Blog poll has gone screwy

Unless large numbers of you have decided to simultaneously delete votes from my poll - something has gone very strange with it?

Anyone got any ideas? Google suggests it has happened to other bloggers in the past?

As I said in my last post, I have decided not to be just the WIKI MAN, despite the enormous increase in exposure the wiki has given my blog, and I will be posting A to Z on a more Jovial Priest in depth, some might say anal, subject.

Scheduled for 00:05, Greenwich mean time....

Can't wait to read the other RPG A to Z postings!

PS I will still be regularly checking on the wiki during the month and helping it along the best I can.

House Rule Wiki Update

Alex and I (mostly Alex) have added some general advice to editing the wiki.
You can check this out here and here.
Alex has also added some advice regarding the Site License.


There still feels to me an enormous enthusiasm for the wiki. One way this is demonstrated is by the spontaneous creation of logos for the wiki before Daddy Grognard has even started a competition!


Check out these three!
Anthony emailed this beauty from Battleaxes and Beasties

OR this evocative logo by Greg Christopher from Errant's

OR this one by Arkhein from Rather Gamey's designed to complement the colour scheme of the wiki

Now I have little to no artistic skills. I always imagined an owl in chains, you know links to wisdom....
OK an S&M owl probably won't prove popular which is a very good thing I am not in charge!


The plan is to run a competition as to be organised by Daddy Grognard and judging by the poll in my blog - 100% of the responses has been for everyone to be able to vote.


Don't prejudice the vote my casting an opinion on these three excellent potential logos, BUT have you seen another out there, or in there waiting to be created?


It does raise the question as to the name of the wiki.
ON one hand it already has a name in the wiki URL - Links to Wisdom - Alex can answer how easy that may be to change.


Temple of Wisdom I think came from Zak S but for the life of me I can't find the spot now. Maybe I am mistaken.


Roger the GS from Roles, Rules and Rolls suggested to me he preferred the more self-explanatory "The OSR House Rules Wiki"which is how I keep describing it in my posts. So I am kicking myself for not having that name in the poll. I have added an add on poll to bring out this option (see right) but I fear we may have to poll again. Hopefully Alex will just say - too late, it can't be done - you are stuck with what you've got.


On a final note for tonight I have joined the April 2011 A to Z Blogging Challenge. I had a typical Jovial Priest in depth narrow subject matter theme in mind, but then wobbled with all the excitement regarding the wiki - with delusions of grandeur over a wiki A to Z highlighting my favourite links..... BUT THEN
I thought, I don't want to be the wiki man.


In my very first post I ever made back in October 2010, after months of deliberating, will I, won't I start a blog and risk potential shame and ignominy; I said, "In my own small way I hope I can offer something back to the OSR, which has rekindled my 2nd love [D&D, Star Wars being my 1st]".
With the wiki I hope I can say job done.


That doesn't mean I won't be posting about the wiki, I love it, but I am very glad others are posting about it as well, Daddy Grognard will run any logo competition, and many many others are making links into the wiki every day. It is starting to feel it belongs to us all.


Remember
Don't just think it, link it.

The OSR House Rule wiki - what next? And a poll.

Links to Wisdom has grown fantastically fast. Maybe too fast.


Richard made a comment at Zak S' blog asking, "I think your efforts at quality control on the wiki are a good thing, except I don't know what other people will consider good quality. And I think jovial and alex aren't also policing for quality?  I've put a couple of things up there without really asking myself if they're worthy because I figured if other people thought they were timewasting crap they'd delete them (it being a wiki). Now I'm not so sure about this approach."


A searching question. Who is actually in charge of the wiki? Alex owns the site, is it his? Is it mine? Is it anyones? Whose policing it for headings and structure, or more controversially, quality?


If no one polices it, will it just drown under its own weight?


I have a number of thoughts.


I see the wiki as a repository of links.


I am of the belief that if the wiki is to prove beneficial for the OSR community, it must belong to the OSR community.


But can we organically grow, maintaining order and quality, without 'authorised' moderators?
I hope so. There is a reason we are bloggers. Many of us have left forums or never started there, and one reason was an ambivalence to moderators (the concept, not necessarily the people).

