Tales of Tiberius: Backstory Blog

Short answer YES!  Some people get very nervous about ‘occult’ elements in gaming.  Personally I think having a wizard in a table top game is comparable to the ghost showing up in Hamlet, but never mind that for now.  Maybe you’d like to play at your church, but they won’t allow any occult elements.  I’m here to help.

While wizards and magic are common in RPG’s they are not indispensible.  There was a very good RPG put out by Victory Games on James Bond.  There are also a number of RPG’s set in the Old West, and a few set in Gangland Chicago.  The first science fiction RPG, Traveler did have rules for psionics (which some would  consider occult) but they are easily left out.  Same goes for other science fiction RPG’s.  Also note that you can run historical games with lots of swordplay and no magic.  The Crusades, Robin Hood, and the Three Musketeers settings all spring to mind.  Historical Japan, Rome or Vikings would also work. 

So don’t miss out if you, your parents, friends etc insist on an ‘occult’ free game.  Some of our best remembered game nights were actually occult free and we didn’t even notice.      

If you’re going to play a RPG, I recommend you give the current edition of D&D a pass  I will admit I haven’t bought or played the latest edition, but I can tell you they aren’t on a good path.  Two things have been introduced in recent years that should send anyone running away from this system.

            Fist is micro transactions for the player.  No competent game master would ever even consider allowing this.  A RPG is between the players and the gm.  A third party selling the player a card to get an item is just nuts.  It’s not great in computer games, it has no place in live action gaming.  Yet the current official owners of D&D are trying to push this. 

            The other big problem is woke ideologies creeping in.  Look if you want to run your game where the heroes are communists, that’s your affair.  But changing rule books to try and erase race and gender is just nuts.  Sorry a Male Oger is going to have higher strength than a female hobbit.  That’s just physics.  If you think that Orcs and Goblins are just stand ins for some particular race of humans, you are flat out wrong and don’t know the literature. 

            That’s the short version.  Stay away from the current editions of D&D.  You can probably find an old edition without too much trouble.  Better still give the competition a try.  Steve Jackson’s the Fantasy trip is a great starter system.  Hero games is also excellent, thought I think it’s not as good for a beginner.   

One thing I should make clear is that when I talk about advice for playing roll playing games from zero I don’t necessarily mean Dungeons and Dragons. RPG is the generic term for a Roll Playing Game. Dungeons and Dragon’s is A roll playing game. It is by no means the only Roll Playing Game. There ARE others. D&D may have been the first, but didn’t take long for competitors to come out.

Note that it’s now been over forty years since the first rules were published and just like in baseball where new rules are invented over time (like the designated hitter). So you’ll hear things like D&D, Advanced D&D, fifth edition rules, etc. And just like with the designated hitter, some people don’t like the ‘new’ rules and don’t play the latest edition.

I’ll give my recommendations later, but for now just know there’s a reason I use more generic language. For the record the closest I have ever been to being on the payroll was a magazine article I wrote for an obscure system called Tunnels and Trolls.

This is a trick question because the answer is simple unless you’re thinking it’s complicated. The short answer is: casual attire. Exactly what you’d wear if you were going to a bridge game or board game night at your local church, school, community center etc. Here’s the tricky party. I only bring this up because some people, especially people who have only heard of D&D or watched it played on TV confuse roll playing games with LARP (Live action roll play) or Cosplay. I’ll make it clear. There are no costumes involved in roll playing games. None. In over forty years of gaming I only dressed up once for a game and that was to Troll a friend of mine at the game, it had nothing to do with the game per se. (short version: Week one my friend says I can’t make a desert character because there are no deserts around in the area. Week two, our first mission is in a desert. Week 3 I wore a desert camo T-shirt to the game.) LARP has some things in common with RPG’s but I’m no expert on that, it’s a different game. Too much walking around for me. No for attire, treat roll playing games like game night. Dress casual, bring snacks and relax.

P.S. When I say game night, I mean bridge or canasta, not baccarat at the Casino Royale. Some card games at casinos can get pretty formal. I’ve never played an RPG in black tie. You could I suppose, but why?

