The information here doesn’t specifically lend itself to geekery, but it’s an amazing and interesting interview that does have ramifications in all of fiction and creators rights. We hope you enjoy listening to this discussion as much as we enjoyed recording it.

Geoff contributes to a blog at: http://iplitigator.huschblackwell.com Let us know what you think, and if you think we should try to get Geoff on the show again.

Plot: Taking place literally minutes after the events of Casino Royale (best 007 movie ever), Quantum of Solace leads James Bond (Daniel Craig) on a path of revenge against those who wronged him and those he cared about. Along the way, Bond discovers a secret organization that is bigger and deeper than he’d ever imagined. This is terrible for him, but great for the audience, as it opens up endless lines of cannon fodder henchmen for 007 to lay the smack down on.

Review: I’ll start with the title. Many people were a little confused by what ‘Quantum of Solace’ exactly means, so let’s break it down for the ignorant masses, shall we? ‘Quantum’ is an ancient Latin word used by the Gecko-Romans to describe the utilization of cars, boats, motorcycles, and planes. ‘Solace’ is a word that loosely translates from its original French or Mexican as “to fracture the skulls of those who dare even look at you the wrong way.” So, based on title analysis, the film is about James Bond using fast things with motors to kill a whole bunch of evil people wearing suits. Beyond that, if the vehicles don’t finish the job, he always uses the personal touch of a gun or a fist. Rock on. Doesn’t get much better then that, especially considering there were actually scenes near the end of Casino Royale where Bond played kissyface on the beach with some girl and talked about relationships. This sequel could have been called ‘Autumn Breaths of Cedar Passion’ or some such crap. We must count our blessings.

You’ll see my score at the bottom only gets a 7 though, as I have to be an honest critic. As much as I enjoyed the movie, two things stood out from making this the greatest motion picture of our time. The first problem is that the movie broke an important action movie rule – each successive action sequence should be bigger than the previous one, yielding a massive, shit-your-pants, epic ending - hopefully ending up in space, regardless of the validity of such a situation. The ending of the movie rocked, but did not match the intensity of the first half hour, making you feel a little let down. The second problem is the editing of the action sequences. There are way too many quick edits and overuse of the shaky cam. You have these incredible sequences that you can’t fully appreciate because you’re not allowed to see all of it. (This is a problem I’ve been seeing in many recent action films.) Despite that, there are some seriously awesome stunts and plenty of excitement! As a sidenote, I’ve never been the ‘cultured’ type, but if ballet was described as people fighting on ropes in construction zones, I’d buy a fucking ballet season pass. 

My minor gripes don’t make it a bad movie though. It’s a more concise film in terms of story, but logically expands on past events and forces 007 to think about the consequences of some of his actions. Above all else, it’s great follow up to Casino Royale and paves the way for plenty of future Bond fun.

Quantum of Solace gets 7 out of 10 GoldenEye cartridges for the Nintendo 64.

* Adam rocked the house with Episode 17

* The Iron Tyrants have moved their Warhammer guild to Averheim

* Joe doesn’t own Gears of War 2

* Thank you, veterans. (In memory of 1LT Wil Edens, US Army)

* Confirmed locations for V3

* Do you want to be part of the Dark Tower fan roundtable? Email adam@podgecast.com

* Spooky Outhouse Productions needs talent. Contact Adam or Luke.

* Tony Mast gives us our topic: Are gamers just wannabe writers that lack confidence?

* The topic evolves

* The topic becomes intelligent and achieves consciousness. We name it Joshua.

* Do you want to play a game?

* It is explicit, because Joe can’t not say the F-Bomb.

* V3 (the new name for One-Shotter Day) is still going on strong! Information can be found here http://spookyouthouse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=636

* We attempt to decide on (with the help of the audience) the worst character in Sci/Fantasy. You’ll have to listen to see who wins.

Hosts: Adam, Luke, Joe and Matt

Find the video of the show here.

