Ravenpenny

Carpe Blogiem: Musings on Sicatra, Part I

Share anything you'd like (comments, links, etc.)I blame it all on the high blood sugar. More seriously, I realized that I didn't have a "catch-all" blog series for gaming stuff...so, err, here's one: Carpe Blogiem. This installment has me musing on Sicatra (my new fantasy campaign) and what roads I might take with it. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/02/carpe-blogiem-musings...

Sicatra - The Pilgrims' Plea - Game Session 1

Share anything you'd like (comments, links, etc.)I'm really sick right now (diabetes crap), so here's a session report from the vault. I'll try to have something more substantial next week (ish). http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/02/sicatra-pilgrims-plea-game-session-1.html#.VN0PmfnF_Cs

Patreon Special - February 2015 #1

Today is Patreon Day - the day that I say thanks to all my patrons for helping to keep my blog (and myself) going. This special is sure to drive you mad. Introducing a new way to track sanity as a form of "mental" fatigue points. Read on...

GURPS101: Call of the Wild

"I'm a real wild one. Well I'm just outta school Like I'm real, real cool Gotta dance like a fool Got the message that I gotta be A wild one Ooh yea, I'm a wild one" Besides being the best Idol song behind "Eyes without a Face" (don't try to convince me otherwise - just go dance with yourself), I think that sums up what a Wildcard skill is in all its 80s glory. It lets you make Reaction rolls, dance like a maniac, fight blind, fill in for any "cool kid" skill, and generally just be awesome. Tha...

Patreon Special - February 2015 #1

Today is Patreon Day - the day that I say thanks to all my patrons for helping to keep my blog (and myself) going. This special is sure to drive you mad. Introducing a new way to track sanity as a form of "mental" fatigue points. Read on... Edit: It's not letting me upload right now for some reason. Until then, use this G-Drive shareable link to get the document. As always, don't share it outside your gaming group. :-) Enjoy and I'm sorry about the technical issues. 2015-02-07 19:53:11 +0000 UTC View Post

Triple Threat - Gorillaphant

I have nothing witty to say here except I was dared to GURPSfy this...so I did. Part gorilla, part elephant....sooooo majestic. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/02/triple-threat-gorillaphant.html#.VNEC1WjF_Cs

Gamemaster's Guidepost: The Art of Making NPCs

"It's more an art than a science" is one of those phrases you need to beware because it is much beloved by bullsh*t artists the wide-world round. But sometimes it really does apply and this is one of those times. Making NPCs for your campaign is like a balancing act using someone else's hands and your eyes while blindfolded. No matter how good a GM you are you're never going to be 100% correct in guessing what NPCs your players are going to be interested in interacting with. You just *can't.* Un...

Gamemaster's Guidepost: Delver, Get a Job!

Sha na na na - sha na na na na Every morning about this time The cleric gets me out of my bed a-crying Delver, get a job! "But my job is to adventure!" he cries. "But you haven't gone underground in weeks!" she says. "Ever since that wereworm in the Caverns of Death..." he replies. "Then you must get a job until I can get a cleric to cast Cure Madness!" Jobs. Can you think of anything more boring than holding down a 9 to 5, while trying to be a adventurer? Well..not really, but even old-school ...

GURPS101: Simplified Unarmed Combat

"I know Kung Fu!" "Show me." *beats senseless* "Ouch. That hurt." GURPS gives you a lot of options when it comes to combat and unarmed combat is no different. Sometimes too many. So how can you simplify it more? Well, if you must consolidate all the unarmed combat skills in GURPS down to two you might get something like this... http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/01/gurps101-simplifi...

Sicatra - The Water-Seller's Daughter - Game Session 1

Another session report from the vault for my Dungeon Fantasy campaign. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/01/sicatra-water-sellers-daughter-game.html#.VMUcSP7F_Cs

Patreon Special - January 2015

Today is Patreon Day! The day where I say "thank you!" to all of my patrons and backers with a little something special just for them. This month's post is all about the Adjustable Clothing spell - a standard magical spell which I've found a little bit confusing - so I've clarified it some. Yes, I know it's not my usual fare, but I like mixing it up a littl

Designer's Notes: Sailing the Open Skies

Fantasy airships have only become more and more popular as the years have gone by. Blame steampunk, Final Fantasy, or any other number of popular culture bits, but don't deny its popularity. I won't lie, airships fascinate me. I grew up on Final Fantasy and even in my early gaming days of Dungeons and Dragons I always tried to get the GM to make me a airship or give my players one. They're just too cool. That was one of the reasons why I wrote the article I did to begin with. It started out as s...

Gamemaster's Guidepost: A Matter of Price

"I'll give you three gold pieces for that horse!" "I wouldn't give it to my mother for less than four!" "Pah! You know nothing of horseflesh, it's teeth are terrible!" "It's teeth are brighter than your gold my foolish friend..." Haggling is fun, both in game and out of it. When I play or run I love having such scenes play out. I found the rules for Dungeon Fantasy pretty simple and they do work pretty well, but lack of being able to buy cheaper guy struck my players as odd (and myself). I get t...

Triple Threat: Wendigo Windwalker

"They come with the cold and are the cold. The Witko walks but does not walk. It cannot speak, but its voice is the wind." Some of the more terrifying wendigo myths are not so much about it eating you - no; that's too easy. It's about it calling the cold to kill you slowly. But not just you - everyone you love. Death by exposure is a painful way to go, and it's kind of like being asleep, but unable to move. That's when the wendigo comes to tear into your soft belly and eat you slowly as you drif...

