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Top Games Wanted at NTRPGCon

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Yesterday I talked about Top Games Played at NTRPGCon. Now I’ll move on to some interesting survey results.

I ran a poll on the NTRPGCon Facebook group which asked “What old-school game that is seldom / never run at NTRPGCon would you most like to play in next year?” I listed a few games, but allowed folks to add their own choices. Below were the results.

Star Frontiers was the clear winner — I suspect based on that and feedback folks were giving in the comments that we’ll see at least a few Star Frontiers at the 2017 con! I’m considering running a Bunnies & Burrows game and maybe another Middle-earth game.

Top 12 Games Seldom/Never Run at NTPGCon

  1. Star Frontiers (38 votes)
  2. Top Secret SI (22 votes (tie))
  3. Star Wars WEG d6 (22 votes (tie))
  4. Bunnies & Burrows RPG (13 votes (tie))
  5. Stormbringer RPG (13 votes (tie))
  6. Chainmail (13 votes (tie))
  7. Marvel TSR (13 votes (tie))
  8. Gangbusters (12 votes (tie))
  9. Dark Sun (12 votes (tie))
  10. Star Trek (FASA, LUG, etc.) (11 votes)
  11. Runequest (10 votes)
  12. MERP (8 votes)

18 other entries got between 1 and 7 votes. See the full poll results here.

Upcoming Games

Here’s a weekly roundup of upcoming games listed on the Dicehaven Google Calendar. Look for further details and RSVPs from your respective GMs.

  • Star Wars Makeup Game — Thursday, June 16 6:30pm (Stan’s House)
  • 50 Fathoms — Saturday, June 18 6:30pm (Stan’s House)
  • Texicon — Thursday, June 23 to Sunday, June 26 (see Texicon.net; Jeff & Mason and maybe others will attend at least one day)
  • Gaslight Heroes — Thursday, June 23 6:30pm (Stan’s House)
  • Bonus Game (One-Shot, TBD) –Thursday, June 30 (Stan’s House)

Top Games Played at NTRPGCon

stan-shinn-citystateFor those who don’t know, North Texas RPG Con is an old-school RPG gaming convention which has grown in popularity each year (this year they had well over 300 attendees which maxed out their gaming space; next year they will have bigger facilities and more attendees I believe).

What games are folks running at NTRPGCon? Here’s a rundown of the 2016 games based on games listed on their 2016 calendar.

Early D&D (OD&D, B/X, BECM, AD&D, 2e, retroclones): 55 Games

This breaks down into:

  • 8 OD&D games
  • 11 B/X games
  • 2 BECM games
  • 9 Swords & Wizardry Games
  • 23 AD&D games (1e & 2e combined)
  • 2 Labyrinth Lord games

DCC games: 19 Games

DCC is a new-ish game but with a very old-school vibe.

D&D 5th Edition: 18 games

The rise in popularity of 5e is notable given the old-school focus of the con. By contrast, I’ve never seen a Pathfinder or 4e game run at NTRPGCon (somebody correct me if I’m wrong on that).

Traveller: 8 games

This is the Classic Traveller edition (the little black books). We didn’t have any of these games for years, then last year Mike Kelly and I ran a total of 3 Classic Traveller games. Now this year, we had 8. Great to see this games surge in popularity at this con!

Misc. Games

There was also a smattering of other games (each run 1 to 3 sessions):

  • Gamma World 1e
  • Villians & Vigilantes
  • Ghostbusters RPG
  • Paranoia
  • Metamorphosis Alpha
  • Call of Cthulhu
  • Boot Hill
  • Barbarians of Lemuria
  • Astonishing Sorcerers and Swordsmen of Hyperboria (AS&SH)

In my next post I’ll talk about ‘Top Games Wanted at NTRPGCon.’

‘Star Trek: Vanguard’ and Other Cool Books

I’ve started to hear about other books folks in our Dicehaven group have recently read (or read way back in the day). Thought it might be cool to have folks who are interested jot a note or two on the blog on what books they like (or don’t like). If you want to blog about such stuff and don’t have an account, drop me an email.

Some book series might get enough synergy to evolve into a roleplaying campaign at some point in the future. Dresden Files, Ringworld, and The Lord of the Rings are example candidates, but there are many others.

I also moved my ‘Stan’s Reading Lists’ page from swshinn.com; not you can find it at https://dicehaven.com/stans-reading-lists/.

Anyway, here’s a dump on several books I’ve got cracked open at the moment.

