Hey.  I just wanted to let people know that my second article from the Lessons Of The Long Campaign: Never Write The Ending, just published on Gnome Stew.

The article is about not writing the ending to your scenes, and how to apply that to managing your campaign arcs.  Head on over to Gnome Stew and check it out.

Early this morning, my fellow GM-Fu master, Vicki Potter, at Tabletop Adventures, announced that our PDF version of our workbook, from this year’s GenCon talk, Mastering Your GM-Fu: Session Prep had been released to the following sites:

• RPGNow
• DrivethruRPG
• EnWorld Store
• e23
• YourGamesNow

Mastering Your GM-Fu: Session Prep, is full of techniques and tips for how to improve upon your session prep, in order to enhance the content of your notes, as well as to improve the way you write them.  It is 30 pages long and even has a few homework problems for you to try.

Go and get yourself a copy of Mastering Your GM-Fu: Session Prep and make start on your path to Session Prep Mastery.

Having just run Iron Heroes for three years, I can say this is one crunchy system…

Hello all.  This weekend was a light gaming weekend for me.  I got together with my players for my upcoming Spycraft campaign, and we started character generation.  I was impressed with the level of detail and mechanical crunch in the system.  Not that I am some kind of crunch-hound, far from it, I have run my share of diceless games in the past, but I was impressed with the Spycraft designers, in that they put the crunch in all the right places.

I enjoy 2nd generation d20 products, like Mutants & Masterminds and True 20, where you get to see how other designers build upon the base d20 mechanic.  Spycraft is no exception, the designers added some great mechanics to the initiative system and combat system, their use of skills is well done, and I am dying to get reading the Chase system.

So Sargon, Spenser, and Captain Ron, all worked on their characters on Sunday.  The session was very light, and there was a lot of talking going on.  We did not finish the character prep yet (they are making 10th level characters), and we are going to meet tonight to work on characters for a bit, and hopefully get them finished.  If we finish up tonight, then on next Tuesday, we will have some test combats, with a quick made kill-house.

There is not much to report on the GM4Hire front.  I am spreading the word along various blogging sources.  There was an article in GamingReport.com, to which someone asked if I was serious; I will take that up in a post on Friday.  I just finished an interview with my fellow Gnome, Patrick Benson, for an upcoming article or podcast at Gnome Stew.  I will post an article here, when it comes out.   I will this Friday, and subsequent Friday’s post about my efforts as the GM Consultant.

This week I have a few things going on.  I am writing an article for Gnome Stew, a second part of my Long Campaign series, talking about how to listen to players wants and needs, and build upon them.  That may drop this week, or next, depending on how busy my fellow Gnomes have been.  As I said before, I will be putting up a post on Friday about GM4Hire.  I am also going to toss out a quick article on my gaming sheet for 4e, a little sheet I put together to aid me when I am playing 4e.    Should be a busy blogging week….hopefully.

For the past few weeks I have been working on my “Secret Project”.  I have talked to several of my close friends, and discussed the idea with them, and all gave me very positive responses.  Inspired by my friend Philippe, aka The Chatty DM, I decided that I would jump off my own cliff, so to speak, and venture into the business side of Role Playing Games.

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As part of my Secret Project, I needed to create a document that listed my gamer credentials. A document that detailed my better campaigns, game systems I am familiar with, blogs that I have written for, and talks that I have given.  So I created a Gamer Resume.

Take a look. The resume (in PDF) can be seen here.

I did not do this for any kind of bragging rights. When the Secret Project is revealed, it will be clear what it is for. But for now, I found this to be an interesting exercise and a great way for me to document my own journey through this hobby; starting from the “Pink Box” D&D all the way through my Iron Heroes campaign.

I am encouraging everyone to create their own Gamer Resume.  Take the time to document the campaigns you have run, all the things that you have done in this hobby.  Over time, you may forget some of the games you have played in, but if you document them in your resume, there will always be a reminder.  Take time each year to update your resume, so that it stays current.

