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Saturday Morning Gamer+ Chat

We now have a Gamer+ chat room at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. In fact there are two of them, a voice chat and a text chat. It works best if you're in both so you can talk and share pics and links at the same time.

Inspired Unreality is our twice a month chat event, 1st and 3rd Saturdays at 11:00 AM CT. 1st Saturday the topic is fantasy and science fiction. 3rd Saturday is open game chat or adventuring with Ari and Caper in Tobbins Shire.

We will have other events including Actual Play and Podcasting. But the chat room is always open. If you're working with someone on Gamer+, in chat or in comment threads, it's cool to take it to Tenkar's Tavern and actually talk about it.

 


Tenkar's Tavern


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Join, wait ten minutes, post in the Common Room. Moderators have to approve you before you can post in the other rooms.

Blogs

hairylarry
Welcome to archive. gamerplus.org, permanent archiv... more
hairylarry Mar 24 '23
TabletopBellhop
Our 200th Episode Celebration is live! This episo... more
hairylarry
Saturday March 11 at 11:00 AM Central join us for ... more
hairylarry Mar 10 '23

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Newsfeed

  • hairylarry
    Gamer+ is on a new server running Calckey. Here's a link.

    https://gamerplus.org

    I ask all Gamer+ Gamers to sign in at the new site.
    Gamer+
    Gamer+
    The new Gamer+ now running on Calckey. The old Gamer+ content is at archive.gamerplus.org.
  • hairylarry
    This is the Gamer+ Archive at archive.gamerplus.org. The new Gamer+ is at https://gamerplus.org
    Gamer+
    Gamer+
    The new Gamer+ now running on Calckey. The old Gamer+ content is at archive.gamerplus.org.
  • hairylarry
    Gamer+ News June 9, 2023 - Inspired Unreality - Fantasy and Science Fiction

    Join us for Inspired Unreality open game chat on Saturday, June 10 at 11:00 AM Central. This week the topic is Fantasy and Science Fiction. We are planning on starting some actual play again on a Science Fiction game so that fits right in. If you're interested in playing online be sure to join us.

    I'm reading the Legendborn series by Tracy Deonn. It's a coming of age story based on the Arthurain legends cleverly brought into modern time.

    Come to Inspired Unreality to share what you've been reading/watching/playing. All fantasy and science fiction is on topic.

    Inspired Unreality is held on the second and fourth Saturdays at 11:00 AM Central in the gamerplus chatroom at Tenkar's Tavern on discord. There's more info and a link here.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/index
    Gamer+, a social network for gamers.
    Gamer+, a social network for gamers.
    Gamer+, a social network for gamers.
  • hairylarry
    On the first and third Saturdays we do actual play around the table at Eclectic Geekery with Alan running his own game, Chronicles Of Ember.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/Alan
    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/EclecticGeekery

    I am moving Gamer+ to a new server and installing a more modern software, Calckey. Calckey is federated so you will be able to share and read content across the Fediverse with people using Mastodon, Friendica, Peertube, etc.

    The current Gamer+ site will remain available at archive.gamerplus.org so we won't lose any content. During the transition there will be occasional downtime with a plain text screen or even errors.

    I will send another email when the new Gamer+ is ready.

    For your public domain AI Art fix I've got Tavern Row for your next game.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/167

    Bebop Beatniks will be livestreaming on Youtube from the ASU Bandroom, Saturday, June 10, starting a little bit after 5:00 Central.

    https://www.youtube.com/hairylarry

    Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/index

    Thanks,
    Hairy Larry
    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
    https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
    hairylarry@deltaboogie.com
  • hairylarry
    We're moving to a new server and a new interface. All of the content here will be archived and available exactly like it is right now. After the transition all new content will be posted on the new interface.

    There will be intermittent service during the transfer. I will try to keep it to a minimum.
    Jun 6 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 13 new photos to Tavern Row album
  • hairylarry
    Mr. Bunny and Baby Doll. She's a baby doll. He's a gardener guardin' her.
    Jun 4 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    I want a camera with a built in synthesizer so I can do photo synthesis.
    Jun 2 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    Wizards photo album by hairylarry | Gamer+
    Wizards photo album by hairylarry | Gamer+
    View all photos in "Wizards" uploaded by hairylarry on Gamer+.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 17 new photos to Wizards album
    May 31 '23
    1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    No Inspired Unreality open game chat today. We had a great time last week discussing many things including restarting If You Play You Win actual play in the near future. Today I'm playing with Bebop Beatniks at Beatles Park in Walnut Ridge. The show starts at noon and will be livestreamed on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/hairylarry I'm really looking forward to this.
  • hairylarry
    Gamer+ News May 20, 2023 - Inspired Unreality - Fantasy and Science Fiction

    Join us for Inspired Unreality open game chat Saturday, May 20, at 11:00 AM Central. We will be discussing Fantasy and Science Fiction and we will also have actual play on the table with the return of If You Play You Win online gaming.

    Inspired Unreality open game chat is held in Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. There's more info and a link here.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/index

    Three of my kids, two in-laws, and three grandkids, along with a few friends, have gone to St. Louis for Geekway. Family togetherness at a board game convention. Ain't that cool?

    I reviewed The Locked Tomb Series By Tamsyn Muir.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/newsfeed/5121

    Roosters In The Shire. AI Art created on NightCafe.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/163

    Also Black Dragons.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/160

    Next Saturday, May 27, my band, Bebop Beatniks, will be playing at Beatles Park in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. We start at noon and we will be livestreaming on Youtube.

    https://www.youtube.com/hairylarry

    Please subscribe. I have 545 subscribers and I'm trying to get to 1000. Almost there!

    Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/newsfeed/5127

    Thanks,
    Hairy Larry
    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
    https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
    hairylarry@deltaboogie.com
    Gamer+, a social network for gamers.
    Gamer+, a social network for gamers.
    Gamer+, a social network for gamers.
  • hairylarry
    Three of my kids, two in-laws, and three grandkids, along with a few friends, have gone to St. Louis for Geekway. Family togetherness at a board game convention.

    Ain't that cool?
  • hairylarry
    We're moving to a new server and a new interface. All of the content here will be archived and available exactly like it is right now. After the transition all new content will be posted on the new interface.

    There will be intermittent service during the transfer. I will try to keep it to a minimum.

    Thanks
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 16 new photos to Glass Sphere In The Shire album
  • hairylarry
    No Inspired Unreality open game chat today. Because Eclectic Geekery is going to Geekway next weekend we have moved Chronicles Of Ember forward. So we will have Inspired Unreality - Fantasy and Science Fiction a week late.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 18 new photos to Roosters In The Shire album
  • hairylarry
    The Locked Tomb Series By Tamsyn Muir

    It's an exercise in unusual narrative. All three books take some orientation.

    Not a ton of exposition (I hate exposition) so like much great science fiction it's a learning curve. Add this to the unusual narrative techniques. You can feel lost. This does resolve.

    I like Gideon The Ninth better than Harrow The Ninth but so far Nona The Ninth is the best. Which is the way it should be. I have all hopes of a good ending.

    It's an amazing trilogy with one more, Alecto The Ninth, still to come.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry changed their avatar
    May 9 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry changed their avatar
    May 9 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry changed their avatar
    May 9 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 10 new photos to Elegant Harlequins album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 6 new photos to Black Dragons album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Charles Pingus album
    https://30doc2023.thecomicseries.com/comics/1 Charles Pingus https://www.patreon.com/posts/30-days-of-2023-81072432
    May 4 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 11 new photos to Wizard Hats album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    A Cute Cthulhu - Made on NightCafe with the prompt, "The Thing of the idols, the green, sticky spawn of the stars, had awaked to claim his own" from "Call Of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft.
  • hairylarry
    More recently, the Office reviewed a registration for a work containing human-authored elements combined with AI-generated images. In February 2023, the Office concluded that a graphic novel 9 comprised of human-authored text combined with images generated by the AI service Midjourney constituted a copyrightable work, but that the individual images themselves could not be protected by copyright.

    --- from Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence

    https://copyright.gov/ai/ai_policy_guidance.pdf
  • hairylarry
    We're old and in the way but nonetheless, we persist.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 12 new photos to Magic In A Bottle album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    I love this illustration style that I'm getting with a truncation of NightCafe's Artist Portrait preset.
  • hairylarry
    I don't know what I did that made Jesus so mad at me.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    A hobbit and his half halfling daughter.
  • hairylarry
    We had a great chat on Inspired Unreality today. Thanks to Alan, Duca and Datum for joining Vivian and myself in a wide ranging discussion including game rules, AI Art, Intellectual Property, and firearms in RPGs.
  • hairylarry
    Gamer+ News April 21, 2023 - Inspired Unreality!

    Wow, seems like forever. After cancelling two weeks ago for a family Easter visit it seems like it's been a month. Wait ...

    Inspired Unreality open game chat will be held Saturday, April 22, at 11:00 AM Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. This week is bring your own topic. Opening topic AI Fantasy Art. Plus I have a few secrets to share from the Milyagon Confidiential Files. (Just a joke, FBI, you know, humor.)

    Speaking of AI Art I changed my avatar.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry

    I also posted a Woodland Fantasy gallery.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/155

    All of my AI Fantasy Art on Gamer+ is public domain. Do what you want with it. Crop it. Edit it. Evolve it. Attribution not required but always appreciated.

    I also have to include The Egg Of Coot (Deep DnD Lore).

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/newsfeed/5094

    Who knows what I'm talking about here? Carl and I did this AI Art project during our Easter visit two weeks ago. His kids also submitted some prompts. AI Art is great group entertainment.

    We have been playing Chronicles Of Ember on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month at Eclectic Geekery. Alan, who wrote the system, is our DM! The game is going great. We're just about to freeze to death.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/EclecticGeekery

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/Alan

    They say word of mouth advertising is the best which is great because it's all we can afford.

    Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

    link

    Thanks,
    Hairy Larry
    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
    https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
    hairylarry@deltaboogie.com
  • hairylarry
    Art VS AI: Artists, Defend and Protect Your Artwork

    Ok, I'm addicted to AI Art. I still want to cover the controversy. I still support artists rights. This article discusses these issues.

    https://en.downloadastro.com/magazine/art-vs-ai/
    Art VS AI: Artists, Defend and Protect Your Artwork
    Art VS AI: Artists, Defend and Protect Your Artwork
    Artists have always struggled to protect their creative works from being copied by other artists or technology. But now that AI has begun infiltrating the art world, artists struggle even more. The question of whether or not AI can create art is still up for debate, but we do know that it can copy art pretty well. 
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry changed their avatar
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Hairy Larry album
    Derived from the Hairy Larry and Blue photo.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry changed their avatar
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 15 new photos to Woodland Fantasy album
  • hairylarry
    I got a free download of the Dragonbane_Quickstart_Guide_v1.pdf at DriveThruRPG. Looks interesting. More similar to OSR than my own ruleset, Just Quest.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 6 new photos to Samurai Rabbits album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 31 new photos to NightCafe album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    The Egg Of Coot (Deep DnD Lore)
    Apr 8 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    No Gamer+ News this weekend. Too much Easter made me forget.

    We will be discussing Fantasy and Science Fiction on Inspired Unreality this morning at 11:00 Central.

    Inspired Unreality is held in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord.
    Apr 8 '23
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Apr 8 '23
    Oops! We got family coming to visit. No Inspired Unreality this morning.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 13 new photos to Happy Easter album
    Apr 8 '23
    1
    ZDL likes this
  • hairylarry
    Repost from Mastodon.

    I started with jazz and blues. Then folk and rock. It was the sixties.

    As an adult I played blues guitar and harmonica accompanying my vocals. Also lots of Dylan.

    After I retired I went back to school and migrated to jazz piano and composition.
    Apr 5 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 4 new photos to Volcanoes In Space album
  • hairylarry
    I used to say I wasn't hard of hearing, I was hard of listening. But now it's both.
    Apr 4 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    We are going to Eclectic Geekery at Walnut Ridge to play Chronicle Of Ember this afternoon.
    Apr 1 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 4 new photos to Bog Monsters album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 10 new photos to Musketeers album
  • hairylarry
    Inspired Unreality this morning at 11:00 Central. Open game chat. Everyone is welcome. All gaming is on topic.
  • hairylarry
    It did post the blog but it gave a terrible looking error page. So, there you go! I disabled blog posting. I am sure there will be other problems.
  • hairylarry
    One of the things I didn't fix was posting to blogs. In the interim please post to the Newsfeed. I will disable Blog posting.
  • hairylarry
    Gamer+ Going Forward

    Since I started Gamer+ I have been running the Oxwall social network software. Unfortunately the most recent version of Oxwall was written in 2016 which in internet years means it's an antique.

    Not only that it's not working well and I barely got some of the pages working at all after the new sql server update.

    So ...

    I am going to archive the existing Gamer+ site. All posts, photos, etc. will be available to read but there will be no new members or new posts on the Oxwall vesrion of Gamer+.

    I am going to install a new Gamer+ social network site using the federated software, friendica. If you are already on mastodon, peertube, funkwhale, or other federated services you will be able to follow and share with Gamer+ users.

    And/or you can start an account at the new Gamer+ and continue posting to Gamer+ just ike you have in the past.

    Change is hard but change is good. And this sounds right to me. I'm looking forward to it.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ Going Forward
    Since I started Gamer+ I have been running the Oxwall social network software. Unfortunately the most recent version of Oxwall was written in 2016 whi...
  • hairylarry
    All Gamer+ pages are back. I did some quick and dirty hacking on the codebase to make the pages work so I am not exactly sure what I broke. We shall see.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 5 new photos to Neon Owl Mandala album
  • TabletopBellhop
    TabletopBellhop created a new blog post
    Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 200!
    Our 200th Episode Celebration is live!
    This episode Sean and I share a special piece of feedback, each share our top 25 games of all time, announce o...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 14 new photos to Elven Village album
  • hairylarry
    http://www.bluewillow.ai/

    BlueWillow generative AI runs on discord like MidJourney. I am posting an elven village series I did on Blue Willow.
    BlueWillow
    BlueWillow
    Simply enter a prompt and let our tool do the rest. From logos and graphics to digital artwork and more, our tool can generate a wide range of images that are perfect for any project.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    hairylarry
    Mar 11 '23
    A goblin goblet
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 7 new photos to Jeweled Goblets album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News March 10, 2023 - Fantasy and Science Fiction - Beatles Park
    Saturday March 11 at 11:00 AM Central join us for Inspired Unreality open game chat. The topic will be Fantasy and Science Fiction including some Scie...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 8 new photos to AI In Ember album
  • TabletopBellhop
    Mar 8 '23
    1 1
    TabletopBellhop likes this
    hairylarry
    Feb 26 '23
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  • TabletopBellhop
    TabletopBellhop commented on their blog post
    New Podcast Episode Live

    Our Latest Podcast Episode Is Live!
    Check out "The 199.5 Bonus Episode" where we review Dulce from Stronghold Games, share where we have been, talk...
    Mar 8 '23
    1 0
    TabletopBellhop
    Mar 8 '23
    The YouTube version of this podcast is live:

    https://youtu.be/XGftnfS35yo
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    Hairy Larry Plays Chill Jazz Piano Live At Beatles Park Walnut Ridge, Arkansas 2:00 to 3:00 PM
    Mar 4 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    No Inspired Unreality open game chat today. It will be next week and in three weeks on the second and fourth Saturdays.
    Mar 4 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Artificial Intelligence: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
    Mar 2 '23
    1 0
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  • xhy082801
    xhy082801 joined our site!
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News February 24, 2023 - Open Game Chat - AI Images
    Saturday, February 25, join us for Inspired Unreality Open Game Chat. Starting topic will be AI Art. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

    ...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Generative AI is a legal minefield.

    https://www.axios.com/...e-ai-legal-minefield

    New generative AI systems like ChatGPT and Dall-E raise a host of novel questions for a legal system that always imagined people, rather than machines, as the creators of content.
    Generative AI is a legal minefield
    Generative AI is a legal minefield
    Our laws were written assuming that people, not machines, would create content.
    hairylarry
    Feb 24 '23
    ... always imagined people, rather than machines, as the creators of content. The machines aren't making the content! People are running programs written by people.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    The Message Rat was good company. Silas had not bothered to undo the Speeke, Rattus Rattus command, and so the talkative rat held forth on any topic that caught his imagination, which ranged from the problem with young rats today to the rat sausage scandal in the Guards' canteen that had upset the entire rat community, not to mention the Guards.

    - from Septimus Heap, Book one: Magyk by Angie Sage.
  • hairylarry
    Good to see your blog post. I don't play Diablo but I'm sure some Gamer+ gamers are more familiar with it than I am. Does MMOWTS have a meaning? Is it an acronym? Thank
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    NightCafe now has a free tier.

    Introducing free, unlimited "Stable" creations
    A "base" Stable creation now costs zero credits.

    This is in addition to 5 free credits a day. So, you can create for free and then upscale for a credit.
    hairylarry
    Feb 16 '23
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    U.S. Copyright Office Rules A.I. Art Can’t Be Copyrighted - March 24, 2022 - Jane Recker - "The U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) once again rejected a copyright request for an A.I.-generated work of art, the Verge’s Adi Robertson reported last month."
    hairylarry
    Feb 15 '23
    hairylarry
    Feb 15 '23
    This is a ruling by the copyright office, not the results of a court case.
    hairylarry
    Feb 15 '23
    Also - "Other countries put less emphasis on the necessity of human authorship for protection. A judge in Australia ruled last year A.I.-created inventions can qualify for patent protection. And South Africa allowed Thaler to patent one of his products last year, noting that “the invention was autonomously generated by an artificial intelligence.” While Thaler owns the patent, the A.I. is listed as the inventor."
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Art-istic or Art-ificial? Ownership and copyright concerns in AI-generated artwork - November 21, 2022 - By Atreya Mathur
    hairylarry
    Feb 15 '23
    I think I'm safe in releasing my AI artwork into the public domain. I believe AI artwork is in the public domain. As the article referenced states "The risks associated with using models like DALL·E to generate art are still largely unknown as they have not been contested or substantially tested in any courts.".
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 4 new photos to Midjourney Dark Elves album
  • hairylarry
    Vivian and I did some story telling plus a little bit about the John Gwynne series I'm reading. Inspired Unreality! Has it's own causality. A virtual principality. With it's own duality.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News February 10, 2023 - Fantasy and Science Fiction
    What have you been reading? What have you been watching? What have you been playing? That's the topic for Inspired Unreality open game chat at 11:00 A...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    "The birth of the ORC license was driven by OGL 1.1" - Paizo’s Jim Butler discusses ORC, OGL 1.1, and more
    ...
    Q. On the topic of the ORC, what is Paizo's philosophy on open-source gaming, and what do you feel the strengths and weaknesses of the model are?

    Jim Butler: There is a much lower barrier of entry for fans to become publishers. Intellectual property laws can be complicated, and the Open RPG Creative (ORC) license will allow fans to become publishers without worrying about whether a particular entry in a book is considered open content or not. Since each publisher in the license provides their own SRD, new publishers can use that material in their work to create something that’s greater than the original.
    ...
    Feb 9 '23
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Feb 9 '23
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Lost In The Woods by Larry Heyl
    Feb 9 '23
    2 0
    hairylarry
    Feb 9 '23
    Soon to be a minizine and pamphlet.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    Gryphons have a special attack. Lion poop from above.
    Feb 8 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    An artist doesn't have to be concerned about what somebody else thinks of their work.
    Feb 5 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    If you have any notion of where you are going, you will never get anywhere.
    —Joan Miró

    Thanks Orph3u5 - https://www.tumblr.com/0rph3u5
    To create is to live twice. : Albert Camus
    Feb 1 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    This artist is dominating AI-generated art. And he’s not happy about it.