Did you know that they once did a Soap Opera Roll Playing game? Yep SPI once released an RPG based on Dallas with good old JR Ewing and company. RPG’s don’t have to be ‘Fantasy’ or Sword and Sorcery Roll Playing games. You can do an RPG on nearly any topic, though some will be easier than others. Most RPG’s use conflict, swordfights, or gunfights to move the game along. So a Western, or Cop game will be easier than a RPG based on the Bachelor. But you don’t need to stick to fantasy. Westerns, spies, superheroes and science fiction are all common. There’s even one based on comics like Bugs Bunny. Don’t start with that one. Surprisingly hard to be funny on cue. But you don’t have to stick to knights and wizards if you don’t want to.

What are NASA space craft named for? Famous ships of the past? Famous exploration craft? Well, that’s mostly true, but that’s not the only thing. Three famous NASA space craft were named for… Comics characters. Specifically Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Casper. Apollo 10’s Command Module and Lander and the Apollo 16 Command module.

I name a lot of fictional space craft as a gamer and writer and I love this. Only trouble is that comics characters are copyrighted. I can name ships in a private game the USS Dagwood or The USS Catbert, but not in a novel. Well, maybe the Krazy Kat, I think the copyright expired on that one. But keep it in mind if you need ship names for your next private project. There are a lot of names available and it a NASA tradition.

It’s been an interesting year.  Never mind the plague, I’m talking about my writing.  I know some of you are eagerly awaiting book number two in the Stewardship Saga:  Tales of Tiberius.  Do not lose hope progress is being made.  But I have other projects and weirdly two of them finished first drafts this year.  Coming soon are A City of Monsters and Mobsters.  And “Saints, Heroes and Zombies”

A City of Monsters and Mobsters is a project that actually started out as my role playing game campaign.  Really it was kind of a joke, I have a group of D&D players and you know how that goes.  Open the door, hack the troll apart, and collect the treasure.  We got bored with that so we brought in some 1930’s bootleggers.  Now you open the door, machine gun the troll, and collect the treasure.  Since I don’t personally drink, I made coffee illegal. so I could have fun smuggling.

For you non-gamers think Wizard of Oz meets Gangland Chicago.  And by meet I mean full on collision, not a polite social gathering.

This concept has been oddly popular in testing and weirdly prophetic.  Who would think you could become rich as a butter smuggler in Norway in real life, or a taco smuggler to school kids in place of the ‘healthy’ but inedible school lunches some government schools are offering kids.

I finally finished the first draft of the origin story.  I hope everyone likes it.  It’s with the editors now.

The other entree my Superheroes meets Zombies novel.  It was a strangely inspired story, meaning that I had no intention of writing a superhero novel, but I suddenly had the story in front of me.  I will note this is a little more Christian book than some of my writings, so if you were hoping I’d go in that direction: ok.

Expect the Next Tiberius Novel to have a first draft next year some time.  Plot is done, good ending.  I’m about halfway through.

Is it just me or does no one in Hollywood read the standard spell books? Of course I understand that when you have Magician’s in the story you need to be careful that they do not become so powerful as to remove all conflict. But there is a range between ‘pick a card’ and unlimited supernatural power. If your going to have magicians in your story, you might have some idea what they are capable of.

Case in point is the ‘battle of the bastards’ on Game of Thrones. Our heroes are attacking at 2000 vs 5000. Bad idea generally, but you might be able to pull that off if you’re good. Our heroes do have a problem, however. The Bad guys have hold of the Commander in Chief of the Good guys half brother. But our good guys have a witch available. What does she do about this? Nothing. She sits out the battle doing nada.

Excuse me but this seems like exactly the sort of situation that calls for a bit of magic. Teleport him out of the castle. Change shape so he can walk out or so that someone can walk in and rescue him. Weave a mist around him. Good grief, do something. Dramatically our hero could refuse her assistance because of the cost (human sacrifice?) But it would be nice if she offered.

I don’t mean to harp on “Game of Thrones,” it’s just the latest example. Nor does everyone need to cling to the same set of spells or limitations on spell casting, but some evidence you understand the basics would be nice. At the least sight illusions, hold person, and a basic fireball are classics. There are lots of examples in classical literature and historical sources. Do your homework gang.