So if you want to start, I am offering up this MS Word document located here (Word 2007 format).  Feel free to change it up, add sections that I don’t have, remove sections you are not using, etc.  Make it your own.

Here are the major sections I included in my Resume:

• Entry into RPG’s– I listed the first game that I played as a player.  This is to establish just how old I am.
• Campaigns Game Mastered– Here I listed all my major campaigns.  I did not list the failures or any short run campaigns (less than a few months); only the more successful ones.  I don’t think I could even remember all the failures and short run campaigns now.
• Blogging Experience– This section lists all the blogs that I have written articles for.
• Presentations Given– These are the talks I have given at various GenCon’s of the past few years.
• RPG Systems Proficient– This lists all the game systems that I have played more than one game in.  No claims I remember the rules to every game system, but at one time or another I have played these systems.
• Collectible Card Games Proficient– I was never much of a CCG player, other than the requisite time playing Magic in the mid-90’s,  but you may have be a much more robust player.
• Miniature Games Proficient– CMG experience.  My only experience was a run of Mage Knight and MechWarrior a few years ago.
• Conventions Attended– I have been to a few conventions over the years.  Not as many as a lot of people, but enough that I thought I would list them.

So what is missing?  There are a few sections, that could be added to the format.  If you have experience in them, you may want to add some of these sections:

• Games Playtested– If you have playtesting credits, I would list them here.  Be careful about the non-disclosure agreements you have signed with various companies, before you list them.  I would say a safe rule of thumb is that if you are listed in the book’s playtesting section, add it.
• Publications– If you have officially published any gaming material, or have authored, or co-authored any published product, I would put it here.
• Convention Games Run–If you have experience running convention games, list that as well.

I am sure people will think of others, so if you do, list them in the comments section.

So go and create your own gamer resume, and when you do, add a link in the comments to your resume, so that we all can see it.

It’s a shame we are going to have to kill him…he was a pretty cool Hutt

This past weekend was Sargon’s Star Wars game, and our infiltration of the Hutt’s organization continued.  Being undercover as a smuggler was fun.  I placed bets on droid races, got to participate in a gladiatorial combat, ate well, etc.  All the while, I found Kizul was kind of liking the Hutt, and at the same time, was sure that when the time came, he would help tear down the Hutt’s organization and if necessary kill the Hutt.

It was a good session, and the group is playing well together.  I am getting a much better feel on Kizul, and how a Padwan exists post Order 66.  It is not an easy life, and Justice is a lot less black and white, when you are not the group in power.  Before Order 66, Kizul would not have stood for most of what he has seen while in the Hutt’s palace, but in these unsure times, Kizul has to weigh what is the greater good he should do, vs breaking out a lightsaber for every small crime committed.

At the end of the adventure, we uncovered a Jedi Master, who had been in the Hutt’s prison, below the palace.  This will complicate things for Kizul, as he is not sure he is going to pursue the Jedi Knight path, because of his uncertainty with how the Jedi will operate in these times.  I have not committed which path I will follow yet, but rather, I will let it occur organically, after talking to the Jedi Master, and seeing what she thinks about how the Jedi will exist in these times.

In addition to playing some Star Wars I read some more Dogs In The Vineyard. This looks to be a lot of fun, and will be a game that I will have to sign up for next year at GenCon.  The book is an easy read, and setting is very interesting.  I finished the conflict chapter, and really like the idea of the poker-esque Raise and See system.  I will plan on trying this out with my group, during some break in our regular games.  I have about 1/3 of the book left to read, and I will be making an effort to getting it done.

I am also pushing through the Spycraft 2.0 book.  I am halfway through the combat chapter.  I like the changes that the SC guys have made from the traditional d20 material.  I am looking forward to taking the system out for a test run in a few weeks.

As for this week, I will be launching my Secret Project on Friday.  As a teaser to that, I will be putting up an article tomorrow, about one of the elements of my Project.  It is something I have done in the past, but recently updated.  I gave a sneak peek to the Chatty DM, who liked it so much, that he wants to do one for himself.

So make sure you check the feeds this week for tomorrow’s update and the launch of my Secret Project.