tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90378099958491360022024-03-13T06:46:04.396-07:00Under A Blood Red SkyAn ongoing account of my return to the old school role playing game world and all things related thereto.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-3064497269641329572012-04-27T14:14:00.000-07:002012-04-27T14:19:26.362-07:00TouchdownWell, we finally did it. I managed to get my family relocated to Edmonton in Canada. There's a zillion things we are catching up on and trying to do so I can't really expect to get much gaming in the near future. Nonetheless, I feel like a character in a great adventure just starting up. Being a new migrant in a brave new place seems very much like starting again at first level- all those experience points I have to gain are in the future. Well, no time like now to get started...spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-76963640372897866672012-01-04T22:09:00.000-08:002012-01-04T22:13:00.763-08:00Going, going, gone....<div align="left"><br />I started my love affair with miniatures as early as my fifth year of life. After<br />my mom gave me a pack full of plastic army men, there was no going back.<br />Discovering scale models when I was about ten was the next logical step. Role<br />playing games followed next as my tactically-minded crew got down to hashing<br />drag-out fights which continue to this day. </div><div align="left"><br />In 1998, I got into Warhammer 40k big time. I was single and had some money to<br />burn so I decided on the most expensive, figure-intensive army then: the<br />Imperial Guard. At one time, I had about 100 mostly pewter-metal figurines on<br />the table marching to crush any foolhardy rival general who dared to presume<br />that humanity’s legions were a walk-over in a stand up fight. I recall lovingly<br />painting practically all of these figures.<br /></div><div align="left">These tinmen made guest appearances in all my various games, gracing the combat<br />tables of Traveller, Fading Suns, Gurps, D&D and Mutant Future.<br />Alas, time flies and it’s time to wrap up affairs here. My tanks and combat vehicles<br />had since been sold off and today, the tinmen’s turn to be bought off has<br />arrived.<br /></div><div align="left">I never thought parting with my collection would be occasioned with a profound sense<br />of loss. Though I never experienced an amputation of a body part (and never<br />hope to do so) I feel like a large piece of me was just hacked off.<br /></div><div align="left">Ouch.</div>spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-59729548291058152722011-12-31T19:42:00.000-08:002011-12-31T20:05:04.911-08:00Quick and dirty and eminently usefulAs a harassed dungeon master/game master, I am always on the lookout for very useful shortcuts to make my job easier and more effective. Real life takes a horrific toll on my refereeing efforts - and I feel that I am not remiss in claiming that many of my brethren of similar persuasion are in the same situation as I am. <div><br /></div><div>Jeff Rients has a most effective article on coming up with an instant dungeon in Fight On! magazine issue number 6 most appropriately entitled HOLY CRAP! I NEED A DUNGEON RIGHT NOW. I find myself so much in such a situation the day before I committed to run a dungeon and just emerged from a very toxic work week. I do heartily recommend this article if you find yourself searching for some solid tips on how to deal with these last minute crunches.</div><div><br /></div><div>One such piece of advice deals with quickly but effectively stocking your shake and bake dungeon with monsters which are hopefully going to offer something for your players' characters to sink their fangs into. I am a fan of customizing my big baddies before I throw them at the players as I always believe in tossing them something they've never encountered before as opposed to just recycling something straight from the monster manual.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jeff suggests rolling once on the appropriate encounter table for your dungeon's level for the basic monster and then rolling again on the encounter table. After this, simply amalgamate the two monsters who have rolled up. </div><div><br /></div><div>I decided to take this for a spin during my last Traveller-themed dungeon crawl. The results were pleasantly intriguing (and surprisingly fun too for my players). First roll on the wandering monster table under Labyrinth Lord rules produced the Owlbear- my usual favorite. Second roll was the Gorgon: mean and deadly considering its petrification attack. Amalgamating the two together produced a monstrous and deadly hybrid- the Owl Gorgon. It looked, smelled, attacked and died like an Owlbear but packed the hideous surprise of breathing out a cloud of greenish gas when it had you in a bear hug which, if you failed your saving throw, turned you to stone.</div><div><br /></div><div>As it is, my players wisely ganged up on it and applied massive dollops of shock action (ie. cut it to pieces before it really got to turn someone to stone). The fighter narrowly missed his save but never really found out what was going to happen to him if he failed. Too bad he later got careless and failed his save against a corrosive poison gas trap later on as he fixated on looting a magical sword. But that's an altogether different story.</div><div><br /></div><div>As to generating the Owl Gorgon, I got it down pat in 2 minutes flat. Not bad for a harassed dungeon master. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jeff's advise shows you that thinking slightly out of a box and using the tools provided in existing old school clone rulesets will really yield great dividends. A great savings in both time and effort.</div>spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-91947897922005796292011-12-31T06:16:00.000-08:002011-12-31T06:26:18.666-08:00I know it's gonna be a good year!As I post this, I reflect on 2011. <div><br /></div><div>To be honest, 2011 was very difficult for me. I count myself lucky that I am still gainfully employed when so many decent, hardworking folks are aching to find fulfilling meaningful jobs. But I'm only just so lucky... working for a living for me now involves earning just enough for the family to survive but at a price of slowly eating away your soul. I had made a promise to reinvent myself when the time comes and I pray it comes sooner than later. We aren't getting any younger after all.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll be saying goodbye to the third world very soon and hopefully settling in a better place overall. As a gamer, my fears lie in the direction of losing contact with my gaming group of more than ten years. I'm having separation anxiety as I am leaving behind my books, my games and my airsoft stuff (some of my few real vices in this life).</div><div><br /></div><div>It is my fervent wish that sometime in the future, I'll still get a chance to do some gaming in our new home in the great white north.