I drove up to DunDraCon on Saturday just so I could attend the various seminars. The seminars at DunDraCon are often well attended and pretty darn awesome. This year was no exception. Here is my report of the seminars that I attended this year.

27 years of Dungeon Master Secrets

Saturday, 9:00 AM in 156 for 1 hours
Presenter: Robert Anderson
Description: Endless Living Universe b) Flow Chart & Quick Files c) Power Gamers & Role-players d) Don’t cap your imagination or your players and Epic is not a vile four letter word

My Take

Rob started off this early seminar in a very open manner. He encouraged people in the audience to make comments and ask questions. The result may not have been a structured seminar but it was a very interactive and engaging one. Here is a recap of some takeaways that I had from the session:

• GMs needs to deliver to the players. Running games is not about stroking your own ego but instead it is about delivering an exciting adventure to your players.
• Continuity issues can kill games. It is important to maintain momentum between sessions.
• Fairness is critical. Even fairness over an extended campaign is important so that decision made early agree with decisions made late.
• Flowcharts are a good way control plot threads. If the players get sidetracked the chart can then be easily adjusted or tweaked.
• Rob described that once he actually made a convention game part of his normal campaign. He told the PC that the convention run would affect his normal campaign when they did not want to go on a particular mission. I thought it was a pretty creative idea.
• If a player wants to try something off the wall don’t deny it…never block…instead say, “You can give it a try.” Nice technique.
• One of the attendees asked about thief characters in a party of good characters. Rob mentioned that the key is to have plots that keep the party together. This way there is motivation for them as a group.
• Rob mentioned using a 6 min timer to prevent single users from taking the spotlight for too long. For example, the thief wants to go steal something without the other PC. Give that player 6 minutes then switch back to the other group. Repeat.
• Arms races can be a problem in RPG. One solution is to give the PC harder quests to obtain more powerful objects. Rewards need to be important. GMs need to allow players to spend their gold. Also give them a chance to trade stuff if it will make them happy.
• It is important for players to know that the world is open. This way they do not feel railroaded even if some of that is happening behind the scenes.

For his first time running a seminar Rob has a great rapport with the audience. Overall I found it to be a fun and informative seminar.
My Grade: 7 out of 10 paws.

What’s New with Hero

Saturday 10:00 in 156 for 1 hours
Presenter: Jason Walters
Description: Hero Games general manager Jason Walters discusses the future of the Hero System, upcoming projects, and the new Hero System license.

My Take

I attended the Hero seminar with a lot of trepidation. Jason was not in an enviable position as he had to talk about some tough recent events at DOJ. I guess the only saving grace was that it was a partisan crowd. 😉

Jason started by simply asking if there were any questions. I went ahead and asked my toughest question right off the bat, “Was there anything that spurned the layoffs?” Jason first explained that many of the recent Hero books had not made a lot of profit. There was also some disagreement between Darren and the investors as to the direction of the company. Jason then explained that Steve and Darren are still working with the company. He explained their legacy is one that will likely not be matched. In 10 years they released 108 products.

Next Jason went on to explain the current priorities for the company. Essentially they have three immediate priorities. They want to get all authors and artists paid off, they want to get the core books back in stock, and the want to encourage 3rd party vendors in the creation of new products. For example DOJ will likely drop to 3 or 4 products a year and only products that are sure money makers will be considered. The next project would be getting the 3rd villains book printed potentially through a kickstarter. Jason reiterated that they want to keep the brand going.

