April 23, 2007

No more Dungeon and Dragon magazines

Given all that's going on in the world -- the Virginia Tech tragedy comes to mind -- and in my own corner of the planet (Eleanor, of course) feeling bad about a magazine seems a little silly. Yet I did feel a bit of sadness when Paizo publishing announced last Thursday that they had lost the rights to publish Dragon and Dungeon Magazines. Wizards of the Coast, who owns the rights, said that those magazines would no longer be published.

I had not bought either one of those magazines in awhile, but I read a whole lot of Dragon magazine back in middle and high school, when I was gaming regularly and when I wasn't. They always seemed a bit above me, in a good way, challenging my reading skills, and asking me to think harder about the game I loved. They had good articles and cool art. Now (or in a few months) that magazine won't be around any longer; that makes me a little sad.

This signifies a subtle but powerful shift in me and my relationship to gaming as a hobby, I think. I'm older, have a child now, work full time, and certainly don't game as much as I used to (okay, ever). But D&D seems to have changed a lot, too, and not really for the better. I am still struggling to put my finger on my own shift and how that's related to the shift in gaming/gamers. I'm still working on it.

Posted by Nakia at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2006

Again, it's Dr. Geek

A few weeks ago, I posted about how I was interviewed by the Johnsonian for an article about D&D. The article ran last week and can be found here.

Posted by Nakia at 09:07 AM | Comments (7)

September 05, 2006

I Don't Ever Have This Problem

I like games -- all kinds of games. Board games, Role Playing Games, Card Games -- all kinds. For Christmas, Andre and Heidi gave us Scene It, a movie trivia game that comes with a DVD. We've played it a few times and have always had fun when we've done so.

The problem I don't have is ever seeing myself in one of those DVD clips. Wil Wheaton apparently, has this problem.

His blog is great, btw. He's a good writer and seems like a really cool guy.

Posted by Nakia at 01:18 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2006

Enjoy your magnificent isolation! (Don't forget to bathe).

Stephen Colbert on D&D Online.

Funny stuff. Even funnier because he knows what he's talking about.

Posted by Nakia at 11:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 18, 2006

Geek Malaise?

For the past month or so, I've been decidedly uninterested in most things geeky -- comics and RPG's in particular. I noticed in before Christmas, when I was heading to Heroes Aren't Hard to Find to pick up my comics. En route, I realized I had little to no interest in actually getting and reading the comics. I was just going because I needed something to do and didn't want my stack of saved comics to pile up. Some of those comics are still sitting on the floor of my study, unread. My RPG desire has simialrly waned. I haven't bought any new gaming material since November. I pretty much gave up trying to find people here to game with. I didn't make the requisite visit to some very good game stores in Dallas when Sarah and I were there over the holidays.

I'm not really sure why all this has happened. It could be the lack of contact I have here with geek-minded folks. I don't have any comic or gaming realted friends like I did in Charlottesville. It could be the pressures of a new job and new living situation. Lots of changes going on for The Popes and something had to give. It's probably both of those things, plus others I am not even aware of right now.

The geek malaise disturbs me, because things like comics and gaming have been fairly constant sources of enjoyment for me since high school. Both were intermitent in college, but gaming, especially has been consistent over the past eight years or so (and, honestly, has been more important to me than the comics). It scares me a little that my enjoyment for something like that could just go away.

I'm not saying it has gone away, yet. Tim is doing some cool things with Risus that keep me interested at Risus Monkey. I'm on the listserve for a Winthrop gaming group; I keep thinking I should send out a post and try to recruit players. And, this weekend, I'm going to NC Game day in Raleigh to hang out with Rich and some ENWorld folks and game a bit. I see this weekend as a bit of a litmus test for my gaming enthusiasm. It may rekindle the fire. Or I may go, have a pretty good time, but still not be terribly interested in gaming when I return. We'll see.

This may just be a consequence of me getting older. I turn 30 in two and a half weeks. If so, it's a crappy consequence. Give me all night D&D sessions in John's garage and a case of those fake kool aid drinks in the little plastic jugs!

Has this happened to anyone else? Something you enjoyed for a long time just stopped giving you enjoyment?

Posted by Nakia at 11:23 AM | Comments (5)

November 09, 2005

GM Thoughts

Last night, I had dinner with Scott Moore, whom I met via ENWorld. He was in town for some business and hung around so we could have dinner after I finished class. We ate at McHale's (which is becoming my new favorite bar in town, surpassing Lukes) and talked mostly about running role playing games.

Scott is a great GM, based on the one game I have played with him at a NC game day, his posts on ENWorld, and general reputation. He shared some advice which seemed very appropriate, given my upcoming one-shot game at the Library Game Night and the (hopefully) long term game that will follow. Much of what we talked about was gleaned from Robin Laws' book on game mastering, but Scott made some good additions to Robin Laws' advice. One of the best pieces was to plan an early ending to the campaign, a place where the group could stop after 8-10 sessions and say "yep, we did it." This, I thought, was a great bit of advice. With a new group, it guarantees a stopping point from which to reassess the game while still maintaining a story and a sense of accomplishment. With everyone being new, people are still getting used to each other, the GM, and the game world, so they can change things after the ending without messing up the overall story arc or party composition.

