A Jillion Adventures

OK, it’s too big a subject for just one post, but here’s the highlights…

Last weekend, I attended my second DundraCon, held in San Ramon on presidents day weekend every year. Gaming starts at friday at 4pm (or earlier if you bring board games), and I got up from my last game table at 5 pm on Monday. Fantastic!

The Options:

So first, lets talk about variety -  the con had Larps, RPGs, Board games, and minis games (although way less minis games than Kubla Con, which is coming up on Memorial day weekend. There are a bunch of scheduled board games, but also a massive open board game room, and an even bigger open gaming room used mostly for RPGs and TCGs. There was a dealer room, a game trading bazaar type thing, martial arts demos, and seminars that discussed things like the state of the gaming industry, character creation, world creation, etc.  It’s interesting to compare DundraCon and KublaCon because there are some interesting differences. KublaCon always has more White Wolf Games, although there was a solid representation at DundraCon this year. DundraCon always has more Cthulu. I don’t actually pay much attention to the DnD schedule, so I couldn’t tlle you about that. I play enough DnD at home, I do different games at cons.

My Schedule:

So here’s what I played…. Friday night, I didn’t get into any RPGs, so I tried (halfheartedly) to crash something, but failed. So, I headed over to the open gaming room and played a lovely little round of Power Grid - an excellent game in which you’re trying to be the first to build and power the required number of cities. I lost. As always. I’m usually good at these things, but power grid is a game I have yet to win. I went to bed early, having gotten into an 8 am game on Saturday.

Saturday I played an internet published  game system called Brutal. One of the fellow players (my hero) brought a gallon of peets coffee to share. That definitely helped the game! The system is crazy - character options include playing insects. There are many many races to choose from - everything from your standard elves and dwarves to these weird attack beetles and warrior flies. It’s an insane game, not built for great roll playing (how do you play the fly?) and the game I played in wasn’t run for great roll playing (start by choosing 4 characters, play them all, and hope you still have someone alive to see the end game). I was a little leary at first, as the plot for the day centered around bashing in doors, and fighting what was behind them. It was, however, an exercise in the idea that anything’s fun if the people around the table are having fun. The game was basically one massive fight, we played from 8 am to 4 pm, and by the end, the characters were all fighting in one massive group, the players were having fun with each other, and with the dice rolling mechanic, and with overcoming these seemingly impossible monsters with our odd characters. And in a plot less, roll play less, hackfest…. I think we all had fun in spite of the system/plot issues.

After finding some dinner, I played a few board games. I didn’t get into my saturday night rpgs, but my friend Sam hooked me up with some people he knew who were playing a Dogs in the Vineyard game.  It’s an indie roll playing system that I’ve wanted to try for years, and I loved it. We spent more than an hour creating characters (4 players). The system has many different ways in which character creation stimulates roll play, and we were already in character before the game even started. When we started the scenario, we quickly got into an intricately plotted, highly developed problem solving situation, in which we needed to talk to the right people at the right times, and ask the right questions. I always enjoy games in which the problems are solved by roll playing rather than by dice. It ended in a character confab, in which, having figured out what was going on, who was doing what and why… we had to come up with how the situation needed to be fixed. Heavy roll play, both inter character and with NPCs, a complex and excellent conflict resolution mechanic with lots of dice, and the several rounds - the winner getting to narrate the resolution of each round. This is a game for scenery chewers, problem solvers, teamwork, and those that take the time to talk - in character - with everyone. I loved it. Best game of the con for me. It ended sometime after 2 am.

Sunday morning, I got into a story board game run by one of the always to be sought out Good Omens GMs. It was a pulp hero game, in which the party made a series of very bad choices, but ended up saving the city (for now), and surprisingly, capturing the evil mastermind…. another fun game, I’m pretty sure there were large chunks of plot that we missed, but there were some fun players around the table, and the GM let us roll with whatever we wanted to do. I know from experience that it’s sometimes challenging to let the players mess up badly without showing at least some reaction, if not dropping some free clues around.

Sunday night - my regular Sunday Night Drow Wars crew came up to the con so that I could run their game. We managed a great session in spite of the VERY loud environment of the open gaming room.

Monday morning I spent a much needed hour by myself, having breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant… and went straight to the board game room, and played until it was time to go home. There were many games on that table, and I had a great time.