    Greg Rutkowski is a more popular prompt than Picasso.
    hairylarry
    Jan 31 '23
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    There are two interesting intellectual property conversations going on in the fantasy RPG world at the present.

    Seeking a better license for open gaming than the OGL.

    Using AI programs like DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion AI for generating fantasy art.

    I will post links to this thread as I find them. Please add links and comments if you're interested.
    hairylarry
    Jan 31 '23
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    "It is now no longer safe to use time magic. In fact it now has never been safe to use time magic. It used to always be safe."

    Thanks Srol
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    I began playing RPGs back in 1977 when the Holmes Blue Box Basic came out. We played many other TSR RPGs that existed & new ones as they came out.

    We also dabbled at least once in several other non-TSR RPGs.

    I've played even more since 2014 when I attended cons regularly.

    Since D&D was my first RPG, it sort of defined what an RPG was and hit harder than all the others. I was more of a science fiction fan back then, but still played more AD&D than any other RPG.

    I still run and play older versions of D&D. However, I will run more non-WOTC games in the future.

    #TTRPGs
    hairylarry
    Jan 29 '23
    ++
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    David M. Bird - More acorn people! Photographed with wildlife.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    If you can have a natural 20 and an unnatural 20 how about a supernatural 20?
    hairylarry
    Jan 26 '23
    I've invented the supernatural 20 spell that can only be used once between long rests. On an important roll you can instead cast your Supernatural 20 spell and automatically roll a nat 20.
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '23
    Maybe the caster could cast this on an ally kind of like bardic inspiration.
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '23
    This is a powerful spell and should be level restricted. Maybe level 5???
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '23
    It's also a meta spell in that the spell affects the game mechanics. So maybe it should be thought of as a perfect attack spell but I love the name Supernatural 20.
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '23
    So when you cast the Supernatural 20 spell the attack affected automatically results in a perfect attack exactly as if the atteacker had rolled a nat 20.
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '23
    In Inspired Unreality I just invented the Supernatural 1!
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News January 27, 2023 - Inspired Unreality!
    Inspired Unreality open game chat will resume tomorrow, Saturday, January 28, at 11:00 AM Central. Inspired Unreality is held in the gamerplus chatroo...
  • hairylarry
    Inspired Unreality open game chat will resume tomorrow, Saturday, January 28, at 11:00 AM Central. Inspired Unreality is held in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on discord.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    oh, you're trying to connect two different kinds of magic?

    you're gonna need an abracadaptor

    Thanks helena
  • hairylarry
    hey you can't spell "flowchart" without "art." Otherwise you end up with a flowch and nobody wants that

    - Questionable Content
  • hairylarry
    If I have a magic lute that requires attunement does that mean it will always play in tune?
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Did you ever want a really remote monastery on one of your quests?
    hairylarry
    Jan 19 '23
    Meteora, Kalampaka
    by Thomas Depenbusch (Depi)
    https://www.flickr.com/...4898/in/photostream/
    CC BY
    hairylarry
    Jan 19 '23
    Thanks to Greg Hills on Mastodon. He says, "You can see the staircase winding up to Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) in the lower middle of the picture. ... There's a cable car for use by monks and officials. Pilgrims and tourists have to toil up the steps :)"
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Mouse Plural - A Jupiter's Ghost Super Short
    Mouse Plural

    If we have houses
    Why not mouses
    If we have mice
    Why not hice

    I have done extensive research using an ancient computer program c...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 13 new photos to Mystical Arcana album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News January 7, 2023 - New Schedule for the New Year
    Schedule shift for the New Year.

    Inspired Unreality open game chat will be held on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month at 11:00 AM to Noon, Cent...
    Jan 7 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Delta Boogie Newsletter - January 2023 - New Bebop Beatniks album, "Church"
    We are celebrating the New Year with a Bebop Beatniks retrospective album, all originals performed live, from 2016 through 2019.

    Here's the link to...
    Jan 5 '23
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 6 new photos to Believe In The Magic album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    Solemn as a golem. https://www.flickr.com/photos/botosynthetic/5837348219 by smokeghost Golem (deactivated). Do not put parchment in the hole in his head, lest he come to life... CC BY-NC
  • hairylarry
    He called me a nerd but really I'm annoyed.
  • hairylarry
    There ain't even no such thing as grownups ... They's all just old kids pretending.

    The Ballad Of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 9 new photos to Colorful Mountains album
  • hairylarry
    What's the first number of the alphabet?
  • hairylarry
    I just froze three ziplocs labeled Ham 12-25. Kind of tells a story, doesn't it?

    #hashtag peanut butter cookies
  • hairylarry
    Merry Christmas. Just spent the evening with family. Amongst other things games were discussed. Tomorrow, on Christmas day, we're going to bake.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    I had a nightmare that I was awake.

    Thanks ScrumMaster C
    @chellman@universeodon.com
    hairylarry
    Dec 22 '22
    https://universeodon.com/@chellman/109560005182517083
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    I'm not horny, all that stuff in my search history is for story research!

    Dumbing Of Age
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » Deleted user commented on their status
    Stop hating on lazy people. We didn't even do anything.

    Thanks, Dire Wolf - @ADDiane@mastodon.social
    hairylarry
    Dec 19 '22
    I used to be tired but now I'm retired.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    I know that song!
  • hairylarry
    Did you know that in six days ... it will be Sunday.

    -- Megan
  • hairylarry
    If I had a time machine

    If I had a time machine I would go back to the day the inventor of the time machine invented the time machine

    - handyc
  • FollowMeAndDie
    Farewell to another icon of the height of the OSR blogosphere.

    #TTRPGs #RPGBA

    https://followmeanddie.com/2022/12/13/farewell-rpgba/
  • FollowMeAndDie
    Musings on Narrowing the Scope of the #Dungeon23 challenge as I try to set myself up for success.

    https://followmeanddie.com/...narrowing-the-scope/
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Dec 10 '22
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Dec 10 '22
    I like this idea. It's a great way to do a lot of work over a period of time. I imagine that it would keep the brain churning with new ideas all day long, not just when working on it.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 10 '22
    Yeah, I'm hoping I can maintain this. That's harder than smaller sprints of content the way I'm wired.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    https://aiart.page/@Astrid/109482831506384619 Thanks Astrid! https://aiart.page/@Astrid
    Dec 9 '22
    2 0
    hairylarry
    Dec 9 '22
    https://aiart.page/@Astrid/109482831506384619
    hairylarry
    Dec 9 '22
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 14 new photos to Mighty Mikko album
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Mors Thriumphans by Leonard Bramer (17th Century)
    Dec 8 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Dec 8 '22
    What's old is new again.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    Every fairy tale was written to tarnish the trolls' reputation.

    - Wrong way Slurps
    @Chuck_Half_Hazardly@mastodon.social
    Dec 3 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    Quote of the Day: "When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Half
    Dec 3 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    Next year we return to cozy adventuring in Tobbins Shire, held on the internet and around a table at Eclectic Geekery. Also guest DMs running 2 hr one shots.
    Dec 3 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    Two or three big giant googlysmacks.
    Dec 3 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News December 2, 2022
    The last Inspired Unreality of the year is on Saturday, December 3, at 11:00 AM Central. We will be discussing Fantasy and Science Fiction. We've got ...
    Dec 2 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    He hasn't said the most stupid thing I've ever heard but he's said the most stupid things that I've ever heard. He's winning stupidity by quantity.

    - tob - anonradio
    Dec 2 '22
    1 0
  • hairylarry
    Magic straw for magic cows.
    Dec 1 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    I have been having troubles with links in the newsfeed where the see more link goes to a posted link.

    My workaround is to put the links in the comments.
    Dec 1 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Readers are the best people because they see the world through many sets of eyes. They know both that their experiences are not unique and that no one sees the world in quite the same way as them.

    - megantopia

    Co-proprietor of Eclectic Geekery.
    Dec 1 '22
    2 0
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  • hairylarry
    When things are getting dicey and a PC asks the DM what time it is the DM just grins and says, "Half past death thirty".
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » Deleted user commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    I finalized my Worldbuilding Cheatsheet on Cheatography.

    https://cheatography.com/...eets/world-building/
    Nov 23 '22
    4 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Nov 22 '22
    We started with Milyagon, a rural village that used to be a military fort. I drew a map for the fort and the town. Wilken Woods is on the map and it became a magic forest across the river from Milyagon. Now through the woods and across another river and we're adventuring in Tobbins Shire. So definitely bottom up for our world building. And I just build as we play.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Nov 22 '22
    That's a much more manageable way to do it.
    hairylarry
    Nov 23 '22
    I didn't really have a plan. It just grew.
    hairylarry
    Nov 23 '22
    Which is not always the best way to do things but it worked for me this time.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    Free RPG List: open-license

    https://www.darkshire.net/...rd/open-license.html

    Another list from darkshire.net.

    This one is an alphabetical list by game name with a paragraph of information describing each game.
  • hairylarry
    Deleted user error.

    Sometimes this pops up. I don't know why. If you see it ignore it, you haven't been deleted.

    When I see it on a new post of mine I copy the post content to the clipboard, delete it, and repost with a paste from the clipboard.

    I don't know if this is necessary. I just don't want to see Deleted user on the screen.
  • hairylarry
    Open Game Systems

    This page collects games released under an open license. Generally speaking, if something is available under an open license it is free for use and re-use as long as the terms of its license are respected, without any explicit contact or negotiation between original author and licensee. Requirements vary from offering no restriction whatsoever to requiring that you credit the authors or that you also allow others to use your own derivative work freely.

    More on the RPGnet wiki.

    https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Open_Game_Systems
  • FollowMeAndDie
  • hairylarry
    On Sunday I played in my granddaughter's 5e game at Eclectic Geekery. With six of us around the table it stayed entertaining. Mostly I tell Dad jokes and let the younger adventurers lead the party. Hat Tip to DM Lizard. She is SearchingForGryphons on Gamer+.

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/SearchingForGyphons
    SearchingForGyphons | Gamer+
    SearchingForGyphons | Gamer+
    Chat with SearchingForGyphons at Gamer+.
  • hairylarry
    Exilian says,

    There's a tradition of doing Druid characters in northern European groves surrounded by bears and wolves, BUT CONSIDER:

    > Shoreline druid who dances in sea-foam & spends time looking after barnacles
    > Antisocial desert druid whose familiar is a golden mole and who buries themselves in sand during the day
    > Pallid cave druid, pale and wide-eyed, surrounded by olms and swimming through narrow passageways
    > Wetland druid who summons saw-sedge barriers on their enemies and has a bittern with a magically enhanced boom-noise
    > Confused tundra druid with lemmings in every pocket who can't get over how people manage without hibernation
    > Fast-running steppe druid who whistles to herds of Saiga antelope and helps lead them to water in bad years
    > Portly Antarctic druid whose existence philosophy is Be A Penguin and who collects pretty rocks to give their friends
    > Cloud forest treetop druid who grows a bromeliad on their shoulder & has a small cloud of hummingbirds around them

    #TTRPG #GameDev

    https://indiepocalypse.social/@Exilian/109388221630563642
  • FollowMeAndDie
    I finalized my Worldbuilding Cheatsheet on Cheatography.

    Worldbuilding
  • FollowMeAndDie
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News November 18, 2022
    Join us for Inspired Unreality open game chat on Saturday, November 19, at 11:00 AM Central. All gaming is on topic and the opening topic will be Fant...
  • hairylarry
  • hairylarry
    ... all four cavaliers were gone, back into the River. Harrow found herself imagining them in her mind's eye:rising out of those turbid waters before the Saint of Duty with his spear and his sword, something looming behind him, bigger than the eye could comprehend. Bluer than death; unimaginable, advancing to greet the four dead swordsmen and the Lyctor.

    She had not said goodbye. Harrow so rarely got to say goodbye.

    From "Harrow the Ninth" by Tamsyn Muir.
  • hairylarry
    A priest, a pastor and a rabbit entered a clinic to donate blood. The nurse asked the rabbit: “what’s your blood type?”

    “I’m probably a type O”, said the rabbit.
  • hairylarry
    How To Use Mastodon and the Fediverse: Advanced Tips

    https://fedi.tips/...verse-advanced-tips/

    I've been using Mastodon for years and this article really clarified things for me.

    If you are new to Mastodon this will be great for you.
  • FollowMeAndDie
    I've been trying to work in some Halloween themed material. Didn't get to play in front of the Brookland Methodist Cemetery like I'd hoped.
    Nov 12 '22
    0 1
    FollowMeAndDie likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 15 new photos to The Russian Story Book album
  • hairylarry
    Hi. How have you been? I've been adventuring in Tobbins Shire. Hope to get back to it early next year. Lately, I've been playing in my granddaughters 5e game.
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie liked hairylarry's status
    Two squared is four. Too scared is "Ahhhhhhhh!"
  • Aqualith
    Aqualith edited their profile details
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News November 4, 2022
    It's our fiftieth! All those family games. Fifty years of family games. What a thing to think about.

    Our family is coming in so there will be no In...
    Nov 4 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    When your time is up with the book that will keep us all out of trouble you have to send it back to the publisher.
    Nov 4 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 20 new photos to The Children Of Odin album
  • hairylarry
    We voted. You should too.
    Nov 3 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Oh, you gave the dog your reading glasses.
    hairylarry
    Oct 31 '22
    This one was from The Last Of The Summer Wine.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    Well, that might be true. But then again, it might be you.
  • hairylarry
    A pickle a day will make the pumpkin go away.
  • hairylarry
    No Inspired Unreality open game chat this morning. It's the fifth Saturday of October so Happy Halloween.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    Carl says, "My 30 minute speed paint miniature from NEA Game Fest."
  • hairylarry
    Hi and welcome to Gamer+. We have free ads for all Gamer+ gamers. One text and one banner.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    Just let me splain this to you at NEA Game Fest.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    NEA Game Fest!
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    NEA Game Fest This Weekend!
  • hairylarry
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    Happy Halloween by Donn P. Crane.
  • hairylarry
    #donn p. crane | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumpik
    #donn p. crane | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumpik
    Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs tagged as #donn p. crane with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience | Tumpik
  • hairylarry
    "A Treasury of Verse for Little Children was compiled by Madalen Edgar, and published by Harrap in 1908. The illustrations and page layouts are close enough to the children’s books being produced at this time by Charles Robinson that I wonder whether the similarity was deliberate on Pogány’s part."

    http://www.johncoulthart.com/...s-treasury-of-verse/
  • hairylarry
    And thus it was.
  • hairylarry
    I like my job because I don't have to watch for the dead people.
  • hairylarry
    Don't step on the black paddies.
  • hairylarry
    I'll go get a ladder and you get the fart juice.
  • Mosker
    Mosker joined our site!
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    hairylarry
    Oct 13 '22
    hairylarry
    Oct 15 '22
    Not positive on the Stinkhorn.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Gamer+ News October 14, 2022
    Well ... Caper has a sketchbook. Full of mushrooms from the shire. Some of the sketches are annotated in an arcane language called English Script. Joi...
    hairylarry
    Oct 14 '22
    NEA Game Fest starts Friday. October 21 - 23. https://www.neagamefest.com/
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Creative Commons Jazz
    https://jazz.mixremix.cc/music.htm
    hairylarry
    Oct 14 '22
    Uses audio player by ltGuillaume
    https://alternativeto.net/...folder-player/about/
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 17 new photos to Caper's Sketchbook album
  • hairylarry
    Blues Fest was a blast! I have audio and video recordings to work on. Carl rapped an 18th century poem to "African Violet". Soon to be on Youtube.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 5 new photos to Blues Fest 2022 album
  • hairylarry
    Blues Fest 2022 - October 9

    https://deltaboogie.com/bluesfest2022/

    Blues Fest 2022
    October 9, 2022

    Craighead Forest Bandshell

    Jonesboro, Arkansas

    2:00 PM
    Hairy Larry and The Flying Hungarians

    3:00 PM
    Bebop Beatniks

    4:00 PM
    In The Gray

    5:00 PM
    Anna and the Tanks
    Oct 6 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    NEA Game Fest
    Oct 6 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Oct 6 '22
    Save $10 and pre-register
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    Vivian says, "Everybody needs to be wanted and everyone wants to be needed."
    Oct 4 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News September 30, 2022
    Inspired Unreality, now on a twice a month schedule, will be held at 11:00 AM Central, on Saturday, October 1. Since it's the first Saturday of the mo...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Delta Boogie Newsletter - August 2022 - Jazz In The Forest and Blues Fest!
    I'm sending this out a week early to promote Jazz In The Forest on September 26.

    Jazz In The Forest

    Craighead Forest Bandshell
    Monday, Septembe...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Today's blog post is about the Gateway To Adventure Trilogy For Old-School Essentials Kickstarter and my involvement with a stretch goal.

    https://followmeanddie.com/...d-school-essentials/
    Sep 22 '22
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Sep 16 '22
    All right!!! Hope you are doing well. We've been through the grinder but I can see a distant light at the end of a long tunnel. Always good to hear from you.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 16 '22
    Doing well. Spent the summer traveling all over the Western U.S.
    hairylarry
    Sep 22 '22
    Great to see you back.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    Searching for A Calendar Of Tales.

    I got inspired by this tumblr post

    pennyuniversity asked:

    Hello! I am in the middle of my annual re-listen of the Calendar of Tales (the September and October chapters of which remain two of my favorite short stories) and I was wondering if the original website still exists anywhere or if the audio recordings are all that remain? The original website url currently links to a "money management" website which seems ironically unfortunate. I loved the artwork and collaborative nature of the site and just wanted to see if it had been preserved. Thanks!

    Neil replied:

    No. It's sad. So much glorious art was made and posted. Some of it might remain in the Internet Archive though.

    So I took his advice and ...

    This.

    https://web.archive.org/...dor/neil-gaiman.html

    led me here.

    https://web.archive.org/...an/january-story.pdf

    for the January Tale.
    The first link came from here.

    https://www.sfsignal.com/...a-calendar-of-tales/ Happy hunting!

    Sometimes you have to start your wayback search with a google search. The sfsignal.com review gave me a starting url and the year.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News September 16, 2022
    As always, changes are afoot.