*Session 12: Revelations

*Session 13: The Choices of House Van Lieber

*This concludes Season 1 of KTNG.  We do a bit of analysis about that at the end.

*Stay tuned for the start of Season 2!

* OSD participants at Gamescape North in San Rafael, CA should contact Darren at gamescape@mac.com

* OSD participants at Meta Games Unlimited in Springfield, Mo should visit here.

* Secret Password Winners are announced

* Iron Tyrants are still rocking Ulthuan. Come join the Waaaagh!

* Episode 17 will be a Live performance at www.ustream.tv/channel/the-podge-cast

* We kick Adam off the mic and have Melina sit in. The show is much improved

* Our paranormal experiences

* What does a house say?

Who is the worst character in sci fi/fantasy/horror? 16 enter; one leaves triumphant!

Show starts at 7:30 Central time (GMT-6). 

The performance is live so it may become explicit at times.

A Q&A will follow if participants are interested.

* Matt’s co-worker is walking halfway around the world for the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, go stop by here and giver her some support.

* The Warhammer guild is still going on!  Get out and join us!

* Let’s talk about what is’t like owning a small business in the gaming industry

* One-Shotter Day Announcement!  Details below.

* Long Warmachine discussion among Walker and Luke, Adam was zoning out

* What’s new and interesting in the gaming community

One-Shotter Day!

On Saturday, December 6th, The Podge Cast will be hosting a one-shotter day at Game On, in West County St. Louis.  If you’re interested in playing, shoot an e-mail to Adam or Luke (or if you’re in Arizona, Matt), drop a comment, or post on the forums.

Hosts: Adam, Luke, Matt, Walker

*A word of warning. Due to scheduling conflicts we ended up playing and recording on a Friday which meant that more than a few drinks were consumed.  It was also Talk Like A Pirate Day.  Because the recording came at the end of many alcohol-soaked hours, it’s a bit rambly.

*Session 10:  Everybody Loves Wentworth / The Houseguests From Hell/ Blood in the Water

*Session 11: The Battle of Estermarsh

*Are published settings crap?

*What makes a setting good?

*Convincing the yonkels

*Matt becomes the center of a deep mystery and a foul conspiracy

*Joe gets teleported in the Hodge.  Seriously.

Flames of War is not a new game. The 2nd edition rulebook released in 2006; however, New Zealand-based Battlefront Miniatures’ World War II, 15mm-miniatures game is gaining wider exposure in the United States due to the company’s recent partnership with Alliance Game Distributors. The game places players in the role of company commander and allows them to direct battles at the tactical level. While the game does have its negatives they are far outweighed by the positives.

Aspects of the game that excel are the combination of realism and playability, background detail, and the excellent support provided by Battlefront Miniatures. In an attempt to capture historical accuracy, other historical games I have played utilize extensive rule sets that stomp out any fun, giving the game the feel of an algebra final. Flames of War avoids this by using a level of abstraction that allows the game to flow quickly without losing much realism. The action is dynamic while stressing such battlefield realities as tactical movement and cover. For example, your “to hit” number is not based on the experience of the soldiers doing the shooting but the experience of the soldiers being shot at. This represents the unit’s ability to effectively use cover. Elite soldiers make the most of every nook and cranny while greenhorns stand upright as the artillery starts to fall.

The game’s solid mechanics are essential but expected. What is unexpected is the fascinating history provided in the various Intelligence Briefings. The game divides the war into three periods: Early War (1939-1941), Mid-War (1942-1943) and Late War (1944-1945). All the rules needed are provided in the 256 page core rulebook, but supplemental information is included in the Intelligence Briefings. Bloody Omaha, for example, gives force charts for the US 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions that took part in the D-Day landings. It also includes charts for the German 352 and 716 Infanteriedivisions and Kampfgruppe Meyer that opposed them. It discusses how the battles were planned and unfolded as well as tells the stories of men like Brigadier General Norman Cota, Lieutenant-Colonel R.G. Pine-Coffin and Lieutenant Turner Turnbull. Men you’ve probably never heard of (I hadn’t) but probably should have. These books provide an entertaining and educational retelling of key battles during the war.

