NTRPG Gaming Weekend

This weekend was a "game day" for North Texas RPG Con, held at the same hotel the con is held at. I haven't slung dice since North Texas, so I had to go. 

I didn't take a single picture during the event and while it seemed like a bit of a mixed bag, I'm quite glad I attended. Now I travel a fair bit for work, which has been mentioned at least a dozen times here, but I don't think I've indicated that I stay at Marriott almost exclusively, for about 80 nights a year. Works out well for me that NTRPG holds their event at the Westin and this is about the nicest property I stay at....and also one of the most problematic. There were a couple of surprises I didn't appreciate and a couple of associated hoops to jump through....

It didn't help that there were easily 1,000 Black Bikers & Biker Chicks/Babes/Whatever they prefer to be called attending a convention at the property. They were loud and the air was far heavier with smoke and pot than you'd expect inside a hotel these days. Fortunately they were all pretty cool and I had nothing but good interactions with those I came across. They were just having a good time and aside from the smoke (I do not think anyone smoked inside, well not inside the main areas at least), I didn't have any personal issues with the group (despite how I might sound). I wasn't able to get into a game Friday night and I was just a little bit pissed off. It took me a while to realize that I was overly bothered by having to wait in line for the Registration desk....twice. Once I figured that out, Friday night was much more enjoyable. I wandered down quite late and hung out to have a few drinks and BS with other gamers I hadn't seen since Summer.

Saturday I was able to get into two games where I ran a Dwarf. In the first game my dice pretty much sucked, enough most everybody commented on it, but I knew that's just how it works. My dice can run quite cold, but they do not disappoint when needed. My PC died right at the end of our gaming time-block and it wasn't due to my die rolls. The second game the rolls flipped and I'd say 75% of my initiative rolls were about as good as possible. I was hitting most of the time and doing decent damage. Both games were fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I ended up going to bed early though because I was quite tired from the night before and I had forgotten to bring most of my meds, so I wasn't batting 1000.

I could've stayed later and maybe slung some dice or even GM'd on Sunday, but I was stiff & sore and knew it'd only get worse until I got home to do what I needed to do. Saying goodbye was a bit more emotional for me than I expected, and it just told me how much I needed the camaraderie and fun gaming...need to start planning for June now.

TL;DR Gamed in a hotel this weekend and likely will now show up positive on a drug test.

FGM Review: How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps

I've had my eye on this one book for a while now and I was hesitant to pick up How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps: Step by Step Cartography for Gamers and Fans by Jared Blando. While I do not have a problem dropping $23 on a book, I was hesitant to do so for an art instruction book without getting my grubby little hands on one to preview first. Amazon has it cheaper, like Amazon does, but....

...OK time to be a little real here. I actually bought this book once from Amazon....and lost it. I never even got to log it in the database where I keep track of such things, and I do not even remember every getting a good look at it then, so a 2nd blind purchase wasn't going to happen....

Anyway, I found a copy at The Hobbit Hobby Shop and decided I'd grab a copy I could actually review and hopefully use, after giving it a quick view. I think some of the contents I could probably find in YouTube tutorials, but I wanted something I could read offline and use for both hand-drawn and digital maps. I'm not that artistic and kind of need some directions......I assume that my own particular style will/would develop over time, but I have to start somewhere.

Over all, a lot of the instructions basically boil down to 3 steps:

1. Draw a thing
2. Add details
3. Final details

Of course this is an oversimplification. There are actually a lot of good deets that I would never think of, like a description of types of pencils and what pencils are good for what. For me the value of the book is really more in these extra details outside of the 3 steps. The whole time I'm looking at these directions for various map aspects I'm thinking how I could apply the directions for hand-drawing to using my drawing tablet and Photoshop.

Wouldn't you know it, later on there is like a two-page discussion on using a computer to draw/paint the maps, but I do not think that went into enough depth. It seems clear to me the author/artist is explaining their processes which are largely hand-drawn.

My only real criticism for this book was that I felt that a lot of the font was undersized. I'm near-sighted and if I'm wondering if I need to put on my glasses, then the font is too small. For a casual read it might not matter, but if I was trying to actually follow along...way too small. 

Now this review might be a bit premature because maybe I should draw a few maps before uploading a review. Let's be real here....there are going to be a lot of copies that are never used to make maps, or maybe they're used once before the owner decides to hire an actual artist with talent to create a map....

If that might be the case for you I do not recommend purchasing via Amazon or some online site, but instead go to Jared's website and pick up a personalized copy for $30.

FLGS: The Hobbit Hobby Shop (Fayetteville, NC)

Recently I was on a business trip to good-old Fayettenam....er, Fayetteville (NC), home of the 82nd Airborne and Fort Bragg, I mean Camp Liberty. I usually come here at least twice a year and when in town I have to visit my FLGS: The Hobbit Hobby Shop.

Now I've been to hole-in-the-wall game stores and they usually.....well, they usually suck. The Hobbit Hobby Shop is a narrow storefront you'd blink and miss among the various pawn shops, military shops, "adult entertainment", and fast food places just outside an Army post. You walk in and the shop feels like it's 20 feet wide and 100 feet long? The left half of the shop is pretty much just models of all varieties and the gaming stuff is on the right side, along with the register and a little bit of workspace for maps.

Maps?

Yep....maps. If you don't do models or gaming, but happen to be a soldier at Ft Bragg, the Hobbit Hobby Shop is the place to go to get your maps laminated and Ranger cut. If you don't know what that means, you probably need to spend more time outside, definitely more time trying to not get lost in the woods.

For such a small shop, it is really packed with stuff. More dice than I'm used to seeing. About the same amount of minis as I'll see at most shops, but there is always a small box with some minis on special sale. There was just as much D&D whatever-the-current-edition-is as I've seen elsewhere (maybe more), but there is a LOT of older game stuff to be had. I never fail to be surprised in finding something unique that isn't readily available elsewhere.

Last time I got some comics for my collection that have been OOP for a while. They were pretty much priced the same as when they were newly printed and really.....I scooped them up because I just can't find them elsewhere. One series I got most of as a bundle and I've never seen them in the wild before.

This year I found some D&D 3.0/3.5 Kingdoms of Kalamar products, which is a great find because most of the stuff is pretty much system-generic, so it's still relevant to today's gaming table. I also found some HackMaster 1st Edition Hacklopedia of Beasts. If I had room in my luggage I'd be sorely tempted, but to be fair I do not recall which ones I might be missing.

I also found some Fairy Meat products, most notably Sugar & Vice and Clockwork Stomp, both of which I never had. Fairy Meat was a fun miniature battle and my 1st KenzerCo game. I think I have some of the minis still, but I don't have the game or any of my set-up.

In the end I got a book on drawing maps I'd been eyeballing on Amazon, but wasn't ever going to purchase, along with a cool Dwarven Fighter mini and another mini that was of a torchbearer hireling.

I do really try to pick something....anything up, when visiting a FLGS. If you happen to be making a stop in Fayetteville, you really need to stop by the Hobbit Hobby Shop.