    When we started doing Inspired Unreality open game chat every week we were younger. And yet, somehow, even though we'...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News September 9, 2022
    Well ... we missed last week. Our water heater broke and our daughter and son in law were here helping us put in a new one and by the time we were don...
    Sep 9 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    While browsing tumblr I found some more great fantasy artwork. Here's a link to JJCanvas on deviantart. https://www.deviantart.com/...-Ashenvale-788360369
    Sep 8 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    I had my first composition lesson this term. It went great. I am looking forward to getting my two woodwind quintet pieces read.
    Sep 8 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    Our water heater went out and my daughter and son in law were helping me replace it and we missed Inspired Unreality last Saturday. Sorry bout that.
    Sep 8 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Delta Boogie Newsletter - August 2022 - Blues Fest!
    Doug Butler works at Craighead Forest Park and he's a musician. When I went to Guerilla Livestream Craighead Forest Lake he talked to me about restart...
    Sep 5 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News September 2, 2022
    Saturday morning. Inspired Unreality. 11:00 Central. It's the first Saturday so our topic is fantasy and science fiction. Games, movies, books, televi...
    Sep 2 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 10 new photos to Donn P. Crane album
  • hairylarry
    I upped the upload max so I can upload from my Galaxy S10.
    Sep 1 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Related To Geeks album
    We're all related to geeks.
    Sep 1 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    I am working on improving the mobile experience on Gamer+. Comments welcome.
    Sep 1 '22
    0 0
  • hairylarry
    It's a little early for Halloween but Megan disagreed. Anyway we just did the Here Lies The Hatchet meme this morning. Please share.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry uploaded 1 new photo to Halloween album
    Here Lies The Hatchet. Vivian said the words that inspired this meme. I found the public domain photo by Linnaea Mallette at publicdomainpictures.net. Megan created the engraved effect in GIMP. It was a family effort.
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry created a new blog post
    Gamer+ News August 26, 2022
    Inspired Unreality! Open game chat. Saturday morning at 11:00 Central. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

    Inspired Unrealiy is held in t...
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    The Sandman Cometh!
    Aug 5 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Aug 5 '22
    or ... "The Sandman Cometh" cometh.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    THE ALLOY OF LAW
    The Mistborn Saga
    Book 1 of the Wax and Wayne Era
    by Brandon Sanderson

    Free Download before August 6.

    https://ebookclub.tor.com/...7be625879862312522ea

    I have read the Wayne and Wax series and they are fantastic. Fast paced adventure and a real hoot.
    Aug 4 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Aug 4 '22
    I missed this part - New in November 2022
    THE LOST METAL
    The Conclusion Of The Wax And Wayne Era - I can't wait
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Still looking for reusable pictures of acorn people for "The Story of Mister MistMeister and his Many Transformations".
    hairylarry
    Jul 29 '22
    I found some public domain acorn boys.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • ZDL
    ZDL liked hairylarry's photo
    Here I am Guerilla Livestreaming Beatles Park in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas on the 4th of July. https://youtu.be/q2n6n5y1y9M I got my picture in the paper. Then we enjoyed family game day at Eclectic Geekery. It was a good 4th for us.
    Jul 9 '22
    0 1
    ZDL likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Inspired Unreality open game chat this morning. It's the first Saturday so our topic is Fantasy and Science Fiction.
    May 7 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    May 7 '22
    More info under Saturday Morning Gamer+ Chat on the Main page.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Episode 202 - Bits & Bobs - This & That
    I'm starting a new intermittent series: "Bits & Bobs - This & That." The idea is a miscellaneous mish mash of call ins, ideas, and thoughts that haven't evolved enough for a full episode.

    https://anchor.fm/...--This--That-e1h95te
    hairylarry
    Apr 28 '22
    the link in the comment works great
    You need to sign in to comment
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Episode 201 - What Is The Best RPG?
    https://anchor.fm/...The-Best-RPG-e1h0t74
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Reminders Of Home
    Feb 17 '22
    1 1
    ZDL likes this
    hairylarry
    Feb 17 '22
    I met the artist on Mastodon and got permission to post. I like the aquarian background.
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  • hairylarry
    Feb 3 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Feb 3 '22
    Amazing fantasy artwork being created.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's status
    Happy New Year!
    Feb 3 '22
    1 1
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    hairylarry
    Feb 3 '22
    Happy New Year to you too.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on austin_grafx's status
    My artwork, yes.
    hairylarry
    Jan 25 '22
    I love it. So minimalist.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Vivian, Alan and I had a nice discussion at Inspired Unreality. Mostly gaming, for a change. Alan posted some of his spell books. Then we started discussing Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazine and we found this.

    https://archive.org/...t=titleSorter&page=3

    and this

    https://archive.org/...on%20Magazine%20386/

    I always want to find the issues we used to have back when we subscribed.
    Dungeon Magazine : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
    Dungeon Magazine : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
    Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with...
    hairylarry
    Jan 22 '22
    For some reason the see more link doesn't work above. Click on the timestamp in the lower right to go to the item's page. The see more link works there.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL liked that austin_grafx joined our site
    Jan 21 '22
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Gamer+ News January 7, 2022
    Inspired Unreality open game chat tomorrow, Saturday January 8, at 11:00 AM Central. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

    Inspired Unreali...
    Jan 8 '22
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Jan 8 '22
    It came to me in a flash this morning. I will run Gamer+ on my home server. That way this instance can continue running until I have the new Gamer+ install stable. And this instance can remain up as a read only archive of everything posted. I will blog the project here.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's blog post
    Three of Thirty-Six
    Continuing in The Thirty-Six, based on Georges Polti's The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, today's situation is "vengeance of a crime" in which an "av...
    hairylarry
    Dec 20 '21
    Like Hamlet, "I must avenge my father's death." A ghost story with vengeance as a dramatic situation. Definitely medieval and it ends in a TPK as a dramatic resolution.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their blog post
    Two of Thirty-Six
    Continuing in the series I'm calling The Thirty-Six, based on Georges Polti's The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations (original version and a modernized ta...
    hairylarry
    Dec 19 '21
    Sometimes the DM has to send a rescuer to avert a TPK. This can seem like the hand of God tweaking the PC's nose. So, best if the rescuer fits into the narrative, somehow, and it's also best if the rescuer helps the party survive rather than single handedly waltz in and save the day.
    ZDL
    Dec 20 '21
    Yep. It can be done correctly, but it's very easy to Tom Bombadil a rescue.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    A new blog post about what happens to a wizard's stuff when they die?

    https://followmeanddie.com/2021/12/05/when-wizards-die/
    Dec 6 '21
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Dec 6 '21
    Very nice. I enjoyed the read. Reminded me of Jack Vance. So Jack Vance will be our opening topic tonight on Inspired Unreality. We will be discussing fantasy and science fiction.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 6 '21
    Thanks!
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie liked hairylarry's status
    The fantasy of Jack Vance.

    Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984.

    The Dying Earth features one of the greatest fantasy antiheroes of all time, Cugel the Clever. The Dying Earth setting also hosts other stories full of other antiheroes.

    The Lyonesse Trilogy, Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc. Madouc won the World Fantasy Award in 1990 and contains the most delightful fey adventure ever written.

    "The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated literature used a magic system inspired in part by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, notably the fact that magic users in the game forget spells they have learned immediately upon casting them, and must re-study them in order to cast them again. The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld are featured in the "Appendix E: Inspirational Reading" section of the 1st edition of the Dungeon Masters Guide and the 5th edition of the Player's Handbook."

    "A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. In the series, Martin includes a minor character, "Lord Vance of Wayfarer's Rest". In further reference to Jack Vance, the character's daughters are named Liane, Rhialta, and Emphyria for Liane the Wayfarer, Rhialto the Marvellous, and Emphyrio, respectively."

    Vance won Hugo Awards for "The Dragon Masters" and "The Last Castle". Both of these novels are science fiction in spite of their fantasy sounding titles and both feature the competent hero, a staple throughout Vance's work.

    Thanks to wikipedia for some of the info above.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance

    Welcome to the official Jack Vance website

    https://www.jackvance.com/

    Grandmaster Jack Vance (1916-2013) Visit FOREVERNESS.

    http://foreverness.jackvance.com/

    Here's my own tribute.

    I read a lot of Fantasy and Science Fiction when I was young by a lot of authors from the Golden Age through New Wave. Reading as an adult with a lifetime of honing my skills appreciating literature Jack Vance holds up the best. I still read and reread Jack Vance on a regular basis.

    And the tradition lives on.

    After Tais Teng explored new Alastor worlds in Phaedra: Alastor 824, and Michael Shea followed Cugel the Clever into the demon realms of the Dying Earth with A Quest for Simbilis, we are pleased to announce that renowned genre author Matthew Hughes has penned a dashing adventure among the worlds of the Gaean Reach, which has been released as the third installment on our Paladins of Vance label.

    Please add your Jack Vance thoughts in the comments and join us tonight on Inspired Unreality first Monday Fantasy and Science Fiction discussion where our opening topic will be Jack Vance.

    Dec 6 '21
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie liked hairylarry's status
    Medieval Demographics Made Easy

    Hosted here
    https://followmeanddie.com/...raphics-made-easy-2/

    This page has a free link to the pdf which is distributed freely. The booklet itself is fantastic not only as a guide to medieval demographics but also as an example of how to put together a fantasy supplement that is useful and entertaining.

    Thanks to S. John Ross and Follow Me And Die.
    Dec 6 '21
    0 1
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Thanksgiving is in the past. I got to play in two D&D games with DM Carl and my grandkids playing. Friday and Saturday! In the same room! Around a table!
    hairylarry
    Nov 29 '21
    And we made it into Gamer+ News.
    hairylarry
    Nov 29 '21
    Same players, different game. On Friday it was Theatre of the mind at our house and on Saturday, with miniatures, visiting our Foster kids.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Tabletop Games for Thanksgiving Gatherings.

    It used to be poker or Monopoly. Or maybe hearts if it wasn't a poker family.

    What do you play now? Here's two of our favorites.

    Apples To Apples
    D&D Family Game

    Please post your game suggestions for Thanksgiving in the comments.
    ZDL
    Nov 22 '21
    TICKET TO RIDE! CARCASSONNE!

    Two of the best games ever made, in my view.

    (For the first, I like the Europe version best.)
    hairylarry
    Nov 23 '21
    We love Ticket To Ride but I've never played Carcassonne.
    ZDL
    Nov 23 '21
    Carcassonne is a tile-laying game where you try to place limited meeples to control resources that are revealed as the tiles are laid out. You have to balance playing the long game (risking losing access to meeples) against the short game (getting sparse resources but keeping meeple flexibility).

    I've only ever played the base game or used "The River" expansion. Both are good, though I actually think the river does a good job of keeping things localised.
    hairylarry
    Nov 24 '21
    I will ask my kids about Carcassonne. They turned me onto Ticket To Ride.
    hairylarry
    Nov 25 '21
    This Thanksgiving it was Doodle Dice and Qwirkle. For Black Friday it's family game.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Old man grognard talks about death in Dead is Dead.

    https://anchor.fm/...Dead-is-Dead-e1ad8dn
    Facebook Logo
    Facebook Logo
    I talk about death and dying in RPGs.
    hairylarry
    Nov 17 '21
    I play 0 hit points and you're out of the battle. I don't think someone at 0 should roll anything. It's up to their companions to try to save them.
    hairylarry
    Nov 17 '21
    This is a common topic at Inspired Unreality and should be added to our RPG Chat Topics table. Please add how you deal with death in your comments.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    I added our aggregated feed to the right column on the Main page. So when you post it hits Gamer+. If you have a gaming blog, vlog, channel, etc. with an RSS feed let me know and I'll add your feed.
    ZDL
    Nov 14 '21
    Why did I read that as "aggravated"?
    hairylarry
    Nov 15 '21
    Good to hear from you ZDL. Vivian and I agree that aggravated feed fits. I also added our tumblr feed just below the aggravated feed.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on robertsconley's status
    The one where I talked about OD&D being best viewed as a supplement but not to Chainmail.

    https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/...of-dungeons-and.html
    Nov 1 '21
    1 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Nov 1 '21
    I wrote this at Robert S. Conley's blog - I did play war games in the sixties but then it wasn't until the early nineties that I got into D&D. So that transition always fascinated me. Possibly war gaming led to fantasy war gaming which invited role playing which is the actual quantum shift between war gaming and D&D. Nobody was thinking about character motivation at Gettysburg but then in D&D it arrives as a full blown central feature because, of course, players are going to think about why their elf did this or their dwarf did that.
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  • robertsconley
    robertsconley liked hairylarry's status
    Thanks to Robert S. Conley for joining us tonight on Inspired Unreality. We got a quick tour of his very creative career and then launched right into some rollicking roll playing reminisces. I hope to chat with him again.
    Sep 27 '21
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Family game tonight! We're off next Friday. Anyone up for some DND online Friday September 17?
    hairylarry
    Sep 10 '21
    We can play in the gamerplus chatrooms. Voice and text.
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  • robertsconley
    robertsconley liked hairylarry's status
    Inspired Unreality

    September 20, 2021 at 9:00 PM Central

    Special Guest - Robert S Conley, Creator of Blackmarsh and The Majestic Fantasy RPG


    Our topic will be the difference between writing classic D&D vs. 5e.

    How to write for both?

    How to convert from OSR to 5e.


    I know that sounds like three topics but they are very closely intertwined.


    Blackmarsh

    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh


    The Majestic Fantasy RPG

    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/...tasy-RPG-Basic-Rules


    Bat in the Attic

    https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/


    Robert S. Conley on Gamer+

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/robertsconley


    Inspired Unreality is held every Monday night at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. Are you new to Tenkar's Tavern? We have an invitation for you here.


    https://archive.gamerplus.org/index
    Blackmarsh - Bat in the Attic Games | Majestic Fantasy Realms | DriveThruRPG.com
    Blackmarsh - Bat in the Attic Games | Majestic Fantasy Realms | DriveThruRPG.com
    Blackmarsh - In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the s
    Sep 9 '21
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  • NSRemixer
    NSRemixer joined group
    OSR
    OSR
    This is group for OSR Community here on Gamersplus.
    Total users: 47
    NSRemixer
    MyrddinWyllt
    chuckdee
    RobboG
    ZDL
  • pstailor
    pstailor joined group
    Development and Testing
    Development and Testing
    A group to discuss Gamer Plus, what works and what could be improved.
    Total users: 15
    pstailor
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  • sound
    Sep 1 '21
    4 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Aug 30 '21
    My wife played a Fantasy RPG game in the early 70s at Beebe, Arkansas. Carl and I found a fantasy rule set in a war gaming magazine printed for a convention in New England about that time and I thought that could have possibly been the rule set they used in Arkansas. Or ... maybe they used the fantasy appendix from this book. Is the fantasy appendix playable without the entire book? Just curious.
    sound
    Sep 1 '21
    When I enrolled into college many decades ago I had never heard anything about roll playing games. It never occurred to me that it might be a thing. Well other than drama students working hard to play their rolls in front of an audience. I was amazed when I saw my first play there and I was impressed by how hard the students worked to make it as believable as they could.
    sound
    Sep 1 '21
    It takes a lot of courage to play a character with completely different ideas and interests than you have. Imagine standing on the stage and arguing with another actor as to whether you're up to it. Our director overhearing us said there was no time to hunt up replacements and to make the best of it.
    sound
    Sep 1 '21
    Let's just say that was the start of my interest in playing rolls. Roll playing came a little later.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on sound's status
    All you need is confidence in what you already have and the ability to find what you need.
    Aug 26 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 31 '21
    I have confidence that we can navigate this dungeon and find the treasure.
    sound
    Aug 25 '21
    I have confidence that you can. It's me I'm not sure about.
    hairylarry
    Aug 26 '21
    I have confidence that I can. You have to find your own confidence.
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  • sound
    sound commented on hairylarry's status
    We had a good chat Monday night at Inspired Unreality with both Alan and Datum joining Vivian and myself. As happens with those two we drifted off of games and into philosophy.
    Aug 25 '21
    1 1
    sound likes this
    sound
    Aug 25 '21
    That was an enjoyable evening.
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  • sound
    sound commented on SearchingForGyphons's joining our site
    Aug 25 '21
    1 1
    sound likes this
    sound
    Aug 25 '21
    Hey Liz what's new?
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Ari and Caper started work on Caper's song of reckless spending. It will be a story song featuring Wee Will and will have a singalong chorus that goes down the scale with the words, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold. Then we were joined by Bruce Lombardo and the conversation wandered from painting miniatures to Bard's Tale, now back on Steam. We had a great time and thanks to Bruce for joining us.
    hairylarry
    Aug 10 '21
    Forgot to mention this was on Inspired Unreality open game chat Monday night.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Caper's Song Book
    A bard's songbook is like a magician's spell book in that it contains
    words of power, songs for wind, songs for rain, songs to make the fire
    burn ...
    hairylarry
    Jul 31 '21
    Last night in the 5e game I sang a song of reckless spending on a gambling boat. I made 12 GP so it must have worked.
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  • sound
    sound commented on CarlHeyl's status
    Jul 27 '21
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 27 '21
    Great artwork. I really dig the comics.
    sound
    Jul 27 '21
    I like the artwork for the most part but I'm not fond of the fighting.
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  • NSRemixer
    NSRemixer » NSRemixer liked hairylarry's status
    Hi, I checked out your blog and it looks good. I play music too. I'm also into reading fantasy and recording music.
    Jul 22 '21
    0 1
    NSRemixer likes this
  • robertsconley
    robertsconley commented on their status
    Jul 21 '21
    5 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 19 '21
    Interesting post. I felt like the interest in gaming increased during the pandemic but I never looked for any numbers.
    hairylarry
    Jul 20 '21
    Now reading Blackmarsh. As well as "The Broken Sword".
    robertsconley
    Jul 20 '21
    Appreciate you letting me know and hope you enjoy Blackmarsh
    hairylarry
    Jul 20 '21
    Here is the crux of running a game in one quote. "The creativity of the referee comes by not forcing his players to follow a predetermined story, but to develop new and interesting consequences based on the players’ actions. Use the NPC’s motivations and personalities to decide which consequences are the most likely and pick the most interesting. " - Blackmarsh
    robertsconley
    Jul 21 '21
    Thanks for sharing that. The feedback helps me figure out what to focus on when I write more detailed advice.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Just in time for tomorrow's 12th anniversary of my blog, I wrote an article about Garage Con.
    https://followmeanddie.com/2021/07/17/garage-con/
    hairylarry
    Jul 18 '21
    I always think it's a good idea to come up with a thing you want to make you do a job you would otherwise hate to do.
    hairylarry
    Jul 18 '21
    I love the idea of Garage Con especially for the ventilation. I don't think a personal con like this has to be 12 hours. 8 - 10 hrs could work fine and lower the exhaustion factor.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    No game tonight so I'm going to have to work on something. First backup/media/intraweb server. Second Setting Up A Twitch Studio series about technical creative endeavors.
    hairylarry
    Jul 16 '21
    I need a good subtitle for Setting Up A Twitch Studio that implies or other technical creative endeavors.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    We had a good chat last night about Science Fiction and Fantasy literature starting with a discussion about Science Fiction as a late nineteenth and twentieth century phenomenon where Fantasy literature encompasses all of literature going back to the earliest written words. Now they are often indistinguishable. Then we discussed the dystopian trend in Science Fiction. The Golden Age (thirties and forties) saw mostly optimistic science fiction stories but in the second half of the twentieth century starting with the New Wave through today there has been a darker trend with many dystopian and post apocalyptic stories. Then closing the chat we each discussed our first experiences in Science Fiction. Viv and I both started reading SF in the fifties. I mentioned A.E. Van Vogt and Robert Heinlein and Viv mentioned Clifford D. Simak, Andre Norton, and Ursula K. Leguinn. Megan started Science Fiction with the TV series Farscape. What a difference 40 years makes. Please post your introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy in the comments.
    ZDL
    Jul 6 '21
    The Star Trek (original) TV series was my introduction to SF. Then I kind of spread forward and backward from that: the New Wave stuff in one direction (as it was published) and the Golden Age stuff in the other, chiefly Asimov, Heinlein, etc. for that bunch.
    hairylarry
    Jul 7 '21
    Yeah, I was books first and when there was science fiction television I thought, "Oh, wow!" but it rarely lived up to expectations. Except for "The Trouble With Tribbles". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles
    ZDL
    Jul 7 '21
    I was books first in general, but my parents weren't much for SF so I didn't have SF books until after I got exposed to the very notion of it via Star Trek.
    hairylarry
    Jul 7 '21
    I worked at the library shelving books and after I read through all the SF in the children's area I started checking out the Science Fiction they had upstairs. Now I read on my Kindle using Overdrive so still a library patron.
    sound
    Jul 9 '21
    Books have always enthralled me. When I was approaching my teen years A well written story would keep me reading till I fell asleep with the book in my hand. Mother complained about it but she never denied me access to books. We lost my father when I was in 7th grade. It was a traumatic time for us but we survived. When I reached Jr.High School I volunteered to help with the school library. It was a great way to learn just how libraries operate and why books have to be shelved in the right place for things to run smoothly.
    hairylarry
    Jul 11 '21
    I still read at night until I fall asleep. Sometimes I have to reread a page or two in the morning. And what am I reading now? The new N.K. Jemisin Hugo nominee, "The City We Became".
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's status
    Next Monday night on Inspired Unreality our opening topic will be Science Fiction and Fantasy literature. If you have favorites or opinions please comment here and I will use this thread as a resource for the discussion.
    Jul 7 '21
    7 0
    ZDL
    Jul 1 '21
    An alarming trend I noticed over my life—though I haven't read much recent SF or fantasy so I don't know if it's continued—is the inexorable change of speculative fiction from being largely optimistic to largely pessimistic, at least in western specfic.