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is with this that I look forward with hope. </div><div><br /></div><div>2012. A new year coming in about one and a half hours from now. May it be peaceful, fruitful and better for all of us.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-80211482538922506742011-12-30T17:22:00.000-08:002011-12-30T17:43:30.643-08:00The Barrier Peaks SyndromeExpedition to the Barrier Peaks. <div><br /></div><div>Believe it or not but I've never had the privilege of either running or playing this module. Never had the chance to do so but it always remains as one of my best inspirations in terms of genre-bending science fantasy. Maybe it's just the Gamma World fan in me but I always found it cool to have sword wielding adventurers toting captured firearms.</div><div><br /></div><div>Looking back to yesterday's most recent "one-shot" Labyrinth Lord dungeon crawl made me re-visit Traveller Book 1: Characters and Combat. The rules set down some "antique equivalents" of the weapons set down to give the players a reference point on their capabilities and stats. Hence, when GDW referred to "submachineguns" they stated that they were referring to the Sterling 9mm L2A1 or the Israel 9mm Uzi.</div><div><br /></div><div>What about armor?</div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday's vulpine mercs were wearing Mesh. Traveller described this as a body suit of natural or synthetic leather reinforced with a lining of flexible metal mesh similar to chain mail but lighter and stronger. Hmmm, so it would look like modernized leather armor with a layer of chain mail below, but lighter. My equivalent in Labyrinth Lord would be Chain Mail (Armor Class 5).</div><div><br /></div><div>Going through the whole set of Traveller armor, I would put the following as their Labyrinth Lord equivalents:</div><div><br /></div><div>Jack - a natural or synthetic leather jacket/body suit. Somewhat better than ordinary clothing or bare skin against blades but worthless against guns. Labyrinth Lord equivalent: Leather Armor (Armor Class 7).</div><div><br /></div><div>Cloth- my favorite, being the most versatile in the Traveller series. A heavby duty jacket/vest covering the upper torso and legs tailored from ballistic cloth. It absorbs impact energy distributing the blow over the body of the target resulting in (possibly) severe bruising. Given the metallurgy and workmanship of the D&D world, I'd place Cloth's Labyrinth Lord equivalent as Plate Metal (Armor Class 3).</div><div><br /></div><div>Ablat is cheap and is fashioned from material which will vaporize when hit by laser fire. I'd like to see how this stacks up against a fireball spell. It has some value as protection against other forms of attack primarily because of its bulk. I'd place its Labyrinth Lord equivalent as Studded Leather Armor (Armor Class 6). </div><div><br /></div><div>I find cross-genre gaming fun as I get to "translate" the stats of gear and items from one game universe to another. In this case, 'porting matters from Classic Traveller to OD&D (and vice versa!) never fails to provide me with a most interesting intellectual exercise. </div><div><br /></div><div>I guess the Barrier Peaks Syndrome lives on. While I don't think I'll have the time to run or play out this very long and most intriguing module, its' influence will always continue to make itself felt in my gaming in years to come.</div>spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-81288298034364858762011-12-30T03:20:00.000-08:002011-12-30T03:32:23.917-08:00If you think dungeon crawls are fun......don't let anyone else tell you it isn't (run your games this way if you want). I recall a sentence to this effect in Robin Laws' book on refereeing. Today, our gaming group validated this statement.<div><br /></div><div>It started out with having one afternoon to run a one-off old school game. So I decided to dust off (figuratively) my pdf copy of Labyrinth Lord and cobble up a one shot dungeon crawl. To spice up the weirdness factor, I decided to throw in a mutant human and mutant animal (antman!) warrior from the Mazes and Monsters optional rules at the end of the book thereby importing mutant warriors from the Mutant Future. So my pregen list ended up with a stock human fighter, a cleric, a magic user, a thief (all of the above representing the big four basic classes), a dwarf, an elf and the two afore-mentioned mutants.</div><div><br /></div><div>To spice things up even further I set the game in what turned out to be a frontier scout surveillance base staffed by Vargr Mercs from Traveller. I know we always used to consider tech level 6 Traveller weapons as being on the lower end of the deadliness scale during combat. Today's game showed how the "typical" battle rifle (being the venerable M14) proved deadly against a group of 5-6th level D&D characters, particularly when paired with an odd laser carbine and wielded by a foe that seemed to remotely know what they were doing...</div><div><br /></div><div>It was fun. I recall the last time we did this sort of D&D-Traveller genre bend was in high school. I wonder how their magic items will stack up against an enemy in Battledress?</div><div><br /></div><div>We might get to find out as my players are clamoring to continue. This one shot is turning out to have a continuation after all....</div>spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-17431280655095645792011-10-06T21:13:00.000-07:002011-10-06T21:17:55.123-07:00Well that's very kind of you to mention it...I've been so out of it for so long, I even neglected to note that my friend Alex who runs a pretty good gaming blog himself posted something on my ongoing Fading Suns game here at the <a href="http://armchairgamer.blogspot.com/2011/09/return-to-sutek-first-batch-of.html">Armchair Gamer</a>.<br /><br />Many thanks my friend. You do a better job than I do in documenting our latest attempt at good gaming.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-50245341436536923312011-07-02T16:46:00.000-07:002011-07-02T16:52:41.726-07:00RegroupingIt's regrouping time for me. Recovering from a bout of gastronomical infection of the variety that sends you scurrying to the bathroom, I had to call off today's game. I think I can use a day of rest. <br /><br />It would be the eve of another anniversary of the battle of Kursk, something my history aficionado friends and I always end up marking. But to my other friends and relatives, it's almost the 4th of July. <br /><br />In particular, to my American friends out there, here's to a great 4th of July! Stay well and prosper everyone.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-59281912990412931442011-06-26T05:02:00.000-07:002011-06-26T15:36:06.683-07:00Epic battleMy head is still spinning. We had our regular Mutant Future game today. Fifteen player characters and NPCs in the adventuring party. Just when I expected them to run, the players dig in resolutely and FIGHT! A reinforced platoon of mutant 'human mercenaries assault their prepared positions. Supporting dragoons make a nuisance of themselves, sniping and harassing.