All right, the looooooong weekend for me officially ends tomorrow morning when I move the garbage cans to the curb and head out to work. Ah, man...after being off since Thursday, I can't help but feel I'm NOT looking forward to being back at a desk. There are babies to play with and beagles to walk and sunshine to enjoy right here at home! Not to mention, blogs to write...
And WHEN the work week begins, my time to write will once again be limited. I have several possible topics of bloggersation to write about, possibly even a series or two, but who knows what I'll get to. I'm tempted to let the readership make the decision for me.
Here are some of the possible thoughts rattling around my skull:
- Iceland/Viking role-playing. We really, REALLY need more of this. Yes, it is very "white" of me to get all Nordic, but sometimes I just can't help it. After hitting up the Seattle Folklife Festival (twice!) this year I'm feeling like going a-viking.
- Celtic/pagan role-playing...for similar reasons as the Iceland thing. However, the emphasis would be on "putting your witches to work," because (as Tim Brannan will tell you) witches are cool.
- Hating on Rangers: long time readers will notice that I've never blogged about rangers, except perhaps for an off-hand remark or two. There's a reason for this: they are a dumb class. I can write all about it for those who didn't read my recent thoughtfulness at Dragonsfoot.
- Re-writing magic-users: and making them more "sorcerous." I have recently decided there are some things I find exceptionally challenging and B/X spell books are one of 'em. I'm not sure if I need to throw one more class into my already-getting-overlarge-supplement or if I should just write-up a freebie for the blog. Possibly the latter, you lucky ducks. Based on my recent re-readings of MZB sword-and-sorcery tales.
- Start my own adventure creation challenge: based on this damn statue in Tim's yard. I can't tell you when a piece of lawn art last inspired me this much. Um, maybe never. More innocuous animal statues should be this demented.
- Do some sort of Top Ten List on B/X monsters: either my personal favorites, the best up-front player killers, or the most insidious player-killers. Yes, there is sure to be some over-lap in all three of these categories. Yes, I will provide reasons for all my various choices.
- More B/X conversions of His Dark Materials: because once you stat up armored bears, where does one stop?
So there they are, all the ideas I've got so far...notice there are far too many for one short week, even blogging through all my lunch breaks. I suppose a poll isn't REALLY the best method for determining what one should write about (it's my blog, after all!)...but I AM open to reader requests and input. What do YOU folks want to read about this week?
; )
I don't know for sure what you'll say in an extended anti-ranger screed, but I probably agree.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I think is the stupidest thing about rangers (in the midst of a long list of stupid?) Two hit dice at first level. What in the world possessed the creator of the first ranger class to increase their hit dice? How does that fit any sort of archetype?
lol damn that frog is everywhere now!
ReplyDeleteVikings and Celts are always fun. I myself have always wanted to run a campaign set in the 5th century AD, right around the time of Arthur and Atilla the Hun, and the advent of Christianity. Plenty of room for Celts and Germans and Numidians and Sarmatians and of course late-period Romans and Greeks.
ReplyDeletefat frog challenge!
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about those books are the armoured bears, so yeah, you can stop there.
ReplyDeleteI'm voting for the frog.
I vote for the frog too.
ReplyDeleteWitches are cool. But I think that is covered.
ReplyDeleteI gotta know more about that frog though.
@ Everyone: even if the results were NOT coming down in favor of the frog, I have to say that I, too, am totally intrigued by the beast. Frog it is!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing "Celts" get done up in game terms. I own several games and supplements which are focused on those cultural settings. However, I always end up grinding my teeth in frustration, so I don't think I'll vote for that. Same goes for Vikings, but to a lesser degree.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear what you have to say on Rangers. I think that the class is pretty poorly designed, but that there is a place for the idea of an outdoor survival type. Still, I'm not invested, and would be happy to hear arguments against them.
@ Faol: You mean you want to hear me rant about how retarded the ranger class is?
ReplyDelete; )
I agree that an outdoorsy type of class is appropriate...especially in a wilderness setting. I have a couple in the new book. However, they are not based on any one single character from a specific book (e.g. "Aragorn"). I'll get to that later this week, perhaps.
Let's go a-vking. you can't get more outdoorsy than a viking! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/ApxnAr6pRt0
I tried adjusting rangers to make them more to my liking. I thought it would be easy. First to go was the alignment restriction (to be able to fit that Bandit archetype in there). Then I realized I didn't like the hit dice and Racial Enemy bonus. Then I realized the spellcasting didn't really fit either.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, all that was left was tracking.
If I ever run a game again, I think I'll just allow tracking for those of the appropriate background (barbarians and woodsmen) rather than try to build an unnecessary class around that one mechanic.
Please add me to the list of commenters who would enjoy reading an extended anti-Ranger screed.
ReplyDelete@ IG: Exactly.
ReplyDelete@ Matthew: I suppose I'll have to brew one up.
; )
I don't buy the ranger hate in the slightest (they are as D&D as d6s and chainmail bikinis), but I think you're a sharp designer. So let's see what you've got. ;) Give us a little Last of the Mohican's style homesteader we can all support. The witch rocked and will go into my next Mystara campaign for sure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that, if you write it, I'd read a take on "Celts", but I'm mostly fine with the 2E supplement (which I mine for ideas), the article in Dragon for the Mystaran "Celtic" area (which makes it mostly a BECMI/RC version), the Pendragon supplement for Ireland, Pagan Shore (and, to a lesser extent, the ones for Wales, Savage Mountains, and Scotland, Beyond the Wall), plus all of the other gaming and non-gaming "Celtic" material I have (C&S Swords & Sorcerers, GURPS Celtic Myth and Camelot, Celtic Legends, etc). They're all wrong to one degree or another (though the Pendragon supplements, especially Pagan Shore, come really, really close), but that's no reason not to mine them. No doubt your version would have cool stuff to use, too.