    Old-timey SF in particular was, even if branded as "horror", still pretty positive at least in terms of the setting. Sure THESE PEOPLE may have died horribly, but the world at large was doing fine, and the reason these people could die horribly was because the world was doing well and humanity was spreading out to the stars!

    Slowly, but surely, across the '70s and into the '80s and '90s that positivity faded. The world was going to be obliterated in nuclear suicide. The world was going to be an unremitting corporate-driven Hellhole of crime and corruption. We were all doomed and the protagonists of stories were the unlucky ones who'd survived.

    Like I said I haven't kept up, so maybe this trend eventually reversed itself (though the popularity of shows like Rick & Morty suggest to me that existential dread and straight-up nihilism still rule the roost). But if it has, that's still nigh-on 50 years of social depression so serious it mimics clinical depression in its feel and its impact.

    Is that something worth discussing?
    hairylarry
    Jul 3 '21
    N. K. Jemison just won three Hugos in a row for her Broken Earth trilogy which was deeply dystopian. So the trend hasn't reversed. I do think there is more variety today then at any time in the past but mostly post apocalytic and totalitarian corporacratacies rule.
    ZDL
    Jul 5 '21
    Do you find this as troublesome as I do?

    In our superheroes we've moved to anti-heroes and psychopaths (I consider post-Dark Knight Returns Batman as a psychopath). In our visions of the future we only seem to be able to picture dystopias.

    There doesn't appear to be hope for anything in popular entertainment. It reminds me of the endlessly depressing post-holocaust fiction of the '80s.
    hairylarry
    Jul 5 '21
    Troubling, maybe. Realistic, probably.
    ZDL
    Jul 6 '21
    I'm not sure "realism" is a net good in this genre. SF used to be a vision of hope. Unrealistic hope, yes, but it gave ideals to strive for. When (not "if"!), in the process of striving for said ideals you fell short, you still made the world a better place in the process.

    We've lot ideals. We're wallowing in cynicism and self-pity. And it reflects in the world around us: people are more self-involved, nihilistic, and short-term focused.
    hairylarry
    Jul 7 '21
    Yes, Megan brought this up in the discussion. This isn't just happening in Science Fiction. Comedys used to be funny or they wouldn't last. Now cringeworthy is a goal that somehow is supposed to have humor embedded in it.
    ZDL
    Jul 7 '21
    She's ... not wrong. Comedies in general haven't been funny in ages. It's been more frat boy pranks and sorority "mean girls" for ages now.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their blog post
    Deep Dive: OSR Critique
    Our little hobby is filled with intriguing oddities.  One of the most persistent such oddities is our weird tendency to take what is already a fr...
    Jun 30 '21
    21 0
    robertsconley
    Jun 28 '21
    Without going into a lot of the detail. OD&D was written for the miniature wargaming community of the early 1970s. This was a community used to running sophiscated multi-session campaign. As there was almost no commercial rulesets, people made their system cobbled together from existing games like Diplomacy, miniature wargames, and above all their own experience in coming up with rules for a specific scenario based on historical or in case fiction.

    What rules were written were usually typed and mimeographed. Mostly used as a reference (charts, tables, etc) relying on the referee or players of the campaign for the explanations of how to use them.

    OD&D was written as a set of guidelines to explain to miniature wargamers how they could run similar campaigns to what they heard was happening in the Twin Cities and Lake Geneva. It was not intended to be for novices picking up a game for the first time off of a bookshelf.

    It subsequent popularity outside of this wargaming community caught Gygax off guard and he and later TSR recognized the issue and started correcting it once they had the resources to do so. For example the Holmes Basic Rules.

    I recommend reading books like Playing at the World, Hawk & Moor, and the Elusive Shift to get a sense of what was happened and why OD&D was what it was.
    robertsconley
    Jun 28 '21
    This is also important why there are big fans of OD&D. It not because of nostalgia or because it was first. It because it represents that early mindset of the hobby. When people understood that there was great fun to be had with gaming but because of the lack of commercial products* had to come up with their own to play.

    OD&D is represent that for tabletop roleplaying. A set of guidelines to be used as foundation for one own campaign. It was understood by its initial buyer in 1974 and 1975 as a starting point for their own campaign. Hobbyists like that idea and build on it for themselves and love how OD&D enables this.

    For example how one weaves a basket in a campaign? In a more recent edition or currently published RPG, likely there is an answer in the system. In OD&D, you would have to come up with your own take. Decide which factor the system already has that is important, attributes? class? level? Or perhaps come up something new for characters like a skill system or my own ability system for the Majestic Fantasy RPG.

    OD&D by its nature forces the referee and players to come up with their own answers. Gygax when writing used his experience running wargames campaign to put in what he felt would be the most useful material. Most of which are lists of stuff (monsters, items, etc.), tables, and charts.

    The characters mechanics were bare bones because wargame campaigns relied heavily on either how reality worked or how it was described in fiction. So if somebody wanted know how far they could jump, then they would look at sports statistics and knowing that a 10 Strength was average figure out what a 15 strength character could do from there. This can be seen in the attitude that Gygax, Arneson, and other referees of the era have about the trend of ever more complex system. One of common answer "Why don't you just look it up in a book or encyclopedia?" Which reflects what they did back in the day.

    Overall my view that this is a style of play, not THE style nor a worse style. Some folks don't have the time to the research like they had to circa 1970. They don't have the leisure time and appreciate authors that take the time to do the work and lay it out nicely in a rulebook. Bonus points if it also straightforward and quick to use and find.

    It helpful to have a through rulebook when the players and referees are novices as well.

    But it doesn't change the fact that for many OD&D does work 'as is'. But it helps to understands the early 70s wargaming mindset to better understand what OD&D does and does not do as a system. In that context OD&D is fine 'as is'.

    *One of the few commercially available ruleset for wargaming was Chainmail. Because of that it will well-known among the small wargaming community of the early 70s. Because it focus on medieval combat, along with the fantasy addenum, and also because Gygax was one of the author. It was mention for use with OD&D as a resource to use.
    ZDL
    Jun 28 '21
    "I have played at tables running B/X or Holmes and, like always if the DM was good the game was good."

    There is an element of truth to this that, however, obfuscates an important fact. I'll illustrate by way of analogy.

    I know a person here who does magical things with wood to the point I call him "the wood whisperer". I have seen him create wonderful works of art with a pen knife and a repurposed screwdriver. So obviously that's all you need for woodworking, right? Because in the right hands a pen knife and a screwdriver are great woodworking tools!

    Wrong.

    He wouldn't even agree with that. His workshop has about, conservatively guessing, 50 gazillion chisels alone: not one of which is a repurposed screwdriver.

    The fact that a good craftsman *can* make miracles with subpar tools doesn't mean that a) they should, or b) they'd want to.

    Yes, some truly great campaigns have been run with Gary Gygax's dross, whether that was OD&D, AD&D, or even ... I don't know ... Cyborg Commando. But every time I hear of these, I wonder inside (and sometimes vocally) how much better they could have been had the GM been using tools that aided him in success instead of gaining success despite the tools at hand.

    You're a musician. Imagine being told "a good enough musician can get by with a penny whistle" and as a result being forced to only ever do music with a penny whistle. That penny whistle is the OSR as it presents itself in my eyes.
    hairylarry
    Jun 28 '21
    Core takeaway. " I think there is room for the OSR concept: simple, fun-focused, hack-and-slash or exploration-oriented, pick-up-and-play games that also have room for depth and soul but that don't have a need for the millions of pages of rules for every contingency." My OSR experience starts with Rules Cyclopedia. I have earlier rulesets but only to collect and browse. I have played at tables running B/X or Holmes and, like always if the DM was good the game was good.
    hairylarry
    Jun 28 '21
    I think part of the thought process behind love of OSR is players remembering their early experiences and how much they loved the game when they started playing. The problem is that each of these players is remembering the game as it was played at their table and it was played differently at every table.
    ZDL
    Jun 28 '21
    I've never actually used the full Cyclopedia, but I did follow the Basic/Expert/whatever the next level was called stack up to that point and found it pretty decent. It was a bit limiting and had some things that really grated on me (like "elf" being a class, or "dwarf") but the information presentation was good and the system was mostly clean, if limited in scope.

    It did lack, however, things that other games had (like elves who weren't 100% fighter/magic-users!:D), like that coherent framework for governing situations not specified in the rules. I understand that was finally added on much later, but by then I was already tearing through dozens of other games and really had left D&D behind entirely.

    What I really want from an "Old School Revolution" is something that has that simple, pick-up-quick vibe of the Basic/Expert/whatever chain but informed by nearly half a century of subsequent game design. Something with a single core mechanism, say, that covers combat, social situations (like hiring henchmen, or bargaining), physical feats, etc. in a single unifying mechanism.

    Like, say, the Cepheus line of rules. Those are looking pretty nice these days.
    robertsconley
    Jun 29 '21
    @ZDL
    1) My overall thesis is that the initial release of OD&D was sufficiently coherent for its audience. And unlike 15 years ago, we have folks like Jon Peterson who done the research and documented what was going on. Which is often at odds with what people remember.

    The problem with OD&D is that it quickly escaped the confines of that audience. Gygax and TSR played catch up throughout the 70s as a result.

    2) I am not sure how you read "Rules for everything" in my comments on what good for novices. But I think we can agree that if you want to write a book that teaches people who never gamed how to play tabletop roleplaying, then you have to more than just be a concise reference for a system however simple or complex it may be.

    Original OD&D was not written for novices to the miniature wargaming hobby at the time.
    robertsconley
    Jun 29 '21
    @ZDL
    As for the format of OD&D, of course it could be better. We are fifty years in and as a hobby and industry we learned a lot about how to explain and present OD&D.

    THE issue of OD&D is that it assume the reader is part of the miniature wargaming community of the early 70s. If the reader wasn't then it a lot of important context was lost.

    For that audience, OD&D was a superior presentation compared to what was currently available. It far more coherent than the other rulebooks for miniature wargaming that I read from that time period.

    To say that Gygax should have done better assume that he had knew or planned for his game to spread beyond the miniature wargaming community.

    Nor is comparing it to publishing standards outside of the wargaming community valid. The wargaming community of the time was it own world and publisher did what they could with the time and budget they had.

    And today in 2021, we know so much more about what happening and what was being done. Thanks to collectors zines, games, and other material from the era has been found and documented.

    As a result OD&D wasn't some poor first attempt but an important step and revolutionary in its own right. And because we have things better documented we can fill in the missing context and enjoy the game 'as is'.

    And to clear there is no "lost' manuscript of missing rules out there. No additional rules. What documented that referee of the time used the rules as a framework and added their own research.
    robertsconley
    Jun 29 '21
    @Hairlarry
    "Do you have any handle on pre D&D rules sets, scans or text files? Thanks."

    I would sign up for the OD&D discussion forum or one of the old school facebook groups. There is https://www.acaeum.com/

    Also the Comeback Inn for Arneson and Blackmoor.
    https://blackmoor.mystara.net/forums/

    Prepare to be disappointed if you are looking for rules. The pre-D&D manuscript are pretty much what in the 3 LBBs of OD&D but specific details added or omitted as Gygax tried out things in his Greyhawk campaign.

    Or in some cases some enterprising playtester got a copy and make their own take.

    Don't get me wrong it is interesting and worthwhile to read and discuss about. But in the end in my opinion it all amount to what I outlined before. They thought of something to play, did the research, assembled or wrote some rules, played, tweaked and played again. Then repeat for something else.

    Because of that most of what there are references, charts, and tables that supported this stuff. Everything else was word of mouth or ad-hoc inspiration.
    ZDL
    Jun 28 '21
    "It helpful to have a through rulebook when the players and referees are novices as well."

    More helpful is a coherent core system upon which people can hang consistent decisions.

    I mean I EXPLICITLY SAID that "having a rule for everything" was insanity.

    There is a huge difference between "having a rule for everything" and "having a rules framework that can cover everything".

    Perhaps it might be best to read what you're replying to before you churn out two responses almost as long each as the original piece? You might not then feel the need to 'splain history I mentioned I was there for most of. Or to answer issues already addressed in the piece.
    ZDL
    Jun 28 '21
    (I note also that you utterly failed to address another key point: that even within the milieu of the time, OD&D's writing was INCOHERENT ROT. It was crap writing just from straight information presentation perspectives.)
    hairylarry
    Jun 28 '21
    Thanks to everyone for their comments. Looks like we've got a hot button issue here. All opinions welcome. Please share.
    hairylarry
    Jun 28 '21
    Specifically for ZDL. I started on Rules Cyclopedia and a mix of that with AD&D. Do you think that Rules Cyclopedia, the whole game in one book, accomplished it's task? By the time it was published everyone knew there was mass market potential.
    hairylarry
    Jun 28 '21
    robertsconley - I played Gettysburg and other war games in the sixties but I was never in a club. Then I skipped forward to Rules Cyclopedia and AD&D because, life. Vivian aka sound played fantasy role playing with miniatures in the early seventies from some of the mimeograph sheets you mentioned. This was in Beebe, Arkansas. Carl helped us research on the internet and we found a war gaming club with a zine that had three or four pages about fantasy role playing. This was pre D&D. Do you have any handle on pre D&D rules sets, scans or text files? Thanks.
    hairylarry
    Jun 29 '21
    @robertsconley "Thanks to collectors zines, games, and other material from the era has been found and documented." This is what interests me. Do you have links, book titles, ...?
    robertsconley
    Jun 29 '21
    @hairlarry

    I recommend right off

    Playing at the World by Peterson.
    Warning: Very Academic and very through.

    Hawk and Moor by Kelly
    Gets more into the personalities not as academically rigorous as Playing at the World but far more readable and approachable.

    The Elusive Shift by Peterson
    Documents what happened to the hobby after the introduction of Dungeons and Dragons. It charts the emerging concept of tabletop roleplaying as something distinct from wargaming.

    Also more relevant to how the hobby is today than the pre-D&D era because of the fact that D&D was written with an audience of miniature wargamers in mind. As a result everybody outside of that like hex and counter wargamers and science fiction fandom developed their own interpretation of what the game meant. And the consequences of these interpretations remain to us this day.

    And it documents those who have some of the exact same objection about OD&D that that ZDL's article has. As well responses to those objections.
    hairylarry
    Jun 29 '21
    thanks
    robertsconley
    Jun 29 '21
    No problem, I don't expect folks to always agree with me but folks should be aware of the wealth of documented history we now have. That it is there for folks to read and draw their own conclusions if interested.
    ZDL
    Jun 29 '21
    > Original OD&D was not written for novices to the miniature wargaming hobby at the time.

    Again, *I KNOW THIS*. This is why OD&D is *NOT* a good thing to fall back on for "simplicity". It is literally a set of guidelines written for a very small group of people in a very narrow area who'd been presumed to know certain things already (like Arneson's long-running proto-RPG campaigns), who had access to specific rulesets (Chainmail, chiefly), and thus knew what Gygax was talking about once you got through his absolutely terrible writing.

    My thesis wasn't "OD&D was a bad thing for its time and place". It wasn't (Gygax's writing notwithstanding). It's a bad thing for *NOW*.

    The goals of the OSR are laudable. Their weird worship of an incoherent mass of lore is not one of those laudable things. That is the point.
    robertsconley
    Jun 30 '21
    Thanks that clarifies the thesis of your original post.

    As for folks and OD&D in the present, what you are not taking into account is that w now know about that "small group of people in a narrow area".

    It not a mystery to the OD&D community and more than a few folks including myself wrote out about it.

    For example Philotomy's Musings.
    http://www.grey-elf.com/philotomy.pdf

    Or Finch's Old School Primer
    https://www.lulu.com/...age=1&pageSize=4


    Folks talked to folks who ran successful OD&D campaign from back in the day and the few that continued to present.

    It not 1995, when people only had the 3 LBB to go by and scratched their head at what looked like a incoherent mass of lore. By 2005 those who didn't dismiss OD&D found out there was more to its story, including myself.

    By 2015 that story had become well known enough that folks figured out and expanded on the different ways to approach OD&D and it had regained some popularity and was supported again. Largely because OD&D did not turned out as incoherent as people thought.

    So unless what had happened for past 20 years is addressed I don't see how a thesis that OD&D is a bad fit for *NOW* can be supported.
    ZDL
    Jun 30 '21
    I think I'm going to just start replying by quoting things already said that you apparently didn't bother reading.

    ===========

    I know a person here who does magical things with wood to the point I call him "the wood whisperer". I have seen him create wonderful works of art with a pen knife and a repurposed screwdriver. So obviously that's all you need for woodworking, right? Because in the right hands a pen knife and a screwdriver are great woodworking tools!

    Wrong.

    He wouldn't even agree with that. His workshop has about, conservatively guessing, 50 gazillion chisels alone: not one of which is a repurposed screwdriver.

    The fact that a good craftsman *can* make miracles with subpar tools doesn't mean that a) they should, or b) they'd want to.
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  • RickStump
    RickStump joined group
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    Total users: 8
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their status
    One of the interesting things that has been brought up is "aulde skoole" gaming and its fond veneration in some memories. It's my opinion (as someone who started in 1977 with the "blue book" edition) that a lot of people are using seriously pink-tinted lenses when thinking back to those early days.

    Which sounds to me like a new kind of blog entry: a historical deep dive.

    Stay tuned!
    hairylarry
    Jun 21 '21
    Sounds interesting
    ZDL
    Jun 21 '21
    Well, I started writing it and then computers did computers and I lost an hour's work.

    I'll try again later.

    I hate these things.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's status
    Mixed parties.

    D&D games today tend to have parties where all the PCs are at the same level. Often the whole party takes an evening to level up.

    In earlier times parties were often mixed. Leveling up was done per person based on XP and XP was doled out by the DM at the end of the evening based on PC performance. Players took notes to remind the DM, I killed that troll or I cast that spell trying to maximize XP earned. Also different classes leveled up at different XP so there was almost never an entire party leveling up at the same time. This took a lot of bookkeeping but that's the kind of geeks we were.

    Also when a PC was killed the player would roll a new character at level 1. So a party of four could have a level 3 thief, a level 4 fighter, a level 2 wizard, and a level 1 cleric. (Who used to be the best fighter until he died.)

    I like this. It adds a certain grittiness to the game and it certainly affects battle tactics. But when I wrote Just Quest as a minimal rules OSR I wrote, "The characters level up on successful completion of a quest". A simple rule for a game designed to be easy to play.

    Where do you stand on this? Do you enjoy playing in mixed parties? If you're a DM do you try to keep your parties at about the same level or do you embrace the idea of mixed parties?