I had never really thought about a "campaign" lasting only 8-10 sessions, but Scott made a lot of sense. One of the problems with the last campaign I ran was a lack of definite endings for stories or adventures. There were very few points where the party could stop and say "we completed the adventure!". This led to some fatigue among players, I think. Everyone needs good stopping points and a sense of accomplishment.

Posted by Nakia at 11:15 AM | Comments (6)

July 28, 2005

A dungeon in reverse

I've had this gaming idea in my head ever since I finished The Rule of Four. The gaming idea spoils some of the book, so if you are planning on reading it (or planning on playing in a D&D game I run soon), don't read any further.

A central part of the backstory in The Rule of Four is the conflict between the humanists of Renaissance Florence and a prominent religious figure. The religious figure felt the flourishing arts of Italy were detracting from people's devotion to God. He then organized the annual burning of these object on Fat Tuesday -- the Bonfire of the Vanities. The author of the mysterious book in The Rule of Four made it his mission to oppose the religious guy. He began gathering precious works of art, books, maps, etc and hiding them away so they wouldn't be destroyed.

You could certainly use this as a basis for a D&D game. The PC's find clues to where the precious items are hidden (the largest of these clues is the book itself) and spend the campaign tracking them down. It's your standard "loot the dungeon" style game.

But what if the PC's worked for the guy who was writing the book? Their job would be to recover and/or acquire all those books and works of art for a mysterious patron. The patron is actually building dungeons and crypts to hide the items in so he can save them from the growing hostility toward those things in the culture. Maybe the mysterious patron has a vision or something about a night of fire, when items will be destroyed. Maybe he's collecting magic items, because he knows of a growing anitpathy towards magic or a cataclysmic event that will destroy magic items that are not protected. At first, the patron is mysterious and unknown to the PC's. They just get hired for jobs -- find this item, escort this caravan, deliver this letter. Then, they get drawn into the plot more and more and find out they are actually helping to MAKE dungeons. Maybe they will try to prevent the cataclysm that is supposed to happen. Maybe they will come into conflcit with the figure(s) that are trying to burn the art. Maybe they will turn on their patron. Lots of things could happen. I just like the idea of PC's helping to make dungeons and hide away treasure.

Does this sound fun?

Posted by Nakia at 02:31 PM | Comments (5)

June 21, 2005

The End of an Era

Another morning up before the alarm, feeling good except for a bit of a junk food stomach hangover. Last night was the last night of (regular) gaming for me in C'ville.

It started simply enough. A bored, geeky guy moved to town and looked for other bored geeky types to play Dungeons and Dragons. He put up a flyer at the local game store. He got an email from this guy named Rich, who said that there was an open spot in a game that was beginning at the game store on Tuesday nights. He went, met Rich in person and played in the game. They bargained with some myconoids in a not very fun game, but he kept Rich's email with the hopes of finding a better group.

Later, he got a call from a girl named Suzanne. She had just moved to town and was looking for folks to game with. He had also found two other potential gamers -- Matt and Tim -- through some random internet site. They all arranged to meet on the patio between Clemons and Alderman Libraries. He was especially impressed with Matt's Sonic Youth t-shirt. Everyone seemed okay, not scary or dirty or anything, so the agreed to give gaming together a shot. Matt wanted to start making up characters Right Then, so they went back to his minimally furnished crappy graduate student apartment. They sat on the floor (because he only had one chair), rolled dice, and made up D&D characters. Later, Matt's fiance joined them. A few sessions later, Rich joined the group.

Thus it began. Almost five years of gaming together. They took turns running games -- Tim ran a GURPS game, they rotated DM duties in an experimental try in cocreating a campaign, Suzanne ran a game for awhile. Matt's friend JD joined the group, playing regularly despite living in Harrisonburg. He later met a guy named David at the comic book shop. David joined at the tail end of a lengthy campaign which culminated in the defeat of Vladj the Red, Scourge of the North.

He and Rich drove 500 miles to Gen Con, a great gathering of gamers and geeks.

He took a break from gaming to get his dissertation done, but gaming continued. Matt ran a Midnight game. Rich later began his own game, bringing Leland and Robert into the fold.

They had a good time. Stories were created. Friendships were made, and occasionally strained. People moved away. The fellowship dwindled.

To Rich, Matt, Tim, JD, Suzanne, Laurel, David, Leland, Robert, and everyone else I was able to game with here in Charlottesville: Thanks for lots of fun and a Bag of Holding full of stories.

Posted by Nakia at 09:51 AM | Comments (3)