Christmas Gameing Blog # 3

While many feel the film DRAGONSLAYER is one of the best depictions of what a D&D universe might actually be like (I prefer Hawk the Slayer) the ending does not make a lot of sens, unless you have read the novelization of the film. Then when the main character says “I only wish we had a Horse” and the Horse appears, then it makes sens.

Because if you reed the book you discover tha

• As an infant, Galen was handed to Ulrich by his parents due to their fear of his magical abilities. Ulrich took him as an apprentice, but was concerned with the lad's lack of focus, which usually resulted in the unintentional creation of bizarre, dream-inspired creatures.

So he had the inborn ability to be a Wizard(Sorcerer) but required training (wizard) to realize his full potential.

The same theme is seen in Harry potter, Potter was Born to be a wizard and displayed uses of his power (the snake) long before Hogwarts, it was Hogwarts and his experience that trained him to be a Wizard.

We could also include Luke Skywalker in this analogy, he had the blood but needed the training. Even some of the X-men could also fit this idea of Blood vs training or Improvisational magic vs Trained Magic,

A sorcerer is the Artist of magic while a Wizard is the Scientist of magic as one GM once said.

In OG D&D there was the Magic User Class and the Cleric Class and that was it, all the other permutation did not show up till much latter. The wizard was the old guy in the floppy hat and robes and modeled after Gandalph and Merlin. A person had to spend Years studying ancient texts to master magic, as if magic was the D&D equivalent of a Masters Degree. Any Jo could pick up a sword or pick a lock but Wizardry required years of Study which is why they only had a D4 Hit Points, because all those years made them week and frail

Except, both Merlin and Gandalph were known to lay the smack down on more then one occasion, and neither were students of magic, Gandalph was a 2000 year old Angel in Human form when we first meet him in the Hobbit and Merlin was to son of Supernatural beings.

So.

What's the BIG difference between saying that all Wizards are born with the blood line to use Magic(Sorcerers) but they must be trained by a Sensi to use there magic properly as a Wizard Other wise they just go mad with power? Or cause a lot of damage with there uncontrolled magic(Harry with the snake at the Zoo?)

Or that Wizards and Sorcerers are not the same at all (though isn’t a Sorcery with the Arcane Blood Line a Wizard?).

On Paper the difference between a Sorcerer and a Wizard are as follows

A: Blood Line vs Specialization

B: No Familiar vs Familiar/Arcane Bond

C: Spontaneously cast spells vs studying specific spells each night.

D: Lesser spells known/memorized and longer time to reach top tier spells vs more Spells known and reach top tier spells sooner

The spontaneous ability to pull spells out of thin air gives the Sorcery a slight advantage but they know less spells from which to Improvise. A Wizard has to memorize his spell and with out feats can not change them till his next rest, he has more spells in his arsenal but he has no way of knowing what the next few encounters might require so he may have 8 Spells memorized to fight Frothgar the Frost demon but -Oops look its his ½ brother the Flame Demon .

On versatility the Sorcerer takes the lead and personally I like the Blood Lines more then School Specialization

On utility and pure raw power a wizard will trump a Sorcerer-if he is prepared.

The question again is, are all Wizards like Galen? Having the raw power to do magic but requiring training to be a true wizard

I like that idea

In the end though it's the choice of each player and GM as to how magic works in their world.

At the end of the day both the Wizard and the Sorcerer are going to cast magic Missile.....At the Darkness

Till next time

Be excellent

Christmas Blog # 2-The Bard

Anyone remember back in 2^nd edition D&D when Bard was the first prestige class? Yeah, back in the day in order to be a Bard the Character first had to-if I remember correctly- take 4 levels as a Warrior, 4 levels as a Rogue and I think 1 level as a Wizard before they could become a Bard. Yeah back then bards were Bad Ass and had songs that could ruin whole city’s and stuff.

Today the Bard is something of a laughing stalk and often bards are made fun of in RPG literature and at games when really when you think about it bards are the ultimate Jack of All trades character and if played right can still be Bad Ass!

