Playtesting and PDFs

There are many a great lesson to be learned in this life and wise man once said to me.

Be careful what you complain about in committee for it may be assigned to you.

I wish I had listened! Because I had long been whining about not having a PDF of the complete rules. I could dog ear one, make notes on it, and not have to be browsing the website in play. In truth I rarely have to refer to the rules in play, but making notes about tweaks, ideas and changes is easier for me on a hard copy. So after my repeated mentions of having no single PDF of the entire rules set, I was volunteered to correct the problem. Oh happy day.

However as it turns out it was not all the hard to automate the content capture and so now I must tweak the format of that capture (in an automated way) and then we'll be good to go. As it stands now the DEC 2007 rules are a little more then 100 pages of 8.5x11 including all charts & graphics. I only have few format issues to correct and a few linking issues to adjust and it will be complete.

That said I believe a PDF of DEC 2007 rules will be available, just before the FEB 2008 rules are released. Just in time to be obsolete!

D100 logo finalized

In the grand scheme of things this is a minor event.  I created it and I wanted to show off a bit!  You can also go see it live at the D100 Open Melee System.  I am proud of myself for getting it to look that good.  I became so frustrated at one point I considered offering bounty for the logo design at www.sitepoint.com

I used a free logo generator on the web to create the shield design.  I then used GIMP to spruce it up, add text and the fade to transparent white ellipse.  I am an amateur and it took me many hours to create the effects.  Translate that to a whole lot of rework, Save As, beer and trips to the potty!

Dealing with light in game play

Recently I played in a very spirited campaign. All involved were experienced and the characters had been in use off and on for many years. However this time the campaign was played using a VGT (Virtual Game Table) called Maptool for the first time. There was a noticeable change in player behavior and this was completely due to the lack of light which Maptool does an excellent job of representing.

Traditionally on the table top, the map is revealed in bit and pieces as the characters "See" more, using either torches, lanterns, light spells or whatever. We more or less took the light for granted and it rarely slowed the pace of the party in exploration or melee. In fact rarely did light effect player behavior or impact die rolls. This was really a convenience for both GM and the players. It had been going on for so long that none of us even thought it about it any longer.

However in last weekends play something amazing happened. The players were, for lack of better word, Timid! In more then one example the strong fighter type would blitz after a foe and stop. Thats right STOP at the edge of the light. I can't recall that ever happening before. Furthermore our sources of light were limited to certain characters and the other characters tended to bunch up, bathing in the warm glow of thelight. Furthermore in a large and dark cavern. The characters were easy targets for foes outside the light with melee weapons. This is new behavior and really added to the fun!

None of this really has anything to do with developing a RPG, but it was such a powerful and positive experience I had to share the effect. I recommend that if you have not used a VGT you try one out sometime soon. We used Maptool which is free, works on multiple platforms, is easy to install, and not too difficult to learn to use.