Raptor Blog

TEN YEARS MAN!

2011-03-28T14:45:00.000-04:00

The old saying of “Time flies when you’re having fun” is only partly true. Time ALWAYS flies. Case in point: Ten years ago this month Raptor Squad made it’s debut on the World Wide Web (or “Interwebs” as the crazy kids say these days).

Wow.

A whole decade has literally flown by and it’s hard to wrap one’s head around that fact. And in that time, so many things have happened, not just in our little corner of Lucas’ Universe, but in the real world as well. I won’t go into everything of course but it’s amazing to consider that when the site went up, 9/11 here in America had yet to happen, and the world was just a very different place. It’s amazing that many of the folks reading this right now may have barely been out of diapers.

It makes a Webmaster like me feel kinda old actually.

But! I’ve always been a believer that age is really just a number, and it’s how you live, how you feel and how you view the world around you that determines how young or old you really are. When you stop dreaming, stop trying and stop believing, that’s when you start feeling old, and to be honest, I’m not there yet, not by a long shot.

So! I know you’re asking yourself “Great, a decade is past, and now what?” Yeah, well me too, I’ve been asking myself that a lot.

In fact, as far back as four years ago, I sent out the following to our group members:

“I've decided that when the RS site reaches it's 10 year anniversary, I'm locking it down to (most) new stuff and it will exist as a shrine to our game and the good times.

Granted, this is still about 4 years off, but I think it’s a good end point.”

Well, four years have passed, and now I look back on those words and realize I have a decision to make:

End it, or keep moving forward?

And I realize, not to get too philosophical, but that exactly the question we all face as time moves on and we get older. And one has to ask an important question that makes the decision a lot easier:

“Did I accomplish everything I wanted to?”

In looking at the Raptor Squad site, pouring over the hundreds of pages of content and the decade’s worth of work, I realize that the answer is no. A strong “no” even, the kind that scares your dog.

There is still a story to be told here that’s far from over. There is still fiction to produce, still characters to be introduced, artwork waiting to burst forth from my hands and new features and content I’m itching to create for those diehards out there still using the D6 system.

Locking down the site and walking away from it would be like leaving a painting incomplete, or a story unfinished, and in a real way that’s exactly what it is.

I don’t know how long the site will continue, or how long real life will allow me to continue telling our story, but you can’t let that stop you. You have to put your nose down, move forward and keep doing what you love and what makes you happy for as long as you can.

Because in the end, that’s all that really matters. Happiness.

Because life is too short for anything less.

So, consider this a “Ten Year Preview” post. As I’ve decided April, all month long I’ll be adding to the site and dedicating all thirty days to bringing the community new content, new features and furthering the Raptor Squad story.

Thanks for letting me ramble, and though I’ll be saying it all throughout April in one fashion or another, thanks for hanging in there with us.

And what the hell, here’s to another decade!!!

Happy New Years!

2011-01-04T09:50:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

As you can see above, the RS gang wants to wish you and yours a wonderful and prosperous 2011! As the tenth anniversary of the site approaches, we have a lot of cool goodies in store for you folks. New fiction, artwork (of course) and plenty of RPG stat goodies to fill up your binders and drop into your games are on the way!

Thanks for following us and checking us out, and as always we value your feedback, now more than ever. If you are new to the site and like what you see, and old friend who just stopped by to check us out or a loyal follower who refers to us on a regular basis, feel free to drop me a line and let me know how you like the site and what you think we can do to improve it.

It's been a wild ten years and a lot has changed in the community, some good, some not so much, but in the end, it's all about having fun and throwing some dice. You remember that and everything else is gravy.

Happy New Year folks, and keep your eyes peeled!

WRASSLIN!

2010-07-24T01:04:00.001-04:00

Wow,

It pretty much turns my stomach that you haven't seen an update to my site in almost a year, that being said and without going into details the reason being is that I've had a family emergency that has spanned the last 8 months (and looks to continue for a while) that has totally taken up my time.

For those interested, I'm planning on launching a pro wrestling play by email game soon. You will have the ability to create three pro wrestlers and wrestle against others.

I'm starting small, so right now I'm only taking the first 10 folks who respond to me.

You can see the website and some of the previous matches/cards/personalities/PPV's here:

http://ocw.raptorsquad.net/

More details to follow but I'll be happy to answer any questions. Fell free to e-mail me:

vic@raptorsquad.net

Hopefully in the next few months you'll also start seeing some updates to the RS site as well, time permitting.

EMAIL FAIL!

2010-06-08T23:42:00.003-04:00

Heya folks!

Just to let you know, I lost all of my emails/addys from my vic@raptorsquad.net account.

So, if you were using that to keep in touch with me, please send me an e-mail so I can rebuild my address book.

Sorry for the headache, this is what I get for downloading Star Wars Hentai from unstrustworthy sites!!!!!!!!!

I didn't forget Baby, I swear!

2010-05-30T11:33:00.000-04:00

Wow, you know our 9th anniversary passed us by back in March and I didn’t even mention it. Unfortunately, the reason is that there have been a lot of personal issues going on in my life since last November that have pulled me away from the site and the updates. I’m hoping everything will straighten out soon, but life has a way of taking it’s own course and all we can do to get by is just weather the storm and hang in there. I know most of you out there understand what I am trying to say.

Nonetheless, the site is still here and we have no plans on going anywhere any time soon. While many SWRPG sites come and go we’ve always been in the same spot, doing our thing and trying to entertain and help folks in the RPG community for nine years running and I’m damn proud of that.

Hopefully things will even out soon and my life will get back to some semblance of normalcy and I’ll be able to do something special for our 10th anniversary. For now however, I encourage new visitors to take a while to get lost in our site and enjoy the adventures of Raptor Squad and encourage those of you who are old friends to take a few minutes to poke around and maybe find a nugget here or there you forgot about. And of course, as always, I welcome your feedback, it certainly keeps us going and means a lot.

Thank you all and God bless.

Lag time

2010-01-12T22:10:00.001-05:00

Hey folks!

I won't go into specifics but I've had some serious family issues that have come up and occupied the last few months of my time. Nothing I could get around I'm afraid. Ultimately I would like to get back to updating the site and adding new fiction and such, but right now all of my hobbies are pretty much in a holding pattern. For those of you out there still following us and enjoying the site I'm happy and for everyone else I hope for things to get back to normal soon.

Thanks for your understanding.

The Black Hat is Back in Original Form.....

2009-10-07T11:38:00.001-04:00

I'm back from vacation, tanned, rested and ready to rock!

So to speak.

Look for blog posts regarding my current fantasy game, especially some of the props I use/have created for it.

The Usual Middle of the Year Burn Out

2009-08-21T09:53:00.002-04:00

Yeah, lots going on, not all of it RPG related and I'm hitting the wall.

I've got some home improvement stuff that has sidelined me lately, as well as some vacation-oriented stuff and the usual time-consuming things I do throughout the week.

I was hoping to get up a new Bounty Hunter of the Month before the end of August, but we'll have to see if that materializes. I'm working on prepping for me next tabletop RPG as well...so...yeah. Lots of stuff going on and I'm needing a break soon.

Anyway, for the two folks out there that follows this blog and the website, just thought I would give you a heads up...enjoy the current fiction I posted and all fo the other offerings we've acquired over the last eight years, I'll let you know when something new pops up.

Why So Serious?

2009-08-07T08:26:00.003-04:00

You know, I read a lot of blogs. Being fortunate enough to have a job that literally allows me to work on my hobbies while paying me a crazy amount of money, I fill about six of the eight hours of my day at work by surfing the web, working on fiction and reading the musings of others gamers.

And one thing I noticed is this:

People take this hobby or ours way too damn seriously.

Really...for all of the rhetoric, discussion and emotional investment I've seen people make, in the end, it's just something to do for fun. Now, if arguing and beating your head against the wall is your idea of fun, so be it. But me? I like to just sit down and toss some dice. That’s it, pure and simple.

Sure, I run a website based off an old campaign I used to participate in, but again, that’s more so that I can continue other hobbies I have, namely writing and creating art. The website simply offers inspiration.

But man, a lot of people seem to have a lot to say about something we all seem to do just for fun, and not always in the nicest or most respectable of ways.

I guess it's the need to be heard. Or the need some feel for validation of this hobby, or something. Hell, maybe it's just to try to feel smarter than the next guy because you can stat out a 13th level half human, half dragon wizard blindfolded while sucking on a Popsicle, I really don't know.

Funny thing, and I guess this gives rise to why we hear so much about the Old School Renaissance lately, is that ultimately, the pen and paper RPG is going to die.

Sure, it might take a while, and yeah, there are going to continue to be those who play it, and even those who write homebrewed stuff, but eventually, as technology advances and the generations get further and further away from the original RPG roots, the demand for something as archaic as a pen and paper rpg is going to die off. Hell, it's already happening. You see how small publishers struggle and try to adapt, only, ultimately, to fail (or publish their stuff for next to nothing on the web as PDF's). Even the big daddy, Wizards is struggling and constantly adapting it's business model to try to keep up with the changing desires of its consumers. But that's also just delaying the inevitable, because ultimately, the cost-to-profit ratio will make producing these books bad business, and Wizards will turn away from P&P Rpg's and become enveloped into other areas of Hasbro (which I think is happening already-gradually). It may not be in the next few years, but eventually, as video games continue to evolve (see Project Natal for the 360, but I know you already have, haventhcha?)the new generations of gamers who grew up on video game RPG's won't even look twice at a dice bag, or if they do, they'll wonder what the hell you do with it. That's technology filks, and it's not just hitting the RPG industry...look at Baseball cards, or any other hobby that falls into the category of a "niche" hobby...they have their heyday, then, gradually, disappear as something else takes their place.

I think this whole "OSR" as it's being called is simply older players trying to come to grips with the fact that their hobby will one day be as dead as they will. In many ways, I think this has whole movement is spawned not from a sense of nostalgia, but adult gamers trying to come to grips with their own mortality. And I think what gave it rise with the death of Gary Gygax. When we saw the father of the RPG die, followed by the death of Dave Arneson, it resonated with us, reminding us that we are all mortal, and to a degree, their death foreshadows the death of the RPG as we know it.

So, players and lovers of the game do what we ALL do when faced with the imminent demise of something we love: We try to resurrect it in some way.

Thus the OSR.

At the end of the day, I think we should all put differences, preferences and rhetoric aside and just sit down and enjoy what we have for as long as we have it. And if blogging endlessly about it is your way of taking the game off of the table and into a place where you can enjoy it, well, I guess I can get behind that too.

But the "old school" versus "new school" discussions are laughable, because at the end of the day, on a long enough timeline, it's all "old school".

So seriously, just game.

New Fiction is up!!!!

2009-07-20T23:58:00.001-04:00

Well, I've put off posting the new ficiton long enough! It's as my wife said, "If you wait until you have everything done you want to get done you won't be posting the fiction for at least another month or longer."

Well, she's right! And since this fiction has been ready to go up for the past few months, I see no reason to delay it any longer just so I can be a perfectionist. Anyway! It's here! And it's up! You can follow the link below to find it and I think you will enjoy it. Book III wraps up the Episode: 10 Rebirth story line and ushers in a new age in Raptor Squad mythology. Questions are answered, new ones are asked and the teams heads in a different and exciting direction. The tension and drama are ramped up in this one folks, and the sparks begin to fly! Friendships are broken, people are betrayed and characters die! So! Enjoy the read and of course we would love to hear your feedback.

Raptorsquad.Net

Walkin' & Talkin'

2009-07-15T11:12:00.000-04:00

My wife Elfgirl and I went for a walk the other night around our neighborhood, and the following discussion transpired. I thought it was interesting and wanted to go ahead and post it here, and to me, this sums up the difference as to why I prefer D6 above all other systems I’ve played.

Enjoy

Me: You know what I don’t understand…you and your sister used to play old school D&D when you were young, where character deaths occurred like, every five minutes.

Elfgirl: True. In the Temple of Elemental Evil we went through a few characters each.

Me: Right. So now, when your characters die, or even get close to dying, you guys act like I just ran over your kitten with a lawn mower. What gives? Shouldn’t you guys be numb to TPK’s and character death by now?

Elfgirl: Well, it’s not the same.

Me: How so? And speed up, you’re lagging.

Elfgirl: Well, in old school D&D you really had no control over your character’s stats. They were randomly generated and you had whatever you rolled. You were basically “trapped” by whatever the dice came up. In D6 you can customize your character- put your D wherever you want and in what abilities you think the character will utilize the most.

Me: Ah…

Elfgirl: Yeah, it makes you more in tune and connected to your character. When you can craft your PC from the ground up, customizing what they are and what abilities and skills they have, it’s a greater investment as a player, rather than having some random rolls determine what your character is good at.

Me: So when your creation is threatened, it’s not just some character that was effectively thrust on you that you had little real control over creating (outside of a name), it’s more disconcerting.

Elfgirl: Right. We, as players, have invested a lot of time crafting our PC’s to be what we want, so when they take a beating or die, there is a greater sense of loss.

Me: Gotcha. Well that makes sense. Still, the game is pretty lethal, so at the end of the day, your PC’s, and by extension, you the players, need to start using your heads a little more and investing some time in studying your inventory and what you have and what you can use in certain situations. It’s not my job to remind you that you have a potion or scroll that would help you out of a bind, it’s YOUR job to remember these things, and if you don’t? Well, I see that as little different than taking an ill-advised course of action that results in a PC’s death. At the end of the day, in my game, as in life, ignorance is no excuse.

So!

An interesting discussion I thought.

Days of Future Past

2009-07-14T10:13:00.002-04:00

Small update this time. Cleaned up the Links section and doctored up some code on various pages. Wow, in deleting some of the links from the site it appears the state of SWRPG websites is kinda depressing. No worries though, your pals here at RS will be around for quite a while.

The above sentence was written almost eight years ago.

Man how things have changed- and not necessarily for the better.

I’m not going to waste time reminiscing about how the SWRPG community used to be, suffice to say though, that it was a hell of a lot better than it is now-especially because there was a community. Now? Now I honestly can’t say that.

It’s sad really, to see sites wither away and die off. Hell, the laundry list of great sites that have disappeared goes on and on:

StarwarsRPG.net
Tales of the Lost Star Warriors
Jedi Sanctuary
SWRPG Reviewed Sites
Elrood Sector: Tales of the Freespirit
Servais Sector

Just to go to those pages and see 404 messages or placeholder pages makes my stomach churn.

Yeah, I know a lot of it is because people get older, responsibilities change and they lose interest. But that doesn’t make it any better.

Ultimately, I know Raptor Squad won’t last forever either. I’m sure, some day in the future I’ll fall prey to the ravages of real life (and have already in some cases) and the site will cease to be updated with new content.

But I can guarantee you this folks: As long as it’s within my power, the site isn’t going anywhere. And I have a few things to do before I hang it up for good. We’ve been going strong for over eight years and too much work and sweat and effort and cash has gone into this site for me to just shut it down and walk away.

I’m proud of what I’ve created, because I feel like it’s unique and special and not something you can see just anywhere, and to let it die off like some sites have would be a disservice not only to the community but to what the site stands for and the people who have worked hard to make it what it is.

So! We’ve still got some gas in the tank, still have a few destinations to hit before we wrap up this crazy wild trip, and I can keep going for a few hundred more miles at least (course’ every now and then I might need to pull off at a rest stop and take a break), hopefully you folks will sit tight and see where we take you.

I promise you it will be worth it.

Ep 10 Book 3 is DONE!

2009-06-30T14:25:00.003-04:00

Finished! Completed!

However, not quite ready to post yet.

Still working on the artwork for this installment, but start to finish, Episode Ten (all 3 books) has weighed in at a whopping 547 pages.

WOWZER!!

I'm really happy with it as well, and I think this fiction really was a breakout for me..in terms of plotting, pacing and overall craft I think I really made some strides in it's creation.

I still have a lot to learn in regards to writing, but I'm also of the mind you never really quit learning in life, so I'm comfortable with that. I learned a lot while writing this fiction and in the eighteen months since I began. One of the most important things I learned is that when you hit a wall and the words just aren't coming to you- forge ahead. Get past the writers block and keep moving. Sitting around and trying to figure out how to overcome it doesn't work, you've got to put your nose down and stay focused and keep writing, because ultimately you will always come back to rewrite what you don't like anyways. What you first put down on paper (or screen) is seldom the end result...merely a foundation that gets reworked until you are happy with it.

So! Hopefully you fans out there will be seeing this new fiction posted by the time my summer vacation comes around at the end of the month and I hope you enjoy it. I know I enjoyed writing it and more importantly enjoyed advancing the adventures of our Big Damn Heroes.

For those who have already asked me, yes, I have every intention of compiling Episode 10 into one physical paperback novel you can hold in your grubby little hands. I'll post when I have more info on the cost and whatnot and you can feel free to e-mail me and I'll send you the deets.

No Time For Love Dr. Jones

2009-06-22T13:30:00.003-04:00

Simply put, I just don’t have enough time anymore.

This realization didn’t come on out of the blue of course, but gradually, day by day, I'm realizing I just don't have the time I used to to invest in the things I love and enjoy.

Without getting super personal, I've had to reallocate some of my free time lately (not much, but some) to my family situation. In addition, I've rededicated myself to getting physically fit, so you can yank at least another 7-8 hours a week out from my free time pool. I'm still almost single handedly creating artwork for the fiction I'm writing for the Raptor Squad site, which, if I'm lucky takes 1-2 hours a day (if I'm lucky) away from me. Oh and of course there is the new feature I rolled out in April on the RS site, "Bounty Hunter of the Month" which I can't really fold up for at least another nine months because, well, that would just be lame.
And I also happen to be running a monthly game of D6 Fantasy for my gaming group that takes a while to prep for and create.

And of course there is this pesky job that I have to attend for at least eight hours a day to keep me in Cheetos and video games.

So what is the end result?

Not enough time, unfortunately.

Short of winning the lottery I really don’t know what I can do, other than scale some things back, which I hate doing. Partly this is because I (sometimes, ok, oftentimes) set unrealistic expectations for myself, but the fact is that I can't keep up this pace any more, despite how much I would like to.

So, solution?

Well, I can’t quit my job (yet), I won’t shortchange my family (where else would I spend Christmas?) and I love creating artwork and fiction too much to give that up. As far as longevity goes, I won’t/can't give up working out as it relieves stress (which I deperately need some days) and gives me more energy and as we all know more energy=more productivity.

So...my monthly game.

Yeah, I think I might have to scale that back some. I've been Gm'ing almost full time in some capacity for almost four years and I might have to start taking a break here and there and letting some of my players handle the heavy lifting for a while. Not forever, as I love Gm'ing too much- but maybe seeing if one of them would like to take a spin behind the GM screen every other month or so. Plus I think it owuld be good for them to see exactly what goes into creating a game and what it's like.

Plus it would be nice to sit on the other side of the screen and just be a player every now and then- a luxury not often afforded.

This won’t free up a ton of time, but it will take a load off of me for a while and allow me to get caught up and recharge my batteries a bit. Hopefully that will be enough to allow me to realign my schedule and streamline my life a little better so I can get everything accomplished I need to in the time allowed.

Ugh, this was a lot easier when I was a teenager and had nothing going on and more than enough free time.

Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Not just another Pretty Face!!!

2009-06-17T14:03:00.003-04:00

Just updated the RS site and added this months "Bounty Hunter of the Month!"

She is a hunter named Velena and she's got more in her arsenal thatn just a blaster! So head on over and check her out!

Raptorsquad.Net

Enjoy!!!

Damn Rust Monsters!!!

2009-06-01T09:35:00.003-04:00

You know, there has been a lot of hubbub lately on other RPG related blogs about “old school” vs “new school” gaming and which is best and why. Truth be told, I don’t really have a dog in the fight so I could care less. See, fact is that while I tried to get into playing D&D in about ’81, I was never really successful until about 84-85, and even then the amount of gaming I did was sporadic at best. My fellow gamers had parents who were very religious, so most gaming was done below boards and as there was no real consistency among our group or experience levels most games fell flat and died before they ever had a chance to start.

Fast forward to 1992 and I dabbled in a few hack n’ slash games with some friends, but as we were more interested in the ladies and our newfound freedom at this point, again, the games were scattered and half-assed at best. Then, between 1992 and 1999 I dropped out of gaming entirely.

Without rehashing a lot of old and boring history, that time was filled with various failed relationships and a failed marriage (which was doomed from the start, so shed no tears for me Argentina!) and included me moving out of town and away from any potential gaming buddies for about three years. So, in 1999 I moved back to my hometown, single and with a lot of free time and found that my friends were still gaming and tossing some dice. So it was in March 1999 I found myself learning and loving WEG’s D6 system, and for the next seven years was content to exclusively play the Star Wars RPG.