Think about it, under pathfinder /D&D rules a bard can use the same weapons and wear the same armor as a Rogue, and that can be upgraded with a feat. They have all the sane skills as a rogue, they have a verity of spells that allow them to Heal and buff the party as well as do some ranged DPS as well. In addition there are all the amazing skill synergies and Buff's bards provide. Need to know where the God of water hid her Trident? Bardic Knowledge for the win!

Bard can pretty much fill any role in the party, maybe he does not fight as well as the Warrior or spot traps as well as the Rogue but he can do both. With his skills and buffs and spells he can pretty much be built to be any character the player wants

Indiana Jones type hunter for lost relics=Bard.

James Bond style of spy=Bard.

Swashbuckler swinging from the chandler while drinking=Bard.

Grumpy sage=Bard.

Stem punk Crazy inventor=Bard.

Its time to stop laughing at the bard and realize that it is the ultimate Jack of All trades/ Utility character that also allows for the most specialization and quirky personal builds of any class.

Sure the Rogue gets more skill points (8 as opposed to the Bards 6) but they both have the same skill list and while the Rogue is often pigeonholed into being the Disable Traps/Back Stab guy the Bard has no such limits. His play style and build is far more up to you then the Rogue, plus the vast Knowledge Skills and Synergies eventually allow the Bard to be better at almost everything-except for disabling traps and back Stabbing

Plus the bard is just Fun. He is the ultimate Fun character, he can be the ray of hope in a dismal dungeon Providing much needed Buffs for the party and a little levity to that grim scenario

Or, he can be the grim bringer of doom.

Bards have there origins in the many cultures of the World who did not have written Languages and who's History and Story’s were passed on via Song or Tale.

In the dark Ages they did not have Google, the only way any one knew what was happening in the wide world was when a Travailing minstrel or message runner (both rolls of the bard) came to town They would be paid in Coin and free food in exchange for keeping the town up to date in the events from around the World.

It was considered Bad luck if a Viking long boat did not have a Scald adored to sing the raiders praises to Odin and to beg the Sea Gods for a good voyage.

In the tales of Middle Earth the power of Song is well known, many of the Characters sang in the books. From Bilbo’s walking song to the powerful songs of the Elf's that told the history of the World. Strider sang , Gandalph sang, even the Ork's sang (where theirs a whip, theirs a way) Plus Music has changed the World in more ways then another forum of Communication Songs to fill our hearts with pride and joy. Songs to remind us of who we were and where we came from. Songs of protest, of anger, of grief. MTV,Elvis, The Beatles

Now all this does not mean the bard has to just sing? Oh no. James Bond is a Bard and he does not sing. A bard can play a Flute or a Lute, tell a Joke or Dance up a Storm, and heck there is not much distance between dancing and Martial Arts.
So my dear Christmas reader, it is time to stop considering the Bard the Joke of the pathfinder/D&D world and realize that he is a pretty amazing Jack of All trades world Changing man about town and for a change of pace, try running One . Cant make up your mind what Character you want to play, be a bard because they can be EVERYTHING.

Till next time when we close to door on D&D for 2014

Happy Holidays and

Be Excellent!

Holiday gaming blog #1 The Barbarian

because nothing says Christmas like a Barbarian?

Happy Holidays to all the Gamers out there. I apologize that I am not posting as much as I would like. Real life you know.

Today we are going to take a look at one of the more misunderstood characters in Pathfinder/Dungeons and Dragons and that is the Barbarian.

The problem is that most players who chose the Barbarian want a easy to run dude that hit's things and takes a lot of damage, and while that is a HUGE part of the Barbarian there is also a lot of MATH involved with this guy that often confuses players.

We will get to that in a second, first lets just address the idea of a Barbarian as a job in the D&D world. Because that's what a class is when you think about it, it's the Characters Job.

Harry Potter went to Hogwarts for Seven years to become a Wizard. Sir Lancelot trained since youth to become a Fighter(Knight). I went to School to become a Teacher.

Conan did not go to Barbarian School to become a Barbarian.

Barbarian is a CULTURE, not a Class. It's a point of perception, not a job?

When the Italians first arrived in China to open the Silk Road they called the Chinese and Moguls they met, Barbarians

When the Chinese first met the Italians, they called them Barbarians as well.

It's all perception.

