tokens

(note: "x#" means an unspecified amount to be determined later.)

Expansion Material
Ideas for game material that could be added later.
Adventure Boxes: These boxes will contain the adventure, maps, & any additional pieces needed for play of the adventure.
Hero Pack: a pack of additional tokens and stats for new heroes.
Magic Pack: additional magical weapons for use in play.
Map Pack: additional boards to interlock with the boards from the basic set.

Notes

• A male and female version of each Hero will be included in the box.
• Map boards will be double sided so each side will have a different map configuration.
• Basic Box will be huge because it has all of the initial setup pieces included.
• Adventure Boxes will be smaller since they have just the additional pieces inside.

(This ends the Dungeon Crawl Fantasy Board Game Project entry from my old gaming notebook.)
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(Information from this point on was not part of my old gaming notebook.)


There are times when you're just in the mood to just game - no desire to generate characters or go into a long drawn out process of setting up the game.  Dungeon Crawl The Fantasy Board Game Project was my answer for those times.   My initial idea was something resembling an advanced version of the old Dungeon board game or Dragon Strike. Gamers seem to love big boxed sets and this would have provided numerous little game pieces to mess with.   I think the game could have been expanded beyond the basic set with expansions like a maze with a minotaur, a wizard's tower, etc.  I got this design to the point of drawing up some mock pieces but I am not artist so that kind of killed my enthusiasm.  I may dust this off sometime and look into expanding upon the idea.

[Old Gaming Notebook] Auto Arena

(The following information is presented as it originally appeared in one of my old gaming notebooks.)


In a Nutshell
In a future where extreme sports have become the most popular forms of entertainment, this violent update to the traditional demolition derby has become the most popular of them all.  Competitors drive cars equipped with weapons and armor in a demolition derby style event set in a hazard-filled arena until the last car is left standing.

Components
1 circular map board
1 square map board
x# car counters
x# hazard counters

(note: "x#" means an unspecified amount to be determined later)


Expansion Material
Ideas for game material that could be added later.
Arena Pack: A pack of new map boards, cars, & hazards.
Counter Pack: A pack of extra car & hazard counters for extra players.
Racing: An expansion with a new map board and rules for oval track racing events.
Scenario Pack: A pack of new scenarios; examples include amateur night, team play, etc.
Unsanctioned: Guidelines for outlaw and unsanctioned events.

Notes

• Auto Arena will be set up in a league similar to NASCAR; different towns have different courses.
• Would like to use modified Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars to represent the players.
• The basic game would include a stock car list.
• A later expansion would include rules for car customization and design.
• Rules for setting up and running a league season with a championship.

(This ends the Auto Arena entry from my old gaming notebook.)
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(Information from this point on was not part of my old gaming notebook.)

I know, I know - there's not a whole lot of detail included in the information above.  In the absence of Car Wars, I would definitely still like to design and play this game.  Honestly, when it comes to game design, board games are not my thing.  I have had several ideas and I will detail some of them here but I never seem to be able to get past the initial stages of design on a board game.  Maybe one of these days I will dust this off and give it a whirl...

[Old Gaming Notebook] Overview

I imagine that many role-players have a notebook, or notebooks, that they keep all sorts of information stored. I always liked to use a 5 subject spiral notebook.  The information I included in these notebooks were D&D characters, game ideas, setting notes, house rules, and other assorted ideas; sometimes, I would include other non-gaming stuff in them also.  Of course, with the advent of computers I have pretty much migrated any gaming stuff I do to folders on my laptop.  I ran across one of my old gaming notebooks recently.  It was probably the most recent of the notebooks.  Anyway, let's take a look at the contents of this notebook.

Board Games
I have had several ideas that I would like to turn into board games but I have never actually completed the design of one of them.  I had ideas for 3 board games written in this notebook.

Army Men: This would probably more accurately be described as a war game instead of a board game.  I spent 8 years in the Army and I remember playing with those old plastic Army men out in the sandbox growing up.  I wanted to do a simple set of rules for fighting out battles with these figures because the mass of armies would be easy to purchased and assemble due to low costs.