More Later.

jill

So, I’m about to go to Dundracon and hand out a bunch of business cards that have an invitation on the back to collaborate… What’s that mean? I don’t know, what’s it mean to you? I just know that I’m not the only one living around (or on) the bay who’s totally obsessed with gaming, and wants to express that obsession in a healthy public way…. by writing, talking, publishing, talking, gaming, drinking, yeah… whatever. So, if you’ve been thinking about starting a project - particularly a blogging or podcasting project (but I’d be interested in hearing about whatever), let’s talk.

js

So, we all have a series of iconic game moments right? Like, Remember when the Aboleth took over Olorin (the archer), and he shot Malcom (the wizard) full of arrows?

Ok, I can totally picture this scene.

It’s a dark smelly cave with a pool of black water. It actually smells good in comparison to the sewers that the PCs have so recently left behind to explore the newly opened passageway to this long deserted natural cavern.

The Aboleth is a huge and hulking presence hovering just out of sight under the swirling dark waters of this dank space. He’s hidden the pool in which he lives with the illusion of solid ground. The archer, Olorin comes in first, comes just close enough to the hidden menace, and his mind is overwhelmed by the Aboleth.

The party follows, but by now Olorin is hiding behind an illusion of a Delver: an immense creature designed for subterranean life…. One of which (not an illusion) had just nearly killed the party.

Under the Aboleth’s foul control, he turns his friend the wizard into a new sort of holder for his lethal arrows.

The cool thing about the scene is… What I remember, what I picture in my head when we talk about this event years after the actual game session in which the action occurs…. What I see is the cavern, and the aboleth, and the delver, and the pcs… not the players sitting around a battle mat with plastic minis representing their relative positions.

This is something I don’t thing non-gamers understand… the imagination that goes into this, and the very visual memory we have of our various adventures. It’s cool… in that very odd RPG geek kinda way.

I don’t know what I want to say about this really, but I think it’s illustrative of the companionship, imagination and intelligence that goes into roll playing. It’s a great example of how the story and the characters develop and take life in our heads.

Where did January go? All right, we all say it all the time… but damn that was fast. Of course, I’ve been up to a few things that made it go fairly quick.

So, this is going to take a bit of explanation… or maybe not. I wanna open a game store. See, that was easy. ‘Course everyone wants to open a game store… or at least a lot of gamers do.

Anyway, I REALLY want to open a game store, and with that in mind, I’ve just quit my job (of 5 years) so that I can find a higher paid one (wearing a suit!) so that I can save more money (non-profit salary = bad) so that I can open a game store. In a couple of years. Maybe three.

Timing depends on a lot of things:

1. Money – of course, I’d like to start without too much debt.
2. Location – I’m open to a wide array of geographic locations, but I really want that perfect building. What’s that mean? It’s sort of an ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ sort of thing, but the winning building will have some combination of: decent traffic, decent parking, easy to get to, a neighborhood with lots of kids, the right square footage for the store, someplace comfortable for play space, outdoor seating for playing outside when it’s nice weather, a lease that will allow me to bring my dog to work (so I can get a dog), and I’d love it if it were ‘cute.’ See, that’s what happens when a girl gamer wants a game store. It needs to be cute.
3. Economy – seriously, what’s up with this? I obviously don’t want to open a store in the middle of a recession. (I’d like to get the very tail end of the recession – low rents, and lots of customers!)

Anyway – I’m seriously on the track now, and the finish line is that lovely grand opening event! (Then I immediately start a different race, on a different track, and the finish line is a successful store.)

My plan is to chronicle some things about the process here. If you’d like to comment, I’d love to hear what you think!

Jill

So here’s a relatively new thing for me… sitting around a battle mat with 6 people and 4 computers.

The evolution:

When I started gaming, there were no computers at the table. In fact, I was the first - this was before I was the DM, but as the player who kept the notes. I can type as fast as I can think (almost), and write considerably slower… so the laptop was helpful. Now, as the DM, there’s no way I could keep track of all my shit without one (and the lovely d20srd.com - to which I have a paid subscription).

So, I’ve used a computer myself from the beginning of my DMing… and now one of my games has a tableful of computers, and the other has none but mine. It’s slightly odd. With the advent wireless networking everywhere, we have some new capabilities that I’m loving.

So first - why: what are we using the computers for?

The way the DM uses computers.

• I use the computer to facilitate quick rules look ups (with d20srd.com). I use word to organize bad guy stats in a way that’s quick and easy for me to reference – including color coding the text for various things. I also hyper link most spells, and many other abilities that I may need to look up. It works well for me. The stock monsters I run straight from d20srd so that I can use their handy integrated dice rollers. Roll a will save for 6 ice devils? no problem - I press a button.
• I also use the computer to track initiative and monster hit points in excel.
• Finally, I own PDF copies of the campaign that I’m running, so I use the computer as the campaign book.

