Roll your toon! All of it!

Earlier this year a good friend of mine was in town for a visit, so we had to RP cause he only visits so often from out of state and his time is often monopolized by his slew of friends & family.
Because we didn't have the entire crew from a different gaming group, and none of us really wanted to start lvl 1 chars out of nowhere, we decided to make randomized characters.
I jotted out a roll chart for classes, struck out some that I really didn't want to deal with, as was communally agreed upon by the other players (but they're still on the list if you want to use them).
We then realized to speed things up we should randomize race & alignment. And then there's more, but here are the tables as we developed them . . ..

Roll a d20 for class
1 Magus
2 alchemist
3 oracle
4 inquisitor
5 cavalier
6 summoner
7 sorcerer
8 rogue
9 ranger
10 paladin
11 monk
12 fighter
13 druid
14 cleric
15 bard
16 barbarian
17 gunslinger
18 samurai
19 ninja
20 witch
20 wizard
20 roll twice
(Strike through denotes we did not use them for that game, roll twice was for dual classing as I think we were running lvl 8's? and I don't know how we forgot the Wizard, or if we chose not to use it)

Race!  We had 3 charts associated w/ race, lets see if I can make them make sense . . .

Roll a D10
1 gnome (nobody wanted to play a gnome) orc
2 halfling
3 human
4 elf
5 1/2 elf
6 1/2 orc
7 dwarf
8,9 or 10 roll on "Next Chart"

Next Chart d10 alternative races
1 aklo
2 tengu
3 earth (elemental race, don't remember the name, not going to look it up)
4 wind ( " " )
5 fire ( " " )
6 water ( " " )
7 (Not "Heart") goblin
8 kobold - Roll on "Color Chart" below
9 Assemir
10 teifling
(there was a general agreement to not have damphires)

 I've developed some tentative alternative racial rules for Kobold sin the games I play/run that there are  different colored Kobolds, just like the dragons they emulate giving slightly different racial perks &  flaws.
Color Chart: D10
1 red
2 blue
3 green
4 black
5 white
6 brass
7 silver
8 copper
9 bronze
10 gold
I'm even looking to expand it to the alternative dragon "colors" later on.

Then you roll on your alignment chart which has been modified to only those allowed in this particular campaign.

Alignmet Chart: D10
1 or 6 Lawful Good
2 or 7 Chaotic Good
3 or 8 Neutral Good
4 or 9 Chaotic Neutral
5 or 10 Lawful Neutral


Oh yeah, these tables are intended for use with Pathfinder, but I'm sure the equivs can be translated to other system.
Now, I know these charts exist already in several incarnations, many of them inside the very source books we use, but, like many things in this ultimately customizable universe we all play in, sometimes you want something a little more tailored to your needs, so here's one for my groups and groups like mine.

Enjoy h47ites, see you later Space Cowboys!

MemeOrable: Epic Sax Meme-sical Interlude

Epic SAX guy!
A musical phenomenon that I can't get enough of. Apparently, like many things our hive minds hook onto, this guys awesome grooves really rocked allot of people and has maintained a consistent power. 

Yes, Yes that IS a ten hour video of the ONE bit of music. Yes, some people on the internet are WEIRD and there are whole communities who have sent screen shots back and forth proving HOW LONG they were able to endure/enjoy the musical stylings. As Nerdcore Luminary YTCracker mentioned on this FANTASTIC REMIX, apparently his raiding companions on WoW would play it over vent while they engaged in end game activities.

While at Anime Expo this last year there was a wandering band of troubadors, one of which had a sexyphone, and the oh-so familiar tones wafted through the convention halls. It was glorious, and I can only imagine what type of rediculousness my own band associates might have gotten up to had we all been in school just a few years later. ah well, I'm old. heh.

But wait, There's MORE

 Yes, that just happened . . . Oh yeah. Does the song sound familiar but you've never seen this video before? Do you enjoy the audio exploits of Loveline? Well Guess what?! You're not crazy, well, at least not hallucinating . . .



AND, just for posterity sake, and becuase I beleive in aknowledging source material, The origional video.

You know, I kinda like the jam session at the end a little better. Enjoy!

Gygax is Rolling in His Grave

And I think he just Crit!
A short but poignant post today. As you may or may not recall, back in March of '08 The Great Gary passed on to a different plane. Even three years later his memory lives on and his family and some of their closest friends and MANY nerds still wish to have a concrete memorial somewhere on our Earth.
Check out the site and the proposed memorial and even throw some cash that way if you wish.
http://www.gygaxmemorialfund.com/

AND, so there's a bit of my brain in this post as well as a nod to this great institution, I'll use an old favorite to hopefully give me a quick & fun post . . . .

(Yup, those are my new Precise Dice, I use them when I'm GMing so less chance my players will gripe. WTF are science/precise dice you might ask? Dig around HERE for an answer)

8! Describe your local area, gamerwise--is their a local game store? Where do your players come from? Do you want more players? Are they your friends? If you play with strangers, who are these people? Where do they come from?

Ooh, a tuffy. Actually, I take that back. I am lucky in some ways that I live in a major metropolitan area that is unequivocally nerdy, Silicon Valley.
There are MANY local game shops, at least half a dozen I am aware of all within a half hour or so of each other, whether they be comic or hobby shops at their core, they are definitely Gamer-friendly.
The players come from everywhere. Jr. High, High School, College, corporate sector, entertainment & service industry.
As for more players, no, I am good. I wish for more time to play with all my players but as most of you who know me personally have more than likely heard me gripe about my inability to tell players, old & new, "no" to joining my gaming group.
They are all my friends and I am responsible for the majority of my current players coming into RPG's. I have played with RPG vets and stranger noobs when I worked at a comic shop for a while, they came for a set, consistent game.
Currently my two groups are all friends and/or co-workers due to large nerdy social circles and a workplace with some VERY interesting perks.

Overall, to anyone who's looking for a game who might be new to the genre or just moved out here, don't sweat, there is a game for everyone out here, we be some of the nerdiest areas on earth, I'd wager. Just keep looking.

Rollin' Customs

We all know I have an affinity for dice. What true table top nerd doesn't? We have discussed this before. And, like all obsessions, there are those of us who seek out the unique, novel and even absurd variations thereof. Although I have previously acquired my strange polyhedrons from various sources, I was recently contacted by a fascinating individual . . .

And made aware of his excellent operation. Abraham, out of Barcelona, is a professional Dice Maker. Perhaps even, a polyhedromancer? And the "d"s he cranks out are totally rad. Like most geeks, he seems to have a plethora of nerdy interests and these are reflected in his dice designs, and they are awesome.
They look clean and precise and from hints on his blog he experiments to get the most out of his equipment to create the EXACT effect he wants on his dice.
I'm not sure when I'll get some extra cash to procure some, ( I should look up what S&H is from Spain to California. I love international shipping, I'll tell yall my story about a $30 CD later, so worth it though)
But I look forward to ordering some and seeing first hand how well the ink holds, how random they roll, and overall the feel of the craftsmanship. I can only imagine now what it will feel like to roll initiative with something hand crafted by another RPG enthusiast making a living doing what he loves.
Muchos gracias, Abraham. Viva dados!