A mixed bag

Greetings from somewhere in the tabletop multiverse!

Having a family, with a three-month-old baby, really changes your priorities. So blogging has been on the back burner for a while. Being realistic, I am going to guess that it will continue like that for a while longer, despite my efforts to correct it and get back to writing. Oh well, we will see how it goes moving forward.

Tabletop games. Right. Especially Tabletop RPGs. That's what this blog is about, lest I forget. So I guess I might as well get back on topic again.

As you might imagine, having a little baby hampers my ability (or rather the time I have availiable) for playing tabletop rpgs, or other games, with my friends like I used to. It is a shame, but it is also a part of life. I do still read a lot of rpg books, talk rpgs with my friends, and work on my own rpg when I have the time, and energy, to do so. It is not quite the same as sitting down and actually playing though. The 5e D&D game on Saturday is on a mini-hiatus atm, while our GM is dealing with some technical issues. I'll get back to talking more about that game another time.

Back in 2016 I wrote a post on this blog about 11 tabletop horror games for Halloween which you can check out if you want some ideas for games to play. I highly recommend it.

A friend of mine will be doing his annual halloween game this year as well. As per what has become the custom, we'll be playing the Slasher Flick rpg. My participation in this years game depends largely on my little baby however, and how much energy I have. We shall see what happens. It's a fun game though. I might write a review on it at some point down the line.

I think that is all for me for this time.

See you all next time!

A spot of D&D, and my life at the moment.

Greetings all, from somewhere deep inside the Tabletop Multiverse!

A lot of things have happened since my last post here, earlier in the month. Not least of which, that I have become a father for the first time. That's right folks! The Tabletop Multiverse has finally gotten an heir.

In more tabletop RPG related news, there really isn't much news. Most of my time has gone to changing diapers, helping the baby's mommy any way I can, and taking naps with the baby.

The new 5e campaign - where we are starting off by playing through the Storm King's Thunder adventure module, and then see where we go after that - I mentioned in my last post has been put on hold until August 11. Partly due to my baby situation, but mostly due to our DM having some IRL stuff that got in the way until then. I look forward to when it returns though. :)

My young wizard, and his raven companion, is a lot of fun to play for me. It has been ages since I last played a wizard, and I have strangely never played one in either 5th or 4th edition D&D. 

Yes. I have played 4th edition. And you know what? I had fun. I don't necessarily think that 4th edition is a bad game system. It is very good for what it is. Mostly though, I have fond memories of playing it because I have had a lot of fun with my friends while doing it. We have a 4e campaign that is currently in its... 6th year, I think it is? While it is nearing its end, it IS still ongoing. Once that ends though, I have no idea whether we will continue the next campaign using 4th edition, or switch it to 5th edition instead. I am fine either way, though I think I would prefer giving 5th edition more of a chance as I haven't yet played it very much.

Other than that, I am spending what little free-time I have at the moment, working on the game system, and world, for my own fantasy tabletop rpg. It still doesn't have a name unfortunately. Mostly because I can't make up my mind on what I want to call it. Though I am sure it will get one eventually, and when it does, I will probably mention it in here. :) Apart from that, I am also doing a bit of work on the side, on a separate tabletop rpg project that is more focused on mystery and horror. It has a name, but it is still very early days, so I won't reveal it just yet. I have a ton of other ideas as well. :)

Anyway, time for me to go help with the baby.

Until next time!

Kickstarter for Journey to Ragnarok for 5th edition D&D

Greetings once more from somewhere within the Tabletop Multiverse.

History is one of my great interests in life, along side world-building, role playing games, and a few other things.

When it comes to my interest in history, one of the things I have read the most about is the Viking age. Not that strange really, since I am Swedish after all. The viking age was part of my people's history. There's a lot more to it than just plundering "heathens", going out killing and raping for fun. That's not a very accurate description of the "vikings" (though I much prefer to call them Norsemen, so I will do so henceforth).

Anyway, this isn't a history blog, so let's connect this to something tabletop-related.

I've played a few Viking-based tabletop rpgs in my days, for example games like Viking (a swedish game), Yggdrasil (by Cubicle 7), as well as GURPS viking supplements, and a few others. I might come back to those in a different post (or a few posts), as well as games based on other historical periods, because I do think some of the games are really good.

What I want to talk about today though is a new supplement for 5th edition D&D that is up on Kickstarter called Journey to Ragnarok, where you get to be part of a story that culminates with Ragnarok itself. The video on the Kickstarter mentions you fighting side by side with the gods themselves.

