Mad Brew Labs

Sunglar (of Stargazer’s World^[1]) kicked off a blog carnival on the Role Play Media Network^[2] earlier this week that focuses on how Social Media has impacted the hobby and the pundits surrounding it. Being keen on technology and its application on the hobby^[3], I felt this was an excellent topic to discuss here at the Labs.

First, let’s define what social media is. Social media are interactive networks and/or tools that store and transmit information. Forums, blogs, wikis, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Kickstarter, deviantArt, BitTorrent, Second Life, Digg, Reddit, YouTube, Picasa and multitudes of other applications and technologies are social media. Anytime users can rate, discuss, share, or otherwise interact with the data or each other, social media is involved.

Social Media Landscape by Fred Cavazza

I think social media has impacted five major properties of the hobby. Social media has increased accessibility to the hobby, decreased the time of distribution, expanded the reach of the hobby, made the permanence of the hobby mutable, and finally, social media has bridged gaps in intimacy between hobbyists as well as publishers & designers.

Accessibility

Before the internet and cheap (often free) social media tools, the means to produce and deliver content were cost prohibitive. It would mean spending money at a print shop and obtaining a mailing list of people to actually send it to and/or distributing it at local shops.

Anything beyond simple black & white facsimiles would require specialized skills and tools of the print industry. Today, one can leverage cheap or free drag & drop applications to create surprisingly good layouts for websites, e-books, and print-on-demand solutions. In essence, this means anyone can be a magazine/e-zine editor, webmaster, or author.

Time/Speed

Social media has significantly reduced the time required to distribute of content. In the print world, it takes days (newspapers) or even months (book printing & shipping) for content to be delivered for consumption. These days, as soon as the content is ready, it can be immediately published and ready for hobbyists to read and use.

With tools like feed readers, email, Twitter, and Facebook, the hobbyist can achieve near instantaneous awareness of when new content is available. No longer does one have to make a trip to the local shop or wait for a product to appear on a shelf.

Reach

Before the internet and social media, the reach of the hobbyist was pretty much limited to people known locally. Programs such as play-by-mail could transcend this limitation, but it suffered from extended periods of waiting by the mailbox and drew out play to a sometimes mind-numbingly slow one action per week.

With the internet and social media tools, the reach of the hobbyist is global. Even language barriers become easily scalable obstacles with a browser like Chrome (recognizes and prompts user if they would like to translate pages). The lone gamer stuck in the backwaters is only a click away from his hobby and others who share his passion.

Permanence

Social media and the internet have allowed what were once immutable and absolute to become evolving and sometimes even capricious. Before these tools, a game reached the hobby in what would be its final form. In order to fix/change the design, a new printing, supplement, or an entirely new edition would have to be created.

Today, errata and fan-made house rules and supplements make a game a constantly evolving beast (should you choose to let it). It seems like WotC puts out a new errata document while prominent bloggers offer optional rules and mechanics to spice up the game on a daily basis.

Depending on your perspective, the new mutability of the hobby can either be a blessing, a curse, or both.

Intimacy

I think the final property of the hobby that social media has changed is that it has allowed hobbyists and designers to develop (at least an illusion of) personal relationships. No longer are the names printed inside our game manuals some unknown being in the ivory tower.

Social media has allowed the hobbyist to glimpse into those areas that were once inaccessible. We can see behind the curtain and watch the processes that make a publisher run. We can give feedback and get answers direct from the designer (without having to wait to see if our question was answered in next month’s sage column).

Convenience

All of these factors add up to one property, convenience. Social media and the internet make it easier to organize, play, obtain content, and communicate among ourselves and with the industry. The ability to connect is nearly effortless.

Be sure to return to the originating post for this RPMN blog carnival, Social Media and its impact on RPGs to see what everyone else is saying.

Listening to: Murderdolls – Women & Children Last – Chapel of Blood

REFERENCES

[1] Sunglar at Stargazer’s World.

[2] The RPMN is a Ning social network for RPG hobbyists created by Berin Kinsman.

[3] Check out my many posts that deal with leveraging technology for RPGs.