So, after that campaign ended, I found myself faced with a dilemma: Keep playing Star Wars or branch out into something new. My gamer wife and her sister played D&D back when they were kids, so there was already two players who were interested in branching out into a fantasy setting- throw in another player and all of a sudden I had a group willing to try something new. Needless to say, I was thrilled that D6 had thrown their hat into the fantasy ring with D6 Fantasy and before I knew it I was running my players through a good old sword and sorcery campaign.

Now, let’s clarify something right here. As much as I love roleplaying, I’ve never been an RPG fiend like some folks. I’ve had friends who had all of the RIFTs and D&D books, but, save for a handful of sourcebooks I got for my birthday that wound up being stolen a few days later by a so-called “friend” I never possessed much more than the core ruleset (and the “friend” got his karmic payback when he was busted a while back and sent to prison for bringing illegal reptiles through an airport- trust story).

So where does all of this lead us and how does it relate to Rust Monsters?

I guess it comes down to the fact that while I’ve been playing/Gm’ing games for the last decade, I’m not what you would call a gaming connoisseur. I don’t have the AD&D rules memorized, nor do I have every result on the potion miscibility table in the original DM’s guide memorized. I’d never mapped out a “Dungeon of Doom” before a year ago and you know what?

It’s great.

Really. Think about it, all of you old school (and new school) guys. Think about what it would feel like if you opened those books for the first time, un-jaded by all that you’ve seen and done already and lost yourself in the magic and wonderment that you first felt back when you were a kid.

Cause that’s what I’m experiencing right now baby!

So you can understand my surprise and amazement when my group came across a trio of Rust Monsters this past Saturday while making their way through a city’s underworld.

See, Rust Monsters (as most, if not all) of you know, are bad.

But what’s worse?

A Dwarven Monster Slayer who is easily goaded into rash actions by the GM.

Heh.

Yeah, just a few thinly veiled cracks about his honor and bravery and about how a real Dwarven badass would go in and “take care of bidness” and *poof*.

One regular Battle Axe: Gone.

One Magical Warhammer: Gone.

One suit of Magical Chainmail: Gone.

The end result of seeing what these little bastiches can do and those adventurers- the same who took down a Red Dragon and survivors of countless battles with Trolls, necromancers and all other manner of badass- ran.

Fast.

It was crazy, wild and completely unexpected and the players were as stunned as I was.

In just 2-3 combat rounds the dwarf was almost naked and weaponless and another PC had lost a nice suit of half-plate armor. But what was damaged more than their gear was their morale. And due to the terrible draws made from the “Deck O’ Many Things” last game session, this last encounter literally stripped the group down to a bare-bones magical inventory that is almost laughable compared to what they were toting around at the beginning of the year (so many items they actually lost track of what they had).

And as the group ran wildly to get away through the dark tunnels beneath the Imperial City, their valuable items reduced to a bedtime snack, a piece of advice regarding magical items and powerful PC’s passed on to me by Uncle Angus, an old-school GM just a week before rang through my mind:

“Sometimes, you just have to do some pruning.”

Indeed Uncle Angus. Indeed you do.

Hitting the Motherlode!

2009-05-19T10:03:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to send a big shout-out to my wife’s Uncle Angus (and yes, everyone should have an Uncle Angus) who saw fit to bestow upon me a great treasure for a GM running a fantasy game- about two decades worth of TSR's Dragon and Dungeon magazines!

Yeah!

For books over twenty years old these are in great condition! And these magazines are great, outside of the obvious new material and adventure ideas and stuff, it’s a trip down nostalgia lane looking at the old advertisements for other games, like James Bond and Paranoia and of course WEG’s Star Wars.

So again,a big thanks to Uncle Angus for his unparalleled generosity!

Now I just need to buy another big bookshelf to hold all of these!!!

May's Bounty Hunter of the Month!

2009-05-18T17:05:00.002-04:00

Heya Folks!
We're back with a new Bounty Hunter of the Month! A special thanks goes out to Elfgirl who did a great job creating this months Bounty Hunter from top to bottom! This month's offering is Sleek Sanjo, a tough as nails street Cathar from the underbelly of Coruscant! But Sleek's not just out for herself. she's doing it for the kids! Check out her full bio and stats along with her colorful accessories by heading over to www.raptorsquad.net
Enjoy! We'll see you next month with a new hunter and as always, we would love to hear your feedback!

State O' De Site Update

2009-05-08T08:24:00.003-04:00

Still moving on several things over at RaptorSquad.net!!!

I'll be rolling out the next Bounty Hunter of the Month in about a week, so look forward to that. I've got some new profile pics I'm working on, as well as re-working some older pics to bring them into line with the new format.

On the non-artwork related front, I'm about halfway through polishing up Episode 10: Book 3. It's coming along really well and is going to wrap the three-part episode up nicely, while still leaving some cliffhangers and intrigue out there for future fiction. I'm hoping to have it posted by June or July at the latest.

Add in to all of that new starships,personalities, and your usual RS goodness and you've got something to look forward to in the coming months!

Any comments or suggestions, please post them here or e-mail me. We love to hear from the folks who visit our site!

Thanks for your support!

To Boldy Go...Looking for Trim

2009-05-01T09:52:00.002-04:00

This week’s Newsweek magazine’s cover screams “To Boldy Go…how Star Trek taught us to Dream Big”.

Now, I’m not a Star Trek hater, so all of you fanboys out there about to get your panties in a bunch and fire off angry responses can simmer on down and take a deep hit off that inhaler (yeah, that was a cheap shot, but it’s my blog so sue me- and save your venom). Point is, I don’t mind ‘Trek…I used to like some DS9, and the original series is good for some laughs, and TNG was pretty decent, hell, I even caught some Voyager (but let’s be honest, that was more for Jeri Ryan than anything else.)

Anyway, the point of all this is that for years, hell, decades, we’ve been hearing from scientists and physicists and all other kinds of “ists” about how Star Trek pushed them to enter the field of space exploration and all that.

Now, I’m not disputing that for a second, I think Star Trek did push these folks into the profession (and good for them!) but I think their reasons ( or the reasons of some) may be a bit too altruistic for my tastes.

Considering that science fiction and space travel stories predate Star Trek by more than a century, that these people would all of a sudden point to Star Trek as their main source of inspiration seems a bit laughable.

But, I have a different proposal.

There is one thing that Star Trek had when it debuted that no other previous sci-fi novel or black and white movie serial had before then: It had sexy.

That’s right, Star Trek had sexy. I mean, come on, what did Kirk really do? He kicked all kinds of ass and got laid by alien chicks- a lot. Sure, they threw in some sociological crap here and there about the condition of man, segregation and all of that noise, but let’s be honest, you think these guys that tuned in when they were pre-pubescent teens were tuning in for tips on how to be a better human being or for those short-short skirts Uhura wore?

Yeah, you’re damn skippy. They tuned in to see those legs brother.

And that’s cool! I wouldn’t expect any less from red-blooded American teenagers. I mean, until then they had to go all the way to the theaters, drop hard earned coin on black and white serials just to see some action, and even then the quality of the ladies was marginal at best (And let's be honest, just look at some of these guys and tell me if you think they were scoring all kinds of action when in high school.)

But now? Woah brother! This was in color, and right in their living rooms! Right there! Kirk banging some green chick! Hell yeah! And I bet you could hear the cry across America the first time these brainy, geeky teenagers tuned in:

I’ve got to get me some of that!

So they did. They used those big brains and good grades and got into college and pursued the dream of making it into space so they could kick/get ass like Kirk did, and if they had to stare at Uhura’s short skirt and backside every shift, well that was okay too.

So, next time you tune in to some show on Discovery Channel or whatever and this scientist begins to go on about how Star Trek and it’s deep sociological ideals and concepts caused him to study and enter the field of aeronautics or whatever, put that sucker on pause, take a good, looong look at the screen and imagine this guy as a kid back in 1966, glued on the tv screen to check out the hot green alien slut parading around in next to nothing. Yeah, he might be running a line of bullsh*t on us now, but the real reason he got interested is because of the possibility to boldly go where no man has gone before- right up some alien skirt.

And now there is a new Star Trek movie on the horizon, and the producers aren’t fools. They’ve followed the same formula the moviemakers of the X-Men films and Spider-Man flicks and Batman franchise….oh the list goes on.

Bring the sexy, and the closet geeks out there who are too “cool” for the comic books will show up in droves. Why? Because you’re bringing the sexy. Sexy actors, actresses, top notch eye candy for the masses to sink their teeth into because, “if Actor X is cool enough and hot enough to be in the movie, then it’s cool if I go see it”, and that’s the greenlight for all of the superficial asshats out there to flock to the theaters to check it out. Oh, but they aren’t geeks, no, no way. They don’t read comics, but they will shell out fifty bucks to see Chris Pine shake his ass a few times.

But I digress, and that’s a whole other blog topic.

Anyway, the lesson to this theory is that Star Trek brought the sexy to TV, and that’s the reason a majority of folks got interested in the space program and decided to pursue their dreams- but those dreams weren’t of space exploration folks, oh no, it was of getting laid. Plain and simple.. And personally I say Thank God for it. I got no problem with our space program being driven by raging hormones.

No problem at all.

D6 Goodness!

2009-04-18T23:41:00.003-04:00

I've recently become a moderator over at The WEG D6 Fan Forums:

WEG D6 Fan Forums

It's a great community and full of really solid folks. Great conversation and interesting discussions abound, so if you have any interest in D6 RPG's at all, it's definitely worth a look!

Raptor Squad Update!

2009-04-11T09:57:00.002-04:00

The Raptor Squad site has been updated with a brand new feature!

Enjoy!

WWW.Raptorsquad.Net

Scout!!!!

2009-04-09T11:46:00.001-04:00

If you read this shoot me an e-mail. I can't find your addy.

The Deck o' Many Buttkickings

2009-04-08T08:22:00.002-04:00

Yeah, lots of folks don't like this item in D&D but I found the concept intriguing. And he, why not use it, right?

Well....

In my last game of D6 Fantasy, after my players defeated the baddie and saved the day, he granted them draws from the deck. And, because he's an evil bastard, re-draws.

Ouch.

The deck was modified to fit into the D6 system by me, So, here is the major draws my players drew from the deck:

First:

The Bard drew the IDIOT card.
This Reduced his KNW Attribute by 1d Permanently. It also allowed him the option to draw again, which he did.

The Bard re-drew and drew the JESTER Card.
This card gave him the choice of 100 cp's or two more draws from the deck. He chose the 100'cp.s

Second:
The Ranger drew the DONJON card.
This card immediately signifies Imprisonment. Either by the Imprisonment spell or physical imprisonment. All gear and items are stripped from the PC. This means that he is imprisoned somewhere and his stuff has been taken from him (but he could still get it back).
He disappeared from the game for now.

Third:
The Dwarf drew the STAR card.
Immediately gained 1D to any attribute score.

Fourth:

The Mage drew the TALONS card.
When this card is drawn, every magic item owned or possessed by the character is instantly and irrevocably gone.

Fifth:
The Cleric drew the TALONS card.
When this card is drawn, every magic item owned or possessed by the character is instantly and irrevocably gone.

NEXT
The Baddie offered more draws for anyone who wished to take them (Eeeeeeeeviillllllll!)

Sixth:
The Bard re-drew and drew the VOID card.

This black card spells instant disaster. The character�s body continues to function, as though comatose, but her psyche is trapped in a prison somewhere�in an object on a far plane or planet, possibly in the possession of an outsider. A wish or a miracle does not bring the character back, instead merely revealing the plane of entrapment. Draw no more cards. ***
More on this below.

Seventh & Eighth:
The Dwarf re-drew and drew the GEMS card.

The character must change to a radically different alignment. If the character fails to act according to the new alignment, they lose 2d off all skills. The Dwarf chose to loose the 2d off ALL skills.

Ninth:
The Cleric re-drew and drew the FOOL card.
Loose 3D from all of your skills and you MUST draw again.

Yeah, again, ouch.

There were a few decent draws in there, but overall this group appears to have the absolute worst luck, well, ever.

One of the things I do like is how the deck can change the course of a game. Before, my players had a few things on their plate, but now? Now they not only have to find and rescue their Ranger from a prison they have no idea the location of, they then have to track down and find out what happened to the soul of their Bard.

Yeah, it kind of shook things up a little- which I like. It makes things interesting and in addition now gives my players a definite path and goal, so while it bites that they drew some of the worst possible cards, it's great becuase it instantly created several adventures for me.

So, has anyone else used this? Do you like it? Dislike it? Did it result in any wild or unpredictable things happening?

Oh, and for those interested, I used the following deck:

http://www.greenronin.com/store/product/grr3004.html

Cad Bane....Intergalactic Rip-Off

2009-03-23T08:22:00.007-04:00

Yeah, so about this "new" bounty hunter Cad Bane appearing on Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series....

Thing is, I liked him a hell of a lot better the first time I saw him...back in 1986:

Yeah, see this guy in the image to the left? For you younglings, his name is Eddie, and he's the mascot for the heavy metal group Iron Maiden. Yeah....and that image? From 1986, you know, over TWENTY years ago?

So..checklist for both!

1. Brown Eddie-style fedora? Check.

2. Brown Eddie-style coat? Check

3. Gaunt face? Check!

4. Cybernetics? Check!

So...just to clarify...someone with George's cash backing them can't do any better than to come up with a rip-off of a heavy metal icon that showed up over two decades ago?

How proud. Nice "character design" guys! Really earning that paycheck from Lucasfilm, huh? What are we going to see next? Four bounty hunters dressed up in black leather and spikes with white and black make-up and themes like "Starchild", "The Demon" "Cat Man" and "Space Ace"?

I really look forward to it. Nice work.

And yeah, I know people are going to throw Eastwoods name into the mix, but the only thing robotic about Clint's "Man With No Name" was his acting (which I liked).

Mah. This is why I create my own Star Wars universe and leave the crap to Hollywood.

Oh, and for the record? Eddie would eat Cad's lunch and send him home crying to mama. Count on it sideways Fanboys.

Happy Anniversary to US!

2009-03-21T16:36:00.005-04:00

My wife, Elfgirl, has just created a fantastic anniversary gift for the Raptor Squad site!

It is now gracing the front page, and I couldn't be happier with it!

Thanks honey!

You can see it by heading over to:

www.Raptorsquad.Net

Enjoy!!!

Ten Years Man...TEN.....YEARS!

2009-03-18T14:06:00.003-04:00

Woah!

I almost forgot! My old age must be creeping up on me!

This month marks my tenth year straight of gaming!

Long history short...I came to my senses back in 1999 and got divorced. Living in Cincinnati, I had no real family or friends, so smart money was on moving back home to the Louisville area where I was originally from.

I did so, and upon my return, a good friend of mine, "Scout" asked if I wanted to run a game his brother "Linny" was running. At first I didn't have much interest...a lot was going on...I almost even skipped the first Saturday morning session we had planned after I worked late the night before.

But I showed up and it literally changed my life forever.

I met new friends (both online and off), it gave my future wife and I something to talk about (and she eventually joined the group after I decided I was going to keep her around for a bit) and a lot of pluses and minuses came out of it.

But I don't dwell on the bad stuff, Life is too short- I focus on the pluses.

So! Here I am, ten years later and I can honestly say it's been one hell of a ride and I got an E Ticket that I don't plan on turning in any time soon. I still got plenty of years of gaming left in these bones and there are still lots of stories to tell over at www.RaptorSquad.Net

But I do want to say this, to my friend "Scout", "Linny" my old GM, and the other fellas that allowed me to sit down at that table on that cool March morning way back in 1999 and bring a PC named "Vic Palisades" to life:

Thank you. It opened up a whole world for me and despite anything else that has happened between all of us, I appreciate what you did and what you allowed me to participate in.

That's it folks! I've got work to do on the site so I better get back to it.

Here's to another ten years!!!

Getting My Groove (back) On!

2009-03-16T08:59:00.002-04:00

It's back babies!

It leaves for a few months, then comes back in force!

Keep your eyes on the Raptor Squad site for more new stuff, or keep em locked here for updates!

Wow, EIGHT Years?

2009-03-07T10:39:00.002-05:00

Wow, it’s already been eight years since RaptorSquad.Net has been up and running- that’s damn hard to believe. But true it is fiends! Anyway, this month we don’t have much Star Wars related to throw at you, but rest assured that new material is in the works. For now though, I’m going to be showcasing one of several other RPG projects I’ve worked on in the past with my gaming group.
At the bottom of the Raptor Squad page you will find a link to the OCW- Outlaw Championship Wrestling. This was a play-by-post wrestling game I ran back in 2007. My group and I had a lot of fun with it, though real life, other endeavors and simple time constraints ended it far before it’s time had come.
The game itself involved players running wrestlers, or stables of wrestlers. Matches were held every week, with the outcome determined by a point system assigned to wrestling holds the players would pick for each grappler. Wrestlers would win “money” based on their performance in the ring that they could redeem for various prizes or advantages. Every Monday night the matches were posted in a weekly write-up, detailing the results in a play-by-play format.
Anyway, some entertaining material was created and I thought it would be fun to unveil it to the world for everyone to see. So, if you are into “rasslin” it might be something you will want to check out.
Hope you enjoy and as always we love to hear your feedback!

ONE YEAR!?!

2009-03-05T08:45:00.003-05:00

I've been doing this blog for ONE YEAR?

SERIOUSLY!?!

Wow it really doesn't feel like it.

Of course there were times where I should have updated more, but in my defense 2008 was a particularly craptacular year.

Well, I have no regrets. So far 2009 is going in the right direction and I'm at a good place in my life and happy. Hopefully this will translate into more goodies for you folks soon.

Anyway, my thanks to all the folks who have commented and given me feedback!

A personal rant to Alan Moore- Shut the hell up

2009-03-04T15:30:00.004-05:00

So, Alan Moore, the "tortured" artiste isn't going to watch the "Watchmen" film.

Big freaking deal.

The problem with Moore, and Frank Miller and all of these snapperhead comic book writers is this misplaced sense of self-worth that Hollywood and the Fanboy nation has instilled in them.

So when one of their "creations" gets picked up by Hollywood, driven downtown, bought dinner and then brutally raped senseless like most Hollywood projects do, they want to cry and whine like little spoiled bitches that their "precious works of art" didn't get translated how THEY would have liked or wanted.

Oh, but these sausage-chewing a-holes will be more than happy to take those nice fat checks from "The Big Evil Hollywood Machine" so they can blow their wad on crack or man-whores or ugly-ass suits.

Look, shut your hole, write your funnybooks, take the money offered and be glad there are enough Fanboys out there that find you at least moderately entertaining to keep your ass form having to go out and get a real job.

Cause I hate to break it to you, but your asses wouldn't last five minutes in the real world- and I don't care how many cigarettes you smoke and how much beer you drink down at "the pub". The second you start thinking you're as bad and hardcore as the protagonists you script in your graphic novels is the day you wake up with your ass in a sling.

Whew.

That felt better.

Sorry for the rage, but I'm tired of the pissing and moaning I hear from these idiots every time a new flick based on their marginally-entertaining funnybooks come out.

Revamp!

2009-03-04T10:46:00.002-05:00

The blog is getting a revamp!

In addition to discussion about the Raptor Squad site and roleplaying in general, in teh near future we will be featuring guest blogs and covering topics such as film, tv, pop-culture and whatever else catches my fancy.

Getting Back to Form....

2009-02-24T11:05:00.003-05:00

Well folks, just a quick update:

I'm back. Surgery went great and I'm slowly getting back to my old self (much to the dismay of the world at large).

Anywho, I've got a game coming up I'm getting ready for and after that hope to jump back into updating the Raptor Squad site and posting things here.

So! You know, keep your eyes open!

When last we left our Hero (Me!!!)

2009-02-10T11:37:00.003-05:00

...I was about to have surgery.

Nothing life threatening (as far as I know) but I wanted everyone who reads this to know why I've not been posting regularly as of late.

Hopefully that wil change in a week or so and I'll be back on a semi-regual schedule.

In addition, I'm getting the writing itch again...so you might see the last installment of Ep.10 coming down the pike soon.

Yay!

Anyway, feel free to send your well wishes my way and keep me in your thoughts as I go under the knife!

When Last we left our Heroes....

2009-01-28T11:09:00.001-05:00

…They had just settled down for a long nap as vampires….

So, we pick up…new year, new props…and FIRE!