<br /><br />The result: three solid hours of good old fashioned combat and killing. The final tally: six dead characters and the reinforced platoon of attacking mutant mercs scattered and fleeing. The butcher's bill proved a heavy price indeed.<br /><br />Two things everyone learned today with a definite emphasis:<br /><br />First, friendly fire, ISN'T. Mutations harm friend and foe when badly used. Today's use of Killing Sphere came close to wiping out the party as well as the attacking point squad. Reminded me of a wayward arty strike landing on your own positions.<br /><br />Second, snipers kill from a distance. One of two pure human player characters found out the hard way. I guess he should have been paying more attention and asking why the Mutant Lord was still counting initiative when every enemy in sight appeared to be dead....<br /><br />Oh well, happy times....spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-51711575778993153572011-06-23T15:58:00.000-07:002011-06-23T16:17:07.523-07:00Rain rain and rainIt's seven in the morning and the sky is pouring. By this I mean forty days and forty nights variety of tropical torrential rain. It's been like this since the other day. What many people take for granted is the appalling state of urban drainage we have here after years and years of corruption and neglect. Every little bit of rain (which is pretty much unavoidable this time of the year) results in flooding. This gets to your car, your house, your things and pretty much brings everything to a standstill.<br /><br />I have a meeting with a minor government agency in a flood-prone area and I'm having doubts even if my SUV will survive the trek. Oh, and did I ever mention the traffic jams that will inevitably result? They are giving out anti-pneumonia shots in the office and boy, do we really need this stuff the way things are turning out here. Somehow I keep wondering if people should really be living like this.<br /><br />Times like this I feel that living in the third world is an adventure in a medieval fantasy world. At least it isn't post apocalyptic..yet.<br /><br />Maybe this is why my recurring inspiration for my current mutant future game has a lot to do with tropical rain and jungles.<br /><br />I can't wait for the week to end so we can proceed to session 6 of the Southeast Asian Mutant Future. Upon a player's urging, I cobbled together the MF encumbrance rules as written with the elegant point system found in Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing thereby (hopefully) simplifying things in this regard. we'll see soon I guess.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-88799130646262786902011-06-21T16:37:00.001-07:002011-06-21T16:51:57.652-07:00In the midst of a lot of stuffLife has been very busy and exciting of late. I have so little time to update my blog and I am very much aware of the fact that I have a tremendous backlog in terms of after-action reports and other related musings. Between work, family life and the occassional gaming session, my days and nights are jam-packed, but I have so far stayed true to my personal commitment to thrive and not just to live.<br /><br />Events are catching up with my wife and I and decisions have to be made soon. I'm just so thrilled to move on with our lives after waiting for the right thing to happen.<br /><br />On the gaming front, I'm happy to note my Southeast Asian Mutant Future campaign has been progressing into its fifth session by last Sunday. I've been scribbling down my copious notes and will be posting the account of our mutant ne'er-do-wells who are now in the midst of trying to break into their default starting town which is besieged by Moro Mutant Pirates. They recently just survived the Re-Energizers module and are currently dodging freelance mutant marauders allied to the Moro Mutants. It certainly isn't easy for them they have to keep moving while lugging 120 pounds worth of scavenged radioactive batteries which they are trying to smuggle into the surrounded defenders of Barrio Santo Cristo.<br /><br />Keeping in consonance with the tenets of old school gaming, I lifted the restrictions on characters each player can field. With our NPCs, the party is now up to 15 effectives and counting.<br /><br />I plunked in the 'Shields Will Be Splintered' houserule, as well as some handy houserules by fellow Mutant Lord Malcadon on increased melee combat plusses due to Strength. Adding some sniping rules and other assorted bits on firearms all served to turn the game a tad deadlier. Judging from the players' reactions, the verdict so far is that Mutant Future is one deadly game. <br /><br />I'll be making an effort to post more, given the constraints of real life always hanging over me. What little free time I have is often eaten up by reading up all those interesting bits from other people's blogs. <br /><br />Have a great week everyone!spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-53843468286645628072011-05-22T05:15:00.000-07:002011-05-22T05:18:11.370-07:00Good bye chips and junk foodWhat is it about players, soda and chips?<br /><br />I just got my blood test result and my cholesterol rating is too high to be normal. Hence, goodbye salty, trans-fat laden chips. <br /><br />Argh! Watching my players gorge on this is pure pain.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-91873279971106301562011-05-22T04:37:00.001-07:002011-05-22T04:56:55.829-07:00Mutant future episode 2 - no fatalitiesWe just finished our second episode of this season's Mutant Future (Southeast Asia edition) amidst a tropical late afternoon downpour. Yes, that was fun. Nothing beats an afternoon with friends around the gaming table. The intrepid mutant adventurers are halfway through RE-ENERGIZERS, a Mutant Future adventure module I recently purchased and downloaded. So far, it played out well as a balanced and well thought of scenario. It was also very easy to take, adopt and plunk into my homebrew gameworld. Yes, RE-ENERGIZERS rocks!<br /><br />My house rules expanding the slug throwers found in the MF rules as written appear to work fine- making gunplay very much reminiscent of FALLOUT TACTICS, which was my intention in the first place. Of course so far, it's been the players using their firepower against mutant fauna. I'm sure things will get suitably sanguinary when they run up against opposition with a modicum of intelligence similarly armed and inclined as they are.