Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Everytime I think I'm out, they drag me back in.

For those who've known me for a long time, across the decades, they will know that, unlike most gamers of a certain age, my entry into RPGs wasn't via Dungeons and Dragons. It was through Traveller's three little black books that I entered the hobby, and while I certainly have played other games, particularly in recent years, for every hour I've played various incarnations of Dungeons and Dragons, or Call of Cthulhu, or d20 Modern, or any of the other games I've played, I've played probably 40-50 hours of Traveller in one of its various forms.

Unfortunately, I reached a point about 8-9 years ago where I was just burnt out on the game. d20 Star Wars had caught my eye, and dragged me into various forms of d20, and I just kind of lost interest in the old game.

Courtesy of this discussion at Grognardia, however, the interest has been engaged again. I still own all my own stuff (a near complete collection of every Traveller reference from the original 1977 boxed set until the demise of Traveller 4th Edition in 1998) and I just took the plunge and ordered the Core Rulebook for Mongoose Traveller (never could get into GURPS).

So when I get done planning and running con games here at the month, it looks like I might be running Traveller again...for the first time in nearly a decade. Oddly, I'm looking forward to it.

Monday, January 30, 2012

For Those Going to Vul-Con

Consider this another preview of coming distractions.

I wasn't liking the way the pulp game was looking, so I pulled it. Still, there's plenty of amusement to be had by all. Here's a thumbnail sketch of each of them.

Call of Cthulhu-Delta Green: The Last Equation.

For those unfamiliar with Delta Green, it basically takes H P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, late 20th Century UFO and Government Conspiracy theories that were such fodder for the X-Files (though Delta Green predates the X-Files), puts them all into a blender and hits frappe.

The Last Equation is a Dennis Detwiller creation I figured was about the right length for a late night Saturday night convention slot. It's a great game with strong Mythos undertones and should play well.

Star Wars Saga Edition - The Betrayal of Darth Revan: Set in the same era as the two Knights of the Old Republic video games (and roughly 300 years before the recently released MMO), this is a former GenCon WotC game I've not had the chance to run before, and am looking forward to. It's something of a prequel to the first video game, Knights of the Old Republic, and looks very good.

Darwin's World - The High Road to Hell: Based on d20 Modern's rule system (still available online as the Modern System Reference Document, or MSRD), Darwin's World is a grimmer, grittier take on Post-Apocalyptic role-playing than Gamma World, or some other takes on the genre. The designers were very definitely thinking of the first two Fallout games when they designed this one, though it's enough different from Fallout to not really be compared to it. This is a low-level (5th Level) adventure that is a former GenCon scenario for the game).

A Dirty World - Bucknell 13, Delaware 7: Based on Greg Stolze's one-roll engine (the same dice mechanic behind Wild Talents, and its various brother superhero games, as well as Reign (sword and board fantasy), and Nemesis (horror), this is a film noir game. For Senator Benjamin Bucknell, the day began by watching his alma mater win a football game, and ended with his being shot. What happens after is up to the players.