D A D A D - Once again with the Alternate Tunings!

I am bored with music, bored, bored, bored, bored, … and I really need some inspiration to pick up the 6-string again.  And I think revising it to a 5-string might be the magic button I need!  I like playing in alternate tunings, especially tunings that allow for big full-sounding chords.

So … I'm once again retuning the guitar to D A D A D and then just plain removing the high E string. The High A is a B string dropped down a full step, and the High D is an E string Dropped down a full step. Easy. No G string. (hah! that sounds naughty)

This tuning simplifies the fretboard immensely.  It's just the same notes across the fretboard.  A nice big fifth chord is just one finger across the whole fretboard, and you have the Root, 5th, higher root, then another 5th, and the highest Root note.  It's basically a normal barre chord, without the major or minor triad note.  So it's a very open sound, great for rock and metal where you have these great big chords ringing out.  Great for slide chords, too.

Harmony parts are easily worked out just by playing the same pattern but moving to the next string (or the next string for an octave). 

Sounds crazy, doesn't it!  Well, Devin Townsend almost exclusively played in C G C G C E for years (he now tunes that down to B F# B F# B D#), and Max Cavalera of Sepultura/Soulfly only has FOUR strings on his guitar, tuned to B F# B E (the lowest four strings on the guitar, tuned to Drop-B). 

And, for those of you loyal readers of this blog and my music for the past several years, I composed an entire album ("I Am Become Daevel" from 2008) on a guitar with only 4 strings on it (tuned to D A D G, basically Drop-D, bot no B or E strings). And several of my other albums have alternative tunings ("Light At the End of the Tunnel" is all C G C G C D, along with the first two songs of "fUTUREGRIND".  A bunch of parts from Burn Without Me's debut album were in C G D G B E. And SUNset TZUnami was in D A D A D E). Deadside Manor was all Drop-D, along with most of my other Dimaension X recordings.

So yeah, I'm one of those musicians who almost NEVER plays in standard tuning anyway, but D A D A D just seems to be an interesting break from the "norm".

My RPG Collection (from the ancient 1980's and beyond...)

I decided to upload a bunch of pictures of my collection of Role Playing games from the 1980's (and 1970's!) ... I posted all the pics at my Facebook page, but I'll only post a few here.

Basic D&D - "Holmes Bluebook" edition

Above is my first RPG purchase - I think I bought it in 1978 when I was 15 years old - it's the original Basic Dungeons and Dragons boxed set, with the Dave Holmes edited "Bluebook" rulebook. Where it all started for me.

AD&D Players Handbook (otherwise known as 1e)

 Here's the next thing I bought, probably in late 1978 - the original hardcover edition of the Players Manual - eventually becoming known as 1st Edition (of now 1e).  Than along came the Monster's Manual and Dungeon Masters guide.

 

This was what most folks my age are the most familiar with.  We all bought these three hardcover books back int he late 1970's, and this is what it all progressed from.  I never owned Chainmail, or any of the OD&D "wood grain" or "white box" original printings, just these.  In 1981 I bought the new boxed version of Basic and Expert D&D.

B/X D&D Moldvay Edition

These two booklets managed to simplify the Advanced System down for younger players.  Most of the hardcore gamers were not really in favor of this system, yet it did draw a number of younger players in with better layouts, illustrations, and much easier-to-understand rules. I didn't use it much, but I did use it as a reference quite a bit, just because it was easier to wade through than the big hardcover books. Nowadays, the new OSR game called Labyrinth Lords has taken this system and re-created it almost verbatim, but combining the two booklets into one simple rules set, with more of a "for adult gamers" feel. I do like the look and feel of Labyrinth Lords, but it took me a while to really get it.  I've been reading Swords & Wizardry, and actually used the S&W White Box edition to begin developing my own rules system and game setting.

