I love hand-drawing maps. In the past, I hastily sketched maps longhand or spent hours attempting to render them using computer programs, but when I hit my forties I found a new appreciation for sitting down and really drawing a map. I drew a lot of inspiration from Dyson’s Dodecahedron – he draws, clean, clear … Read more
When I think of scenarios, I think of conventions. I think tightly focused, 3-4 hour-long sessions, usually with pre-generated characters and flexible, but straightforward, story arc. I find scenario writing a very different exercise from prepping for my weekly campaign-style games. Most of our campaigns have been heavily serialized, with overarching stories that continue on … Read more
The last month before Philmont. Whoa. Eighteen months of prep comes down to this … the final run-up to Philmont. Whoa. It’s hard to believe – even now – that it’s actually happening. Part of me kept expecting reality to snatch away the football at the last minute, but here we are, almost at the … Read more
April and May are a blur. To recap, in January and February, four members of our crew decide not to go to Philmont. In March, we teamed up with another crew in New Jersey, giving us a total of 13 members. We didn’t join up with a crew though; we joined up with a Patriot’s … Read more
Welcome to Nuketown’s 14th annual summer reading list! This year’s list welcomes back Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series, returns to Iain Bank’s The Culture books, re-reads Richard Adam’s Watership Down and tries out some new series, including Elizabeth Bear’s White Space books and Martha Wells’ Murderbot novellas. All in all, the list consists of 14 books (10 novels, 3 non-fiction books, … Read more
The Trail to Philmont started moving a lot faster – and got a lot more real – in March 2021. As I mentioned in the February update, during the winter we lost four members of our crew to COVID concerns. That left us with six participants, and two below the minimum crew size of eight. … Read more
January and February of 2021 were tough. The short days, the post-Christmas/holidays pandemic surge, and walls of snow from a 3+ foot blizzard made this one of the hardest stretches on the trail to Philmont. It was hard to stay motivated, and it got harder when subsequent storms dumped more snow on our region. At … Read more
Tomb of Horrors is one of the most famous modules for Dungeons & Dragons and plays a major role in Ready Player One. Originally created as a tournament module for the Origins game convention, it went on to become a legendarily deadly published adventure for Dungeons & Dragons. Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D, created the module … Read more
The Ready Player One Replay is an exploration of the games that inspired the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Quote I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. — Ready Player One p. 64 Game Play Zaxxon was the world’s first isometric shooter arcade game. The isometric approach provided a 3D-rendered view of a … Read more
Akalabeth: World of Doom came out in 1980 for the Apple II. Written by Richard Garriott aka Lord British aka the guy who created the Ultima series, it features a lone adventure exploring a dungeon-filled wilderness. Quote I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. — Ready Player One p. 64 Game Play Akalabeth … Read more