    We may discuss this on Inspired Unreality Monday night or we may just drink some tea with the Milyagon witch and see what happens next.
    Jun 21 '21
    10 0
    Draklorx
    Jun 18 '21
    I think this is a cool aspect of old school games that isn't common anymore. I love the grittiness of it, and the mixed levels never bothered me when I played. I remember even having some guest players over who brought over their level 9 character to our 5th level campaign. It never bothered us.

    That said, for a dungeon master it's much easier to do milestone leveling and have all the players be the same level. It's a lot less to keep up with, and certainly for writing adventures I think it takes a load off the DM if they only have to worry about writing it for 4-6 players of 3rd level, than 4-6 players of 2nd-5th level.
    hairylarry
    Jun 18 '21
    Less bookkeeping for players too. Pencil and paper used to be required. And tasks were assigned. Map making, accounting, ...
    ZDL
    Jun 18 '21
    There are several aspects of old school games I like, most notably the increased diversity that randomness tended to cause.

    The wildly divergent capabilities of characters, however, was not one of them. In the presence of most GMs, having the weakest character meant a) dying, or b) not having anything to do. Neither of these is really conducive to enjoyment.

    There are a handful of GMs I've met in my life who could give equal "screen time" to characters of wildly divergent capabilities, but those are few and far between.

    Mixing levels amplifies this already-existing problem tenfold in my books. (Never mind that levels measure nothing meaningful in D&D; that's a rant for another day.) If you're the first level magic user in a group of 3-5th level other things, your entire gaming session consists of cowering in the corner and hoping you don't get noticed. You have nothing you can do that helps anybody (unless you're lucky enough to have gotten Sleep -- in which case you got to do one thing that might have slightly contributed), and this will also very badly impact your ability to level up to a point where you can be useful.
    hairylarry
    Jun 19 '21
    Points well taken. (and I really want to hear your rant for another day, that levels measure nothing meaningful in D&D.) Some things a DM can do to address your points are to start the new character at second or third level but still in the bottom ranks of the party. Level the character up quickly by adjudicating extra XP for doing well in spite of the low level disadvantage. Help the low level character out with found spells or magic armor/weapons.
    hairylarry
    Jun 19 '21
    And then there's the whole non combat side. The role playing, puzzle solving, exploration part where characters of all levels are more equal and the results depend more on the player than on PC stats. And DMs can award XP for good performance in non combat situations.
    hairylarry
    Jun 19 '21
    There is a built in premise in OSR games. PCs need XP to level up. You get XP by killing monsters. So, let's go kill some monsters. At a lot of tables that is the game. To me, it's a side show and as I get older I run more games that are all exploration and role play without any combat at all.
    hairylarry
    Jun 20 '21
    Liz wrote: "Just wanted to add something since I'm not sure i can even make it Monday. Mom at one point started a drop-in drop-out/open play DCC campaign (it didn't last very long due to where we lived) so I have a little experience.
    What she did was give each player that was there their 4 level 0 characters for the funnel. After that, we all picked a character to level to level 1. The idea would be that it took 1 game to get to level 1, 2 additional games to get to level 2, 3 games for level 3, etc.
    If a player was to have their character die, they'd start again with either 4 level 0s or a level 1.
    So figuring out when you level is easy, since you only have to count the number of games you were able to play in. But you would still eventuality get level differences, as players die or miss games (again, this was supposed to be for open play)"
    CarlHeyl
    Jun 20 '21
    I'd like to add that in the oldest of old school most of your XP came from earning treasure not killing monsters. Which means two things 1. You don't have to fight that big bad monster if there was a way around it to get the treasure behind it. and 2. Your lower level character would level very rapidly because of the amount of gold the higher level party was able to procure.

    I appreciate the comments about mixed level parties being difficult to adjudicate for. But one thing that is different for old school (unless I am mistaken they changed this in later editions) is that any magic user could use any scroll. Even if they are not high enough level to cast that spell. So if you have a low level wizard among your 5th level parties dropping a few scrolls changes the whole dynamic.
    hairylarry
    Jun 20 '21
    I didn't know that. When I mentioned scrolls I was thinking of more spells per day not stronger spells. Also when I was first playing D&D we got almost all our hit points from killing monsters just because the game wasn't treasure oriented. Generally speaking group XP is always the lion's share and will help low level characters level up fast.
    ZDL
    Jun 21 '21
    You may level up quicker sure.

    Provided you don't get instakilled by the first creature larger than a kitten that takes a swipe at you.

    Provided you don't get BORED being relegated to the sideline for multiple grueling hours of watching OTHER PEOPLE have fun.

    I mean my calculus is simple: I play games for fun. If I'm not having fun, I don't go to that game anymore. I don't plan fun on spec. It's fun out the door or I move on.

    The non-combat things that hairylarry mentioned can ameliorate this, but in my experience those tended to be few and far between in most campaigns. You'd have a short time in the village talking to the villagers and then it's the next fifteen sessions in the dungeon.

    There are a great many things to praise in the old school. The way mixed-level parties worked was not one of them. Some GMs could figure it out. Most couldn't, leaving the low-levelled character's player bored and/or frustrated and, very likely, absent next week.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Chicken Scratch Notes
    I've been working on the chicken scratch for Ari's book of teas and potions.

    m = ^
    n = ^
    v = v
    t = +
    l = |
    r = \
    d = /o = ou = uw = w
    other ...
    hairylarry
    Jun 11 '21
    I checked on Discord. The ingredients for the second tea blend are lavender, rose hips, rose buds, and mint. Maybe it's a mood elevator and maybe it's a love potion.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Setting Up A Twitch Studio - Workflow
    Everyone wants to buy equipment but nobody wants to think about workflow. Yet, without a well defined idea about anticipated workflow it's difficult t...
    Jun 7 '21
    1 0
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Episode 197 - Down the Rabbit Hole of UAPs-UFOs

    With the recent buzz over the release of some videos of various sensor date of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, the new term for UFO, I decided to explore "What if...." and apply it to the realm of RPGs.

    Episode-197---Down-the-Rabbit-Hole-of-UAPsUFOs-e11la3a
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Wow, just realized that this month marks 38 years since I graduated high school....
    I started playing D&D 6 years before that, so 44 years of D&D and I still can't get enough.
    May 26 '21
    3 1
    sound likes this
    hairylarry
    May 24 '21
    I started in the early nineties so that's 30 years for me.
    sound
    May 26 '21
    I started roll playing in the early 70s which was very different than Gary Gygax's D&D. We convened in the Arkansas State Beebe Student Union when we had the time and picked miniatures from whatever was available. The rules were typed on letter paper and were mimeograph or Xerox copies.
    FollowMeAndDie
    May 26 '21
    Cool!
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Any ideas for Inspired Unreality tomorrow night?
    hairylarry
    Apr 26 '21
    It will be Family Game.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    This week I took the plunge and tried my first serious effort at solo RPG play.
    Episode 196 - Solo RPGs
    hairylarry
    Apr 25 '21
    We've discussed solo play here before. I guess I'll have to try it to get it. I am definitely into 1 DM and 1 player. Viv and I did that for an Ari and Caper adventure. Ari, the PC, had a smart wild cat, Tude, for a pet. Her sidekick, Caper, was an NPC so I ran the game and 1 NPC in the party and Viv ran Ari and Tude. That really worked well.
    hairylarry
    Apr 25 '21
    Just had an interesting listen. Gamers chuckdee and Peter_R are both into solo gaming. https://archive.gamerplus.org/groups/7
    ZDL
    Apr 26 '21
    I use a system called "Mythic" as a capstone system to do solo RP. It works quite well, the really cringe-inducing illustrations notwithstanding.
    ZDL
    Apr 26 '21
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Megan and I shared our twitch experience, to date, last night on Inspired Unreality.
    hairylarry
    Apr 25 '21
    My twitch experience is broadening. Mostly technically. I got a newer tablet and two lights for the studio. I've also put into place post production work flow and backups. I ordered 2 4TB drives cause I'm gonna need them.
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  • sound
    sound commented on ZDL's photo
    I got this new game on Sunday last, got a chance to play it today. And, unlike most strategy games I play against SO, I won! 😂
    Apr 19 '21
    9 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Apr 12 '21
    Beautiful and simple setup. What's the strategy?
    ZDL
    Apr 12 '21
    The game is a prettier version of the game Gobblet, it turns out. (https://www.boardspace.net/gobblet/english/gobblet_rules.pdf) Each player has three stacks of nesting cylinders (12 pieces total) and the board is 4×4. In alternating turns each player may choose one of:

    1. Take the TOP piece of an off-board stack (i.e. the largest) and place it on a blank space.
    2. As #1, but place it over (any, regardless of colour) SMALLER piece already on the board.
    3. Move any showing piece of that player's colour to a blank space on the board.
    4. As #3, but place it over a smaller piece.

    The goal is to get four in a row of your own colour: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. If you touch any piece in play that you can play (on the board, not in your stacks), you *must* play it. If lifting up a piece reveals a line of four of the opposing colour, and your move doesn't stop that line of four from completing, you lose. (In other words there's a memory component to the game.)

    It's fast (a long game is 15 minutes) and it's simple to learn. It may be a perfect "we've got a few spare minutes, let's play!" game.
    hairylarry
    Apr 13 '21
    I like the simplicity of the rules.
    ZDL
    Apr 13 '21
    It's suited to fairly young children, yet has depth that kept two adults playing a few times on the first trial.
    hairylarry
    Apr 14 '21
    Or maybe a grandparent and grandchild. In our hopefully soon post pandemic world.
    ZDL
    Apr 14 '21
    I'll be playing it with a 13 year old boy sometime this weekend. I'll let you know.
    sound
    Apr 15 '21
    Hi ZDL, how are you? Sounds like you have been busy. We have been doing a little rearranging here. Seems like we do it every spring. Makes the house feel enough different that we enjoy the effort. Hope you have some time to enjoy the rest of the week.
    ZDL
    Apr 17 '21
    I'm less busy at work now (back to five day weeks) so much more busy over weekends finally. :D
    sound
    Apr 19 '21
    I'm looking forward to warmer weather just not hot weather. That being said I cant wait to to see our flowers blooming all over our yard. Spring begins here tomorrow.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Family Game tonight! Woot!
    Apr 10 '21
    1 1
    ZDL likes this
    hairylarry
    Apr 10 '21
    I liked it too. Looks like we're going up against a Frost Giant. Gonna have to be clever. The direct approach doesn't seem wise.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's blog post
    Four Webcomics
    Here's four webcomics that I like and some of them even have something to do with gaming.
    I don't like rom com movies much. In fact I don't like movi...
    Apr 4 '21
    8 0
    ZDL
    Mar 28 '21
    I used to read OOTS almost compulsively. It's been around for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

    I'll check out the other ones starting with Gunnerkrigg.
    hairylarry
    Mar 29 '21
    Do you have any other favorite webcomics? I love that part where you're going through the archives and it seems like the goodness will never end. But before you notice you're waiting for the next episode and you only get to enjoy one or two episodes at a time.
    ZDL
    Mar 29 '21
    There was one I enjoyed (Sluggy Freelance) until it went a bit too far off the rails for my tastes.
    hairylarry
    Mar 30 '21
    Thanks. I found it. Looks interesting.
    ZDL
    Mar 30 '21
    Gunnerkrigg is really very good!
    ZDL
    Apr 3 '21
    And I'm caught up on Gunnerkrigg. Wow is that an interesting storyline!
    hairylarry
    Apr 4 '21
    I"m enjoying it too. Kind of a modern day fantasy with gothic art.
    ZDL
    Apr 4 '21
    With a hint of native American flavouring that is kind of nice too, yes.
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  • sound
    sound commented on hairylarry's photo
    Dabaw The Wizard casts spells with his eyes in the D&D room at gather.town during the Family Game Weekend.
    sound
    Mar 28 '21
    Casting spells is difficult at it's best. It's impressive you can do it with your eyes.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their photo
    My last set of literal gem dice. This is my favourite semi-precious stone: bloodstone. This gives me a full set of unakite (selected because it's basically indestructible, being essentially granite), a full set of bloodstone, and a "mongrel" set of a variety of stones (shown earlier). And a full set of dice made from dichromic prisms.
    Mar 21 '21
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Mar 20 '21
    Not as shiny but in some ways the coolest. Are they pretty heavy?
    ZDL
    Mar 21 '21
    Yes. They're quite heavy.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    In last Sunday's game the party assaulted a castle full of hobgoblins and goblins.

    Emulating Battle In Roll20
    Mar 20 '21
    1 1
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    hairylarry
    Mar 20 '21
    We just took on the Black Knight in Heroes and Wizards who came out of his tomb to fight us as both a wraith and a zombie skeleton. Needless to say our party of both Heroes and Wizards dispatched both of them and then discovered that in his library were documents proving the King's specious claims to the throne!
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Here's my icosahedron. It's part of my recording studio, acoustic room, vocal booth, out of control room. I'm going to make a sign that says Roll To Hit. A double double-entendre.
    Mar 15 '21
    5 1
    ZDL likes this
    ZDL
    Mar 14 '21
    Isn't this a dodecahedron? Icosahedrons are the 12-siders, no?
    hairylarry
    Mar 15 '21
    I know it's counter intuitive but dodecahedrons are 12 siders and icosahedrons are 20 siders.
    ZDL
    Mar 15 '21
    But you mentioned "icosahedron with the hieroglyphs" in my gem dice picture and that's a 12-sider.
    hairylarry
    Mar 15 '21
    My mistake. Glancing at the photo I thought it was a 20 sider. So what are the hieroglyphs for, anyway?
    hairylarry
    Mar 15 '21
    I see you already answered this question.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's photo
    More new dice. These are literal gem dice.
    hairylarry
    Mar 14 '21
    Thanks. I like the icosahedron with the hieroglyphs.
    ZDL
    Mar 14 '21
    That's an astrology d12: those are the sun signs or whatever those are called. The stone for that one is "blue sandstone". In person the stone has odd depths. The gold flecks are such that they give the illusion of being layered. Quite nice.

    The d4 is a stone I can't find the English term for: it's literal translation is "natural black wood grain gemstone". It *might* be a petrified wood, but if it is it's smoother and more amorphous than any of those I've ever seen.

    The d6 is blue turquoise (sintered, obviously: a real chunk that size would cost more than a car!), the d8 is a brown tiger eye, the 0-9 is lapis lazuli, the 00-90 is something that translates as "red sandstone" -- it's gold-flecked like the blue one -- the d12 is opal, and the d20 is green malachite.

    The d6 with the weird glyphs in the foreground is something translated as "colourful jade" and that's one half of a pair of Tibetan divination dice. (The other half is still being etched. It will be made of "egg yolk opal".)
    hairylarry
    Mar 15 '21
    Yep, the hieroglyphic dice have pentagons for faces = 12 sider.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Gamer+ News March 8, 2021
    After a couple of fun chat sessions we are returning to Ember tonight for some more actual play. The Chronicles Of Ember is set in a unique role playi...
    Mar 9 '21
    4 0
    hairylarry
    Mar 8 '21
    I followed you.
    ZDL
    Mar 8 '21
    Followed back. I think. (I'm still not used to it.)
    hairylarry
    Mar 9 '21
    Anyone else using the fediverse?
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on Aqualith's blog post
    An open invite!
    Hi all,
    I know I've been a bit absent from Gamer+, but hoping to change that in the near future starting... now! 
    I am currently open to new cl...
    Mar 8 '21
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Mar 8 '21
    Best of luck with aqualith.media
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  • Aqualith
    Aqualith liked hairylarry's status
    Vivian, Liz, and I were joined by Alan and Dice Master last night on Inspired Unreality. Besides the importance of NPCs we also discussed AI, WOW, and Minecraft. Not surprisingly, everyone had opinions.
    Mar 7 '21
    0 1
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    hairylarry
    Feb 28 '21
    With guests Levi Combs and Will Hose.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » CarlHeyl commented on sound's status
    Hey, how's things?
    ZDL
    Feb 25 '21
    Things are OK. You?
    sound
    Feb 26 '21
    Getting there. The older I get the longer things take. Hope you are doing fine.
    ZDL
    Feb 26 '21
    Well, 2020 was a year of two months of terror followed by 9 months of 6-day workweeks, so glad to see the back end of that year going away.
    hairylarry
    Feb 27 '21
    2020 was a year of staying home for us.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    We weren't able to play Chronicles Of Ember Monday at Inspired Unreality so Liz and Viv and I had a nice visit. Some of it about gaming.
    sound
    Feb 24 '21
    Liz is pretty astute about gaming. I appreciate her approach and her attitude.
    hairylarry
    Feb 25 '21
    Yeah, and she has opinions too.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • sound
    sound liked CarlHeyl's photo
    A picture from my B/X game at my FLGS
    Feb 24 '21
    0 2
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  • sound
    sound liked CarlHeyl's photo
    A picture from my B/X game at my FLGS
    Feb 24 '21
    0 2
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    Sometimes the crystal is dark and inspiration hard to find. Keep trying, ideas will flow again.
    Feb 24 '21
    2 1
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    hairylarry
    Feb 24 '21
    Sometimes the muse is amusing. Sometimes you've just got to do something else for awhile.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Feb 24 '21
    Yeah
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    The newest video in my series, Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner.

    Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner No. 23 - Making Links

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoA-K1qRtvg
    Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner No. 23 - Making Links - YouTube
    Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner No. 23 - Making Links**********************************Roll20: https://roll20.net/Roll20 Tutorial: https://app.roll20.net/ed...
    hairylarry
    Feb 24 '21
    <a href="url">link anchor</a> --- sorry bout that. Couldn't help myself.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    My thoughts on Getting Started with Science Fiction RPGs.

    https://followmeanddie.com/...cience-fiction-rpgs/
    ZDL
    Feb 23 '21
    I used to have real trouble with SF as a gaming genre outside of space opera. The solution turned out to be in the very problem statement.

    As you identified, there's just so much bewildering *variety* in science fiction in terms of genres, tones, scales, et al that it's almost, but not quite, a useless term.

    Once I figured out that the reason I had problems with the genre outside of space opera was precisely because space opera is a very specific subset of science fiction, the rest fell into place: now I don't play science fiction games. I play "space exploration". Or "world settlement". Or "interplanetary trade". The key was always in my hand, without my recognizing it: focus.

    Nice article that brings back so many years of frustration and its eventual resolution for me.
    hairylarry
    Feb 24 '21
    I didn't really understand SF gaming until I played in RoboG's game. I went for a computer technician and loved making up all kinds of stuff with cyber jargon. It's like you get to be a hacker without having to do all the work. Essentially every computer, data jack, cable, or robot became a path to more information. I enjoyed that.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Hopefully nothing else comes out of the blue and delays things this year.

    https://followmeanddie.com/...-with-the-card-game/
    Feb 19 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Feb 17 '21
    I don't do card games but I'm interested in yours when it's available.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Feb 17 '21
    Thanks! - I wasn't a card game guy until I invented one.
    ZDL
    Feb 19 '21
    I'm a huge fan of card games, but more of the traditional variety (though I play a lot of commercial ones too). Currently I'm a fan of "Six Tigers".
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on MyrddinWyllt's status
    Things are really dead here.
    hairylarry
    Feb 14 '21
    We're cold. We have a podcast Monday night.
    hairylarry
    Feb 16 '21
    Also I'm a deadhead.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    Hurray! Not sure what time this happened, but thank you to all you re-tweeted and especially to all who subbed. I took the day off work, so I'll put out a video later today.
    Feb 15 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    FollowMeAndDie
    Feb 15 '21
    Corrected Image:
    hairylarry
    Feb 15 '21
    This is going out in Gamer+ News.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Feb 15 '21
    Cool!
    You need to sign in to comment
  • ZDL
    ZDL liked FollowMeAndDie's status
    I've added a new tag on my blog: Download for all the posts with a link to download a PDF or Google Sheet, or one of my PDFs on DriveThruRPG.

