Posts Tagged ‘role playing’

sigil

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

an awesome word on its own and an even more awesome role playing system developed by scott murray. tonight i participated in the start of a campaign that is playtesting the system. it works amazingly well. i won’t capsize any pintos on this, but let’s just say there are solid mechanics to handle any sort of skill check imaginable, and the depth of storytelling possible over im is amazing. i’ve wanted to run a game over im for some time now, and i think i see now how best to do it. i’ve been playing a game over skype with some old friends, and it’s worked out pretty well, but their use of the battlemat and the dm’s non-going-around-the-table makes it hard to “be there” compared to the other players. but this everyone’s-in-over-im structure puts everyone on the same ground, and allows scott to share information with individuals over one-on-one im sessions.

so, one word to describe the system: brilliant! there are a number of things i’ve thought of before that are in there, but many that i’ve never even considered. i’m so looking forward to the next session, and seeing where the story takes us.

sigil being a more role playing focused system and scott being a more anarchist cartographer (sigil’s term for a dm), we haven’t yet experienced combat, but i imagine it will be equally intense and flexible. spellcasting is well planned out, but there too i’ve not seen it in practice, so this is something you’ll just have to check in with me on in another two weeks, when we pick up the action in this tower of magic.


a fitting near end to a gruelling week in rl…

gaming over great distances

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

this is something i’ve been thinking a bit about, since once day (maybe within a year), i’ll likely move a few more thousand miles away from just about everyone i know.

i’ve been gaming for a few months with old friends from maryland, and we’ve had some good success with skype as a teleconference system.  this lets the dm talk with the two of us who are in geographically disparate locations (almost) as if we’re in the room.  the trick is that in order for us to be heard, we sometimes have to raise our voices and interrupt the in-person action. it’s not ideal, but it’s definitely workable.

i wonder if we’ll be able to game much once i’m further afield, say in europe.  ’cause once i’m there, that’ll be the best way to get in touch with me.  i’d like to keep gaming with folks here in austin, but i wonder if they’d be as willing to put up with having a computer present as a mediator with a

i’d be willing to get up early in the morning (2am central european time for an 8pm central start time) to make it happen.  we’ll have to see if this is possible once this is the case.

what else can be done over great distances?  i’d love to be able to play music in real-time with friends back east and in other parts of the country.  still waiting for someone to develop the enabling technology.  hackers out there, are you listening?  think skype with instruments.  or rock band for real, not the five-button plastic instruments.  i don’t quite have the skill or interest to devote multiple years to developing this kind of ware, but i’m sure someone is.  i’d pay for it.

anyhoo, we do so much over great distances… even immersive tabletop gaming is very possible.

next step: videoconferencing to be able to see the battle mat!

on-the-fly time w/friends

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

we’ve been so much more spontaneous these past few weeks.

just this week, we rapidly turned around a request to got to adult spelling bee, then went out to dinner and dropped by another friend’s place to play a board game and stop-and-chat.  had a great time, and didn’t get home until after 2am — on a weeknight!  at least it’s not a school night anymore.  i have my life back!

last night, had friends over, grilled out, and ran them through the next chapter in the sci-fi role playing world i’ve been running.  had friends over for dinner tonight somewhat on-the-fly and hung out past midnight.  inviting a friend over for brunch tomorrow.  huzzah!  so, those out there — let’s get together soon and hang out!

not having the burden of school over my head has even helped my posture and digestive health.  not to mention the fact that i’m sleeping better…

it’s gonna be a great year.

patriotism prep for tomorrow: john cougar mellencamp.  i played along on the mandolin…