<br /><br />Man, it is so hot here. I hear the weather hit 38 or 39 Celsius last week. <br /><br />Even if I'm tired and hungry, I'm real happy. And more than ready to face the work week. Bring 'em on guys....spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-64471195231528465182011-05-16T01:53:00.000-07:002011-05-16T01:57:45.205-07:00Back to gaming!We just had our return to Mutant Future game yesterday. It was a blast. i'm still enjoying the feeling of having ran a great game with good friends. I'll be posting a report soon. More good news means we'll probably gaming again this weekend. <br /><br />It's been such a long time I've forgotten how great all of this can be!spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-19790183338021478442011-05-10T06:31:00.000-07:002011-05-10T06:34:06.966-07:00Entering the 46th yearI've been blessed to be alive and well and entering my 46th year today. I have a lot to be thankful for in spite of the day to day challenges that come up now and then. For this year, I resolve to do a lot more enjoyable and memorable gaming.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-39005399358636862042011-05-03T20:42:00.000-07:002011-05-03T20:46:29.119-07:00The Newest Addition to this Mutant Lord's ArsenalI just managed to purchase and download my pdf copy of Mr. Raggi's Random Esoteric Creature Generator. I'm only in the first few pages but I can see how this product is going to go very far indeed in enhancing my next Mutant Future game. With everything moving in accordance with our plans, I hope to be gaming on May 22. Good times seem to be just around the corner!spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-41003860041933274162011-04-27T05:50:00.000-07:002011-04-27T06:24:08.438-07:00Hijacking the jumpstart attempt at running a new gameOne thing GM-ing has taught me is the value of player buy in. The fact that your players have this starry-eyed look of expectation whe you tell them what you plan next means they are hooked. <br /><br />I've been mulling a more Hawkmoon-esque Mutant Future game in the coming weeks and started the actual task of jotting down my ideas just to make them simmer and stew. In the process of doing this, I seem to have been hijacked again along my original path. This has happened before so I am not really bothered. My ultimate end in the proposed upcoming game is a gradual decline of technological civilization on Earth during the course of a drawn out struggle which savants of a later more civilized age will refer to as the Tragic Millenium.<br /><br />The thing is, I seemed more drawn for now to run a game at a point in the TM when technology and civilization is still somewhat formidable but falling catastrophically fast.Having to explain how I envision this to some of my more new school players I described the feel of this attempt at a Mutant Future to be Fallout Tactics meets Planet of the Apes and a dash of the X Men. Well, this got their attention.<br /><br />Next, I decided to try a different tack. I decided to set the game in the place I call home. This means hot, tropical beaches, a lot of native slang, crumbling ruins near fortress gothic churches all set in a place once referred to as the Pearl of the Orient Seas. Other things of interest include local warlords (we never seem to lack those even today), mutant water buffalo, overgrown rice paddies with mutated carnivorous flora, mangrove swamps aplenty, a resurgent ultra-fanatical religious order which would put the Knights of Genetic Purity to shame, fortified towns cobbled together from the floating hulks of ancient tramp vessels (clustered around a beached inert SSN Boomer as the town hall), and rain - lots and lots of it as climate change is slowly but surely sinking our land beneath the waves.<br /><br />I'm presently tweaking the MF rules to allow more and deadlier slug throwers in keeping with the tradition of Fallout Tactics. Knowing my players they'll be demanding this. Maybe it's the legacy of playing too much Twilight 2000 in the past. So yes, guns, guns and more guns. At least until they come upon some serious energy weapons (I do believe that's what happened in Fallout Tactics too).<br /><br />Another thing that provided me with unexpected fun is how I get to use the current slang and subculture here and turn it on it's head when crafting the background. I know my old language teacher will probably maul me what with my bastardizing a lot of Tagalog for this game, but heck, this can be fun! <br /><br />I do recall that the original Gamma World had a lot to do with satirizing Western culture. So maybe I'll do a little of that as regards the culture over here with Mutant Future and see how it pans out.<br /><br />By the emails I've been getting from my prospective players, I do believe I've latched on to something promising here.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-62549319812473550972011-04-25T17:36:00.000-07:002011-04-25T18:03:28.368-07:00Bataan DayI take this opportunity to salute the heroes who gave so much in the defense of Bataan and Corregidor in 1942. Bataan heroes day was celebrated here on April 9 with a ceremony honoring the veterans at Mount Samat. Mt. Samat is a commanding terrain feature somewhere in the middle of the Bataan peninsula and was subject to a terrific bombardment when the Japanese Imperial Army finally broke through the lines in early April 1942. As my family comes from Bataan, I took trips to the war memorial during the summer months of my childhood.<br /><br />This year, my re-enactor friends from the Asia Airsoft Alliance joined the veterans' ceremony in the Mt. Samat memorial. The ceremony was also attended by active service members of the Philippine Armed Forces and visiting servicemen of the US Pacific Command. I'm still regretting that I wasn't up to joining my comrades after recovering from a long bout of respiratory infections and my asthmatic cough. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hurtv-dDB_g/TbYZLzwQSPI/AAAAAAAAAOs/LbH4zmm9RZQ/s1600/IMG_9667.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 246px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hurtv-dDB_g/TbYZLzwQSPI/AAAAAAAAAOs/LbH4zmm9RZQ/s400/IMG_9667.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599690877343647986" /></a><br /><br />It was unusually foggy and wet at the start of the day when our group took positions at the memorial. Nonetheless I found this scene so apt as to produce a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by those who fought, bled and even died here so many years ago.<br /><br />My humble thanks remain with the gallant generation who served with armed services of the Pacific Theater of Operations during the last World War, in particular, to the heroes of the United States Armed Forces of the Far East (USAFFE) and the guerilla fighters who kept fighting the good fight after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor. Your sacrifice allowed us to enjoy the freedoms we should never, ever take for granted today. <br /><br /><em>You will never be forgotten.</em>spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-33494122766987556762011-04-24T19:30:00.000-07:002011-04-24T20:12:52.990-07:00Real life ruinsI was lucky to have been able to join a company outing last week to an island south of Luzon. Mindoro hosts a pretty decent place called Puerto Galera which is known for its beaches. I managed to join up with a hiking group from our company and ended up trekking through a forested and hilly area to a place called Aninuan Falls. I believe the closest translation from Tagalog would be 'Falls of the Ancestors'.