The D20 Purge

Most of us are book hoarders by nature. Gamers, that is. We never want to let a book go for fear of the knowledge being lost forever. Especially for us fans of the Dead Games Society, disposing of a any RPG game book or comic book, even one we have never played or would ever re-read, is hard.

But reality is reality, and limitations on physical space is an absolute truth.

This Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I could take it no longer. My rpg/comics book collection finally reached critical mass. The books were piled high in front of the bookcase. Things were crammed in willy-nilly. I had to do something. 

Going through ones book collection is exhausting, because every volume you pull out you want to stop and reminisce about. It took me three days to do anything but make piles of books in various categories. Pulp RPG, Cyberpunk RPG, Green Lantern graphic novels, Batman crossovers... The piles just got taller, and I was getting nowhere. I couldn't decide what to cleanse!

Found this between two books. Clearly the purge was decades overdue.

Then it came to me: The D20 Splats of the 2000's. I would cleanse my bookshelves of the D20 Splatfest that was 2000-2010, and see if that solved my problem.

It sure as hell did.

Now, I admit a lot of good writing occurred during the D20 onslaught of the early 'aughts, starting with 3e D&D and... well, never  quite ending... (looking at you, Pathfinder). But the D20 OGL rulesets were all basically the same, the rules are easily remembered, and the pdfs easily recoverable. So I purged them ALL (well, except Adventure D20 and Starship Troopers, they got a pass). And you know what, I ended up with bookcase room to spare!

Organized bookshelves. They are a thing of beauty. If you've got your own overflowing bookshelf and can't decide what to do then I have a suggestion... simply purge the D20. It's a critical HIT!

Drunk Painting Tips: Fixing modeling gaps at the last minute

I know its been a while since I've talked Shadows of Brimstone, but that's just because I was trying to finish painting all the minis (using only the official Shadows of Brimstone paint sets) before playing again. However it was a LOT more work than I realized when I started, so it has been slower going than I originally anticipated. Especially since I only paint on the weekends. With that in mind I decided to just shift it into overdrive and speed-paint all the remaining guys.

Almost there...

But that's not what this post is about, this is about fixing glaring past mistakes, or, as I like to call it, "What the hell did Past Cory screw me over with this time?"

Gaming DIY: Secret of the Laser!

Like many of you, I like shooting lasers at stuff. In fact, I'd wager to guess that all people like shooting lasers at stuff, at least a little bit. Lasers are just inherently great. I also have started using them in my tabletop RPG games, with mirrors and all that. But there is a secret to using lasers in your games. Something you may not have considered, and will only encounter when you've built the whole damn thing and it doesn't work right. Fortunately, we here at Vorpal Chainsword Productions were able to solve this dilemma, and in our generosity we will share with you...

The Secret of the Laser!

At the end of this post, that is.

Miniature Motivation

As a wargamer trying to build a new set of city terrain, miniature painter with tons of unpainted Reaper Bones sitting around, or Dungeon Master with writers block, sometimes it takes a little extra push to get the brain-juices flowing enough to set aside time to continue your projects.  Often because your projects require you to access the Creativity part of the brain, and yet also require you to buckle down and get the Productivity part of the brain going.

For instances like this, I have invented something that will revolutionize the way you do game prep. Here's the idea behind its formulation: as is well known and researched thoroughly by well-respected agencies, alcohol sparks the creativity neurons in the brain to let loose their inhibitions and think about stuff like spaceships and sorcerers. On the other hand, caffeine sparks the productivity part of the brain to get you to pick up the pen or paintbrush and start working and maintain focus on things you need to get done, like corporate spreadsheets and TPS reports.  So in a flash of genius, we here at VC Labs thought... "Why not combine them?"

I call it: Cyberninja's Cyberstonishing Producto-Creativity Juice.