While the game has many good points it also has some bad ones as well: cost and relative complexity. This is not a cheap game to get into. The main rulebook costs $50 dollars as does an American rifle company box set. Add to that the various Intelligence Briefings and support platoons and the numbers start climbing. However, with the 15mm scale you do get a lot of figures for your money. That $50 rifle company box set includes 122 infantry figures. Taking this into account, it is not any more expensive then other big miniature games out there but.

While the game has excellent playability, it is still complex. It requires some reading and figuring out as you go along. Happily, one of the most confusing parts, the old force composition charts are being phased out for much more user-friendly versions (one of the improvements in Fortress Europe). You will spend the first few games frequently referencing the rulebook. While they are written simply, there are a lot of them. After a few games you should only need to consult the rulebook occasionally.

While very few games are perfect, Flames of War offers an excellent system with great historical background by a company that provides good support. If you have a passion for World War II, miniature games, or the modern battlefield, this is a game that you should check out. More information can be found at www.flamesofwar.com (the “Bootcamp” section is a good place to start) or you can PM me (@Jim Brown) on the forums. To borrow a phrase, fast, furious combat awaits those willing to pick up the dice.

*All kinds of hobbies and activities that can make your life far more interesting.

Session 8: Summer Court Blues
Session 9: Everybody Loves a Parade

This is a long one, and you can really tell the investment of the players in it.  

Enjoy!

As a site and podcast that 98% managed and produced by men, it would be easy to say we are doing this to save boobies.  National Breast Cancer Awareness Month not just something to snicker about though.  Too many people are affected and afflicted by this disease.

Women are made aware of the disease and how to look for the signs from an early age.  While not all of them heed the doctor’s advice, they are at least aware of their risks.  Guys are at risk of this too.

Guys we need to be supportive of our women and we need to make sure that we are healthy too.  It’s not enough that encourage our partners to do regular exams, but we should be checking out ourselves too.

Seriously, if you get breast cancer you could die.  As in dead.  As in six feet under.  That is serious.  So what if you get embarrassed having to admit why you have to go to the doctor, or take time off work, or have the scar.  You are alive.   You are alive AND you get to wear one of the special survivor shirts and walk arm in arm with some of the coolest, toughest, most bad-ass women you’ll ever meet and be fortunate enough to call yourself equal to them.  Not a whole lot of men can do that.

We are going pink for the month of October.  For our mothers, our girlfriends, our wives, our daughters and also for ourselves.

Further information from people who really know what they are talking about can be found at the links below:

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month http://nbcam.org/

American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Resourceshttp://www.cancer.org/docroot/PAR/Content/PAR_2_3_Breast_Cancer_Resources.asp

National Cancer Institute http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast

Get Your Roleplay Free

Talisman Studios is celebrating the anniversary of Suzerain, our Origins Award Nominee RPG. And we’re celebrating in style, with a couple of great bits of news for roleplay fans everywhere:

Suzerain is now free from our online shop! That’s $0.00 for the Suzerain rule book. The economy’s getting tougher and none of us has much money to play with, but from now on you won’t need any money to play with Suzerain. Enjoy the game at www.suzerain.info by clicking on the ‘Treasure’ tab at the top of the page and browsing through all our free goodies.

We’re also launching a new web application on our site, specifically for Suzerain. Click on the ‘Vault’ tab to see our new feat database, fully searchable. Suzerain characters are all about their feats, and this is a great way to have a browse through all the options, helping you build your favorite characters. In fact, we’re even developing an update to the vault that allows you to create characters right on the web site at any power level, downloading them as PDFs for your game.

And that’ll be free too.

