North Texas RPG Con has been a blast so far.  I arrived Thursday evening to find Tavis Allison and Nick Mizer in the hotel bar, and we spent several hours talking about academics and gaming.  Friday, I had a chance to run the Jakallan Underworld for two intrepid players, Ian and Duke.  Taking two characters… Continue reading Off to Texas – Part Two

Saturday afternoon, I started driving on my cross-country trek to go to North Texas RPG Con.  First stop: St. Louis! Chris Davis of Blue Room fame was kind enough to offer me some crash space at his place, since St. Louis was a decent seven hours from Madison, Wisconsin.  Arriving late on Saturday, we went… Continue reading Off to Texas – Part One

Downside of this past weekend: I had been unsure if I was going to make it to GaryCon, so I had not registered to run any events. Upside of this past weekend: it didn’t matter. :):):) When I arrived at GaryCon on Thursday, I brought along a whole bunch of material: Empire of the Petal… Continue reading GaryCon IV was a blast!

Over at the RetroRoleplaying Blog, Randall Stukey notes:  “Today is the last day of the Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Cancer fund drive. Donations arriving before I get up Monday morning (say 7am CDT on March 19th) will count as donated on the 18th of March.”  I encourage everyone who has not donated to think about doing… Continue reading Last Chance to Donate!

Professor Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman (MAR) Barker, known to his friends as “Phil,” died peacefully in home hospice on March 16, 2012 with his wife Ambereen Barker at his side. Professor Barker is survived by his wife of 53 years, Ambereen. Details on memorial services will follow. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Tékumel Foundation are… Continue reading Another friend passes away

This looks rather interesting. I’ve always had something of a soft spot for 2300AD, after originally rejecting it as “that weird game that was mislabeled as ‘Traveller’.” Once I figured out what the game was about, I rather liked the connection between it and Twilight:2000. I never really had a chance to play, and now… Continue reading Traveller Tuesday: 2300AD reborn!

When I first started playing D&D, back in 1975 or so, I was just a teenager. I played mostly with my high school friends, but after awhile I wanted to see how other people played.  So even though I was in high school, I discovered the Conflict Simulation Association at the University of Minnesota –… Continue reading Learning from Lessnard

The attached picture is a preview of a new release coming VERY soon from Prof. Barker and the Tekumel Foundation. It will be available through DriveThru/RPG Now. Details to follow soon!

Over at Playing D&D with Porn Stars, Zak is exploring some of the same issues I’ve experienced attempting to talk with Forge adherents about what, exactly, gaming is and is supposed to accomplish.  I pointed out Glenn Blacow’s excellent article about different kinds of gamers, which is itself an exploration of the different expectations that people… Continue reading What Zak said

I have completed three character “sheets” for three different games: Original D&D, Empire of the Petal Throne, and Mutant Future.  They are all 3×5 card sized, as they should be.  I’m feeling accomplished.  🙂