So yeah. Rejection sucks.

For a few years now I've been working on a fantasy campaign setting for GURPS. And since there isn't already a good fantasy setting for the GURPS 4e line, I decided to submit Crucible to Steve Jackson Games.

After a long, drawn out process, I got my rejection letter today.

It's disappointing, but at least now I can focus my energies elsewhere. The question is, what do I want to do? I'm tempted to convert Crucible to D&D 4e, but honestly the setting was envisioned to work for a more "realistic" type of game system.

I've also got a sci-fi setting I've been kicking around in my head, as well as a post-modern fantasy setting.

So many ideas, so little time.

Anyway, you can see the fruits of my labor here: http://www.mediafire.com/?zl12tljdmgz

I decided to go ahead and release the Crucible setting to the world for free. Even if you don't play GURPS it might be worth a read. It's pretty rules-lite.

Enjoy!

Ashrem Bayle

By day I am a mechanical designer, by night I am SUPER MAPPER!

Actually that's a lie. I did those maps while I was at work, which coincidentally I do during the day. I'm also not very super.

Still, it was a lot of effort and I hope those of you running Keep on the Shadowfell can get some use out of it.

I use a projector rig, so I plan to project the map onto a my white board and place the minis on it. That said, if you've got the ink and the time, you could also print these big suckers out.

Created 100% with Photoshop.
The thumbnails got to 1/4" sample images. The links go to the full scale image files:


http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.p...3dwm2t&thumb=4


http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.p...xw0mfn&thumb=4

Ashrem Bayle

Is 4e combat still too slow? Well... it is when you're rolling like my group did Saturday.

[WARNING] Keep on the Shadowfell spoilers:

It was the second kobold encounter, the one on the road that features the Wyrmpriest. The party ranger was scouting ahead and rolled poorly on his Perception to notice the two hiding Dragonshields. He quickly found himself flanked and due to a critical hit, was nearly killed before he could make it to safety.

That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the fight. I was tossing criticals out the yin/yang and the PCs could barely roll over "5".

The Cleric and the Paladin both had to make death checks and the group as a whole just barely survived.

All in all, what should have been a fun encounter just turned out frustrating as the players, round after round, rolled very poorly.

So yeah, it isn't the system's fault. But because of a bunch of bad rolls, one simple combat went on for about two hours. :?

Maybe they'll have better luck next week when the party assaults the kobold lair.

Ashrem Bayle

The books in my previous post were but a mere fraction of what I've spent on RPGs in the past few years. I'm embarrassed to say that my gaming expenditures over my lifetime would make for a fine down payment on a new house.

But I'm drawing the line in the sand.

Starting with the D&D DM Screen, I'm not buying any new RPG products any time soon. I'm sticking to the Core set.

I purchased dozens of 3/3.5 books that sat on my shelf and never got more than a good skim. I'd use a feat or prestige class now and then, but the use certainly didn't justify the price.

And as the 3.5 era comes to an end for me, I look at the 3.5 Core books and still feel I didn't get my feel of the info contained therein. I don't want to make that mistake with 4e.

As I flip through the 4e Core books, I don't really see a need for supplements. There are enough powers and variations to carry me through three or four 1-30th level campaigns without much overlap. I've got monsters out the whazoo, and if I'm missing anything, I can make it myself.

I've been gaming for nearly 20 years now. I think I can balance a feat/power or come up with a Paragon Path. And let's face it, if 3/3.5 was any indication, that's mostly what future supplements will be anyway.

The only thing I think is missing are more ritual spells. But like I said, I think I can make them up on my own.

I may change my mind after I've been through the 1-30th level gamut a time or two, but I'm certainly not diving in head first like I did last edition.

I'm not WOTC's b**ch anymore!

Ashrem Bayle

I'm getting rid of a lot of my old books. It's mostly D&D stuff, but there are some other gems in there.

Everything except the Oriental Adventures is in near mint condition. I'd call Oriental Adventurers "good" condition. Of course, it came out in '85, so what do you expect.

If anyone is interested, I take Paypal. Shipping is $5.00 for each book. I'm selling most for $10.





NOTE: The 3.5 core books have been sold, as has Lord of Madness.

Ashrem Bayle

Well, my GURPS campaign came to an end this weekend. It's bitter sweet indeed, but now it's time to get focused on D&D4e.

This Saturday will mark the second session from our Keep on the Shadowfell campaign. We've already got characters made and we've been through the first encounter as sort of a 4e "test session".

**SPOILERS FOR KotS**

The first encounter was a lot of fun. I think "Kobold Slinger" is at the top of the list of things my players now hate. Those little buggers can be a major pain if played well by a DM willing to bring the pain.

For the first time in years, the party actually feared for their lives against a "few pesky kobolds".

That alone makes 4e a winner in my book.

Ashrem Bayle

As some of you know, I used to be a HUGE Midnight fan. I wrote sections of, and edited the Tome of Sorrows, Vol 1 netbook and was very active on the messageboards there at Against the Shadows.

In time however, I began working on my own setting. This took up most of my time and creative juices, so I decided to bid my beloved Midnight farewell.

Crucible has undergone a few major changes since its conception a few years ago, and it's been beaten to hell and back with the editing stick. It was originally conceived as a D&D setting, but was re-written for GURPS.

Today, it sits on the desk of some guy at Steve Jackson Games, and may eventually be released as an official campaign setting for GURPS.

My fingers are crossed. It's been a huge labor of love for me and the little money I might make on it means nothing compared to the joy of seeing it released as an official supplement.

GURPS fans have been crying for an official fantasy setting for years. I think it's time we gave them one.

Ashrem Bayle

So I'm thinking I'm going to keep one of these blog things. At least, until I grow tired of it.

So anyway, today's topic of conversation is simplicity vs. depth.

A few years ago I sat down at my computer with a very ambitious goal. I was going to rewrite the D&D Player's Handbook (3.5) to better satisfy my need for more realism and detail. About 60 pages into my outline however, I realized the end result really wasn't going to be D&D anymore at all.

So I came to the conclusion that what I really wanted wasn't D&D, but another game altogether. So I started searching around. The game I was looking for had to meet certain criteria:

1. Highly customizable characters.
2. The ability to create characters that resembled real people more so than "video game" characters.
3. Lethal combat. No matter how great a warrior was, a commoner with a knife had to at least be a minor threat.
4. Combat needed to have options. "Fighters" needed as many cool tricks as "Wizards".
5. No Vancian magic system. Magic needed to be more flexible.
6. Interesting critical hits and failures.
7. Interesting combat. I wanted more options for different combat techniques.
8. And the most important thing: Players needed to be rewarded for being clever and strategic in a manner more meaningful than just "+2 to hit for flanking".

In the end, I settled on GURPS. It hit all of the above criteria and was designed with the idea that you can build everything around real-world simulation. But can it do it without dragging the game to a snail's pace?

As it turns out it does, and it does it well. All the complexity is in character creation. So the good news is that you can make uber-detailed and interesting characters of any genre. The bad news is that character creation can take hours.

It's worth it to me.

So a little over a year ago I dropped my D&D 3.5 campaign in favor of GURPS. I reveled in the "simulationist" aspects of the game, and I've had a lot of fun with it.

So now I have GURPS for my "hardcore" gritty campaign and D&D4e for my high action "over the top" campaign.

And I'm very happy with both. Though I have to admit, the shiny new-ness of 4e is killing me. I've got a GURPS session this weekend, and I really just want to kick back with D&D.

Ashrem Bayle