Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Back in the Saddle

I have just undergone a small crisis recently with some players of my group not happy with the game system I am running. Now I must admit that I do *really* like HeroQuest, and the new version of the rules for the most part have improved the game to me no end.
I did go through a bit of self examination but by the end of it I was still happy with what I am doing though I have taken some steps to see if I can improve my GMing techniques. I think that I have to be a bit harsher and put the PCs at risk a lot more.

The best thing for me was to run another good game - I did that yesterday and not only did I have a good time but my players were very happy.


WinterWarrior 

I ran my 'Winter Warriors' HeroQuest 2.0 playtest game for my brother, my sister and even my wife joined in.
I usually get the players to create their own characters for this game as art of the playtest but as our time was a little bit limited I allowed them to pick from the characters already created in previous playtests. Most of them are excellent characters and offer great opportunity for role-playing.
They picked their characters and got playing, enjoying the setting of the Fimblewinter and stepping up to be the BIG heroes.
It went very well as all the players were trying to work out what was going on and my wife got quite blood-thirsty attacking the Lunar Sorcerer with gusto!

So I am feeling much better about myself and my games and look forward to running a new Firefly game at Dragonmeet 2008 and getting a load of games ready for Conception 2009.

Sunday, 16 November 2008

UK & Europe RPG Conventions Listing

An updated list of RPG conventions.
Yeah I know it's quick, I have had a few updates sent me.

A few dates need confirming - hopefully next month's will be complete.

Bizarre Consequences. Holbourne, Naish, Christchurch, Dorset, UK. 
Thursday 20th - Sunday 23th November 2008. 
http://www.consequences.org.uk 

Dragonmeet 2008. Kensington Town Hall, London, UK. 
Saturday 29th November 2008. 
http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/ 

WarpCon XIX. University College Cork, Ireland. 
Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th January 2009. 
http://www.warpcon.com/ 

Conception 2009. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK. 
Wednesday 28th January - Sunday 1st February 2009. 
http://www.conceptionuk.org/ 

Conflagration 2009. Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow. Scotland. 
Saturday 21st – Sunday 22nd February 2009. 
http://www.conflagration.org.uk/ 

Leprecon XXX. Goldsmith Hall, Pearse St. Dublin 2, Ireland. 
Friday 27th February - Sunday 1st March 2009. 
http://www.leprecon.ie 

0 Itzacon V. NUI Galway, Galway, Ireland.
Friday 6th - Sunday 8th March 2009.
http://www.itzaconeire.com/

0 Student nationals RPG Championships 2009. Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Saturday 18th - Sunday 19th April 2009.
http://www.studentnationals.org.uk/index.php 

Travcon 2009. Redwings Lodge Hotel, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK. 
Friday 13th - Sunday 15th March 2009. 
http://www.bitsuk.net/Travelling/page33/page33.html

Concrete Cow '09. The Old Bath House, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, UK. 
Saturday 14th March 2009. 
http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow 

0 Conpulsion 2009. Teviot Student Union, Edinburgh University, Scotland.
Saturday 21st - 22nd March 2009 OR Saturday 28th - 29th March 2009.
http://www.conpulsion.org

Salute Zero Nine. ExCel, London, UK. 
Saturday 28th March 2009. 
http://www.salute.co.uk/ 

0 Beer & Pretzels XX. Town Hall, Burton-upon-Trent, UK.
Saturday 16th - Sunday 17th May 2009.
http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/bnpdetails.php

Tentacles 2009. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany. 
Friday 28th May - Monday 1st June 2009. 
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/ 

UK GAME EXPO 2009. The Clarendon Suites, Stirling Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. 
Saturday 6th - Sunday 7th June 2009. 
http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk 

AmberCon UK '09. Harben House, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, UK. 
Friday 10th - Sunday 12th July 2009 
http://www.ambercon.org.uk/ 

Yog-Sothoth.CON 2009. University of Bradford, Students' Union, Bradford, UK. 
Friday 10th - Sunday 12th July 2009 
http://yog-sothoth.com/ 

Constitution 2009. New Hall, Cambridge, UK. 
Friday 31st July - Sunday 2nd August 2009. 
http://www.constitution-con.org.uk/ 

Gen Con UK 2009. University of Reading, Berkshire. UK. 
Wednesday 2nd - Sunday 6th September 2009. 
http://www.horsemenevents.com/ 

Furnace 2009. The Garrison Hotel, Sheffield. UK 
Saturday 10th - Sunday 11th October 2009. 
http://www.rpgfurnace.com/ 

OddCon 2009. Park Inn, Telford. UK. Friday 30th October - Sunday 1st November 2009. http://www.oddconuk.org.uk/

Indiecon' 09. Holbourne, Naish, Christchurch, Dorset, UK. Thursday 12th - Monday 16th November 2009. http://www.indiecon.net/

Ludicrus '09. Kesgrave Community Centre, Ipswich, UK. 
Saturday 6th - Sunday 6th December 2009. 
http://www.ludicrus.org/

Monday, 10 November 2008

Up & Coming RPG Conventions

November update for future RPG Conventions in the UK and Ireland.
Some may be subject to change [News about GenCon UK may follow at some point].