Thanks to everyone who participated in last month’s RPG Blog Carnival, “Growing the Hobby.” Be sure to follow the caravan to Evil Machinations for this month’s carnival, “Teaching the Game.” It just happens to be a great follow-up topic! I do apologize for this round-up taking so long to be posted, but we had a little event called GenCon happening down the road from me.

Before I get to the participant round-up, I want to present my own thoughts about growing the roleplaying games hobby. I want to make it very clear that these are just my observations and hypotheses and that I really have no hard data to back it up with.

Hobby Hindrances

I think that currently both the hobby and industry are strong and healthy. I do not think the hobby is expanding at any significant rate, but do believe that it is at least capturing new players at the same rate as old player drop out. It is sustaining. Like many things, I think the hobby is cyclical, and over time you can see patterns of small expansion and shrink, but hardly ever is there a colossal boom.

I think this is because there will only be a small percentage of the population that roleplaying games appeal to, ever. The most popular roleplaying games require a large investment of time in order to understand how the game functions and then even more to play the game. Most [popular] RPGs are not created for casual gaming. It’s my opinion that even “rules light” games such as Savage Worlds still require quite a bit of investment.

Keep in mind that technology is cultivating an instant-gratification society. As nearly everything becomes on-demand and instantaneous, each successive generation is going to be even more unlikely to invest the amount of time required by roleplaying games. That’s assuming they get past the social stigma surrounding roleplaying games…

Beyond the buy-in and social risks, the themes and genres that roleplaying games cater to are very narrow. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and (supernatural) Horror are the current staples of the hobby, but these genres have limited appeal beyond passive entertainment (i.e. movies & books). I do think Hollywood (actually great CGI and S/FX) has been instrumental in increasing the visibility and acceptance of these genres, but I’m not convinced that this translates into increased interest for roleplaying games.

Industry Options

Right now, it is my observation that the industry is fighting over the same target audience. Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Dungeons & Dragons, Dragon Age, Warhammer… all of these games are targeted at mostly the same group of people. A Venn diagram of how the games’ target audiences overlap would look like this:

Current Target Audience

Unfortunately, the current roleplayer demographic only has so many resources available. So, if the industry wants to grow, it needs to create new market space. Expanding the customer base requires creating games that appeal to a wider audience. Publishers will have to blur the lines between traditional roleplaying games, computer roleplaying games, social media games, card games, and board games. Games with dead simple rules and almost zero time investment necessary.

The industry will need to approach genres that are not the traditional fantasy tropes. An Emergency Room RPG where players can be doctors or nurses. It could be a detectives (think Advanced Clue), military, super models, race car drivers, mafia, or sports star game. How about something like The Sims, but in a table top (or LARP?) format? Make the stories easy, but variable (scripts or plot cards) with simple resolution (spinner or single d6).

I say this in spite of myself, because I’m actually somewhere in that current roleplayer demographic I mentioned earlier. These new games probably won’t appeal to me, but they might appeal to my wife, daughter, or grandmother. However, there are still avenues for capturing the attention of the traditional roleplaying gamer.

I think transmedia and cross-promotion between media is something missed by the industry. What if some treasure recovered in Dungeons & Dragons Online gave you access to D&D Insider or allowed you to print off some kind of unique power card. A monthly comic could have codes to redeem online for equipment in DDO as well as the stat block for use at the table. A unique code could be given to the purchaser of the core books to give him access to locked classes or abilities in the computer game. The opportunities are limitless.

I think organized play can be vital in building a player base. Both Paizo and Wizards have done some great things with organized play. I think the Encounters format is a smart beginning to being able to peddle the roleplaying experience out in small, manageable chunks.

The Hobbyist

So far, I’ve only talked about the publishing side of roleplaying games. What about the hobbyist? I think the most important thing a gamer can do for the hobby is to play. That’s it. PLAY.  The second most important thing is probably distancing ourselves from the smelly, socially-awkward stereotype. Brush those fangs, shower, use deodorant, speak intelligently, exercise and eat healthy… I know it’s an unfair image, but it’s there none-the-less (I could lose a few pounds myself).

