User blogs

Inspired Unreality open game chat tomorrow, Saturday January 8, at 11:00 AM Central. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

Inspired Unreality is held in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. Everyone is welcome to come chat about games.

Last week was Fantasy and Science Fiction and I did some short readings from the Lyonesse Trilogy by Jack Vance illustrating my idea that every NPC deserves at least two sentences. There is nothing like short descriptive text to help the DM portray the NPC in a believable manner. Jack Vance is a master.

Thanks to Ducalisto for joining us at Inspired Unreality open game chat.  We discussed fantasy and scifi gaming systems.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4414

The main page at Gamer+ is down. I have been working on it trying to resolve the issue. I've also been adding occasional posts trying to scroll the issue off the screen. So far no luck. Somebody needs to roll luck for me.

All the other pages are working fine. You can still post and read other people's posts, comment, etc. It's just the Main page that's not working.

So as well as trying to fix Gamer+ I have also been looking into changing platforms for Gamer+. Oxwall is a good platform for computers but the mobile app is poor at best. In today's world most people prefer to use their phone so I would like to upgrade to a platform with good mobile support and good tech support too.

Any suggestions? I have been looking into the Open Source Social Network. I have also used Elgg but I don't know how good the mobile support is on Elgg. It will be work to change platforms so I want to do my research up front.

We got a domestic robot. I for one look forward to serving our robot overlords. But until then scrub that floor.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4416

Vivian and I played an Ari and Caper in a Milyagon game yesterday. The brownies made Ari a wreathed hat out of wildflowers that acts like a love charm. The Milyagon witch gave Ari a basket to keep it in so it's not "on" all the time.

Vivian also filled in a lot of back story about Ari and Tude and set us up for an encounter with a family she met on the road.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4420

Thanks,

Hairy Larry

https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry

https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

This is the last Gamer+ News of 2021 and the first Gamer+ News on our new schedule. I bet a lot of you were wondering why you didn't get the news last Monday. Well, here it is! Now on a Friday.

Tomorrow, Inspired Unreality open game chat at 11:00 AM Central is in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. It's the first Saturday of the month so this week our topic will be Fantasy and Science Fiction.

If you haven't been to Tenkar's Tavern there's a link for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

I am re-rereading The Lyoness Trilogy by Jack Vance and in this rereading I am getting a lot of tips for DMs as well as for writers. Join us to discuss your favorite Fantasy and Science Fiction books, games, movies, etc.

What I got for Christmas.

Carl gave a stack of magazines to each family. I also got two nice carnivorous plants from Kier. I'll post pics of those after I paint them.

I added a photo gallery with the magazine covers.

https://gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/115

In with the magazines were five copies of Swords & Wizardry Light, written by Tenkar, a Gamer+ gamer and proprietor of Tenkar's Tavern home of Inspired Unreality.

https://gamerplus.org/user/tenkar

Bembo the Barbarian.

Questionable Content is a rom com webzine with robots. But for the last several days Jeph Jacques has been drawing Bembo The Barbarian and it's a hoot.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4403

Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/875

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Hi and welcome to this first Monday Gamer+ News where for once I am totally prepared.

Tonight at Inspired Unreality we will discuss fantasy and science fiction. Our opening topic will be Jack Vance, his writing and his contribution to D&D. I've got a refresher post here.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4369

The fantasy of Jack Vance.

Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984.

The Dying Earth features one of the greatest fantasy antiheroes of all time, Cugel the Clever. The Dying Earth setting also hosts other stories full of other antiheroes.

The Lyonesse Trilogy, Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc. Madouc won the World Fantasy Award in 1990 and contains the most delightful fey adventure ever written.

There's more. Follow the link.

Inspired Unreality open game chat is held every Monday night at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you've never been to Tenkar's Tavern we have an invite for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Follow Me And Die! posted "When Wizards Die" to his blog. As always his thoughts on the matter are wide ranging and comprehensive. It's a recommended read and it reminded me of Jack Vance which led to the post above and the topic tonight.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4367

So after I read that I noticed a link to Medieval Demographics Made Easy and I clicked over to that.

