JP On Gaming

Thursday, September 27, 2018

FOE going back to Imaginareum

Next weekend, October 5-7 2018, I am going back to the Imaginareum, a writer-centric convention in Louisville KY. I have made no qualms about my love affair with Kentucky. Unexpected I can say, but the people there have always been great to me.

This year, I am a guest and as such will be participating in a number of panels and workshops.

Of note, JD Conrad, the awesome mind behind Rhym will be there too! Always a pleasure to sit with him to play or listen to his insight.

You can see the full schedule of panels and workshops on the Imaginareum Site.

Friday

Social Aspects of Gaming – Gaming often involves social interaction and this panel will discuss these elements, from the kinds of relationships formed to the styles of interaction. Fri 3pm in room Derby. Panelist include: (Mod- JD Conrad) Ben Serviss, Bradley Walker, Michele Lee, Scott Sandridge

Adventure Writing from Idea to Table – Presented by JP Chapleau - In 2 hours, veteran GM JP Chapleau has to run an adventure to a group of anxious and excited players. He has done nothing to prepared but play Pet Rescue and talk about his latest other product. With your help those poor players will have a great adventure to play. This workshop will take you through ideation through execution, with an eye towards publishing the finalized product. You will be involved in the design of the story and encounters. The moderator, JP Chapleau, wrote over one hundred adventure for many companies like Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Chaosium, and First Ones Entertainment. He has been a GM for close to thirty years. (Length 2 hrs) (Fri 4:15pm in Heartland)

GMing Surprise Adventure! - (JP) I will GM the adventure from the previous workshop. Correct! The "unprepared part" is true, I will be running the adventure we made at the workshop. It is a crazy idea, but a very interesting challenge.

Saturday

Freelance Writing – Ways to Getting gigs that pay. Freelance writing helps pay the bills for many creative writers. This panel will give insights on finding writing jobs that pay. Sat 12:45pm in Farmington. Panelist inlude: (Mod-Alan Goldstein) Jen Selinsky, R.J.Sullivan, James O.Barnes, JP Chapleau, John Colyer

Layout and Design Insights – Good layout and design skills are essential for producing professional quality print books, ebooks, and covers. This panel will provide an overview of layout and design, as it pertains to all three areas. Sat 2pm in room Derby. Panelist inlcude: (Mod-Matthew Jackson) Josh Hampton, JP Chapleau, Donna Dull

Discussing D&D – A fun panel exploring the world of D&D, including its history, changes, and the state of it today! Sat 3:15pm in room Cumberland. Panelist include: (Mod- Brian Hatcher) Joe Slucher, Michael Williams, Bradley Walker, JP Chapleau, Michele Lee, Scott Sandridge.

GMing - (JP) I am still waffling over whether I should run an Akhamet, Rhym, or ancient Greece, I still have not decided... But there will be some D&D going on.

Sunday

World Building for Fun & Profit – Presented by JD Conrad – A workshop outlining a method to help creators produce a coherent world for fiction or game settings. Principally concentrating on fantasy, but with some information on SF/Horror/Urban Fantasy as well. Handouts and Question and answer period are included. (Length 60 mins) (Sun 9am in Iroquois)

Building the Brand of You – For many creatives such as authors, they are their brand. This panel will discuss the art of branding yourself, and building that brand! Sun 10:15am in room Cumberland. Panelist inlcude: (Mod- Brian Hatcher) April Brown, R.J. Sullivan, Janie Franz, JP Chapleau.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Another one bites the dust!

Well another one in the books!

Today marked the finale of a Akhamet-base short dungeon-crawl campaign I called "Pyramid of the Barbarian king" wherein a group of adventurers traveled into the desert into a strange pyramid. They were:

- Princess Akat, Retid-Khemite paladin (Jojo)

- Catman, Ptahn arcane trickster (ActionMan)

- Kuthet, Sethru bard (Matt)

- Neferkari, Ubasti cleric of Bast (Ariel)

- Ratara, Horite ranger (Erica)

- Terata, Anubian swashbuckler (who joined us for the finale, Sarah)

Given the rather unclear task of exploring the pyramid looking for anything that might help Pharaoh in his current predicament. The pyramid turned out to a strange place filled with people who do not eat or drink, worshiping barbarian gods. And discovering the history of this area of Akhamet, a part of history that is found in neither the monuments or the texts that survive from that era.

The history of Akhamet mention that barbarians took over the area, but it makes little sense that the people who were there simply vanished, or that the barbarians who established themselves here simply disappeared with their families. The adventure presented a few of these questions. It was interesting to do...

So until next time folks!

JP

Sunday, September 16, 2018

I use my kids as punching bags

"What do you mean we can run away?"

"This is gonna be nasty because you wrote the adventure."

Today did not go as planned...