The way the Players use computers.

• I also use the computer as a player – where I have my character sheet in tangled web, track my spells, spells available, scrolls, and other abilities. Not only is this an easier way for me to keep track of things during game…. Well, I often have an issue holding onto paper – so this way I never have to worry about where my game stuff is. My character sheet, and everything else I need are always with me. Also, as a player, I take campaign notes on the computer.
• My players – I have two who use the computer to keep track of their characters. One is a spell caster, one’s a tank. Between them, after having played for 15 levels with their computers at the table, I think that they both are quicker in action because of the aid of their laptops. Battles in that group (usually) go quicker than they do in the group without computers.
• Note taking – my players also take campaign notes on the computer… sometimes (not always) it leads to the group that uses the computer having a better handle on the various plot lines that are weaving together in the middle of this 3 year long campaign.

Instant Messaging

We have only lately come to the most useful application at the game table. Using IM for player/dm communication in game has been fantastic. The absence of notes being passed means many things

• I’ve recently been able to achieve repeated successful suggestions on a player with IM. He role played the result beautifully, and no one else at the table still knows there was anything amiss. In fact, even if they read this, I’m sure their first instinct will be to blame someone else. While it is obvious that there’s messaging going on to the rest of the group, it’s usually not clear who’s getting what, and how important it is.
• I have a gnome sorcerer who likes to pull illusions out and fool his party. This works way better if I’m the one saying ‘you feel a light breeze as the gargantuan red dragon in front of you ruffles it’s wings’ or something to that effect. As much as we intend to believe and role-play belief at the table…. There’s definitely more fun for everyone when the illusion is a surprise to players and characters rather than solely the latter
• PCs keeping secrets from each other. I love it. The information can be as simple (but important) as that the pit full of venomous snakes is an illusion or special friendships with NPCs that are not disclosed, or a much more elaborate habit of one PC for reasons of depravity, power seeking, or pathological forgetfulness to neglect to mention important plot points to the rest of the group… in which case, the DM often has a much to tell one person that the rest ought not hear.

The disadvantages.

While I firmly believe that computers at the table are a very good thing….there are some things that detract.

Too much IM – there’s a temptation to hold a much too extended IM conversation – which could lead to some players feeling left out of the loop… It’s important to limit it to what’s necessary to move the game forward, and when it’s more appropriate to pull a player aside for a quick conversation, to do that instead of an extended IM exchange.

Players doing something else during game… and not paying attention. Obviously, in most role playing games there’s some player down time. As a player and as a DM I prefer it if players that are not acting are paying attention to what’s going on, or preparing their next action… rather than checking the football scores. I have a few things to say about this.

• In my experience, my players who are most apt to check out of a fight when they’re not active… and require a recap of what happened when they come up to fight again – one of the most immensely annoying things a player can do – are not those on the computers.
• Now, to be fair this happens frequently and often the cause is pc interaction while others are acting, the player preparing their next move, and several other legitimate reasons for inattention. However, we all know players who goof around, have player interaction (vs pc interaction) between their actions, and who routinely don’t know what’s going on in the fight. In my games… again, in my experience these aren’t my computer users. I do somewhat shudder to think what would happen if they did begin bringing a computer to the table, because I’d probably have a problem on my hands.
• So, the guy who was checking football scores last night (Thomas) was using his iphone, I have another guy (Mark) who routinely has extended text chats during game, And I have a whole group (Sunday) who asked to turn on the last quarter of the Eagles vs Patriots game last week.

Perhaps it’s just that the players with computers get to do these things without me noticing as readily… but I’m ok with that. When I say “Theros”, he says “I charge this guy, cast this spell, power attack for this amount”and he’s already made sure the charge is legal, knows what the spell does, and has his power attack amount plugged into his damage spreadsheet, knows what the 6 spells he has active on himself are doing, and he rolls to hit, rolls a frickin’ handful of dice for damage, and it’s all over in a matter of seconds. The benefit is even more obvious for the spell casters…. What’s the area, target, effect, save, spell resistance, does it work if I have this, this, and this defensive spell active. These are questions that could sometimes require looking up 4 spells in 4 different books… but he has the details of his spells immediately available, and I have the details of mine, and usually it goes smoothly and much more quickly than it otherwise could. I am emphatically not a person who has a brain capable of remembering all the details of all the spells, but I do know people who are… even then, I think, the odd question always comes up, there’s still the looking up of random details. Computers usually make this faster.