Ok now we got that over with, if the Barbarian’s job is to hit things and take damage, how is he different then the Fighter, other then the D12 hit points. What makes a Barbarian in D&D/Pathfinder not juts a Fighter in a lion cloth?

The D12 Hit Dice, and the Rage power.

And it's the Rage power that turns the Barbarian in to a character that requires a lot of Math.

Let's look at a First level Barbarian with an 18 Strength.

That’s a +4 to hit and damage because of Strength and a +1 BAB at First Level.

So if he is wielding a Two Handed Sword (which they always are) that’s +5 to hit 2d6+5 to damage.

Now we give him Power Attack (Which we always do)

That’s now Two different sets of Numbers to use. Two handed Sword with out Power Attack and Two handed Sword with Power Attack.

That's before Rage, once the Barbarian enters rage that's Two more set's of Numbers the Barbarian has to deal with.

Two Handed Rage Sword with out Power Attack and Two Handed Rage with Power Attack.

We are now at Four sets of Numbers, and that's at FIRST level. It only get's more complicated as the Barbarian goes up levels.

So the Barbarian is not in fact a simple I HIT THINGS WITH MY AX Character It practically requires Excel to do all the Math for the Player. Leading to very confused players who often just drop the character or the game because it turned out to be far more complicated then they thought.

You do not have to take the Barbarian Class to be a Barbarian. It's a Culture and a Mind set not a Job. Bolvi and Conan can still be Fighters (in fact before there was a Barbarian Class, Conan was just a Fighter when stated out in various products)

But if you want to play a Barbarian as he is in the Book, understand that Math will be involved.

The idea of a savage feral wild-man with a Two Handed Sword screaming out the name ODIN while he cleaves through the skulls of his many enemies is a pretty awesome idea of a character to play, the Math can be a distraction if the Gm does not warn you that there is math

At the end of the day it's the players choice and the player should be informed as to what the pro's and con's of any class are.

So, The Barbarian Math!

Next time, the bard.

Happy holidays and be EXCLENT...

The True Power of the Cleric.

I have often been known to say the the Cleric is the most broken class in the D&D Verse because it can do everything. I have also been known to say that death in the D&D verse is like the cold. You get over it.

Which I mean to say is that in your typical fantasy game, the Cleric/Healer has multiple ways to stop death from claiming a person. From using simple first level cure light spells to stabilize someone to his abilities to resurrect the dead at higher levels. No one who dies in a D&D type game will stay dead if there is a Cleric around.

One thing that is hardly ever thought about in a RPG though is just what having a Magic healing person actually means for the world, (or just how powerful that person would be in our world right now.)

Thanks to a Cleric, no one in a typical D&D world would ever have to worry about disease, poison,plague,wounds or even death. Babies would be born with no risk to them selves or the Mother thanks to a cleric and no one would ever die unless they wanted to. No one would ever starve because a Cleric can create food and water. No one would ever have to worry about Thieves or Assassins due to the Clerics ability to create a Sanctuary. Disease and plague would be a thing of the past, poisons would be instantly dealt with. No on could ever tell a lie thanks to the Clerics Zone of truth powers and the threat of the Forthcoming Zombi Apocalypse would be nothing more then a bed time story thanks to a Cleric.

Polio,Ebola,Cancer,Brain Damage, 3^rd Degree Burns, Broken Bones,Starvation,Poison, and every other medical Symptom would be dealt with in a blink of an eye thanks to a Cleric.

Crime would be pointless as the Cleric's powers would alone him to locate the Suspect,replay the Crime and make sure the Criminal suffered the appropriate punishment. There would be no question of Guilt as the Cleric can make the bad guy tell the truth. Heck, he can make the Crime Scene talk and tell him what happened.

Never mind all those religion arguments and crusades, the cleric proves 100% that there is a God, possibly more then one.

AND! Should the cleric ever run in to a problem his powers cant solve, well he would just summon a Angel to help him!

There would be no need for Science to progress since a Cleric would be able to provide everything that motivates industry.

The n there is the DEATH thing. No One stays dead if the Cleric wills it so. Dispute over a Will or who is the next in line to sit on the Throne? Nonsense,the Cleric just brings the dead back to life and asks them. Only one woman on earth can solve this problem but she died 20 year ago? No big thing, the Cleric can bring her back.