The booklet is fantastic not only as a guide to medieval demographics but also as an example of how to put together a fantasy supplement that is useful and entertaining.

Thanks to S. John Ross and Follow Me And Die.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4368

Next week, on Inspired Unreality, VB Wyrde will be hosting a one off set in his fantasy world, Elthos. I am looking forward to that. See you then and also tonight! for fantasy and science fiction, with the opening topic, Jack Vance.

They say that word of mouth advertising is the best which is great because it's all we can afford. Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/860

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Tonight! At Inspired Unreality! We have a topic! Fantasy and Science Fiction!

I read a lot and I also enjoy some fantasy and science fiction movies and tv shows. I have played in a couple of SF RPGs but, of course, fantasy RPGs are my main thing. There's also a lot of Fantasy and SF in other media, games, graphic novels, blogs, vlogs, etc.

Here's the place where I plug Megan's and Kim's Buffy podcast, Flunking The Written.

https://www.flunkingthewritten.com/

Yes this is a broad topic. Everyone is welcome. Bring your own topic. All Fantasy and SF is on topic.

For example, FKR - Free Kriegsspiel Revolution, would definitely be on topic. Here's a Follow Me And Die post about FKR, a rules light OSR RPG.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4278

Like I said, I read a lot. Here's my current and some recents I can recommend. With links! Woohoo!

I am currently reading The Inheritance Trilogy. I'm on book 3. This is an earlier fantasy story by N. K. Jemisin who won three Hugos in three consecutive years each for a book in the Broken Earth Trilogy. I read that too. I like the Inheritance Trilogy better without thinking it's actually better. Just more to my taste.

She posted The Inheritance Trilogy Non-Wiki which includes her notes made while writing the books. She has licensed these notes CC BY-SA-NC so yes, you can repost these notes or work from them under some restrictions. More at this link.

https://nkjemisin.com/the-inheritance-trilogy-non-wiki/

I love Russian Folklore so "Deathless" by Catherynne M. Valente was just like it was written for me. I mean, Baba Yaga is in it and everything.

"Deathless is an alternate history novel ... combining the Russian fairy tale The Death of Koschei the Deathless with the events and aftermath of the Russian Revolution."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathless_(novel)

Nancy Springer writes YA Fantasy but in her Enola Holmes mysteries she writes an alternative history of a fictional world. Enola Holmes is Sherlock Holmes' younger sister, somehow never mentioned by Arthur Conan Doyle. Each book is a novella, a quick read, and absolutely delightful.

https://murder-mayhem.com/enola-holmes-books-nancy-springer

"For centuries mystical creatures of all description were gathered into a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary survives today as one of the last strongholds of true magic. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite."

Yes, I do love reading YA Fantasy. And I do recommend "Fablehaven".

https://susandennard.com/2011/09/18/fablehaven-a-book-recommendation/

I just finished "The Chosen and the Beautiful" by Nghi Vo, a retelling of "The Great Gatsby" in a world with magic, demons, demoniac, and paper coming to life. This is an exquisite work. One of the best crafted novels I have ever read (and I read a lot). It's also very entertaining.

Megan said she knows she loves a book when she wants to reread it as soon as she finishes it. As soon as I finished this book I wanted to reread "The Great Gatsby" and then reread "The Chosen and the Beautiful".

https://booksbonesbuffy.com/2021/06/10/the-chosen-and-the-beautiful-by-nghi-vo-review/

So in case you didn't catch onto the circle I'll explain it. I plugged Megan's Buffy podcast at the top. At the bottom I refer to Megan again and then provide a link to Books, Bones, and Buffy. Pretty clever, huh?

Join us tonight to discuss these stories or others.

Inspired Unreality, open game chat is held every Monday night at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. More info here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Please forward this email to your Fantasy and SF loving friends. Also post this link to your website, blog, or preferred social media.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/831

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Memorial Day Inspired Unreality and we're gonna talk about Science Fiction and Fantasy. It's the first Monday of September so we've got a topic.