I think some clearer advice on headings and structure could prove useful, and I am happy to give some, but in the end it won't be rocket science.
1. Keep to Moldvay/Cook as much as we can
2. Sub headings, lots of subheadings
3. If one can group 2 or more links together - subhead
4. If a link sits in two logical places eg currently we have B/X Blackrazor hats in How to Create a Player Character and Armor - Helmets and Headgear (both within section heading Player Character), delete one or at least state in black text that this link is also in...) 


I remain philosophical and optimistic. Every time I go the the wiki I find new excellent links or links to posts long lost or forgotten. Until we have twenty links to dual weapon wielding I think we aren't drowning under our weight. At one stage I was hoping wiki readers could rate the links (giving guidance to the better posts), a bit like Amazon. This isn't as easy according to Alex as it seems. We would possibly lose one of the wiki's most important characteristics - it is extremely simple to edit and create a link. As many of us have been pleasantly surprised to find. There is a manual way of adding stars (some links already have them),  so we could use that more, but anyone can alter or remove the stars. Is that a problem, not at the moment and not for me.


There are some poll questions to the right in this blog. Don't just agree with me, what do you think?
I am sure to be fascinated by your answers.


Final thought, for the day. If you are wondering if such and such a post or House Rule is worthy...
Don't just think it, link it.

Do you want a logo?

The OSR House Rule Wiki: Links to Wisdom is growing rapidly. 

Daddy Grognard asked about a logo for the wiki.

I asked Alex and his response was: Yes, the wiki can have a logo. The One Page Dungeon Contest, for example, has a log in the top right corner: http://campaignwiki.org/wiki/DungeonMaps/HomePage

If you want to try it, you can find instructions on how to do it on the advanced info page: http://campaignwiki.org/wiki/Advanced


I suggested to DG that he make a call for artists on his blog.


And he has. Quicker than I could make the following comment.


Because, I wonder If the House Rule wiki is to grow it needs to be seen as not my or Alex's site but everyones. So though I will follow with interest - count me out of any judging/commissioning group. I'll let Alex speak for himself.


So I wonder if along with DG we could ask, some big OSR bloggers to judge if we have more than one offer for creating the logo. Jeff Rients and Zak come to mind as both were very supportive from the beginning and Jeff suggested a wiki. 

What do people think?

The OSR House Rule Aggregation Site - She LIVES

Click OSR Links to Wisdom to go straight there!

It's only three days since I grumbled in my post about my frustrations with blogging as a READER and avid CONTENT follower.


And in three days OSR Links to Wisdom has been created by Alex Schroeder of Old School RPG Planet .


What's it's purpose.


1. A repository of links to blog posts / or forum posts that clarify a rule or propose a House Rule


2. All organised around the B/X Moldvay/Cook contents page template.


3. A wiki where anyone can add a link to a post.


So go on - check it out, add some links, and place in your blog list.  


Honestly it's very easy to edit - it looks like this:

* Introduction
** What is OSR LINKS TO WISDOM All About
** How to Edit this Site
** Definitions of Standard D&D Terms
** Use of the Word "Level"
** How to Use the Dice
*** [http://www.rpgblog2.com/2008/11/order-of-d30.html The Order of the d30]
** How to "Win"

Each * equals a heading hierarchy.
* Section heading
**  Subheading
*** Sub sub heading

I added the link into the Order of the d30. It was a piece of cake!

Get to it!


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Image purchased from istockphoto. No right to reproduce the image is given. See Image Licence.

What do you think to an OSR House Rule wiki/blog aggregation site?

That seems to be what the comments to my last post led to.

And Alex Schroeder certainly seems to have the technical skills to make it happen. Just check out Old School RPG Planet, if you haven't already.

In my vision the wiki/blog would be:

