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Post by robertsconley on Mar 20, 2018 9:04:08 GMT -6
Perhaps to be grumpy about this, but in my neck of the woods in rural NW PA in the late 70s we grabbed whatever is on hand to use in our campaigns. Back then that meant Risk pieces, yahtzee dice, and crude play-doh figure. Today there are more options with a lot more variety in how polished it. is.
To me being Old School means thinking up an idea for a campaign, assembling the pieces to make it happen regardless of source, and run it. For example the climax of a superhero campaign using Champions was a fight on the moon involving giant robotic invaders. I had my youngest assemble a bunch of his bioncles (nearly two dozens bots) and used them as miniatures along side 25 mm superhero figures robbed from Wizkids Heroclix and torn off of their bases and glued to 1" wooden disks.
The briefing was conducted by me putting my iPad in the middle of the table and jury rigging a presentation app into looking like something that would be used in a James Bond/Stargate movie/show. During that part of the session I roleplayed a Air Force general. The moon was a piece of grey cloth laid over a bunch of wooden hoops for craters.
Everything in the above example, except for Champions, was made after the early 80s. We did use tape measures also robbed from Heroclix.
It not about what we use or the tech, but how we use it. Do we open a box and just run it 'as is' or do we think of things that are fun and figure how to accomplish it? The latter is what defines Old School for me.
Sorry if I sound grumpy about the issue.
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KrinnPhindalin
Level 3 Conjurer
Player in Lord Gronan's Games at GaryCon VII, VIII, IX, and X
Posts: 65
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Post by KrinnPhindalin on Mar 20, 2018 16:20:20 GMT -6
I'm not nearly as old school as most of you. I started with 5e, so I bought a map making subscription. I just make my maps. Dungeons I just do marching order and theater of the Mind.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2018 18:05:15 GMT -6
I'm not nearly as old school as most of you. I started with 5e, so I bought a map making subscription. I just make my maps. Dungeons I just do marching order and theater of the Mind. How much are they asking these days for the map making subscription? Does it stop Mike Mearls from sneaking into your house and tearing up your work?
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KrinnPhindalin
Level 3 Conjurer
Player in Lord Gronan's Games at GaryCon VII, VIII, IX, and X
Posts: 65
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Post by KrinnPhindalin on Mar 20, 2018 18:27:14 GMT -6
I'm not nearly as old school as most of you. I started with 5e, so I bought a map making subscription. I just make my maps. Dungeons I just do marching order and theater of the Mind. How much are they asking these days for the map making subscription? Does it stop Mike Mearls from sneaking into your house and tearing up your work? I bought it for $25 for a year. I love the thing. Makes my life a lot easier.
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Post by rsdean on Mar 30, 2018 9:04:36 GMT -6
We had miniatures so we used them. I seem to recall that I had, for a while, a sewing accessory that was a board marked in one inch squares, but we got a Chessex-type mat whenever I first saw one. Recognizing that minis were optional, I would note, as someone who started in 1976, AND someone buying old collections occasionally on eBay, that we used any handy historical miniatures for a lot of fighters, especially Ral Partha 1200AD figures, and Minifigs Alexander Nevsky figures, and judging from the collections, this was pretty typical. For actual “real” fantasy figures for characters, we used a lot of the earliest Grenadier Wizzards and Warriors figures, which came as singles before they Were revised and packed in blister packs: www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Wizzards_and_Warriors#Single_Figures_-_pre_bagged_codesWe liked them because they had backpacks and pouches and other adventure gear. As they were revised they got chunkier and chunkier, though, and we eventually stopped buying them. Ral Partha was also popular, and for minis battles, we used anything we could find, which was a lot harder before the Internet. I used to mail order board games from SPI and Acalon Hill, but never minis. My GM screen was Avalon Hill’s Afrika Korps board, which was already the right shape. I still needed it for Afrika Korps, so didn’t tape anything to it. I used the Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheet booklet for charts and such.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2018 12:55:29 GMT -6