    If there's something on my blog you'd like me to make a PDF or spreadsheet available, please let me know which blog post.

    https://followmeanddie.com/tag/download/
    Feb 14 '21
    0 1
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I just uploaded my twenty-first PDF to DriveThruRPG: Dragon Name Generator [Affiliate Link]. It has been almost exactly a year since I released my last new PDF.

    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/...?affiliate_id=203222
  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt liked ZDL's status
    新年快乐! (Happy New Year!)
    Feb 13 '21
    0 2
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  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt commented on their status
    I've been running a game of Lords of Olympus for the last 5 months. If anyone here likes Greek Mythology and enjoys the idea of playing Gods and Demigods in an infinite Multiverse I would highly recommend it.
    Feb 9 '21
    11 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Nov 15 '20
    Does it work for a one off or only as a campaign?
    MyrddinWyllt
    Nov 15 '20
    I suppose it could work as a One Shot... But the game seems to work better as a campaign.
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    I wonder if ZDL has played it.
    ZDL
    Feb 6 '21
    Nope. It has two strikes against it: first it's based on Amber which is really not my cup of tea, second it was made by someone who I would never wish to support financially in any way.

    I like Precis Intermedia, the publisher, but one of the authors Brett Bernstein champions leaves me absolutely cold.
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    Roger Zelazny's Amber?
    ZDL
    Feb 6 '21
    There was (ages ago!) an RPG based on Zelazny's books. This is the same system, just retooled for Greek mythology.
    hairylarry
    Feb 7 '21
    So I guess it's the Amber game system you don't like. The Amber books are great. SF/Fantasy adventure narrative. One issue with the book is that the protagonist is actually Hitler or should I say was Hitler since the series starts just after that unfortunate episode (from the point of view of the Amberites). The reason I don't think the magic system is good for RPGs is because walking in shadows and walking the pattern are solitary endeavors so it's diffiucult for a party when every time the magic system is invoked they go their seperate ways. Maybe ok for a single player and a GM.
    ZDL
    Feb 7 '21
    Yes, I meant the Amber game specifically, yes. I really didn't like it at all, and this game is that same game with a Grecian skin.
    MyrddinWyllt
    Feb 7 '21
    It's actually somewhat different. The Magic is different, the setting is different and the rules are based more on the unpublished Amber 2e. As to Pundit, I agree with not liking him, like at all. However I really like his games which by and large are divorced from his idiotic nonsense.
    ZDL
    Feb 8 '21
    I have no opinion on the quality of his games because no money will ever leave my hands to buy them, nor will any of my valuable time be wasted on examining them.

    I generally don't buy from people I despise.
    MyrddinWyllt
    Feb 9 '21
    Fair enough
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on MyrddinWyllt's photo
    Feb 9 '21
    5 0
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    I think I recognise this place out of a book I read. It's an abandoned haunted city with these exact monsters. Now if I could only remember the book. Maybe in Wheel Of Time? I know, that doesn't narrow things down a lot.
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    Shadar Logoth.
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    MyrddinWyllt
    Feb 7 '21
    This is actually from Hollow Earth Expedition.
    hairylarry
    Feb 9 '21
    Cool. The artwork is very pulp fiction.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    I'm interested in feedback.

    I'm working on a master spreadsheet of gear & supplies price list for D&D and other fantasy RPGs.
    I copied all the items from most/nearly all of the RPG PDFs I have to get the most common items.
    I plan to add links to explain what some of the more obscure items are.
    It will have things like the standard name of the item and price, but also size & weight, capacity for containers & wagons, and range and damage for weapons, and AC for armor.
    All the things that always come up in play in one spot so players can see it
    Availability, how common it is, prices for varying quality are also things I am considering.
    The idea is a tool that the players will use to free up GM time, and will be a tool the GM can use in Session Prep.
    If there is something you think should be on here, please let me know.
    For example, something you've needed to buy in game and the GM had to come up with it.

    One thing I just thought of that I should consider, is the price of bulk goods, like grain, flour, lumber, ore, furs/pelts, etc. That would make it useful for planning various forms of treasure/wealth to be gained.

    Feb 8 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Feb 7 '21
    Would you post this as an online reference or maybe a pdf file. Also would be good in spreadsheet format so it's easy to add/modify for a specific game or campaign. If we could only regain all the time we spent at the table paging through books looking for a niggling stat. Or you can just do like me and make up crap on the spot. The most common origin for house rules is making up crap on the spot and then it sticks.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Feb 8 '21
    I plan to put up a PDF & spreadsheet on DTRPG when it's "done". A spreadsheet will make it so much more user friendly.
    Making stuff up is great, if you can remember it or write it down for later.
    I want this to also spur creativity in players and GMs to come up with their own things.
    hairylarry
    Feb 8 '21
    Yeah, I would want the spreadsheet so I could add items.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I don't know why my brain comes up with game related acronyms so easily.

    BASIC:

    Beginners
    All Purpose
    System of
    Infinite
    Coolness

    OR:

    Beginners
    Awesome
    System of
    Infinite
    Coolness
    Feb 8 '21
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Feb 7 '21
    It's built into the game. D&D: Dungeons And Dragons, NPC: Non Player Character
    FollowMeAndDie
    Feb 8 '21
    lol, yup
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on MyrddinWyllt's status
    So I have bee roped into running Hollow Earth Expedition. Luckily I really like the game. I just hope that I have a better time running it than that aborted attempt years ago.
    Feb 7 '21
    3 0
    ZDL
    Feb 6 '21
    I had it (in its first edition, I think?) and liked it and couldn't get anybody else interested in playing it. :(
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    Is it based on "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" or is it just inspired by it?
    ZDL
    Feb 7 '21
    Inspired by a whole lot of fiction including JttCotE, yes.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • ZDL
    ZDL liked hairylarry's photo
    Feb 7 '21
    2 1
    ZDL likes this
    sound
    Feb 6 '21
    Great job on these guys!
    hairylarry
    Feb 7 '21
    And thanks for the little houses.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's status
    food is good and that doesn't rhyme even though it should
    Feb 6 '21
    4 0
    ZDL
    Feb 5 '21
    There's a whole poem about things that should and shouldn't rhyme that don't and do respectively.

    http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html

    English is a failed experiment. We need to find a better language!
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    That's cool. I got to the second verse and I had to express my pet peeve about the Wheel Of Time books. There is a major city called Tear. But how is it pronounced? How hard world it have been to spell it Teer or Tare? What was Robert Jordon thinking? How can I be nitpicking such a fantasy classic? Well ... I can.
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    Synchronicty is running strong this morning. Anyway I added Chaos to MixRemix. https://mixremix.cc/...erard-nolst-trenite/
    ZDL
    Feb 6 '21
    When I was teaching oral English (16 years!) I had a standing challenge: if you could recite The Chaos (reading or memorized, I didn't care!) without a mistake you got an automatic A and didn't have to come back to class ever.

    I never, in 16 years, had a student pass that test. :D
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on MyrddinWyllt's photo
    Feb 6 '21
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    This also is so cool I'm trying to derive the origin. Openings to the center of the Earth at the North Pole and the South Pole. The Bermuda Triangle. But what are the two cliff formations?
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on MyrddinWyllt's photo
    Feb 6 '21
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Feb 6 '21
    I love the stonework defenses. Is this a photo or a painting? I see the warriors on guard but then I see a couple of people in modern dress. Do you know the origin?
    You need to sign in to comment
  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt liked ZDL's blog post
    Fringe Review: Bloodshadows: Fantasy-Noir Roleplaying
    Full disclosure: I was given this game for free by its publisher.  This was not done for purposes of review (more out of pity!), but it would not...
    Feb 5 '21
    0 1
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    If you have data on your computer you consider important, now is a great time to back it up!

    I use Backblaze online backup for $6.00 per month. If my PC dies and the hard drives fail, I can get my data back.

    All my RPG stuff in electronic format, including my blog backups are all safe!

    You can get a free month and help me get a free month if you decide to buy the service using my link:

    https://secure.backblaze.com/r/01cjx8
    Feb 2 '21
    5 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jan 31 '21
    Good backups are essential. My brother uses a similar service called Carbonite and he swears by it.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Jan 31 '21
    Yes, no matter what you want to keep, back it up.
    hairylarry
    Feb 1 '21
    I'm never sure so I back up all of our home directories. We mainly use Xubuntu Linux so that's all of our personal data. I back up in house to two backup servers. I rsync everything to one server with 11 TB. I am working on my second server using a backup program called Restic. I recommend this approach only if you are a retired computer consultant who builds machines for fun and is always looking for something to do with them. I'm literally surrounded by computers. To my right is the Hairy Larry Rocks server running Yunohost. https://hairylarry.rocks To my left is my HP workstation where I do most of my work and my MixRemix server running a LAMP stack. http://mixremix.cc And in front of me is my proxy server directing web traffic for my server subnet and an extra big UPS to keep things running when the lights go out. If you don't really understand everything I'm talking about here you might want to use an online backup service like Follow Me And Die does. (I'm not just a gaming geek, I'm a computer geek too.) Cheers!
    ZDL
    Feb 2 '21
    SO has set up something that backs up my personal stuff onto a network thing every hour and that thing itself backs up the critical stuff to Baidu Cloud daily.

    He did this the day after he had to spend three weeks painstakingly recovering a decade of pictures from a hard disk that broke... :-/
    hairylarry
    Feb 2 '21
    Yep, the only thing harder than making good backups is not making backups. It's not if you lose your data it's when. I don't know how many times I've preached this. When I would take on a new client the first thing I made them do was put a backup system in place. And then I would check it. I wouldn't do anything until then because I have been known to make mistakes too. The last thing I wanted to happen was them telling people that their new computer guy lost their data.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Some musings on solving challenges with less combat.

    https://followmeanddie.com/2021/01/26/non-combat-solutions/
    Feb 2 '21
    11 2
    ZDL and hairylarry like this
    hairylarry
    Jan 27 '21
    I like to write non combat modules or combat light modules where there is a possibility of combat but it isn't baked in.

    Fortunately Vivian likes to play non combat.

    For many players the combat is the game. I'm with you. I avoid combat. And when I do combat I prefer tactics, plan B, tricks and general sneakiness.

    But if I'm at a table where the players love combat. Roll for initiative.

    Thanks
    ZDL
    Jan 27 '21
    I had my Great Awakening in the early '80s, and that actually led me away from the D&D family because so many people not only just assumed combat, but assumed combat to the death with no quarter, no fleeing: just grinding down hit points to 0 on one side or the other then moving on to the next hit point grind.
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '21
    And D&D doesn't have to be played that way but it is common. And more common in 5e with more powerful characters out of the box and death saves.
    ZDL
    Jan 29 '21
    Yes, I know it didn't have to be. :( My "great awakening" was the realization that there was more to life than rolling d20+d<damage> non-stop. But I couldn't find others who thought that way in the AD&D circles I frequented, so I moved on to DragonQuest (where I knew players who did non-combat).
    sound
    Jan 30 '21
    As a DM who got involved in the early days of roll playing I tried to prohibit the idea that if you were in combat it must end with somebody dead. The thought that maybe this situation could be resolved by talking through it rather than hacking and slashing wasn't usually employed. I often docked points from those who just wanted to kill without any other choices made available. Real life sometimes seems to follow that route now and then and I think using it as entertainment is just asking for increasing bad choices in our youth.
    ZDL
    Jan 30 '21
    I think the problem was that a lot of early role-players stepped into it from the world of war gaming. (I didn't.) I'm positive a lot of the people I gamed with in the early days just viewed the characters as complicated playing pieces to optimize the movements of, not as characters in a setting.
    hairylarry
    Jan 31 '21
    And that's the kind of combat I like to play. Where you use strategy and work as a team to win the combat. If that means they run away or surrender you still win. But I prefer avoiding combat most of all and as a player try to roll dice as least as I can.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Jan 31 '21
    Yeah, figuring out how not to use all your resources in one fight so you have enough to accomplish your goal. Less fighting leads to less time wasting healing up and going back to town empty handed.
    hairylarry
    Feb 1 '21
    Especially if there is a time element. You must retrieve the potion before the full moon to keep your friend from turning into a werewolf ... Can't waste time fighting and healing. Let's figure out a way to sneak around those kobolds.
    ZDL
    Feb 2 '21
    Time pressure is a GM tool more GMs should use more often.
    hairylarry
    Feb 2 '21
    I agree and I build it into my modules when I can. For instance the party was tasked with gathering medicine and with the people in the neighboring village sick they needed it by tomorrow. In my latest quest the party has to get a branch off the ancestor tree in a magic forest with about a bajillion hills and a big old tree at the top of every one. The catch was the ancestor tree glowed with a fey glow when the moon was full. So you know that only happens every 28 days so they had to be in the right place at the right time.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on sound's status
    Winter is upon us and it's a good thing to have distractions like Gamer+ to help us keep busy and active. Hope all of you are staying warm and content. ... Sound.
    Jan 28 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jan 25 '21
    Winter is coming.
    ZDL
    Jan 28 '21
    Winter is only breathing hard here. :-/ I miss snow.
    hairylarry
    Jan 28 '21
    It snowed here last week. But it didn't stick. Anymore we go through a lot of winters without snow. And then there was the ice storm where everybody lost electric for weeks.
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  • sound
    sound liked relatedtogeeks's status
    Megan TV at https://www.twitch.tv/megantopia - Like indie games? So does Megan.
    Jan 25 '21
    0 2
    sound and TabletopBellhop like this
  • TabletopBellhop
    TabletopBellhop » TabletopBellhop commented on hairylarry's status
    I posted your profile link in the newsletter.
    Jan 25 '21
    1 1
    TabletopBellhop likes this
    TabletopBellhop
    Jan 25 '21
    Thank you!
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  • TabletopBellhop
    TabletopBellhop commented on TabletopBellhop's joining our site
    sound
    Jan 10 '21
    Hi guys, good to see more new faces. Welcome aboard.
    TabletopBellhop
    Jan 25 '21
    Thanks!
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's photo
    sound
    Jan 17 '21
    This is a rather head scratching pic for me. The robin seems to be perfectly calm or maybe it is just so stunned and perplexed it can't move.
    hairylarry
    Jan 17 '21
    The robin is ensorcelled by the necklace.
    sound
    Jan 23 '21
    I see. Well that explains it I reckon.
    ZDL
    Jan 24 '21
    There is rather a lot going on in this picture...
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  • sound
    sound commented on their status
    Fairy tales have always drawn my interest. They can be so far out there that I just shake my head or on the other hand they can garner not only my interest but my desire to participate in the story.

    Jan 23 '21
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jan 17 '21
    Fey fantasy has a different feel than medieval fantasy but still the two worlds interface quite well. In the "Lyonesse Trilogy" Jack Vance writes of a medieval civilization with enchanted woods where the fairies live. The heroine, Madouc, is a changling who is half fey by birth.
    sound
    Jan 23 '21
    I read it but it's been years ago. Vance is one of my favorite writers.
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  • sound
    sound liked hairylarry's photo
    Egg Strategies on XKCD. https://xkcd.com/2408/ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
    Jan 10 '21
    0 1
    sound likes this
  • sound
    sound commented on ZDL's status
    I'll just post this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ybWOBckIGI

    Enjoy!
    古琴电音,赛博朋克!《大夏2049》时运多艰,人力不弃!天真·自得3.0——自得琴社跨年音乐会live - YouTube
    《大夏》原是上古时期歌颂夏禹治水之乐舞。昔洪水天降,生灵罹难。禹治山河,以利黔首。而今临时疫,万力同心。苦雨终晴,斗转尽昼。枯木前迹,万木待春。生生不息,是谓大德。今以此为感,重拟新声。作曲:唐彬 编曲:梅卓、郑琳电古琴:唐彬 电子音乐:梅卓 原声古琴:白无瑕 古筝:蔡珊琵琶:古津宁 ...
    Jan 10 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jan 9 '21
    This is cool. Like a big rock show.
    ZDL
    Jan 9 '21
    This group does recreations of ancient works, new works done in ancient styles, modern-style orchestration with ancient instruments, and off-the-wall stuff like one of their orchestral pieces where a didgeridoo is a prominent instrument.

    I love them!
    sound
    Jan 10 '21
    Oriental music often wings off into interesting combinations of instruments and self expression. I believe this is a good thing and a way to add form to sound.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked sound's status
    As Winter approaches I think about how I can best use my time. I am house bound and if it weren't for the Internet expanding my walls I think it might become even more tedious. I miss getting to visit with my kids and grand kids and with friends far and near. Thanks to phones and other communication devices I have managed to stay in touch. Hoping Covid becomes a thing of the past soon and we can enjoy the company of family and friends once again.
    Jan 5 '21
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    Jan 5 '21
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jan 3 '21
    Wow! Powerful writing. I experienced similar things. Vivian fell and broke her leg and knee in December, 2019. Just when she was in therapy covid hit. We went immediately into voluntary quarantine. Our Friday night family game run by my son Kier turned into a Friday night virtaul game. Then we started a Tuesday afternoon game run by my son Carl. This probably wouldn't have happened without the quarantine. When your only chance to interact with your grandkids is by playing D&D on Discord then you play D&D on Discord. For a long time we didn't know anyone who got covid. Then I heard about friends of friends and then a girl that used to play drums and sing in my band. Megan has been locked down a couple of times, this last time because a child at the shelter where she works tested positive. One of my grandsons got it and that family was quarantined. They're all ok now, we had a Zoom gift exchange today. Earlier in the year Megan took over the food pantry at the church. Little did she know how needed that service would become. So everybody's experience with 2020 is different but all the echoes are the same. Reading your post brought my year back to me. Thanks so much.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Jan 3 '21
    Wow! Sounds like you had a doozy. Glad all is working out!
    hairylarry
    Jan 5 '21
    Ups and downs, same as always, just more downs and a lot more worries.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Since 2020 was the year of disappointment, I'm not bothered by missing my goal of 1,000 YouTube subscribers.
    I made it to 969, and today it is 970.
    I think I can manage 30 subs in 12 months.

    https://www.youtube.com/c/Followmeanddie
    Follow Me, And Die! - YouTube
    The YouTube Channel for my RPG blog, Follow Me, And Die! I talk about RPGs, games, and other geeky stuff: reviews, how-tos, advice, and GM tips
    Jan 4 '21
    4 0
    hairylarry
    Jan 2 '21
    2021 will bring you to over 2000 subscribers.
    ZDL
    Jan 2 '21
    Unless whatever 2021 has in store for us depopulates the planet to under 2000 people. But, I mean, that goes without saying.
    hairylarry
    Jan 4 '21
    Always the optimist. I blame it on too much dystopian gaming.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Jan 4 '21
    lol
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked FollowMeAndDie's status
    My worldbuilding Cheatsheet just reached 300 views!

    It's only been 8 days since I mentioned it hit 200 views.

    https://cheatography.com/...eets/world-building/
    World Building Cheat Sheet by Larry Hamilton - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion
    World Building Cheat Sheet by Larry Hamilton - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion
    Building a world for RPGs (Role Playing Games) has several steps to consider and two general approaches for how to implement those steps. The general methods are top down and bottom up.
    Jan 2 '21
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's status
    A Hippy's New Ear to one and all!
    Dec 31 '20
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Dec 31 '20
    I just watched Megan on twitch.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's blog post
    Gamer+ News December 28, 2020
    Inspired Unreality open game chat, tonight at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. Our opening topic will be "And Wh...
    hairylarry
    Dec 30 '20
    Well we brought the past into the present and pushed the present a little bit into the future but we still can't wait for that screen door to hit 2020 on the ass.
    ZDL
    Dec 31 '20
    2020 houndsight: "That was a rough seven years!"
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's photo
    hairylarry
    Dec 30 '20
    I love the crane terrorizing those fish.
    ZDL
    Dec 31 '20
    That's lovely and evocative.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I made a Worldbuilding cheatsheet on Cheatography. I didn't realize that a draft was visible until I started getting emails that it was seen 50, 100, and now 200 times.