Yeah, I had the tavern they were sleeping in set ablaze by a band of gypsies.

The first part of the adventure was frantic fun as I produced an Hourglass of DOOOOOOOOOM and told them they had till time ran out to make rolls to get out of the flaming tavern…it was hectic insane fun.

The rest of the adventure was great and we ran a marathon on Saturday…Fourteen hours straight of gaming.

Yeah, you read that right.

Fourteen.

Marathon!!!!

And it was a blast. The only downside was the craptacular pizza served up by Papa John’s. YOU SUCK PAPA JOHNS!

But I digress…

Some highlights was the group having to fight through a wave of suicidal Kobolds who were hopped up on crack (or Moon Sugar as the Fantasy case may be) who were throwing themselves at the group while grasping alchemical bombs…helping a barbarian Orc tribe who was dying due to their growing fields being polluted by a mage and the acquisition of a cleric for the group, though perhaps not exactly what they expected.

In all it was a lot of fun, and when I can get my players to laugh so hard they turn purple from lack of oxygen, well, there’s the sign of a solid game eh?

The high points? I’ll post the high points this week, but the props this time around had a lot to do with it.

So! Keep your eyes peeled for the good stuff!

Quick Update

2009-01-13T09:19:00.003-05:00

Not much of an update I'm afraid, but I thought I would address my recent absence:

GAMING!

Or more specifically, I'm preparing my game for my group as we speak. It's our first campaign game since October (the holidays play hell with my gaming group) and it's going to be a marathon! I'm guessing it will weigh in around 10-12 hours.

And I got some great stuff planned.

No more info here I'm afraid, as my players visit this blog, but I'm hoping to have pics and info up afterwards, so keep your eyes peeled.

Something else I'm going to do that I've talked about int he past but have yet to follow through on is posting pics of my gaming props. See, I like to think I'm a creative guy, and I love using props in my game. There really isn't any substitute for being able to hold something in your hand that loses you in the game world.

So! Keep watching this space for some stuff soon!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T08:31:00.002-05:00

Enjoy the holidays and time with your family!

Next year this spot will be occupied with a blog focusing on my various roleplaying games, past and present and possibly future, not just on Raptor Squad.

So..keep any eye out!

FEAR! What is it good for? Huh!

2008-12-18T11:18:00.003-05:00

So the D6 Fantasy system has a Mettle skill.

This sometimes comes into play when the characters come up against a monster or creature that can cause them to be terrified. They fail the Mettle roll, they (in theory) will turn and run away in fear.

While this has given rise to several fun and crazy moments in my game, I'm thinking about reworking this and incorporating a house rule:

If you fail your mettle roll you have three options:

1. Flee:(nuff said)

2. Frenzy: You can attack but fear has altered your perception to the point that you are attacking wildly, and therefore your difficulty to hit the target creature has increased two difficulty levels. Missing results in a %50 chance that you hit one of your own teammates.

3.Freeze: You can do nothing the rest of the round but may make another mettle roll to get control of yourself next round.

Some might recognize this ideas as being based on a game called "Unknown Armies," but obviously modified to fit the D6 system.

Personally, I'm diggin it...it gives the player some control over their character rather than saying "Yep, you failed the roll and run away like a scared little bitch," while still penalizing them. but more importantly it gives them a choice, which I'm all about. I hate railroading players and having them feel like the control of their PC has been taken totally out of their hands.

Anyway, I know some Gm's and passersby out there may have some thoughts/opinions on the above and I would love to hear them. So please! Sound off!

The Force will be with you...most of the time....

2008-12-16T09:51:00.003-05:00

Yeah, so, still got the burnout working on the Star Wars…this happens every few months, so no biggie.

So I’m working on some different things and coming to some decisions about the site and life in general…I’ll share them with you now in lieu of any kind of real meaningful post:

1. 2009 is the year I streamline my life.

Yep, there are gonna be some BIG changes in my life in the coming year. I won't go into great detail, because some of it is kinda private, but in the turmoil of the stock market and economy and whirlwind of madness that makes up this crazy world I am resolute in that I am going to have a better year and things are going to go well for me, personally, financially and heck, lets go ahead and throw spiritually in there, cause I'm a Gawd lovin guy.

2. I'll work on the Raptor Squad site when I got time.

Just what it says. I'm not going to kill myself like I have in the past, as I see no real point. I do this for free, no one pays me (at least not yet) and it's all about doing something I love for fun. So! Updates? They happen when they happen.

3. More focus on my Champion of the North game

I've taken a bit of a break over the holidays, but I'm jumping back in with both feet this year, and turning up the heat! There is a lot of drama and intrigue to be had in my game and I'm going to milk that baby for all its worth!

4. More focus on the home

There are some things I want to get done around our house this year, so, I'm going to spend more time and effort in getting the homestead where I want it. And no, that doesn't mean buying more video game consoles...

I guess thats it.

I know this post was more free-form and open than others but what the hell.

Dag!

2008-12-05T09:33:00.002-05:00

I hate burnout...it comes out of nowhere, sidetracks my best laid plans and doesn't go away until it feels like it.

It sucks.

But, after experiencing this kind of thing for, oh, going on eight years, I know three things:

1. There is no use trying to get past it...just ride it out and let the batteries recharge.

2. It won;t lat forever, though it certainly feels as though it will.

3. When it does subside, the creative juices flow like a river.

So...I'm just going to kick back, enjoy the holidays and do some things that need doing. I suggest everyone do the same.

I'll post more updates when there is something to report on.

Just hit the cabbage button

2008-12-02T11:53:00.003-05:00

I have a theory that if you slap a price tag on something, even if it's an inferior product and worth less than the cost of production , people will automatically assign value to the thing and pay.

Case in point? I have several:

1. Any movie starring Angelina Jolie.
2. Paris Hilton's album.
3. Pugs
4. Segways
5. Iphones

Thats good enough for now.
Anyway, point being, is that I think I'm going to toss a "Donate" button up on the Raptor Squad site.

Why the hell not? I bust my ass creating entertainment and gameaids for the masses (as we've done for, oh, going on eight years now)...and if folks have money to toss away on the crap WOTC puts out, then why not show Raptor Squad some love? Especially considering there are still D6 fans out there and with the death of WEG you can pretty much rule out getting ANYTHING new in the future.

Heck, seing a little jack might even inspire me to work harder on the site than I am now...and if folks toss some coin my way, I figure they got the right to give me some input on what they would liek to see...so win-win...I get monetary incentive, you guys get to pull my strings.

Seems like a decent deal to me. Plus most of you need to kick your crack habit and this is a good cause to redirect your money to.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T14:06:00.001-05:00

Here is the States it’s that wondrous time when we slaughter a bird, stuff it with goodies and toss its ass in the oven.

That being said, Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much to speak of on the website front…I’ve got several irons in the fire…not just Raptor Squad stuff but a brand new venture I might be rolling out next year as well. I’ll keep you updated on it.

So! For my fellow countrymen, enjoy our day of thanks, and for everyone around the world, take time out to be thankful for what you have and the good things going on in your life.

“Our stay on earth is not for long. Let us rejoice and believe and give thanks."-Hemingway

Aqua Teen Hunger Suck

2008-11-25T10:10:00.004-05:00

Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Used to be funny, now it's just stupid.

But I expect the brainless to continue to watch, because, if I 've learned nothing else in life, it's that most people who walk the earth are sheep and incapable of independent thought.

Of course if you are reading this blog it means you are likely NOT a sheep and possessing of good taste. Or you're here by accident, in which case you should move along. I'm sure there is a Paris Hilton or Kanye West website calling your name.

So congrats on that.

But Carl is still funny as hell.

Oh and what does this have to do with Star Wars or my website?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

VIVA REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Times

2008-11-18T15:32:00.003-05:00

I got to sit on the other side of the GM screen this weeekend and had a blast.

I played a rogue in a D&D game and it was a lot of fun throwing some dice around, doing some morally questionable things and overall just cutting loose.

It had been YEARS since I was able to game and not GM.

So...good times.

It's been decided!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-13T12:05:00.003-05:00

After much deliberation and input, the newest team members of Raptor Squad will be:

A short, wise-cracking black orphan and his older brother, both of whom come from an orphanage in the "bad part of space".

Look for it next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Old Old School!!!!

2008-11-12T10:43:00.002-05:00

Elfgirl and I were talking the other day about catalogs from the 70's and toys we had when we were kids.

Besides being able to find video of a naked asian man in a bear mask being violated by an animatronic pony, the internet is wonderful when you want to track down some of your youth.

Check out the following sites! I had many of the toys featured there and it brought back some memories!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.plaidstallions.com/

http://www.bugeyedmonster.com/

Anyone born after 1980 really need not bother unless you want to see some vintage stuff!!!!!!!!!

Mixing It Up!

2008-11-12T10:20:00.003-05:00

Im considering "creating" a new team member for Raptor Squad.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but I would like suggestions and ideas.

"Creating?" you may ask.

Yep. I'm thinking about creating an all new team member (or two!) that never existed as a player character in our game, and that will only exist as a totally new contruct for the fiction.

Crazy huh?

Yeah, but thats how I roll. It not only keeps it fresh for me, but will throw some new elements into the story that not even the old players will be familiar with.

Again, still in the planning and ironing out stages, but Im open to ideas and suggestions.

Soo sound off ya monkeys!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T00:03:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween!

In this latest Raptor Squad update we are featuring Episode 10 Book 2, which (obviously) continues the events set in motion in Book 1. In this installment we see the introduction of several seminal Raptor Squad personalities, the most prolific of which is the Tapani Nobleman Xander Paddox. Also introduced is New Republic Liaison Jonus Kable who starts to mix things up right out of the gate.
Both are wonderful characters I had a lot of fun writing and you’ll hopefully enjoy in this fiction. Sometimes I struggle with how to portray certain characters in our fiction, but I feel the best way is to show them with all of their flaws intact. Basing them on the characters played around the table by real people is integral, because as the players we all had our own characters flaws and imperfections that invariably made their way into our characters.
It’s these flaws that really flesh out and make Raptor squad not only believable but easier to relate to. Vic is stubborn and had trouble with women; Klux has a lack of confidence and direction; Koort has questionable interpersonal skills and far overestimates his abilities- and the list goes on.
As most know, in fan fiction there are always tendencies by inexperienced writers to fall into the “Mary Sue” trap- portraying the heroes of the fiction as more important/heroic than those that originally appeared in the canon work. I take pride in saying that I feel you won’t find that in our fiction, as Raptor Squad has problems. Real problems. The heroes aren’t always heroic, the things they do don’t always work out and in the end the characters have significant flaws that makes them living breathing subjects rather than some writers “hero fantasy” where everyone is perfect and can do no wrong.
Nope. In this fiction you get blemishes and all. But being heroic isn’t about how many stormtroopers you can kill or how many planets you save- it’s about the sacrifices you make and how you live with those decisions and consequences that define a hero.
So! Enjoy the fiction! I worked hard on it, and owe a great deal of thanks to my wife Tracy (as always) who is not only my muse but my best friend and proofreader and without whom this fiction would never even see the light of day. As always, we encourage feedback! Tell us what you like, didn’t like or what (or who) you would like to see more of!

Welcome to the Eighties!

2008-10-28T14:26:00.004-04:00

The 80’s ruled.

I’m sorry, they did. I can point to a million reasons why, but I’ll summarize:

1. Better movies
2. Better music
3. I was younger
4. Better Candy
5. Starlog Magazine still ruled.

See? Now there might be some of you who disagree, and that’s fine. You would also be wrong. But don’t let that drag you down- you just don’t know any better.

Point is, I used to love me some Starlog Magazine.

See, back in the 80's before the interweb, where you could get movie info before they even write a damn script, you had to get information on flicks and sci-fi through magazines, tv shows and word of mouth. Not easy to do when most media still thought of sci-fi as “goofy kids stuff” and rarely reported on anything new and word of mouth only took you as far as folks with like interests.
But real news stories on sci-fi, those were hard to come by.

Enter Starlog magazine.

Starlog was THE magazine for sci-fi buffs like me, packed with pics, stories and all manner of goodness that made my little eight year old heart flutter. Back when Chris Reeve was sporting the Big Red “S” and a film named “TRON” set the movie world on its ear with its cutting edge computer graphics, Starlog was the magazine that brought you the updates and stories that whet your appetite.

So why am I talking about it now?

Because, like most things from my childhood- all of my issues were either read to tatters or disappeared over time. I regret to say I don’t thave even one issue left from those halcyon days. But no worries! There is always back issues to spend my hard earned dollars on, right?

Well, there was till I read this line the other day:

“On Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007 at approximately 11 a.m. a warehouse, operated by Kable News, in Oregon, Illinois containing back issues of Starlog and Fangoria burned to the ground.”

Damn.

So, crushed, I thought my childhood treasure trove would never return to my hands- that those wonderful magazines would forever be but hazy memories, tinted by the sepia tones of hot summer days sitting in my Aunt Wilma’s back yard reading about some movie called “Heavy Metal”.

Ah, but if the interweb is good for nothing else besides deviant pornography and pirated music, it is most certainly good for one other thing:

EBAY!

That’s right! For a mere pittance I will soon have in my hands over two dozen copies of Starlog dating back from the late 70’s to early 80’s!

YEAH!

Needless to say I’m freaking thrilled. And you can bet these bad boys are going to be treated like they were woven from freaking gold.

And don’t even bother asking if you can borrow one- the sound of me laughing in your face might be too much for you to handle- especially if I’ve been eating a lot of garlic.

If you’re lucky I might let you watch as I read them from a distance.

On the website front, the update is coming along better than I expected! So you can look forward to seeing it roll out sometimes this Friday!!!!

STARLOG!

Another update on the update? Madness!

2008-10-23T14:35:00.002-04:00

Yep, looks like I’m going to hit my Halloween deadline.

Only downside is that I won’t be able to post as many vehicles and such like I normally do. Basically this update will see the new fiction, a few new profiles, a few new pics for existing profiles and of course artwork for the fiction.

Still, a nice offering that I want to have up for everyone’s enjoyment.

Now, Book 3, now that sucker is going to be coming with some fanfare. I’m planning on having new profiles, pics, a new feature, new vehicles/starships…lots of good stuff for that update.

I would like to promise a News Year Day rollout but I can’t/won't. Besides hating placing time limits on my creativity, the holidays tend to throw a wrench into the works in all manner of unexpected ways…soo…….

Take your time and enjoy Book 2 when it comes out! And of course keep your eyes open for Book 3! I won’t give away any spoilers other than to say that yes, there will be some meaningful deaths in Book 3! Not sorry attempts at “shock” deaths peddled out by all of the hacks currently writing Star Wars novels.

And like I said previously, I'm thinking about compiling all three books into one volume and getting it printed for those interested...especially since it's going to weigh in between 5-600 pages and having it in your hands would be a lot easier when it comes to enjoying.

Keep watch for more details!

It’s a fine line between cool and lame

2008-10-20T14:35:00.000-04:00

I’m one of the fortunate ones.

I remember when Boba Fett was cool.

I mean badass cool.

I remember seeing him for the first time (and not the craptacular version on the Holiday Special- I’m talking the Jeremy Bulloch version in Empire). So I remember when he swaggered on the scene, showing folks why he was The Man.

Then?

Then the worst thing that can happen did:

They decided to tell his story.

Now 20+ years later he’s a joke. You look him up on Wookieepedia and instead of a paragraph about how mysterious and badass he is, you have pages and pages of crap- some nonsense about him having kids or grandkids, running the Mandalorians, saving the Solo’s and like all of their kids or some crap. And don’t even get me started about what they did to the Mandalorians.

As Jeremy Bulloch told me when I met him: “It’s all a bit of rubbish. If I saw those writers who shat all over ‘The Fett I would stab them in the throat with a bit of glass.”

Ok, he didn’t actually say that when I met him, but dammit I could see it in his eyes.

So, this is what the Fett has become?

PPHHHHHHHHHHPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.

Not for me.

For me, Boba Fett is still cool and mysterious- and all of the stories these two-bit hacks have scribbled out about him?

Don’t exist kids. Not in my world.

Save for a handful of great stories from Dark Horse Comics that came out years ago, all this Vong crap and nonsense? Never happened.

You want a watered down old dude as your Boba Fett, go ahead, have a ball. Not me. My Boba Fett is still the badass that beat out all of the other bounty hunters to nab Solo and blasted his way out of the Sarlacc.

Yeah, cause I know cool. And that’s just how it’s gonna be.

Tour De Force!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-17T14:26:00.002-04:00

Just a minor update on the upcoming update. So an update on the update, if you will.

Book 2 is done, and just needs a few tweaks and should be good to go by the Halloween deadline.

But Book 3?

Wow.

No, I mean, WOW.

See, I was happy to be about 120 pages in and thinking I was close to having that puppy wrapped up…then I reworked my outline (yes kids, I do use outlines like real writers) and now?

Damn, this sucker is looking to weigh in at 250 pages easy.

Which is going to put the entire Episode 10 in the 550-600 page range.

Now that is some serious writing folks!

And I’m really happy with it. Oh sure, you can always go back and nitpick and pick apart your writing and look at things you could have done better/different (I do it all the time with my earlier stuff), but if you don’t settle down, put a seal of approval on it and get it out the door you’ll never get it finished.

I’m also driven by the great feedback I’m getting from folks on this fiction- everyone seems to like it and I won’t lie- it’s nice to have folks tell me I should be writing for a living or that my stuff rivals/exceeds what is already put out there by “established” authors. And these are folks who read- a lot.
To be sure it’s an ego boost- but way more importantly it gives me the enthusiasm to keep writing and continuing the Raptor Squad stories.

Hell, if I wasn't already so 'financially secure' where I work I might actually consider quitting and taking up writing full time.

Anyway! I’m still holding on to the dream of having Book 3 posted by year’s end, bringing this portion of Raptor Squad's story to a close while opening oh so many other doors.

So, keep your eyes open!

These Pipes Are Clean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-09T15:27:00.002-04:00

Anyone who can match the subject line with the movie it came from gets a No-Prize.

Anyone who knows what a No-Prize is gets, you guessed it, another No-Prize.

Anyway, Book 2 is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meaning, the final is done. It's been polished, refined and checked for glaring spelling and grammatical errors and is ready to be published to the site.

Yay!

Good stuff. Now I just need to get the art done and it will be posted!

So Much to Do!

2008-10-08T08:28:00.001-04:00

Well, fortunately, things have begun to quiet down a bit in my life (between hurricanes showing up in the Midwest, my wife being sick and finally getting that under control and my mom going through all sorts of stuff lately I’m thrilled to be able to utter that last sentence), so I’m able to redirect some focus onto the next update. I’m almost done proofreading Book 2, now I just need to buckle down and get some artwork done for it. Likely we won’t have a lot of starships or profile bios to add to this upcoming update, for the simple fact that most of the characters that show up in the fiction already have bio pages. Still, it’s a good piece of writing and really gets into some serious character development- not that there won’t be action! There will be! But it’s not going to be loaded up like in Book 1 or Book 3 (which is almost complete- well, the rough anyway).

So! If I’m able to buckle down and get things moving this week, I’m hoping to have the update completed and up by Halloween.

And for those of you who are reading this current fiction arc and giving me great feedback- I appreciate it! Keep those comments and feedback coming! It really helps me to see what you like and what you can do without and where to direct my energies.

Added all the tasty bits, now it just needs some polish...

2008-09-29T08:22:00.002-04:00

Yep, Episode 10 Book 2 has all the additional bits added...now I just need to polish it up, do some spell checking and it will be good to go!

Looks like it will weight in at 175 pages worth of fictional goodness for you all to enjoy! Hey! Save yourself some cash and quit dumping it on those crappy NEw Jedi order books and just read our fiction! Badass! And it's free!

So, the good news is it looks like it will be rolled out on time! The other good news is that it will be even bigger than the last intstallment. The downside?

None I can see right now. I'll keep you posted.

Hey! Thanks for checking us out!

2008-09-26T12:06:00.002-04:00

This month we've experienced our highest total monthly page views ever!

WOO HOO!

It's great to see you folks are still out there checking us out and digging our stuff! And of course there is plenty more goodness on the way...new fiction (of course) and as always, Vehicles, NPC's and other odds and ends to either bring into your campaign or to just check out while you kill time.

So! Keep your eyes open! Lots of entertaining stuff is on the way and you won't want to miss a page of it!

Yeah, well when you look at it Empire had a lot of character development stuff too...

2008-09-24T11:48:00.003-04:00

Wow, Book 2 is kinda taking on a life of it's own....