I think my game system (of which I'm in the middle of developing THREE different games ...) is fast turning into a Setting, rather than a Rules System.  There are so many of the great OSR systems out there right now, based on the above games that I think adding another one would just be silly. I think I'll concentrate on the Leprosia Setting and its unique "quirks and flavors".

Okay . more pics of my collection?

Stormbringer (Chaosium Games, 1982)

TSR's Star Frontiers

Bushido

TSR's Knights of Camelot

Star Trek, the RPG 

The Fantasy Trip (Steve Jackson Games)

Dragon Magazine - March 1981

 That'll do for now.

Leprosia meets Searchers of the Unkown

I've been reading up on more of the very "minimal" d20-based RPGS like Microlite20, and discovered one that's even lighter, yet still feels like OSR D and D - called Searchers of the Unknown. The whole basis for this game is that the creator (a gentleman by the name of Nicholas Dessaux) believed that the abbreviated stat blocks used to define monsters in old school games could also be used to define the heroes controlled by the players. In other words, In a typical old-school module's monster stats are listed like this: (AC6, MV9’, HD 1, hp 4, #AT1, 1d10 by halberd). The idea is that, if it’s enough for monsters, it should be enough for PCs as well.

The original game was only one page long, and the additional supplements which added races, magic, monsters, etc to the game were each also only one page long. In fact, the "expanded" version of the game, (SotU-Expanded) where the author basically compiled all of the basic supplements and arranged them into a single game is still only 30 pages long! The collection of all the supplements and revised versions of the original game (Searchers of the Unknown RPG Collection - 2012) is 68 pages. That's still shorter than most of the newer versions of D and D, Pathfinder, and a lot of the other RPG games.

Even though the Stat block is short, you can "flavor-up" your character with your own imagination, like we did waaaayyy back before DnD started adding "skills" and "feats" to their rules system, making a character sheet at least two pages long, with all kinds of unnecessary details that just add time and boredom to the game. 

Simpler is better, in my not very humble opinion. Melee/Wizard - The Fantasy Trip started out as a similar simple game - only two or three character stats, which then bloated itself into Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, and Into the Labyrinth, which actually was the first RPG to take the useless step into adding "skills" to a character, and making the process way too long.  Then Steve Jackson abandoned that system to create GURPS, an even way more bloated rules system that requires a STAT rating for just-about-anything-you-can-possibly-do-including-blowing-your-nose-and-cleaning-behind-your-ears. As you can tell, I'm NOT a fan of these kinds of systems.

And the new version of FATE, which is supposedly considered to be a "lite" game is 302 pages long! And has a 2-sided character sheet with a lot of tiny lines on it for keeping details about your character's abilities.

Anyway ... the point of this blog post is ... I like Searchers of the Unknown. And I am basing one of the versions of my own game system directly off of it's rules setup. This will be called "Searchers of Leprosia". I'm still hashing it out ... it'll take a while, but hopefully I'll have it completed and ready to post soon.

...then on to the next rules system for Leprosia?

Leprosia - the RPG Setting

Instead of a singular game, I am probably going to design a game setting, or series of settings that can be used by a number of RPG systems.  I'll go into the details later, but for now, it's based on one of my older posts where I explain the fictional background of the story ideas behind my album, "Leprosia Doom."

Been reading a lot of different systems lately, and realize that I like and dislike various parts of each.

Barbarians of Lemuria - very simple and interesting, probably easy to run, but magic is wide open to interpretation, which could cause some trouble for GMs.  But such a simple and elegant game system.  Not to mention Barbarians of the Aftermath is also an interesting iteration of the game for a post-apocalyptic setting (which is where my Leprosia theme seems to fit...).  I'm also considering doing a full Conan/Hyborian Age hack for BoL, using info from the Hyborian Age website (www.hyboria.xoth.net).

Microlite20 - I like this a lot - gets right to the major points of D&D (I'm an old AD&D player - 1979 AD&D books!) simple monsters and combat, magic is point based instead of 1 spell per level.  I like the various "hacks" (Modern, Sword & Sorcery, ROBOTECH, more...).