Happy birthday to Suzerain, and to all the fans of roleplaying. Drop us a ‘hello’ in the forums when you come for your free goodies!

*Economies in RPGs

*D&D:  “Don’t Ask Questions”

*D&D’s Implied Setting

*Obfuscate!

*Burning Wheel: “Now You Don’t Have Pants”

Well, if today was any indication, yes. Things certainly started out on the right foot. We got through character creation much faster than expected and had about two hours to get the players acclimated to the Savage Worlds mechanics (wild dice always throw people the first time). We may or may not record game recaps like Kingdom: tNG, but I have taken Luke’s advice and started a campaign wiki on Obsidian Portal. You are welcome to follow along with our adventures. I am also including GM information for those people that would like to mine the campaign for ideas for your own home games.

* An Archon reminder

* Ghost Hunters Redux

* Min/Maxing and Powergaming

* 365 Days of Sex

* Secret Code Contest: We’ve teamed up with four other gaming podcasts to give you a crack at $250 of gaming goodness. Listen to find out how you can participate.  Participating podcasts are

Atomic Array

Brilliant Gameologists

Ogre Cave Audio Report

The Podge Cast

The Tome Show

Each winner will receive one of ten $25 gift certificates from Noble Knight Games.

Entries must be submitted to secretcodes@moonstew.com by 17 OCT 2008.

* Worst. Ending. Ever.

* PodgeCast Overtime: Matt and Joe further explore today’s topic, Charlie Rose style.  If Charlie Rose had very lax quality control standards. This conversation is not part of the podcast mp3 but is available for download at podgecast.com /episodes /TPC_011_Overtime (dot) mp3

*Session VI: Assault on the Witchwood

*Session VII:  Murder in the Key of Van Lieber / The Burden of Leadership

*Joe, Andrew, and Phil compare their MMO geek cred

*What else should Episode 002: Did You Just Ding? have covered?

*Stargate MMO is in Closed Beta.

*Are you going to play Warhammer: Age of Reckoning? Find other players on the forums. Enough interest may lead to a guild.

*Firefly/Serenity MMO is Postponed.

Nibb High football rules!

*PodgeCast charity auction prizes for Archon

*What is Spooky Outhouse Productions?

*New SOP Members: Kore News, Return to Northmoor, and The Iron Agenda

*Driving People Away from the Hobby

*Adam and Matt are now David and Madeline

*It’s spelled Kashyyyk

*Madeline discusses the Daughters of the American Revolution in the Hodge (live…on the moon!)

*Session 4: The Marsh Bride

*Session 5: Until Death Do Us Part

*This episode actually ends abruptly as we had planned on recording more before we had tech issues.  Sorry ’bout that.

(Host’s Note: Bob “Roberto Suave” Kaczmarczyk is the PodgeCast’s official Movie and TV reviewer. For those of you who haven’t experienced a Roberto Suave review, you’re in for an exciting ride. Those that have seen his reviews before know to look for the Roberto Suave Seal of Approval before going to see this week’s best movie ever. So with the first of many, the PodgeCast proudly presents Robert Suave’s Best Ever.)

Death Race Review

Studios: Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, United Artists Films

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinez

Plot: It’s the future, the economy tanked, and the overcrowded prisons are privately owned. The ultimate pay-per-view twisted metal sporting event is “Death Race,” which consists of inmates fighting for their freedom in cool cars tricked out with bad-ass weapons, magically filled with busty babes. (The cars are filled with the babes, not the weapons. If they ever make a sequel that includes hooter hotties being shot out of cannons that are mounted on cars, I’ll personally cash in my 401k to finance the stunts of the film.) Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is a man falsely imprisoned for murdering his family, and it’s up to him to win his freedom and set right what is wrong in the world of Death Race.

Review: In short, this movie is the greatest single item in the history of the universe. I say “item” because it’s not simply the best movie ever. It surpasses every magnificent creation that humans or God or Michael Bay has ever made or done. Mozart’s “Smells Like Symphony No. 5?” Death Race is better. Moses splitting the Louisiana Purchase? Death Race smokes that. Bad Boys 2? Death Race is Bad Boys 3.