The original plan was to play with the kids, mine and Matt's. However, a school paper prevented that. I had another player, Sarah, who was scheduled to come, but decided against it later.

So I decided simply to play with just the kids. play something slightly different. Run something linked to a new storyline I am interested in getting off the ground and test a few unique ideas I have. Of course, I would never tell them exactly what I am testing out on them.

This plot line involves the Tehenu barbarians of the Great Western Desert, and the city of Waset. I have a few special things in store that needs playtesting... and well why not play-test it?

As a fun things... the kids drew maps of what they explored today... each of them added some interesting elements they each found interesting and important to note. The first one is by ActionMan and the second by Kitty.



I won't give the details, but the kids emerged victorious and a new storyline is started. It got rather close a few times... namely rolling a '1' on a death saving throw, or being swamped by zombies of peasants.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Rhym - County of Pemrose Released

For many months now, I have been toying with this setting idea of two strong factions somewhat deadlocked with a third in the wings. While the third faction does not have the legitimacy or the power of the other two, it was stable enough to serve as the kingmaker, as the one that would determine the fate of the nation... I was thinking of writing this for Tyrants of Saggakar but the ideas did not gel together: I had to set up too many elements to make it believable. It just was not what I wanted.

At the same time, I was toying with a few random ideas for Rhym. I was working on an adventure that would follow "Come to the Hills" (an adventure that got completely changed into something different so you know). I was toying with ideas for encounters and situations, a lot of "what would the PCs do if..." sorta questioning.

Inspiration struck suddenly and without warning as it is wont to do. I think it was 5PM when I was at work and should've been working, or just about to head on home when all the pieces fell together. The original idea and the situations fell into place like dominoes. After months of this not going anywhere, I suddenly had everything I wanted.

This is one of the things I love about Rhym: it is SO versatile. You can quite simply adapt any idea you have to it. It is the "Greyhawk" or our settings and for that reason perhaps the most approachable for new players, much moreso than Saggakar.

The random semi-formed ideas that would become the County of Pemrose fell into place. I finished the book then let it sit for a few weeks as I finished and published Akhamet and focused on Gencon. For the month after Gencon, I coasted. I must admit. The big push done, I needed time to myself to do other things: run games, paint and just enjoy myself.

So here is the official blurb for the book.

On the verge of civil unrest, the County of Pemrose is stuck between the power of the five noble houses, a growing bourgeoisie, and an order of knights made of goblins. The County is beset by threats, some overt like the Black Knights, some simmering like rebellion in the commoners' hearts, or the potential of a takeover by militarized goblins.

This book details the rich and detailed history of the County, its social structure with its five great houses, details about the threats facing the County, plot hooks, and stat blocks

The County is part of the Kingdom of Therland on the Rhym Campaign Setting but can easily be included into your own campaign setting. This book is compatible with 5th Edition.

You can find the book on DriveThru RPG or RPGNow.

Monday, September 3, 2018

[Miniatures] People of Akhamet

The following miniatures serve as the basis for the casting crew for the many Akhamet games I have been running from the beginning of summer all the way until now. If you look closely, you can see members of every race in the book.

I grouped them here by theme: civilians, court, priests, warriors, and the ever-popular mummies.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Maps! Maps! Maps!

I have been working on these maps for an upcoming adventure. All those were hand-drawn by me. Not the best there is, but the kids were able to identify what each of them was, so I got the representation right!

I'm sure you can guess the type of adventure this is...

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Writing updates and FOE announcements

So I have not been posting here much, and that always gnaws at me. There is so much to write and so little time! A lot of logs in the fire right now.

I have two products that are really close to being completed: the first is the "part 1" of an Akhamet Adventure path, which will feature a LOT of material, very much old-school and some shorter elements combined. There is so much material that comes for the Akhamet Campaign Setting setting that focusing my energy is nearly impossible! I love it, and from the sales, so are you guys! The "one" adventure path may morph into a series of different threads and storylines. I have been running quite a lot of Akhamet at home and really having a blast with it. For this old, jaded gamer, it allows me to provide a lot of this flavor of the setting I really like while making the story. Players quickly can get into the story and the background bring up images of what they are seeing or expect to see.

As of right now, I have three main threads I want to explore: one follows the plot of "The Lost Pyramid of Neferheket", the other follows the story from "Dying of the Day", which was the Gencon special, and a third one deals with Per-Khatet and the Horesuteb. All three of these threads are extremely exciting to me, and I wish to explore more of them.

JD and I have been working on a second version of the Rhym Campaign setting, this time with updated art from Irene AND correcting a number of small typos. This was possible by you. I will be updating the PDF on DrivethruRPG and I will be releasing new material for the setting later this month.

Btw, if you own a hard copy of any of our products and do not own the PDF, email me and I will get you your copy!

So if I am not as present as I would like here, it is because I am not thinking of you guys or of topics to post, I just have to prioritize my time.