Dungeons & Dragons Stranger Things Box

Tonight, my buddy AJ was the DM for the DnD Stranger things Box. AJ did a great job, but what bothered me is that the adventure in the box wasn't very strong. It works as a good, quick intro adventure for newbies, don't get me wrong. However, the original DnD 5E Starter was exceptionally good and provided a group I played in six months worth of campaign and we were a mixed party of newbies and veterans. 

I won't lie, I wanted something as good as the first 5E Starter. In fact, we deserve something that good, again.

I'm sad that more thought wasn't put into this adventure. I mean how many people picked this up and it's their first exposure to DnD? It's a missed opportunity.

I'm Not Dead

I don't know how much I'll be on here for the next several weeks. I found out that the health issues I've been dealing with, including  insomnia, are due to a medicine called Abilify that I started taking last November as a "mood enhancer".  I started going through withdrawal and experienced insomnia for several days and I'm weening off the medicine even further than I did before.

I love blogging, but I have to take care of myself first.

Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated as I'm really frightened of going through withdrawal a second time.

Counter Culture: Pre-Release Weekend

Well, it's one of THOSE times a year again. There is a new Magic: the Gathering set, War of the Spark and it is the Pre-Release this weekend. All weekend. I'm talking midnight events and then back at it saturday and back at it sunday.

I'm amazed how popular the Midnight events are. People get SO damn excited. They seem to think its some great honor to be in a retail environment until 6am. I don't really share it, but then I've been working retail for 20 years now. I am glad they enjoy it so much, but by about 4am I'm not always as fast with answers as I should be.

One of the cool equations that has recently been added to the event was Wizards of the Coast allowing our preorder customers to pick up their boxes of booster that weekend. That's been a great addition and the type of innovation I like to see.

I won't lie that by the end of the weekend I'm pretty wiped out. It won't help that Free Comic Book Day is the following weekend, but at least we will be busy and money will have been made.

7 Years Gone

April 10th marked my 7th Anniversary running this blog. I'd like to say that I saw that happening, but I'd be lying.

I'm not sure what the future holds but I have some things to work out. In truth, the last two years have been T-O-U-G-H. A bright spot, as we head into May, my son will be graduating high school and going to a local University to study Engineering in the fall. Time flies.

The last months have been tough as I was dealing with both some grief from my Dad passing last year, adjusting to the new status quo in the house with my Mom moving in, and some issue with anxiety that might have been made worse by the wrong medicine. I should know more about that later this week.

I just haven't had the creative spark to keep up a daily or every other day schedule. I'm hoping to push through it, but the blog has had to take a back seat to my mental health.

I'm not sure if its G+'s passing, but my interest in RPGs have ebbed some. I even feel it in the games I'm playing and running. I'm not sure if some of the problems I'm facing will go away as I move away from this medicine or if this is just a new phase for me.

I have lots of uncertainty and I'm just trying to take care of myself and my family.

I wish I had more answers. I hope I find them soon. My goal is to post a least once each week for the time being. I hope I find my muse again. It's been a tremendous journey and I appreciate those who have taken it with me.

Labyrinth Lord: Wicked Witch

Wicked Witch for Labyrinth Lord
AL C MV 30' (flying on broom 60') , AC 4, HD 3, #AT 1 (broom), 
THAC0 18, DG 1d6, SV 3 wizard, ML 10,  XP 65

Mistress of vile deeds and evil doings.

Counter Culture: Dice

There are many categories to my store, but one of our best-selling, for literally decades, has been dice. We stock all different kinds of sets from many different companies. Literally, if a dice company has terms for wholesale, I set up an account. I will admit that through all of the manufacturers, Chessex seems to be the old standby.

Our most popular types fo dice are sets of polyhedral dice for games like Dungeons and Dragons. I literally go through dozens of sets each week. Sets of 6 siders sell dramatically less, but still sell well. 

What I've found most unusual about the category is that even when RPG sales are flagging, my dice sales stay consistent. 

People love dice. And who can blame them? Can you really ever have enough dice? According to my customers, the answer is a resounding no.

LabyrinthQuest: Classes & Ability Scores

I'm working on developing a game mechanic into an OSR product.

The mechanic is my take on percentile systems.

Essentially, the DM sets the difficulty of the task, let's say its 50%.  The Player's Ability Scores or Class then modify the difficulty. Let's say that I'm swing my sword at an orc, so I can either use my Strength (+10%) or Fighter Class (+20%). Fighter is the higher of the two and I use it and my modified chance to hit the orc is 70% on a d100 roll.

I plan on 4 Classes: Fighter (your skill weapons and tactics), Thief (the usual skills), Wizard (which translates into your Mana Points to power spells), and Cleric (which translates into your Faith Points spells).

At character creation you spread 20 points between the 4 Classes.

I also plan on the typical 6 Ability Scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma).

At character creation you spread 10 between the 6 Abilities.

When a task comes up you look at the appropriate Ability or the Class. You choose the Highest of the 2.

Thoughts?