2013 Gaming Goals

Tim, over at Gothridge Manor, asked this question the other day, "So now the world is not ending, what game are you hoping to get into this year?  What gaming goal, if you have one, would you like to accomplish?"

My gaming goals for 2013 are several... First, I want to run my Star Clans Traveller game at least monthly.  This will probably be the tough one, since the current players are my son's high school marching band friends, a group of young people with very little free time!  Second, I want to finally start the OD&D campaign that's been floating around in my head since summer.  I may actually run two groups there, my son's friends, and a group on the Air Force base where I work.  There's a nice cafeteria/lounge area that's available in the evenings, and I know of several folks there who might be interested.

Finally, I WILL do a better job of posting on my blog(s), both in terms of frequency, and length/content!

My OD&D (LBB) Sandbox

I've been mulling it over for a while, promising my son, and now some others, that I'd be ready to run a new campaign world soon...

Lot of ideas floating around in my head.  Here's a detail free list of some of them...


Citta (The World City) and The Outside Inn
Tesseracts, Klein bottles, and Mobius Strips
Portals, Gates, Windows and Doorways
Space Travel, Time Travel, Mutants and Aliens
Primordial Gods, Forgotten Gods, Missing Gods, New Gods and Dead Gods
Golden Ages, Apocalypses and Post-Apocalyptic Ages
Cursed Lands, Blessed Realms, Parallel Worlds and Skew
Memory, Masks, Dreams and Nightmares
Eternity, Stagnation and Change
Birth, Life, Sleep, Disease, Madness, Death and Rebirth
Swords and Sorcery

Ann Rice, M.A.R. Barker, Gary Gygax, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Arthur C. Clarke, to name a few...

Hexmapping

Have been working on an OD&D (LBB) campaign world, and was at a loss as to the best size for a campaign map hex... came across this gem of an article:  In-praise-of-6-mile-hex.  Using 6 mile hexes, with (when necessary) half-mile sub-hexes, and 72 mile superhexes should work out very well!

Spiders

Came across "Monstrous Television" just now... and read a nice piece on spiders!  Stop Ruining Spiders

I'll have to include giant spiders in my almost-ready-to run LBB campaign.  Far creepier than I ever gave them credit for.

From the Journal of Corrin Aledrinker

Almost five months have passed since we last ventured into the dungeons below the city.  In that time, I've supported myself by working as a bartender in several local establishments.  I've also furthered my education!  Of great interest, though not great taste, is a local favorite called Rustymeade.  The Dwarven brewers who make it bottle it in raw iron flasks containing lumps of iron ore... and the mead picks up an orange color and metallic taste.  Horrible stuff, really, but interesting to look at, and the Dwarves love it!

Anyway, recently there've been rumors of the Forbidden Land... they say the gods have dropped the veil that kept it hidden for the last thousand years, and people are going there to explore.  I thought it was bunk, but four days ago a couple of men were here bragging about their journey there, and all the wealth they'd found.  Of course, they had little gold to show, but that's not surprising, given their reckless spending and drinking.

The one thing they DID have, was a map.  Not a very good map, but a map they claimed they made during their journey.  They called it a treasure map, and wanted 50 gold for it!  As much as they thought me a fool for buying it, I know I got the better of the bargain, for they didn't make this map.  It was old, on ancient leather, stained and much worn, but it was real.  It showed the location of several major cities, including one I knew from family lore, Bayar, for it is the town my ancestors lived in before the gods banished us from that land.

I'm sure to find valuable brewing secrets there, especially if I've any distant relatives still living there.  Hopefully, the lure of treasure will be enough to convince my companions it's time to move on!

GM Merit Badges

Several of the blogs I follow use GM Merit Badges to graphically describe the style of play they run in their games.  I know these aren't new, but I've been looking at them since I first found them, and have decided to post mine on a per-campaign basis.  As an Eagle Scout and an Assistant Scoutmaster I love the whole concept!

Check them out here:  GM Merit Badges

Star Clans Heraldry

Star Clans Heraldry originated with the unit pennants carried by the brigade of genengineered soldiers stranded on Arden.  The brigade was heading to do battle on a low-tech world, and carried unit pennants based on the style of their target world. 

Over time, as the Uruki forgot their origins, the military symbols were simplified into stylized icons or replaced by icons with local meaning representing the kingdoms and clans.  Uruki pennants have typically been dark ink on pale leather, without additional color.  Since the founding of the Ardeni Kingdoms, the use of color has slowly been added, though not yet above the Family level on Arden itself.

Formal banners use the layout shown here:

This picture shows the symbols of the Oer King (formerly referred to as The King Above) and the two High Kings: