Wednesday, November 21, 2012

2012 Update

It's been a long time since the last time I've posted and this year has been a real test on everyone. Just so you know, I haven't been on the blog site because I'm still trying to put together a solid gaming group, which isn't always easy, but I have been busy in the meantime. So let me just go over a few things that I've been working on and will hopefully have much more for you as 2013 approaches.

First off, Owlcon 2013 is coming up mid February and I will be running Monsters and Other Childish Things as one of my games. I'm running a modded version of it I developed based off the Shin Megami Tensei line of Japanese games. The two games just seemed to complement each other. If you're not familiar with the series, it centers around a group of kids, usually teenagers, who get a strange program on their phone that allows them to summon demons as the world around them is being destroyed. The players use demons to fight other demons and uncover a dark and interesting story.

The second game I'm running is Big Eyes Small Mouth, and this time I'll be running in my frontier setting of Marukah. It's called Six Gun Samurai and you play as warriors sent in to investigate strange happenings in a small town. If you've ever seen Sukiyaki Wester Django you'll have an idea of the kind of setting I'm going for.

After I get those time sensitive projects taken care of, I have two stories I'm in the process of writing, two game systems I'm working on writing up and publishing, a group I'm putting together for more campaigns and recordings, and continually developing the world I began with Anima so long ago.

I will keep you updated as more becomes available. As for recordings, check back after Owlcon, or if I can get players together, much sooner. Believe me I want to play again, too.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Delta H Con 2012


Okay, all Fire n Dice fans, I have submitted my volunteer request to play two games out at Delta H Con this year, June 15 - 17. Because this is a mostly anime themed convention I am running BESM twice under licensed anime titles. The first is Slayers, which BESM has actually licensed to create guides for, and you will get to choose your favorite character from the show including: Lina Inverse, the short, hot-headed, flat-chested, fireball wielding sorceress hero; Gourry Gabriev, the empty-headed, light sword wielding bodyguard; and other characters such as Zelgadis, Amelia, Prince Philionel, Xellos, Sylphiel, and Martina.


The second is Fairy Tail. The characters available to run will be Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Lluvia, Gajeel, (and two more I haven't decided yet, there are so many characters to choose from). Both are magic fantasy games and I will incorporate them into Kamigan. If you haven't seen either anime, you should definitely give them a watch. Hope to see you guys there, and hoping to meet new people to add to our fanbase.

Friday, February 17, 2012

BESM Kamigan: Owlcon pt 2

1st Anniversary Prize to 1st itunes reviewer. Welcome back to Kamigan via Owlcon as our players continue their quest to keep the town of Cua safe, but a new threat arises as they finally meet up with the mysterious Ghost Fox.

Happy Anniversary to Fire n Dice, it has been a full year since we began this adventure and as such I will be awarding a copy of BESM 2nd edition to the first itunes reviewer (in the continental US). All you have to do is be the first to write a review (preferably a positive one) in itunes and send a copy of that review with your name and mailing address to yuureighost@gmail.com and I will ship out your prize. Limited time only, good through Feb 29, 2012. So spread the word, tell your friends, and come join us at the next con. Rumour has it you might find us at Delta H con this June, stay tuned for more information.


Sunday, February 12, 2012

BESM Kamigan: Owlcon pt 1

Kamigan adventures return, this time through Big Eyes Small Mouth at Owlcon. New adventurers emerge to defend their home village of Cua while the rest of the country travels to the Imperial City to witness the Emperor's Coronation. Our guest players are (from left to right) Mikala, Alex, Jeff, Ghost (that's me in the middle), James, Derek, Kevin, and Hero is off screen taking the picture.



Thursday, January 12, 2012

Tri-Stat

Beginning with the Big Eyes Small Mouth one shot being run this year at Rice University's Owlcon, Fire n Dice will be converting all of it's current campaigns to the Tri-Stat system published by Guardians of Order.  You've seen changes happening around here lately, Anima has become Kamigan after the setting, Wild Talents is now FeroCity, and Unknown Armies is Space City.  These are settings that I am creating with the help of players and plan on doing much more with them in the future.  The only constant is change, as they cliche, and that certainly holds much truth with FnD and Swing and a Miss.  Maybe we will switch to a different set of systems after Tri-Stat, who knows? What always remains is the setting.