Sicatra - The Tomb of Al-Aksar - Game Session 1

One of my session reports from my new (and current) campaign. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2014/11/sicatra-tomb-of-al-aksar-game-session-1.html#.VLfdMCvF_Cs

Gamemaster's Guidepost: How Many Skills is Too Much?

GURPS has a lot of skills - so much in fact that it can be outright overwhelming for most first-timers (and many experienced players too!). So how do you get your skill list where you need it? Or, a better question, how do you get the skills you must have for the genre/TL? I've got a few ideas and I outline them in today's Gamemaster's Guidepost. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/201...

The Hurt Locker: Staff of the Archmagi

Back in the late 90s a common phrase at my gaming table was "I break my staff of the magi for a retributive strike, roll to see if I go to another dimension." So I figured "Hell, just because I don't play DnD anymore doesn't mean I can't have me a nuke on a stick in GURPS!" So here is a artifact write-up with the serial numbers filed off of the Staff of the Magi. http://www.ravensnpe...

Assembly Required: Outlining Step Four - Characters

Continuing my "Assembly Required" series (now with new picture!), this time I'm talking about outlining what sort of character traits your campaign might have. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/01/assembly-required-outlining-step-four.html#.VK-k2yvF_Cs

Subjects for Patreon Specials

Guys, What sort of topics do you want to see covered in the next few installments of the bi-weekly specials? Please comment in this thread and let me know.

Spell Kits For Casters – Jack-of-All-Mages

He's always got the right spell at the right time. You need a potion of Fortune? He just happens ot have one. The Master of the magical gewgaw, the Jack-of-all-Mages is prepared for every situation and has everything he needs right when he needs it. Is it blind luck or brilliant preplanning? Probably a bit of both. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/01/spell-kits-for-casters-j...

Gamemaster's Guidepost: GM and Player Intercommunication

The key to Gamemastering (I have found) is that like all things in life, communication is the key. Your players must understand you and what you are trying to do and vice versa. Here are a few things I've picked up over the years as real problem causing issues. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/01/gamemasters-guidepost-gm-and-player.html#.VKt0myvF_Cs

2014: A Year In Review

So here's all the highlights of last year - good and bad. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2015/01/2014-year-in-review.html#.VKjrGCvF_Cs

GURPS101: Final Fantasy-Style Summoning

I'm a pretty huge fan of Final Fantasy. I actually have managed to play all of them (and beat them) except for the two latest. But my favorite is, and will forever be Final Fantasy 6 and "Treasure Hunter" has long since been in the vernacular of my gaming group when referring to thieves. Anyways, I love Espers. They're just so...neat. It combines several interesting concepts that just hit all my buttons. I've been playing the Android version of FF6 and I thought "I could do this in GURPS so easy...

Triple Threat - Wendigo

It's been given multiple treatments in multiple editions of GURPS books. Within the last ten years, it's also become one of the more popular monsters and is slowly getting morphed from its original roots (like the wolfman when Hollywood got of a hold of it). I grew up listening to all kinds of stories, but never this one. Indeed, it wasn't until a friend of mine's father felt talkative that he spoke about the witiko to me after exhausting some of his other tales. I'd found myself in Connecticut ...

The Chronicles of Ceteri - Silent as the Dead - Part II - Game Session 3

Yet another entry from the vault - which will wrap up my backlog for my urban fantasy campaign. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2014/12/the-chronicles-of-ceteri-silent-as-dead_28.html#.VJ-72l4AKA

Book Review: GURPS Power-Ups 7: Wildcard Skills

I'm a huge fan of Wildcard skills. I use them often in games I run just because they are so freaking cool. I mean, one skill to rule them all (well almost all)? Come on. They clean up a character sheet nicely and it's easy to GM "Your Beaver! skill lets you make dams that are impressive and bite at +2/die of damage!" So it'll come as no surprise that I REALLY liked this book. It's got some warts (as all things do), but mostly if you use Wildcard skills (or Talents really), you'll want to pick th...

Looks like we hit another goal. Thanks everyone! So, starting February 2015 I'll be releasing not one, but TWO Patreon Specials a month (I've already got January finished up and queued). These Specials will be released on the first Saturday of every month and the third. Thank you again everyone!

The Chronicles of Ceteri - Silent as the Dead - Part I - Game Session 2

Another session report from the vault. http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2014/12/the-chronicles-of-ceteri-silent-as-dead_20.html#.VJZqm14BA

Patreon Special - December 2014

Today is Patreon day! The day I say "Hey, thanks!" to all my patrons for supporting my blog. Today I'm talking about getting weird with ritual path magic. What do I mean when I say weird? I mean weird. For all my patrons - you know where the new post is, for those of you who aren't, consider becoming one. For a pittance, you get access to the archive and all future Specials. But here's a preview of the goodies inside this month's Special.

The Laptop the Internet Gave Me

Again, sort of GURPS related, my new laptop came in Wednesday and I've been customizing it since then. I'll probably be fully up and running by the weekend and I've already written some new stuff on it (it. is. perfect!). Thanks to everyone who helped me get it and for putting me back to work! http://www.ravensnpennies.com/2014/12/the-laptop-internet-gave-me.html#.VJS0OV4Bek