<br /><br />Being rather out of shape after an extended bout of chronic respiratory infections, I found the pace climbing up the hills rather tiring. I did not help that my companions just recently completed a 17-hour mountain trek near Subic Bay. In any case, I luckily made my constitution check and survived the trek over rather challenging terrain.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zpn_g8icKno/TbTiewxtaRI/AAAAAAAAAN0/n-ER9oNCse0/s1600/215777_1920823214802_1068691518_2240494_4340309_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zpn_g8icKno/TbTiewxtaRI/AAAAAAAAAN0/n-ER9oNCse0/s320/215777_1920823214802_1068691518_2240494_4340309_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599349254845720850" /></a><br /><br />Completing the trek was worth it as a wonderfully secluded and refreshing natural waterfall greeted us at the end. <br /><br />What really got my attention was a group of ruins off to one side of the small lake formed by the cascading stream of water. This appeared to be the concrete and rebar foundations of some long crumbled bridge. The bridge itself seems to have eroded away long ago but the supports are still evident.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-NWNf54XpU/TbTjBmAAbyI/AAAAAAAAAN8/lXVnny7XiYg/s1600/DSCF4241.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-NWNf54XpU/TbTjBmAAbyI/AAAAAAAAAN8/lXVnny7XiYg/s200/DSCF4241.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599349853248319266" /></a><br /><br />The structure does not seem to be a contemporary or near-contemporary construction. I'm betting it was set up during the American Commonwealth period, sometime in the 1920s or 30s. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C4RdBw8yQ-Y/TbTlNgWB-uI/AAAAAAAAAOU/aD7UBp07Sl4/s1600/DSCF4255.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C4RdBw8yQ-Y/TbTlNgWB-uI/AAAAAAAAAOU/aD7UBp07Sl4/s200/DSCF4255.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599352256911768290" /></a><br /><br />For some reason, the upper portion seems like it was blown up. I have to do some more research on this. Maybe this was blown up by guerillas who were fighting the japanese between 1942-1945. Or maybe it was the work of some communist rebels who were quite active in the area in the 1980s. Then again, maybe I'm just letting my imagination run away from me this time.<br /><br />Even more intriguing is how the locals managed to use some of what remained of the crumbling concrete supports as a frame for a hut they managed to cobble up.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrqLLkTc878/TbTlyiLW1dI/AAAAAAAAAOc/jYYICYxkm9g/s1600/DSCF4260.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrqLLkTc878/TbTlyiLW1dI/AAAAAAAAAOc/jYYICYxkm9g/s320/DSCF4260.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599352893059028434" /></a><br /><br />Seeing all this through a roleplaying umpire's eyes gave me an idea how the survivors of the Mutant Future could set themselves up in terms of shelter amidst the Ruins of the Ancients. Seeing concrete ruins all moss-covered and crumbling is one thing but beholding them up close is quite an inspiration for a gamer! <br /><br />Also, I do believe I'll be paying more attention to those ability checks from now on when I'm adjudicating wilderness movement and exploration. Most of the terrain we traversed was boulder-strewn dried river beds. Apart from being out of shape, I had all I could do by just keeping my attention on the ground. Tripping and falling on the rocks is not a nice thing to happen to a trekker. And yes, difficult terrain tends to slow down travel. Having a trail to follow is such a Godsend when you're traversing jungle terrain in them thar hills.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-33635211961763167722011-04-22T19:23:00.000-07:002011-04-22T19:52:11.836-07:00Where in the World?The last incarnation of my MF game was set outside Earth. The world had two moons and was a terraformed garden planet before the Interstellar Federation from which it's colonizers originated from collapsed and died. This time, I'm setting it on Earth, somewhere in the not too recent future.<br /><br />Earlier, I mentioned my preference in setting the game amidst a Hawkmoon-esque feel. The action of this particular Mutant Future happens a lot longer after the last planet-busting weapons were detonated. Instead of one big mad minute where everyone who had something worth shooting let loose and trashed the world, we had a long, extended spate of unpleasantness which led to the End of the World as We Know It. In Moorcock's books, this extended time of unpleasantness was called the Tragic Millennium. While there were various times of reconstruction and recovery, the ultimate end after this era was the gradual erosion of technological civilization giving way to the quasi-medieval world of the wasteland.<br /><br />Now that I've more or less determined the 'how' and 'when' of the setting, what remains to answer is the question where the action takes place.<br /><br />The Hawkmoon novels picture a Europe composed of a patchwork of squabbling principalities ruled by petty monarchs. And one big bad Dark Empire. This sort of fits my gaming model but I decided on moving the game to North America. With a big landmass with so much space to play in, amidst interesting and varied terrain, I feel that this pretty much meets my demands. One of my inspirations is the old Gamma World module Legion of Gold. The feel of that game setting really doves into how I intend to run this coming incarnation of MF. A lot of sword-wielding feudals ranged against the new barbarians amidst the ruins of the Ancients. Mutants? Yes, quite a lot, but this time, I'll be dialing down the gonzo-weirdness factor a bit. <br /><br />Other influences include Richard Adams vision of horse clans and steppe warriors duking it out with knights from extant kingdoms such as Pitzburk. I see the new world as a bit warmer, what with all the havoc caused by the Tragic Millennium and the resulting climate change that followed. Lands previously considered relatively cold north of the Canadian border are now pleasantly warmer. Hence, I'm imagining massive rain forests with corresponding mega mutant flora and fauna in places like Virginia. I believe Sterling Lanier's Heiro novels suggested something like this in their version of the mutant future.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-45106771668640758462011-04-22T17:08:00.000-07:002011-04-22T17:21:56.519-07:00Jumpstarting the game (or so it is hoped)After the longest time, I hope I'm on my way to starting up a game with some semblance of regularity. I was supposed to run a Mutant Future session this afternoon but practically all of my players bugged out. I guess I'll be putting the time to good use by reading up on some inspirational material and more solid prep.