Some final things the hobbyist can do are to talk, recruit, and mentor. Talk about gaming (in a non-spastic manner). Ask non-gaming friends if they would like to play. Mentor and teach fledgling gamers. These tasks are for those that want to go the extra mile, because the bottom line is:

If you’re playing, the hobby is doing fine.

Participants

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s RPG Blog Carnival:

• Mad Brew Labs – The kick-off post that poised a few questions.
• Comments – A lot of readers comment about the topic.
• Whitehall ParaIndustries – Gleichman is totally unconcerned ;)
• Synapse Design – Are publishers in a position to grow the hobby?
• Pen & the Sword – Social media is key in overturning social stigma.
• The Action Point – A veteran recounts a story about gaming in the military.
• Evil Machinations – Defining RPGs and rethinking our concept of RPGs.
• Creative Anomalous – Finding time & recruiting new players is key.
• Campaign Mastery – Grow the hobby with great GMing and telling stories.
• Plastic Polyhedra – Retention over recruitment?
• Reality Refracted – How to ease a potential gamer into the hobby.
• Stargazer’s World – Growing the hobby, the horticulturist way.
• Nevermet Press – Growing the hobby by building a tribe.
• Nevermet Press – Gaming clubs and how they serve the hobby.
• Fame & Fortune – Killing the comic book guy stereotype.
• Bits & Pieces – Letting people know roleplaying is just another form of entertainment.
• Tenletter – Being vigilant against uninformed journalism.
• EN World – Jason from the Action Point started a thread on the forum.

Listening to: Clockwork Dolls – Dramatis Personae – Maiden Voyage

RPG Blog Carnival

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is concerned with Growing the Hobby. I had originally pegged the topic to be Disconnected Gamers but decided that it was too narrow of a topic and really part of a bigger discussion.

I think this carnival is especially appropriate with some recent articles^[1][2] and discussions^[3][4] about toxic fans and target audiences making some ripples on the web.

While, I don’t think the hobby is disappearing, by any means, I don’t see it expanding by leaps & bounds either. I’d personally like to see it grow, and I would like to hear what the RPG Blogosphere has to say.

Growing the Hobby is a pretty broad topic and it can be approached from the community/gamer or industry/publishing perspectives. I have a few questions that might help spark discussion:

• How would you like to see the hobby grow?
• How can the community or publishers help grow the hobby?
• What are you doing to advance the hobby?
• What is hindering the growth of the hobby?
• Is technology a key component of growing the hobby?
• Is the hobby fine the way it is?
• What are some pitfalls in trying to grow the hobby?

I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s contributions.

The wrap-up can be read here.

Listening to: Kingdom of Sorrow – Behind the Blackest Tears – Enlightened to Extinction

REFERENCES

[1] Why You Can’t Have Nice Things – Mob United

[2] Killing Demand – Neogrognard

[3] Companies Staying Away from RPG Gamers – EN World

[4] Companies Staying Away from RPG Gamers – The RPG Site

Games & Tavel Carnival

The Gamer Traveler is hosting this month’s blog carnival, Games & Travel. I don’t have much to say about travel within a game, except that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. However, I do have a lot I can say about traveling as a gamer, because I have probably traveled more than the average gamer. As many of my readers know, I am a former Marine, having spent four honorable years in service to the United States (and another four on inactive reserve).

During my enlistment I visited more than 40 major cities in more than 20 countries from Amsterdam to Tunis and from Sevilla to Manama. I was stationed in Southwest Asia (aka The Middle East) for more than a year and I also did a 6 month deployment in the Mediterranean, so I have had the pleasure of experiencing a diverse amount of culture.

It was a grand adventure, in the way that real adventures are truly awful bouts of torturous events interrupted by short intermissions of cool and awesome. A lot of my time in service was in no way what most would consider fun, if they actually had to do it themselves. It is this reality of adventure that I experienced along my travels that has given me some important insight for my games.

Adventure is Horrific

Most gamers never truly appreciate what we put our imaginary characters through. This is because we really don’t have anything at stake (besides needing to make a replacement character). This is a good thing; otherwise, roleplaying games wouldn’t be much fun. Believe me, combat (epic or not) and exploring dangerous locations is not fun, it’s horrific and terrifying and when you are done you are mentally and physically drained.

