Kingbeast's Lair

Summary

Welcome to part 2 of my 3 part series on My Gaming Kit. In this article I’ll cover my hardware and software setup. About 4 years ago I switched over from a binder to running from a laptop. Last year I purchased a netbook just for gaming. It has been a really fun toy! 😀

Hardware

The netbook that I have selected to use for my gaming is the Toshiba Mini Notebook MB305-N440BL. It has an Intel Atom Processor N455, 2 GB RAM (I upgraded the RAM from 1 GB), 250 GB HD, WiFi, and a Webcam. It is running Microsoft Window 7 Home Premium. I really love this little netbook for a couple of reasons:

• Size Factor – The low profile of the netbook means that it can fit entirely behind my LANDSCAPE GM screen (see accompanying screen shot) and does not obstruct vision to the players. The small size and weight also means that I can easily slip it into my laptop backpack and cart it along with me to gaming session and conventions. Last DunDraCon I had it on my lap during several of the seminars to take notes. It worked great. 🙂
• Battery Life – One of the main reasons I chose the Toshiba MB305 is the battery life. This little sucker can go 8 hours on a single charge! I am NOT using an aggressive power saving setup and I have never had it run out of power during a session. Not needing a power cable also means less clutter around my GM station which is great.
• No Cables Needed – As I don’t need cables for a mouse, power, or network my GM area is very clean. I can also easily pick up the little netbook and flip it around to show my players various artwork and such.
• Webcam – The webcam means that if a player cannot attend a session in person they can attend over Skype or I can record the session. A nice plus. 😉

Software

It was important to me to find a solution that could run Windows. There are several software packages that are critical for me to have access to while creating the session and during the session (see below). The decision to purchase a device that runs Windows ruled out nearly all of the current tablets. Here is the list of software the I currently utilize for gaming on my netbook:

• The Keep Under Dropbox For Managing Campaign Materials – This combination is the star of my GM software kit. It allows easy access to all of my campaign materials across devices while providing internal and external references. This is a really nice combo. For details check out a more detailed review of this that I did in March 2010 at this URL.
• Fractal Mapper 8 And Dundjinni – These are two great mapping programs that I use when I want a campaign map or special encounter. Fractal Mapper 8 is really simple to use and I find it works very well for campaign level maps. Dundjinni works great for combat level maps. You can create really nice maps in a flash with Dundjinni. Unfortunately I am not sure how much support is available for Dundjinni at the moment. 🙁 Here is a link to where you can purchase Fractal Mapper 8 on DriveThruRPG.com. Here is a link to the main Dundjinni site.
• Hero Designer – Hero Designer is essentially a must have for any Hero GM. It is so amazingly powerful that every time I use it for a new campaign I find some feature that I did not know existed. The campaign customization is very nice as it allows source data used by Hero Designer to be modified so that it fits your Hero campaign perfectly. Great stuff. Here is a link to a 2 year license agreement on the Hero site.
• Everchanging Book Of Names (EBoN) – EBoN is hands down my favorite random name generator. There are a lot of options like generating many names in a list that are really wonderful. For a very paltry donation you can get access to all of the fantastic libraries of names. Like The Keep I installed it to Dropbox. BOOM! Killer combo. 😀 Here is a link to the site where you can find EBoN.
• GIMP – GIMP is a freeware paint program with so many features that it is really mind boggling. I really need to buy a book about GIMP so that I can learn all of the features of this powerhouse tool. Normally I would not mention a generic utility like this but GIMP is really nice for slight image changes that GM may need to make. You can download it for free at this URL.
• Acrobat For Those Game Book PDF – Acrobat is a must. It really offloads the need to carry any books with you on the road. As I am a Hero GM that means roughly 50 pounds or so! Ok fine…maybe not 50 pounds but you get the idea. I also love being able to add comments and redlines to PDF modules using the registered copy of Acrobat. This way I can alter description texts, add notes related to my players, etc. Oh yeah…all the PDF go on Dropbox so I can get at them on any machine. Awesome jam on kick fanny toast. 🙂

Next up…My Gaming Kit: Part 3 – The Cottage! 😀

Date At Start Of Game: ?/??/???

[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 27th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.]

Inside The Wick

The PC continue to venture into the various doorways in Cizbakri’s “genie bottle”. There are four rooms left to defeat…

The Temple To The Fire Gods

The party appears on a raised granite platform that is surrounded by a lake of lava. In the center of the platform is a large stone urn with a burning flame. On the corners of the platform are four pillars. As soon as they land Po turns on his Spirit Sight spell. He notices a magical creature composed entirely of fire moving around the room under the lava. Cillian uses his stone vision and discovers that the pillars have some type of metal rod attached to the bottom that sinks into the platform. As the PC work out what to do the fire elemental raises up from the lava and blasts the entire platform severely damaging the less armored PC. With that the creature closes to attack. Oren confronts the elemental while the other players decide to start carefully knocking over pillars. They discover that this has the effect of opening a portal under the center urn. After fending off some dangerous blasts Oren knocks over the last pillar and the PC leave the room. They are a bit singed but know that they must persevere.