To encourage 3rd parties to produce Hero products DOJ has restructured the Hero licensing agreement. This new agreement gives the author more profit and makes it easier for them to get accepted. Some of the projects that Jason went on to mention sound REALLY exciting. Here is a list of the stuff that caught my attention. I’m really sorry if this information is not 100% accurate…I was taking notes as fast as I could on my netbook and I am not a fast typist. 🙂

• Darren Watts will be working on a Champions LARP, Golden Age Of Champions, then Silver Age Of Champions
• Legendsmiths will be producing a Fantasy Hero product for beginners and folks who are new to the system.
• Legendary super fan Derek Heimforth will be working on two products. One is titled Eternity Island. Eternity Island is a place where parallel universes converge allowing people to slip between. The other product got me really excited is tentatively called Conspiracy Hero. I am excited about this one because I know Derek can really pull it off and because it is a genre that my players love. Think X-Files, hidden agendas, Fringe, etc. and you get the idea.
• A developer called Fred Lang plans to come out with a Skyrealms of Jorune setting done up in Hero. This announcement went over with a mixed response.
• Infinite Shadows will produce more Turakian Age material.
• Blackwyrm is working on a Folk Hero sourcebook by Michael Surbrook. Michael is also working on a third Asian Bestiary. Blackwyrm also has a project by Phil Masters called the Sands of Time in production. It will be nice to see a new product from Phil.
• Michael Satran (aka Foxbat For President and King Of The Mountain) actually flew out to DunDraCon this year from New Jersey! He plans to write what sounds like an interesting horror product called Things That Go Bump In The Night Night. It is about “imaginary friends” and will be comprised of lots of people and encounters. He promises a very different style of product and it feels like he can deliver.

At the end of the talk I was left with a surprising feeling…one of hope. I know this may sound negative but I honestly did not see how Hero could put forth anything remotely hopeful regarding their current situation. I think Jason did that by being open and forward. Excellent seminar by the lone face of Hero.
My Grade: 9 out of 10.

Alternate Histories for Gaming

Saturday, 11:00 AM in 156 for 1 hours
Presenters: Kenneth Hite, Michael Blum, Bruce Harlick
Description: From Nazi zeppelins blowing up the Suez Canal to Roman galleys rowing up the Mississippi, alternate histories give us infinite worlds for gaming. How and when do you make an alternative world plausible, and how and when can you make it fun and compelling?

My Take

The Alternate History seminar started off with the three panelist speaking about what they thought about the genre in role-playing. It was more interesting than I expected because each had a different take on the topic. They then started speaking about the value of research and pivot points. Ken was really on his game in this seminar spouting out example after example with rapid fire precision. Ken really hammered home the point that the key to alternate history role-playing is making the story interesting…don’t just wank on what would happen if event “x” led to event “y”. The conflict caused by the pivot point is the key. The conflict will drive how the players can get involved which in turn drives the story. Ken also explained that germinating the alternate history organically adds to the believability of the setting. Finally the trio spoke about some resources both online and in print.

My only real complaint with the seminar was that Bruce and Michael seemed flat at times. In later seminars this would absolutely not be the case so maybe it was just a matter of waking up. :} Either way Ken really knocked this seminar into another timeline.
My Grade: 8 out of 10.

City Building

Saturday 1:30 PM in 156 for 1 1/2 hours
Presenters: Anders Swenson, Kenneth Hite, Michael Blum
Description: The seminar about the nuts and bolts of using cities in RPGs. This year we plan to illustrate how cities occur by building a city on the whiteboard during the seminar.

My Take

This year the City Builder seminar took a slightly different approach. They detailed the history of London as a way to provide ideas and feedback on growing your own fantasy cities. This approach also showed how various aspects of London can be called up if that was a city you wanted to use for your campaign. The talk started with the founding of the London by the Romans and went forward to the current day. In this seminar Michael and Ken dazzled the crowd. They went back and forth talking about various aspects of London. The hits on culture, key people, and why things appear geographically where they are in the city. Michael provided fantastic period maps that really helped make the talk shine.

My only complaints about this seminar are really minor. I don’t thinks Anders had any feedback the entire seminar but you know what…it really didn’t matter. Also I think the 90 minute length felt a bit long.
My Grade: 8 out of 10.

What’s New At Chaosium

Saturday 3:00 PM in 156 for 1 hours
Presenter: Charlie Krank
Description: Come and ask your questions of the demented minds behind the Call of Cthulhu and Basic Role Playing.

My Take

Charlie essentially sat down and went through a fantastically wonderful and extensive list of upcoming products. Here are some of the notes I took. These are in very rough order of release.

