3D printing becomes affordable

My precious!

I got a 3D printer for the holidays and I am having a blast with it. From the replica lightsaber I am making, to cool minis for RPGing, it is very cool. The best part is you can afford one. I got the XYZPrinting DaVinci Jr. for $299.00, though it seems to be going for $339.00 since the holidays ended.

The DaVinci Jr. is very easy to use. Out of the box it just worked, so for a beginner it is excellent. It is not fast, but you just leave it to do its job. Printing a 28mm figure takes about two to three hours at "excellent" quality, less time for good quality. A great feature is that you can save the print file to an SD-CARD and put it in the printer and it will print it, so your computer is freed up unlike some other printers.

It is small, limited to a 5-inch cube maximum, but that is fine for minis, and many models are broken up to print out and glue together, like my lightsaber which is longer than the five inch maximum. The software that comes with it is not bad. It processes models to work with the printer, and you can scale prints up and down, such as taking a 52mm figure and shrinking it to 28mm.

You can find free models on Thingiverse, YouImagine and other sites. Companies are coming out wit printable models you buy (DriveThruRPG has a format categorty called .STL; STL is a popular format for trading models). Fat Dragon Games is at the forefront of this with their DragonLock terrain, and will have figures and objects available soon. More companies will join in as the market hits critical. You can also make your own with a 3D modeling program, or rework other objects into something new (just don't share any unless it is based on an open license). Blender is one of the most popular and is FREE! Free is always good. Plus it is very robust for an opensource product and available on Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you love to paint models you need to get into this.

System Mastery: City of Violence

MC Hammer was wrong, you can touch it.

I want to give a shout out to a podcast I recently found due to a mention in a listener letter on Happy Jacks' RPG podcast. I decided to check it out and found that System Mastery is a great listen.

The hosts are Jeff and Jon, and every couple of weeks they read an old RPG and critique it. By critique I mean make fun of it mercilessly. They are not just cracking jokes though (and making some off-color humor... well.. lots of it at times so kids, be good and don't let your parents know you listen), they are making a lot of salient points about these games and about game design in general. They have a list of do's and don't's about game design that is on point, and emphasize a game being fun. For example, many of the games have a low chance of success for rolls due to the mechanic, causing the character to fail more than succeed and that is not fun for players.

They also cover the fluff of the game, and some are basically unplayable, like C°ntinuum, or insane like Immortal or Haven: (long pregnant pause) City of Violence. I also find it funny how some designers seem to hate the work they are doing (Furry Pirates which is not really that furry and surprisingly bad for a company like Atlas Games), or even the author talking about how much he hates RPGs (Fantasy Wargaming: The Highest Level of All). Although, to be fair, they have found some they would play like Gamma World (4th Edition D&D version) which, by accident, they actually like.

They also do episodes between reviews and talk about topics of interest, and have a movie review podcast as well. They don't do actual play, thankfully. Not a fan of that myself. I want to play and have fun, not watch others do it like I am some kind of peeping tom.

As for the guys, I know nothing about them: how old they are, education, nothing except that they are from SoCal. From what I gather though they are pretty well read. They drop surprising tidbits on media, science, gaming, and more. Also, it is from many eras, not just recent stuff. It is nice to hear some literate comments mixed in among the poop jokes.

Now guys, take on Traveller 5. There is plenty wrong with that one.

D&D 5e: GOING OGL!!!

A great website... for me to poop on!

A new year has come, and I am finally over the rush of the holidays that have kept me away for so long. I was thinking of something to post about and had a few ideas, then today came and something struck like lightning out of the blue: D&D 5e has been released as an SRD under the Open Game License (OGL), the same OGL version 1a that Pathfinder uses.

Last time, back in the third edition days, d20 products were coming fast and furious and then took a dive in sales. Companies over committed to it, and good products were hard to find in a sea of crap. It made some smaller publishers big (Green Ronin), some other made great product but it undersold (Atlas Games), and some companies crashed and burned.

Pathfinder, an OGL game, has had more success with other company's products. This is because the industry learned its lesson and only a few companies are in the market, and they are nor riding a bubble that will crash, but are making their plans realistic. The general quality has been pretty good.

Well, Wizards of the Coast is implementing a way to lessen the crap. First, you can make D&D 5e compatible products and sell them yourself, like the old days. The other way to do it is sell it through the Dungeon Master's Guild, an official WotC online shop on DriveThruRPG. If you go it alone you may not seem as legit as selling through the guild, as the guild has a rating method to give buyers an idea of quality, lacking if you publish on your own. This makes working outside the Guild seem a little less legit.

Also, the Guild let's you write adventures in The Forgotten Realms, which is a vibrant world people love. Pathfinder's world, Golarion, it their own property and outsiders cannot write adventures in that world. The downside is that the selling on the Dungeon Master's Guild mean you have to share profits with WotC. The advantages may be worth it, we shall see.

Get to the guild HERE.

The Sadness of King George

George Lucas and some things he made.

No gaming talk today. Star Wars is foremost on my mind.

I feel sorry for George Lucas. He made one of the most popular movie series in history, and the new installment is premiering to very good reviews. Mr. Lucas is not taking part of the fun because this is not George's Star Wars.