I mean seriously, did you see how many fucking cars flipped in the movie?!?!?? Cars flipped more times than instances I didn’t go to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Oh, most importantly, for you physics nuts out there - Death Race has officially changed the SI unit of force. A Newton (N) has been replaced with the Statham (STATHAM). Once you see what Jason Statham does with his fists in this flick, you’ll understand.

Alas, even the greatest single item in the history of the universe still can’t be perfect - my only little gripe is that some portions of the races had too many quick edits and overuse of the shaky cam. It’s a shame they put so much effort into the car stunts, only to prevent us from seeing them in their full beauty.

Aside from that, I loved the flick, so go see it ASAFP. It’s the ultimate way to end the awesome summer movie season!

Death Race gets 9 out of 10 STATHAMS.

Roberto Suave

*Joe’s Episode 8 Promo is in the STUFF section

*Rob Justice is awesome

*The Bluebird, The Bureau, and Beatle Bob

*Logo Design Contest Winner

*The Bastard’s Blog

*Backseat Producers

*Growing out of gaming

*Gamer shame

*Growing out of comic books

This is only the beginning of the store. More content will become available in the future, including Kingdom: the Next Generation, Phil, and Kicking Boredom in the Nuts shirts. Check in often.

*Kansas: The Survivor State

*The Appeal of Post-Apocalyptic Settings

*Here Comes Dr. Tran (NSFW)

*Jungle Tales

*Keith Curtis’ Savage Earth

*HERO book ballistic test

*Under A Broken Moon

*Joe discusses Race for the Galaxy in the Hodge (Live)

Well, John’s done something wild.  For an unspecified limited time, he’s selling HotB PDFs for $5. It’s 438 pages.  As I have yet to really dig into the book myself, I can’t tell you much about the game beyond what I learned by watching development, but I can tell you that it’s easily worth $5 for the GMing advice that it contains alone, never mind the game.

I like to share good deals and good games.  This seems to be both.  Go look into it.

His blog is a good read, too.  If you enjoy The Podge Cast you’ll find him waxing on topics you’ll likely enjoy.

Just never let the man take your picture.  Trust me on that.

*Session 2 - Everybody Loves a Wedding Part II

*Session 3 - Into The Witchwood

*Accidental Rob is on St. Louis’s Hit List

*Meg’s Boob Space for rent

*Ender_Melchior and Grungydan do TORG

*Features unavailable on most business cards.

*Why we support Brilliant Gameologists

*Very Important Gamer (VIG) winner: Ender_Melchior

*Wooooooooo

*Adam Jury and Kristen give us the rundown on Paparazzi, Catalyst’s upcoming card game.

* New Media Expo and Felicia Day

* The Brilliant Gameologists and Accidental Survivors are AWESOME.

* Luke at Gencon!

* Con stories! Gen Con, Dragon*Con, and Archon, Oh my!

* The poop is coming out.

* Matt and Adam will be at Dragon*Con. Visit the forums for their schedules.

I’ll be on late Friday night and sporadically throughout the weekend. I plan on coercing the other hosts to also join up. So come build some sentries, ignite some folks, and rocket jump with all of us this weekend!

Check this thread for participation.

Oh, did I mention it was free?

It’s going to be long, strong, and ready to get friction on.  Errrr…I mean there are a bunch of pictures.  Leap in after the cut.  Note…I set up pic descriptions for mouse over.  They’re not working.  If you’re really interested in what the pic is, check properties for the description.  I know, I’m lazy but I’m tired.

Let me begin by saying that you’ll hear me speak of the Brilliant Gameologists a lot.  That’s because they’re awesome.  Since none of my fellow hosts could attend, they adopted me as one of their own and showed me the Gen Con ropes.  You should go over there and subscribe right now.  While we have different styles, I can tell you that we share an almost identical attitude about podcasting. So go start downloading while you read this.