I do have a player that sometimes brings a computer and is clearly not doing game related stuff. Interestingly on this blog, she’s a girl gamer…. And I think she’s a gamer that’s into it ‘cause it’s kinda fun, we’ve got cool people around the table, her husband loves it, and on some nights it’s better than her other options. She’s not, however, someone who’s consumed by the action, into the story details, and a master role-player. I’m ok with this too. She’s hilarious, and her character often adds a wonderful spark to the game. She’s not distracting about it, and she does pay attention in a fight, so there’s no slowing down of the action…. I think in special circumstance cases, I’d much rather she be there and chatting, doing work… whatever, on the computer, than there an bored out of her skull, or worse not there at all.

Bottom line: computers good.

I think in the hands of some players, I’d have to set some limits, and it would be more of an issue. I also think that I have a lot to learn about finessing the balance of computers vs not at the table – I definitely don’t want players without IM to be left out when they shouldn’t be. But at the end of the post – computers have made my games, both as DM and player, much better. The ease of rules look up, data organization for complicated fights, note taking, and IM abilities greatly outweigh the challenges they’re bringing to the table.

So, I’ve spent the last few days surfing blogs, looking for other girl gamer sites that are RPG based, and not computer game based…. and I didn’t see any! Help! If you know of a girl gamer RPG blog, let me know.

Here’s my criteria:

1. Primarily about table top rpg games (although I might settle for some that just give significant space to ‘em)
2. Written by, or mostly by, girls.
3. Still actively posting and/or maintained on a regular basis.
4. That’s about it folks…

Send me links, we’ll start a collection.

-js

You know, for those of us who aren’t techies, this whole website process can be a pain in the … neck. And, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve got a pretty significant set of computer skills – so it’s not like I’m new and stumbling. I know some html, I know some css, I’ve had a couple of websites up and working in the past…. But, it feels like I’ve been working for ages to get the A Jillion Adventures website up. So, here’s the deal.

Google sucks, Go Daddy rocks.

That is the true deal. I’m shocked and dismayed by the absolutely atrocious customer support from Google. Google made me cry – twice. And I’m not a crier. Unless I see a sad movie, or a happy movie, or books – same with books.

So the saga begins

I’m extremely excited, because after years of talking about opening a game store, I finally quit my (great!) job, and am moving on to the execution phase of my dream of opening my own friendly local game store. The first step, as with anything these days, is to get a website.

I poke around the web, looking for a place to land my website hosting and domain registration business. I hit on Google… and of course, Google is everything good and wonderful about the web – so I search no more. They have a domain registration and Google aps hosting function. And here’s where I made my first mistake – I didn’t look closely at the Google aps, witch is totally not what I’m looking for.

Mistakes were made

I sign up for Google aps, and buy my domain name at the same time. In the initial process of setting up my site, I quickly realize that Google isn’t what I’m looking for, and decide to change my hosting to GoDaddy, which is the channel that Google uses to register domain names…. somehow.

I do the do, go through the processes, and eventually get stuck. Which is the first time that I talk to the wonderful, beautiful, helpful, patient people who are GoDaddy’s customer support. And, the first time I talk to the ineptitude that is Google. It takes 4 hours to figure out, and it turns out that Google, in attempting to process my request (like 3.5 hours ago) miss spelled my domain name in some crucial place. Everywhere else, there’s an O in Jillion, and the Google guy, spelled it Jillian, with an A. This was the first time google made me cry. The frustration of talking to the Google customer support service was excruciating.

Resolution – or not

So it’s finally fixed. After hours of talking with the GoDaddy side, then the Google side…. Actually, most of the time spent not talking to anybody, but sitting on hold. So, I’m told these things take time to set up, so check back in a day or so, and it’ll be fixed.

Long Story Short –

The site still didn’t work. I get a friend to help, he says that there’s still a technical problem… I know it’s a problem with Google, not with GoDaddy, so I try to connect with the same customer support I talked to before… and the receptionist at Google (poor girl, it’s not her fault) doesn’t have a number, doesn’t know how to get a hold of them… whatever. This is the second time Google made me cry – the sheer and utter inability to be helpful!

In the end, it’s fixed. Thanks to David and to GoDaddy. No thanks to Google.

GoDaddy customer service – patient, knowledgeable, friendly, and WAY helpful… Google customer service…. WHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Yippee! it’s been a saga. truly a saga. Ok, well saga might be a strong word, but it’s felt like a saga getting this site working.

Here’s what I want to say about that: Go Daddy rocks; Word Press rocks; David R rocks

Google ….. I’m so sorry I met you.

I’ll tell ya more later.