I mean, I'm adding some things in there, and the further I get into the dialogue between characters there is a lot thats really being put out on teh table...

Again, this is what happens when you give a character a voice and allow them to interact.

Still, I think it's all good stuff...assuming you like characters with more than one dimension who only serve as cannon fodder.

Anyway! Just a rambling thought I figured I would toss out there. It looks like it may certainly be the longest, book in the episode- though Boko 3 might eclipse it as well.

Might have to start offering these as printed sets when they are done...anyone interested can certainly e-mail me.

:-)

Tentative RS Site Update Schedule

2008-09-24T10:07:00.002-04:00

Of course all updates will feature new bios, stats, vehicles artwork and everything else you’ve come to expect and cherish from Raptorsqaud.Net:

October: Book II Published

December: Book III Published

January: Special Feature! Be sure to check this out!

March-June: Next Fiction Published

Of course all this is (as always) dependent on Star Wars burnout/real life and everything else that tends to throw wrenches into the works.

Is it me?

2008-09-22T14:44:00.002-04:00

Just caught a feature on Gears of War 2.

The interviewer asked one of the creators if they were going to include A feature where you could pull of an enemies arm and beat them to death with it.

His response was “No, that was a line we didn’t want to cross.”

Cool, ok I can understand that, I mean, considering these games are nothing but interactive gore porn I applauded them for actually having a line to cross to begin with.

Then, not a second later, they show in-game footage of an enemy crawling away, wounded, missing like, both legs or something, and the “hero” basically unloading his weapon into the guys back and his body exploding into about six different pieces.

Well thank God they didn’t cross any lines!

Hey! Here’s an idea: instead of making it so easy to kill this enemy, why not make it a part of the game where you get more points for getting him to a hospital and get his ass some attention and keep him as a prisoner of war? Oh right, because most of the enemies in these sorry ass games are all “evil with no sense of redemption or loss over what they did”…right, no, that’s original, it really is. But more importantly for these useless hacks like Cliffy B or whatever his dumb ass is calling himself these days, it’s easy. See? That’s what it comes down to- create a blockhead of a “hero” with cool name, armor and guns, three sentences of a backstory and just set him loose on his killing spree. Because it’s easy and unfortunately there are enough people out there with disposable income who are willing to throw it at this unimaginative tripe.

But hey, your money, so feel free to waste it as you see fit.

I don’t know…back in the day I used to really love video games, and still do I guess. But some of this crap they come out with these days seems to fall on one side or the other- either goofy mindless turn-based anime or ultra-violent blood fests where you get labeled a “hero” based on how many kills you rack up.

Yeah, maybe it’s age, experience or a little bit of both, but I think there is enough real mindless violence in the world we have to deal with that we don’t need video games coming out that just adds to it and labels itself as “entertainment”.

And it’s sad, because some game designers do work hard to elevate their craft to a level that would be considered “art”, while others just slop a new coat of paint on crap and puke it back out to consumers. Games like Fable, Beyond Good and Evil, and Oblivion- those are games that cross the line from simply being a game to being a work of art- an interactive experience that can actually change you as a person and make you think about the consequences of your actions-while other games are about as fulfilling as mini rice cakes.

And I’m familiar with the old argument “its not the games that cause kids to flip out and go psycho”...and I used to believe that too…but now? I don’t know…while I don’t think the games themselves are entirely to blame, I think they do share some responsiblity- along with movies, tv and yes, of course, parents who don’t teach their kinds any freaking better. And unfortunately there are a lot of these kinds of parents out there.

I guess this isn’t so much about our website- though I would like to believe that when you see (or read) violent content in our fiction it has a frame of reference- there is a reason for it- it’s not simply mindless bloody carnage for the sake of mindless bloody carnage- plus Star Wars just isn’t that. Yeah, while we may be creating our own “mature” mythology, that doesn’t mean it’s mature just because we have over the top violence and sex- those are both the hallmarks of not only immature writers and creators, but lazy, sloppy ones as well. Don’t believe me? Go to your local comics shop and browse the titles- I would guess over 70% fall prey to these very problems.

Anyway, it just seems like for all of the money and “work” that goes into most of these games anymore, people aren’t actually even trying to make good games- just rehashing the same old crap and slapping new cover art on it.

But that’s cool, they have every right to make, market and sell it, and as a consumer I have every right to pretend it just doesn’t exist.

Sad thing is I seem to be doing that with a lot of the “entertainment” that gets produced these days.

Anyway, just my two cents. I think I’ll go home and play me some Centipede or Frogger now.

This website is rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some hot nubbin'

2008-09-19T15:19:00.002-04:00

You know, if I were to apply a MPAA rating to our website I think it would weigh in at a respectable PG-13. Truth is, after looking back at some of our fiction, and the fiction that is to come, there are a lot of complex characters and some “adult” situations (and no fanboyz, not just physcial interactions- though there is some of that) that arise that may be too deep and mature for a lot of the SWRPG Community.
Now, while that may sound like a slam, it’s really not. Or if it is, don’t take it personally, or if you do at least hear me out, as it certainly doesn’t apply to everyone in the community.
Fact is, is that Star Wars is generally directed at younger audiences, and the Raptor Squad game was played by adults, who, while enjoying themselves and sticking to the overall feel of Star Wars, found themselves in more morally and emotionally questionable situations facing NPC’s villains that had more psychologically complex profiles than what you saw in the films.

And, not to go off on a tangent, but I think that is one of the reasons the prequels didn’t go over as well- Old George wanted to shoot a 3-film psychological profile of why Vader became Vader and after all was said and done, folks realized it wasn’t really that great of a story- but let’s be honest, after the mystery and buildup of TWENTY freaking years, there was little he could write or create that would live up to most fan’s expectations.

Oh, and the fact that there was no one you could really relate to in the prequels, unless you were a monk (Jedi) or a teenage girl with a thing for psychotic ten year-olds (Amidala).

Anyway, I think at the end of the day, what was begun around our gaming table and what I’m creating now with the site and fiction is more rich, full and artistically satisfying than what I saw in the prequels- because there is simply more meat to it and I have a venue that lends itself to this kind of character development. Yeah, I know this is a given, but it certainly explains my drive to continue the story…because, the characters are damn good characters and the story is a damn good story.

I also think this is one of the reasons why it’s hard for some folks to jump into our fiction and give it a try- there is so much history and complexity that it would take some thought and even emotional investment on a readers part to immerse themselves in the Raptor Squad universe.

But I also believe (based on what others have told me) that the investment is worth it. I like to think it is.

Otherwise I wouldn’t continue to create our own mythology.

Hopefully in the future (near future) I’ll be able to create a “Raptor Squad” primer-something that folks will be able to look at and read and get the general gist of the story and then jump in without having missed much (Marvel Comics had to take the same approach about ten years ago when their characters just accumulated so much history it was impossible to just pick up a simple comic and start reading). I think something like that would help folks get into our fiction without being lost and then allow them to go back and re-read the previous volumes to see the intricacies and dynamics that you can only understand and appreciate through reading the actual stories.

Basically a Raptor Squad Cliff’s Notes.

Just make sure Mr.Berg doesn’t catch you with it, or else he’ll toss it dead in the trash. Trust me, I seen him do it.

More Magic Mushrooms!

2008-09-15T13:56:00.001-04:00

So, much to the dismay of my boys Big Al and Mikey and possibly a few other folks, I’ve realized I’ve inadvertently lied.

Gasp! Shock!

See, I’ve been talking about how Book 2 of the Episode 10 has been done for a while and is almost ready to go…but upon reading it, and polishing it, I’m realizing it simply needs…well…more.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s already weighing in at about 150 pages, and it’s really good stuff…I’m very happy with it and how it ties into Book 1 and how it opens things up and leaves a cliffhanger for Book 3…but there are some spots that end much too abruptly…that need more meat added…not just to beef up the page count mind you (which I never really pay attention to anyway- I tell a story and it takes as long as it takes-it’s not like my publisher is demanding three hundred pages a pop or anything), but…I don’t know…it’s just lacking in some spots and I feel the characters simply have more to say and I haven’t given them a chance to.

That’s the funny think about fiction. When you are in the zone and writing, you quite literally let the characters take over…you give them a voice, put them in a situation and let them go. It’s like I’ve told Elfgirl- I don’t write the fiction- that characters do. Sure, I’ve got an outline and a plot so that there is some structure to the story, but if the characters are rich, vibrant and real, then all I really need to do is drop them into a situation and let them go and see what happens.

To be honest, sometimes I’m even surprised at their actions myself.

So! What does this mean? Hopefully, not much. I was hoping to roll out the fiction and next update around the end of October, and I’m still planning on that, assuming I can work some time into my schedule to sit down and get some more writing done on Book 2. But, on the outside chance it takes a few extra weeks (which it really shouldn’t) I felt like it would be only right to give everyone a heads up.

But, like I’ve said before- hopefully the wait will be worth it!

Graphically Speaking....

2008-09-08T15:15:00.003-04:00

Man I love me some art.

Now, if you’ve ever even glimpsed the RS site you know this to be an understatement. But, fact is, I’ve loved artwork and the practice of creating ever since I was a little kid and drew my first picture of various snakes and reptiles (which would eventually get ripped in half by my no-talent brother out of sheer meanness- but I digress).

Anyway, I love all manner of art, and even though I’m kinda in a “#-d CGI” phase right now, that doesn’t mean I still don’t enjoy the more traditional methods, or, traditional methods using new technology.

That’s why I’ve been picking up some of the Instructional Gnomon DVD’s.

For you artists out there, these are a real treat. You get to check out some of your favorite artists and how they work, create and develop all of those beautiful pieces of art that you see on their websites and in “The Art of Star Wars” books.

Right now I’ve got around ten of these bad boys and I watch them whenever I get the chance. Really great stuff, and there’s tons of em out there- covering everything from creating tattoo’s to digital painting to working in a variety of mediums and 3d programs to sculpting. I’ve got more on my wishlist, but I can honestly say that I’ve not been disappointed with any of them.

Now, they are a little pricey- usually they go for about $50-60 each, but sometimes you might be able to find them used on Amazon or someone selling them on Ebay.

Still, if you are an artist and have the cabbage to spend, I highly recommend picking some up. Really great stuff and a fountain of information.

Hopefully I’ll get around to working in more traditional media soon and roll out some of my new stuff in the “Art of Raptor Squad” project I’ve been working on. I’ll keep you guys updated more on that here.

For now, head on over and check out some of the cool stuff:
The Gnomon website is: www.thegnomonsworkshop.com

Stop by and check it out!

The "Golden Age" Begins!

2008-09-01T04:52:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day!
And for the record, you have no idea how much work and effort went into this latest update, but I would like to think it was well worth the wait. This ti9me around we have the first Book in Episode 10. This sees the introduction of Ubese bounty hunter Koort Ter’chon and kicks off what the players referred to as the “Golden Age” of Raptor Squad: the period of time where the team really came together and hit its stride. I’m very proud of this latest fiction and hope you enjoy reading it. It’s a bit long (almost 150 pages!) but I think it’s good quality stuff and a good “jumping on” point for new readers who may have been apprehensive about trying some of our fiction out given the team has so much history.
But! There’s more! As always you can enjoy the quality artwork done by myself and Elfgirl, as well as new profiles, ships and others goodies sprinkled throughout the site! So! Enough of my yammering! Dive in, check it out and as always we love to hear from you!

Feel free to head over to and check us out!!!

Old School history lesson

2008-08-26T12:44:00.003-04:00

You know, there have been a lot of great Star Wars D6& D20 sites that have faded into oblivion. I remember Jedi Sanctuary, a very cool site from when I first started browsing the web looking for good rpg sites. The Tales of the Freespirit was a great one run by IJ Thompson. Legacy of Strife was solid and had some great material, of course who can forget Dark Lords of the Sith or Servais Sector? Classics the lot of em.

I think it’s a shame those sites aren’t around any longer. That being said, I would like to construct a “shrine” to those old great sites over at Raptorsquad.net.

Preferably something with a few screen caps of what the site looked like, maybe even some stats that stood out, and I think a word from the former webmaster about the site, what drove them to create it and what they have been up to recently and even perhaps why they aren’t (or weren’t) able to keep it up and running would be nice as well.

Anyway, this is of course entirely dependent on how many of the “old timers” and webmasters of those sites are still out there and interested in such a project. It shouldn’t take too much time to participate and I think the community would like to hear from you. I also think it’s important to see some of our history preserved.

So! If you ran an old SWRPG website (D6 OR D20, it’s all good) or you are still in touch with some of the old webmasters and can let them know about this, Drop me a line @ vic@raptorsquad.net or just reply here.

Genwho?

2008-08-21T12:12:00.002-04:00

Apparently Gencon was this past weekend.

Yeah, I’ve never been.

Yep, you heard right you monkeys, I live just two hours (less if I use my sweet Knight Rider driving skillz) down the road from Indy and I’ve never been.

And I call myself a gamer?

Sure.

Just going to some convention to hang around people I don’t know to look at games I don’t have an interest in to play games with people I’ll never see again…oh, and I get to pay a few hundred bucks (at least) for the experience?

Damn, sign me up now.

Don’t get me wrong, I know folks who love it, get into it and do it every year. And that’s cool and all, but the appeal has just never really been there for me. I’ve been to different cons before and they are generally a mixed bag, but Gencon just never really jumped out at me as something I would want to spend the money, or, more importantly, the time on.

So, while you get tons of gaming blogs this week littered with Gencon reports and how cool it was and all of that fantastic stuff, I’ll give you handful of readers something a bit different:

Cause' hot Twi'lek chicks rule apparently.

Labor Day!

2008-08-19T13:07:00.002-04:00

The day on which I will labor to get the new update posted!

Yep, come hell or high water the new fiction & update will go up on Sept. 1st.

What will be included you ask?

New fiction, new good guys, new bad guys, new starships, new locations, new artwork (of course)...

You know, the usual batch of coolness.

So, mark your calanders!

Try not to drip any blood on the floor on your way to the afterlife

2008-08-19T10:06:00.001-04:00

Yeah, so I turned my players into vampires.

They needed to infiltrate the vampiric underworld to get close to a clan elder who was the target of their nemesis, and the only way to do that was to, well, become vampires.

They never saw it coming.

I like throwing crazy stuff at them occasionally…I mean, going in, fighting vampires for the good of the kingdom and all that…sure, that’s real heroic.

But what kind of sacrifice will you make? That is what defines heroism. Real heroism. Not the Saturday morning cartoon variety.

So, will you sacrifice your humannity and possibly your soul?

That was the question.

Going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

Shout out to my man Big Al!

2008-08-14T15:42:00.002-04:00

Big shout out to my man Big Al!

He left a comment about what I thought of Hellboy: The Golden Army, and I responded but for the life of me I have no idea where his post or my comments went.

Sucked into the great beyond thanks to crappy "technology" is my guess.

Anyway, just wanted to give him a big shout out, tell him it was great to see him at the movies and to drop by here and comment more often! It’s gamers and friends like he and the rest of you that keep me going and creating and writing the adventures of Raptor Squad (and yeah, that even applies to folks who don’t comment or come around too often. But I know you’re still out there reading-and hopefully –enjoying!)

(Sorry I missed you Mike, Big Al said you were on the way and I kept an eye out but didn’t see you before we went in to see the flick.)

Oh, and for the record? Update coming…hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks.

I pinky swear.

So you know I'm serious!

Flame Wars...nothing but Flame wars....

2008-08-12T14:09:00.002-04:00

I think it goes without saying at this point that I dig me some Star Wars. So, I totally understand the love the some folks have for it. Really, I do. Hell, after all of the time and effort I’ve spent chronicling the adventures of Raptor Squad, trust me, I understand having an unbridled passion for something.
What I don’t get is why some folks feel the need to argue, demean and in some cases be downright nasty to those fans who have different ideas or theories about that galaxy “far, far away.”

Really, you’re not impressing anyone. Seriously.

I mean, I’ve seen people get in heated flame wars over the size of a Star Destroyer. I’ve seen fans get red it the face and damn near pop because someone suggests a different viewpoint about how Jedi should or shouldn’t act. And I won’t even go into the whole Star Wars vs Star trek battles or, God forbid, the D6 vs D20 debate.

I mean, why?

It’s especially troublesome to see, especially since there are (more often than not) numerous “official” sources that occasionally contradict one another. So you theoretically could have two people arguing the same point and both be “right” because old George, in between puffs on a big fat blunt, decided to sign off on two different things without having his flunkies go back and check to see what he’d already approved.

Yeah, that helps.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older- too damn old to care or too damn old to see the point- but when I see these kind of threads, posts, blogs etc I just shake my head now and laugh. At the argument, the posters and the poor moderators who not only have to read through this retarded sh*t, but try to make sense of it and keep the peace as well.

To fight, argue and get enraged (and yeah, you know some of you out there do, don’t deny it Fanboy) over a work of fiction, that, as has been proven, can be and usually IS revised and retooled to Lucas’ wishes depending on what mood he’s in from minute to minute? What the hell?

Hey! Remember when the Force was a “mysterious energy the bound all of us together"? Yeah, that was before it became little critters fritzing about in our DNA. Why? Cause George woke up one morning and thought it was a good idea. Lord, why don't you argue about what cereal he decides to eat in the morning? It would mean about as much.

See, the thing is, I know the answer. I know exactly why these little wars and arguments crop up and continue to flourish. It’s actually a two-fold answer, and if I may, bear with me while I put my shrink hat on.

It’s simple, the human desire to be better or smarter than someone else (dominance) , coupled with the anonymity of the internet (cowardice).

That’s it.

That’s why you have these flame wars over such ridiculous and miniscule minutiae. Because truth is, if those involved in these flame wars and pointless battles were to have to sit across from each other and hold forth with the same opinions you would see a VAST difference in etiquette and mannerisms.

VAST.

But they don’t have to, so the idiots and children who’ve been failed by their parents or society or whatever are allowed to run free on the web, spewing their venom and immaturity in whatever form (or forums) they wish.

And unfortunately, people bite, and just feed into it.

Yeah, I grew tired of it a long time ago, and I don’t bother now. When I'm perusing the forums (which is rare) and see someone spouting off, I ignore them. I don’t even bother getting involved because, again, what’s the point? It doesn’t make me feel better, it does my blood pressure little good and I certainly can be doing more productive things that DO make me feel good and are quite relaxing.

I seem to be doing that a lot lately, trimming the excess and uselessness from my life, so that only the important things remain. And ya know, it’s working out pretty well, thanks for asking.

So, before you launch into a tirade next time you see some kid (or single, middle-aged man living in Mom's basement) incorrectly citing the length or cargo capacity of the Millennium Falcon, ask yourself first: Is it going to change anything in the grand scheme of things? Is it going to make you or the other person a better individual? Improve the quality or your life? Or is it just so you can try to look superior, flexing that big “Star Wars” brain and impressing a group of faceless dornes you'll likely never meet or could care less about in the flesh and blood world?

Sadly, I have a feeling you’ll know the answer to that, but choose to jump into the flames anyway. Good on ya. When you look back on a life filled wasting that kind of time make sure you’ve got the Kleenex handy, cause damn, will that be a sad moment.

Oh, and for the record, I DO know the length and cargo capacity of the Millennium Falcon: It’s roughly this side of “I don’t give a crap.” Any other answer means you've just not gotten the point of this blog and wasted like, five minutes of your life. And no, I ain't giving it back to you. It's mine now. See? here it goes in my pocket, right next to the marbles you lost a long time ago.

Now go out and do something productive like plant a tree or give to charity, and remember: I blog because I love.

It's coming you monkeys!

2008-08-05T15:34:00.001-04:00

Writing is hard work.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you’ve never done any serious writing before, sit down and try it…man, does it drain you.

On the other hand, it’s one of the most satisfying and rewarding personal experiences you can have. To sit back and read something you wrote months or even years back and to find yourself caught up in the story and excitement, reading words that you can’t even believe came form your own hand…well, that’s a kind of enjoyment that I really can’t describe here. You just have to experience it.

Hopefully though, you guys who do read the Raptor Squad fiction and dig it get some measure of enjoyment out of it. I know I have a ball writing it.

But again, hard work. And it takes time. Numerous re-writes, spell checks and refinements, and even then, when you finish there are still those little odds and ends that slip through the cracks that irritate you like late-summer mosquito bites on the back of your legs.

Anyway, the point to all of this is that I’ve begun writing the third book of Episode 10. A trilogy of books I started wrting back in 2005…yep, three years ago sports fans.