    Let me know what you think.

    I've got edits in mind, but the Cheatography interface is counterintuitive

    https://cheatography.com/...eets/world-building/
    World Building Cheat Sheet by Larry Hamilton - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion
    World Building Cheat Sheet by Larry Hamilton - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion
    Building a world for RPGs (Role Playing Games) has several steps to consider and two general approaches for how to implement those steps. The general methods are top down and bottom up.
    Dec 29 '20
    6 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Dec 26 '20
    We played Microscope on a Related to Geeks video. It is a world building RPG where you play out scenarios to build the world. Surprisingly it is top down and bottom up at the same time. And fun to play too.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 26 '20
    I've read about Microscope, but have yet to get or play it.
    ZDL
    Dec 28 '20
    If I didn't have Spark, I'd likely use Microscope as my favourite game instead.
    hairylarry
    Dec 28 '20
    Is Spark world building too?
    ZDL
    Dec 28 '20
    Yes. The very first thing you do in a proper (non-prefab setting) Spark game is build the world. It's glossed over in my review.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 29 '20
    How To Build a Dungeon is world building related to dungeons, but is more a mental exercise for the GM than a stand alone game.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Gamer+ News December 21, 2020
    Inspired Unreality tonight! Open game chat. Our starting topic will be the importance of tradition in life, literature, and games.

    Join us every Mo...
    hairylarry
    Dec 22 '20
    Ok, Dirty Santa is a new tradition in our family that we weren't able to give up so we had to play it virtually. Horsengoggle is another favorite Christmas game that I learned first divvying out extra desserts at summer camp. We ended up talking about the Girl Scout camp where Vivian helped when she was at ASU. So, good times all around.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Virtual Dirty Santa
    We played Virtual Dirty Santa on Discord yesterday. We all passed the wrapped gifts around on a gameboard and then we opened them in order.
    Here are ...
    hairylarry
    Dec 18 '20
    I posted some of these to http://relatedtogeeks.com
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  • sound
    sound commented on hairylarry's status
    I like to tell Dad jokes. Sometimes he gets them.
    ZDL
    Dec 12 '20
    I hate you.
    hairylarry
    Dec 13 '20
    My granddaughter told me that.
    hairylarry
    Dec 13 '20
    Except she said sometimes he laughs.
    hairylarry
    Dec 13 '20
    We've got a whole thing about how "I don't get it" is a punch line.
    sound
    Dec 15 '20
    No kidding every kid got to experience that one.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Inspired Unreality open game chat tonight at 9:00 Central. Chat every Monday night in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord.
    hairylarry
    Dec 15 '20
    We had a good time last night discussing our recent family game weekend and what worked best for us. The highlights for me were the Dirty Santa game and the DCC game. Vivian like the Saturday morning chat. She's really old school.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked ZDL's status
    So yesterday I posed a "wrong answers only" challenge (https://archive.gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3068?ft=site) on a picture. I said that there was a gaming-related point that I'd explore later.

    Later is now.

    That is something that is pitched as an "eternal pen" (or sometimes "eternal pencil"). It writes like a pencil, but is about as difficult to erase as an ink pen, hence the inconsistency in names. And while not "eternal", it will outlast me. If I wrote a lot daily using only that pen, in a decade's time I might start noticing a bit of wear at the tip. If I rotate the tip as I use it—say between pages—I may not ever notice wear over the rest of my lifespan.

    So how is this potentially gaming-related? This "new invention" that got a lot of press a while back (like ... 2015 or so?) is really just the latest rendition of something called "silverpoint" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint) What's old is new.

    Before pencils existed, metalpoint did. The metal used could be lead (hence "pencil leads" – the first pencils used lead for the core), copper, brass, or, as the name suggests, silver. The technology and tooling fell by the wayside over the years as pens that carried their own ink (instead of requiring inkwells) and erasable pencils showed up. The former were more flexible than metalpoint while the latter had the advantage, from the seller's standpoint, of constantly requiring updates. You didn't buy one and use it for decades. You bought one and used it for a few weeks and bought another. And another. And another. Also metalpoint required tough papers and was rough on the hands. (Writer's cramp is a very real problem with silverpoint...)

    But now, with newer alloys, the writer's cramp angle is going away and with a cultural shift away from environmentally-hostile disposable culture, silverpoint, or a close kissing cousin, is making a comeback.

    Past technologies are a gorgeous ideas mine. A lot of amazing things were made in the past that fell by the wayside for a variety of reasons, not all of them having fallen to superior alternatives. (I'd argue that silverpoint is one of these: I like my metalpoint devices like this one better than pencils. Erasure is a non-starter for me. I don't make mistakes…) As a GM, part of doing good world-building is to look at alternative courses of technological evolution. What would the world look like if metalpoint were kept as the foundational writing/drawing form? What would the world look like if shipping had expanded from junks instead of caravels? There's a huge mine of ideas in history just waiting for someone to go spelunking through it.
    Gamer+ - social networking
    Gamer+ - social networking
    ZDL uploaded 1 new photo to Newsfeed Photos album
    Dec 11 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Dec 9 '20
    3 0
    sound
    Dec 9 '20
    I think the goat is jealous of the wizards beard.
    hairylarry
    Dec 9 '20
    I'm jealous of them both.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Open game chat tonight in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. Opening topic Family Game. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.
    Dec 9 '20
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Dec 9 '20
    We spent an hour talking to Megan and never talked about family game. So I guess I get to recycle that one.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on sound's status
    This is my second day leading my horse Tango who has injured his leg. I am hoping this next town will have a blacksmith that can fix his shoe and hopefully knows what needs to be done about his hoof. It's been a tedious journey so far and we're both tired and hungry.
    Dec 9 '20
    5 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Dec 7 '20
    Where are you going? How did Tango hurt his leg?
    sound
    Dec 7 '20
    I'm heading to some place called Birkenstock. Not real sure where it is exactly. The guy that gave me directions told me to get on this trail and follow it till I got to the town and then to ask for the local blacksmith. Tango stepped into a hole and fell. I was sure his leg was broken but after I examined it I decided he had just injured his hoof.
    hairylarry
    Dec 7 '20
    I know that blacksmith. His name is Burt.
    sound
    Dec 8 '20
    Well that's convenient. Can you give me directions to his shop? Or does he call it his forge?
    hairylarry
    Dec 9 '20
    His forge is in Birkenstock. You can't miss his forge. Unless you miss Birkenstock.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's photo
    What is this? (Wrong answers only, please.)
    Dec 9 '20
    3 0
    ZDL
    Dec 8 '20
    There is a point to this, gaming-wise, that I'll expound upon after laughing at some of your suggestions.

    This falls into the realm of "lost inventions" and those are a treasure trove of ideas for gaming.
    sound
    Dec 9 '20
    Celery square dancing.
    hairylarry
    Dec 9 '20
    a lamp pull
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 6 '20
    4 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Dec 5 '20
    I am in the middle of my first reread of the trilogy. I read it in the late sixties so it's a wonder I can remember it at all.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 6 '20
    Yeah, I've read it perhaps a dozen times and still find "new" things. Most likely I missed rather than forgetting since there's so much there.
    hairylarry
    Dec 6 '20
    Since I read the book and then over 40 years later I saw the movie some of the stuff in the movie replaced the book in my memory. Now that I'm rereading it I notice those things. The movies are a visual joy but the book tells a much better story.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Dec 6 '20
    I agree.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on hairylarry's status
    Rule 1 - don't whistle on Discord
    Dec 2 '20
    7 0
    ZDL
    Nov 29 '20
    What, not even Dixie?
    hairylarry
    Nov 29 '20
    Especially not "Dixie"!
    ZDL
    Nov 30 '20
    I shall look away then.
    hairylarry
    Nov 30 '20
    I get it!
    ZDL
    Nov 30 '20
    :D I was wondering if anybody would. Some call my jokes "too subtle". Those not trying to be polite call them "terrible".
    hairylarry
    Dec 1 '20
    My idea of the perfect joke is one that goes over everybody's head except for one person who is Rolling On The Floor Laughing His Ass Off.
    ZDL
    Dec 2 '20
    I've pulled those off once or twice in my life only. It generally requires a three-language pun or the like.
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  • sound
    sound commented on their status
    It's been a while since I have run a quest. The older I get the more I forget.
    hairylarry
    Nov 29 '20
    Do you want to run one?
    sound
    Nov 29 '20
    Maybe
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on sound's status
    I need some zippity dodaday, but it hasn't shown up yet. Maybe it's dragging it's appearance in the hope I will miraculously come up with some without help.
    hairylarry
    Nov 27 '20
    Jiminy Crickets Sound! I'm in the same boat.
    sound
    Nov 28 '20
    I managed without it so I guess I managed without help.
    ZDL
    Nov 28 '20
    I'd love to help, but my get-up-and-go got up and went. :-/
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Brief article using a lot of illustrations of Dave Trampier.

    I had the thought, what if your next campaign only used monsters illustrated by DAT? Or build an adventure around those monsters. Something similar could be done for creatures by other artists.
    https://www.heavymetal.com/...anual-dave-trampier/
    hairylarry
    Nov 25 '20
    Take your inspiration from where it comes. Although it seems like a limitation to take ideas from a single artist it actually frees the DM from having to pick from everything. And during the quest your art will have consistency which is as important in a game as it is in a book.
    hairylarry
    Nov 25 '20
    We have the Players Handbook and the Monster Manual at the link. Really cool books. A lot of DMs took their inspiration from these books.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » Megantopia commented on sound's status
    Good morning, just watched some of your feed. Which game do you think I would enjoy the most?
    Nov 24 '20
    1 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Nov 24 '20
    I think she would like the Regency solitaire game.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    The Archive Of The White Master - basic D&D - Session 6
    Session notes for November 18, 2020

    When we enter the temple Marusan is gone, The skylight has been replaced. Everything looks like it did the firs...
    sound
    Nov 23 '20
    Ari, curious as usual, walked over to the bed and began poking around with a walking cane she uses for many purposes including prodding things she doesn't want to touch with her hands. When she lifted the pillow at one end it puffed out a cloud of mist that had Ari jumping back quickly.
    sound
    Nov 23 '20
    What kind of glamour is that? Lets leave till it dissipates we don't need any hocus pocus to deal with right now.
    hairylarry
    Nov 23 '20
    Caper wants to know what it smells like. Seemed like a bad idea at the time.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked sound's status
    Hi to all, I'm new to this feed. The plus is I get to explore and an opportunity to make new friends.
    Nov 22 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I published a new podcast episode.

    Episode 193 - Catching Up The Story

    I catch up on the story of the party for the seven sessions that have occured since the last episode.

    https://anchor.fm/...-Up-The-Story-empmho
    Episode 193 - Catching Up The Story by Follow Me, And Die! • A podcast on Anchor
    Episode 193 - Catching Up The Story by Follow Me, And Die! • A podcast on Anchor
    I catch up on the story of the party for the seven sessions that have occured since the last episode.
    hairylarry
    Nov 21 '20
    So you need to take a break every so often too.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Nov 21 '20
    Yup
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked FollowMeAndDie's photo
    I now have 951 subscribers on YouTube! 42 Days to reach my goal of 1,000 subscribers by year end....
    Nov 21 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
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    hairylarry commented on their photo
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » MyrddinWyllt commented on their status
    Hey, how have you been doing?
    Nov 16 '20
    4 1
    MyrddinWyllt likes this
    MyrddinWyllt
    Nov 13 '20
    I've been doing pretty good. Just dealing with family drama.
    hairylarry
    Nov 13 '20
    Our family drama is down to just me and Vivian so, fairly tame. We're playing a virtual game with kids and grandkids tonight.
    MyrddinWyllt
    Nov 15 '20
    Nice!
    hairylarry
    Nov 16 '20
    Tonight on Inspired Unreality our opening topic is NPCs. 9:00 PM Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt joined group
    Writing Modules and Module Assets
    Writing Modules and Module Assets
    A place to discuss the fine art of creating modules. Please post links to your modules, text from modules in progress, ideas you've been thinking a...
    Total users: 16
    MyrddinWyllt
    chuckdee
    thebaron
    jdaylett
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  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt joined group
    OSR and NSR memes
    OSR and NSR memes
    Don't let your (old/new school role-playing) memes be dreams. Post them here and lets all have a laugh.
    Total users: 7
    MyrddinWyllt
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Gamer+ News November 2, 2020
    Gamer+ News November 2, 2020

    Join us for Inspired Unreality open game chat, tonight at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern. ...
    Nov 2 '20
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Nov 2 '20
    Looks like I sent this out with the wrong date. No, we fell back only one hour not almost a year.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    Halloween Eve! Does that even make sense?
    hairylarry
    Oct 30 '20
    Maybe it's recursive.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I've just updated my Silver Seller PDF, Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places with a second edition that is revised and expanded.

    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/...?affiliate_id=203222
    Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places - Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment LLC | DriveThruRPG.com
    Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places - Follow Me, And Die! Entertainment LLC | DriveThruRPG.com
    Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places - A collection of information and random tables to help Game Masters create more unique locks and other means of securing
    Oct 19 '20
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Oct 19 '20
    I bought it! Looks great. Can't wait to use it in a game. Far better than you can/can't unlock the door/chest/etc. Variety is the spice of D&D.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Oct 19 '20
    Thanks!
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their blog post
    Fringe Review: The Terran Trade Authority Roleplaying Game
    This one is a weird one folks, so strap in and get ready.

    Today's game is The Terran Trade Authority Roleplaying Game (henceforth TTARPG ...
    Oct 9 '20
    6 0
    hairylarry
    Oct 8 '20
    Probably not as bad as you say. Most people don't read most of the rule books anyway. And they're going to page forward to character generation. I agree. They shouldn't have to. And given the book I would likely give up before I found character generation. But that's me.
    hairylarry
    Oct 8 '20
    I think the real unanswered question is who's going to play this game? There's no established fandom or compelling feature set.
    ZDL
    Oct 8 '20
    That's a mystery to me too.

    In the '70s and '80s there would have been a HUGE fandom based on the popularity of the TTA books. Those books were DYNAMITE and probably helped set the feel of SF gaming despite never being directly used. (You can see a lot of TTA look and feel in Traveller...)

    By 2006 there was no demand for this book and, as their attempt to rejuvenate the series would have shown them, there was no way to make demand. Anybody who wanted to game in the TTA universe was already doing so with other games--a task rendered simple by virtue of the fact that the books were almost ruthlessly focused on SPACESHIPS and installations, not people. You could fit almost any game system and it would work. Add in the terrible editing on the new book, plus the terrible information design of the game itself, and, well, there's a reason why this is a fringe game.

    And believe me, it is as bad as I say. Stuff players need to make characters and actually play is mixed in with setting information and fluff in ways that makes it difficult to find. And, indeed, so difficult to find that even if you do use the ToC to get to character generation, you'll still need information in the info dumps to proceed ... with no cross-referencing nor easy stand-out way to spot it.
    hairylarry
    Oct 9 '20
    I see.
    hairylarry
    Oct 9 '20
    I've only done SF gaming a couple of times but I enjoyed playing a computer geek.
    ZDL
    Oct 9 '20
    In SF games I tend to play badass types. Gunners. Infantry. Rocket riders (fighter pilots). That kind of thing.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked FollowMeAndDie's status
    Episode 192 - Death of an Anti-Paladin

    Session before last was a near TPK, this session was revenge!

    https://anchor.fm/...-Anti-Paladin-ekif8e
    Oct 4 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Mushrooms north of my house.
    Oct 3 '20
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Oct 3 '20
    The blue in the background is the cat house. I wish I had cats in the background too.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's status
    Wow! My latest episode where I explain the origins of "Follow Me, And Die!" reached 134 total listens. It's now my 4th most listened to episode. My first three episodes are my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most listened to respectively.

    https://anchor.fm/...w-Me--And-Die-ejrngf
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 26 '20
    And now it's my number one most listened to episode!

    Wow!
    hairylarry
    Sep 27 '20
    I'm gonna go listen.
    hairylarry
    Sep 27 '20
    That was good but I actually liked the near TPK better. I guess I'm just hooked on D&D action.
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  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt liked hairylarry's status
    Tomorrow night, Monday, September 21, at 9:00 Central, we will be playing Milyagon Treasure Hunt on Inspired Unreality. If You Play You Win, actual play open table.
    Sep 24 '20
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  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt liked hairylarry's blog post
    Gamer+ News September 21, 2020
    Gamer+ News September 21, 2020

    Happy Autumn. Fall is here. Summer is over. Winter is coming.

    Tonight on Inspired Unreality we continue our quest...
    Sep 24 '20
    1 1
    MyrddinWyllt likes this
    ZDL
    Sep 21 '20
    It's been autumn for a while! Mid-Autumn festival is in 8 days and it's a bit later than usual this year!
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on Yourbuddy75's status
    Also, we had our Searching For Destiny stream today. Not that we are great thespians, but I think this link could be added in and maybe you’ll like our game. https://youtu.be/T88_2rdisKM
    Sep 23 '20
    4 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Sep 20 '20
    Anyone can add links. I already have your youtube feed on our list. Thanks for all you do. Always let me know about any projects you are working on and we will promote them at Gamer+.
    Yourbuddy75
    Sep 22 '20
    Sweet, I was wholly unaware of this.
    Yourbuddy75
    Sep 22 '20
    Also, there are times where I probably upload a video where I’m ranting about non-game related items. It may be best where my whole YT channel isn’t echoed here.
    hairylarry
    Sep 23 '20
    Same with some of my RSS feeds. Not entirely game related. And some of the others. So no problem with that. If it's important to you you can add all your game vlogs to a playlist and we can follow that. But it doesn't matter to us. Everyone has more interests than just gaming.
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  • Yourbuddy75
    Yourbuddy75 » MyrddinWyllt liked hairylarry's status
    Hi, Good to see you here. I followed you over to your blog which is really cool and clearly follows your selection of games. So ... nice.

    Thanks
    Sep 22 '20
    2 2
    MyrddinWyllt and Yourbuddy75 like this
    MyrddinWyllt
    Sep 19 '20
    Thank you. I'm glad you like it.
    hairylarry
    Sep 20 '20
    Yeah, I've been reading some of your posts. And they're not all about horror which is great because I'm not really into horror. Now my kids, they love horror. But they mostly play D&D.
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  • Yourbuddy75
    Yourbuddy75 » MyrddinWyllt liked hairylarry's status
    I added your blog to our list and now you are appearing randomly in the footer under Blogs, Podcasts, Videos and always at the Gamer's Homepages link.
    Sep 22 '20
    2 2
    MyrddinWyllt and Yourbuddy75 like this
    MyrddinWyllt
    Sep 19 '20
    Awesome, thank you Larry!
    hairylarry
    Sep 20 '20
    Thank you. We have so many creators here. The only way to keep up is by aggregating an RSS feed made up of all their feeds. Be sure you checkout the View Last 60 Items here link. It is the hidden gem of Gamer+.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their photo
    Sep 20 '20
    1 1
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    hairylarry
    Sep 20 '20
    Yourbuddy75, are you familiar with Weapons and Warriors?
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Frustration is when you sign up to run a scenario at two online conventions in the coming weeks, & you can't find your notes from the first time you ran it....

