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! 😀

Summary

Welcome to the second annual Lair Awards. It is again time to pick through the rough cuts to uncover some diamonds. This year I will be adding a fourth category, Best Session.

Here is how the 2011 Lair Awards will work. There will be four categories: Best Anime, Best Read, Best RPG, and Best Session. To be eligible for an award the product must have been reviewed in the calendar year by me on the blog. There were a TON of great products released in 2011 but if I did not review them they don’t count. Also note that I often review products that are quite old. A product is eligible for an award if I reviewed it in 2011…period…it does not matter when the product was actually released. 😉

The envelopes please! 😀

Best Anime – Samurai 7

Picking the winner for this category was by far the most difficult. This year I watched then reviewed a LOT of really intriguing anime. Here is a brief list of some that really stood out with some comments. These are presented in alphabetical order.

• Batman: Under The Red Hood – Great story, excellent animation, and a kick butt Jonah Hex short.
• Batman Year One – Thrilling storytelling, good voice acting, and nice animation.
• Gankutsuou – Fantastic retelling of a wonderful story, excellent voice acting, and stunning artwork.
• Le Chevalier D’Eon – Strong characters, amazing intrigue, lush historical setting, and a powerful ending.
• Samurai 7 – Amazing main cast of characters, well paced action story, and a crisp animation style.

Out of this stellar list two entries stood out for me…Batman Year One and Samurai 7. I’m going to give the nod to Samurai 7 this year.

Best Read – Asterios Polyp

Like 2010 the Lair Award for Best Read is the easiest to give. Asterios Polyp should be listed as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. The story is out of this world and the artwork is just fantastic. Asterios Polyp is a book that belongs on everyone’s shelf. This is the only review I gave out in 2011 that earned a 10 out of 10. 😀

Best RPG – No Winner

After perusing my RPG reviews for 2011 I was really disappointed. I reviewed some really marginal products this year. The highest rating I gave for an RPG product was a 5 out of 10! OUCH! Thus I decided not to give out the award for Best RPG this year. It is my award so I choose not to give it out. 😛

If I were to give out an award for presentation then the Bookhounds Of London Limited Edition would take it hands down. I also had a GREAT time with the series of blog posts on My Gaming Kit.

Best Session – Spirit Storm Session #29

Even though I did not post an RPG review worthy of a Lair Award I did take part in some awesome gaming sessions. In 2011 my Spirit Storm campaign logged sessions #22 through #33. I fondly reviewed the session logs then decided that Session #29 gets the award. In this episode there was so much wonderful drama. Cillian is a Dragon?!? His mother is who!?! That session will stay with me for quite some time.

There are my picks! Please reply if you have any comments. 🙂

-== What is it? ==-

Jadeclaw is an anthropomorphic fantasy role-playing game set in a mystic land with a heavy Asian flavor. It was written by Chuan Lin and published by Sanguine Productions Limited. The Revised Edition of Jadeclaw that I am reviewing was released in June 2006.

Jadeclaw has a color cover and an interior that is a mix of black and white text with colored and black and white artwork. The book is 8.5” x 11” and is 352 pages in length. I am reviewing a hardcover print copy that I bought from my local FLGS. I have not played the game I have only read the book.

-== What I Like ==-

The cover and internal art for Jadeclaw are exceptional. The bright wrap around cover was done by Chris Goodwin and really attracts the eye from across the room. It also imparts the strong Asian theme in the product. The internal artwork was done was done by several different artists and is very well executed. Between each major section are full color comic pages depicting a scene that is relevant in that next section. These comic panels really make the artwork in Jadeclaw move to a new level. Other individual black and white and color pieces in the product do not disappoint. I particularly like Chris Goodwin’s artwork in the Races section. In fact it is difficult to find a piece in the entire book that I think is only marginal.