Books one and two are in the can…Book one is just waiting for the artwork and other little bits to be done before it gets published. It sees the introduction of Koort Ter’chon- Bounty Hunter Extraordinaire, along with some new baddies that are sure to irritate Raptor Squad to no end.

Book two (which sees the introduction of Xander Paddox-Tapani Nobleman and Jonus Kable-New Republic liaison) is done, but it needs polish, refinement and spell checking…oh and of course artwork and stuff…so it’s a few months out…maybe right before I go on vacation in November I’ll roll it out. Or try to anyway.

I just started on book three and I’m about twenty pages into it and it’s rolling along well. I’m pretty darn happy with it. And yeah, it also sees the introduction of a new Raptor Squad team member.,..but I’m keeping that a surprise and no, for those of you out there who THINK you know who it is. It’s not.

So BIG surprises, BIG excitement! And it’s coming your way, free of charge kids.

In the end I imagine Ep 10 will weigh in between four and five hundred pages.

Yeah, it’s going to be a big old sucker, but well worth the wait and a pivotal piece of fiction in the Raptor quad mythos.

Trust me, it’s gonna be shiny.

Ok, so yeah, technically it's an update.....

2008-07-31T11:49:00.003-04:00

Nothing major, so don’t get too tight in the pants there slickery.

Added a new bodyshot card for Khara Doone (which I’ve been meaning to do for like, months-sorry honey!), and consolidated the Kalron Narute/Vanas Drooxf stat pages into one and added a new pic of those guys .

So, basically I’m just clearing up some files and getting things up that have been sitting around collecting dust. The good news is that this is because the update is coming soon and I need to make room for stuff.

Yay!

You can find the new pics in our sourcebook section via the main manu on the RS front page.

Or, you know, follow this link:

http://www.raptorsquad.net/sourcebook/index.html

You know, whatever you dig.

Enjoy!

I've got a Deano, now I just need a Sammy and a Vegas show....

2008-07-30T14:41:00.002-04:00

Well, I’m back from vacay and kicking it raw yo!

In layman’s terms, that means I’m back to working on the upcoming update. Lots of good stuff, but, like most of you, I grow tired of promises. I want results dammit!

Well, no worries kids. It’s coming. Fact is, I don’t like to rush things and throw together updates just for the sake of saying that I update my site on a regular basis. Raptor Squad has always been about quality, pure and simple. From the artwork which I’ve tried to improve over the years- from crude pencil sketches that, looking back now make me wince- to the fiction that started out as lifeless gamelogs with as much entertainment value as a brochure for a deck cleaning service that has morphed into full-fledged fiction that numbers in the hundreds, if not thousands of pages.

Yeah, I don’t skimp when it comes to Raptor Squad.net. And for good reason too! We are one of the last remaining Star Wars RPG campaign-oriented sites still left out there. For some that may not mean a hill of beans, but to those who played the game, who created characters that lived and breathed (and yeah, died) it still means something. At least I know it does to me and Elfgirl, and I’d like to hope to others as well.

Heck, it must. I’ve come across SWRPG sites that have outright STOLEN Raptor Squad characters for their own use, sites that legitimately ask to use features and artwork (good on ya!), sites that have chosen to not ask for permission and use material and artwork we’ve created anyway (Boo Hiss!) and people that give me great feedback throughout the community that really seem to dig what we are doing and look forward to what we roll out next.

And let’s be honest, it marries things I love! Star Wars, roleplaying, artwork, writing, creating…heck, why wouldn’t I want to produce quality material and entertainment for the masses? And more importantly, I get to do it MY way.

It’s funny, looking back, when I was younger I would have thought designing games and producing art and all that for some game company would have been the end-all be-all of jobs. But as I get older, and I see how the business is really run, with folks looking over your shoulder, changing things, altering what you love because they have a different vision, canning folks at a moment's notice and things like that…well, to be honest I’d have to pass if the opportunity ever presented itself (and it has, and I did). I guess that’s why I never seriously pursued any work in those fields (plus I make a butt load of cash at my current job, so taking a MASSIVE pay cut just to see my name on some book that will eventually be tossed in a dollar bin at my local gaming store doesn’t really appeal to me the way it used to.)

Plus, as I said, the most important thing is…I get to do it MY way (thanks Frank!) and have fun doing it! No running ideas past people to see if they approve, no rewriting or reworking fiction because someone doesn’t like how I describe something…nope…Raptorsquad.Net is 100% pure Me. I make no apologies for it and I can take all the blame, (though when it comes to the credit…well, that has to be shared among a few people, most notable Elfgirl).

So, what have we learned here? Not much, other than I’m still working on the upcoming update and hope to roll it out soon (and of course hope that it’s worth the wait!). Any feedback or questions you can of course leave it here or e-mail me.

Lazy Days of Summer

2008-07-24T09:59:00.002-04:00

If you've noticed a lack of entries lately it's because I'm on vacation this week.

The good news is that I've been working my tail off on the upcoming update and something very cool for your enjoyment.

So, you know, keep an eye out!

Honey, why the gloom?

2008-07-16T14:00:00.002-04:00

You know what’s funny?

How every little community has its own brand of drama.

I learned this when I helped jump-start SWAG (The Star Wars Artists Guild) oh so many years back. What started as a project in bringing together a bunch of artists interested in doing something they loved really turned in to a lot of work...a lot of work that came with its share of headaches and drama.

Now granted, a lot of that came from the position I was in, “Baron Administrator” a fancy way of saying “figurehead”, but still, you wouldn’t believe the amount of bullsh*t I had to wade through just because at one point I thought it would be fun for a bunch of folks to have one place to showcase some pics of Wookiees and stuff.

But behind the scenes? In the cogs and inner workings of the site? It was nuts.

It seemed like for every normal person who was content to go with the flow and help out you had two or three freakshows who had nothing better to do than stir up trouble. And don’t even get me started on my tenure as the Art Director for the now-defunct “Online Journal.” I've seen fewer Divas on a Milan runway.

Anyway, point being is that when you have a community revolving around a hobby (re: something you do for fun and to relax), it’s amazing the kind of people who will shout it down and bring their own anger and jealousy to the party.

I’ve seen it first hand in the Star Wars RPG community, and to be honest it’s one of the reasons why I’m not really that prolific anymore. The constant arguing over which system is better, why someone is stupid for liking a certain system and all of the various minutia and rules-bickering just really sapped a lot of the fun out of visiting the community forums and participating in the community for me.

I find this to be the same atmosphere in the webcomic community.

People put hard work into what they create and there are others just sitting in the wings to rip it down and criticize. Be it because they lack creativity, originality, or are just unhappy angry-as-piss losers who have nothing better to do, they’re out there, waiting to pounce on any webcomic they don’t like or take issue with.
Oh, and the creators don’t get off that lightly either. Some of them are producing questionable content and comics I would be embarrassed to show to ex-cons and former Marines.

Still, again, we’re talking about freaking COMICS. Yet the anger rages and persists. As if they have nothing better or more important to get wound up and upset over in the world. Wow, I really wish I had their free time.

I guess that’s why I never bothered creating a forum or anything for the Raptor Squad site like other websites have. What’s the point? Most forums turn into a battlefield of pointless flame-wars and arguments, and those that don’t require an around-the-clock guard detail.
I’ve seen it first hand on the Holonet (a SWRPG forum) and back in my days at SWAG, and it was a daily chore to monitor, edit and step in to make sure folks played nice. Because, for whatever reason (I blame the anonymity of the interweb), people found it impossible to talk about freaking Star Wars art without sniping, arguing and just being asshats in general. Hell, from what I've seen lately its only gotten worse as time goes on, so a while back I decided to take my leave and not look back. It's easier that way and I get to keep my sanity.

So, you might wonder (or maybe not, and that’s cool too) what this has to do with webcomics and Raptor Squad?

Well just keep those eyes peeled true believers! I’m currently working on something that will allow you to waste even more time at work!

Why? Because I care! That's why!

Hell's Fury at 170 mph

2008-07-14T09:51:00.002-04:00

Man I love me some Burnout Revenge.

For those of you not up on Xbox 360 games, Burnout Revenge is a video game that came out about 2 years ago.

I just got it because I’m one of those people who don’t live and die by being the first to own a video game, new iphone, cd, etc….

It’s called patience and I got loads of it when it comes to stuff like this.

Anyways, it’s basically a racing game focusing on how many cars you can wreck and how much damage you can do.

It’s sick, twisted fun and I can’t get enough of it.

I owned the old Burnout for the original Xbox and it was a blast. So, when the chance came up to own this one for like, fifteen bucks I jumped at the chance. And damn was it worth it. Hell, even Elfgirl is addicted to it…and for it being a racing game that is really saying something.

Now, there is a more recent Burnout that came out a few months ago called “Burnout:Paradise”, but after reading the reviews I found out they took out “Crash Mode”…

WTF man?

Crash Mode is the ONLY reason to own this game! It’s what separates it from your Grant Turismo’s and Project Gotham Racings! If I wanted a pure drive simulator I would go for one of those titles…but man, Burnout is all about Crash Mode!

Basically you pick a car, put the metal down and race headlong into traffic, crashing and burning at just the right time to do the most amount of damage.

Hell yeah!

Anyone ever stuck in a traffic jam can relate to this game. Is it fun, mindless sick entertainment?

Yeah, it is. But it’s safe, causes no harm to anyone else and lets me release some adrenaline without causing REAL property damage or bodily harm, so it’s all good.

But apparently the geniuses who designed “Paradise” decided to drop Crash Mode, so I decided to skip it and go with the older, more attractive model that lets me do some damage.

So…when it showed up this weekend while I was taking a break from my D6 Fantasy gaming marathon I’d been on for the last month, it was a matter of perfect timing.

No real thought required here…just acute hand-eye coordination and a thirst for blood was all that was required…and I drank heartily my friends.

Gulp…gulp…..SCREEEECHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Hellz yeah.

I’ll get back to working on updates and fiction and all of that other stuff…but tonight! Tonight we ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hand me that can of space filler, wouldja?

2008-07-11T15:10:00.002-04:00

What better way to kill space than to post completely unrelated quiz answers about myself?

yeah, it's not Raptor Squad or even game related, so I grant you permission to withold my next paycheck.

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Spiderman

"I have always been standing in your doorway. Isn't it about time somebody saved your life?"

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

Your Pimp Name Is...

Pimp Daddy Trickz

What's Your Pimp Name?

You Are 84% Happy

It's unlikely that you know anyone happier than you.

You know how to be happy, no matter what life throws at you.

How Happy Are You?

You're Totally Sarcastic

You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny.

Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue - and you aren't afraid to use it.

And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitutde, then too bad. So sad.

How Sarcastic Are You?

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Your Rockstar Name Is...

Jello Nasty

What's Your Rockstar Name?

You Are From Saturn

You're steady, organizes, and determined to achieve your dreams.

You tend to play it conservative, going by the rules (at least the practical ones).

You'll likely reach the top. And when you do, you'll be honorable and responsible.

Focus on happiness. Don't let your goals distract you from fun!

Don't be too set in your ways, and you'll be more of a success than you ever dreamed of.

What Planet Are You From?

You Are 20% Nerdy

You are definitely not nerdy - in fact, you probably don't know any nerds.

You probably care a little too much about your image. No one will know if you secretly watch Star Trek reruns!

How Nerdy Are You?

Your Love Life is Like Casablanca

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time."

For you, love is never finished. If you've loved someone once, you'll always love them.

You're an old fashioned romantic... even if your relationships don't end up as romantic as you'd like.

Your love style: Traditional and understated

Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Complicated and ambiguous

What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

Wow! And I can't think of a better way to end this little trip through pointless nonsense, can you?

Hope this tells you a little bit more about me, cause we all know these tests are sooooooooooooooooo freaking accurate.

(Wow...well maybe the sarcastic one was anyway....)

Wow!

2008-07-10T10:14:00.002-04:00

Wow!

I just typed, like a HUGE post relating to comics and how they used to serve a purpose but now are basically crap and well....

Well I feel a lot better now.

So better, in fact that I don't really feel like posting something so negative. Not now anyways, maybe later when I need space to fill and feel like unloading on "Teh Fanboiz".

See? I look out for you, dear readers.

So, in place of all that negativity, and because it's a beautiful day here in the River City, I give you....

Puppies.

Enjoy.

R.I.P Arol Flynn Sweet-Tongue

2008-07-07T10:54:00.008-04:00

Well, it finally happened.

After GM’ing for almost four years on and off through several games, the inevitable finally occurred:

I killed a Player Character.

Now, before I get into the hows and whys, let me first explain my position on PC deaths: I’m not a fan of killing off PC’s. See, I’m from the school of thought that, if a player spends the time and effort in rolling up a character and making up an interesting and cool back story then for them to die in the game requires one of two things to happen:

One, they do something despite me advising strongly against it.

Example:
Me: “You find what looks to be a temple. It appears to be holy ground and the resting place of heroes. There are several sarcophagus in the room with carvings along the side depicting the heroic exploits of these soldiers. It appears no other evil has touched this place.

PC: Screw it! I’m going to rip off one of those coffin lids and find me some treasure!

Me: Uh…these were good soldiers who died defending the realm against evil. Don’t you think they deserve some peace?

PC: Not as much as my ass deserves a sweet magical item! BOYAH!

Two, they just do something outright stupid.

Example:

PC: So, I think this guy is the villain.

GM: Why? He’s give you no reason to think this. He’s done nothing but help the team, and is even standing watch in the infirmary over your fallen comrade.

PC: Whatever. He’s evil and I’m not going to stand around until it’s too late to stop his evil ass.

GM: So what are you going to do?

PC: Strap ten grenades to my body, run in the infirmary and bear hug him. Then pull the pin.

GM: IN THE INFIRMARY!?!? LIKELY KILLING ALL OF THE INNOCENTS INSIDE!?!?

PC: I’m not worried…I’ll use the Force to shield myself from the blast.

So…you get the picture. I WON’T let a good PC die because of a crappy roll of the dice. The name of the game is FUN…and losing your PC (unless you have it coming to you) simply isn’t fun, not for me, certainly not for the players.

But damn it can be dramatic.

So, this last weekend I was running my group’s D6 Fantasy campaign “Champions of the North” and things had taken a downward turn for the group.

Two thirds of them were in prison for killing a couple of orc thugs a month earlier while in town before they went on a dungeon crawl. Upon returning to town they were arrested, put on trial and sentenced to death. Turns out the local crime syndicate decided to use them in the main event of the newly built arena, so they could line their pockets with gold at the minor expense of two of their orc footsoldiers.

So, we’ve got two PC’s stripped down , fitted with raiment’s and shoved into the arena to fight for their lives in front of this bloodthirsty crowd. I decided to throw two massive Wood Trolls at them (and in D6 Fantasy, trolls are mean, nasty, TOUGH sumsbitches, and with my own modifications NOT some panty-waists that run at the first glimmer of sunlight)… but there were weapons to be had and even a way to escape…the PC’s merely had to find the correct loose sewer grate that led to the underground tunnels. The game plan they came up with was to split up…forcing the trolls to divide their efforts…not a bad plan.

The two PC’s were a Battlemage Moonelf named Cirith Moonshadow and the other, a half-elf Bard named Arol Flynn Sweet-Tongue (quit your snickering out there, I can hear you!).

When the Trolls were released the PC’s did a good job initially of holding their ground, with Arol dodging and weaving, trying sewer grates and just barely staying out of his Wood Troll’s reach. Cirith was lucky enough to find her magic sword on her first attempt (see, weapons were arrayed in covered alcoves along the arena walls…they were completely random and the local mages guild, who needed Cirith alive, had planted her weapon “The Troll Slaying Bastard Sword of Aundair” among the available weapons-and I’ll be damned if the player, Elfgirl, didn’t draw the freaking sword on her first try…a 1 in 23 chance…go figure)…

So, seeing that this battle was likely to end pretty quickly (barring some catastrophe), I moved my guys in for the kill, just to make things remotely interesting and challenging ….Cirith’s troll of course became sushi thanks to her magical weapon….Arol (who was being played by Country Girl)…well…Arol had some bad luck.

See, Arol was doing fine dancing around, trying the sewer grates for an early exit, and so on…but upon dodging out of the way of his adversary a second too late, the Troll managed to catch Arol just right and land a hit…

Here’s where it gets interesting.

See…when we played Star Wars D6 it used the “Wound Level” system…which to me was a very archaic and abstract way of determining how bad off your character was injured. Instead of hit points or body points, you had “wound levels”…and I hated it. I think it failed to really capture the visceral reaction necessary to convey how bad you just got f***ed up. So, instead of seeing your hit points drop by half you get a lame “Well, you’re Wounded x2”.

Woooo! I really felt THAT!

See, like I said, it just seems to lack the appropriate “zing” that a body point system does.

So, when the newer D6 products rolled out a body points-based damage system, I did backflips.

Now, when you take damage, you actually have a solid idea of how bad your ass just got kicked. It’s great, I dig it and more importantly, it lets players know just how bad off they really are, rather than telling them… “oooh…you really hurt…wow, boy do you hurt…”

So…back to the action…..

Arol has 35 body points.

The Troll connects on his hit, using claws as big as daggers….

And does 34 points of damage.

The players freak as Arol’s midsection gets ripped from his body and flies unceremoniously through the air to splat against the arena wall.

So, as a GM here’s my dilemma.

Arol has a healing potion (don’t ask how he smuggled it in, his name is “Sweet-Tongue” so do the math)….anyway, do I let Cirith make her way over to him, fight off the slaughtering troll and save Arols life?

Or do I do something memorable, something dramatic, something that the group will remember for years to come?

Yeah, I went ahead and killed his ass.

With Arol having only one body point left, Cirith, having taken her troll out of the fight, scrambles, sword in hand, to get to her fallen comrade, who has dropped to his knees, his intestines spilling into his hands as rain pours from above into the arena and as lightning crashes and thunder fights for supremacy over the roar of the crowd…and as Ciriths stumbles and scampers along the wet ground, the troll, an evil grin on his face, draws back, and as Arol looks up, disbelieving, razor sharp claws slice through the air-and his neck- sending his head spinning off into the darkness.

DRAMA!

So that’s how it happened at the table.

Country Girl sat there stunned as I asked her to hand over her character folder and gave her the rulebook to decide what kind of character she wanted to play next. To her credit she accepted it with dignity…didn’t argue or protest and got on with planning her future PC.

The other players moved on as well, with Cirith returning the favor and beheading the killer troll and escaping the arena and Borrax (the teams Dwarven tank) infiltrating the prison and retrieving the teams gear…still, for the next several hours I tried to make Country Girl feel better abut the situation, telling her the new PC might be more fun to play, that it wasn’t her fault, that the troll just got a great roll…you could even tell the other players were still coming to grips with it.

It was an emotional time.

So…the remaining two heroes, Cirith and Borrax finally rendezvous, Cirith reveals Arol’s demise and as both board a ship to escape the town, they go about the grim business of dividing up their fallen comrades goods…

And come across the Mirror of Resurrection Arol found in the dungeon they’d recently visited.

HA HA!!!!!!!!

Stunned and surprised, Cirith uses her arcane knowledge, figures out how it works and smashes it against the floor…the mirror shatters and a flash and puff of smoke later, and a naked shivering Arol Flynn is resurrected right there in the middle of the cabin.

See, what makes this ALL the more sweet is that NONE of the players remembered the mirror! They actually sat there for several hours thinking I had just killed a PC (which technically, I had)…but I remembered the mirror, and knew that barring anything unforeseen they would come across it after the rendezvous and that Arol would rise again.

It’s times like these that makes all of the work and effort worthwhile.

Snacks for the game: $10
Miniatures and props: $10
Convincing a player you just killed off their character for good: Priceless.

Oh, and as a treat for you all, here are two pictures of the Champions of the North. The first is their starting “look” for the game…bright colors, very heroic…Arol Flynn Sweet-Tongue, Borrax Ironhouse and Cirith Moonshadow…. feel free to click for a higher resolution image!

And the second pic is of the heroes on the run from the law and heading into darker, more sinister territories….

Oh, and some of you may be wondering why Borrax is sporting a thick black beard and shaggy mane of hair in one pic and not in the other.

Well dear readers, that is another story all together.....

I'll take "Where the hell is my update?" for $500 Alex!

2008-07-02T13:59:00.003-04:00

Yeah, the much promised Raptor Squad update is coming…it’s just that-and I have NO regrets in saying this-it’s been delayed due to some actual gaming!

See, Country Girl, one of my players comes in to town for a 2-4 week hiatus each year to “find herself” or “get her groove back” or whatthehellever chicks are calling it these days. Fortunately, being the cool and versatile guy I am, I was able to take advantage of this by running three back-to-back weekly games this time around.