The promise of riches might draw a few naïve adventurers once, but I bet 99.9% of them would retire after their first adventure. Which is why in most of the games I run, I try giving characters a motivation beyond untold riches. While I love the freedom of old school influenced sandbox style of exploring hexes, the reality of a sane individual exploring dangerous locations for the sake of exploring and amassing wealth is absurd to me.

Culture Shock

I also find that many gamers don’t fully comprehend what it is like when their characters must function in a strange locale where the inhabitants’ social mores, or customs, are vastly different from their own. Not to mention the communication barrier from not being able to speak the native language. Sure, many settings have given us an easy, if a bit unbelievable, way out through the Common tongue.

English might be the closest thing we have in the real world to Common, but it is still very difficult to function abroad when that is the only language you know. Add to this that the average fantasy setting has not evolved like our own world has (with global conquests, technology, and widespread commerce), which led to English being so widespread.

RPG Blog Carnival

Not Simulations

Though my travels have shown me that most gamers ignore (or don’t understand) that roleplaying games don’t truly reflect what adventure is really like, my experience has strengthened my appreciation for roleplaying games. How can that be? Well, roleplaying games are not meant to be adventure simulators. They are vehicles for the imagination that allow us to share experiences with our friends. They are games that encourage people to connect with each other. And my travels and experience has taught me that RPGs ability to facilitate these connections is very important.

Listening to: Rammstein – Liebe ist für alle da – Pussy

I must apologize that it has taken me so long to get around to finishing this RPG Carnival Roundup.  With side projects like Nevermet Press, I didn’t get around to posting as many contributions as I had planned!  Of course, that could be one more contribution, as the site definitely has some Steampunk flavor in the design.

I would like to extend an enthusiastic thanks to everyone who participated and remind everyone that Chris Tregenza at 6d6 Fireball is hosting this month’s RPG Blog Carnival with the topic being the 800 lb. gorilla of D&D.  So make sure you check out what is happening this month.

Roleplaying Pro shows us where to find some inspiriate with the Steamboy animation and touches on some popular games that incorporate steampunk elements such as Deadlands and Unhallowed Metropolis.

Robertson Games offers 4 optional rulse for using firearms in your D&D game: Hit Point/Stamina Loss (with open-ended damage), armor penetration, knock-down, and re-loading. [sorry I missed this the first time around!]

The Dice Bag delves into fond memories of a bloodthirsty Tinker Gnome (of the steampunk influenced Tinkers from Dragonlance) and his evil pain inducing inventions and how WoW marginalized the cool aspects of these gnomes.

6d6 Fireball talks about how his vision of steampunk cannot exist without the British Empire.  From Babbage’s difference engine to British rails, British ingenuity ruled the Victorian day.

Whitehall ParaIndustries weighs in on Steampunk, and why he has never been attracted to what he sees as an often ugly genre.  Gleichman asks for Steampunk fiction recommendations; I would try Whitechapel Gods, The Difference Engine, Perdido Street Station, and if you like comics, check out BattleChasers.

Compromise & Conceit is an entire blog dedicated to chronicling the adventures in a campaign world in which the steam age merged into magic based on infernal conjuring. It is set in 18th century America during the Revolutionary War and is a great read.

Fame & Fortune enlightens readers on the punk side of steampunk and how the eras that it draws upon for inspiration were times of massive social upheaval and change that were created as a by product of the Industrial Revolution.

Gaming Brouhaha highlights his favorite steampunk setting, Iron Kingdoms (which I am a HUGE fan of too, so double awesome!).  If you’re looking for a new setting, you should definitely read MJ’s spotlight on Iron Kingdoms.

MJ also notes that there is a new e-zine for the iPhone/iPod Touch published by Steampulp Publishing. It emulates “the style of the pulp adventure magazines of the 1920s and ’30s, Steampunk Tales #1 contains first-run and original fiction written by an A+ list of award-winning authors.”

Troll and Flame admits his dislike of steampunk but still gives us a campaign idea (plenty of Adventure Hooks and one line Encounter seeds) called Fantasy Rails inspired by the Iron Dragon board game.

