C-U Run Club '07

Are people up for..?

2008-05-25T06:46:00.001-07:00

Hey folks...

Was just kind of looking back on this project and reminiscing about things when a question occurred to me.

Do we want to do this again?

Though life's gotten a tad more complicated for me, I'm up for it. Is anyone else?

peace... Dave

Rescheduling...

2007-10-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

OK.

Let's try again.

November?

What does everyone's availability look like?

Start time

2007-10-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Would it be possible to move things a bit earlier in the day?

A good friend of mine is (suddenly) moving to California and is having a Halloween/going away party the evening of the 27th. It starts at 7pm. I don't need to be there at 7 or anything, but I do need to go to it, and would like to be not-too-late.

Kathleen's run 10/27, 6pm

2007-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Seriously, please everyone tell me this date works. I can move the start time, but if we move the date again I am going to cry. You don't want to see that. I am a pathetic crybaby.

10/7?

2007-08-28T13:26:00.001-07:00

Still trying to set a date here for Kathleen's run. Does 10/7 work for anyone? This meeting would be at the new Rients family digs in Urbana, which will not be very far from the old place.

Well, crap.

2007-08-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

It turns out that I won't be able to make it on the 26th.

I knew that August was going to be rough... but...

::sigh::

Next meeting 8/26 2pm

2007-08-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

The next meeting of the CU Run Club is set for Sunday, August 26th, starting at 2pm. Kathleen is scheduled to GM. Care to give us a hint about what you intend to run, Kathleen?

scheduling

2007-06-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Turns out I'm definitely not going to GenCon, but at our last meeting August 19th seemed less than ideal for others as well. Does the 12th or 26th work better for everyone?

quick reminder: game Sunday

2007-05-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

This Sunday at 2pm Stuart will be running Secrets of Zir'an. I hope to see you all there.

scheduling

2007-05-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Stuart's Secrets of Zir'An game will be a week from Sunday on May 27th, at my place as usual. Does starting at 2pm work for everybody again? The slightly later start last time made things smoother at home for me.

The July 22nd meeting is canceled. After Stuart's run our next game will be Kathleen's session. (Any idea what the game will be, Kathleen?) Our scheduled date for our next meeting is August 19th, which is GenCon Sunday. Is that a problem for anyone? I might be going to GenCon this year, but if I do it will only be for Saturday.

After Kathleen's session in August we have two dates on the schedule, October 14th and November 11th. These are open. After Kathleen's game we could call C-U Run Club '07 a rousing success and simply cancel the rest of the meetings. By the time we've all had a chance to run one game, I'll be feeling pretty smug about the fact that we actually got this concept to work.

But there are things we could do. Dave, I know you felt really let down when Iron Gauntlets pulled the rug out from under you. Did you want to take another shot at running something in October?

Secret of Zir'an PC options

2007-05-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'll have at least five pregenerated PCs for y'all to choose from. What I have so far:

A highly educated and cultured socialite/gambler/con artist/runemage (human, either gender)

A former soldier turned aviator/"courier" with a sword (human, either gender) - for Jeff

A former factory-worker slave who won his freedom via pit fighting, now trying to make a life for himself (gogachi, either gender)

Still in progress:

An exotic dancer/martial artist

A professional duelist

Of course, if everyone picks one before game, then I don't have to write up the fifth...

May game

2007-05-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

Currently, I'm planning on running The Secret of Zir'an. The game has a neat system that I've really been wanting to try out. It looks complicated, but I suspect it may be easier than it appears.

The setting is a lot of fun: pulpy fantasy with technology that is integrated into the setting. There are five races with funny names, but they are, essentially humans, dwarves, elves, beastmen, and idiot-savant giants. There is rune magic (common, well-integrated into technology) and shadowmagic (relatively new, rare, and kinda scary). If anyone has any character preferences, toss them my way and I will attempt to accommodate them.

Feel free to take a look at the Quickstart rules on their website, but please don't look at the attached adventure. I may be stealing heavily from it.