Yeah, I do rule. You’re welcome.

The sad fact is that the site update got pushed back while I whipped up my magic.

But don’t worry, when it does roll out you will pee yourself with all of the cool new stuff. Really. Get the Depends ready and a moist towel because it’s going to totally Roxxorz.

Seriously. Sincerely seriously.

Or maybe it’s all hype! Perhaps it won’t live up to the hooplah and expectations and leave you wondering why you wasted the time and energy to even bother with it!

Then I’ll just call it “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

ZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Size Matters!

2008-06-30T10:05:00.001-04:00

Especially when it comes to sizes of gaming groups!

See, back in the day, when the Raptor Squad campaign was at it’s zenith, we had about eight or nine people around the table…and don’t get me wrong…big groups can be lots of fun. It opens the up the doors to larger games with a lot of variety and interesting character interactions…everyone has their own agenda, and everyone is bringing something different and interesting to the mix.

It’s a lot like chili. Lots of different ingredients, all working together to make a really appetizing bowl of good eats.

But, like chili, sometimes, if it’s not cooked just right, you can run into problems. Like one spice might override the flavors of the other spices, or you don’t drain enough grease off the meat, or you use too many peppers and it’s too hot, or, for some folks, not hot enough. Or you like yours with noodles, and there are none to be had.

You get the picture…the more ingredients, the greater the risk of something ruining the meal.

The biggest trouble with large groups is scheduling. When you try to get seven or eight people together at one time on one day of the month it’s hard…hell, it was almost impossible. But trying to get everyone together TWICE in a month?

Now you are just talking crazy.

That’s why I dig smaller groups, like the one I have now. Three really great gamers (though I wouldn’t be opposed to adding a fourth at some point in the future if anyone is interested…drop me a line) works perfectly for us. The group is small enough that everyone gets face time and everyone gets to feel like they are an important piece of the whole.

But most importantly, it’s easier to get everyone together!!!!

This past Saturday we gamed for the second time in as many weeks, and it appears we will be gaming AGAIN this week!

I’m freaking thrilled! I haven’t gamed this much since I was in high school and the players are having a total blast! We gamed for about 10 hours the other night and really got a lot accomplished! Turns out I will have gamed in three weeks what it would have taken FOUR MONTHS to accomplish back in the Raptor Squad days (and thats assuming we were able to game every month, which was rarely the case...so figure at least six months realistically).

Damn I love me some small groups!

Large groups may be like a nice bowl of chili….but small groups are like a delicious steak dinner with a perfectly baked potato and side salad. Delicious, just the right size and if you know what you are doing better than anything else on the table.

Bare knuckled gaming for 13 hours straight!

2008-06-24T10:10:00.001-04:00

I can’t remember the last time I gamed for 13 hours straight…might have been when I was in high school or had just graduated. Either way, it was a long-ass time ago.

Until last Saturday.

The second Champions of the North game started bright and early on a Saturday morning and didn’t wrap up until almost midnight. And damn was it a blast.

Generally there is a ton of prep work, props, sets and such that goes into my games. But this time it was my players, some mini’s, a handful of dice and that’s it. And you know what? I think it may have been one of the best games I’ve ever put on ( a sentiment echoed by one of my gamers at the table actually.)

It was just a flat-out good old fashioned dungeon crawl, but you know what? It was a total blast, so much so that the gamers want to get back together this coming weekend to continue. Truth be told two of them laughed so hard they almost passed out from lack of oxygen (I swear- that’s true).

Sometimes, it’s just a lot of fun to get back to your roots. Just a map, some dice and your imagination is all you need to have a fantastic time. Beauty in simplicity as they say. And last Saturday’s game was a beautiful thing.

Of course I was wiped-out Sunday, but it was well worth it.

And I got paid one the highest compliments I’ve ever gotten from a player:

“I felt like I was a teenager again.”

When you get older, have kids, responsibilities, bills and you become an “adult”, you will realize just how valuable something like that is.

It's Huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-19T14:17:00.002-04:00

That's what she said.

HA!!!!

Sorry...reference for you "Office" fans.

No, what's "huge" or rather, turning out to be "huge" is the upcoming Raptor Squad update. Like so many things I do, it started out as a nice, decent sized update and has snowballed into something that is certainly going to have meat on it's bones.
In addition to some badass fiction that you will be a complete and total loser to NOT read, (yeah, you fanboy), there is going to be:

1. A slew of new character profiles

2. The much anticipated (for me anyway) Locations section will make it's debut.

3. A load of new ships! Dat's right! Thanks to Elfgirl's amazing ability to visualize and reproduce ships and vehicles in 3d with limited resources we will see some new ships and re-imaginings of old favorites. Very very cool if you ask me (but then again so is she- coolest chick I've ever known, that's why I let her marry me...lucky girl!).

And I'm ont going to spill details yet...but there might be a nice participatory event on the horizon soon for all of you SWRPG folks. More details to follow.

No ETA on the update however...basically it will get done when it gets done. Hopefully in the next month, but don't hold me to that. We'll see if life decides to cut me some slack in July-that bastard.

In closing, I'm sooooooooooooooo happy to have a job that pays me for working on my RPG website, it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up

Old Shellhead & A large slice of Americana

2008-06-16T15:07:00.002-04:00

Went to see three flicks at the local Drive-In last weekend (yes, we are lucky enough to have a real, actual Drive-In Movie Theater within 30 minutes of our house- a couple of em’ even) The wife and I checked out Kung Fu Panda, Indy 4 & Iron Man in a triple feature.
We’d never been to the Drive-In together before (which kinda surprised us both since we’ve been together close to a decade) but overall we had a blast.

The food was your standard Drive-In fare, slushies, funnel cakes, etc. Good greasy stuff you shouldn’t eat on a regular basis basically. But on a Drive-In night out? All bets are off.

The movies were a mixed bag. Kung Fu Panda was cute, as expected. Indy 4 was (for me anyway) a letdown. In fact the more I think about it the less I like it.

But Iron man? Well, old Shellhead certainly delivered some standard summer blockbuster fun. I really enjoyed it and actually look forward to a sequel. Well played Mr. Downey Jr., well played indeeeeeeeeed.

But it’s like I told my wife. You don’t actually go to the Drive-In for the flicks. You go for the experience. The weekend of the 7th was the 75th anniversary of Drive-In’s in America, and at the height of their popularity there was more than 5000 in America. That has since dwindled to about 700, which is a shame…it’s a unique experience that I think everyone should have the opportunity to try at least once.

There’ s nothing quite like kicking back on a warm summer night, the smell of Honeysuckle in the air and the buzz of insects dying down as it gets dark, and then seeing the giant screen light up. Our triple feature wound up around 4:30am, and the snack bar was even serving breakfast before the last flick, which was pretty interesting.

We wound up getting home around 5am and crashing…slept most of the next day away in fact. But still, it was a great time and we had a lot of fun.

As a matter of fact I first saw Star Wars at a drive-in theater back in ‘77. Granted I was about six years old and my brother tricked me into thinking an ad for the local electric company was the beginning of the movie (he liked to torment me like that)…but still. great times from what I remember of it.

It’s still early in the season, and if you live anywhere near a Drive-In I encourage you to load up the family and friends and take in a flick. It’s cheaper than going to some sterile, cookie-cutter megaplex with their overpriced soft drinks and stale popcorn, and it lets you actually enjoy the fresh outdoors.

In short, it’s an experience you and your family may not get to enjoy in the near future, and it’s a slice of Americana that is, unfortunately, slowly dying away.

That being said, it’s a shame. So, get out there and enjoy it while you still have the chance.

Days of Future Past

2008-06-05T13:43:00.001-04:00

So, let me tell you a little story, which has quite a bit to do with our forthcoming update to the Raptor Squad site, and a lot to do about ambition and over-extending yourself.

See, we opened the doors to the site back in March, 2001. Now, that was over seven years ago and needless to say that is a nice chunk of time. Thing is, when we rolled out the site, we also introduced folks to the members of the current Raptor Squad team at the time, which was comprised of: Vic Palisades, Klux Martin, Baal, Koort Ter’chon, Xander Paddox, Khara Doone and Jonus Kable.

And that was all cool, as, at the time, those PC’s were being played by folks around the gaming table. Now, obviously if you are going to go through the time and effort of rolling out a new website focusing on your current RPG campaign, you are going to want to highlight the players in the game- it just makes sense (Don't be excluding people, that's just rude...).

So cool…we roll out the site and everyone gets their own little bio page.

We also, at the time, had the grand idea of posting “Gamelogs”- these would be small little summaries highlighting the important parts of our gaming sessions. If you’ve ever looked at any RPG campaign site worth it’s salt you’ve seen these write ups. The problem? They usually suck.

Ours was no different.

The Gamelogs, while conveying the appropriate info, also reads like a instructional pamphlet put out by the government on how toothpicks are made. While informative, it’s also boring as piss.

Granted, it would be easier and quicker (and in the beginning it was-sorta) to post the gamelogs and be done with it, but there were a couple of problems that arose when we did this:

First, we had been running this game for two years prior to rolling the website out. Which means for any of the current gamelogs (circa 2001) to make any damn sense, we would have to go back in time and post game logs detailing the games from the last two years- and considering we played at least once a month we are talking about up to twenty-five of these puppies.

Second, as has been mentioned before- writing these things was boring…and not something folks would have any kind of real fun in reading (except for those really, really bored). See, I was in charge of writing these things up, and I realized early on that you simply cannot convey the raw emotion and character interactions that I was seeing played out around the table in this tiresome, lifeless format.

Basically, I felt these boring, by-the-numbers gamelogs were, if anything, doing our wonderful game a major disservice.

So, after posting a few gamelogs, I got the bright idea of “Hey! I’m not a terrible writer, and I’ve got some halfway decent ideas and creativity (and time) - I’ll write fiction instead of just a boring point-by-point synopsis of the games!

So with Gamelog # 7 (I think- we’ve renumbered the sequence since then) I let my writing muscles flex and fictionalized the gamelog…complete with plot, dialog, the whole deal. And while shorter than later fiction I would write, it was nonetheless a vast improvement over the gamelog format.

And it was a big hit.

I enjoyed writing it, our GM really dug seeing his game come to life as an actual story and the players enjoyed seeing these characters live, breath and interact on the computer screen.

There was only one problem. Like I mentioned before, we were easily 2+ years behind our current adventures…and, as I have known for years in dabbling in writing, writing takes a long time. A long time. And while I could knock out a gamelog in a few days or a week, writing fiction detailing the same events, creating plot, developing the story so it fit in with future events…hell that could take months, even years in some cases.

So, you probably see where this is going.

Because the group and myself chose to fictionalize our adventures, I was always going to be way behind in where our game was compared to where the fiction was. And considering that over half of our group (Koort, Khara, Jonus and Xander) hadn’t even joined until a few years in, introducing them in the fiction was going to be a few years out.

Seven years out to be exact.

Now, that’s a long time to wait (and for some too long even). But, being stubborn, part Irish and as hard-headed as a brain-damaged rhino, I’ve refused to compromise the fiction and go back to gamelogs. I have fun writing it, and folks have a good time reading it (now that the fiction is actually read by folks in the SWRPG community, not just our former/current gaming group I feel like I actually have an obligation to all of the readers to keep producing the fiction- to go back to the cheap gamelogs would be lame and quite frankly, below our site’s standards-yay standards!).

So, that brings us to the forthcoming update.

I’m happy, thrilled and elated even! To announce that the forthcoming update will feature the first piece of fiction introducing characters that first graced the Raptor Squad site oh-so many years ago. Yes, Koort, Xander, Jonus and Khara will be getting their day in the sun, and their introduction will actually introduce what the group once came to refer to as “The Golden Age of Raptor Squad”. It was a time when we were having the most fun around the table and the group just seemed to “click”. This was also a time that saw some of the strongest storylines, team drama and introduction of some of the most colorful and lively NPC’s.

Needless to say, I’m excited as hell.

Now, it will likely be this time next year before all of the above PC’s are introduced through the fiction, but I can tell you it will certainly be worth the wait. Over half of the fiction is already written and the stories will be posted in pieces, but it’s some good stuff, and worthy of the characters who really made the game shine.

Oh, and remember I said I started fictionalizing the gamelogs starting with gamelog # 7? Yeah, well that means that 1-6 still haven’t been fictionalized yet. But don’t worry, I’m also working on that concurrently while writing the “current” fiction…so….with any luck you’ll be seeing the “early adventures” of Raptor Squad posted sometime soon (maybe the holidays?) The reason that has taken a back seat is because the group was smaller at its start and writing the current fiction is sort of a priority right now.

So! Keep your eyes open, as the update should be hitting this summer…with more to follow thanks to a loooooong vacation I have planned in a nice, comfy remote cabin out in the woods which will prompt much time writing (as well as hot tubbing to sooth those tired writing muscles). And who knows, I might just post some goodies here for you all to check out pre-rollout. So watch for that too.

It’s a pretty exciting time, and Raptor Squad’s “Golden Age” is on the horizon. You won’t want to miss it!

The Champs come out swinging!

2008-05-26T23:31:00.005-04:00

Yeah, its been a while since the last post, but I’ve been busy…had some personal family issues come up…and well….let’s just say I’ll be glad to see May end.

Anyway! One of the things that has kept me hopping has been getting ready for my new D6 Fantasy campaign, “Champions of the North.” Well, we had our first game this past weekend and I have to say I think it went pretty well.

The day started off with a spread of some medieval “tavern food” to get the group in the mood. Breads, creams, cheese, beef jerky, sausage, grapes, sliced apples and ale (non-alcoholic) all presented with a dragon skull as the centerpiece was spread out before the group when they arrived, along with their very own ceramic tankards to drink out of.

Very cool.

I’m the kind of GM that thinks that things like “theme” food, music and props really go a long way to getting the players into the game. So, on the first day of a new game I like to go out of the way and try to do something special. It was a big hit.

The game proceeded and I rolled out some new items and concepts we’d not used in games before. The first was the “Body Point Counter”….in the D6 game you can use Body Points (hit points)…so, instead of having to write/erase repeatedly, my wife Tracy and I crafted circular counters that you “dialed” down whenever your PC took damage in combat. In addition, your would levels and adverse effects of accumulated damage are printed on the face of the counter, reminding the player of their status, physically, during combat. They looked quite cool and worked out extremely well. I’ll post pics soon and might even post templates on Raptorsquad.Net for those that what to make their own for their own game. As one of my players, "Country Girl" remarked, “you could market and sell these!” But likely we’ll just show you folks how to make your own. We’re generous that way.

Another thing we introduced was a dice game called “Dragons Bones”. Little history: Back in the day (The 80’s) there was a board game called “Battle Masters”:

It was a fantasy miniatures battle game by Milton Bradley, presumably licensed from Games Workshop. The sizeable game box came stuffed with tons of plastic miniatures, a deck of combat cards and some dice. Now the dice, I still had left over in my dice bag (and even have a few of the miniatures lying around as well- it was actually a really fun game). They were six sided dice, three sides printed with skulls, two were blank, while one had a shield printed on it.

Figuring there was some way I could use these in my new game, I came up with a game called Dragons Bones …and it worked out great. It had everything that makes dice games fun: It went quick, it caused the pot to grow large in a hurry and it was up to sheer luck as to who won. Now, I don't mind using the gambling skill in roleplaying games, and in some cases there is no way around it...but if I can make the players play an actual game-within-a-game and we can have fun doing it, well all the better. Just another level of realism and fun I figure.

Again, I’ll post the rules to this on the site at some point in the future. Playing the game of course might be hard unless you have some of these special dice, but a regular D6 would work well enough.

Another new concept I rolled out was “inventory cards”….standard trading cards that has magical items and gear printed on their face with room on the back for descriptions and weight. I purchased some plastic sleeves for the group to use and dispensed these cards to them, so that whenever they have to refer to their inventory they can actually look in their folder and see what their character is carrying. Very cool. Again, it is just a way to get the player more immersed in the fantasy world. Rather than a list of scribbled items with no soul and character, these cards are visual representations that (I think) help make a stronger connection to the character and the game.

The players themselves did a wonderful job. As I’m planning on creating a small website for the campaign I’ll point you in that direction in the future to check out the characters and their exploits, but I wanted to make sure I mentioned how great they did and how much fun we had.

In fact, I overestimated the gametime and we actually quit much earlier than I thought we would. Which is good, because now it gives me some lead-time on the next game.

Which brings me to Raptorsquad.net. Since I do have this lead-time now I plan on posting another update to the site sometime in the next month or so. I’ve already got another Episode written, artwork done and other goodies ready to roll out. That being the case, if there is anything any of you would like to see added/included in the upcoming update now would be the time to speak up and drop me a line. And of course you can continue to watch this blog for updates and special little bits I might toss out before they show up on the update.

Well! I think that’s about enough from me for now. It’s late and I need to wrap it up for tonight. Again, I love to get feedback from you guys so feel free to post a response here or drop me a line. And keep your eyes open for more info regarding the Champions of the North website and the next Raptorsquad.net update.

Later!

Positive Thinking

2008-05-08T08:18:00.002-04:00

You know, looking back, I see a somewhat negative vibe running through my previous posts. Ragging on past GM’s, players, crappy movies, etc. It’s too bad, because overall, besides a few pitfalls and bad experiences we had a ton of fun at our RPG sessions. Plus, there is just too much darn negativity on the internet these days as it is…I really shouldn’t be adding to it.

So, that being the case, I’ve decided that I’m going to list AT LEAST ONE good thing about the players and GM’s I’ve gamed with in my time. I mean, everyone has their faults, but I also think everyone has something positive they bring to the table, even if it’s minor and only surfaces occasionally. So, get your popcorn and here we go!

ME!: I’ll bypass myself as I’m not nearly as narcissistic as folks think I am. Or maybe I am and it’s just early. Who knows?

Black Cat: An unusual guy, but always good for a few laughs. Black Cat had a lot of originality and came up with some interesting character concepts…and could imitate an Ubese speaking through a respirator likes nobodies bidness. Despite having to give him a wake-up call every gameday, he was a lot of fun to have at the table.

Tank: A great friend, One of Tank’s biggest assets is his loyalty and dependability. That goes a long way with me, as I think those are cornerstones to a good friendship. Tank was a solid roleplayer and a definite positive addition to our gaming group, and his loyalty usually extended to his PC’s as well…so you could always count on him to be there for you when things got dicey.

Shades: Shades was an…odd…fellow who was with the gaming group before me but left very early in. He was only in a few game sessions, so it’s hard to really come up with something positive to say. However, he seemed like…he….hey! He always showed up with his snack requirement and was prompt (sometimes arriving as much as two hours early and sitting in a parked car in front of my house freaking out the neighbors) !!! See? I’m a positive guy! I can find something positive to say about everyone!

Elfgirl: Wow, well, let’s get things right out on the table…first off, she’s my wife. So points there…big points for reasons I can’t even go into without being censored. But when it comes to roleplaying, she’s the best roleplayer I’ve ever gamed with, bar none. Period. The time and effort and thought she invests in every one of her characters is astounding and puts others to shame. And I don’t say that because she’s my wife, I say it because it’s the flat out truth. I’ve been lucky enough to see her not only game but go into behind the scenes interactions and scenarios and make her PC literally live and breath…she’s actually raised roleplaying to an art form.

Scout: A friend of mine and a guy who has been roleplaying for more years than I can remember. One of the great things about Scout is that he is always up for a game and always willing to do something new and different. And when he gets into a character he really likes (like a hacker he played in the Boiling Point game) he can really shine…he did a great job with that character and it was fun to watch him play.

Linny: During the Raptor Squad game Linny put on some of the most memorable and enjoyable games I can remember. He balanced the games with combat and character interaction like a master and always seemed to have the big picture in mind. He was also instrumental in putting together one of the most intense and rewarding roleplaying story arcs I’ve ever participated in (what we’ll call here the Vaxxar Incident) and did so with such masterful flair and panache that it was a shame to see it end. It was truly a work of art and something to be proud of.

American Ninja: A great guy who joined our group pretty early on. AMNINJ (I’m lazy so you get abbreviations) was full of potential and enthusiasm, and that accounts for a lot in a roleplaying game. He especially flourished in the Boiling Point game, where he played a character who had a narcotic running through his bloodstream…a narcotic that would occasionally cause him to do and say some very…interesting…things. This was played out by him making a willpower roll against the drugs effects- a failed roll meant he dipped his hand into the “Bowl of Madness” - a fishbowl filled with slips of paper, on which were written some unusual behaviors-and retrieving said slip of paper. On the slip was a phrase or action he had to roleplay out in character. A lot of players couldn’t pull this off, but AMNINJ did a fantastic job that leant to some of the most memorable quotes and moments in our game. Such as his character driving madly into a group of zombies to save his team and taking time out to roll down his window and scream “IT’S NOT THE LOVE YOU TAKE WITH YOU, IT’S THE LOVE YOU LEAVE BEHIND!!!!!!!!”