• New edition of Call Of Cthulhu.
• Cthulhu By Gaslight 3rd edition with TONS of new material by Ross. BIG HELL YEAH! 😀
• Mythic Iceland.
• Two fiction anthologies called Extreme Planets and A Long Way Home.
• Atomic Age Cthulhu – 1950’s era fun.
• House Of R’Lyeh adventure.
• Shaan – A Call Of Cthulhu campaign setting.
• Advanced Sorcery – A BRP magic book based on the system in Nephilim.
• Undead And Unbound – A fiction anthology where every story has a twist. 19 stories! I may have to get this one.
• Magicworld and Superworld being released again!
• Secrets Of Tibet – The monograph is getting the full book treatment like Morocco.

Charlie then talked a lot about working with other developers and a particular company in France that has done some amazing work. It sounds like he is hoping he can make a deal with them that would let everyone partake of some Cthulhu goodness.
My reaction after hearing this laundry list was…DAMN! This list is HUGE! 😀
My Grade: 8 out of 10.

Rogues in the House

Saturday 4:00 PM in 156 for 1 hours
Presenters: Randy Angle, Bruce Harlick
Description: This seminar is about Heists and other Roguish Adventures for both players and game masters. For running and playing in campaigns similar to TV shows like Leverage and White Collar.

My Take

Randy and Bruce went through a series of PowerPoint slides talking about all things thiefy. They covered the definition of a rogue, the various type of rogues, equipment, skills, security systems, cons and marks, steps in a heist, and steps in a con. During the talk they added a plethora of examples and commentary. The pair played really well off of the other during the talk. You could tell they have a passion for the topic. The talk ended with some videos showing various rogue skills at use. Bruce and Randy also took comments from the audience and addressed them well.

My first reaction when I saw the PowerPoint slides was not good…what am I at work!?!? It turned out that I was dead wrong. This was a wonderful talk by two guys who know how to be great players. They stole my heart and soul with this one. One of my favorite seminars of the day.
My Grade: 9 out of 10.

What’s New in Indie RPGs

Saturday 5:00 PM in 156 for 1 hours
Presenters: Jason Walters, Ken Hite, Chris Hanrahan, Carl Rigney
Description: Author and pundit Ken Hite, Endgame’s Chris Hanrahan, and Indy Press Revolution’s Jason Walters discuss what’s new in the world of self-published and micropublished games in 2012.

My Take

Essentially the format for this panel was pretty simple. The various panelists showed a product then talked about it. It was really neat to hear the panelists speak about products that they feel are really special. Here are some of the reviews that made me want to look up the product as soon as I got home.

• Technoir by Jeremey Keller – This one was actually on my list to ask about so I was glad to hear Carl talk about it. Endgame sold out but I was able to order a copy directly from his site. Head on over why he still has some left! 😀
• Night’s Black Agents by Ken Hite – I covered this LAST year and got in on the preorder at Pelgrane Press…I strongly suggest you do as well. Ken thinks it should be shipping in the April or May time frame. I LOVE Ken’s elevator pitch for Night’s Black Agents, “The Bourne Trilogy except replace Treadstone with vampires.” SIGN ME UP! 😀
• Vornheim by Zak S. – Vornheim is a book designed to help GMs with fantasy cities. The review for Vornheim floored me. The reason it floored me was twofold. One was that Ken Hite GUSHED about this product. He mentioned the fantastic design elements and flat out usefulness of the product. Ken flat out said that if he was still writing Out Of The Box this would have won his award for 2011. That is VERY high praise! The second reason was that I had not heard of Vornheim before this seminar…um…sorry…gotta finish this post so I can run over to IPR and buy a copy. Jeez loueez.
• PurplePawn.com – This is not a product but it is a site that aggregates non-electronic gaming news. I thought I followed the industry…how did this site slip by me!?! [John slaps his forehead.] 😀

Overall this was a stellar seminar. It was great to see Carl on the panel. Last year he had as much feedback as the hosts! Carl should definitely be drafted as a regular for this seminar.