Overpopulation and starvation because of the death thing? Not a problem as the Cleric can create an endless amount of food and shelter and should the world get over crowded? The Cleric just opens a Portal to the next?

Every thing that ever plagued a Fantasy medieval setting would not exist because of the Cleric, thus making him the most important, powerful and BROKEN class in the game

Now imagine a Cleric in today’s world? It's mind boggling what one Cleric could change in One day on our world., and a few dozen clerics? They would be ruling the World by the end of the Week!

So the next time someone does not want to run a Cleric in the D&D game because he thinks they are Just Heal bots. Make them read this article and fear the Power of the Cleric.

Happy holidays

Be excellent

To PDF or not to PDF?

Hello RPG fans, I apologize for being out of the loop recently. Been far to sick to publish. But we are back so lets start rolling some Dice?

So this time around I thought we could take a look at the PDF Product market.

Only a few years ago, downloading and printing out a PDF was a novelty but now with the advent of so many portable electronic devises that are capable of storing a PDF and allowing you to look at them at a moments notice PDF's are now a very easy medium to use. My crappy nook not withstanding, pretty much everyone has a devise that can quickly bring up that PDF and let you find the topic you wanted to look at. Plus it seems like much of the market is now being target at the PDFF market. There is am much as,if not more PDF gaming materiel right now as there is Printed material

So is PDF going to be the preferred environment for gaming in the next few years?

Many factors seem to be directing the RPG market in that way.

PDF's are cheaper to download then there printed counterparts. A average Book today can cost anywhere between $30.00 and $80.00 Dollars, most of that price going to cover the utterly pointless full page-full color -high gloss art that dominates the Books these days. While the PDF's of the same product can range from FREE to under $30.00.

PDF's are easier to transport. An average game book is around 100-300 pages and can take up a lot of room in your backpack. PDF's on the other hand weigh noting since they are stored on your Tablet/Laptop/I-Phone. In addition you can carry multiple PDF's on said tablet while you are limited by the weight your Backpack can hold or how many books you tossed in the Trunk for this weeks game.

PDF's are easier to navigate. Once on your electronic information thing of choice, it takes no offer to open the Doc and enter the search command for the Topic you are researching at the time. In addition your Tablet lets you surf the net as well, thus allowing you to search for information on line within seconds while gaming. A true time saver.

Common Core/The Electronic Classroom: Hears another tidbit that you might never have considered save for the fact that I work in education. With the advent of Common Core and the Electronic Classroom, all learning is being geared for the Tablet population. Smart classrooms will train future gamers how to use the Tablet to interact with the Classroom and Education systems as opposed to Books and paper Within a few years books will be but a memory. Your Grandchildren may have no idea what a book is(Which is a shame)

Most gaming product can now be found in both there printed version and a PDF version, and many of the more recent product is PDF only. It is FAR cheaper to put a document on line then it is to print out a few hundred books that you have no way of knowing if they will even sell. There are tons of books on the Shelf at my local game store that have not moved in Years because all that information is on the Internet and is FREE or under $10.00

PDF's take up no room as they are on your computer. Think of all the shelf space you will save in the future if all your gaming product is on your I-Gadget?

So, are there any reasons not to PDF?

Yes, but most of them are minor

After you Pay for the PDF, you still have to Print it out and get it bound if you want a hard copy Between the price of the download, the price of the paper and ink and the price to get it bound it will end up costing as much as,if not more then the copy on the shelf at your local game store.

Once printed out a PDF is as large, if not larger then the non PDF product so it will take up as much room and weigh as much as its counterpart.

While having the PDF on your I-Gadget makes things a lot easier, I have personally found it difficult to look up a fact on a PDF as opposed to just opening my book and finding the page. Depending on the speed and power of your Tablet thing , a page of information could take up to a Minuit to find?

As gamers we like to have things in our hands! Our dice, our Figures, or Writing implements and are books. We like our books, we are tactile in nature: We want to be able to open the book, find the information and share the book with others.