Auto Arena: I was a big fan of Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games.  When it went out of print I was not happy.  My rules were misplaced years ago.  I started on an attempt to do a new version of vehicle combat rules.  It would share some similarities with Car Wars such as being set in the future and have fighting cars but it would also be different.  Auto Arena would be set up like NASCAR in a league format.  The drivers would go to different cities throughout the season and compete in an ultimate demolition derby type event.  Instead of just ramming, the drivers would also have guns and other equipment to use in the event.  The arenas at each location would be different in layout and makeup.

Dungeon Crawl: This would be a board game for when you were just in the mood to pick up and play.  It would be more detailed than the old DUNGEON board game from TSR but less complicated than D&D.

Role-Playing Games
I began playing D&D in 1980 with the Holmes Basic set.  Shortly after I began playing I started having ideas for games of my own.  I have designed several role-playing games but these three are subjects that I never finished.

A World In Ruins: Gamma World was probably the 3rd RPG I purchased.  I always enjoyed the game but I also wanted a grittier version of the setting.

Old School Role-Playing: This was actually planned as a series of games.  The first planned game was to be Old School Role-Playing: Fantasy Rules.  The inspiration for these rules were the games that followed after D&D early in the hobby.  Basically, the fantasy rules would be similar to D&D but include more options, more rules, and more crunch just as the early competitors did.

To The Stars...: This was to be inspired by the science fiction of the '50's and '60's films.  Of course, that means flying saucers, little green men, ray guns, and everything else.  I still think this could be a fun game to do.

House Rules
I also had various notes written down about house rule ideas for several games.

AD&D: Ideas about a new Ability Score generation method, a Hit Points variant idea, and a note that a racial bonus of +1 allows a score of 19.


D&D 3E: A breakdown of the racial traits listing in the race entries so custom races could be matched to the official entries.


RIFTS: Ideas on a low attribute table for the Palladium Megaversal system.

Risk: Submarine rules for the RISK board game.

I will post this information her soon...

General Update

The demands of real life - kids, school, and work - have been keeping me pretty busy lately.  It seems things are slowing down somewhat and I am going to start posting more regularly.  With that being said, here's what can be considered the current state of affairs concerning my blog...

Adventures in Fantasy
I am enjoying the close examination of this gaming relic from the co-designer of D&D.  After making it completely through the Book of Adventure I think my opinion of AiF has changed.  I basically began with the opinion that AiF was simply "Arneson's D&D with percentile dice" and in some ways that is true.  It seems to be a game in serious need of a revision.  There are some good ideas sprinkled throughout the rules BUT the rules are also a confusing mess in spots.  I am not even confident that a legally created character can be created with the rules in the question. I am not 100% sure on the characteristic list, even.  I find parts of AiF very frustrating but I also find the subject fascinating because it gives a glimpse into the gaming mind of Arneson.  I will continue to examine AiF in future posts.  I also plan on attempting a few play sessions so I can develop some house rules.

Toldara
That's the name of the campaign world used by my cousin Alex and myself.  Originally designed for D&D 3E then 3.5E and now Pathfinder.  I am leaving further Pathfinder development to Alex and I will focus my efforts on details for Microlite20, CFRPG, or some other less crunchy rules system.  It's not that I dislike Pathfinder.  As a matter of fact I love what Paizo has done with Pathfinder.  I have a decreased desire to handle the rules crunch as I grow older.  I would rather get to rolling the dice and having fun.  The world information for Toldara will be unified but the rules info will definitely be the lighter stuff from my end.  I plan on posting up races and classes in these simpler systems soon.  Maybe I can get my cousin to post up some Pathfinder stuff also?

Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Game (CFRPG)
I belong to the yahoo group on CFRPG.  We are currently rewriting the rule book.  I will be posting some of my stuff here on this blog.  I plan on putting up a character sheet and a full world book on Toldara also.

Selections from the Old Gaming Notebook
I have located some of my old gaming material from back in the day.  I will put up some of it here just for fun.  Maybe some of it will be expanded upon?  Should be an interesting look at old ideas.

Open Gaming Content
Any open gaming content will be clearly marked and linked to the OGL.

Product Identity
Any product identity will be clearly marked as such.,