1. Primarily links to blog posts / or forum posts that clarify a rule or propose a House Rule

2. These are indexed under a contents that mirrors Moldvay's contents (all TSR and clones would hopefully fit under his broad headings). Imagine with me for a moment an abbreviated heading list...
Introduction
  Definitions of Standard D&D Terms
  How to Use the Dice (eg d30 dice links)
Player Character
  How to Create a Player Character (eg 4d6 drop lowest, 3d6 in order)
  Hit Points and Hit Dice (eg plenty to say here)
  Bonuses and Penalties Due to Abilities (eg all my posts about low ability scores)
  Character Classes (eg Lands of Ara bard, B/X Blackrazor barbarian and mountebank, Grognardia druid)
  Character Alignment (eg this area would be huge!)
  Armor Classes (eg Trollsmyth shields shall be splintered, weapon vs AC house rules)
Spells
  Clerical Spells (eg vancian or not?)
  Magic-User Spells
  Spellbooks (eg with links to the recent ChicagoWiz and Jeff Rient's posts)
The Adventure
  Encumbrance (delta's rules, LotfP)
  Time
  Light
  Wilderness (to add some Cook titles)
  Waterborne Travel
  Travelling by Air
  Retainers
  Specialists and Mercenaries
  GIVING EXPERIENCE POINTS
The Encounter
  Monster Reactions
  Combat Sequence (eg Alexis' rules)
  Saving Throws
Monsters
 Monster List (eg Daddy Grognard and Adventure for Every Monster)
Treasure
  Treasure Types (silver economy)
  Magic Items (need I say more)
Dungeon Master
  Choose a Scenario (maybe choose a campaign- sand box or other)
  Map Making
Inspirational Source
  Reviews of old and new material
  Novels : Appendix N

3. Allow anyone to put in their own link to theirs or another's post (less work for any moderator)

4. Maybe allow a 5 star rating so readers have some hope of sorting the good from the great

5. And every time it alters have it update in peoples blog list if they are following - keeping that "Click me I'm new" blog feeling. Hopefully there will be some way highlighting the new material.

6. Working title for this project: OSR Links to Wisdom

I'm liking it, are you?

The future of OSR blogging...

This is a very unusual post from me. I am a content blogger not a concept blogger and certainly not a navel gazing blogger, until this post that is.


Additionally as a disclaimer, I am hardly qualified to say anything about this topic. I am an OSR minnow. Blogging since October 2010 and 28 followers only (thank you each and everyone of you). 


But I want to share two frustrations I have as a blogging follower or reader, not as a writer.  I think it has implications for the OSR blogging momentum. Indeed my frustrations could equally apply to the whole blogging movement, not just OSR blogs.


Don't expect answers, I have none. Don't expect anything original either, others have muttered the same I am sure. In fact I know they have, I just can't find their posts (see Frustration 2). And oh, I am of the opinion that life is good for the OSR at the moment. What is the OSR? OSR for me is old TSR and its clones. I also like blogs. I remain attracted to the quality of the writing (this post excepted) and the positive atmosphere which, by and large, lives within the OSR blogging community 


Frustration 1: No Following
Sure you can sign up as a follower but when I make a comment in someone's blog I want an easy way of following the other comments if I wish, or not as the case may be. I don't want to have to remember where I made the comment and most importantly, when. Ideally I want a single click in my dashboard or since I have a blog, as a feed into my blog, where I can follow comments to a blog posting that I have commented on. It's to give us blog followers some of the advantages of forum, without the atmosphere of forum. Is there a cookie or RSS feed that could be linked into your blog or dahboard? Come on Google, you are needed here.


Frustration 2: No memory
Everything feels so instantaneous but so transient. Blogs exist for the moment. This has three implications. Firstly when a blog dies, everything can be lost. The good and the bad. Secondly, there is gold buried in each and every blog: thoughts, inspirations, pictures, house rules - but it is nearly impossible to access them. Often I don't even know what I have written a few months back, what house rule I ruled. Have you read back into Grogardia - there is a wealth of amazing posts. Have you delved back into B/X Blackrazor, A Paladin in Citadel, Gothridge Manor, Lands of Ara, to name just a few others I follow. Tags and search terms barely suffice even for me to access my own blog. Thirdly, with blogging so transient, old ideas are rehashed as if they are new, and no one can tell. The implication being, that we can't build on what has been created before, instead we merely recreate the same wheel. I admire what Alexis is doing with his Wiki The Same Universe. A shared wiki may answer this frustration but the devil is in the details: who runs it, who organises it, who decides what is allowed in. But I love content and house rules - think for a moment - a house rule wiki that follows the contents of Holmes or Moldvay. Sections entitled Player Character Information; Spells; The Adventure; The Encounter; Monsters; Treasure; Dungeon Master Information and Inspirational Source Material. Filled with twenty versions and more of dual weapon fighting and monster articles like that from Daddy Grognards An Adventure for Every Monster. A place where memory lives.


Do you have similar frustrations? Do you have answers? Do you have the leadership to do something about it? 
Son , I am the Jovial Priest my role is to show you the errors of your way and direct you on, your role is to walk it.  