So Dave and I left on Thursday morning at about 8am.  Dave had gotten sick on the way up to my house and we had to stop frequently on the way up.  Fortunately, a little rest got him back into fighting shape by the time we arrived.  Unfortunately, it also meant I missed my first panel, which ended up being no big deal.

Got to Gen Con, got my press pass, and took a quick gander at the expo hall.  Wow, was it huge! I understand that it’s actually smaller than it has been in the past, but it seemed gigantic to me.  I ended up spending way too much on some of the new Cygnar models from Privateer Press and also snagged copy of Hunter: The Vigil.  Tried to find and meet Luke Crane and John Wick, but they weren’t at their booths. This would become the theme for the con.  I never met any of the designers I wanted to meet at their booths.  Just bad timing, I guess.

Meg from Brilliant Gemologists calls me up and invites me to their penthouse to meet and talk a bit before our next panel.  I meet Meg, Josh, and Zeke and they feed me beer from The Ram.  We then headed down to run the “Salon On Gameology.”  I had no idea how well attended it would be since I’d already heard that most of the stuff on the ‘official’ podcasting tract wasn’t terribly well populated.  This one ended up being standing room only with somewhere around 30 folks attending.  It was a good discussion about why we game and bits of gaming theory…y’know the stuff I usually make fun of.  Turns out, that’s why they brought me on.  I was the opposing view and had a grand old time.  I also got to meet the guys from the Accidental Survivors podcast.

After the panel, I went with the Accidental Surivor folks to The Ram to pick up some growlers for the coming penthouse party.  Upon returning, the party kicked off and we hung out on the veranda talking about podcasting, gaming, and just general BS.  You’ll hear some fun audio clips from this at some point. Both Ender_Melchior and Grungydan from the forums joined us along with a whole bunch of Brilliant Gameologist fans.  It was a great way to kick things off.

The next day, I remembered to bring my camera instead of just my phone.  I overslept and missed the Pinnacle panel, but made it over for my second (and last panel) with the BG folks.  It was a discussion on the 7 words you don’t say in gaming and was, again, a lot of fun and well attended.  Afterwards,  I met up with Grungydan and Christian and had lunch at J. Gumbo’s.  Wish we had something like that around here. Afterwards, we met up with Dave and Ed and spend the afternoon exploring the expo hall and exploring the con. Some of the guys I was rooming with were invovled with the Warmachine tournament so we checked in on them every now and again.  I also picked up my invite to the White Wolf party.

I got to demo both Battlestations and Paparazzi. While I liked the concept of Battlestations, I just couldn’t justify the price.  Paparazzi, on the other hand, was hilarious and I eagerly await its release.  Then we watched some live-action Heroclix, which was hilarous. The costumes looked really good, although Spidey and Mr. Fantastic’s man-bulges were so well outlined they became more talked about than Ms. Marvel’s nearly bare rear.  Consensus was that Mr. Fantastic wasn’t that fantastic.

Speaking of superheroes, I literally ran into Defuser from that superhero reality show.  I said “Hi” but moved along as I wasn’t entirely sure who he was until much later.

During all this I managed to do some bits of recording, but very little.  We’ll get those posted sometime in the near future.

After a long day on the floor, we decided to actually play some games.  We found some space and threw down with Warmachine.  It had been a while since I played.  I forgot how much I missed it.

As that wound down, I was off to spend the evening with one of my best friends and his wife.  They live in Indy so it was great to be able to see them.  We cracked open a few bottles of my wine and caught up.  Good times.