Swords & Wizardry - Core Edition (and/or White Box Edition) - I like the incorporation of Ascending Armor Class, which make much more sense than those silly and convoluted charts from pre-3.0 ed. D&D.  A lighter (but not "rules-lite) verision of the things that made D&D interesting, but not convoluted.  No "feats" or skills BS.

Tunnels & Trolls (various versions) - another classic from the 1970's - I'm conflicted about this one - the combat system was frustrating, but had some interesting ideas.  Just needs some refinement, without over-complication, like using some kind ofa saving roll to hit, then do damage.

Legends of the Ancient World - a simplification of another old classic (The Fantasy Trip), which I think works as well or better than the bloated mess that became TFT.  Works very well as a "swords & sorcery" rules set (heroes and wizards - that's all, folks!) and is compatible with old TFT/Melee/Wizard Microquests.  I've always liked the original Melee/Wizard for it's simplicity.

FATE / FUDGE - I'm new to this system, and am still reading through the new FATE Core book.  Seems interesting, more story and character driven, probably where FU came from, which is even lighter (and I think I like better).  Games derived from FATE seem to be well-reviewed (Dresden Files, Legends of Anglerre, etc.).  It's supposedly a "lighter" system, but the FATE Core 3.0 book is 302 pages.  Once you know what you're doing, it's probably easy (since there's only a few charts to cover the basic FUDGE/FATE Dice Rolls), but there's a lot to learn initially. High learning curve.  I think I might favor FATE 2.0 better.  It's only 91 pages long.

I've also discovered a bunch of other game systems that I probably won't focus on, but I will mention, just to pique your interests:

In a Wicked Age

Apocalypse World (& Dungeon World)

Fiasco

FU

Stars Without Number

Labyrinth Lord

Mutant Future

There's so many game systems out there right now - it's hard to keep track, and to be honest, I haven't really actually played any RPGs in 25 years.  So much to do, and so little time ...

RPG in the works ... (or at least a setting ?)

I haven't played Dungoens and Dragons for about 25 years, but as you may have read below, I've become interested in the hobby again.  I've been reading about the newer series of post 3.5 D and D style games, and about the OGL which allows for using rules systems without major copyright violations, so ...

I'm thinking of developing my own Role-playing Game.  Lately, I've also been reading the original Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard back in the 1930's, and it has sparked an interest in the "sword and sorcery" genre, which seems to be undergoing it's own resurgence in the RPG world (see Barbarians of Lemuria, Broadsword, In A Wicked Age, Conan d20, Jaws of the Six Serpents, etc).  Players seem to be sick of the magic-heavy, "high-fantasy" worlds of Tolkien, Vance, and even George Lucas, where it seems like everybody and their cousin is a high-level elfin prince running around effortlessly hurling lightning bolts into helpless hordes of orcs and goblins, or merely waving their hand, and dozens of robot-guards drop into harmless clumps of metal.

Whatever happened to those days of gritty adventure, when sweaty men garbed only in loincloth and perhaps a chainmail vest, notched and bloodied broadsword (NOT longsword!) in calloused hand trod down the dank stone hallway seeking only treasure (to buy wine and wenches) and a good fight with a band of goblins?

Magic?  What about the magic?  In these adventures, magic was rare, powerful and often as dangerous to the user as it's target.  To gather such powers was a monumental task, taking years of research, gathering ancient tomes, artifacts and offering bloody sacrifices to the powers beyond.  These were black arts, not heady studies by naive young scholars who wanted to learn illusionary tricks for children's birthday parties.  And our heroes of these stories very rarely if ever used magic (Elric is a big exception).

Back to the game ... I plan on keeping it in the "rules-lite" category for now.  Probably starting with Microlite20, and adding and subtracting those elements which I believe will add the "sword and sorcery" flavor.