Kamigan will continue to grow, the child emperor will begin a new reign, the Oda-Shichi will unleash their secret plots, and a soon to be revealed enemy from afar will begin a campaign of slaughter and domination over the entire known world.  What will become of Nyxth, Mofar, and Giri might never be known, but the world is vast and there are many stories yet to tell.

Space City still holds many secrets.  Magic, conspiracies, and a constant struggle across the border continue.  The Mnemosyne project still experiments on vessels, living bodies with no discernible consciousness, using them like radio receivers.  Brujos de Sinaloa will continue to traffic the Rio border, what their intentions are beyond self fulfillment is unknown, even to many of their own members.

VeloCity will see the rise of its sister city, FeroCity, come to power.  The super detectives may even make crossovers into the world of super mutants.

Also, new character profiles and stories will be added more regularly while a new group of players is being rounded up.  The new systems will be:
     Big Eyes Small Mouth - Kamigan
     Dreaming Cities - Space City
     Silver Age Sentinels - FeroCity

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Countdown to Owlcon

Preregistration for Owlcon is now open. You'll want to get in as early as possible, many games have already filled all their seats. Look for my games BESM "Dragons and Bandits" and Unknown Armies "Brujos de Sinaloa" and Hero's A Penny for My Thoughts games when perusing the list of tabletop games to choose from.

Very soon I will have character sheets for UA posted up under the Unknown Armies tab, just as the Kamigan character sheets were posted up under the Anima/BESM tab. Also sent off to have business cards made, should be in just in time for the convention. If anyone is interested in joining the gaming group to play in Kamigan or in a new upcoming superhero campaign (a companion to Hero's Wild Talents campaign in a new gaming system) contact Ghost at yuureighost@gmail.com and we will begin that immediately following the convention.

More to come.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

BESM Kamigan

Two annoying things that can happen playing a tabletop game at a convention are having to pick a pre-made character and figure out how that character is supposed to act, and/or making up my own character if the process is long and drawn out. No one time game should lose an hour of it's four hour limit to character creation, nor should I be playing the entire game wondering if I'm living up to the gm's expectations of what my character should be doing. I mean, the gm made this character (assuming the pre-made), I did not.

I'd never even imagined I could make my own character in a con game until I played Dogs in the Vineyard. You have to give credit to indy games. They know what the common gamer struggles with and shapes their entire game structure around addressing those issues. You won't find World of Darkness, Dungeons & Dragons, or Shadowrun creators deviating very far from the tried and true methods that made them so much money. So, DitV showed me that you can make a character in a four hour one shot game, but they still took too long to do so. I think half our game was going through each of eight people creating a character one on one with the gm. Try it, it's actually very fun, just time consuming.

So, you wanna do this right? Some considerations will have to be forfeit in order to save time. I created character templates for players to choose from. It is, in many ways, a borrow from D&D, right? But at the same time I've condensed the process way way down. For normal BESM character creation you'd need the book. It's not simple, and so gives you lots of options. The templates I've made fit the world in which we'll be playing and hopefully should run as simple as: pick the race you want from 7 different, and then pick the class you want from 4 different types each of 3 categories. Warrior class has the balanced fighter, the defender, the ranger, and the dual wield. Deception class has the ninja warrior, the thief, the swindler, and the alchemist. Mage class has the swordmage, the sorcerer, the priest, and the druid. Choose a race, then choose a class, then add the few bonuses listed on the class sheet to the race sheet, grab to d6's, and you're ready to embark on a mystical, magical journey through a world filled with wonder, danger, and excitement.

Kamigan is based on the idea of D&D set in an Asian fantasy universe. It is like many manga/animes in that it can be any mood you want it to be, whether it be silly fun, serious excitement, dark and scary, or sensual. I mean, there are cat-girls in here. So, come take a journey with me, won't you? The snows have just begun to fall, the fire is warm, and the road is long. Who knows what adventures lay before us on the way to see the imperial coronation...