Books I Recently Read

vanguardI recently read ‘Star Trek: Vanguard #1: Harbinger’ (Star Trek TOS) by David Mack.

Review: Was great fun to read since I loved seeing new characters set in the Original Series universe, set at the time Kirk first took command of the Enterprise. Had just the right old-school flavor, including women complaining about (or using to their advantage) the newly issued Federation mini-skirt uniforms.

One issue is that book ended with no plot lines resolved. Turns out you have to read it as part of a 7 novel series. Folks have raved about the series, and I did enjoy the first book. I will resume the series hopefully sometime, but at the moment I’m more interested in reading some books that ‘end’ without committing to 7 novels straight. I’m too reading dyslexic at the moment to commit to that many books in a row. 🙂

Books I’m Now Reading

Novels:

  1. ‘Elric of Melniboné’ by Michael Moorcock

Short Story Collections:

  1. ‘Neutron Star’ by Larry Niven (Short story collection; reading intermittently; inspiration for Imperium or Ringworld campaigns).
  2. ‘The Complete Hammer’s Slammers: Volume’ 1 by David Drake (Short story collection; reading intermittently; inspiration for Blood & Steel campaign).
  3. ‘Berserker (Saberhagen’s Beserker Series Book 1)’ by Fred Saberhagen (Short story collection; reading intermittently; inspiration for Blood & Steel campaign).
  4. ‘The Man-Kzin Wars (Man-Kzin Wars Series Book 1)’ by Larry Niven et al. (Short story collection; reading intermittently; inspiration for Blood & Steel campaign).

The Gathering

The Party continued their struggle against the mighty Hill Giant stedding, fighting both giant and fire.  The Rogue, having appeared to have fled the battle, instead came around to the front of the stedding, He first scaled the tower, and then lit it on fire. It went up like an Aradene candle, and turned night into day for miles around.  Assisting in the inferno were several casks of Hill Giant Ale. The party continued to fight their way into the fort, soon coming face to face with King Snaggi Irontooth of the Hill Giant Jarl. The battle ebbed and flowed, with several characters being struck down temporarily, until finally Snaggi was gutted, large giant entrails spilling unto the hot log floor, making a sizzling sound and reminding the party they hadn’t had breakfast.

In searching the main floor of the hold, the party discovered the two ever flowing Fonts of Mymirdion.  The water’s origin unknown, the water ever flowing, the party had discovered the Giant’s true wealth.  The two fonts gave the ancient healing aqua blue waters to whoever possessed the fonts.  One catch, the glass flasks that could hold the Healing waters of Mymidion had to contain human bone.  This gruesome catch gave the body pause.  But not enough to stop them from filling all twenty of the available flasks and distributing them throughout the party.

Soon the party made it through the rest of the first floor of the hold, and went downstairs into the dungeons of the stedding.  They quickly found the cells which held several prisoners, including Randolph FireOak.  Reunited with his loyal son Derrick, the two then joined the rest of the party in fighting off four elementals, summoned by the eveil white wizard, paired with the traitorous Harren Fire Oak.  Having occupied the party, Harren and the white wizard fled, leaving the party to battle the elementals.

The party emerged victorious from the partially destroyed stedding.  The cleric began to make plans to gather his brothers to occupy the powerful site, now partially burned.  In the meantime, the party crossed the small plains to the Town of Fire Oak, to find not only that the Fire Acorn had dropped, but that almost all of the Oak Clans had gathered, having seen the Stedding fire of the Hill Giants as  a beacon.  Randolph Fire Oak and  Justin IronOak found a table, and rolled out the ancient Oak Scrolls.  On the top, the two quickly read the Prophesy of the Oaks.

 

When Acorns drop and clans depart, all the Oaks will leave their home.

Abandon hearth, abandon glades, all of the clans will start to roam.

Through foaming waves, to distant shores, the twelve bound Oaks will sail the seas.

In search of Oak land, the promised land, away from hardship, rise from their knees.

Iron, Silver, Fire and Blood. Live, Ice, Water, and Black. Post, Pin, Heart and Golds

Abandon all their hard won holds.

To join so strong to leave the fall, to build anew, with gathered all.

 

And so, absent the Blood Oaks, 27,000 Oaks all stood ready for one last march through Westmarch, to relieve Silverthorne.  The party, led by Justin and Neara BloodOak, requested the party journey to Blood Oak, as a message had arrived that the Blood Oak had dropped, but been taken by a band of Frost Giants and a Black Dragon. IMG_0091[1]

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