The Fields Of Pleasure

As the swirling mist clears the avatars are standing in a deep forest with their ranged weapons in hand. In a bush they see antlers that turn and move off. Cillian figures that they must hunt the stag and the PC start to pursue. Using his tracking skills Po discovers that this is not a normal deer. It appears to be bipedal based on the tracks…a Deer Kin? As the PC follow Cillian spots a trap in the woods. As he slows down to investigate Po is shot by an arrow and falls from the sky! Cillian and Oren move over and apply healing potions. The potion from Cillian has a near miraculous affect bringing the Raven Kin shaman back from the brink of death! After healing Po the PC proceed with more caution. Cillian and Bilby sneak up the flanks while Oren moves tactically down the center of the glade. Cillian spots the Deer Kin hiding behind a rock then uses his air powers to trip Oren when he about to get shot! After shooting the Deer Kin archer moves away from the party quickly. Oren uses the advantage to rush forward across an open field. Cillian spots the Deer Kin again hiding behind a hillside and shoots a crossbow at his position as a way to inform the other party members of his location. Oren comes out from behind cover then balls up drawing fire from the archer. This distraction allows Bilby to sneak up and stab the Deer Kin from surprise using his assassin’s blow! Now in combat with the Deer Kin Oren and Bilby find that he is a tough and fast foe. As the Deer Kin tries to pick off Bilby who is currently very injured Oren balls over him to protect him. After taking a gore from his horns and a shot from his bow Oren and Bilby press their attack. Oren grabs the Deer Kin but cannot hold him for long. Bilby takes some shots weakening the archer. With a final blow from Oren he falls. The PC are injured and nearly out of healing potions but they survived the encounter. After touching his intricately carved bow they return to the large octagonal chamber.

The Garden Of Delights

The now wounded PC then enter the next doorway. They find themselves in an old greenhouse. In the center of the room are two plant creatures who are thrashing around trying to find something tasty to devour. Cillian acts first letting loose a large cone shaped flame blast that the PC did not know he could do! As the plants cringe from the flames the rest of the PC attack. Bilby lands some blows and Oren starts pounding on the creatures. Even though one manages to grab Cillian he cannot pull him into his maw before Oren fells him. After the plant creatures are dead a green mist surrounds the PC and they appear back in the large room.

The Theater Of Humiliation

After entering the last portal the PC find themselves on a candle lit stage. The only person in the audience is a reclining Cizbakri. While the PC talk about what is going on Cizbakri heckles them, “What kind of show of this!?! Come on!!! Entertain me!!!” With that Oren tells a fantastic tale from the Spirit War. Cizbakri listen intently then claps when he finishes. After clapping several of the stage candles go out. Bilby goes next doing acrobatic flips. Po does a trick where he makes his staff grow and shrink. Cillian first tries to juggle then does a trick with balls and his air powers. Finally all of the stage lights go out and the PC find them in the main octagonal chamber…but now things have changed…

“I’M FREE!!!”

In the main room the mist that surrounded the raised platform is now spread throughout the room. The ceiling looks like the cone of a hurricane! Atop the platform Cizbakri lets out a scream, “You did it! I’M FREE!!!” After uttering this he floats up to the ceiling through the eye of the storm! As the force of the winds get stronger the PC begin to be sucked up and out of the room…

Date At End Of Game: ?/?/???

I’ve recently added three things to Kingbeast’s Lair that I wanted to highlight in a post.* See the banner page or front page for details.

I’ve added banners for Anime Paper to the site. Anime Paper is a free site with TONS of desktop wallpapers with anime subjects. Some of these wallpapers are really amazing!

A fancy widget has been added that showcases the wallpaper of the day from CG Wallpapers. This is a site that hosts images from well known artists in a HUGE variety of formats at REALLY high resolutions. They even have iPad, iPhone, HD TV, etc formats. Most of my favorite desktops are from this site. It costs $15/year…a paltry sum for such pretties.

Finally I added a widget from RPG Geek. RPG Geek is the RPG side of Board Game Geek. They have a fantastic site setup that I have been really enjoying lately. Love the reviews and deep database. I’m in the process of entering my entire RPG catalog into the site. I am at 269 products and only about 50% done. The widget shows 5 random items from my RPG collection. I think it is fun. 😀

[* Ok fine…I’m also super busy and did not have time for a real entry. Hang in there…I actually have 5 or 6 entries in the pipe! 🙂 ]