From the Kickstarter page:

The idea behind Journey To Ragnarok was to merge our biggest passions: the 5th Edition of the most famous roleplaying game of all time and, of course, Norse Mythology.

Every single event, NPC or encounter that will cross Adventurers' path is the result of more than 15 years of love and research, readings and travels.

Our intent is to let the Adventurers discover and explore the true origins of Norse Mythology, that has deeply influenced Fantasy literature, games,comics and movies.

It will be very interesting to see how they have handled the mythology and what, if any (though this is D&D so there will probably be some at least), fantasy elements they've worked in.

Then again, Norse mythology is full of enough uncertainties that there is ample room for that. :)

Either way, I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Currently (at the time of writing this), they are already more than 4 times over their goal, with 22 days to go on the Kickstarter. If you think it sounds interesting, or already know enough about it and want to help them unlock even more stretch-goals, head over to the Kickstarter and check it out!

I'll see you all again, somewhere on the winding roads of the Tabletop Multiverse!

Another broadcast from somewhere in the vast Tabletop Multiverse

Greetings from the far reaches of the tabletop multiverse. I hope I am finding you all in good health and a merry mood! :)

It's been roughly two weeks since my last transmission... eh, blog post. It's been busy weeks, but also good ones.

Sadly nothing new to report from the 3.5 game I wrote about in my last post (you can read about that here). It has been on a sort of unplanned mini-hiatus since then, due to IRL things popping up for various people and having to postpone it until next time. I am hoping we can get back to it in the coming week though.

In the meantime I have actually finished a second D&D 3.5 character - a catfolk, knight/bard/inventor/rifle-user (it's my DM's world and my character belonging to a knightly order essentially has turned him into... that. XD lol ). It seems like it will be a fun character to play though. It's going to be a Saturday game, that will be a bit on/off, so not every Saturday. Essentially, I have no clue how often we'll play. I am just going to wait for my GM to tell me when we play. I am looking forward to it though, and to trying out playing this character. I had a lot of fun playing my Shugenja character in the other 3.5 campaign, and I am sure I will enjoy playing this one as well.

One of the 'features' I am looking forward to trying out with the new catfolk character is the fact that he delivers most of his spells via the medium of magical bullets from his flintlock rifle. Now, I have played a 'gun mage' before, in the Iron Kingdoms RPG, though I have a suspicion that this catfolk character is going to be less broken in combat than my IK character was. XD lol I won't go into too much detail about it. It is possible that in a different campaign that character would have been less broken in combat. After all, when I played her we were all new to IK, including the GM!

It can be difficult getting new games off the ground though. I have a Mutant Chronicles campaign sitting there waiting for an opening (using 1st and 2nd edition MC), as well as some other ideas that probably will have to wait even longer. The problem is all the players need to find the time for it, but generally when some have time other's don't. Though I guess this is an issue all GMs & DMs face at some point in their lives. There's no rush for me though. We'll get around to it whenever we get around to it. The campaign isn't going anywhere.

Right. I think that will be all from me for today.

Until next time!

A new game

Greetings friends! Good to see you all again on this side of the new year. Let's hope this will be a really good year for all!

Recently, I got involved in a D&D 3.5 game which has its basis in a fantasy version of the Chinese story Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I don't think we are trying to faithfully follow the story, mind you. It is more the setting we are using, with some minor tweaks. Never the less, it looks like a very interesting setting and I think we will be in for a fun ride! :)

Anyway, we are using the Oriental Adventures books for it, and I am playing a female Shugenja character. A class which I have never played before. We've only had one session of it so far, which ended up being roughly 6 hours long. I have to say that for that session at least, I was really enjoying playing a Shugenja!

At the start of the session we had our first battle. My Shugenja had a bit of a difficult time noticing what was going down though, because of some really bad dice rolling. Eventually though, she noticed something and went downstairs to see what was going on. Now, before the session I wasn't sure how I was going to enjoy playing a Shugenja. But once we got the session going and I got into my first combat, I felt much better about it. Her beam-type attacks and the flaming sphere really showed me she could be fun to work with. I do think though, that she will be better against several enemies rather than targeting a single enemy. We shall see though. She also has some out of combat utility spells that I am hoping she will find uses for. Though that will depend on what kind of game it evolves into being. If it is a game that focuses a lot on combat I might not be able to 'waste' the spell uses outside of combat, in which case I might have to re-build her a bit. But we shall see how it goes.

I think I will have a lot of fun with the character, though I am still trying to figure out her personality and such, and I need to get around to actually writing down a backstory for her. So far, all I know for certain is really that she is 20 years old, she's from Japan, she's a Shugenja, and she is nobility. She is also travelling with two other characters, one PC and an NPC, both of which are Samurai. I'll see if I can return with a better description of her here on the blog once I have her more fleshed out as a character.

