Players not Pawns.

The first rule of putting together a new RPG campaign, and one that I had forgotten, is that one must collect players, not miniatures. It really doesn't take many. I figure 3-6 should make a good start. Three is really the sweet spot for RPGing, in my opinion. Over 6 can get cumbersome, though I have done it, with some success, back when I was in form. One player and a DM is a bit clunky, the player lacks anyone to play off, aside from the DM, and so, the DM gets tired more quickly. When you add a second player, the DM can compose his thoughts when the two interact. This is even more pronounced in a group of three players. Four and five are manageable, but, as we add players the tendency for the players to tag off on demanding the attention from the DM increases. There are still slack times when the DM can think about aspects not immediately pressing, but they get more rare.

At anyrate, these thoughts are prompted by my attempt to form a Group for my Tekumel campaign. I have a room at the FLGS for the 1st. I have one player. I put up a poster, but have had no emails. I have a growing short tonne of miniatures. Short tonne being a Euphemism, in case I have sensitive readers. I plan on launching on Thursday even if we only have me and Geo. I have no idea what we will do, or what system we will use.

A large part of the problem is that I am no longer a "figure" in the local gaming scene. There was a time, back in College, when I was president and founder of the campus club. Finding players then was easy. But most of the people I knew then are gone from here. And the online networking has not helped much (read "at all"). The Freeforum group has been overrun with spammers, and another forum seems to consist of players in a Pathfinder campaign. Few people my age have time for more than one campaign, I find. And Gaming is kind of a personal activity, so I think finding strangers to travel to strange new lands is, socially, a bit daunting. It would be much easier if I were pitching a more familiar world - something a bit..oh Tolkien.

Other news, I won an Ebay auction for Lou Zocchi's copy of Swords and Glory Volume 1, in Box with Maps. I am hoping it comes autographed. As the story goes, the seller is a friend of Lou's and gave him a heads up on the current market value of some Old School Goodness. Lou allowed him to sell two copies of SGV1, to test the waters. I got the game cheap, in my estimation. Much cheaper than online retailers are asking for copies. That surprised me, and I suspect it may disappoint Lou. Don't know what he was expecting, of course. Still, I am pleased, because Lou has been an icon in my world for a while. I would love to get the Professors autograph on it as well, but I am thinking that will be unlikely.

I have been painting some, but mostly low caste and slave figures. I have some Asar figures in the Que, but I am not sure what I will do with them, so I am delaying. I did realize that all these poor clansfolk could probably also stand in as natives when I get some pirates painted, in a year or so.. But I need to get painting if I am gonna get the Tek stuff that I have done by years end. I should set up a camera, and there might be a pic if you come back to this post in a day or two.

I have also begun discussions with the Tekumel Project to sponsor a Legion. Not cheap, but, if I can find the money, I am gonna do it. For the moment, I will keep details hush hush.. Wouldn't want the Red Hats to know.


On April 10th, I think, Chirine and his pals have organized the Dave Arneson Maritime Memorial event at the Source. I hope to be there. But the next week I will be gone to school for work, and I am not sure I want to travel right before hand.

Gut Shot

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Originally uploaded by kokigami

Chip Hosted a Game of Gut Shot recently. He felt it necessary to look the part.. Texas Belt Buckle and all. The scenario was a train robbery/kidnapping. The terrain was provided by Chip and the miniatures by his friends.

Things began when when a group of bad guys, who felt they had been wronged by the railroads owners, blew the tracks at the end of Royal Gorge, a narrow rail pass running parallel and sometimes hanging over the Arkansas River in Colorado. A lot of the terrain was left unused, as the focus of the activities was the train. We simply placed cardboard "floors" on top of the cars to represent the insides. First contact was made when a bad guy mounted the train in the caboose (no snickering..) and found the Caboose Crewman smoking a roll your own, and the Assistant Engineer taking a nap. This lead to a close quarters fist fight cause no one had time to reload after an initial round of missed shots.

I seem to be having a problem with linking to Flickr images, so I am going to send you here to view the pictures..