Greetings from one of the Geeks Distributed

Desert_Son
Desert_Son
edited August 2013 in Player Lounge
Hello,

I wanted to introduce myself and mention my gaming group campaign site.

Ours is Geeks Distributed, so named for our geographic proximity . . . or, rather, lack thereof. It is a Rise of the Runelords campaign in the Pathfinder system. I know that is a popular series, and there are many campaigns built around that title, but if you are interested in reading another go at it then our campaign is this way:

"Geeks Distributed":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/geeks-distributed

We are a group of old friends who live around the United States. We play online, using Skype to communicate, and MapTool to manage the game environment and dice rolling. We have been role-playing gamers since the late 1970s and early 1980s, and have played and enjoyed many different games. In recent years we have come to celebrate Pathfinder as an excellent heir to the Dungeons & Dragons legacy we grew up with. Our thanks go out to Paizo and its community.

Something perhaps a little different about this particular campaign is that I write the narrative adventure log, but I am player, not the GM (I play the wizard Rahab). We play far enough ahead that by the time I write the entries, I am (usually) assured of not giving away anything critical, and our discerning GM helps ensure that important “behind the screen” information stays where it should, or is only revealed at such time as it is deemed safe so to do. At other times, I am guessing at—or inventing from whole-cloth—narrative aspects since I do not have access to GM-only content.

Those of you familiar with the Rise of the Runelords series may notice detail differences between our story and your experience of that campaign. I suspect we are not the first role-playing group to tailor a pre-developed setting to our own tastes and style, and any such deviations from the published canon are expressions of that personalization rather than presumptuous disregard for the effort of the publishers.

A note about language: occasionally I use contemporary terms from English that are sometimes regarded as “foul” language. I use these for two main reasons. First, I suspect nearly every culture and language has these kind of words as part of the expression available to convey certain emotions, actions, or sentiments. It makes sense to me that a group of adventures, including some who have had fairly difficult lives, would occasionally employ these terms in the course of exploring the world, fighting monsters, taking damage, and facing challenging circumstances.

Second, I think it is effective for the reader to encounter those terms in language the reader recognizes, rather than trying to relate exclusively to invented fantasy role-playing game insults. “Avarnath’s Blood!” (or whatever) may be a potent oath in-game, but someone reading it in the real-world present day does not necessarily have enough context to recognize that as shocking language. Real-world words on the other hand, can work quite well in that capacity. In this I share some of the opinions of the writer David Milch who created the HBO television program _Deadwood_ in the mid-2000s. For more of his thoughts on the subject, I recommend the excellent documentary about language on the _Deadwood_ Season 1 extra features DVD.

Nevertheless, I have occasionally invented fantasy role-playing-game oaths in the adventure log, as well; but sometimes there is simply no substitute for a colorful vocalization in contemporary English, especially to convey a particular urgency or intensity.

Thematically, I have attempted to incorporate more than just killing imaginary monsters and taking their imaginary stuff into our narrative. I try to include a variety of ideas and developments, including some that contemporary media might describe as “mature” in nature. If my writing ever oversteps the bounds of effective narrative into the realm of exploitative injury then that is my error and I apologize. I want to alert potential readers to these aspects so that those uncomfortable with such devices may be forewarned.

I hope you find the campaign story engaging and entertaining. Our site is not as replete as many I have seen so expertly put together on Obsidian Portal, so I am afraid I cannot offer particularly fancy graphics or sound files to the same degree. Where you do see such features their success owes to our excellent and dear GM, Dgroo, as well as supportive efforts by the other players. As a final note, I want to stress that any errors in the telling of the story are solely mine and not those of my friends and fellow gamers.

If you have read this far I thank you for your time and attention. I hope wherever you are, you find yourself and your loved ones in good health and good gaming.

Still learning,

Robert

Comments

  • Desert_Son
    Desert_Son
    Posts: 16
    Utterly shameless self-promotional thread bump in an attempt to generate traffic to read our "Geeks Distributed":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/geeks-distributed Adventure Log, written by yours truly. Thrills! Chills! Spills! Mystery! Intrigue! Interesting characters! Witty banter! Gripping narrative! Fantasy combat! Magic spells! Booze! Sex! Footnotes!

    Free prizes!

    Ok, that one's a lie. No free prizes. Still, would love to have you drop by and give a read. Hope you enjoy. Thanks.

    In the meantime, hope you and your loved ones are well and in good gaming.

    Still learning,

    Robert
    Adventure Log writer for "Geeks Distributed":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/geeks-distributed
  • Leonidas300
    Leonidas300
    Posts: 273
    Nothing wrong with a little shameless self promotion, I like what I see and you have gained a fan. The footnotes are a cool touch.


    "Leonidas300":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/metzger/wikis/leonidas300
    "A Manifestation of Chaos":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/metzger/wikis/main-page
    COTM - Sept. 2012
  • Desert_Son
    Desert_Son
    Posts: 16
    Thanks, Leonidas300! Glad you stopped by and thanks for signing on as a fan!