Saturday I finally got the meet Chris Hussey (Oboe Cope) who quickly abandoned us for shopping, and then had lunch with Grungrydan, Dave, and Chad.  We wandered a bit and ended up in the board game room playing Carcassone.  It was fun.  I tied Grungydan for the win on what was the first game for both of us.  The group split up and we checked on the Hardcore Warmachine tourney to find our friends doing alright (they ended up getting knocked out, but had a good time).  We spent late afternoon just chilling and relaxing.  I eventually got a call from Josh from BG and I went to dinner with the three of them just prior to the Podcaster’s Meet and Greet.

The Podcaster Meet and Greet was in a tiny room, packed to the gills.  The guys from Wandering Geek brought some excellent root beer that they distributed.  Besides finally putting a face to the name of a lot of podcasters, I got to meet a bunch of fans and said hello to Robin D. Laws and Paul Tevis.  It was awesome finally meeting Daniel Perez after hanging out with him online for 2 years or so.

I can’t tell you how awesome it was to meet the folks who have been listening to me for the past year or so.  Some folks all around the con recognized my voice (Is that Luke?) while most of them instead recognized me when I laughed (That’s Luke!).  One person, recognized me by sight as I left my hotel room.  Note, I wasn’t wearing anything identifying.  After he swore he wasn’t a stalker, we walked for a bit and chatted.  Really nice guy.   The point is that it’s good to be appreciated and I thank everyone who was so giving of their praise.  It really made the convention for me.

There was supposed to be a “Game with Podcasters” thing afterwards, but we lost just about everyone in the huge boardgame hall.  The few we did find, Meg and Zeke invited up for another penthouse party.   At this point, I had to make a choice…penthouse party or White Wolf party.  The old man in me won out, as I knew I had to wake up early and drive the next morning and if I went to the White Wolf party it would be a hellacious day.  So I gave my invite to Grungydan, grabbed some of my wine, and went up to the penthouse for a laid-back party filled that was much more my speed anyway.

As that party wound down, I said goodbye to my new friends, and took my leave.  I reflected on the con on the long trip down the elevator.  I had a great time, spent too much money, and only came out with a handful of regrets.  One regret was that I would have liked to play in the new Living Forgotten Realms, just for fun, and never signed up.  The other was that I never got to meet Luke Crane, who I’m obviously a big fan of.

So I pull out the phone to call my wife when I hit the lobby.  As I’m waiting for the phone to ring, I hear a voice that sounds really familiar.  I take a gander and see two guys talking right on my route.  Hmmm…one of them certainly does fit the description.  They see me looking quizically at them and the one that seems familiar addresses me:

“Hey, man. What’s up.”

“Sorry to interupt, but you sound really familiar…are you…”

“I’m Luke.”

“Crane?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, man, I’m Luke Meyer!  I intervi…”

“DOCTOR!?”

“Yup, that’s me.”

So, as the capstone to my con, I got to meet Luke.  He was hanging out with Vincent Bakers, whom I also dig, and we chat it up a bit.   Talk about a way to end a convention.

I can promise you that while Luke looks angry, he was very nice.  That was just a pose… I think. :)   Note the symetry with the picture on my shirt.

So that wrapped up my Gen Con.  If I can swing it, I’m going to go back.   It was a blast.    Enjoy some other random shots of the con below.

*Introductions Stuart Robertson (Stuart on the forums) and Rich (rmckee78) on the forums. If you think these guys were great (and I do), jump on the forums and let them know!

*The Dungeons and Dragons talks of yore

*Stuart mentions Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid Games

*Stuart plugs Robertson Games. Go check him out!

*Rich is awesome.

I’m off to my first Gen Con. Dave and I are leaving early Thursday morning.  If all goes well, I should be there just in time for my first panel with The Brilliant Gameologists.

Hope to see you there!

*Adam’s Job

*Info on Luke’s Gen Con panels can be found here and here. While you’re there give the Brilliant Gameologists a listen!

*Adam will be at New Media Expo in Las Vegas

*Bee Jerks vs. Spider Queens

*We try to get all the Burning Wheel talk out of our system. It probably won’t work, but we tried.

*Favorite social mechanics

*Luke talks about Obsidian Portal in The Hodge (Live). His campaign page is here.