Last month he talked about fretting seeing the film which director J.J. Abrams invited him for a private screening. I can see how he feels. He was Star Wars. It was his baby (with a lot of Gary Kurtz, the original co-producer whoquit when Lucas started turning Jedi kid friendly to sell those toys, and the forgotten Marcia Lucas, who helped shape the story and wasthe film editor that saved the Star Wars from obscurity in 1977. After he divorce from George Lucas in 1983 she has been excluded in the official history of the original trilogy, but it was a bad time for them both and he does not speak her name, only referring to her as his ex- when he has to). Now it belongs to Disney and a new era of writers and directors.

After the prequel trilogy, this is not a bad thing. All the new filmmakers grew up on Star Wars and get it, even if the prequels and the changes to the original trilogy show Lucas himself does not get what made the original three so good.

George and Marcia Lucas

Disney, after the purchase of the franchise, let Lucas make a pitch for Star Wars VII. They rejected it and announced they were going in a different direction. Around that time Lucas announced he was “done with Star Wars.” After seeing the new film a few weeks ago he avoided giving his opinion, only that “the fans will love it.” I interpret this as an acknowledgment that a lot of the fan base was disappointed with the prequels, and this is not what he would have done.

Martin Scorsese in on the record saying Star Wars was a terrible thing to happen to Lucas, moving him away from the other projects that could have had him be a great film maker with edgy films similar to THX-1138 or American Graffiti. Instead, Lucas turned to further escapist entertainment: the good (Indiana Jones) and the bad (Howard the Duck), and except for the prequels, giving up directing. Lucas could have done both big-budget fun and serious films, like his friend Steven Spielberg, but Scorsese points out how much Lucas changed in his career goals because of the success. Also, success changed his storytelling goals as well.

Original poster is worth big bucks

We have a past of what could have beens. The Revenge of the Jedi that did not have little teddy bears beating an advanced technological force, which I would have loved. Also, the bad was avoided like young street-urchin Han Solo with his adopted father Chewbacca in Episode III (yeah, that was an idea), or Boba Fett and Vader being brothers. Or Jar Jar, no wait, that happened. Some things cannot be unseen.

It looks like Disney and J.J. Abrams have a hit on their hands. Let's not forget who got us here in the first place. Lucas is an interesting duality that has played out over most of our lives. Let's not bad mouth him, he gave us something we cherish. This is his son going off to college, and he is the dad in the empty nest.

Looking in the Crystal Ball: Hasbro has another great plan for WoTC

I am just waiting for the bomb to drop on a decision from Hasbro that will hamstring D&D 5e. Let's look into the crystal ball and see what is coming next year:

"Wizards of the Coast, under orders from the geniuses at Hasbro, reveal a new source book for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition: The Bard's Handbook featuring a first for the RPG hobby:  full karaoke MP3 downloads!

Said Martin Pimpletrout, vice-president of new ideas at Hasbro, "Kids love RPG's. Kids love karaoke. Kids love downloading. Say no more."

Wizards licensed over 100 popular songs and provided the backing tracks as downloads for player's MP3 units. 'Kids love MP3s. Say no more,' exclaimed a very excited Pimpletrout. When the person playing the bard wants to cast a spell or give bonuses to other characters, he whips out his mobile device, plays the track and sings the song. Pimpletrout cannot stop talking, 'The song may be a popular one, but we changed the words to fit with the D&D theme. America Pie becomes Faerunian Pie. When Doves Cry becomes When Orcs Die. We Don't Need Another Hero becomes Waterdeep Needs Another Hero. Say no more.'

The Bard's Handbook comes with a code for four karaoke downloads, with more available using a web code, available in collectible foil blind packs.

The Saga Continues... Again

Not old, it's a fine vintage.

In my last post I talked about the excellent new, fan made, edition of West End's Star Wars RPG. Here is another well done find, a source book for the Old Republic era made famous in a great video game (and its mediocre sequel), the current MMO, and Dark Horse comics. Lots of adventure here in over 400 pages.

Also at the d6 Holocron, books for Star Wars Rebels and more. Star Wars d6 will not die.

Follow this link to the d6 Holocron.

The Saga Continues

I have a place in my heart for two things: West End's Star Wars RPG (the d6 version) and fan productions. So this new release is nothing short of AWESOMESAUCE.

click me to see it BIG!

The REUP team (revised, expanded, updated) has issued an unauthorized update to the second edition, revised and expanded, which was the final release of the game. This updates the game to include a lot of new content from episodes I-III and the legends stories (formerly the expanded universe, now totally non canon). You can play it without the legends material. I hope that they do another edition with information only for canon material (the TV shows, movies, new novels, and Marvel comics). However, this is full of excellent material that will serve Star Wars d6 players for a good while (heck, I just watched a group playing the last West End version at my local FLGS).

The alternate, cool retro cover

It also gathers much of the material from other Star Wars books, making it the most complete versions of the game ever.

Fan materials are often good but unorganized and unappealing. Not here. This looks totally pro, and will look great if you get it printed on-demand. It reads well. It has all the good "teaching you to play" material that the old books were famous for.

I hated all the d20 versions of Star Wars. I think the Fantasy Flight RPG currently available is pretty good, but to me d6 was simple, cinematic fun, and I am glad it is not dying.

You can download it here (its slow, I'll try to find a better link).