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Image purchased from istockphoto. No right to reproduce the image is given. See Image Licence.

Help with my new poll

As part of my recent exploration of XP and advancement (see here), I am interested to the answer of this new poll (see the two questions at the top right).


I am fascinated to see what the results are...


Since my Newbie Blogger Award from Tim at Gothridge Manor , I have had 9 new followers. Thanks Tim.


And I have yet to thank some of these latest followers:
Neil Ford
Greg at Gorgonmilk
Luke Morgan at The Confederate
Pierce
Austrodavicus at There's Dungeons Down Under (the new winner of the award)
Risus Monkey at the Velvet Edge and Risus Monkey

April 2011: A to Z Blogging Challenge

Ok I am in.

My theme is chosen...

April 1st - April Fool's day... ummmmmmm

Reimagined demi-humans and Coats of Halflingkind

This image from Mikael Hollsten and other works can be found HERE.

Two posts have inspired me to reimagine D&D demihumans. The first is less a single post and more B/X Blackrazor's race as species musings. The second was this paragraph by Old School Psionics:

Magic Users, and humans in general by association, are hated by magical creatures, because of the exploitative method of magical ingredient harvesting.    Boots of Elvenkind, for example, are not boots created BY elvenkind, but are boots OF elvenkind.    As you can imagine, elvenkind does not appreciate having their foot skins harvested for the making of human boots...    Nevertheless, humans value such boots greatly, as they allow their wearers to move silently through the forests. 

It left me thinking about B/X class as species, and a desire to make dwarves more than just short stocky humans. I wanted to allude to the medieval magical dwarf. I wanted all demihumans to be magical. I wanted cloaks of Halflingkind that help the wearer to HIDE (pun intended) in the wilderness. 

I haven't succeeded in creating this atmosphere in my campaign yet, but I am working on it. The below is not a full fledged game mechanic it is an evolving idea. It has led me to the idea that all demihumans are spellcasters. There are no spell books, as spells are gained like clerics. However, like my human Templar Clerics, the caster does not know all spells in that spell level at once, but knows only as many as their allowed casting quota per day plus their wisdom bonus.  Such that Wisdom, the perception of the unseen world, and the will to use it, determines the demihuman spellcasters strength.

Elves

Creatures of air and water.

An elf, is essentially a Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion (LL AEC) druid, with spells restricted to air and water. When you think about it, elf as druid is very apt. Forests, nature, talking to animals, moving lightly and unseen through the wilderness. I didn't want my elves to lose their options of B/X magic user spells so I allowed them the ability to also have a magic user spellbook. That is an elf can cast both elf spells (druid spells) and magic user spells but the number of spells cast per day is limited by level, such that a 1st level elf can still only cast one spell / day but this can be of either druid or magic user variety.

Spells known: Minimums: wisdom 9, minimum intelligence 9 to cast magic-user spells.

An elf can can cast magic-user spells but this will require the elf to own and maintain a spellbook. Like a magic-user an elves spell book may contain as many spells as they can cast per day plus an additional number can be written into the spell book, per spell level, as determined by their intelligence score bonus.

Elf Level		Spell Level
	1	2	3	4	5
1	1
2	2
3	2	1
4	2	2
5	2	2	1
6	2	2	2
7	3	2	2	1
8	3	3	2	2
9	3	3	3	2	1
10	3	3	3	3	2

Very roughly especially for any level above 1st, these are the elf spells, all derived from druid spells in LL AEC.

LEVEL 1

1. Animal Companion                       

2. Detect Magic

3. Detect Snares and Pits

4. Divine Weather

5. Entangle

6. Faerie Fire

7. Invisibility, Animal

8. Locate Creature

9. Pass without Trace

10. Purify Water

11. Shillelagh

12. Speak with Animals

LEVEL 2

1. Barkskin

2. Charm Person or Mammal

3. Create Water

4. Cure Light Wounds

5. Find Plant

6. Purify Food and Drink

7. Obscuring Mist

8. Stumble

9. Warp Wood

LEVEL 3

1. Call Lightning

2. Cure Disease

3. Gust of Wind

4. Hold Animal

5. Neutralize Poison

6. Plant Growth

7. Snare

8. Tree Shape

9. Water Breathing

LEVEL 4

1. Cure Serious Wounds

2. Hallucinatory Terrain

3. Hold Vegetation and Fungus

4. Passplant

5. Polymorph Self

6. Repel Vermin

7. Speak with Plants

8. Summon Animal I

9. Summon Sylvan Beings

Dwarves

Creatures of stone and fire.