No imaginary exercise has ever been more vivid for me than the brief time I played that character. It planted the seed, and no matter how long it was until the next time I played, I was destined to be a gamer. As gaming has become a more defined industry and companies produce more rules sources with more complex designs, it can be difficult to separate those rules that create an immersive world for adult players from those elements necessary to introduce young children to the game. Below are suggestions on how to present role playing in a fashion accessible to children ages 5-10. (Note that you know these child gamers better than I do and should scale these age ranges as appropriate.)

Young Children (ages 5-7)
Role playing is a safe and valuable exercise for young children to explore social interaction. At this age, plots and NPCs should be straightforward. Good guys are good. Bad guys are bad. Present to them challenges and ask them what they want to do to overcome those challenges. The goal for both the player and the DM should be for the player to win. If the player is making a mistake, explain to them the likely results of their decision and compare it with other decisions available to them and what results those might lead to. Combat is a staple of these types of games. The monster is evil and needs to be slain. If you succeed, you are rewarded. Dice are unnecessary for either social or combat encounters. Present the child with a challenge and ask them how they want to overcome it. Once they make a decision, adjudicate what happens. Wounds, fatigue, and the like can all be described in more abstract terms, “the orc is limping,” “the orc looks weak,” “the orc is almost dead,” etc. Reward them with treasure and levels. Counting is an exercise they understand from school, so advancing in a manner they understand is rewarding. It’s helpful to equate the worth of those levels. Explaining that they can fight stronger monsters or survive more grievous wounds because of this advancement helps.

Gamers at this age have an incredibly vivid imagination. It does not take a lot to paint them a robust picture of the world they are adventuring in, but offering a little can accomplish a lot. Work in archetypes: dungeons are cold and damp, etc. They’ll fill in the rest. Be mindful also of not overdoing it. The more gory elements—skulls, blood, sacrifices, etc.—can have a more potent effect than they might on an adult and are more likely to linger. Children in this age range don’t always separate fantasy from reality as well as older kids and adults. Most importantly, find what is fun for them and pursue it (keep in mind their attention spans). It won’t be hard to tell.

Children (ages 8-10)
I have shared many a table with children in this age range that are capable of handling a full rules system, but I’ve found it’s rare that they need that system to enjoy themselves. Left to their own devices, they’ll normally take the most basic elements of the game they understand the best and abandon all the rest. This type of game can be much like that for Young Children but you can introduce a higher level of complexity. Succeeding in a mission may earn them a continuing enemy or lead to another consequence that they have to overcome. While it’s still great for the player to win, they are at an age where failure doesn’t require quitting. They can learn from their mistakes or try again. They may even be able to understand that a challenge is too much for them (although since few adults are capable of this, there’s no reason to expect this of children :)).

One way to add complexity is to add a d20 to the mix. Now, when the player tells you what they want to do to overcome your challenges, have them roll a die and add their level and see if they succeed. Easy challenges have a target number of 10, moderate challenges 15, hard challenges 20, and so on. Adjust as circumstances warrant.

You can also make treasure a more defined element of the game. Rather than wielding a magic sword, perhaps that sword helps them hit better. They get to add +2 to their die roles. It may not be a +2 bane, holy, vorpal longsword, but watch the pride your player has in his magic sword and tell me it’s not the same. Don’t feel constrained by the rules you’re used to playing with. Little trinkets and major relics all have something in common, they’re unique and they belong to the player.

Hope you enjoy our mini-review!

*This is not actual play

*Setup and planning

*Character creation

*Session 1: Everybody Loves A Wedding Part I

* Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, and Chip mutha$@!*^# Coffey

*What players want out of an NPC

*Roadblocks vs. Data Terminals

*Killing the GMPC: A solemn duty

*Joe’s TPK

*Upcoming Night of Carnage

*In the Hodge (Live), Adam talks about Atomic Array podcast.