I only had a couple of complaints. One was that there was not enough time to take questions from the crowd. I showed up with a list of games that I wanted to ask about but was given no time at all to ask the panel about them. The second was that some of Jason’s reviews were canned statements from the designers. I want reviews with opinions from the panelist not canned statements that I can read on the IPR website.
My Grade: 8 out of 10.

DunDraCon really knows how to do seminars right! My gosh! 😀

Date At Start Of Game: 2/20/207

[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 35th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.]

The Avatars Return

The Avatars Of The Great Tree arrive on the back of Cillian in his Dragon Kin form. At first they swoop around the city to examine the enemy forces. The sea forces are comprised of 12 ships, fish men, and a large kraken. The land forces are hiding among the trees but they appear to be comprised of several typical squads, Rooks, and an elite mercenary team led by a group of Jackal Kin.

After surveying the forces the PC spot a squads of men attacking the southern gate. The PC decide to get involved. Cillian swoops down dropping huge boulders on the men and their various siege engines. Po casts his curse spell on those using the battering ram and Bilby takes on individual troops on the siege tower. Kanga provides air support while Oren rides along with Cillian. Quickly the PC dispatch the attack which Oren assumes might be a test of the defenses.

Tokaji Debriefing

After this grand entrance the PC head to the palace. At the palace entry they are met by a handsome minstrel with golden locks and bright blue eyes. He has a bright blue hat with a garish white feather. Po reports that his mandolin is magical. He approaches the party and introduces himself as Daichi (aka Cragspine’s Ape Kin form). With that the group enters the palace. As the group returns they are surprised to find that everyone seems to know Daichi as a friend of the courts.

The PC are led by Yotsu to the Empress’s private study. Inside they find the Empress, Meiji, and Captain Ibara standing over a mock-up of the city. As the group enters the Empress greets the avatars but reacts coldly to Daichi. Before they can discuss the battle Oren puts Daichi, Cillian, and the Empress into her private chamber and tells them to talk.

Initially Empress Nokidara speaks to Daichi. She explains that he has lied to her, jeopardized her subjects, and not shown up when needed. Next the Empress explains that the subjects do not need to know about their relations as the entire situation is covered in lies. Finally she asks if they can be friends only. Daichi reacts with stunned agreement.

After this brief conversation the group returns to the war room. Empress Nokidara explains the now that Oren has returned he will be in charge of the defending forces. Captain Ibara then goes into details about the forces. Oren notes the distinct lack of air support on the enemy forces. He suggests that Cillian start flaming the forest near the city to take down their numbers and weaken their resolve.

As the group is about to break up two stranger enter the room. They pull back their cloaks to reveal their identities. It is the Dolphin Kin Spirit Mage Bishop and Captain Baleen the Orcan Keeper Of The Light. Captain Baleen warmly greets the PC and explains that the Avatars Of The Vast Sea are here to help. He then reveals detailed numbers about the waterborne forces. He explains that with some help his small elite band and the Avatars Of The Vast Sea should be able to take them out. Cragspine volunteers to help explaining that he has a lot of power in the water as well as the earth.

Individual Missions

Immediately Oren and Kanga go to check on the defending forces and meet with subunit commanders. Oren explains that Cragspine and a new Dragon are here to help defend Tokaji. This should give the defenders a huge advantage.

Cillian commences random flame attacks on the enemy forces and immediate forest. The effect is devastating.

Bilby sneaks into the enemy camp. He finds Emperor Oyugun and General Berke in the main command tent. They discuss the situation of the flame attacks but the Emperor says that they have accounted for the Avatars and that they need to stick with their battle plan. He then tells the vengeful General Berke that he should tell the “necromancer” to be ready at dawn. This gives Bilby the idea that the necromancer is a vital cog in their attack plan. On the way out Bilby snatches a supply box marked with a skull.