Vulcan Stev’s Database discusses some films that could be used for inspiration while gaming in a steampunk universe.  He even wraps up the article with Van Helsing in the form of a Savage Worlds Wild Card NPC.

Aron Broder from Allgeekout, a Nevermet Press insider, details his idea for a steampunk themed superheroes setting.  You have to read some the character ideas, Victorian superheroes for the win!

Steampunk World, a blog dedicated to the genre, puts the punk back into steampunk!  He talks about pollution, violence, and the exploitation child and women.

A Wandering Monster, I pointed out steampunk flavored song/poem by Jeff Grubb of the Alliterates.

A Character for Every Game brings us a metric ton of steampunk posts (thanks for all the great contributions!):

• Steamworks and Dragons – 5 d20 Steampunk Books presents a wonderful bibliography of d20 books for any OGL gamers out there looking to incorporate steampunk & klokwerks into their game.
• Steamguns and Blackpowder Clockworks – Rules takes a look at how to add firearms into your burgeoning steampunk campaign.
• Steamguns and Blackpowder Clockworks – Magical Arms actually gives us a selection of several magical firearms to use in your game.
• [DragonMech] Moruth Ironbeard, steampunk cyborg showcases a level 1 character from the DragonMech RPG using a new class called steampunk cyborg.

Akronos World has created a Steampunk Mage paragon path for D&D 4e.  Check out the “Want some steam, punk” daily power and Invention of Arcana ritual!

Greywulf’s Lair gives us 6 custom steampunk Gadgets and Gears for Mutants & Masterminds.  The Jetpack Velocipede is definitely my favorite!

Advanced Gaming & Theory loves using bizarre technologies in his games and discusses the nuances of technologies in a campaign.  Did I mention he gives us an old school (AD&D) Greek Fire Canon!

The Gamer Traveler shows us a strange steampunk contraption he encountered at an event in Belgium, a mechanic tiger!  Daniel even talks about turning the real life inventor into a character in one of his games.

Stargazer’s World shares one of his favorite steampunk flavored comics, Girl Genius.  He talks about creating a Savage Worlds version of  the Girl Genius world and then follows up with a Savage Worlds version of the star character, Agatha.

1001 Bobs gives shares some excellent resources for converting the awesome Iron Kingdoms setting to D&D 4e, including stuff for the Gun Mage!

Creatively Anomalous explains his idea of the Otherwhere and alternate steampunk infused reality.  He also looks at incorporating steampunk elements into his world of Apocalypticon.

Unclebear sends three articles our way with:

• The Tinker-King of Klockworld Street urchins from Victorian London are swept into a steampunk fantasy-land!
• Gears of the Golden Golem a Biblical era clockwork mecha showdown between the Egyptians’ False Idol and the Israelites’ Golems!
• The Chinese CoalPunk Revolution In near-future China, a band of heroes fight to overthrow evil Capitalists and return power to the People!

Campaign Mastery details 7 very good steampunk resources ranging from Castle Falkenstein to Wikipedia.

I also posted my entry for the One Page Dungeon contest, Vapors of Colossal Death. A steampunk dungeon.

Again, I would like to thank everyone who participated, and if you don’t see your contribution listed, let me know!

Listening to: Vernian Process - The Forgoten Age - Zeitgeist

gamingSteampunkrpgroleplayingRPG Carnival

Steamnocchio by Fabricio Moraes, CGS Image Master Award winner

• Adventures/Hooks
• Characters
• Classes/Abilities/Powers
• Costuming/Fashion
• Encounters
• Equipment
• Feats
• Game Props
• Locations
• Media Resources
• Monsters
• Opinion Essays
• Skill Challenges
• Societies
• Theory & Design
• Worldbuilding/Setting

I hope to see some great contributions to this month’s RPG Blog Carnival.  Contributors, please be sure to leave a comment with a link back to your posts in case trackbacks do not register.  I’ll post a round-up of all the contributing articles within the first week of July.