Three quick items

2007-04-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Summary of yesterday's session here.
Next run is May 27th, with Steward at the helm.
It turn's out that my wife's family Reunion conflicts with our July 15th date. Can we re-schedule? If the rest of you need to run without me I will not be offended, but obviously you'll need another venue.

Coming this Sunday!

2007-04-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

From the producers of Mob War!, Wild Times on the Wild Coast, The Revenge of Obi-Wan Shinobi comes an epic so astounding that I haven't even written any of it yet!

Young Aleister Crowley, Occult Fanboy

King Agamemnon, Minotaur-Fighting Avatar of Sean Connery

Count Dante, the Deadliest Man Alive

and

Victory Jones, Space Ranger

are

Tom Moldvay's

Lords of Creation

Can they defeat the Robot Cowboys? I sure hope so!

Coming soon to a Jeff's game room near you! Special sneak peak 2pm this Sunday.

Change of plans

2007-04-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to run Tom Moldvay's Lords of Creation rather than James Bond 007. It was on the short list with 007 back when Run Club was just an idea we were talking about online. With Moldvay's recent death LOC is no longer one of many games I want to run. I need to play this game, even if just once.

I hope that's not crushing the hopes and dreams of all you all.

What to run?

2007-02-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not running until after Jeff, but I'm trying to narrow down my list of possibilities. If anyone has any requests, let me know.

Today, I am contemplating:

Wandering Monsters: the PCs are monsters in a dungeon, defending against an attacking adventuring party. Probably D&D.

Spirit of the Century: Pulpy fun. I've heard a lot about it, and it has been nearly all good stuff. Plus, it uses FATE... which is a ruleset I've been meaning to try out.

Don't Rest Your Head: Messed-up, nightmarish Alice in Wonderland meets Dark City stuff. I've played it once. It was fun.

Nobilis: I own the book. It has been sitting on my shelf trying to intimidate me. If I know I have to run it, I'll actually crack it open and read the thing.

That doesn't mean I'm set on one of these... or that my list of possibilities won't be completely different next week... but I thought I'd ask for feedback.

From zapping sathar to judo chopping reds

2007-02-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

Here's my quick recap of yesterday's session. I had a blast!

For our next meeting on April 29th I'll be running James Bond 007. I'll be posting some pre-mission info on this here blog, with the idea that we hit the ground running on the actual day of play.

Star Frontiers d20 this Sunday

2007-02-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that this Sunday the 25th will feature Doug running his d20 Modern/Future adventure. All the critical details are in the previous blog entry.

I hope to play one of those silly bug aliens and maybe zap a sathar with a laser!

next session

2007-01-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

February 25th, 1pm, at my place
GM: Doug
System: d20 Modern/Future
Setting: Star Frontiers

session 1 rundown

Game On!

2007-01-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

Just a quick reminder that the first meeting of the C-U Run Club will be this Sunday at 1pm, at my place. As mentioned previously, Dave will be running Iron Gauntlets. Kathleen, I'll be emailing you directions momentarily. Dave, it's been a while since you've been over so don't hesitate to ask for directions as well if you need them.

See you Sunday!

It's coming!

2006-12-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

The first meeting of CU Run Club '07 will be Sunday, January 7th starting at 1pm. The featured GM will be the one and only Dave Hoover, who will be running Iron Gauntlets, Politically Incorrect Games' game of streamlined, dicepool-powered heroic fantasy.

Be there or be square!

Bait... & Switch

2006-12-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

Okay folks...

After all this talk about Deadlands: Reloaded, I'm switching gears on you. I have decided to run Iron Guantlets instead.

Why? Simple. I have an idea for a fantasy scenario for Winter War, and IG looks like it will fit the bill nicely. Problem is, I've never run the game before, nor have I played it. I've run systems cold before and did alright, but I have the opportunity to avoid that situation, so I'm taking advantage of it.

Unless there are serious objections to it, I will be running the pre-published IG scenario, Deadly Treasure.