...Someone buy "The Perilous Dreamer" a Game Boy, please, if those are still made. Or, a book. Or, a pet. Or, a bycicle. - Anything, really, that gets him off the f**king computer. Personally, I find myself both absolutely weirded out, and strangely fascinated. Like that time a mate recommended me not to throw away my old running shoes, because there was this strange internet community out there that would pay good money for them on ebay - and then send you a video a month later of how they were having sex with them. - What I really want to say, though, is that "Dave", if that is is really name, can go f**k a puma, for all I care. The shoe, OR the animal. Really, whatever serves to calm him down. By Hextor, just imagine if a mind as obsessive as his would put that energy into something useful? - Fixing world hunger. Finding cold fusion. Finishing "The Winds of Winter". Writing intelligent dialogue for "The Walking Dead". --- Ladies, gentlemen, dragonkin, While the passage above is mainly meant to give "Dave" some more textual bits to pregnant dog about on his series of, at this point, five or six fake blogs, I want to take this tender moment to clarify one thing: At this point, it's pretty useless for anyone to try to register fake accounts here, especially for a dude whose real-world location we have been able to pin as clearly as that of "Dave". We might miss him once, like we did with this account, but we will always get him, sooner or later. So, other than to serve as our laughing stock, and as an excuse for me to describe flamboyant ways for him to go f**k himself, his ridiculous and self-deprecating behavior has no purpose. What I find fairly questionable when I look at this thread, is how many of you, despite knowing full well what's going on at this point, still pal around with this miserable dickwad at his troll's den. What about if you - so laughably self-righteous whenever you feel like your own safe-spaces are invaded, stand up for someone else, for a change? I am not talking about me, I'm talking about Finarvyn. Most of you, if not all of you have allowed Fin to take more nuts than virtually anyone else in the oldschool community because you didn't have the balls to stand up for him whenever it would have mattered. So, allow me to suggest to a new plan: What about at least some of you fine post-modern gentlemen go tell "Dave" that you will stop posting at his forum until he stops wasting everyone's time with these futile acts of hostility? - That would be a sight, mmm-mmmh. - Oh, no worries, this thread will stay open. Can't miss one iota of D&D-related discussion, can we? - Shame on you, guys, for how you keep letting Fin down. Your sexy shoeless god of war, Rafe
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Post by Mr. Darke on May 26, 2018 12:34:28 GMT -6
Obviously I missed something here while I was taking care of some personal business. Rafe, I am going to shoot you a PM.
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Post by Finarvyn on May 26, 2018 13:59:51 GMT -6
For transparency, I should note that I deleted the three posts that prompted Rafe's tirade. Perhaps a mistake, because I'm not in the habit of censoring anything here on these boards, but it was the case of a dual-account being created and someone posting three times before getting caught and banned. I should have flushed those three posts weeks ago.
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Post by Mr. Darke on May 26, 2018 16:47:39 GMT -6
Ok. It's a part of that tirade that I was PMing him over. I may be a member of the board in question and felt I may have been lumped in on something that I wasn't a part of just by association. :/
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Post by Mr. Darke on May 27, 2018 18:23:30 GMT -6
Back on topic: I made my own screen once using binders and binder clips with pages in them for the tables I needed. I may do this again when I get time to put it all together.
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Post by Malcadon on May 29, 2018 4:12:57 GMT -6
By the time I started D&D in the early '90s, there were already a number of fantasy-themed toys on the market, including little army-men figures of that theme. Throughout the '80s fantasies like Conan, LotR, D&D and Masters of the Universe inspired a lot of fantasy toylines and knockoffs there of. One of the popular lines at the time were M.U.S.C.L.E. and Dragons N Monsters. The latter where great fantasy figures that made for fearsome-looking monsters, while the former mostly looked like cartoonist-looking wrestlers, but there were some (from a large collection) that had a fantasy vibe about them. There were a number of other figures I used in place of miniatures, but I forgot their names. Once the Hero Quest boardgame came out, I used the miniatures, doors, furniture and other props for laying out the rooms and such. Since then, I have greatly scaled-back on the miniatures and furnishing props as they were a hassle to set-up and keep organized. New its reduced to a vinyl grid-mat with dry-erase markers, Chess pieces for monsters and nameless NPC goons, and a few choice painted figures for PCs and major NPCs/monsters. And even the grid is redundant, as actual measurements for range and movement are no longer an issue, as I make thing more abstract than the exact to maintain the flow of the action. As a kid, I also like to decorate the table with a small chest-looking jewellery-box filled with plastic Mardi Gras-styled doubloons & necklaces, and smooth semi-precious stones as a prop for treasure. After the first game or two, they got in the way and I put them away for a few years. Eventually, I found it was better to decorate the sheaves and console tables around the game table with fantasy props in order to establish a fantasy atmosphere. The props included: half-melted candles on an old brass candelabra and sorted candlesticks; paper that was "aged" made to look like parchment, with a pen nib taped to a pigeon feather placed on the sheet; a plaster skull with a blunt decorative blade net to it; a great-helmet made of cereal boxes, sprayed and painted to look like mental with rust & dry blood stains; and even the same old jewellery-box chest but now with the coins and jewellery pouring out of it and scattered about. (WoD fan-girls also found this really hot.)