Jadeclaw has a very Interesting dice mechanic. Players combine dice from applicable skills, stats, or race and rolls them. The dice are not added but instead the highest value on any single dice is taken as the result. For example, my character has a D12 and D10 related to climbing. The GM says the tree is difficulty 2d6. I roll a 3 and 7. The GM rolls 3 and 4. My 7 is higher than the 4 so I climb the tree. Modifiers, or Bonuses as they are called in Jadeclaw, raise the type of dice instead of adding directly to the roll. So if I have a D8 and a D6 these raise to D10 and D8. If you beat a roll by 5 it is called an Overwhelming Success. If you lose a roll by 5 it is called an Overwhelming Failure. If you roll all natural 1’s on your dice it is called a Botch. Combat compares the dice to determine a hit and the effect.

The History section in the book is well done. It fills Jadeclaw with tons of rich hooks that are ripe for GMs and players to utilize. I also really enjoyed the way that they strengthen the mystical Asian fantasy feel that the author is trying to achieve.

Jadeclaw presents a setting called Zhongguo. I liked the fact that coverage of the realm does NOT include tons of detail. There is enough detail on each land to convey the setting but not enough to interfere with any stories that the GM may want to tell. That is a good thing in my book. The cartography is also nicely done. I especially like the Maijing city map.

Appendix 3 of Jadeclaw has a summary of Abnormal Status that is really needed but not all of the entries have page references. It would have been nice if every entry had a page reference.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

As you might guess by my simplification of the dice mechanic Jadeclaw has LOTS of fiddly bits and charts. Almost all of the Tests (i.e. Ambush, Bribery, etc.) have unique outcomes for Botch, Overwhelming Failure, Failure, Success, and Overwhelming Success. During a session the GM would have to either have the book handy or have a set of charts to keep track of what happens on each result.

The wound system in Jadeclaw feels brutal. After only a couple of hits characters have to start rolls to even stay conscious. This is a system where combat can be quick and deadly.

Overall I really wanted combats in Jadeclaw to have more of a fast wuxia feel instead of a slow paced deadly feel. Combat rules are a bit tough even at the basic level and the Advanced Combat options seem like they would REALLY slow things down. I think with an experienced Jadeclaw GM keeping the flow really moving it might not be such of an issue. Coming from a cold read of the product the combat rules seems cumbersome at best.

The book could use some reorganization. I read the entire book from cover to cover and found it quite difficult at times. I would have also appreciated more summary tables at the end of book to prevent constantly looking for tables within the main text. Jadeclaw could also use some usability layout techniques like those found in the Hero System 6th Edition books. Those have printed tabs on the page edges that allow one to easily jump to the section they want to reference. Since Jadeclaw has a lot of color they could even be color coded by section.

The magic system in Jadeclaw is full of tables. You start getting spells on one table. Once you have enough you move to the next table. From there you go to more tables. See where this is going? :} The spell list In Jadeclaw is quite vast as it covers several different types of magic. It is clear that the designer wanted everyone to be able to do cool unique things but I think it goes too far.

The section on the relatively strict social hierarchy in Zhongguo is well written but it could use information on potential roles that the PC may take in the setting. I really think it is critical for a setting to convey the roles a PC can take and their implications. That information was not present.

The provided adventure in Jadeclaw is mediocre. Something that evokes the setting a bit more or hits on crucial points of the social hierarchy might have been better.

The layout used in the book is not bad but the font is small and not real clear. At times I would have to look away and return due to the small size of the font and the difficulty in reading it. Fine…I’m old and wear glasses but so are a lot of my friends. 😉

-== Summary ==-

Even though I mentioned several things that I don’t like about Jadeclaw I think that this is a fun setting that may appeal to some gamers. Many of the same themes used in Jadeclaw are present in my current Spirit Storm campaign. This fact instigated my purchase of the product. If you want anthropomorphic fantasy action and are not afraid of old school crunch you should give Jadeclaw a look.

There is a new version of Ironclaw, a predecessor/sister to Jadeclaw, on DriveThruRPG at this URL that appears to have several rule changes but I do not own a copy of that product. I took a look at the Ironclaw: Preview at this URL and it looks like they may have streamlined the system and used more color coding. Awesome! 😀

You can purchase a copy of Jadeclaw Revised Edition at Noble Knight Games for $34.95 at this URL. They also have original editions at a much cheaper price. Amazon has it here for $39.95.

I give it 5 out of 10 paws.