Extended Pause

Currently our game is on an extended pause. Things will pick up again, hopefully soon.

The Sleeper Awakes

Just two months since my last post, and three months since our last game session, yet it seems like a year has gone by. I sort of feel like Graham, the main character of an H. G. Wells novel by the same title as this post. Graham slept for over two hundred years only to awaken in a completely transformed world. Unlike Graham, however, the lack of GURPS activity has done nothing to help me realize my dreams, and the world really hasn’t changed much in the past few months. As a matter of fact, Ardania has remained exactly as we left it, with our party of adventurers packing things up following the skirmish with the bandits, and preparing to continue their quest for the lost stronghold of Quasqueton.

Ardanian Magic, Part 3: Academic Ritual Magic

Master of Arts, Intellectual Philosopher of the Arcane, Learned Sage of All Things Magical: Such garnished titles can often be heard in reference to the Ardanian wizards of the world.  Contrary to Elves, the vast majority of mages in Ardania put their effort into the scholarly study of Thaumatology, focusing on specific paths such as Body Control, Fire, and Sound.  This ritual magic system is the topic of this final post in this short series on Ardanian Magic.

Ardanian Magic, Part 2: Elven Magic

Elves…the name alone brings to mind stories of magic and of a people in tune with nature and the world around them.  Proud and haughty, their ancient history is filled with deeds of wonder and mystery.  Thus are the elves of Ardania.  This post will focus on the magic system which defines their culture and their way of life.

Ardanian Magic, Part 1

I’ve been slack in posting, but there hasn’t been much by way of updates.  Three of my four players have been out of town for the past week, so we haven’t continued with the campaign.  I’ve taken opportunity during the lull to work on game world design, specifically the magic systems of Ardania.  The standard magic system in GURPS works great, and the list of available spells is extensive.  But it’s plain, lacking in color and excitement.  I was looking for something more vivid and memorable, something requiring more role-playing on the players part, and something to make magic more central to the story.

Game Master, Story Writer and World Builder

I’m taking some extra time between game sessions this week to evaluate where we’ve come thus far.  In my last post I listed a few items I needed to work on, such as awarding character points for the first two sessions, preparing reference sheets and other game aids, and becoming more familiar with the rules such as combat.  I also mentioned the need to develop more details regarding the campaign background, and that is what I would like to write about in today’s post.

The Journey Begins

The big day had finally arrived.  The characters, assembling at the town gate along with Robert, Wallace and two fine looking equines, were ready to embark on a journey into the unknown.  A last minute check was made, verifying if everything was in order. “Sorry,” I said, “you need to fill out a few more things on your character sheets first.”  You could almost hear a collective moan from the group.  I apologetically explained that it would be better to get their weapon stats written down now, before any combat commenced, so as not to interrupt the flow of the game.  Ha!  What “flow of the game”?  The characters haven’t even stepped foot outside the city walls.

Hiking, Running and Daily Travels

How fast can a character walk in an hour? You would think such a simple question would have a simple answer. GURPS provides rules for Hiking, but the daily milage seems much too high. For example, a character with Move 5 can hike 50 miles in a day. Really? Yep, that’s what GURPS Basic Set Campaign, page 351, says. However, that answer leaves out some important details, such as how long the PC is hiking, or how fast.

Our First Session…Sort Of

Why is it when I chose to spend the afternoon indoors, the weather is perfect?  I should be outside doing yard work today!  Well, duty calls, and the game must go on…er…that is, rather, the game needs to get started.

However, the characters were not yet complete.  (See my previous post on creating characters.)  I had major changes to suggest and implement.  Fortunately the players all agreed to my suggestions.  All that was needed now was to finalize the details, things like names, appearance (height, weight, age, hair, eyes, skin).  Oh, and the small detail regarding equipping the party.

Creating Characters

Since NASCAR was scheduled for Saturday night this weekend, the plan was to spend Sunday afternoon building characters, take a break while the kids went to a church picnic, then play through the introductory session Sunday night.  As most well laid plans usually go, that is not what happened.