<br /><br />I don't know if Roger Zelazny's Damnation Alley qualifies as inspirational material. I'm enjoying it though. I can't believe I have not read this book a long time ago. I remember watching the movie as a kid but I guess the special effects tech of the 70s would have been pathetically Insufficient if they decided to run the movie straight by the book. <br /><br />As to solid prep, I have reams and reams of hex paper here and pages of notes. Last week's extended stay in the beach left me a lot of time to just muse about the setting of my MF game this time around. I'm leaning towards a world feeling more like the post-disaster kingdoms from Moorcock's Hawkmoon novels, than Kirby's after-diasater Kamandi.<br /><br />I'll let the ideas stew a bit more and see what happens.<br /><br />As an aside, anyone know a source of downloadable hex paper with individually numbered hexes?spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-7324489843042264082010-11-11T17:46:00.000-08:002010-11-11T18:02:31.815-08:00Preparing for the next one (and a little house cleaning)It's still an rpg-less existence for me as of this point. I recall coming across something someone wrote sometime back which sounded somewhat like "Peace is just an interval wherein nations prepare for the next war."<br /><br />No, I don't wish for war but I guess one way of looking at my rpg-less existence as of now is that it is nothing more than down time in preparation for the next gaming spasm I'm hoping to initiate soon.<br /><br />I had a Twilight 2000 Gurps one-shot set up last month but some near-catastrophe here at work scuppered that well and good. One very enlightening (if not pleasant) effect of that experience was that I happened to get to know more about the maturity level and values held by my players. Looking back, I guess it now comes to no surprise to me when I learned that at least one of them nursed a grudge against their umpire for having cancelled his game (yet again) in the interest of coping with problems at work and family. Well, to this I can only say "Too bad." I'm too old and too busy to even dignify such an attitude. If I never had any difficulty blowing off a bratty player who didn't get what he or she wanted in my game, I figure I wouldn't have much difficulty either in blowing off a bratty player who can't understand that most of us folks have to work for a living in order to enjoy the privilege of having passtimes such as this gaming thing we do.<br /><br />Maybe it is time for me as our group's umpire to do some apparently long-overdue housecleaning.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'm catching up on my reading list of great gaming inspirational reading. I'm also endeavoring to catch up on what's been going on in the blog accounts of my fellow gamers. <br /><br />Our gaming group (or at least those who I believe count at all) are scattered to the four winds for the moment- but I've seen this happen before. We'll get back together again - and with a vengeance!<br /><br />For a little stress release, I've linked up with my airsoft buddies and shoot a lot of 6mm bbs on weekends. This, coupled with some World War II re-enactment goes a long way to keep my spirits afloat. Much of the stuff I've re-experienced (and am learning for the first time) here will sure make an appearance in my future games.<br /><br />All this, I know will eventually be put to good use very soon....spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-7276258429884565102010-07-27T19:24:00.000-07:002010-07-27T19:34:22.634-07:00Our story so farAs of the present, our group of Travellers are in Porozlo, on a desperate mission against the clock on behalf of his Imperial Majesty's secret service. The situation is alarming but not critical (although this is disputable). A short synopsis of the story so far has been ably summed up by one of my players:<br /><br /><br />"So the team finally made it to the planet surface where they were able to obtain material help from the Covert Team located at Kohang. Despite a few encounters from the local patrols there were no untoward incidences. With the aid of the local smugglers they were able to get their equipment aboard the monorail that will get them closer to their objective. A thousand kilometers away from the objective the rug was pulled out from under them as the monorail was derailed. Mushroom clouds were rising from the horizon. The city of Chu from which they had just passed through a more than a thousand kilometers behind them rising up in its own mushroom cloud. Making their way out of the wreckage the team notes the weather in the area is frosty with sleet falling."<br /><br />By now, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the button was finally pushed and doomsday has arrived on the planet. The War to End All Wars has finally started between the Free Commerce and Private Ownership Blocs.<br /><br />Stranded in the middle of nowhere, in a cold and wind-swept steppe, dressed in uniforms of troops from an Internal Security Special Unit, our Travellers, through one of my players have voiced these concerns:<br /><br />"Here is the situation in a nutshell.<br /><br />1.Mu is a thousand kilometers away.<br /> <br />2.We are on a wrecked monorail. <br /><br />3.Our smuggled care package is in one of four trains.<br /><br />4.Are any of the party injured?<br /><br />5.Combat Environment Suits will provide limited nuclear protection. Which means in my mind that Bob has the discretion to tell us when we have reached the limit. It is not unrealistic to assume that the suits are considered disposable due to radiation exposure. They will protect from background radiation but not direct exposure. At this point we shelter in the train we are in and search it for useful items. Skills that should prove useful would be Survival, Navigation (Land), Recon, Medic and J-O-T.<br /><br />6.Once we are suited up and armed then we make the decision as to where we are going. Mu where there is possibly a Scout Outpost with the artifacts or to the coast which I have no idea where or how far is on the map?<br /><br />7.Additional resources will depend on what we will find on the way, (to where I have no idea!)."<br /><br />Reading through the above, it dawned upon me that this is the first time I'll be testing the Combat Environment Suit in Mercenary for proof against radioactive fallout- something that it was always claimed to have been designed for. In some strange way, the present situation on Porozlo harkens to the wars which may well just qualify as the Mutant Past in a Mutant Future game.<br /><br />I guess we'll be seeing how things will turn out on our next session on the 7th of August. I can't wait!spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-2901795647777782562010-07-27T03:05:00.000-07:002010-07-27T03:21:36.782-07:00My intro to players for our current adventureHere's the intro I wrote up for my players for our current Traveller adventure. <br /><br />I'm still trying to get an after-action report of our last session set up, so by way of introduction, let me present this er, intro.