Take care... I look forward to seeing you all on the 7th of January.

peace... Dave

a major scheduling snag

2006-12-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

Time to get our calendars out. Doug has hit a work-related snag with the dates April 22nd, July 15th, Aug 26th, Nov 19th. He has offered to resign from the Club but I wanted to try to work this out before we went down that road. Some of you may not know Doug but trust me when I say that if you cut him he bleeds red, white, and awesome. So help me out, fellow run club members. Does the weekend before or after the ones above better suit anyone?

Also, Dave has indicated that Jan 14th may be too close to his son's birthday.

Here's an attempt to reconcile both issues:

January 7th - Dave
February 25th - Doug
April 29nd - Jeff
May 27th - Stuart
July 22nd - Kathleen
August 19th - To Be Determined Later
October 14th - TBDL
November 11th - TBDL

That's not as regular as the first two proposals, but does it work?

James Bond 007

2006-11-29T09:37:00.000-08:00

I'm looking at running the old James Bond 007 game as my pick. Character creation for it involves spending a big pile of points to buy skills and stats. Would people prefer it if I built the PCs or would you like me to write a chargen summary and let people build their own slick British spies? I figure we could do group chargen via blog if that's what you all wanted.

Choices, Choices...

2006-11-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hey all...

I have three different games that I could run at our first outing. Personally, I care not which one I run, so I figured I'd take votes. And the nominees are...

Feng Shui -- High action combination of wire-fu and ballistic ballet...

Iron Gauntlets -- A non-D20, high fantasy sort of thing I stumbled upon...

and Deadlands Reloaded -- The "Weird West", redone using a modified Savage Worlds ruleset...

Also... I might have a scheduling conflict with January 14th. The 16th is my son's birthday and my wife isn't certain yet if we're holding a party thing on the Sunday before (the 14th) or after (the 21st). I'll drop more details as it's worked out.

peace... Dave

Picking A Game

2006-11-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

One of the rules of the club is that each GM enjoys absolute discretion in picking the game they will run. I trust and vouch for each member that they will not ask us to play something that will abuse this discretion. For example, I think Greg Costikyan's Violence might actually be worth playing, but I feel it would be churlish of me to try to use this venue to conscript unwilling victims.

So how do we pick a game to run? I've got literally shelves full of various RPGs and I suspect one or more of you nice folks might have a larger collection than I do. Here's the list of questions I've come up with, please feel free to suggest more.

What game have I alway wanted to run, but never had a chance?
Does the game I favor work well as a one-shot, or is it really more suitable to campaign play?
Will chargen be a terror if I go with this game?
How much of the session will be taken up by the players getting the hang of the rules?
To the best of my knowledge does anyone in the group absolutely loathe the game or genre I'm considering?
Is this game old hat for one or more members?
Can I run this game in Jeff's gameroom and not get him in trouble with his wife?

Just some food for thought.

a reminder

2006-11-21T13:57:00.000-08:00

I sent invites to all Club members so you could post new items on this here blog. The idea was that you could ask questions, offer feedback, or supply information on the session you are running. We could even hash out chargen in this venue.

However, none of that will work if you don't accept the invitation I sent you to be a member.

Revised schedule

2006-11-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

January 14th - Dave
February 25th - Doug
April 22nd - Jeff
May 27th - Stuart
July 15th - Kathleen
August 26th - ?
October 14th - ?
November 19th - ?

Do we want to discuss who wants to GM at the last three meetings, or cross that briadge when we come to it?

Proposed Schedule

2006-11-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

January 14th - Dave
February 25th - Doug
April 15th (Does anybody wait until the last minute to file taxes? If so, April 22nd might be a better choice) - Jeff
May 27th - Stuart
July 15th - Kathleen
August 26th - ?
October 14th - ?
November 25th (Weekend following Thanksgiving? Would anyone be out of town normally?) - ?

All these dates are Sundays. Is four hours sufficient? I was thinking we could start at 1pm and got to 5pm or 2pm to 6pm.