Total classic.

Baltic J: Despite our differences and different playing styles, I’ll say this about Baltic J. Things never got boring with him around. If you had a lull in a game or combat was about to come up, you could definitely count on Baltic J to spice things up with some crazy ass stunt or scheme. True, sometimes it was a bit much and not entirely necessary, but there were those times when he would pull off something so insane and wild that all you could do was sit back, laugh and shake your head. And when you sit for eight hours around a table on a Saturday, that sure as hell counts for something.

Country Girl: CG is Elfigirl’s sister and joined our gaming group back in early 2006. She had some prior experience gaming from when she was younger and jumped back in with flying colors. CG has a lot of good traits, but some of her best are, like her sister, her ability to flavor her character with an interesting background and to roleplay a PC’s mannerism and speech. She did this with particular flair when she played a character called “Cinder”…coming to the table with a very authentic and ghetto street dialect that included gang signs and lingo. It was a lot of fun and something that definitely adds a lot of flavor to a game.

Long Haul: Long Haul is a buddy that I haven’t seen in about forever but I gamed with numerous times. One thing I can say about him is that he knows the rules well, and sure as hell isn’t shy when it comes to gaming. Long Haul would frequently dive in, ass first to situations in the game, occasionally doing a lot of damage to, well, not only himself but those around him. Still, he would also try to look out for his team, and pulled my character out of danger (at least danger he didn’t cause) more than a few times.

I think that’s about it for the major players! Wow, looking at this line up this list of nicknames reads like the late 80's GI JOE roster.

Anyways, point being you can always find something nice to say about someone if you just sit back and think about it. Despite the differences and issues that came up with some of these folks, in the end, during the heyday, we were just a bunch of friends hanging out and having a good time. I would like to think that as time goes on, the fun we shared will amount to be more memorable than any other thing that ever happened between us.

Till next time, keep gaming, and take a moment to thank those sitting with you at your RPG table!

Problematic GM Syndrome

2008-05-06T10:23:00.002-04:00

I was crusing the forums and came across this comment:

"Has anyone else also noticed that this seems to be a distressingly common trend?

Great GM.

Great buddy.

Great imagination, excellent ability to create lots of interesting stuff.

And then, that person becomes a problematic player.

Insert frustrated scream.

Is it the fact that they get all the attention when they DM/GM, so when they are players, they aren't in focus and they feel like they have to compete to have some? Or what?Is there a corrective facility where I could put these cases?"

See, I’ve experienced this firsthand. The GM in our Raptor Squad game was a great guy- really creative, super with NPC’s and ran a fantastic game for years that we all enjoyed. Now, that’s not to say he didn’t have some faults (see the previous thread “Cheating Bastard!”) but hey, none of us are perfect.

So, when he was unable to run the RS game any longer, and had to hand over the reigns, I was happy to step in as GM. I was further thrilled that he was going to become a player. Finally, I thought he would have a chance to really shine as a player as he had as GM.

Yeah, that didn’t work out.

I don’t know if it’s the inability to know exactly what is going on at all times behind that GM screen, or the fact you have to work, you know, on a TEAM with other people or that as a player you have no more rights or privileges than the other players, but when, well call him “Linny”, became a player in my Boiling Point game things just went outright to hell....and not just for him as a player.

The first game was successful enough. He played an engaging former shockboxer and wrote up an extensive history and really put a lot of time and effort into character creation. I was totally impressed. He gave me tons to work with and really seemed to get into his character…in short he looked to be exactly the kind of player I expected him to be.

Then the problems started.

At first, the fact that he would only show up for half a game tended to throw everything into a bit of a flux. Having to ghost a character is fine, but when you are under the impression the player isn’t going to be there to begin with, it makes it difficult to just toss the PC in when they show up. But it’s cool…I rolled with it and made it work.

Then the problem began to arise between his brothers. See, Linny had two brothers who also gamed in our group..Black Cat (who has been mentioned before), and “Scout.” Now, I’m no family psychiatrist, but it didn’t take one to know that these three guys had some issues they needed to work out (and still do from what I know.)

And that’s cool.

But don’t do it AT THE FRIGGING GAMING TABLE.

See, Linny had a nasty habit of screwing his brothers over, like repeatedly. And on the occasions where they would call him on it, an argument would usually ensue that would leave one or both of them pissed and the rest of the group, well, uncomfortable (I'll give points to Scout that he tended to let it go- and I appreciate him for that). The fact that when most of these disagreements occurred was during the RS game usually ended with Linny basically dropping the GM hammer and saying “that’s that.” Fair enough- his game, his rules, his decisions- even when he was wrong.

On one occasion Black Cat had been working on creating a suit of Ubese Armor for like, weeks...when he finally got it ready to go and rolled up he presented it to Linny who then proceeded to tell him that he had no idea what he was talking about, never mentioned he was making a suit of armor to him before and that it would take ANOTHER few weeks to create it. We all sat around stunned because we'd seen Cat tell Linny in the last game session that he could make the armor. This kind of stuff happened, well, frequently between the two.

The problem occurred when he tried to pull that sh*t in MY game.

I was surprised the first time it happened. Basically Scout wanted his character to try something and Linny didn’t see the need for it. But instead of dealing with it in character, he told Scout (out of character ) NOT to do what Scout wanted to do.
So, as GM I stepped in and told Scout to go right ahead and do what he wanted. Linny apologized for speaking out of place and that was that. Still, it wasn’t the end of he and his brothers going at it…though Linny did try to keep it in character, that doesn’t mean that his actions were exactly “in character”. In fact, there were many times where some out of character knowledge tended to worm its way into his decision making processes. Still, I tried to let it slide for the sake of the game.

So, what initially started off well began to spiral.

I think the lowest point he reached was when he had an opportunity to help a fellow teammate who had just been seriously injured, had in fact, told the rest of the team he was going to help this injured team member, and when the time came, simply left him there to die. He even took the time to look at the wounded team member, and then simply walked right past him, leaving him there to bleed to death (or die of internal wounds, but who's keeping score?)

Oh, he tried to justify his decision, explain it away and pretend it wasn’t any big deal. Hell, I think he even went so far as to come off with some half-assed reasoning based on Eastern Philosophy or some nonsense- which might have worked if, you know, we weren't playing ON ANOTHER PLANET IN ANOTHER GALAXY. They were weak ass excuses and I called him on it and I know it pissed him off that I wasn't buying into his bullsh*t but I really didn't care. He decided to do something in game to screw someone over and now he had to man up and face the music with the rest of the group and didn't want to. Wah.

Bottom line was that the player who got f*cked over, Tank, sure as hell didn’t see it as anything but Linny being an ass that Tank was playing a character more powerful and more well liked in the group than Linny was. This was an opinion shared by others as well, and opinion that Linny's PC was going to have hell to pay for what he did- it wasn;t something that was just going to go away (as much as Linny hoped).

To be honest, this one event was the catalyst for Linny leaving the group. He disappeared for the next few game sessions citing various reasons for his absence, but continuously providing lip service to the effect that he was itching to get back in and game. He would stop in on the groups message board, post once every few weeks just to let us know he was still around but that was about it.

Well, September rolls around and we have what we had taken to calling our “Raptor Squad Hall of Fame Game”...a game Linny would run twice a year so we all could dust off our old PC’s and roll some dice. So, not surprisingly, a month before the RSHOF game was to take place (which my wife Elfgirl and I hosted at our house), Linny started sending me e-mails telling me he wanted to do some Play By E-mail with his Boiling Point character to “bring him up to speed” so that in October, after the RSHOF game when we jumped back in to my Boiling Point game he would be ready to play “in character”.
Yeah, that was cool I told him, though in the back on my mind, something didn’t feel “right.” I even went so far as to mention it to Elfgirl, saying something along the lines of “I wonder if he’s just doing this e-mail bit to smooth things over for the RSHOF game, so there’s no weirdness around the table.”

Well, the RSHOF game came and went with little fanfare (if you don't count Linny's wife showing up in the middle of the game, screaming and bitching him out at the top of her lungs and making everyone in the house feel awkward and uncomfortable- but thats another story) and of course, trying to be the good GM I began work on the mini e-mail adventure for Linny’s Boiling Point character, complete with artwork, maps...the whole nine yards. The plan was to get him started a few weeks before the actual game and then work him in. He was busy putting together the RSHOF game, so we decided to start afterwards with his e-mail scenario.

I worked hard on it, hoping to create an exciting challenge for his character that would segue into the game so he could step back in with as little adjustment as possible. So, yeah, I spent hours of my free time and energy creating a scenario that we could roleplay over e-mail, all at HIS request and to simply help HIM out. I was staying up late and specifically setting time aside to work on this at his request, all the while putting together adventures and work for the regular Boiling Point game. Finally, with a cool mini adventure designed to straigthen his PC out and get him back on the heroic track, I shot off the first e-mail in what I hoped would be something neat for both of us.

It lasted all of two e-mails.

Besides sitting on his hands, trying to decide what to do, his character basically did nothing. And while I tried to coax him in to some action, hell ANY action, he simply sat on his ass and did nothing. Fear, for whatever reason, had frozen his mind and instead of doing something, ANYTHING to further the game, he let his character stand in an empty hallway when his in-game ex-wife and son were potentially dying on the other side of the door.

Yeah, reeeeeeeaaaaaaaal heroic.

It would be one thing if he were playing some wimpy little coward who didn't have any backbone- but he was playing a former SHOCKBOXING CHAMPION. Someone who wasn;t a stranger to ass beatings and load of pain! But what the hell right? Better to let the bitch and the kid die than, God forbid, charge in like a man and rescue them if need be.

But I kept these thoughts to myself, and simply tried to goad him into doing something besides timdly knocking on the door for the fiftieth time.

Then, he simply stopped e-mailing me.

Or calling me. Or visiting the groups message board. Or having ANY contact with any of us, for, oh about three months. It's like the world opened up and swallowed him whole. he simply disappeared.

Yeah, I was pretty pissed.

I was pissed that after seven long years of friendship that he would basically turn his back on our group for no reason. I was pissed that after that after hosting HIS game for seven years, and always striving to be a good player, supporting whatever goofy decisions he made around the table that he would come into MY game and cause such havoc…a game I might add that only existed because his wife wouldn’t let him game any longer. And finally, I was pissed that after all of the money, time and energy I expended to create a game that we all could enjoy, my hard work was rewarded with simple indifference- basically his way of saying “I don’t even respect you enough to come around and tell you WHY I’m not gaming with you any more.”

Yeah, so I was pretty pissed about the whole affair.

He finally came dragging around three months later asking if he could be let back in to the groups message board so he could “hang out”. He outright said he wasn’t going to game (not that I was surprised.)

But you know what he never said? And it’s something a lot of these social retards never say because they either don’t have the balls or simply aren’t man enough to stand up and take responsibility when they f*ck up:

He never said "I’m sorry."

That’s it! Had he uttered those two magic freaking words, I would have forgiven him and allowed him to at least come back around and pal around with the group. I would have at least let him do that and let bygones be bygones, and hell, even let him run another RSHOF game if we wanted. But like another social retard known as Baltic J who got the boot from our group (and who, like Linny also came dragging back around after getting the boot three months earlier wanting to “hang out”- I think they must have been working from the same script) the ability to take some damn responsibility and APOLOGIZE for his actions was simply too much to ask.

So, I get an e-mail with some half-assed attempt to weasel back in to the group without having to face up and be a man about what happened.

What Linny and Baltic J never realized, is that the group was better off without them. That their actions and disregard for people’s feelings made them undesirable, and their inability to recognize that other people were involved with the gaming group, folks that had invested time, money and energy to create an enjoyable experience for the entire group- not jsut themsleves. They never realized it, and eventually, their actions led them to getting voted the hell off the island.

Or kicked off by one pissed off GM who doesn't suffer disrespect lightly.

It was pretty sad really, that it ended like it did. But, in the end a guy that I thought was a really solid GM turned out to be a lousy player, and in the long run, a lousy friend. But, that was years ago, we’ve all gotten older and moved on and my anger had been replaced by pity. Pity because I’ve put on some truly kickass games since, and I’ve got another I’m gearing up to run as we speak…and it’s going to be something special…damn special by the looks of it.

And it’s a pity that all he had to do was apologize and he could have been a part of it.

Are you that hard up for cash? Seriously?

2008-04-30T08:34:00.003-04:00

So yeah…I’ve got Star Wars burnout.

I’ve mentioned this before of course…and it’s the contributing factor as to why Raptorsquad.Net hasn’t enjoyed the number of updates as it has in the past. I don’t know….maybe it’s the years and years spent playing the RPG, or the hundreds of thousands of words I’ve written chronicling our teams adventures in fiction, or hell, maybe it’s the hundreds, possibly thousands of hours spent building and updating the website. Who knows?

Or it could be that I’m a little sick of what the Star Wars franchise has become.

See...I’m old enough to remember what I’ll call “the good old days”. I remember when you had the movies, a handful of paperbacks and well, that was pretty much it. Then, back in the 90’s a guy named Tim Zahn came along and wrote a fine little trilogy that picked up and shed light on what had happened to our heroes after the Battle of Endor.

Cool.

The Zahn Trilogy was really something special…for the first time in like, a decade we got to see the adventures of the Star Wars characters continue…and it ended great…everyone was happy, just like a nice space opera should end.

Then the floodgates opened.

Quick as you please the comics started rolling…then more books…then talks of the prequels. And suddenly this nice little story that had a solid beginning middle and end became…well…sh*t.

I’m sorry it did.

I don’t really care if folks agree with me, and don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some bright points to the material that followed (albeit few). But as with anything, you go to the well too often, it tends to dry up. And the Star Wars well was repeatedly accosted by so-called “writers” who decided instead of telling a good story in the Star Wars fashion they would “leave their mark” on the legacy by taking a nice steaming dump all over the characters and history.

They freaking killed Chewie for God’s sake.

And when that wasn’t good enough, it turned to “Hey! Let’s knock off some of the Solo kids…or hell, turn them darksiders! Because, you know, that makes us ‘edgy and cool’ and takes the story into uncharted waters not explored before yadda blah blah frrrppppt”

Frell you, you useless hacks. I hope that nice juicy paycheck went a long way towards buying you some sort of conscience, since you didn’t seem to have much of one before. And heads up, killing off characters doesn’t make you a good writer, it makes you a desperate writer who lacks enough imagination to produce real drama and intrigue. It’s cheap, and no different than when comic book writers do it, especially since all you are trying to do is make another buck because you don’t have enough confidence in your own abilities to think you can sell books without some cheap-ass plot device.

But you know who I blame most? Lucas.

I know he doesn’t give sh*t one about the franchise anymore, and it’s just a way to fuel his “future projects” and all of that crap. Hey George! Maybe we’ll get Howard the Duck 2 now huh? But still…he steers the ship, he calls the shots. And the fact that his greed has allowed him to let these not talent ass clowns systematically rape and defecate all over these beloved characters makes me sick.

But anything for a buck apparently.

Heads up Georgie Boy, just because YOU don’t give a crap about these characters any more doesn’t mean other folks don’t.

And yeah, I hear all of the clueless Fanbois out there chomping their teeth and hammering their mom’s dining room table with their meaty fists proclaiming “But it’s his creation! He can do what he wants with it!”

And yeah, that may be true. And in the end the only thing I can do is ignore these freaking “Officially Licensed Lucasfilm” abominations that come out and stick to what I like and ignore the rest.

But that still doesn’t mean I have to like it. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean I have to keep quiet about it.

What bothers me is the lack of responsibility for his creations, the lack of “ownership”. It’s not just a problem with Georgie and the Star Wars franchise either- it’s a freaking refelction on our society as well. I won’t go too deep into all of this, as this blog sure as hell isn’t going to turn into something political- suffice to say, I think that folks need to learn to take some damn responsibility for their actions and stop blaming the government, society, religion, the ice cream man down the street, etc. Stand up! Be freaking accountable you losers! Stop trying to hang your phobias and hang ups on crap that happened to you twenty or thirty years ago or some politician you never met because you don’t have the stones to stand up and say “Yeah! I did this, it was my choice and now I’m ready to face the consequences!”

But I don’t expect that to happen. Our society is lazy, goofy and has no little direction, and until people start getting a foot dead up their ass, it isn’t going to change.

But back to more trivial matters….

So, I hope George has enough money now to keep him in plaid shirts and nose hair trimmers, and hell, it only cost him some integrity, right? Nice work man.

Meh.

See, this is why I keep Raptor Squad running. Because at the end of the day, I can play in the Star Wars sandbox, with MY characters and not have to ask for permission from anyone. MY characters, MY story, My adventures. The way I want to tell them. And if a character dies in the story, it’s not so I can sell a few more books.

So…that’s that. End of my rant. What was going to be a nice little post about how I lost the drive to update my site turned into this. I do so love me some stream-of-consciousness.

As always, feel free to sound off, agree, disagree, whatever you want. Just keep it civil fanboi, Vic doesn’t suffer disrespect lightly.

Iron Man and the Big Green Goof

2008-04-29T10:47:00.002-04:00

Not really RPG related, but….

I gotta say, Iron Man looks pretty sweet. I have NO interest in The Hulk. I thought the first one sucked ass. Made me want to scream “GIVE ME FERRIGNO!” in the middle of it…couldn’t even bring myself to finish it in fact. I think that some comic book heroes simply don’t translate well to the big screen, be it because their characters simply aren’t that deep or their physical representation doesn’t lend itself well to “real world” interpretation. And I’m sorry, the grunts and snorts of The Hulk simply fails to convey the…emotion…necessary to draw in viewers. Add in the fact all of the “Hulk” acting was done by a CGI character and you have an even MORE impossible task. Fact is, CGI hasn’t gotten to the point yet where a grossly mutated computer generated character can convey a realistic emotional range, especially when he’s stripped of dialogue.

So, yeah…The Hulk sucked. And I realize Edward Norton is in the new one, but the last good thing he was in was Fight Club and unless they paint him green and juice his skinny ass up on ‘roids, the moment he “Hulks Up” I’ll loose interest.

But now, Iron Man? Iron Man looks badass.

Oh, and I saw some screenshots of The Watchmen.

I’m torn on this one. I read the book a decade ago and even then its ideas and presentation was a bit dated. Rolling a film out NOW, like, 20+ years since the graphic novel came out just smacks of desperation. Plus it’s cast by a bunch of relative unknowns…which usually makes or breaks a flick. Likely it will wind up on the Netflix list.

But hey, all this takes a back seat to seeing my man Indiana Jones kick the piss out of some f*cking Ruskies.

Hell yeah.

Cheating Bastard!

2008-04-21T13:26:00.001-04:00

Meh. I’ve been sick as a dog the last few weeks, so you’ll excuse the lack of posts. Or maybe you won’t. Doesn’t matter, not like you’ve got a pair to come and do anything about it. Huzzah!

Anywho…

I’ve been lurking on various message boards and forums and pondering certain topics. Here’s one I’ve seen come up fairly frequently that I just don’t get:

What the hell is the point of cheating in a roleplaying game?

See, I understand cheating in a poker game or a craps game (don’t agree with it, but I certainly understand it). You’re going up against another person, money is on the line…sure, I could see the logic behind wanting to cheat. A brother needs a new pair of shoes, right?

But a roleplaying game?

WTF man?

A roleplaying game is an entirely different beast. There are no “winners or losers”…well, there may be losers but that’s a different post altogether. But you get my meaning. There is generally no money on the line, no one walks home with a trophy at the end. So why? Why cheat? Especially, since, in the games I’ve been involved with, you are working together with others to not only tell a story but to have a good time and some laughs. What is the desire/need to cheat?

I’ve played with two cheaters I know of around the table in the last few years. One guy we’ll call Baltic J, the other, Black Cat. Both had their own little methods of cheating at the game, yet different.