<br /><br />Since everyone requested to play active-service operatives for the Imperium (as opposed to mustered-out/retired adventurers/mercs), the premise here is that their characters are part of a special operations group 'answerable to the highest levels of government in the Spinward Marches'. Yes, it sounds cheesy but it gets the game going, neh?<br /><br />Think Mission Impossible meets Aliens, or something to that effect.<br /><br />Porozlo is a world taken from canonical GDW Traveller lore. It was mentioned in Book 4 (Mercenary) and the 76 Patrons supplement. Essentially, it is a highly populated, up-and-coming planet divided until recently between a liberal Free Commerce Alliance and a more inward-oriented Private Ownership Bloc. I also hand-drew a hex map of the world and colored it to boot using colored pencils I cribbed from my son's doodling supplies. Unfortunately, the map won't scan properly, so I won't be able to post it for now.<br /><br />I normally always send out such intros for my players to chew on before running a game. In this case, I fed them this and left them alone as to how they will accomplish the mission. This includes coming in, getting to the mission area and going out. <br /><br />-Start-<br /><br />Date: 1108 Imperial<br /><br />Mission: Retrieval of Ancient Artifact<br /><br />Area: Poroszlo [Rhylanor/Spinward Marches] (A867A74-A)<br /><br />Intel briefing:<br /><br />Poroszlo is a high tech, balkanized, high population planet in the Rhylanor subsector of the Spinward Marches. Its population, until recently, was divided mainly into two camps- the Free Commerce (FC) Bloc and the Private Ownership (PO) Bloc. The FC nations are concentrated mainly on the large western continent of San Miklos. Although controlling about 2/3s of Poroszlo's population of 9+ billion, the FC nations are the richest, most tech advanced countries on the planet. They adhere to a policy of close ties with off-world mega-corporations and business concerns. <br /><br />The PO Bloc on the other hand controls the much of the remaining majority on the planet and are concentrated on the central supercontinent of Hoxha. This is further divided into two great states: the Greater People's Democratic Collective (DemoCol) and the Supreme Federated People's Union (SFPU). The PO adheres to a nationalistic, Poroszlo-first policy and are wary of off-world mega-corp 'imperialism'.<br /><br />Tensions always remained high on the planet giving rise to brush fire wars and coups, the latest most serious being the counter-coup in Steposzhevac, on San Miklos, wherein numerous off-world mercenary contingents figured in forcibly unseating a pro-PO junta. <br /><br />[note: refer to sample tickets in Book 4, Mercenary for more background]<br /><br />Last year, the fragile situation was upset by hostilities between two ostensibly allied nations: the DemoCol and SPFU. Skirmishes along both authoritarian nations' shared border erupted into full-scale war. Most predicted a swift DemoCol victory in view of the latter's more sophisticated armed forces (stiffened liberally by higher TL imported military hardware). After swift gains deep into SFPU territory, the DemoCol forces were locked into a stalemate as the SFPU numbers slowed down the DemoCol advance. This Greater Hoxha Eastern Theater of Operations eventually became a meatgrinder which consumed division after division of conscripts from both sides.<br /><br />Four months ago, a senior officer coup occured in the Republic of Morovic, on San Miklos, wherein the pro-FC national assembly was held hostage by air assault pathfinders commanded by conservative elements in the military. The pro-PO coup plotters appeared to have miscalculated as this led to a spontaneous popular uprsing by the pro-FC segment of the population. With fighting in the streets, the members of the national assembly still at large sent a formal request for FC Bloc military intervention. This was followed by a ultimatum by the DemoCol that any intervention will be considered a formal act of war against the PO. Curiously, the SFPU remained neutral on account of continuing aid and support from the FC Bloc.<br /><br />48 hours later, air assault units of the FC Bloc landed in Morovic with armored brigades crossing the border from Steposzhevac to the south. Later that day, a state of war existed between the FC Bloc and the DemoCol. <br /><br />Already under strain from the campaign against the sFPU, the DemoCol forces were pushed steadily eastwards into the home territories of the DemoCol constituencies as generally better-equipped and sophisticated FC Bloc forces went into the attack.<br /><br />As of the present, FC Bloc forces have pushed as far as 2000 km into DemoCol territory.<br /><br />So far, none of the combatants have used their stock of nuclear or biological weapons but reported use of chemical weapons has been reported.<br /><br />Mission:<br /><br />The Scout Technical Services Branch (R&D office) along with the Liason branch (contact and liason Office) maintains a covert station in the northern territorial area of the SFPU. The existence of this station is highely classified - the decision to create and maintain this goes all the way up to the Office of Sector Archduke Norris. it appears that certain mysterious archeological sites were discovered in the far north of the eastern part of Hoxha - sites which appear to have yielded inexplicable artifacts of ultra-high TL. it is postulated that these could even be from the precursor race known as the Ancients.<br /><br />The covert station is in the heart of a SFPU industrial settlement, which unfortunately is now an active warzone after the DemoCol opened its northeastern front in an attempt to deprive the SFPU of its source of strategic minerals and resources.<br /><br />Your mission is to proceed immediately to Poroszlo and retrieve a list of items from the inventory of the station. Failing to do so, you are to completely destroy the whole inventory of the station. <br /><br />Important:<br /><br />1. Poroszlo is now an Amber Travel Zone. Travellers proceed with caution.<br /><br />2. The Imperial Navy just imposed a blockade of all military activity in the system. All travel two and from the world is restricted to the main starport of Timosoara in the continent of San Miklos (FC Bloc territory) and the subsidiary spaceports in the SFPU and the DemoCol. <br /><br />3. Space and air defenses remain very tight throughout the planet - a legacy of a prolonged state of political tension in the past. this contributes to a lot of emphasis in ground-based action.<br /><br />4. We have solid imperial contacts in Timosoara. there is a small spy ring in the SFPU and DemoCol spaceport areas, respectively.<br /><br />5. you are expected to find a way into the planet, arrange for mission-specific gear and to get to the mission site. you have to specify what support you need so we can assess if this is available. <br /><br />6. The FC has, until recently, employed numerous off-world mercenary contingents. the SFPU may have a few (officially known as Offworld Military Advisers) and the DemoCol has a few also (officially termed as People's Democratic Volunteers).