Listening to: Vernian Process – Steam Age Symphony – Ironworks

gamingSteampunkrpgroleplayingRPG Carnival

RPG Blog Carnival

Roleplaying Pro is hosting this month’s RPG Blog Carnival (which I will be hosting next month, so stay tuned).  The topic is The Future of Roleplaying.  Sam of Roleplaying Pro has posed a few questions to the community, which I will answer and then I’ll give my thoughts on how the next edition of world’s most popular roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, will look in the not-so distant future.

What games do you see emerging as the big players in the near future?

I am not plugged enough to be aware of any new systems that will be released in the near future, with the exception of the Pathfinder RPG.  I expect that when it splashes down from the heavens on August 13^th during GenCon 2009, that it will sell out each day (assuming Paizo withholds product to release every day), especially considering that the incomplete BETA rules that could be downloaded for FREE sold out last year!  I know a lot of people are waiting for the final hardback print edition after having watched the beta evolve over the last year or more.

Otherwise, I don’t really see any shift in the status quo.  D&D (in its current incarnation) will continue to hold the lion’s share of the market followed closely by White Wolf and Paizo (though whether or not Paizo usurps the number two spot will be interesting).  Though I do think a big shake-up would do the industry some good.

What companies should we be watching out for to release the next big product?

I would keep my eye on Green Ronin, I know for a fact that they will be announcing something big today, judging from the big countdown on their website.  The self-mastered warrior publishing company is a favorite of mine that is constantly developing awesome games and supplements (here’s looking at you Mutants & Masterminds).

That being said, I have heard rumblings about some new faces in the industry that call themselves Nevermet Press.  So I would certainly keep my eyes peeled for developments concerning that company.

How will technology become more integrated into roleplaying games?

I think we’ll continue to see online suites of tools emerge and evolve.  These will be from independent software developers like SmiteWorks (the developer of Fantasy Grounds) and RP Tools as well as in-house tools produced by game publishers like Dungeons & Dragons Insider.

While these tools will undoubtedly get better, I do not see them becoming the indispensable tools the developers want them to be.  More and more players will be utilizing the digital products, but nothing is going to replace a table, some tangible polyhedrons, and physical books.  I have some more to say on technology, but I think it is better left for another post.

What industry writer do we need to be on the lookout for?

Me.  Seriously though, Jonathan Jacobs, Quinn Murphy, and I collaborated on an article that should be appearing in the Gen Con edition of Kobold Quarterly (issue #10).  We plan on doing more together, so be on the lookout.

What blogs do you see exploding into becoming the next big thing?

This is hard one to pin down.  What I do expect to see is more burn-out as many of the bloggers that have picked up the habit find that is difficult to consistently create content.  The thing I expect the most is seeing a condensing of the RPG blogosphere where several smaller blogs combine their efforts into a larger, more prolific site that might be able to compete with the big dogs (that are usually multi-authored).

What do you see for the future of the industry?

I think the economy is going to be a crucible that will kill off some poorly managed publishers and make everyone ratchet their designs up a notch.  I see more RPGs blurring the lines between miniature, board, and card games.

D&D 5ive

The fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons continues to ease the burden of preparation and decision making of players and dungeon masters alike by prepackaging dungeon tiles, monster minis, and player character minis, and power cards into all inclusive kits that can accommodate up to six players.

These kits include the rulebook, three adventures that re-use the included reversible adventure tiles and monster minis, six player character minis, power cards, treasure cards, condition tokens, and a single d20.  All you need to play!

The power cards are exchangeable, allowing players to truly customize their character.  For improved customization, there will also be quarterly expansion pack releases for each of the major components: treasure, powers, monster minis, player minis, and adventure tiles.  These collectable expansions give the Dungeon Master and players access to uncommon and rare components for use in your game.

Don’t forget to register your collection with D&DI where you can use the items you receive from the collectable expansions in automated adventures where you can game with your group online or play with thousands of other players across the globe!

Listening to: Silent Civilian - Rebirth of the Temple - A Call to Arms

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragons

RPG Blog Carnival

This is my contribution to the April 2009 RPG Blog Carnival: Humor & Gaming hosted by A Butterfly Dreaming.  Roleplaying game humor has been around almost as long as roleplaying games have.  I think it is inevitable for themed humor to appear shortly (or immediately) after a popular activity is established or a public event happens.