Inspired Unreality is held every Monday night at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you haven't been there's more info here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

In two weeks on September 20 we will be chatting with Robert S. Conley. The topic will be differences between writing for classic D&D vs 5e. Please join us then to chat with Robert S. Conley. And tonight Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Gamer+ now has a tumblr.

https://gamerplusdotorg.tumblr.com/

Robert S. Conley wrote about Chainmail Reprints and the Harn Kingdom Hardbacks on his Bat In The Attic blog.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4233

I found this.

"Flash Lingo: A Thieves Cant Dictionary" is the most comprehensive Thieves Cant glossary ever assembled. With over 2,200 entries, this volume has been compiled from historical resources and edited to specifically support fantasy role-playing games. More importantly, it is designed to bring the lexicon of Thieves Cant to life in your campaign world, as an aid for both players and DMs alike. It’s also just a damn enjoyable read!

Free download at DriveThruRPG.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4234

So, how's gaming in your neck of the woods? It's been going great here.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Welcome to Inspired Unreality open game chat, tonight at 9:00 PM Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you've never been to Tenkar's Tavern there's a link for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

First on the agenda tonight will be working on Caper's song of reckless spending, a favorite of proprietors in gambling houses everywhere Caper goes. So far I've got something about the wheel goes round but we're going to hammer it out tonight and I need your help.

Last week Alan joined us and we talked a bit about SF and Fantasy books and a bit about writing, discussing our current projects. Alan is working on his Ember module called "Mine". I have run it once at ARRPGCon and once online and it was fun both times.

https://gamerplus.org/user/Alan

He will tell you about The Chronicles of Ember here.

https://chroniclesofember.com/2018/04/10/welcome-to-ember/

I am reading Rebecca Roanhorse. Her novel, "Black Sun", is a Hugo finalist this year and deserves to win. (Although I haven't read any of the other finalists yet. They probably all deserve to win.) She also writes YA Fantasy stories based on Navajo mythology. More here.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4199

And I posted another chapter for my book, "Setting Up A Twitch Studio - Using Tech Creatively" called Backup Overview and Strategy. Yeah, I know. Boring. But essential!

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/806

Come to Inspired Unreality tonight to help Caper finish his song of reckless spending. One more page in Caper's Songbook, soon to be a minizine resource for bard's everywhere.

Spread the word.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Join us tonight at Inspired Unreality open game chat. Last week we talked about books. Before that Witch's Chicken Scratch, a cypher witches use to write down their recipes for teas and potions. And when we last left Ari and Caper they were in the Milyagon Witch's kitchen drinking love potion. The night before that the brownies had crowned Ari with a flowery garland.

Inspired Unreality open game chat is held in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you haven't been we have an invite for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

What will we be discussing tonight? Nobody knows. Because, like Megan, we do what we want. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

I posted, "We had a good chat last night about Science Fiction and Fantasy literature starting with a discussion about Science Fiction as a late nineteenth and twentieth century phenomenon where Fantasy literature encompasses all of literature going back to the earliest written words. Now they are often indistinguishable. Then we discussed the dystopian trend in Science Fiction. The Golden Age (thirties and forties) saw mostly optimistic science fiction stories but in the second half of the twentieth century starting with the New Wave through today there has been a darker trend with many dystopian and post apocalyptic stories. Then closing the chat we each discussed our first experiences in Science Fiction."

What are your first experiences with Fantasy and Science Fiction? Join the discussion here.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4153

ZDL shared a post about how we can let the kids improve our urban landscape.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4157

If you have ideas for our Fantasy and Science Fiction discussion post them here in the Related To Geeks Book Club group.

https://gamerplus.org/groups/28

Please post your links, game ideas, art, etc. to Gamer+. We want to know what you're doing. (Ok, that's not creepy at all.)