Po and Meiji start to analyze the Ash powder for a potential cure. They find that the powder is Nombrian in nature and that is was setup by a practitioner of the Dark Lord. It first shows the victim pleasureful images why it eats their spirit. When the user dies they return as an Ash Zombie. Po and Meiji are able to distill a potential cure but it is time consuming, needs Ash as a component, only works on those who have not already been turned into an Ash Zombie, and could be quite painful to use. When Bilby shows up with the crate the PC find some books and large sacks full of Ash. Po cleverly replaces the bags and books using his illusionary mask spell.

Nighttime Raid

After exploring all of the alternatives Oren comes up with a dangerous plan. An elite force of men led by Ibara will come out of the city gates and start attacking forces on the edge of the forest. When the enemy engages the PC will dig up behind the enemy lines. After digging up the PC will replace the crates with fakes ones created by Po and if possible take out Anselem, the necromancer.

Cragspine digs the PC to the area then Oren takes over as his tunneling is much more subtle. First the PC create a small hole for Bilby to use to replace the crates. Once this is done the PC observer Anselem, his strange gibbering mouther blob, Emperor Oyugun, and General Berke speaking. The Emperor is wary of a trick as this is obviously not tactically savvy and he has heard of Oren’s skills in the field. As the three start to discuss what to do the PC circle then attack.

First Po opens up by cursing Anselem. In a fit of rage Oren strikes a massive blow that trips off some type of defensive spell on the necromancer. Bilby strikes next landing three deadly blows in rapid succession. Finally Kanga strikes home with an arrow shot to the head. Anselem falls in a heap. Before the Emperor and General can react the PC continue their assault. Cillian flames the commanders using his spirit powers. Kanga cuts loose with a powerful magical flame arrow on Anselem’s pet gibbering mouther. Po drains the Emperor. Bilby teleports behind the General and lands three assassin strikes felling him! Oren fells the gibbering mouther with a second strike. Knowing that he cannot face the group of Avatars alone Emperor Oyugun lowers his great club and surrenders. Luckily Oren comes out of his rage in time to accept the offer.

Avatars No More

When the Avatars return to the palace with Emperor Oyugun they are greeted as heroes. The Empress thanks them for their role in protecting Tokaji. A strange calm goes over the Avatars Of The Great Tree as they realize that they are no longer in the service of the Great Tree. Either Gray Pine has died or their mission is over.

The group discusses the acorn for what will likely be the next Great Tree. Cillian tells the group that he would like to take the acorn and make it part of whatever realm he decides to settle and call his own. He will protect it from harm at all costs. The group agrees although Oren expresses the desire to see the end of this story if possible.

[This is the end of the campaign. I wanted to send a special thanks to all of my players for such a great campaign.]

Date At End Of Game: 2/23/207

During the early 90’s I published a newsletter that I emailed out to anyone who would listen. At the time my audience was comprised primarily of gaming buddies and folks on the Checkered Demon BBS. Each issue is like a collection of mini blog posts. 😉

Topics vary from issue to issue but focus on Hero Games product reviews/rules, video game reviews, comic book reviews, and other miscellaneous news items that would be appropriate for my gaming group. Looking back I think doing the small reviews in these issues whet my appetite for the type of more in depth reviews that I am performing now on this very blog.

You can find copies of the currently posted issues at this URL: https://usandacat.com/thelair/file-downloads/other-files/

Issues 11 to 20 include the following highlights:

• More of Seth’s Rules Of Dungeoneering.
• The supervillain origin story of one of the most insane…or is that inane…villains of all time…Mad Merc!
• An U.N.T.I.L. file on Mad Merc’s card throwing partner in crime…The Spade. “The Spade File” is penned by Rudy Fuentez.
• The superhero origin story of Lunatic Fringe…aka “Johnny’s Tale”. One of my favorite PC superhero backgrounds of all time from Steve Brickman. Well worth a read!
• A Fantasy Hero character background called “Ip’s Tale” by one of my superb regulars Jim Schaff.
• The Three F’s Of Gaming…hummm…note to self…turn this series into a full blown blog post. 🙂
• An article on The Psychologically Well Rounded Team
• Reviews of Ninja Hero and Day Of The Destroyer.
• More funny gaming quotes.

More issues are coming soon! Watch this blog for details! 🙂