Dwarves live underground, they like to work in a smithy - stone and fire - works for me. Like B/X clerics, all other demihuman spell casters do not get spells at 1st level.

Dwarf Level		Spell Level
	1	2	3	4
1	0
2	0
3	1
4	2
5	2	1
6	2	2
7	3	2
8	3	2	1
9	3	3	1
10	3	3	2
11	3	3	3
12	3	3	3	1

The dwarf spells are mostly derived from LL AEC druid spells, focussing on, you guessed it, stone/earth and fire. These ideas are very very rough.

LEVEL 1

1. Detect Magic in metal, stone objects

2. Pass without Trace within stone

3. Manipulate Fire 

LEVEL 2

1. Burning hands

2. Fire Trap

3. Heat Metal (useful in a smithy)

4. Produce Flame

5. Stumble

6. Warp Wood (I like that dwarves can damage growing things)

LEVEL 3

1. Glyph of Warding

2. Protection from Fire

3. Pyrotechnics

4. Stone snare

5. Stone Shape

6. Explosive Runes

LEVEL 4

1. Flash Fire

2. Dispel Magic in inanimate objects (dwarf version of dispel magic)

OTHER POSSIBLE (depending if higher levels can be gained and how it plays over time...)

Transmute Rock to Mud (reversible)

Wall of Fire

Conjure Fire Elemental

Fire Seeds

Repel Wood

Guards and Wards

Stone to Flesh (reverse only)

Animate Mineral

Conjure Earth Elemental

Fire Storm

Fire Chariot

Statue

Halflings

Creatures that are hard to kill.

"If you have had to beat a halfling to death you will know they just won't stay dead," Wild Billy. 

Halflings are magic creatures that are good at hiding, and can take a beating from any source.

Halfling Level		Spell Level
	1	2	3
1	0
2	0
3	1
4	2
5	2	1
6	2	2
7	3	2
8	3	2	1

LEVEL 1

1. Invisibility, Animal

2. Pass without Trace in wilderness

3. Resist fear (kender?)

4. Resist Cold

LEVEL 2

1. Feign Death

2. Resist Fire

LEVEL 3

Water Breathing

Invisibility

OTHER POSSIBLE

Temperature Control

Orcs

Creatures that hunt you.

The Tolkienesque concept that elves and orcs share a heritage is very appealing to me. What if instead of skulking in caves, orcs hunt in forests. Evil elves but diminished. In fact you don't want an orc chief on your trail, they live for the hunt. See my last post for a possible female version.

Orc Hit Dice		Spell Level
	1	2	3
1	0
2	1
3	2
4	2	1
5	2	2
6	2	2	1
7	2	2	2
8	3	2	2

LEVEL 1

1. Locate Creature ‘Animal Intelligence only’ (great for hunting)

2. Hearts Health (remove and eat a heart within 1 turn of death heals 1 hp / hit dice of victim

3. Speak with Animals

4. Entangle

LEVEL 2

1. Snare

2. Enlarge

3. Spider Climb (yeah)

4. Locate humanoid (I've got you now)

LEVEL 3

1. Insect Swarm

2. Poison (reverse)

3. Locate creature (There will be nothing to stop us this time)

Goblins

Creatures of stone.

Strongly influenced by Raggi's Hammer of the Gods I want goblins to have a big grudge against dwarves. The dwarves stole fire from the goblins, or so the goblins believe. Goblins are like dwarves, could they be related, but diminished. Goblins are smart, magical but small. Hobgoblins are the dumb, nonmagical brutish cousins the goblins often have to coexist with and are often subjugated by.

Goblin Hit Dice		Spell Level
	1	2
1	0
2	0
3	1
4	2
5	2	1
6	2	2

LEVEL 1

1. Stone sense (gain abilities of dwarves eg find traps, sloping passages etc for 1turn/level)

2. Detect Magic in metal, stone objects (they love magic items)

3. Hide in stone 1 turn / HD (a goblin can vanish into stone for 1/turn per HD)

LEVEL 2

1. Pass without Trace if underground

2. Infravision 

Hope you enjoyed!