Extra Life is Coming - YOU CAN HELP

Attention PCs and NPCs, the time has come once again to prepare for the Great 24 Hour Dungeonthon supporting the Extra Life charity and the Monroe J. Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. Last year's run through the Temple of Elemental Evil raised $720.00 to help sick kids, and this year we're hoping to do even better! Before fundraising begins in earnest, though, your friendly neighborhood Dungeon Master needs your help!

This year, rather than a single 24 hour mega-module, I'll be running the intrepid Dungeoneers through three, 8 hour adventures in three different genres and systems, over the period of November 5 through November 6. In order to pare down my dozens of potential game systems down to only three, I'm going to need your input!

The first game selection round consists of nine games in three categories, and will be followed by three more groups of nine until only the three highest rated remain. Choose the fate of our heroes!

If there's a game you want to add to the running, or if you want to cheat the system and vote more than once, please make a nominal donation to the Extra Life campaign, with a comment including the system you want to see us run - every dollar helps sick kids!

GaWoMoCo...Mo

That's "Gamma World Module Conversion Month."

While the rest of the world is working on their NaNos or whatever, I've decided to put together a Gamma World campaign. This will be the first time I've ever attempted to actually run a game since around 1994, so I've decided to use this blog space I've had kicking around gathering cyber dust to record the process.

The first hurdle I've identified to this project, both in terms of the blog and the campaign, is that I am not a particularly well practiced or consistent writer. For a GM this can be circumvented by purchasing and running a prebuilt adventure module (sadly, nobody seems to sell prebuilt blogs). The issue here is that WotC hasn't pushed its Gamma World adventures out the door yet, and won't until December. Similarly, although TSR published and supported the property for several years, culminating in the AD&D-based fourth edition, we've gone through two and a half iterations of the core rules since then. This is where the "conversion" part of that title comes in: taking the classic TSR modules (and maybe a few Sword & Sorcery adventures), and rebuilding them to be up to spec with 4E (or specifically, Gamma World 7E).

Secondly, and of a more practical concern, is the new Gamma World's trading card mechanic. Most members of my group are scattered around various locations across the US (maybe one or two outside the States, even), and our RPG medium of choice has been Gametable. Fortunately, Gametable includes a card/deck drawing mechanic, which will facilitate the use of Alpha Mutation and Omega Tech cards. Unfortunately, this means a lot of data entry work, typing up a list of starter deck cards into the GM's deck, and assembling further lists based on booster cards for each player, and then entering these lists into XML documents for Gametable. It might also be handy to create a pog for each card, so players can have a nifty visual representation of their readied powers.

As I crack into these challenges (and probably discover new ones), armed with rulebooks, splats, supplements, fan-compiled lists, mapmaking tools, spreadsheets, and Notepad, I will attempt to keep this blog updated with my progress. I'll also attempt to link to any handy, web-based resources I find, and upload whatever (hopefully non-infringing*) files I create. To kick things off, you'll find links below to the Gametable client, and to info on the Gamma World starter decks.


The Gametable Wiki

Gamma World cards on the WotC forum

*Wizards folks: if you find anything I post violates the GSL or infringes on your IP, please let me know, and I'll pull the offending content immediately.