World Building on DGS Podcast #37

In Dead Games Society Podcast #37, DGS Chad and I talk about what Out-of-Print RPGs and miniature wargames we're running at this upcoming GaryCon (Battletech and Starship Troopers! w00t!), and then move into discussing World Building (especially building your own world within an established setting) with the historical details that help you more confidentially improvise and react to player actions while running your RPGs!

Ravingspire Kickstarter Launches!

Its finally here! Ravingspire: Assault on the Tower of Madness Kickstarter has launched!

Its a deck-building boardgame with a rotating gameboard and a card-saving battle mat that emulates equipping weapons and magic items as you adventure in the haunted tower. We've been working very hard on it and I'm excited the rest of the world will finally get to see it! Check out the old-school D&D commercial we made for it below:

The Marmoreal Tomb Kickstarter is Here!

So maybe you're at GenCon right now, knee-deep in orcs, reaving your way through a bloody slaughter of Red Bull-fueled carnage and glory. Well, once the corpses stop twitching and you have an opportunity to recover your arrows, drink a healing potion, and take a short rest; I ask that you set your Battleaxe aside for a moment and consider the parchment fragment you found amongst the Chieftain's horde, and realize...

THE LOST DUNGEON OF GYGAX HAS BEEN FOUND!

Lost for decades, this temple complex of the Great Ones was relegated access only to the Wise Few. Those fortunate Masters of the Realm who personally knew Lord Ernie of the Genevans, the Elder Son of Gygax. But those secret treasures hidden deep within the famous Hobby Shop Dungeon can now be sought by brave adventurers of the Current Age. That's right! Today Ernie Gygax and Benoist Poire of GP ADVENTURES have revealed that the hidden location of the entrance to the lost Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul (amongst other Wonders of Adventure!), is only a short distance away...



So I ask thee, Good and Noble Warriors of the Realm. Donate a bit of your hard-earned gold to this Kickstarter, and once again let the Songs of Glory ring throughout the land! I have personally interviewed Benoist about this project, and both spoken and gamed extensively in the upper levels with Ernie, and I can promise you from deep in my soul that these are Wizards of Truest Integrity and Grace. These Noble Maesters are dedicated wholly to bringing us forth to the Dungeons upon which our forefathers tread, and allowing Glory and Honor to once again be the hallmarks of Our Great Hobby! Your gold will be well spent, the Kickstarter Completed, and the Spoils from this Adventure will be Beyond Limit!

Game On and Kick Butt! Huzzah!

Hyperborean Adventures Kickstarter!

Batton down the Hatches, Adventurers! For the time has finally arrived for the long-awaited (by me at least) the Hyperborean Adventure Three-Pack!

Just look at the epic titles to these three adventures!

FORGOTTEN FANE OF THE COILED GODDESS!

GHOST SHIP OF THE DESERT DUNES!

BENEATH THE COMET!

Time Travel!

Whoa! I know you aren't going to believe this, but I just traveled in time! That's right, just after my last post on April 25, 2015, I got a call from my buddy Doc who wanted me to come down to Twin Pines Mall and film him testing out his new Time Machine. Of course I agreed and headed on over. But the next thing I knew we were running from Libyan terrorists, had an amazing adventure through time, and ended up two weeks into the future!

Carnage of the Blade Demons! - Behind the Screen

So last Saturday I wrote up and ran my first 5th edition D&D game, set in a new Sword and Sorcery world. I mentioned in that post that since I only had a couple hours to write it that I'd be utilizing the charts in the new DM guide to get the brain-juices flowing by randomly rolling up the dungeon adventure bits. I also said I'd let you guys know how it turned out. Well, here's the beef on how I went about creating the adventure from the random-generator charts.

Its a Brand New Day - New Improved Site!

So in honor of Groundhog's Day and his Glorious Majesty Punxsautawney Phil, I've released a new website for Vorpal Chainsword upon the world. I like it here on Blogger and all, but Blogger doesn't allow you to do a lot of things other than, well, blog, and I needed a bigger place to put all of my stuff. A place where I can upload campaign write-ups, podcast interviews with famous nerds, and hide online puzzles to confound sharp-eyed adventurers. So without further adieu, I present to you:

The Vorpal Chainsword Website

Don't worry, dear blog readers. I'll continue to do bi-weekly updates here on good ol' blogger (so keep that rss feed if you like!), but now I have a place to put interviews with nerdcore masters of the art and display pictures and files for campaign games and whatnot. Come on over and check out the new digs! I'll be updating the various segments of the main site regularly but will try to remember to post here when I've got something cool on there you can download.

For our special release, may I point you toward a couple Podcasts: with featured guests MC Frontalot and The Dungeon Bastard!

Back to the Future RPG Part II - Multiple Martys

So I've decided to go with the multiple-versions-of-Marty route for my Back to the Future RPG game. The reason being that I think it'll make for a really fun opportunity for players to all be Marty Mcfly, but have different abilities that are emphasized (and costumes, of course). The explanation for multiple Martys I'm still working on, but is going to involve a lot of technobabble and bad science, you can be sure. Essentially I'm going to say that, due to a quantum flux microcosm singularity, all the Martys that have ever traveled through time will come into individual existence at the same moment in New Time(tm). And will have to work together to find a way to fix things.

Back to the Future RPG I - What Characters to Use?

So its 2015, year that the Cubs win the World Series and Griff runs his PitBull powered hoverboard into the Hill Valley Clock Tower. That's right, its the year of Back to the Future II!

I have an annual convention each March and always have some sort of themed game built and run for a select few attendees. This year it makes perfect sense to run a game based on Back to the Future, but I'm already behind on planning and building so I've got to kick it into gear. In the next couple months I need to create, build, and run a single-shot rpg (with props/terrain) based on Back to the Future. I figure for rules I'll just use the newest 5th edition D&D rules, just to have that decision made and move on.

Sweet Finds: The DM's Craft

I recently stumbled upon a site that definitely deserves a mention, and have been spending hours watching the associated Youtube Channel and learning new techniques. The DM's Craft is a forum/video site hosted by DM Scotty, and it covers all things crafty about D&D. DM Scotty gives tutorial videos about how to make various projects that are loaded with good tips and how-to's in a very professional-looking presentation. Its great if you're getting started crafting or, like me, want to improve your skills.

The Wandering Gods

Its no secret I'm a fan of 'Forgotten Ancient Apocalypse'-style campaign settings: Thundarr the Barbarian, John Carter of Mars, Warlord and the Hollow Earth. I love the idea of players finding mysterious Atlantean phaser pistols alongside magic swords and crumbling scrolls. Where foes can just as easily be malfunctioning robots as they could be goblin-men or displacer beasts.

Today I want to post about an idea for ancient-apocalypse sword-and-sorcery style settings I find most intriguing. A concept which is central to the campaign world of The Vorpal Chainsword...

The Wandering Gods