Doug shows his hand

2006-11-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

Last week Doug mentioned in passing an idea for his contribution to Run Club: an adventure using d20 Modern/d20 Future set in the world of the old TSR sci-fi thrilla Star Frontiers. Sounds like a hoot to me. Personally, that closes off d20M and space-opera style sci-fi as avenues of inquiry for my own Run Club game. That's a couple fewer items off my list of game ideas. I thought other people would appreciate the heads-up for the same reason.

This week I hope to post a tentative schedule specific enough for everyone to hate.

EDIT to add:

I caught up on comments in the previous post. Dave is looking at running Feng Shui, Iron Gauntlets, or Deadlands/Savage Worlds. Those all look like great options.

some questions

2006-11-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

What day do we run? I prefer if we could all agree to a specific day and time ahead of time, but if we have to work it out from meeting to meeting that's okay, too.

Do we want to recruit an additional member? I said 4 to 6 people in the initial post. Assuming Doug is hopping on board we have five. Do we want to recruit another? Six people around my game room table would be a bit of a squeeze, but at the same time if we find one more awesome person I hate to turn them away.

Who GMs first? We could do GM order by drawing out of a hat. Or since this whole thing was my proposal I could run first. Or if someone is dying to run their Dream One-shot they can go first.

reposted from Jeff's GameBlog

2006-11-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

I got this from Treasure Tables (thanks, Martin!). Last month on ars luddi Ben Robbins blogged about a concept he calls Run Club. I've been talking about something similar on and off for years now, a round robin series of one-shots with rotating GMs. Veteran GMs would get to play (a rarity for some) and have the freedom to bust out something experimental. Novice GMs would get to a chance to run something in a friendly, open environment and would get the push of being required to run something. The maniacal Dave Hoover was interested in this idea last time I brought it up and coeli has mentioned getting together for another one-shot like the Blue Rose test run we did a while back. Now, I don't have room on my schedule for even another monthly game right now, but do y'all think we could plan a quarterly or every other month thing and make it work?

So let me out line my proposal in full: The Run Club would be composed of four to six people, all of whom are committed to GMing at least once in '07. We meet either every other month or every third month. No part of a meeting is spent in character generation. Each GM either pregenerates characters or provides detailed chargen instructions or otherwise works out characters ahead of time. GMs have sole discretion when picking their game, but are advised that the point of the exercise is not to test folks' comfort zones. (e.g. If you want to run FATAL to try out the basic engine that might work, but I ain't rolling on any Wandering Rape Charts or anything like that.) I'd be happy to host all the meetings, but if someone else wanted to take a turn playing host that would be okay too. The commitment to participate would be for the year 2007 and we'd schedule enough meetings so that everyone would run at least once. A groupblog or yahoo group or somesuch would be used to coordinate the club and for general discussion of the games.

6 Comments:
Stuart said...

I'm in.

the Red-Haired Maniac said...

Hey Jeff,This idea still intrigues me. As you are well aware, I can be ALL about the experimental. I would be quite interested in doing this as long as we can get it to where it does not conflict with anything else going on in my life.As far as frequency goes, while I like an every two week sort of thing, I understand that's not what we're aiming for here. However, I think quarterly, or even bi-monthly, is just too much time passing for folks not to forget about the sessions. What about every six weeks or so? That would give us around 8 or 9 sessions a year. That would allow a group of six GMs the ability to at least run once each, and then have a couple extra sessions for the more prolific among us to run a bonus thing.

Just some thoughts...

peace...

Dave

Jeff Rients said...

Six weeks might work. Say the first meeting was mid January. That would break down as follows:
Mid Jan
End of Feb
Mid April
End of May
Mid July
End of August
Mid October (Halloween special?)
End of November (Christmas special?)

coeli said...

I like the proposed schedule. Count me in for sure!

Doug said...

What day of the week are you thinking about for that?

Jeff Rients said...

Uh, Sunday afternoon? I'm just throwing that out as a possibility.
Any takers? Anything I'm missing?