I would like to apologize to the many folks who are supporters of this blog and it's lack of attention.
The hardware / software problems that started off as bad were found to be much worse than expected so I have had to regrow the BLUR concept and coverage from the ground up. It doesn't help that I also decided to finish a system and epic series of adventures for a fantasy rpg a decade in the works.
Don't think I have forgotten about this place or the people who make it special. I set my resolution to be if I can't get my own BLUR material up then I will point readers in the direction of the bleeding edge of role playing in the meantime. There is so much excellent work being done out there that I am stunned sometimes by the level of cleverness and ingenuity that goes into the work.
The work I am seeing is so far ahead of its time it's almost hard to believe how far rpgs have come since those small groups of gamers first sat down at the table in the early '70's.
Here's to the new year and I hope to get much more accomplished here on the blog.
For those who have stuck with me I offer my thanks.
And a big thank you to Hugh Dingwall for getting me back in the game (pun intended :)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Normality Co-Author Speaks
After a period of life induced silence the dark masters of the ergodic beast known as Normality have resurfaced with news of new projects.
I recently contacted one of the creators of Normality, Hugh Dingwall, to see what was new and got the 411:
“The one thing I've done and finished is to set up Normality on Issuu so if you go to: http://youarenowunderthecareofthegoatplan.synthasite.com/normality.php you can see a wee "virtual book" version with turnable pages and stuff. Cute, but hardly world-shaking. Aside form that I have a couple of projects on the go.”
“Cassandra is a prequel to Normality loosely based on the premise that players are people who can sense the cataclysm that brings about the world of Normality coming, but they can't articulate their foreboding. So it'll be another doom-fest as people try to interpret their vision in a way that other people can understand, and almost certainly fail and go crazy. “
“Harmony is the working title of another game I'm working on with my brother, based around the idea of indulging in and reinterpreting standard high-fantasy tropes. The idea is to have a world where the default state is peace - everything chugging along in, well, harmony, and the players' job being to fix it. That means no evil or unplayable races etc. Instead, every race has a default philosophical outlook which is morally neutral - morality needs to come from players etc.”
He added:
“Harmony is a The Brothers Dingwall project, that being the name we put out The Penguin Harlequinade under. That just marks it out as being a bit lighter in tone than Normality-related stuff. Which, as you can imagine, is not that hard to achieve.”
Hope I’m on the list for the first sneak at Cassandra :)
I recently contacted one of the creators of Normality, Hugh Dingwall, to see what was new and got the 411:
“The one thing I've done and finished is to set up Normality on Issuu so if you go to: http://youarenowunderthecareofthegoatplan.synthasite.com/normality.php you can see a wee "virtual book" version with turnable pages and stuff. Cute, but hardly world-shaking. Aside form that I have a couple of projects on the go.”
“Cassandra is a prequel to Normality loosely based on the premise that players are people who can sense the cataclysm that brings about the world of Normality coming, but they can't articulate their foreboding. So it'll be another doom-fest as people try to interpret their vision in a way that other people can understand, and almost certainly fail and go crazy. “
“Harmony is the working title of another game I'm working on with my brother, based around the idea of indulging in and reinterpreting standard high-fantasy tropes. The idea is to have a world where the default state is peace - everything chugging along in, well, harmony, and the players' job being to fix it. That means no evil or unplayable races etc. Instead, every race has a default philosophical outlook which is morally neutral - morality needs to come from players etc.”
He added:
“Harmony is a The Brothers Dingwall project, that being the name we put out The Penguin Harlequinade under. That just marks it out as being a bit lighter in tone than Normality-related stuff. Which, as you can imagine, is not that hard to achieve.”
Hope I’m on the list for the first sneak at Cassandra :)
Friday, August 27, 2010
Slow but sure
Yes, I know, things have been a little slow here but trust me the work behind the scenes has been ongoing.
As I re-examined my gaming past I felt myself drawn to my roots and have been having a great time exploring that history that brought me to Blur in the first place.
That and the fact that I have over 500 gig of material (JEEEZ!) that I'm sorting for all these various projects (play testing-reviewing-my own systems-other systems-source material-inspirational material) plus health and hardware problems and a lack of help because everyone else seems to be having the same kind of year that I am has slowed things but I have not forgotten about anyone and apologies to all those who deserved at least an email months ago.
I don't think my +1 sword of dragon slaying will work well against that alt world KGB agent...but then again, who knows.
More soon
As I re-examined my gaming past I felt myself drawn to my roots and have been having a great time exploring that history that brought me to Blur in the first place.
That and the fact that I have over 500 gig of material (JEEEZ!) that I'm sorting for all these various projects (play testing-reviewing-my own systems-other systems-source material-inspirational material) plus health and hardware problems and a lack of help because everyone else seems to be having the same kind of year that I am has slowed things but I have not forgotten about anyone and apologies to all those who deserved at least an email months ago.
I don't think my +1 sword of dragon slaying will work well against that alt world KGB agent...but then again, who knows.
More soon
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Hooked Again
I couldn't believe the date on that last post, but a lot has been happening and since I've been bitten by the P&P rpg bug yet again I have to ride this pony all the way to the end of the track.
I realized that with all the commotion going on about the OSR that I felt at home in again in the community.
Granted, there are a lot of naysayers who seem to think that old school gaming can't be fun but I just feel bad for them. All they ever seem to do is sit around and complain about characters they can't seem to get right or how combat is too complicated.
Isn't this about "the game is what you make it"?