Anyway, that will be all for me for this time.

Until next we meet, somewhere in the tabletop multiverse!

D&D inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame

Greetings everyone, from somewhere in the Tabletop Multiverse we call home.

It's been a few days since my last post. This has mainly been the result of a very busy IRL schedule and not having the energy to write posts. Hopefully this will turn around shortly.

Today's post will probably be a short one, but it will be a good one. I think. Hope.... I'll just leave that decision to you guys.

Dungeons & Dragons, the tabletop role playing game that we all love, have been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Yeah, I hadn't heard of the NTHoF before either. Nevertheless, D&D is one of 62 toys inducted this year. It has come a long way since its humble beginnings back in 1974, at the hands of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It has grown quite a bit since then and is today perhaps the most famous and well-known tabletop RPG on the market.

A bit of research (Wikipedia artice) on the National Toy Hall of Fame, tells me that it is based in the U.S. and was established in 1998. The wikipedia article says that:

"...recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years. Criteria for induction include: icon status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered); longevity (more than a passing fad); discovery (fosters learning, creativity, or discovery); and innovation (profoundly changed play or toy design)"

I would definitely say that Dungeons & Dragons more than meets all those criteria.

If you haven't checked out D&D yet, I strongly suggest you do so. It might be a bit tricky picking which version to start with, as it is currently on it's 5th edition, but if you are having trouble deciding I would probably suggest starting with 5th edition as it is the latest one and you might have the easiest time getting the books for it, and you are also more likely to find people online who can help you out.

Again, a big contratulations to Wizards of the Coast on the induction of D&D into the National Toy Hall of Fame. It is always nice to see a game that has meant so much to so many people, for such a long time, get a recognition such as that. :)

Until next time!

Great news for Tolkien lovers!

Greetings!

For all you Tolkien lovers out there, who also happen to enjoy a bit of D&D, Cubicle 7 have released the Players Handbook for their new game Adventures in Middle Earth, a game whose setting is based in the world of The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring. It contains setting-specific rules and guidelines for creating your characters, and adventuring in the setting, and is based on the OGL for D&D 5th edition.

A link to the Players Handbook on DriveThruRPG can be found here, or if you click on the "Players Handbook" link in the paragraph above.

According to the website they also have a Loremaster's Guide in the works, as well as adventures. Though we will have to wait a bit longer for that to come out.

I know one or two people who are HUGE Tolkien fans, and I know they will be VERY pleased to know that the PDF for the Player's Handbook is out. :)

Personally I have read both The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books, and while I really like Tolkien's works I don't really consider myself an expert. At least not compared to my friends.

I'm pretty sure we will end up getting the PDFs and playing in the world of Middle Earth at some point. It is probably just a matter of actually finding a slot in our schedules to actually do it, and that might take some time. When I have tried it I will return with some more thoughts on it though.

My current games

Greetings!

Due to feeling unwell - something I have discussed more in my other blog - I probably won't have the energy or mental capacity to write any in-depth or long posts until my head starts clearing up again. Though I will try to write something at least, for you all to enjoy.

So today I am going to write a short list of what game systems I am currently playing in with my friends. Right now it isn't really an extensive list, but then again I unfortunatelly can only fit so many games into my schedule.

Currently we are playing:

• Star Wars Saga Edition
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition - Published by Wizards of the Coast, D&D is one of, if not the most well-known tabletop RPG out there at the moment. Especially after the launch of the 5th edition rules, and online attention from shows such as Critical Role and Dice, Camera, Action!. We, however, are still running our old campaign using 4th edition rules, a campaign which has been running for... 3 or 4 years now? Head is a bit too cloudy to remember right now, but we are still running it because we all love the campaign.
• Ryuutama - A Japanese tabletop rpg which has got an English translation via a Kickstarter. We only just started this, so I am still new to the system.
• Iron Kingdoms - A steampunk fantasy tabletop roleplaying game by Privateer Press, which is based off of their wargame Warmachine. We were running a straight up Iron Kingdoms game previously, but now that that has ended we are currently running a new Iron Kingdoms game which also includes elements of a supplement/expansion called Unleashed.

There is a lot of interesting lore in both Iron Kingdoms and Warmachine which I highly recommend reading if you enjoy that sort of thing.

I am planning to go more indepth on various tabletop roleplaying games & systems, and my thoughts on them, in future posts. So stay tuned for that.

I think that will have to do from me for now. Time to go lie down and rest a bit.