Much of the early humor that I am aware of was published in the back of Dragon magazine with classic comic strips like Wormy, Phil Folgio’s What’s  New with Phil & Dixie, Fineous Fingers, Larry Elmore’s SnarfQuest, and Yamara.  Jolly R. Blackburn’s Knight’s of the Dinner Table was always a favorite of mine, and is still going strong.

Shortly before the demise of Dragon, there were four strips that carried on the Dungeons & Dragons humor torch: Nodwick, Order of the Stick, Dork Tower, and The Zogonia and Mt. Zogonia (whose website is unfortunately dead).

Since the demise of Dragon (in print) I have obtained a subscription to its spiritual successor, Kobold Quarterly.  The tradition of four color humor continues with KQ’s inclusion of Stan!’s Bolt & Quiver (which used to be published in Dungeon magazine along with Downer the Dark Elf).

Of course with the advent of the web, many artists bypassed the traditional print medium and began releasing their work to the masses on their own, thus the comic strip found new life as the webcomic.  I’ve been digging through the internet to find some of the better four color (or b&w) roleplaying game humor and present it as a list (in alphabetical order):

• 8-bit Theater – A Final Fantasy sprite based adventure comic
• Cat’s Grace – A photo webcomic that follows a liontaur adventurer
• Chatty’s Out of the Box – The Chatty DM’s defunct photo webcomic using D&D minis
• Critical Failure – A comic dealing with DM-player table antics created by RPGBN’s own Mark Meredith
• Critical Fumble – The adventures of unlikely heroes portrayed by the D&D arcade game characters
• Darken – This comic series begins with Gort having his heart ripped out by a demon
• Darths & Droids – A screenshot comic poking fun at the series as a roleplaying game
• The DM of the Rings – Viewing the Tolkien fantasy through the lens of D&D & LotR screenshots
• Dungeon Crawl, Inc. – Started out as sprite based, but it is now drawn
• Dungeon Damage – A story narrated by a vicious read dragon
• Dungeons & Denizens – Exposes the life of the creatures who call dungeons home
• Dungeons & Discourse – One of several comics by “Dresden Codak”
• Dungeons & Dorks – Follows the exploits of gamer geeks
• Familiar Ground – Adventuring through the eyes of a familiar
• Fight, Cast, or Evade – About a party of unlucky anthropomorphic adventurers
• Full Frontal Nerdity – A comic about general geeking out, including roleplaying
• Gaming Guardians – Comic about trying to save the world of D&D
• Girl Genius – A gaslamp fantasy drawn by Phil & Kaja Foglio
• Goblins – Chronicles the exploits of a band of goblin adventurers
• Fuzzy Knights – A photo comic hosted by Kenzer & Co (who also hosts KotDT)
• Irregular Comic – This comic explores a lot of topics, but roleplaying is for Fridays
• Legend of Bill – A comic about the wannabe barbarian Bill and his blue dragon pal
• Looking for Group – While at first glance it appears as a WoW parody, it is far from it
• Mind Flayed – This comic features the machinations of an illithid.
• Nahast: Lands of Strife – A chronicle of adventures in the land of Nahast
• Orcusville – Details the life of the demon lord Orcus
• Penny Arcade – Tyche and Gabe often explore the world of D&D
• Planescape Survival Guide – Well… a comic about what the title says
• RH Junior’s Comics – A site containing several comics including Tales of the Questor
• Webcomic List – You might also find some gems here in the fantasy genre

I have really only explored webcomics that were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons or had a general fantasy bent.  I tend to stay away from comics derived directly from MMOs since I refuse to pay a subscription, and therefore miss the much of the humor.  If you know of any other good table top RPG inspired webcomics, sound off in the comments!

Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine - Kinda I Want To

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingcomics

Jonathan at The Core Mechanic is running this month’s RPG Blog Carnival: Monsters & Map Madness. I decided to make a world map as my contribution to the carnival. I wanted to achieve a semi-realistic map using program(s) I already own. Looking at my suite of software tools, I chose the venerable Photoshop in CS4 dress. I thought about creating the map using painterly techniques, but I doubted my skill would meet my realism goal. So I turned the web to find some tutorials. I wound up at the Cartographers’ Guild, which is probably the best resource on the web for fantasy cartography.  The Cartographers’ Guild is a member of the Fantaseum Alliance, which includes the world building forum, The Campaign Builders’ Guild, and the Plot Storming website.  This is the description their website gives:

The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs-all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge. Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand. The Cartographers’ Guild is a friendly, open community, welcoming to everyone who pursues cartographic excellence. We love to share our maps, to help one another improve our maps, and to pool our mapping resources. Please enjoy your visit, and feel free to join our ranks!

I found a tutorial created by a fellow that goes by Ascension on the guild’s forums (you must be logged in to download). The tutorial is available as a lengthy (27 page) Word document. It can sometimes be difficult to follow along with some of the layer creation/linking, but I spent about an hour tinkering with the tutorial with Photoshop and created the map below:

Photoshop World Map

Somehow I screwed the hill layer up and the reef layer doesn’t look fantastic, but given a few more practice runs I think this method of creating beautiful continental maps will become one of my favorite tools in the ol’ gaming toolbox.  If you’re interested in learning techniques to make some gorgeous maps, I recommend you visit the Tutorials/How-to section of the Cartographers’ Guild forum.

Listening to: Pantera - Far Beyond Driven - Slaughtered

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragonscartography

RPG Blog Carnival

“The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands! ” Dr. Henry Frankenstein, Frankenstein [1931]

When I made my first post on this blog 158 days ago, on July 26th 2008 at 17:41 EST, I really didn’t have a clue about what I was getting myself into.  I was really only aware of a few RPG blogs at the time, UncleBear, ChattyDM, and Crtical-Hits, and had no idea that there were so many more or think that the RPG Blogosphere would explode like it has.

The Labs began as a design diary for two projects of mine, a custom d20 point-buy/rank-based system called Echelon, and an original steampunk-horror setting called The Dead Wastes.  Then I joined this fledgling network known as the RPG Bloggers Network and the blog began to evolve (and the network has grown tremendously).

It changed so much that I decided to move from free hosting to paid hosting so I could have greater control over the design.  Mad Brew Labs still has a small footprint in the RPG Blogosphere, but I see my traffic numbers grow every month.

Resolutions

So now I have this lumbering creation of mine and a need to focus its energies on some actual goals for 2009.  We can call them resolutions in the spirit of the New Year.

• COLLABORATE & NETWORK (the keystone of the future of the RPG Blogosphere
• Update this machine to WordPress 2.7
• Improve the theme (mostly the comment area)
• Play 5 new systems (including starting an Alpha Omega game)
• PDF some of my content (Tidings of Thule, Mad Menagerie, etc.)
• Finish Echelon (though I lost all my work…)
• Expand upon The Dead Wastes
• Add 12 new creature to the Mad Menagerie
• Merge my love of programming with my love of roleplaying
• Get more table time

Predictions

I figured I also might make some predictions for 2009.  Some of them are obvious, but I figured I would go out on a limb and give at least ONE crazy prediction.  Am I claiming that I am a prophet and all this will unfold, hell no!  But its fun to speculate:

• Due to the economy, the industry will see cutbacks, closings, & new business models
• In spite (or because?) of the economy, there will be more exceptional resources
• The RPG Blogosphere will continue to evolve, and make a big impact
• DDI still won’t be finished by GenCon
• Someone else will make a product that does what DDI was supposed to do, but better
• The GSL will still suck
• Paizo will own a significant market share, just below WotC and possibly better than White Wolf
• 4.x D&D will be the last edition published under Hasbro (some event will catalyze this)

RPG Blogosphere

I mentioned that the RPG Blogosphere would continue evolving and make a big impact.  The online community is on the verge of greatness, and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.  I cannot quite put my finger on exactly what is going to happen, but I think we will see more of these:

• Greater collaboration between bloggers
• More collaboration with the industry
• Attract more of those forum lurkers
• THE go to place for the best content/resources
• We will go through a smelting as the fittest solidify their dominions

Where do you see the RPG blogosphere or industry going?  What would you like to see?

Listening to: Spineshank - Height of Callousness- Play God

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragonsworld of darkness