Sadly the reasons not to have the PDF are few and mostly involve Cost and personal preference I personally always prefer the book to the PDF, mostly for Price and my tactile need need to have the book in front of me so I can read it in bed/on the bus/plane or whatever.

But that’s just me .All in all PDF's are a fare more effective way to carry about the information you need for the game. One I-gadget can hold Dozen’s of RPG documents and only take up a few inches of space in your backpack. In addition you have them backed up on a Zip drive (you do have them backed up right) so if anything happens, you still have it at home AND the PDF site will let you download it again for Free as many times as you want once you have paid for the initial copy!

So to PDF or not to PDF, sadly as much as I love books, want to support my local game Shop and disagree with Common Core, PDF's are the best way to go about your gaming life.

As long as you paid for them and downloaded them LEGAGLY. (Which we all have done. Right?)

When looking for PDF product. Try RPG Download. RPG Now. RPG Gateway. Pazio's on line store or the web site of the company who's product you are seeking to buy. Most product on the web will also offer a PDF copy as well for Free.

Till next time, keep RPG alive and remember.

Be excellent..

Happy holidays!

Last Spokky october blog

On the day of the dead when the year to dies.
Good Morning Boils and Ghouls and welcome to our last SPOOKY OCTOBER BLOG on Horror in RPG. I hope you all enjoyed our exsploartion of this aspect of our hobby?

Halloween is an interesting holiday,especially since it does not in fact Celebrate anything. We have this strange relationship with Halloween, we spend all this time,energy,effort and money on it as a group, yet individually we each have our own understanding of the holiday and why we celebrate it.

Though lets face it, we celebrate it for the candy.

Halloween has no one origin, it is a incoperation of several cultural events and celebrations that have all been mashed together. The actual origins of the evening date back to before the Roman Empire, while our modern version of the Holiday originated somewhere in the 50's and is the result of Candy companies trying to sell more candy.
The most interesting aspect of Halloween is that before the Romans it was considered the end of the Year, thus the whole “Day of the Dead when the Year to Dies” thing.

It was a celebration of the end of the summer, a successful harvest and as Summer became Winter it was the end of the Year as far as our ancestors believed.

Most of the things we associate with Halloween,Pumpkins,Candy, Masks, Ghosts also have very simple origins and have no association with anything Pagan or Evil.

The most well known aspect that dates back is the Ghost thing, as celebrated on November First with the Dios De' La Morte (SP?) celebration. As this was a time of endings and beginnings and of long dark nights our ancestors believed that on this night the spirits of the dead would return to visit them.Q This was not seen as a bad thing but as a celebration of there lives,they were welcomed into the home and food and drink was left out for them. As it was dark and the Dead have a horrible sens of directions, lights were set out so they could find there way home. Often these lights were placed in hallowed out gourds. The weight of the gored would prevent the candle from falling over,let the spirit know that there was food and warmth for them in the house and face it look pretty cool. (Plus you had to do something with the Squash after you took out all the good stuff)

So right there you have the beginnings of the “dead walk the earth” aspect of Halloween. Candles in Gourds (pumpkins) aspect and the giving food to the spirits (trice or treat).

The idea of giving food to the spirits at your door (trick or treat) most likely grew out of the previous idea of providing food for the dead(See above). It was believed by many cultures that these spirits might want to play tricks on there relatives and that other spirits might wish to harm the family.
Food was left out as a bribe to the more mischievous spirits in the hopes they would leave your house alone. Similar to Christmas carols some people would go visit there family and neighbors and partake of the free food. They would even knock on the door to demand the free food if it was not left out. If they did not get the free food they might preform a minor trick on the house, such as kicking over a light. Since they did not want any one to know it was them, they would often wear masks.

Masks and dressing up date back to the dawn of man's history. Shamans and warriors would wear masks and body paint for many reasons from hunting to religious ceremony's. In latter years masks would be parts of celebrations,theater,religion and crime. Any time someone did not want to be recognized or to play the part of someone else, a mask of some kind was used.

The darker and more sinister aspects of the holiday grew out of the general superstition during the dark ages and the holly roman Church desire to control people, and nothing controls the uneducated better then fear.

