First Post (Again!)

So here we are kicking off a new blog. I have tried this lark a couple of times in the past and either they fail because I run out of stuff to say or I get distracted by some other project that seems more shiny and interesting. This foray has been inspired by the articles on writing an RPG blog over on the Musings of a Chatty DM blog so you can all head over there and complain!

My aim is to write something every day (or most days, lets not put the pressure on just yet). currently I run the website RPGMP3 which has been recording and podcasting actual play tabletop RPG session for around 5 years now. We have just broke through 1 terrabyte of bandwidth downloaded each month and we are starting a site redesign project to make the place a little more Web 2.0.

I am currently running (and recording) Dungeons and Dragon 4e Keep on the Shadowfell every Thursday evening and Rolemaster 2nd Edition every other Sunday. I have to say at the moment Rolemaster is my favourite, but I always found it nice to GM something that I can make up on the fly rather than having to plan it out too much in advance. The Rolemaster game has just headed into the start of The Grand Campaign and I will consider it something of a personal achievement if the players get anywhere near through the first section of it. The adventure is incomplete but there are some guildlines on where it was supposed to go, so it will allow a good amount of flexibility when we finally get there.

With regards to DnD 4e, I have found the jump from 3.5 a little more difficult than I would have hoped. I think most of that is due to a necessary change of mind set. I have heard 4e refered to; both positively and negatively; as a board game, a minis game, a wargame and even a card game. At the FLGS nearby they run a 4e game and one of the regular Magic players taps his cards as he uses his abilities. I am still on the fence about 4e, I really like some of it, but I am also rather dubious about other bits too.

I have noticed a large increase in traffic on my site due mostly to 4e and the recordings we are putting out, but most of the folks that come through and comment on the forums are more interested in picking us up on rules calls that have since been errataed than on telling a decent story and it is further increasing the divide between the two types of gaming, as I see them.

There are those who like to play a role (I guess I fall into this camp as I will often let players get away with things if it increases their enjoyment and further the story) and there are those who roll to play (where rules and dice and levelling are more important than why you are doing it in the first place). I have met players from both camps, and there is nothing wrong with either style of play but I prefer story over dice rolling. Generally this means I will tweak the rules on the fly to suit the situation. I never break the rules, but my rules calls often fall more towards the drama of the story than the needs of the system. But at least I am always fair.

Anyway, enough for a first post I think. I will try and keep things light and happy round these parts - even thought he background I seem to have picked is a little dark and dreary. And I will try to update this as much as possible.

On a side note, anyone out there who can code PHP or CSS drop me a line as I have some lovely site redesign work that needs some attention.