    I KNOW that I saved it. I keep almost everything. At least my RPG stuff will be organized in the process of finding it....
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 20 '20
    Well, I found my notes, but not all my pre-gens..... I have a stable of AD&D pregens on PDF at various levels and the 5th level ones are not to be found on my PC, nor the hard copies.

    It's an online game, so hard copies is not the issue, I just don't want to have to level up my pregens again....

    Now to type up my handwritten notes so I can find them faster next time....
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their blog post
    Fringe Review: Story Engine
    Today's review is going to come from the weird side of game publishing.  The game is Story Engine and it has a fairly convoluted history tha...
    hairylarry
    Sep 19 '20
    Everything is imperfect. Sounds interesting. The only similar game I have played is Microscope which is world building a scene at a time. I enjoyed that a lot. I also find the dice pool interesting. You get curves and you get to roll a lot of dice at once which is always fun.
    ZDL
    Sep 20 '20
    The dice pool mechanism in *Engine* (not *Bones*) with its aspects and rolling ones thing is actually very nice. It's quick. It's easy to explain and understand. The "auto ones" thing for skills is a clever way of having skills make you more reliable at certain jobs instead of playing the escalation of difficulties and penalties game.
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  • Yourbuddy75
    Yourbuddy75 liked that MyrddinWyllt and hairylarry are now friends
    Sep 20 '20
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  • Yourbuddy75
    Yourbuddy75 commented on their photo
    Sep 19 '20
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    hairylarry
    Jan 27 '20
    Love the lava lamp.
    Yourbuddy75
    Sep 19 '20
    I have two of them. The goal is when I move into an actual house, is to have two of them in every room. I find them great for what I want.
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  • MyrddinWyllt
    MyrddinWyllt joined group
    Palladium Megaverse Role-Players
    Palladium Megaverse Role-Players
    Heya there, everyone! I'm SethmoThePoet, and this is my little Group based around games made by Palladium Books. Since TheEvilDM's reviews on Palladiu...
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    MyrddinWyllt joined group
    Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
    Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
    A place to discuss Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Mutant Crawl Classics and DCC Lankhmar by Goodman Games as well as related third party products. 
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    MyrddinWyllt liked that MyrddinWyllt and TGirl_Kelley are now friends
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    MyrddinWyllt joined group
    King Arthur Pendragon
    King Arthur Pendragon
    A group celebrating Greg Stafford's masterpiece RPG. For Arthur & Glory!
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Episode 190 - Why Follow Me, And Die!

    I discuss where Follow Me, And Die! came from and why I chose it for the name of my blog and other social media.

    https://anchor.fm/...w-Me--And-Die-ejrngf
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    I received my copy of the zine, Hunters In Death from the Kickstarter by Gothridge Manor.
    hairylarry
    Sep 16 '20
    So I take it that this is your green screen at work and you're not actually out in front of a desert village. I'm into zines. Let me know what you think of Hunters In Death.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 17 '20
    Correct. I didn't quite have the lighting right, so I couldn't just delete the greenscreen. I used a photo editing app to put the ruins in the background on a new layer. I used my webcam in photo mode. It works better in video mode using OBS since it masks out the greenscreen.
    hairylarry
    Sep 18 '20
    Thanks. I'm thinking about getting a green tablecloth to DIY my own green screen.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 18 '20
    Yeah, I have a green bedsheet. I may try it as it covers more of what's behind me easier than the one I paid $70.00 for.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their blog post
    Fringe Review: Starships & Spacemen
    We're reaching deep into the wayback machine for this review.  Today's fringe gem is another game from the (in)famous game publisher Fantasy Game...
    hairylarry
    Sep 16 '20
    Interesting. I don't know about dramatist but i am more interested in role playing a story with character development than I am in fighting. This is still a minority position. Most games I play in seem to be one combat encounter after another which I can enjoy even though it's not my preferred play style. Thanks again for sharing this history with us.
    ZDL
    Sep 16 '20
    There's a lot of little gems in the early days of RP (1974-1984, call it) that didn't survive not because they were bad but because they were ahead of their times: the public wasn't ready for the ideas, and of course they were breaking new ground and made mis-steps.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    Finally have my new LEDs up, plus a hook for my headphones. Next to run a wire to easily set up my green screen. I hope to have the oomph to do a video tonight. The third picture shows how out of square my nearly 100 year old house is. The last picture is me testing the setup before getting cleaned up to do a new video.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 11 '20
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 11 '20
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 11 '20
    hairylarry
    Sep 13 '20
    So are you using this for livestreams? Screencasts with picture in picture? What are you using for a green screen? I am very interested in this type of video production. I am planning on setting up for something like this in the Icosahedron.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 13 '20
    I use it to record YouTube videos, and also for livestreams. I bought a greenscreen that hooks on the back of a chair, but it leans, so I ran a wire to hang it from.
    I use OBS to control the camera and the stuff I show. I can do any kind of video production that my computer can handle.
    hairylarry
    Sep 13 '20
    Yeah, I use OBS to record podcasts on Discord so I'm set up for that. I do a lot of video production but lately it's all been audio so I'm looking forward to getting set up kind of like you so I can make videos without having to do a bunch of post production.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 13 '20
    Yeah, a good setup with the right conditions and remembering to turn on the microphone, and speaking clearly and to the point makes it a lot easier to edit with fewer takes.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    Had to do a picture for something at work to show a bit about us. Promoting GaryCon and showing off a print of my brother's art should be good. Yes that is all stipple.
    hairylarry
    Sep 10 '20
    I love the dragon. Do you have a scan or a photo you could post to take it out of the background.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 10 '20
    Anything I'd post online would be tagged with my brother's name and copyright, plus, I'd need his permission. I wish he'd sell prints of some of his stuff online, but he doesn't do art for the money.
    hairylarry
    Sep 11 '20
    It can take the fun out of it. Art for money. I am always in favor of attribution and a copyright notice. Maybe he would like to join Gamer+. Thanks
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 11 '20
    My brother is a Luddite, he uses a computer, but not on the internet.
    hairylarry
    Sep 11 '20
    I envy him. (not really, just sometimes)
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 11 '20
    LOL
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's photo
    I reached 900 YouTube Subscribers today!
    hairylarry
    Sep 10 '20
    I just went and checked and I'm already subscribed. I did notice you are already up to 902. 1000 is just around the corner.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their blog post
    Too Much Information Or Maybe Not Enough?
    Some D&D players meet a stranger on the road and start into talking and just blurt it all out. I mean, "He seems nice enough." is not a good excus...
    ZDL
    Sep 10 '20
    Can't you train them out of that by just having them get bitten a few times?
    hairylarry
    Sep 10 '20
    Only if I'm the DM. And when I'm the DM I hate to have the NPCs lead the PCs. I have played in games where the DM just said it outloud. I can't answer questions you don't ask. Worst come to worst the NPC can just blurt out the important info for no reason but I don't like that either.
    hairylarry
    Sep 10 '20
    If only every player at my table knew exactly what I was hoping they would do. Wait. That's not good either.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    Stattys, the company that owns Noteboard is closing their US branch. They have a 20% off sale using the code “we-wish-you-well” I have one and just in case, bought another using this code. I am not affiliated with the company. These were all the rage in the G+ days. If you don't get one now, you'll be paying European shipping prices to get one.
    Sep 5 '20
    2 0
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 5 '20
    Here's their website:

    https://thenoteboard.com/
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 5 '20
    It has a grid on one side and blank on the other. Use a wet or dry erase marker and you've got a portable flip map for minis or just drawing a map to show players. Great for use at convention games.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked FollowMeAndDie's status
    Wow! 39 of my episodes are over 100 listens each. With an average of 81 listens each episode. The most listens is episode 0, at 171 listens.

    https://anchor.fm/follow-me-and-die
    Sep 4 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    Sep 3 '20
    6 0
    hairylarry
    Sep 2 '20
    Wow, you're even busier than I am.
    hairylarry
    Sep 2 '20
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 2 '20
    Nice!
    hairylarry
    Sep 2 '20
    I really think awarding XP at the end of the session is great. It helps keep the players on top of what they've done and take a few notes so they can claim xp. And after being "in game" you get a nice meta break to talk about "the game".
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 2 '20
    Yes, I normally do that if they get back to town. My rule is, you have to get the loot to town to live and tell the tale to level up.
    hairylarry
    Sep 3 '20
    I allow mid campaign level up. Helps them get back to town sometimes.
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on FollowMeAndDie's photo
    This made my day. From the Discord for my Sunday Game:
    Sep 3 '20
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Sep 3 '20
    I like it.
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on hairylarry's status
    I read FollowMeAndDie's blog about Session Summaries and I decided to do as he suggested on our If You Play You Win actual play campaign. So here goes.

    Week one - August 31, 2020

    Ari, Caper, and Tude (Ari's wildcat) got a message from Kendricks to go see the witch at Milyagon. The witch gave them their quest, to bring back an owl's tail feather, some squamish mushrooms, and a branch from the ancestor tree in the Wilkin Woods. She also mentioned that no one knew more about Wilken Woods than the woodcutter.

    The party went and talked to the woodcutter who drew them a map and gave them sage advice about the fairies.

    They entered Wilkin Woods and traveled nearly all the way across it on Woods Way. About halfway across they ventured south and found the first marked owl's eyrie. Returning to Woods Way by traveling due north they found a landmark, a tree with a burl on it that looked a little bit like a face with knotholes for eyes.

    Continuing along Woods Way they realize they must have passed the second marked eyrie. Caper leads the party back, leaving the road to the west of the eyrie which they also find. It is now evening so they eat supper and prepare to camp hoping for more luck with these owls in the night.

    XP
    ---
    group XP for surviving a day in Wilken Woods - 200
    for getting the quest from the witch - 50
    for getting the map and advice from the woodcutter - 50

    Ari - finding the first eyrie - 50

    Caper - finding the second eyrie - 50
    - climbed two trees successfully - 20 + 20

    Sep 2 '20
    1 1
    FollowMeAndDie likes this
    FollowMeAndDie
    Sep 2 '20
    Cool!
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I started a new blog to document my prostate cancer from diagnosis to prognosis in hopes of helping other men.

    https://menshealthinmyperspective.com/
    hairylarry
    Aug 28 '20
    It's great that you're doing this. I hope things go well and you continue in good health.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Aug 28 '20
    Thanks! I honestly expected to be in more pain. I've only had one dose of acetaminophen today. Most pain is just fleeting, like if I move wrong or bump my abdomen.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » Joshua commented on their status
    Hey, Josh. Was that you who logged in at the end of our podcast? We start every Monday night at 9:00 Central and usually run 60 - 90 minutes. We use both the gamerplus text chat and voice chat so you can participate even if you don't have a microphone. It is always open game chat. Everyone is welcome.

    Thanks
    Joshua
    Aug 19 '20
    Yep, that was me, tried messaging you all to say I couldn't unmute my mic but could only listen in but you all didn't see it, I didn't know you all use the chat here.
    hairylarry
    Aug 20 '20
    No, we use the chat on Discord. We use both the gamerplus text chat and audio chat at the same time so we can share pics and links while we talk. Please come again to our Monday night open game chats. It's fine to not use your mic. We always have both available.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • Joshua
    Joshua liked hairylarry's blog post
    Gamer+ News August 17, 2020
    Gamer+ News August 17, 2020

    Tonight at 9:00 PM Central the Related To Geeks Book Club will be discussing "Armada" by Ernest Cline. Find us in the g...
    Aug 17 '20
    0 1
    Joshua likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked FollowMeAndDie's status
    Today is my brother Robert's birthday. He's the one who got me started with Holmes Blue Box. I had money from mowing lawns, so I bought it. He was the first GM. He is my favorite GM. I emulate many of his methods as GM.
    It's also the 55th anniversary of me becoming a big brother.
    Aug 2 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on Alan's status
    I don't know if this is the place to do this, but if I'm wrong Larry will delete/move it and give me a stern talking-to.

    The Chronicles of Ember Starter Set launches in THREE DAYS (That's Aug. 1st, 2020 for the non-calendar minded)! Check my profile for more information on this EXCITING and NEW product! It's... cool. :D
    Jul 30 '20
    1 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 30 '20
    This is the right place.
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  • Alan
    Alan liked hairylarry's photo
    The Chronicles of Ember RPG. Cold. Savage. Fuzzy.
    Jul 29 '20
    0 1
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  • Alan
    Alan commented on hairylarry's status
    Please welcome Alan, the creator of The Chronicles Of Ember, a unique role playing experience.

    https://chroniclesofember.com/

    https://archive.gamerplus.org/user/Alan
    ZDL
    Jul 24 '20
    Hello, Alan!
    Alan
    Jul 26 '20
    Heyoi! Good to be here!
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  • CarlHeyl
    CarlHeyl joined group
    3D Printing
    3D Printing
    Show off your miniatures, props, scenery, and terrain. Share tips and links to diy info and downloadable STL files. Photo by CarlHeyl. https://game...
    Total users: 4
    CarlHeyl
    chuckdee
    sound
    hairylarry
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry liked FollowMeAndDie's status
    My YouTube channel passed 850 subscribers today!

    https://www.youtube.com/c/Followmeanddie
    Follow Me, And Die! - YouTube
    The YouTube Channel for my RPG blog, Follow Me, And Die! I talk about RPGs, games, and other geeky stuff: reviews, how-tos, advice, and GM tips
    Jul 25 '20
    0 1
    hairylarry likes this
  • Alan
    Alan » Alan commented on hairylarry's status
    Good to see you here.
    Alan
    Jul 23 '20
    Glad to be here! (I'm secretly taking time off)
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's photo
    hairylarry
    Jul 20 '20
    Is this the same kit as the first picture? I like the yin yang one.
    ZDL
    Jul 20 '20
    The first picture is my dice tower/dice tray combo. The second is these things stacked for storage (held together by magnets top and bottom). The third picture is the trays deployed for use (held in whatever configuration you arranged them in by magnet again).
    hairylarry
    Jul 21 '20
    Thanks
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their photo
    hairylarry
    Jul 20 '20
    Looks like they magnetize into hex patterns too.
    ZDL
    Jul 20 '20
    They do. They magnetize into a stack for storage and deploy into magnetically-arranged layouts at need. It's a pretty nifty thing. I'm getting a set. :D
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  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    Today on the blog I talk about my recent Point Crawl-Like Session Planning. This is my blog's eleventh anniversary post!

    https://followmeanddie.com/...ke-session-planning/
    Jul 18 '20
    2 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 18 '20
    Nice ideas here. How much planning is enough? How much is too much? Congrats on your blogiversary.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Jul 18 '20
    Thanks!
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  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » chuckdee commented on their status
    Hi, I saw you promoting Gamer+ at mastodon.social. Thanks. I don't get over there as often as I used to. I started a free culture Friendica site and I followed you from there. https://curators.mixremix.cc
    Jul 9 '20
    2 1
    chuckdee likes this
    chuckdee
    Jul 9 '20
    Since the great G+ diaspora, there's been a fragmentation of gaming communities, and I just wanted to make sure that people knew where some of these great places were. I'm actually on Friendica more than Masto - chuckdee@rpg.pbem.online.
    hairylarry
    Jul 9 '20
    I like Mastodon esp. because it weaned me off of facebook. I chose Friendica because it fit my server better than the other options, Apache, php, mysql.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their photo
    The best good luck charm EVAR!
    Jul 7 '20
    3 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 6 '20
    As a DnD monster we can call it a round centipede. Amazing speed downhill.
    ZDL
    Jul 6 '20
    I'm going to call mine Arthur. Arthur is king, see, and kings wear crowns. Corona means crown so...
    ZDL
    Jul 7 '20
    Someone else recommended Covfefe instead... I may go with it.
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  • hairylarry
    Jul 5 '20
    1 1
    hairylarry likes this
    hairylarry
    Jul 5 '20
    Deep. Change is good but change is hard. The Drow are evil but the most celebrated adventure hero of all time, Drizzzt, is Drow. When you have an evil species or type the most interesting character among them is the one who fights nature and does good. As in "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
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  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their photo
    Jul 2 '20
    2 0
    hairylarry
    Jul 2 '20
    On Inspired Unreality I told Vivian I would rather roll a 1 than a 20.
    ZDL
    Jul 2 '20
    I like BIG failure better than "meh" failures myself, yes. If you're going to fail, FAIL BIG! :D
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on ZDL's photo
    Jul 2 '20
    1 0
    hairylarry
    Jul 2 '20
    I love these pins.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their photo
    This is the kind of comment I like to see. YouTube sent me this in email and as a notification when I'm on YouTube, but now I don't see the comment. YT being YT, or did the user delete it? Either way, glad I got a screenshot.
    FollowMeAndDie
    Jun 26 '20
    This is in reference to my Roll20 For the Absolute Beginner series on YT.

    https://www.youtube.com/...BN167wOnaGwuK8WCf6w6
    You need to sign in to comment
  • ZDL
    ZDL commented on their blog post
    Fringe Review: Mythic
    Mythic is, to quote the game's introduction, "a universal, improvisational role-playing game".  Designed by Tana Pigeon, a name you've likely nev...
    hairylarry
    Jun 25 '20
    This game sounds really interesting to me. The print copy is about $20.
    ZDL
    Jun 25 '20
    It's also available on Drive-By.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • FollowMeAndDie
    FollowMeAndDie commented on their status
    I just realized that yesterday marked two years since I started my podcast, and I haven't put out an episode since early May.

    Some may be wondering what's up with me, so here's a quick update.

    https://anchor.fm/...-Quick-Update-efuebj
    You need to sign in to comment
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry commented on their status
    We're supposed to start a campaign at DnD Beyond Friday. We already made characters. Has anyone used DnD Beyond?
    ZDL
    Jun 25 '20
    What is DnD Beyond?
    hairylarry
    Jun 25 '20
    It's an online system for playing 5e. https://www.dndbeyond.com/
    ZDL
    Jun 25 '20
    Ah. I don't even have D&D5. :D
    hairylarry
    Jun 25 '20
    Me either. My son, Kier (Draklorx), is DM. We just go online and play, I guess. So far we made characters. We played a 5e campaign in person for about a year (which I prefer) but now we're going to play online so we can all stay home.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • mmdozer
    mmdozer » mmdozer liked hairylarry's status
    Hey, thanks for joining the Book Club. The next book is a fun read. Brandon Sanderson "Warbreaker". He wrote it like a serial on his website so it's licensed Creative Commons. Our next book club discussion is July 20 at 9:00 PM Central. Do you use Discord?
    Jun 23 '20
    0 1
    mmdozer likes this
  • hairylarry
    hairylarry » chuckdee commented on their status
    Hi. Do you do 3D printing? Miniatures? Carl and I are both into it.
    chuckdee
    Jun 15 '20
    I just got a 3d printer, so am just getting into it.
    hairylarry
    Jun 15 '20
    About where we are. Are you using thingiverse?
    chuckdee
    Jun 17 '20
    Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory
    hairylarry
    Jun 18 '20
    I'll have to check out MyMiniFactory.
    You need to sign in to comment
  • chuckdee
    chuckdee joined group
    Rolemaster
    Rolemaster
    Fan discussions of Rolemaster, all versions from MERP to the latest playtest and public beta of RMu.
    Total users: 5
    chuckdee
    GoldSeal
    ZDL
    hairylarry
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  • chuckdee
    chuckdee joined group
    Solo Tabletop Games
    Solo Tabletop Games
    A group to discuss solo tabletop gaming.
    Total users: 8
    chuckdee
    ZDL
    WispsofTime
    Lieren
    DarthDuke
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