    The footnotes took some working out, but I finally got some good help on it from another thread. "Kallak":http://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/Kallak gave me some good tips and pointed me to a "Textile 2 formatting page":http://movabletype.org/documentation/author/textile-2-syntax.html#footnotes.

    Using that formatting cleaned up the interface from my previous versions which were just plain text that required scrolling back and forth.

    Again, thanks for you support!

    Still learning,

    Robert
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 2,998
    Always good to see a player taking initiative! Some great logs in there!
    killervp
    "A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
    "OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/

    Just trying to help out.

  • Desert_Son
    Desert_Son
    Posts: 16
    Thanks, killervp! Glad you stopped by and thanks for signing on as a fan!

    Still learning,

    Robert
    Adventure log writer for "Geeks Distributed":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/geeks-distributed
  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,006
    Hi Desert_Son

    You also got a new fan in me. I enjoyed reading your initial thread post. Having just started playing in a Runelords campaign a few months ago, I get where you are coming from and totally agree with you in your assessment of Paizo as worthy successor to the FRPG legacy started in Dungeons and Dragons - both for their excellent PATHFINDER system and for some of the accessories they have brought out over the years, many of which have given our group of gamers a great amount of joy, notably their magnetic initiative sheet - one of the best tabletop tools EVER!

    Welcome to the Forums.....

    twiggyleaf
    CURRENT CAMPAIGN: "Mysteria":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/mysteria - set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
    Previous CotM Aug 2012: "Shimring":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shimring

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

  • WolfLord
    WolfLord
    Posts: 278 edited November 2013
    Looking sharp, excited to see how Geeks progresses :) and i agree as well on the Paizo note. I was a die hard D&D3.5 loyalist for a long time considering it was my first tabletop system, i was very fond of it, but after switching to pathfinder i couldn't be happier with it as a successor. They did everything we were hoping 4.0 would do and made it free to access!!! Welcome to the community, it's a helpful bunch of nerds here so let us know if u ever need any advice or coding help, these guys have helped me since my campaign started a few years back and i still shamelessly ask for help on a regular basis :))

    "Avatar: Conquest of the Imperial Order":https://avatar_adventures.obsidianportal.com/
    "COTM November 2011":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/november-11-campaign-of-the-month-avatar-conquest-of-the-imperial-order/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=november-11-campaign-of-the-month-avatar-conquest-of-the-imperial-order
    "Duskreign’s Favorite COTM January 2012":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/wyrmshadow/wikis/012012
    Post edited by WolfLord on
  • Desert_Son
    Desert_Son
    Posts: 16
    twiggyleaf and TolsimirWolfblood,

    I apologize that it has taken me nearly a month to reply to your comments. I have been working on my dissertation and recently passed my proposal process to my committee, and those two things have consumed the majority of my attention and time of late.

    Regardless, I wanted to thank you both for your comments and encouragement. Further, to twiggyleaf, I wanted to extend my additional gratitude for adding yourself as a fan of "Geeks Distributed":https://geeks-distributed.obsidianportal.com/ I hope you are finding your own Runelords campaign to be as engaging, challenging, dynamic, interesting, and fun as our group has. I followed the link to your information page and, like you, the red box of Basic Dungeons & Dragons was my first tabletop role-playing game many years ago, and also like you, I soon switched to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The rest is history (including a brief time in the Grand Edinburgh Adventuring Society at the University of Edinburgh during my year in the city a bit east of your own, if I guess your geographic location correctly).

    I look forward to returning to work on the Geeks Distributed adventure log very soon. Nevertheless, I wanted to thank you both again for your comments and support in this thread. I look forward to reading more at your own sites, as well. Apologies again for the late reply, and in the meantime, I hope this finds you and your loved ones well and in good gaming.

    Still learning,

    Robert
    Adventure Log writer for "Geeks Distributed":https://geeks-distributed.obsidianportal.com/
  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,006
    Robert

    There is nothing wrong with your geographical assessment. I am INDEED slightly west of that fair city you once frequented, living on the outskirts of its great "rival".

    twiggyleaf
    CURRENT CAMPAIGN: "Mysteria":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/mysteria - set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
    Previous CotM Aug 2012: "Shimring":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shimring

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850
    Well I'm quite a bit late to the welcoming wagon but just wanted to throw in my own salutations. I'm not around the Portal as much as I used to be, something which I hope to amend in the near future, but I look forward to checking out your campaign every now and then. I have fond memories of the Rise of the Runelords campaign arc, though sadly moving to a foreign country meant I didn't have a chance to complete the arc.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh
    "ars phantasia":http://arsphantasia.wordpress.com/ - my blog about fantasy cartography and game design
    "Age of Legends":https://age-of-legends.obsidianportal.com/ - my old campaign in dire need of a reforge
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