State of Gaming: Play-by-Mail

I have been very busy.  Real life events are drastically cutting into gaming time.  I would love to have 3-4 hour chunks of time to dedication to a board game or an rpg session.  Instead, I am getting 15 minute chunks of time sandwiched between frantic activity and exhaustion.  I began some play-by-mail games in order to get my gaming fix while real life devours my time and energy.  They work well because in my 15 minute chunks of free time I can prepare my turns, send them off, and then all I have to do is wait for my turn results to arrive.  I am currently playing two games and I signed up for a third.

"Your play-by-mail turn has arrived!"

Duel2

Duel2 is a game of gladiator combat run by Reality Simulations.  In the game you have a stable of five gladiators in a fantasy world.  There are elves, orcs, and other fantasy races but magic and spells do not factor into the gameplay.  Each turn you pick one to five of your gladiators that you wish to fight.  You arm them and pick their fighting strategy.  You can also challenge warriors and avoid challenges, which adds some strategy to the game.  Each turn you receive a print-out describing the fights.

I like the game.  It is simple and fun.  I have graduated from the newbie arena and am currently fighting in Aruak City.  I plan to write up a review of this game soon.  If you are new to play-by-mail Duel2 is a a great game to start with.

Hyborian War

Hyborian War is a war game that is also run by Reality Simulations.  As the name suggests it takes place during the Hyborian Age created by Robert E. Howard.  Each player controls a kingdom, and you have the choice of playing a large, medium, or small kingdom.  I am currently ruling Punt, a small kingdom.  This game is a grand simulation.  You engage in diplomacy, spying, and warfare.  When battles occur you decide how to line up your troops, what strategy to use, and what spells to cast.

The big draw for this game is that it takes place in the world of Conan.  According to the rules Conan wanders around the map and can show up in your kingdom.  The game is a good low-fantasy wargame.  I have the found the rules to be a tad confusing but I am having fun with the game.  If you sign up to play I recommend the site warbarron.com.  It has forums for people playing Hyborian War and is full of advice and strategy tips.  You will need to register for an account to view anything.

Starweb

Starweb is a science fiction exploration/wargame run by Flying Buffalo.  I have read the rules and signed up for a game.  That brings me to one of the downsides of play-by-mail, waiting for games to start.  It can take months for companies to have enough players sign up before they can start a game.  I encourage anyone reading this to try a play-by-mail game if only for the reason that we can get some games started faster!

Starweb is a game in which space travel takes place through a series of warp gates.  You spend your time exploring gates, taking over planets, and battling and trading with other players.  There are different roles, for example you can play a race of killer robots or a group of religious fanatics a la Dune.  There is an interesting game mechanic where each player bids a certain number of points at the beginning of the game.  Those numbers are averaged and then the game's stopping point is set from that average.  When the game starts I will post more about my experience with it.

I have been happy with my play-by-mail experiences.  If you want to learn more about the state of play-by-mail gaming check out the following resources:

playbymail.net

Suspense and Decision

Cool Resources on the Internet: The Tower of the Elephant

Many tabletop gamers are also fans of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian.  The Conan stories are listed in the venerable Appendix N in the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide.  Howard published numerous Conan stories, and writers such as L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, and others have added to the cannon.  Marvel comics produced a great run of Conan comics and the excellent black and white magazine The Savage Sword of Conan.  Dark Horse Comics has reprinted many of these and continues to produce new Conan comics.

Marvel's adaptation of "The Elephant in the Tower" form The Savage Sword of Conan

Today I want to talk about the Conan tale “The Tower of the Elephant”.  This is a classic D&D adventure story, as it involves Conan breaking into a wizard’s tower to steal treasure.  I think that this is one of the reasons tabletop gamers find Conan to be such an alluring character.  Conan behaves more like a D&D character than many other fantasy heroes.  He steals, he is always fighting, and he generally looks out for himself.  I am writing about this story because there are some cool free internet resources available for gamers that relate to "The Tower of the Elephant".

I. The Story

According to Wikisource, “The Tower of the Elephant” is in the public domain.  I highly encourage you to support authorized editions of Howard’s work such as The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian.  However, you can click on the following link and read the story for free:

Tower of the Elephant

II.  The D&D Adventure

Mongoose Publishing put out an adventure for their D20 Conan rpg called Conan and the Tower of the White Elephant.  That module is currently out of print.  However, the excellent D&D fanzine Footprints has an issue in which someone wrote an adventure based on the story.  The issue is free and it is stated out for Basic D&D, AD&D, and most retro-clones.  Make sure to check out other issues of Footprints, as they are full of awesome material for your fantasy role-playing games.  Here is the link:

Footnotes issue 13

III.  The Text Adventure Game

Any gamer who is old enough to remember descending armor class should be familiar with text adventure computer games.  These were games where you read a paragraph and then typed in your instructions using certain commands.  Zork is one of the earliest and most famous, although I had fun playing the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game when I was young.  Someone has created a free text adventure game based on “The Tower of the White Elephant”.  The link is below:

The Tower of the White Elephant Text Adventure Game

IV:  Cromcast Podcast

I would be remiss if I did not mention the Cromcast podcast.  The Cromcast is a show dedicated to the fiction of Robert E. Howard and has many shows about Conan.  Their main page can be found at thecromcast.blogspot.com. Episode number 3 is about “The Tower of the Elephant”.  This show is where I found out about the text adventure game. You can listen to it by clicking on the following link:

Cromcast Episode 3

#RPGaDay 2016 Day 19: Best Way to Learn a New Game

Today's topic for RPGaDay is about the best way to learn a new game.  I have a strong opinion on this issue.  I believe that the best way to learn a new game is through a well written quick-start version of the rules.  Many role-playing games have produced quick-start guides that include a condensed version of the rules that allow new players to learn the bare bones of the system.  Players can take these quick-start rules and start playing the game with little effort.

Here is why I think that quick-start rules are the best way to learn new games.  Quick-start guides force the designers to boil the game down to the most basic rules.  Therefore, players can learn how the game works and can put that knowledge into practice as soon as possible.  One of the best ways to learn something is by doing it, so the sooner players can have their characters picking locks and killing orcs the better they will learn the system.  I think that beginner box sets are just as useful for the same reason.

I have ranted about my love for quick-starts on this blog in the past.  I think that they are a brilliant way to garner interest in your game.  I will close with some links to quick-starts that I believe are excellent for learning a new system.

Call of Cthulhu 6th edition quick-start - I know that there is a quick-start for the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu, but this is the version that I am familiar with.  This product gets bonus points for having rules for character creation.

DC Adventures quick-start - Green Ronin created two quick-starts for DC Adventures.  This one pits Batman against Bane.  I like this one because it explains the character's powers and walks you through combat and skill checks.

Edge of the Empire quick-start - Fantasy Flight created this quick-start adventure for Free RPG Day.  I wrote an in depth review in a previous post.  This quick-start covers many of the rules of the game and explains how to play out the various encounters.  The only downside is that you will need some of those special Star Wars dice or use a conversion chart.

Conan RPG quick-start - I'll be honest, I haven't tried this one yet.  I did read it and I am now super excited for the new Conan rpg.

Review of Red Nails by Robert E. Howard

Red Nails is a tale of Conan the Barbarian that was first published in Weird Tales in 1936.  This version of the story is in the public domain, and is available from Project Gutenberg.  

Cover to Weird Tales July 1936

Art by Margaret Brundage

I have read some Conan stories many years ago in my youth, and my memories of them were quite fond.  I recently downloaded a bunch of Robert E. Howard stories that are in the public domain and I decided to read a Conan story for old times sake.  Red Nails follows Conan and his companion Valeria as they stumble upon a mysterious city in the desert.  Conan and Valeria become involved in a feud between the crazed inhabitants of the city.  There is action, magic, lust, and enough bloodshed to satisfy the pulp fan.

The Conan of Howard’s tales is a more likable fellow that the taciturn and gloomy caricature made famous in the Schwarzenegger films.  In Red Nails he gloats so much about his deeds that Valeria quips, “"Is there anything you haven't been?"  Howard writes him as a larger than life superhero, leaping off the page at the reader in a burst of adventure.

My favorite character in this story was Valeria, Conan’s pirate companion.  While Conan can work his way through problems with his brawn and cunning, Valeria actually has to overcome trouble throughout the tale.  She is quite competent, a great fighter and dastardly rogue who serves as Conan’s equal as well as object of rescue.  This is what I liked about her.  While Conan can defeat anything in his way, Valeria occasionally has bad luck and must persevere or get help.  If only there was a tale of Valeria’s exploits to read!

Red Nails has many of the Swords and Sorcery tropes that fans will be looking for.  Sinister magic, monsters, and tribes of degenerate men with bloodlust in their eyes.  The modern reader will need to bear with Howard’s archaic attitudes towards race and gender.   To his credit Valeria is written as a strong woman, but she eventually ends up trembling in Conan’s arms nonetheless.  As long as you can remember that this is pulp adventure and not deep social commentary then the story can be enjoyed at face value.

I would recommend this to fans of fantasy and pulp action who want some escapism for a Saturday afternoon.  If you want to read a book where limbs are cut off and you don’t have to take anything too seriously, then read this story.  It is not perfect, but it is a nice capsule of the pulp genre.

Red Nails as Gaming Material

The plot of Red Nails is perfect for being adapted for an rpg adventure.  The basic story involves the player characters stumbling into an ancient city in a desolate region.  The city has traps, treasure, secret doors, crazy warring inhabitants, and its own internal lighting system.  This is a dungeon crawl written before dungeon crawls.  I highly suggest that any GM who needs inspiration for an adventure should read this story.

The cool part is that the idea can translate well to other genres.  If you are running a sci-fi game, then turn the city into a lost generation ship or abandoned colony.  If it is a cyberpunk game, then make the city some forgotten corporate mini-state.  If you you are running urban fantasy or horror, then this is the monster city that exists in the catacombs of New York.  The story is only 67 pages and has plenty of action to move it along.  I recommend it to GMs, particularly those who are interested in the literary influences on the original D&D authors.