Stay in touch.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Join us tonight at the Inspired Unreality Open Game Chat where we will discuss Science Fiction and Fantasy literature. Soon to be a monthly feature at Inspired Unreality.

We've already got some discussion going in my announcement thread.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4145

We don't mind controversy over at Gamer+. As long as it's controversy about gaming. Everybody's got their own old school. Mine didn't start until the early nineties. Most old schools are older than mine.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/782

I added another post to my Setting Up A Twitch Studio series. Documentation. I try to teach by example. So, if you like to read documentation.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/785

This series of articles has turned out to be broader in focus than I thought they would be and the ideas discussed pertain to any technical creative endeavor. I need to take a big top down view and decide where I'm going with this.

And here are our twitch streams.

https://www.twitch.tv/megantopia

https://www.twitch.tv/hairylarryland

Send me your links or post them to Gamer+.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Tonight! On Inspired Unreality. We will be chatting about games, or playing games, or maybe chatting about books, science fiction and fantasy literature. What we've read and what we like. Books. Games. Chat.

Inspired Unreality is held every Monday night at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you've never been there's an invite here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

ZDL posted Deep Dive: OSR Critique about her actual experience in the OSR world when it was just called D&D.

"To establish my credentials, I have been playing RPGs of all kinds since 1977.  My first exposure to the genre was the 1977 "Blue Book" edition and I have backfilled experience with the original books, not to mention gone forward into both branches of D&D (Advanced and what would later become the Cyclopedia).  I played through the explosion of creativity in the '80s, witnessed the rise of story games (playing many of them, though not the White Wolf line of Storyteller games—I hated those), and continued through to the present day where I play intensely story-oriented games (FATE, Spark, Mythic, etc.) as well as some OSR or OSR-alike games (most notably Mazes & Minotaurs).  I am emphatically not a young-un telling grandpa what's what.  I'm one of the grandparents saying what actually was."

And she has some opinions. As always, a good read. In case you also have opinions there's a comment section.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/782

RickStump joined the Related to Geeks Book club group. Megan and I did the podcast for a year and then went on to bigger and better things. (Hello Flunking The Written and twitch) I still read every day and would love to have a monthly book discussion. So, starting next week and continuing the first Monday of every month the opening topic at Inspired Unreality will be science fiction and fantasy literature with frequent forays into SF&F movies and games.

https://gamerplus.org/groups/28
https://anchor.fm/flunking-the-written
https://www.twitch.tv/megantopia
https://www.twitch.tv/hairylarryland

I posted a new photo gallery, The Masks Of The Zuni. If you are needing images of a witch doctor, shaman, or other all around weirdo these are public domain. There's even a bizarro Hairy Larry.

https://gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/104

See you tonight on Inspired Unreality open game chat. Next week, books. Post some pics. Join in on the OSR discussion. At Gamer+.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

This one is a weird one folks, so strap in and get ready.

Today's game is The Terran Trade Authority Roleplaying Game (henceforth TTARPG – and yes there's a reason why I'm using such a clunky initialization) released by Canada's Morrigan Press in 2006.  It's a science fiction RPG that …

Let's roll back the history a bit, because this is really unusual.

History

In 1978, Hamlyn Publishing released a book called Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD by Stewart Cowley.  It was a large, hardback art book filled to the brim with science fiction artwork of spaceships, planetscapes, and future cities/bases that were rendered by some of the greatest SF artists of the time: Angus McKie, Gerard Thomas, Chris Foss, Peter Elson, and others represented by J.S. Artists.

More than an art book, however, it was also a detailed future history with little vignettes of space battles, a future history, etc. all paired with pictures showing the subject.  It was a brilliant concept that was well executed, leading to more books in the series authored by Cowley—Great Space Battles (1979, with Charles Herridge), SpaceWreck: Ghostships and Derelicts of Space (1979), Starliners: Commercial Travel in 2200 AD (1980).

All of these books were tied together in a future history involving the name of the Terran Trade Authority (TTA) hence the name of the RPG.

... more