Adventure Writing

I'm about halfway through writing my first adventure for (the current iteration of) Chanbara.  I'm calling it Ghost Castle Hasegawa.  (Ooo, spooky font effects, it must be good!)

I didn't think any of the published OA adventures really worked for low level PCs, so I'm doing it myself.  Bonus is that I think this would be fairly easy to spruce up for publication (it's fairly sparse since it's just notes for me to run the adventure).

Image from Deviant Art

It feels good to be writing an adventure again.  And I've already noticed a few problems with the rules as written so far.  Hopefully I'll get GCH finished up this week, and be ready to recruit a few brave souls to roll up some ronin and yamabushi to explore this haunted house.

Blog Gardening

I've spent a fairly boring evening, going through my blog lists and trimming out dead, dormant, or switched to private blogs I'd been following.  I'd reached my 300 blog limit, and had to make some space. 

So far, I've gotten rid of 35 blogs.  And I only made it through the "R"s.  There are a lot of S blogs, and a ton of T blogs (all the "The..."s plus normal T names). 

Anyway, if you have a blog that has been inactive for six months or more, I may have stopped following you.  If you start blogging again, be sure to let me know.  I followed your blog the first time for a reason. 

And it was sorta sad/nostalgic to remove some of the big blogs from the OSR blog heyday, like HUGE RUINED PILE and Chgowiz's blog. 

Oh well, the march of progress continues, and there are new blogs for me to find.  And when I find them, now I can follow them.

Vinland

I've always wanted to run a Viking themed game.  One that takes place in an Ice Age, so there are lots of prehistoric mammals running around.  Anyway, with Chanbara prep underway, it won't happen any time soon.  But while digging around for maps to use with Chanbara in my old computer files, I found this gem.  Perfect for a fantasy game setting with a semi-historical feel like a vikings and mammoths game.

Old OA Adventures located

I found, in on of my old high school cardboard folders (not a trapper, but from the late 80's or early 90's none-the-less), the notes from my old OA game with the Evansville Group.  I ran this during the year I got back from a homestay/study abroad summer in Japan, during the fall/winter of 97/98.  And it's not bad.  We were using a combination of 1E and 2E AD&D books, with OA and the Complete Ninja's Handbook being my main resources.

Obviously, I was prepping the adventures after each session, so reading it now it looks like a railroad.  The adventure starts with a mission from a daimyo, but options for other things to do.  All of the follow-ups are tailored to the things my players were doing.  Still, I could use this as a base for a Chanbara playtest. 

I just need to change around a few place names to match my new setting, and adjust a few NPC/monster stats.  Not too much work.  These games were set in a fictionalized 16th Century Japan, primarily in Shizuoka prefecture where I had done my homestay. 

Temples, Fuji-san, and Sumpu Castle were in the game, tea fields were background details, there were no professional team sports, however

That, together with the OA Modules, should give me enough material for my summer play test.  Now to round up enough players!

TSR's OA Adventure Modules

My Chanbara rules are in a playable form.  Not polished, far from being released (and I still need to finish the setting chapter).  But the rules are down.  I've got all of my work for grad school done for the semester.  Time to round up some players for a play test or five.

I'm looking at the old Oriental Adventures modules by TSR.  Most of them have a primarily Japanese theme.  I could just switch the setting to The Jade Islands (Yu Archipelago to the NE of Zhongyang Dalu), or even use Kara-Tur as the setting and just update mechanics when necessary.  It would save me considerable time and effort.

But are they worth playing?  Anyone out there have any experience with them as either a DM or a player?  A brief look through them shows they're almost all for the AD&D sweet spot of levels 5-8, if they even bother to give a level range.  Not the best for a play test, as I'd want to try out all levels of play in a short time if I can.  But if I can modify for setting and new mechanics, I'm sure I can manage to up or down the challenge level as well.  Plus, I've got a few old OA adventures from my Evansville Group days and my Yamanashi Group days that I also could use.

Finally, anyone interested in playing over G+ Hangouts?  The time would be Saturdays 9pm Korea/Japan time, 12 noon GMT, early early morning US/Canada times.

Nostalgia Re-Issued

I don't know how many of you know this, but the classic 70's/80's toy space men figures, Galaxy Laser Team, have been reissued! 

Less colorful than before, but otherwise the same.

I just ordered a set...for my son, of course...  Found the Tim Mee (same manufacturer) Cavemen set, a new set of Zombies vs. Zombie Hunters, and a set of Gundam style knockoff robots as well. 

A Korean internet retailer had just the Galaxy Laser Team for $45.  All four sets from Amazon came to about the same price (with Super Saver Shipping to my folks' house in Illinois).  Since my parents were already about to ship me some stuff, they can just throw these in and it won't cost them any extra.

And now my son and I can act out all kinds of awesome fantasy adventures across our living room!

And once I get my paper done, I may try creating stats for Star Frontiers for the aliens.

Someone should stat this guy up!

My cousin* lives in Minneapolis and is majorly into Ska.  I tend to enjoy the Ska myself, so I've been interested in his many posts on Facebook about the local Ska scene there.  He's been helping to promote this band, and I love the boxer monster fish cyclops thing on their posters. 

Someone should write this guy up as a monster or even a player race! (I'm still too busy with academia at the moment, sorry.)

And I guess if you live in the Twin Cities and like Ska, take my cousin Adam V.'s advice and check these guys out.







*actually my cousin's son, so that's what, a first cousin once removed?  He's the same age as my little sister, so I won't stand on technicalities.