<br /><br />-end-<br /><br />If you do see any parellels between the events here and something you came across in a history or game book, chances are you're correct. I admit to cribbing something from both actual history and a game book to spruce this up. I just hoped I wasn't too obvious!spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9037809995849136002.post-89449376813459282422010-07-26T03:51:00.000-07:002010-07-26T03:54:32.201-07:00Giving life to characters, places and thingsOne vital point we Players of the Game should never forget is that our type of RPGs require a healthy dollop of imagination. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that you can never have too much imagination in a role playing game. I will be stating the obvious by asserting that the responsibility falls squarely upon us players and umpires to breathe life and otherwise animate the dry strings of statistics which, when read together comprise what we call the ‘character sheet’. <br /><br />The dizzying variety of RPGs indicates a correspondingly dizzying variety of setting down the facts and figures which make up a player character. I recall dicing up characters in high school for Metamorphosis Alpha and writing up the stats on a torn-off sheet of notebook paper, and I’ve seen the same thing repeated recently with the Mutant Future characters of some of my players in my more recent campaign. On the other end of the spectrum, the sheer amount of data in ‘newer’ type games I’ve ran/played in would give an income tax return from our Bureau of Internal Revenue a run for its money. Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition and Gurps are two games that come to the top of my mind in this regard.<br /><br />All these of course can be abbreviated, hence we have stat blocks or chopped up versions of the most important character stats in the character sheet.<br /><br />In Classic Traveller (CT), what counts are the Universal Profiles. We have Universal Personality Profiles (UPPs) for player and non-player characters, Universal Ship Profiles (USPs) for starships and Universal World Profiles (UWPs) for er, worlds.<br /><br />Traveller uses the hexadecimal system in encoding character attribute stats, such that values from one to nine are written normally but values from ten upwards are expressed in letters. Hence ten becomes A, eleven becomes B, twelve becomes C, and so on. A human character in CT can have an attribute score of two to fifteen. You roll two six-sided dice twice each for Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education and Social Standing, which are the attributes of every human character. This gives you an unmodified spread of two to twelve. You get a chance to raise attributes higher than twelve during the character generation process itself (then again, you can also lose points during character generation and end up with lower attributes than those you originally rolled).<br /><br />The point I’m driving at here is the UPP of player and non-player characters in Traveller is, to my mind, an example of a succinct way of encoding the totality of a character’s stats to ensure that you get an idea of what she can do in one fast glance. Very much sort of like shorthand notation.<br /><br />Take the example of Army Captain Sam Riley, one of the operatives running loose on Porozlo from last Saturday’s game. His UPP is Capt. Riley: ACC885. One glance tells me the Captain is stronger than average, with excellent reflexes and endurance. He’s quite smart too, with a decent education. A social standing of 5 would seems that he came from a middle-class background. All around, Captain Riley is a cut above the rest of the crowd- good stats for a smart, deadly survivor type in the service of the Imperium. <br /><br />Putting this together with the incidents in Captain Riley’s career- which are played blocks of four year terms at a stretch in the basic rules- and you have what you need to flesh out a CT character. Unlike newer-type games, I don’t need advantages, disadvantages, quirks, doodads, shticks or other gimmicks to flesh out this character. Instead, I extrapolate from his UPP and my dice rolls during the character generation career cycle using a lot of imagination. This to me is another hallmark of the Old School way of gaming: letting your own imagination free in using the data in one’s character sheet and cobbling them up together to come up with something uniquely yours. <br /><br />Although the UPP and the rest of Capt. Riley’s character sheet will look downright anemic by some of today’s gaming standards, I consider this a blessing, rather than a curse. This serves to free the player – remove the fetters and enable one to really stir up one’s grey matter and come up with an interpretation of the stats to flesh out the character.<br /><br />The same principle works out with the UWP in CT’s Worlds and Adventure. This is where, as game master and umpire, I get a lot of gaming satisfaction. Each world’s UWP data string is shorthand detailing the basic stats of a planet. Starport type, size, atmosphere, hydrographic percentage, population, governmental type, law level and the ever-important tech level are learned by one glance at the profile. Hence, our current setting Porozlo has a UWP of A867A74-A. <br /><br />At one glance this tells you our world has an Excellent Quality Starport, a Planetary Diameter of about 12,800 km (roughly comparable to Earth), a standard breathable atmosphere for Terra-humans, about 70% ocean cover, a population running to almost ten billion (crowded!), a balkanized political structure (meaning no central world government- something like what we have on Earth today), a rather liberal law level near the Starport and a technology level more advanced that what we have today (with developed non-FTL craft and primitive gravitics) but still only average by overall Imperial standards. <br /><br />Not bad for one string of numbers.<br /><br />Of course, this is just the jumping-off point for real world development. I took these facts and, together with some rather sparse canonical data published by GDW in Mercenary, ran with them and built up a current setting for our game. <br /><br />Again, imagination is a key ingredient. Other systems can (and do have) more extensive world generation parameters, but to me, this is all I need. Perhaps it is this sparseness which lends itself to a lot of player/umpire creativity to bring the stats to life which really characterizes Old School gaming and differentiates it from the newer varieties which are in much use today.<br /><br />In any case, whether you prefer the older-type rules sets or the more contemporary ones, you’ll never go wrong by investing a lot of imagination in your games.spielmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.com4