Black Cat was the most subtle. See, Black Cat would sit there and when it was time to make a skill check would roll, like ten times. Now, the GM was usually involved in a dozen other things…so he would tell Cat to just roll it and let him know what he got when he got back to him. So while other things happened around the table, and other players pursued angles and drama, Cat would simply sit there, quietly rolling his dice, a half dozen times or more until he got a total he liked. When he did he would sit back, smile and wait. When the GM wrapped up with the other gamers, he would ask Cat what he rolled and Cat would proudly gesture at his dice and the GM would nod, describe the success and we would go on with the game, In the rare occasions the GM would catch Cat in the midst of his roll-a-thon, Cat would simply tell him he was “warming up his dice” or “throwing around some practice rolls”. The GM bought it and Cat would make an actual roll.

The thing is, the roll was RARELY that important! It would be one thing if it was some life or death moment and the whole game was hanging in the balance, but it wasn’t! It was some lame, mundane skill check to see if his character could operate a freaking subway token machine or some nonsense. The roll in question rarely affected the outcome of the game in any meaningful way, yet it seemed that he simply did it just to see if he could get away with it.

Baltic J on the other hand did like to pick his spots. Not content to cheat when it meant nothing, Baltic J would try to slide one past the GM when he wanted to do something and simply questioned his character’s ability to pull it off. Baltic J was especially bad when it came to play by posts. He would outright change his D codes when rolling, or would roll using a dice roller and conveniently fail to mention that he rolled a “1” on his wild die (a critical roll in the D6 System). At first when I was running the play by post and I did a lot of the GM’ing from work (and was unable to access my e-mail) I relied on the honor system for players to tell me what they rolled, checking their results when I got home in the evening. Well, after being burned by Baltic J several times I had to end that habit completely.
The fact that Baltic J was an uber-munchkin didn’t help. His characters were downright silly in some cases…he brought munchkin creationism to a whole new level. I attribute the only reason that he didn’t play a ninja to the fact we were playing Star Wars. Still, I can even forgive that, if only he had even remotely pretended to give half a crap about what was going on with the rest of the group. But he didn’t. It was said many times that Baltic J was a solo player in a group RPG game, and the rest of us simply got in his way when it came time to play his game.

But, solo player or not, Baltic J did love to cheat when he could- and when he didn’t he tended to bitch. He especially got upset and angry when someone created house rules for the group to play by. Reason being? Because any time there are questions or grey areas that come up with house rules the responsibility to clarify the fuzzy areas falls to the GM. Baltic J hated that. He hated the fact that he didn’t have a rulebook he could point to that would support his opinion or a set of rules that he could manipulate to do what he wanted.

Case in point?

Baltic J was once playing a Jedi. He and the other Jedi in our group (yeah we had two- don’t get me started on how our group seemed to have a revolving-f*cking door for wayward Jedi. We were like a travelling halfway house or something), anyway, he and the other Jedi had come in possession on a holocron. Being mature adults playing in an RPG game, it was only natural that jealousy and pissyness would rear its ugly head. So what did Baltic J decide to do to make sure no other Jedi surpassed his uber-munchkin Jedi badass? He hid the holocron, preventing any further teachings.

Now…lets clarify something. In our game, Jedi being Jedi it was almost impossible to “lose” a holocron, seeing as long as Baltic J’s Jedi knew where it was his rival would be able to pick his brain and find out the location.

So what did Baltic J decide to do?

Well, see there is this neat little DARKSIDE power that can basically erase a persons memory.

You see where this is going?

So Baltic J decides he’s going to go, dump the holocron on some remote-ass planet, then mind wipe HIMSELF so he couldn’t remember where he stuck the holocron, and by extension, no one could pick his brain and find it either.

Yeah…mature.

So, he uses this power. “But wait!” you cry! Didn’t he get a darkside point for using this DARKSIDE power?

Of course not! Because Baltic J reasoned with the GM that since he was using the power on HIMSELF and not another person he really wasn’t hurting anyone but himself.

Right.

Ignore the fact that the point he used a darkside power to begin with should have landed his lame ass a DSP. Also ignore the fact that he should have AT LEAST gotten one for the action itself- jealousy, greed, fear all of that other crap contributing to the hiding of the holocron and preventing other Jedi from gaining insight and knowledge. Ignore the various reasons the GM should have slapped him down for being a childish munchkin ass…

What happened?

Not a damn thing.

He hid the holocron, mind wiped himself and went on down the road with his silliness.

Now, I think there is a fair amount of blame to be put on the line for this. The GM, for whateverf*ckreason seemed to allow this kind of shit to go on like, ALL the time with Baltic J. I don’t know why, but it was almost like he was scared to piss off this uber-munchkin for fear Baltic J would stop playing (which wound up happening anyway eventually but again-another story). So it wasn’t entirely Baltic J’s fault for getting away with all of his childish crap. The GM was as much at fault in some- hell most-instances.

Personally? In addition to two DSP’s I would have had Baltic J’s Jedi mind wipe work so well he would have pissed himself and forget the last twenty years of his life- reducing him to a drooling moron who couldn’t scratch his ass without help.

But that’s me. That’s how I roll.

Still, between Baltic J and Black Cat, I sat and watched cheating go on, pretty much saying nothing and minding my own business. I still can’t figure out the mentality behind cheating in an RPG, but of the group I gamed with, it really didn’t surprise me that these two players were the ones to do it.

I guess the pathetic this is, that in the end it didn’t even matter. Cat’s character never wound up to being more than background noise in most games while Baltic J burned through several more characters- each one a pale reflection of the last.

In the end, for all the cheating and fudged rolls they spent more time trying to beat the system than just playing the game and having a good time.

Roll It Up!

2008-04-08T09:33:00.001-04:00

So, the Raptor Squad game has effectively been dead for, oh, going on about three years now. In that time I’ve run several games for the gradually shrinking group of roleplayers. The first actual game was a play-by-post I ran during the Raptor Squad years called “Freelancer”. I was a fun game with some cool characters, but was sidelined by a selfish, self-centered gamer who was more interested in showing he could “outsmart” or “outwit” the Gamemaster than he was in playing a game with friends. A trait that would eventually lead to him being told he wasn’t welcome in the gaming group any longer. The Freelancer game lasted a few months but really didn’t go very far (thanks in part to the aforementioned player and the fact the Raptor Squad game was winding down and I was asked to GM a new game) The new game was “Boiling Point” a cross between the Star Wars RPG and Shadowrun. Boiling Point went well…I was able to do a lot of exciting things with the characters and able to create some original storylines and settings. The game took place on a planet called “Blue Xenith”, and quite a bit or work went into fleshing it out.
Boiling Point lasted from January 2006 until mid 2007. A few of my gamers left or simply disappeared (the reasons are varied, though that little tale is an entire blog entry unto itself). When it became obvious folks were having a hard time showing up, I started a play-by-post game called “OCW”.
Outlaw Championship Wrestling lasted for all of a few months. The work that went into it actually surpassed the amount of time we played the game- a piss-poor statement if there ever was one. There were a few reasons why this game failed to take off and endure. Again, I won’t go into the details…suffice to say, that I learned one VERY important rule about my gamers that day:

Do not, EVER, pit them against one another. EVER.

See, when facing insurmountable evil across the galaxy, or taking on a crimelord or cutthroat band of pirates as a TEAM, the gamers worked well together, and each loss was shared as a loss by the team. But, when pitted against one another, as the OCW did…placing player-created wrestlers against other player created wrestlers…well, lets just say that some players can’t handle “losing” in the imaginary world of roleplaying. Which was a damn shame and sad as piss really…over half of the group had a blast with it, while just a few either couldn’t summon the ambition to participate (which allowed storylines and angles to stagnate) or would get outright pissed off when their grapplers would lose (keep in mind we were only three weeks into the matches when the complaining started). It was sad that it had to end the way it did…but it did end. And looking back at all of the work, time and money spent on creating it, I can honestly say that I’m proud of what I was able to create and accomplish with it, even if it didn’t last very long, while disappointed in the players and “friends” who felt that losing in an imaginary game somehow demeaned them as human beings or something. I guess they didn’t see having a group of people who care about you and consider you a good friend counted as “winning”, but maybe that kind of insight only comes with maturity-something these folks tended to lack.

Anyway, a few months passed, and with a smaller group of roleplayers now totaling four, I figured I would go back to the Star Wars well and start up a new game. The premise? Bounty Hunters (an old, but popular, standby), out in the galaxy trying to make a buck. The players agreed and in January we rolled up characters and February we ran through our first game with the new characters.

There was only one problem- I was totally burned out on Star Wars.

See, this March marked my 9th year of doing NOTHING but Star Wars roleplaying (around the table at least). It wasn’t until time to run the new game that I realized I was just burned out. The hobby I had grown to love had become a burden. I was tired of cookie cutter Jedi, evil Hutt crimelords, starships that all looked the same save for a new ion thruster or some other such nonsense. The D6 SWRPG community is all but dead, so that helped matters little. Bottom line, if you don’t know SWRPG D20/SAGA don’t even bother going on a message board or forum looking for inspiration- it’s pretty much a waste of time. In the past, when creating a new game for my players I was driven by unrestrained enthusiasm that drove me to create some truly unique and interesting adventures and settings.

Not this time.

This time, out of respect for my players (who can only meet once a month to game) I phoned it in. I did something I’ve never done before- run an adventure out of a module.

And it sucked. Harder than a F5 blowing through a Hoover factory.

The players knew it, though God Bless Em’ they tried to be positive about the suckage, but the damage was done. I was finished. I couldn’t bring myself to shove my group under the bus again for the sake of simply running such a sucky game. At first I blamed myself, but hey, I’m all about placing blame where it is due…and the adventure module didn’t help a bit. The adventure was convoluted, confusing and in the end, made little real sense. I should have tried something else, but the fact is that I didn’t have the time to come up with something on my own, so I put my trust in this ass-tastic adventure module and got burned for it. Now, I understand the problem with adventure modules- those that work are ones that generally pigeonhole players into pre-made characters or sets limits or requirements on what kind of characters the players can run…then there are the ones that tank- and tank hard. The problem? The writers of the modules have no clue what kind of characters, or, more importantly, what kind of Players you will be running through the adventure. So, they tend to make very generic generalizations and plots that try to accommodate most games…and the end result is either a game that works and is enjoyed by everyone or a game that doesn’t work.

Well, this one didn’t work-no, this one signed up for welfare, grabbed a sign and found a cozy spot beneath a highway underpass to panhandle for loose change.

Deflated, I was ready to pack up the Gm’ing tools and call it a day. But, it’s not that easy- not for me at least. See, I don’t have tons of kids screaming for my attention every day to pull me away from gaming. I don’t have a job that keeps me occupied till 10pm slaving away for that almighty dollar. I don’t have a wife who nags and bitches at me any time she sees a gaming book lying out in the open (quite the opposite in fact- I’ve got the most wonderful wife in the world who would respond “Hey! Cool! A new sourcebook for our game!”- yes, lick your lips with envy fanboys).
So, I’ve got the time to put on a good game…heck, a GREAT game- but I’ve got to be enthusiastic. I’ve got to feel the drive to create. I didn’t have it with Star Wars anymore…but what about other genres? Now there’s an idea…an idea that had been hovering in the back of my mind for some time really.
So, I went back to my crew and presented it as such:

“There is a D6 Fantasy game, using the D6 system but instead of Star Wars/Space it's fantasy/Sword & Sorcery...it's like D&D but with the D6 rules (which I like better).Would you guys be interested in trying it out? Maybe rolling up some new fantasy characters and giving it a whirl?"

They agreed, having been weaned on old school D&D (Back in the days where you found bare breasted succubus gracing the pages of the sourcebooks). Knowing that the interest existed, I began rolling through my mind the various ideas/plots/personalities I could create and use to populate this new world. Inspiration poured from the likes of John Howe, Tolkien and even the Elder Scrolls video game (which is the world our game will eventually be set in). And gradually, but with increasing speed, the enthusiasm began to build. With every page I read in the new rulebook, with every spell I converted over from D&D, with every piece of parchment paper that rolled out of my printer sporting a new list of potions or some other bit of arcane goodness, I could hear the roleplaying muse calling to me, her sweet song drawing my fingers across the keyboard as I worked on 3d models of the new player characters or customized character sheets for the players.
We sat down this past Saturday night and rolled up new characters, and the trio of adventurers are now poised to sally forth into the fantasy world of Tamriel, where goblins, wizards and dragons await. I don’t know how long my enthusiasm will last (or that of my players for that matter) but I can’t worry about that. You don’t go through life worrying about what might happen or what will happen, you can only worry about the here and now, and make decisions and actions that will hopefully bear fruit for future endeavors. Advice as relevant to real life as it is to a pastime spent rolling dice and eating junk food with friends.
So here I am ready to run a different game set in a different world. No Jedi, no Sith, no starships. Just swords, sorcery and a group of great roleplayers willing to give it all a go and go back to their roots (and mine) as gamers.
I’ll let you know how it goes.

Screw Fame

2008-04-02T09:53:00.004-04:00

So, I love WEG (OR West End Games to you non-RPG losers)…now, I don’t love them in flaming way, just a strong heterosexual man-to-company way (like I love Fredericks of Hollywood or Apple). They produced the original D6 SWRPG game, which is of course near and dear to my heart, along with some other quality games.
Well, apparently they were slated to release a new D6 space game called Septimus. It was penned by Bill Coffin and was, in some peoples mind, going to revitalize the struggling game company. It appeared to be an ambitious undertaking- a massive full color book covering the entire Septimus game system.

Then the bottom fell out.

Just a few days ago WEG announced that they wouldn’t be able to publish the book due to low estimated sales figures and a high production cost. A discussion began on the RPG.Net boards involving the WEG publisher and even the writer Bill Coffin. This began amicably enough, with fans trying to gently persuade both parties (who parted with NO hard feeling son either side) to come to some resolution to make the Septuimus RPG a reality.

Then the retards started to chime in.

What began as a respectable discussion about how this game could be revived and how things could have been done differently to make sure this doesn’t happen to future games spiraled into a name calling affair. For some reason, people think it’s acceptable to mouth off and lay into people with slurs and negative comments.

Heads up. It’s not.

I realize that people have extraordinarily huge nads when typing on a computer, parked behind a bag of Fritos and a two liter of Fresca. I realize that if they actually had to confront these people face to face their disposition would be something else entirely. But that still doesn’t make it alright. In fact, one of the posters who chimed in after some of this pathetic display had this to say:

“If folks ever sometimes wonder why their favorite creator may be absent from public forums...well, it's because of the way “X” and a few others acted here. It's a regrettable fact of life that one angry vicious ranter can and does feel weightier than a dozen friendly interested supporters. We're a messed up species in some ways, and that's one of them. It's not fair to the good-natured people, but, y'know, if you've ever been screamed at by strangers in public, you know from experience how it can spoil an otherwise good day. There are a variety of coping things one can do, but after a while it's easy to think, "Why do I need to keep coping with this? I can remove the stress in the first place." And people do, and then the rest of us lose out on the chance to talk with them.”

And this is exactly why I don’t envy professional writers, actors or folks in any manner of like proffessions. Granted, these people get the money and fame- and that’s great. But they also get all of this crap that goes along with it. A long time ago I considered writing professionally…I felt I had the talents and certainly the drive…and heck, I’m working at a job that not only pays me a crazy amount of money for doing little work- I could actually WRITE where I work at throughout the day. So win-win right?
But then I realized something, something important. I can write for myself, for my website and write exactly what I want, when I want, with no regards for length or trimming content or compromising my story based on what a publisher wants me to leave in or leave out- and still be happy.
More importantly, I can call my own shots, do things “my way” (thanks Frank!) and not have to answer to anyone. The tradeoff? Maybe not quite as much money and certainly nowhere near the fame that some writers and RPG creators receive. But you know, the more time I spend on the web, the more forums I visit and the more threads I encounter like the one above- I can do without the fame. I can live happily, writing what I want and how I want with just a handful of people enjoying it, rather than diving headfirst into the muck or, like some writers, shielding myself entirely from the outside world due to all of the freaks and geeks that inhabit it.

And that’s that catch- I’m happy.

I look at some of these RPG creators who pour their life and soul into creating supplements and game systems, only to have them ripped apart and rebuilt by a publisher- or, even worse, ripped apart by “fans” who have no investment in the product other than the thirty bucks they dropped on a rulebook. And because they dropped a few bucks, that gives them the right to rip and dismantle YEARS worth of someone’s work. To nitpick it to death and shred it because they don’t have a girlfriend/social life or because the latest re-run of Voyager has been preempted due to a tornado warning and they have time to kill.
Do these people have a right to gripe? A right to bitch and moan? Of course they do. They do because they dropped the money on the product. And that’s all the creator’s blood, sweat and tears becomes at the end of the day- a product.

Granted, it works for some folks, heck, a LOT of folks. And lets be honest, the drive for fame and ability to puff one’s chest out at Gencon might be worth the sacrifice and crap you have to swim through to get there…but not to me. I would rather continue to do things MY way, writing what I want, when I want, without having to kiss ass and suck up to either a publisher who would cut me lose at the sign of hard times or a legion of fanboys who get off on ragging on peoples hard work because they don’t have the drive or ambition to get out of their parent’s basement, much less create something worthwhile and useful.

I guess I’d just rather kick back do my thing and keep my sanity. What’s left of it at least.

As always comments are welcome, hell, even criticism…just be respectful about it-your momma might not expect you to be, but I sure as hell do.

April Fools

2008-04-01T09:03:00.002-04:00

Well, I finally got the latest update posted. Took long enough. The Inner Demons novella itself was started way back in December of 2006, when my wife Tracy and I were brainstorming ideas (and of course after watching the film Aliens). Needless to say, the fiction pays some serious homage to that classic. Still, over a year is a long time to work on something…add in the new characters, various re-writes of the fiction and of course the artwork produced for it and you’ve got a lot of work that went in to the latest update.

I rarely get much good solid feedback on the updates these days. I attribute it to a lot of factors, including, but not limited to:

The decline of interest in the D6 Star Wars system.
The shrinking online D6 community
The shift in Roleplaying to more “stats-heavy” systems.

Of course I realize that these reasons tend to tie in to one another, still, it’s certainly not like it used to be back in “the day.” I won’t go on an “I remember when” rant here…it’s not like you are that interested and it’s not like I really have the time to waste. Suffice to say, things were a bit more friendly and supportive a few years back. Back before most home brewed campaign sites died off. Back before everyone you talked to on a message board seemed to have a chip on their shoulder and an axe to grind (heads up partner, sporting this kind of attitude doesn’t impress anyone, and only goes to make you look like a spineless punk). Back before…well, back when folks actually seemed to give a damn about the work other folks put into sites for the community by the community.

But those days are gone. Now, “Megasites” exist to either pimp products or are nothing more than soulless stats archives, void of any real creativity and nothing more than page after page of crunched numbers that amount to little more than a variation of stats someone else has already drummed up and posted elsewhere.

In short…the online RPG community these days, especially the Star Wars RPG community has no Soul. Nothing that makes it live and breathe. The home brewed campaign sites used to be a staple of the community, sites that excited and impressed visitors with original campaign settings and heroic tals of larger than life heroes who threw caution to the wind and carved out their own distinct niche in the Galaxy Lucas Built…but now, now we are a dying breed, shadows that skirt the outside of the community like some Roleplaying equivalent of The Flying Dutchman…it’s crew forever posting to message boards just to let others know that we still exist…that we are still out there…creating and building. Not for us, no, but for others who might one day decide to pull themselves away from pages and pages of soulless stats and boring, monochromatic message boards where people are as quick to railroad you as they are to offer a kind word, and come looking for something different…something original. And simply something you won’t find in most other places-creativity that doesn’t come with a pricetag attached.

Seven Years

2008-03-27T09:48:00.001-04:00

As of this month, my RPG campaign page Raptorsquad.net is celebrating its seventh year on the web. It’s always a struggle to introduce new and interesting items and content to keep people visiting and coming back, though to be honest much of the enjoyment comes from developing a cool idea and seeing it through.

Anyway, this blog represents such an idea. In looking at our page, I realize that there is a lot of history and character present, but no real “voice”. Besides an update ever several months that more or less just points visitors to new content on the page, there really isn’t much contact between those behind the site and those who visit. In most cases I’m sure this serves most folks just fine, but for me, I would like to give a little more, to offer it to those who at least have a passing interest in what goes into creating Raptorsquad.Net and the story behind the gamers and some of the events that took place around our table. I will also be tossing in some of my own personal thoughts on gaming and life in general, to, if nothing else, fill up space.

Why am I doing this you ask? Am I hoping to impart some wisdom or knowledge from my many years of gaming or am I looking to pass on some of my life experience to help the younger generation avoid some of the pitfalls on their journey through life? Or, did my company block my internet access and I can’t surf for porn any more?

Only time will tell dear reader.