Also, my sister absolutely needed her family tree charts — the more relatives, the better — for her characters. She would establish the family well before the character is even rolled-up!
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Post by Mr. Darke on May 30, 2018 10:48:12 GMT -6
By the time I started D&D in the early '90s, there were already a number of fantasy-themed toys on the market, including little army-men figures of that theme. Throughout the '80s fantasies like Conan, LotR, D&D and Masters of the Universe inspired a lot of fantasy toylines and knockoffs there of. One of the popular lines at the time were M.U.S.C.L.E. and Dragons N Monsters. The latter where great fantasy figures that made for fearsome-looking monsters, while the former mostly looked like cartoonist-looking wrestlers, but there were some (from a large collection) that had a fantasy vibe about them. There were a number of other figures I used in place of miniatures, but I forgot their names. The 80s also had a good selection of these toys as well. I remember a couple dragons I had that would be great now just for the fun of it. I wish I had saved all that. HeroQuest and the later Heroscape was a boon on minis. Yes it was a hassle to set up but it was fun to do so. I only did it for bigger rooms and battles though. Now, I use the dry erase grid and Pathfinder Pawns that I got for cheap when they are needed. For the most part we just use them for marching orders and battle formations. Movement only comes into play if needed. However, going to the dollar shop and getting a few odds and ends is always an option and gives the game that late 70s to early 80s DIY feel. I didn't go this far but tea stained maps with vague notes, painted wooden discs for coins and a burnt down candle in a wine bottle were a few decorations I have used in the past. Interesting on the family tree thing as it could provide a player and DM a big opportunity for npcs or new pcs.
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Post by Malcadon on Jun 1, 2018 20:31:29 GMT -6
The 80s also had a good selection of these toys as well. I remember a couple dragons I had that would be great now just for the fun of it. I wish I had saved all that. Same here!
The "number of other figures I used in place of miniatures, but I forgot their names" I noted where mostly from the '80s. There were one set of small plastic fantasy soldiers I had in the mid-'80s who had hands that could hold tiny weapons and shields. The figures looked absolutely cool — like mutant monsters from a Conan comic.
HeroQuest and the later Heroscape was a boon on minis. Yes it was a hassle to set up but it was fun to do so. I only did it for bigger rooms and battles though. Now, I use the dry erase grid and Pathfinder Pawns that I got for cheap when they are needed. For the most part we just use them for marching orders and battle formations. Movement only comes into play if needed. However, going to the dollar shop and getting a few odds and ends is always an option and gives the game that late 70s to early 80s DIY feel. I find it a hassles with role-playing as I have to keep the payers engaged with the story and descriptions, and not having to interrupt myself sorting though game props and miniatures.
On the other hand, when I play HeroQuest, I go ALL OUT for it. My basic HQ set expanded far beyond itself and the box it came in! I would buy games like DragonStrike, DarkWorld, BattleMasters, and HeroScape to add to it. My set has a ton of new stuff: modular dungeon floor tiles, overlays dice, tokens, numbered coins, furniture, hero & monster figures, expanded rule book, game cards, etc. to play with! In that game I'm not constrained with story-telling or complex game mechanics, so I can sort though boxes and boxes of game props like a mad hoarder trying to find "that one thing I really need" without it disrupting the game too much. It is fun!
I hear you on the Dollar Shop thing. I find a lot of useful thing at Dollar and Thrift Stores.
Interesting on the family tree thing... Yeah my sister is a sub-set of female players I call "Fairy Princess Players" who absolutely go all-out on character background, to where they have pages and pages of personal backstory and family history with family trees! They usually love to play Elves, Nobles (more over, Elvin Nobility) and Halflings (as long as they don't look fat like Bilbo Baggins). While they do get reeeeealllllly attached to their beloved character, another relative could easily take their place (with some additions and revisions to the backstory to make her "playable").
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