Now a days Halloween is, or at least should be about Children. AND CANDY. It is one of the few holidays despite all the mass media that is just for Kids. There is no historical or religious background to the holiday other then the mish mash of ritual;s and habits from the past. Take all that away though and it is about Kids and for kids. And the kid in all of us. AND CANDY.

Till next time enjoy the holidays in whatever forum you wish. Be safe,be sane and most of all Be excellent

Spokky October Blog # 4

Happy Halloween Boils and Ghouls and this time lets take a look at some of the Classic styles of Horror and the games that fit them.

The most classic style of Horror is the Passive Victims or “Idiots in a cabin” horror. Usually it is a group of very pretty but very stupid teens who think a good idea is spending the weekend in that creepy old cabin in the woods. This never ends well for them.

While many movies follow this story, few of the Horror games do. Most Horror RPG's use the second method.

Reactive Investigators This is the X-files stile of Horror. The heroes are members of a underfunded under prepared nebulous organization who go out and investigate something spooky after the fact. Spooky old Pirate ghost, lets go check it out.

Most horror games use the Investigator style of play. The heroes work for “Some government agency” or Privet agency and find out about something horrible and go invigilate it.

And I would have got away with it to if not for you meddling kids.

his style of RPG is reflected in most of the Horror Games. Resident Evil, Silent hill, X-files, Ghost busters, Hijinks,Chill, Call of Cathulu, beyond the supernatural,M20 Horror,Hunter, MIB, Zombi Hunters, Bruise 13, Stalking the night fantastic, The list goes on.

In games like COC you really have no chance to Win, you just survive and do your best to slow the eventual awful stuff. While in more active participation games like Chill or Burrow 13 you actually have the ability to beat the monsters and win.

But for how long, how long.

The third style of Horror RPG is still relatively new and that is the World Of darkness,Supernatural, Vampire Diaries games where not only are you in conflict with Horror you are actually members of the Spooky population. From sexy soulful vampires to conflicted werwolf’s and pouty angels. This style of game was made famous by the World Of darkness/Vampire the masquerade games.

The creations of Ann rice and the Urban fantasy movement of the late 80's would have had us embracing the dark rather then fearing it.

No longer were the monsters the bad guys, now they were the heroes. With there own morals,back story and reasons to adventure.

The world of darkness/vampire the masquerade games and there many clones portrayed our Nightmares as heroes, things to be proud of not afraid of. LARP became a word, story telling diceles role playing became a thing. These games flooded the market, though most of them did not survive past the early 2000's.

Even today people still argue Team Jacob or Team Edward Well all you children of the night, I'm sorry but I am and will always be TEAM BUFFY! Horrible evil monsters are not something to be embraced, there are to be hunted down and staked.

Except for SPIKE, because he was cool.

Speaking of Buffy, that brings us to the nest type of Horror RPG. Lets hunt them down and kill them.

Games like DELTA GREEN and BUFFY would have us play thew roles of active hunters of the dark. No longer were investigators underfunded and under prepared Now the Players knew the dark existed,where they were hiding and had the skills and weaponry to hand those meddiling vampires there candy ass.

Thankfully no RPG's have yet to embrace the SAW style of Torture Porn horror films and most of today’s Spooky Movies are variations of the Hunted cabin/Idiots in the woods story. As for Horror RPG's on the market today>

They are all Zombie related Everywhere you look the Zombies have invaded our RPG's At least once every 3 months a new Zombi Survival RPG arrives-only to quickly vanish.

Despite our love of being scared, we tend to not like being in a Scarey Role Playing games As of today only a few RPG's of the Horror type have any staying power. The never ending juggernaut of Storytelling RPG's that is the World of darkness Line and call of Cthulhu style games. We see a new Zombie game but they seem to not have the staying power, maybe Zombies are overdone and its time to move on.

Personally I think the next big wave of Horror will be a throw back to the 1950's. Science gone wrong horror (planet of the apes) and Kiju horror (Godzilla).

That said SHARKANEDO IS THE BEST MOVI EVER! And I can not wait to play the SHARKANADO RPG!

So Kids, what type of scarey story will you dust off this week for your Halloween RPG?

Whatever it is, stay safe-stay sane. Have fun this Halloween and above all

Unpleasant dremes-MUWHAHHAHAH