So I have brushed off a few projects and broke out a few binders filled with notes from 2 fantasy campaign settings that I feel compelled to work on and release under the OGL just as soon as I figure out what system to lean them toward. Or maybe just make it generic so anyone running an old school rules set (original, clone or otherwise) can benefit from them.
That doesn't mean work has stopped here on Blur-rpg. To the contrary, The first Blurred Vision is nearing final compilation and I am working on a set of custom rules to provide a simple engine to play Blur if you have no other particular favorite.
I wish all this were happening a little faster and trust me, I don't sleep a lot these days, but I'm dancing as fast as I can. I have a few test runs to make with my file storage service and then we can get on with it.
I appreciate everyone's patience during this period. This work has been the bright spot in an otherwise dismal year.
Chin up, the weirdness will soon begin. Strap in and enjoy the ride :)
I realized that with all the commotion going on about the OSR that I felt at home in again in the community.
Granted, there are a lot of naysayers who seem to think that old school gaming can't be fun but I just feel bad for them. All they ever seem to do is sit around and complain about characters they can't seem to get right or how combat is too complicated.
Isn't this about "the game is what you make it"?
So I have brushed off a few projects and broke out a few binders filled with notes from 2 fantasy campaign settings that I feel compelled to work on and release under the OGL just as soon as I figure out what system to lean them toward. Or maybe just make it generic so anyone running an old school rules set (original, clone or otherwise) can benefit from them.
That doesn't mean work has stopped here on Blur-rpg. To the contrary, The first Blurred Vision is nearing final compilation and I am working on a set of custom rules to provide a simple engine to play Blur if you have no other particular favorite.
I wish all this were happening a little faster and trust me, I don't sleep a lot these days, but I'm dancing as fast as I can. I have a few test runs to make with my file storage service and then we can get on with it.
I appreciate everyone's patience during this period. This work has been the bright spot in an otherwise dismal year.
Chin up, the weirdness will soon begin. Strap in and enjoy the ride :)
Friday, April 9, 2010
I DON'T KNOW The Role-Playing Game
This Role-Playing Game (RPG) is designed to be a very simple system ideally suited to a single-evening adventure. It was written to provide an RPG where an adventure can be designed and run with little preparation from the Game Master (GM), and where character creation can be finished within a few minutes by experienced players. New characters can be introduced and removed with ease, so a steady gaming group is not necessary. Indeed, GMs are encouraged to take turns running the game so that no one GM burns out on it.
Why the I DON'T KNOW system? I wrote this game hoping to eliminate some of the evenings where no one could settle on a game to play.
"What do you want to play tonight?" "I don't know."
And so it begins. Read more at:
Lacuna: Part 1-The Creation Of The Mystery And The Girl From Blue City
Although not a freebie this indie is full up with great ideas (seemingly a mix between Harsh Realm and Cold War era Soviet trappings) it merits a look for someone looking for something to help work their way up to Normality (Which I still consider to be the best example of Blur ever).
Below I have tried to bring some sense of the game play to your attention in case you wonder if this is worth a buy or not.
http://rpgblog.typepad.com/rpg_blog/2005/10/lacuna_part_i.html
http://forum.rpg.net/tags.php?tag=lacuna
http://www.dreadgazebo.com/lacuna/
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=409373
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=463336
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=412532
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=425383
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=411524
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=385684
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=371133
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=365941
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=270337
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=110848
http://memento-mori.com/lacuna/
Apologies for the brevity in the opening. The large glowing piece I had written to open this entry was destroyed during the OS crash. I'm not just tossing this off, it is a far more interesting game than I have had time to write about again. And just maybe it can inspire your own Blur campaign.
I will write more on this latter if given a chance.
Below I have tried to bring some sense of the game play to your attention in case you wonder if this is worth a buy or not.
http://rpgblog.typepad.com/rpg_blog/2005/10/lacuna_part_i.html
http://forum.rpg.net/tags.php?tag=lacuna
http://www.dreadgazebo.com/lacuna/
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=409373
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=463336
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=412532
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=425383
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=411524
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=385684
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=371133
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=365941
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=270337
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=110848
http://memento-mori.com/lacuna/
Apologies for the brevity in the opening. The large glowing piece I had written to open this entry was destroyed during the OS crash. I'm not just tossing this off, it is a far more interesting game than I have had time to write about again. And just maybe it can inspire your own Blur campaign.
I will write more on this latter if given a chance.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Time
So sometimes things take longer than you think.
Recovery is still underway but much improved from surgery. And finally a solution has presented itself to another problem, so that has been taking up a lot of time.
This blog has suffered and I'm still trying to contact a possible helper. But everything chugs along. At least I've been able to post a few worthy videos that walk that fine line.
I have enough material to do 500 posts. It just has to be typed and posted. It will be. If only the power of thought could accomplish this. God, the blog would be a constantly scrolling fountain of information.
Now I shall return to the churning sea of material and paddle toward the shore of organization. With any luck I will have a hold full of goodness when I make land.
Keep the faith. The key is forthcoming...
Recovery is still underway but much improved from surgery. And finally a solution has presented itself to another problem, so that has been taking up a lot of time.
This blog has suffered and I'm still trying to contact a possible helper. But everything chugs along. At least I've been able to post a few worthy videos that walk that fine line.
I have enough material to do 500 posts. It just has to be typed and posted. It will be. If only the power of thought could accomplish this. God, the blog would be a constantly scrolling fountain of information.
Now I shall return to the churning sea of material and paddle toward the shore of organization. With any luck I will have a hold full of goodness when I make land.
Keep the faith. The key is forthcoming...
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