0 Bizarre Consequences. Holbourne, Naish, Christchurch, Dorset, UK.
Thursday 20th - Sunday 23th November 2008.
http://www.consequences.org.uk

0 Dragonmeet 2008. Kensington Town Hall, London, UK.
Saturday 29th November 2008.
http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/

0 WarpCon XIX. University College Cork, Ireland.
Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th January 2009.
http://www.warpcon.com/

0 Conception 2009. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK.
Wednesday 28th January - Sunday 1st February 2009.
http://www.conceptionuk.org/

0 Conflagration 2009. Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow. Scotland.
Saturday 21st – Sunday 22nd February 2009.
http://www.conflagration.org.uk/

0 Leprecon XXX. Goldsmith Hall, Pearse St. Dublin 2, Ireland.
Friday 27th February - Sunday 1st March 2009.
http://www.leprecon.ie

0 Travcon 2009. Redwings Lodge Hotel, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Friday 13th - Sunday 15th March 2009.
???????

0 Concrete Cow '09. The Old Bath House, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, UK.
Saturday 14th March 2009.
http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow

0 Salute Zero Nine. ExCel, London, UK.
Saturday 28th March 2009.
http://www.salute.co.uk/

0 Tentacles 2009. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.
Friday 28th May - Monday 1st June 2009.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/

0 UK GAME EXPO 2009. The Clarendon Suites, Stirling Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
Saturday 6th - Sunday 7th June 2009.
http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk

0 AmberCon UK '09. Harben House, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, UK.
Friday 10th - Sunday 12th July 2009
http://www.ambercon.org.uk/

0 Yog-Sothoth.CON 2009. University of Bradford, Students' Union, Bradford, UK.
Friday 10th - Sunday 12th July 2009
http://yog-sothoth.com/

0 Constitution 2009. New Hall, Cambridge, UK.
Friday 31st July - Sunday 2nd August 2009.
http://www.constitution-con.org.uk/

0 Gen Con UK 2009. University of Reading, Berkshire. UK.
Wednesday 2nd - Sunday 6th September 2009.
http://www.horsemenevents.com/

0 Furnace 2009. The Garrison Hotel, Sheffield. UK
Saturday 10th - Sunday 11th October 2009.
http://www.rpgfurnace.com/

0 Ludicrus '09. Kesgrave Community Centre, Ipswich, UK.
Saturday 6th - Sunday 6th December 2009.
http://www.ludicrus.org/

Monday, 27 October 2008

Tentacles 2009 to be the last

Tentacles is such a fantastic RPG convention held every in a beautiful castle above the Rhine. Dedicated to Chaosium and Issaries publications it has been running for over ten years and goes from strength to strength each time.

Unfortunately it looks like the 2009 event will be the last.

"Hey Everybody,

if you attended the Rune Quest society on Essen's toy trade show you will already know. I just talked to a guy who is on the board. Next year's Tentacles will be the last as Fabian doesn't want to run anymore. He didn't like that too many people were just meeting up and drinking instead of really playing. Also, less and less Germans attended the con.
There will probably be some kind of follow-up in a different place in a different style, but the details are still unclear. He said they wanted to keep the guests of honour, but when I asked about Simon's English freeforms, among other things, the person I asked didn't know how that would work out.
What a shame and let's hope next year is going to rock like hell! "

There is a detailed discussion over at the Tavern here.
Tentacles-2004-40 
Tentacles-2007-001 
Tentacles-2007-130 

More photos on my Flickr site.

RPG Bloggers

One of the nicer things that has happened recently is I have joined RPG Bloggers.com.

It seems to be quite a good site, a one stop shop for RPG blogs and postings. Hopefully it will increase the popularity of One Man and His Dice.com.



Some blurb from their site:

"What is this?

I’m glad you asked.

 

This is the RPG Bloggers network, a coalition of people who blog about Tabletop Role Playing Games. 

Specifically, this site takes posts from its members and publishes an excerpt of them here, so instead of following a bunch of feeds, you only have to follow one. Plus you may find great posts by blogs you didn’t even know existed.

However, all our members would like you to read their posts (that’s why they blog.) So each excerpt sends you back to the original site to read it, comment on it, etc. That way, the network doesn’t take anything away from the individual members.

Do you blog about RPGs and want to join us? Check out our membership page.

RPGBloggers.com is curated by Dave Chalker of Critical-Hits.com. Technical assistance is provided by Graham Poole and Justin Worrell. The site uses the FeedWordPress plugin byCharles Johnson and the Hamasaki 1.1 theme by Nurudin Jauhari. Extra Graphics assistance provided by Danny Rupp of Critical-hits.com.

All post content is owned by the original poster."

Sunday, 26 October 2008

One Man and His Dice NOT RPG enough for RPG Podcasts.com!

So I tried to get my podcast listed on RPG Podcacts
I have just had a reply saying my podcasts are not RPG enough to suit their site.

I am just confused.

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

One Man and His Dice Update

 I have posted up a new podcast from Continuum 2008 called Rune Magic.
This is a seminar by the authors and developers of the new Gloranthan HeroQuest 2.0 line and covers the magic system of Glorantha. They do go into some detail of how this magic system works with a return to using the Core Runes.

One Man and His Dice.com


This is the seventh in a series of special recordings from Continuum 2008.
This was recorded at Continuum 2008 at John Foster Hall, University of Leicester, Manor Road, Oadby, Leicester, UK on Sunday 3rd August 2008 at 14:00 in the Oakham Seminar Room.
A discussion on the new Gloranthan Magic system for HeroQuest 2.0, a return to using the Runes as the core part of the system.
Panellists were Jeff Richard, Ian Cooper and Lawrence Whitaker. Additional discussion points by David Scott, Mike Gibb, Alex Ferguson, Ed McDonald, and Nick Brooke.

Running Time: 01:06:47.

More details here