Or instead of a full game, maybe I want to create a new setting for Barbarians of Lemuria.  Instead of Lemuria or Hyboria, perhaps we are in the Fourth Age of Man from Tolkien, albient a more savage and gritty realization of that world... that would certainly simplify things, and I'm not sure I'm really up to the monumental task of writing the rules for an entire game structure.  Yeah, that makes more sense - a game setting that can easily be adapted to d20, M20, BoL, Mini-Six, TFT, etc.

Hmmm ... so much to do.

No time to do anything lately ...

not a new post so much, but just brainstorming - jotting some notes down ...

no time to do anything musically lately

hopefully soon my weekends will "free-up" a bit.

several things "in the can", but nothing completed.
(project/album names)
Celestial Shrine
Trance Ill Vain: Ian's Hungry
7734
Die, Toaster Die

gotta do some solos, some wacky, jazz-fusiony basslines over active drums ... 'member the old days?

hmmmmm ... pretty uninteresting.

Well, like I said above, my weekends will be freed-up a bit soon (when my wife goes back to her seasonal weekend job), so I should begin to have plenty of time to get the guitars out again and start rippin'-it-up.

or maybe I'll just sit around and catch up on watching anime On Demand.

Something completely different - Role Playing Games

Dimaension X - RPG's - role-play or dice-roll conundrum?

Not that I have plans of getting heavily involved with playing Role-Playing Games (RPG's) again (I haven't played D&D in more than twenty years), but I have developed a recent interest in reading about them, perusing the various free pdf rulebooks I've found online, and creating gamer "sandbox" settings just for my own creative brain-exercising.  "Sandbox" gaming is a new term to me, but the concept has been around for a while.  It involves the Game Master (GM) mapping out and creating as large a world as possible for the player characters to explore.  The focus is not on numerous dice-rolls and complex chart consultation, but rather on the story telling and character exposition.  Similar to playing World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto, the world/universe is an "open-range" world where the characters choose what they want to do, where they want to go, and how they will interact with the environment and other characters (both Player and Non-Player).

This style of gaming is coming back in style, mainly be the recent OSR movement of older gamers (Old School Renaissance) because they're sick and tired of 500-page rulebooks, convoluted rules systems and character creation, multiple editions of the same games with no compatibility from one edition to the other, and character sheets that are five pages long.  It isn't about "role-playing" anymore.  It's about building your stats so you can hack-and-slash battle for two hours (representing an actual combat that would probably only take about ten minutes in realtime), then looting the bodies for their stuff, add up experience points, level up, then on to the next two-hour battle.

Meanwhile the art of creating a fantastic adventure with interesting characters and their interaction is gone.  You may as well just be playing one of those huge hex-map wargames where the figures represent squads of soldiers and the game setup takes longer than the game itself.  Move, roll dice, remove these counters, add these, etc.  Boring.  The only difference between these games is the setting, and that really doesn't matter, because it's all about how and where you move your little counters and how the dice roll turns out.  Sure there's strategy and thought, but it's like a game of chess where you roll to see if the pawn really takes the rook, or does the rook manage to fend off the attack.  Boring.  Where's the fantastic storyline?  Where's the interaction of people?  How does the setting of the story really guide the numerous possible outcomes? How does the underdog win the battle against the huge gladiator when the STAT points are so obviously against him?

This is where story-oriented role-playing is a far superior approach (IMHO) to those seeking "role-playing" adventure.  A well-prepared GM who is prepared to throw caution to the wind can guide an adventure anywhere.  I mean that.  Anywhere.  An axe-weilding dwarf might end up as a roller-skating entertainer on a beach in California.  A spice-smuggling space pirate might end up retiring in a primitive cave-dweller village.  Gary Gygax said, "The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules."  This may not halt the sales of $50 core-rules hardcover books, but it might make players stop and think about just what game they are playing.  Are you really "role-playing", or are you just throwing dice to compare stats for un-yeilding results?

At this point in my life, I prefer the former.