Old Git News!

Going to have to start doing Old Git news more often!

Although this is going to be little more than a quick update about certain things as Twitter does not have the space to expand at times. 

Firstly, I was contacted by Bea_DnD on Twitter about a project they are working on, I said I was of course happy to look and they sent me a copy of an adventure they are working on... Oh my word! I have not read a proper, well written scenario for ages! Put's mine to shame. Fairy tale weirdness meets DnD plots and shenanigans! When it comes out, you have to have a look for it as it's a going to be a great addition to your scenario collection. 

Also, the whole #TTRPGSOlidarity thing is kind of exploding in ways I had not imagined. I had hoped to set up a platform for the smaller accounts to have a voice as so often they get swamped in social media, but it's been even more successful that I ever dreamed it would be. The hashtag is even starting to trend which is just fabulous and a bit weird seeing it being used by people I have never met or directly interacted with. There are ideas forming around this that I want you all to be involved with, after all the thing was started for the people of Twitter, but I don't want to spill the beans too early! Suffice to say, watch this space. 

#TTRPGSolidarity is for all of us, it's something we can all get behind as in all honesty, the TTRP community is one of the friendliest and most open groups out there, but, and especially in these dark times, we are by nature a bit reclusive at times so this is an ideal way for us to get together and make new contacts.

Thanks for your continued support. 

Old Git Rich

Power to the People of Twitter!

Bedd Taliesin Part 3

 

The weeks passed, the stick he was making for his step dad was duly finished and handed over, Dewi loved it, although he never used a stick when he was walking, he had a small collection of sticks and was always looking to add to the collection. The jobs came and went, cold days outside in the rain, warm days inside the old dusty barn he was helping another builder friend and colleague fix up for a lecturer at the university. His friend, well work mate really, Duncan was also an English incomer to the area like himself, but unlike him he was not interested in the developing news about the ET signals. He had remarked on it briefly, the first time they had been working together since the news had broken, but it was in an offhand and jokey way, showing he just wasn’t really interested. Duncan liked drinking and going out “on the pull”. His conversation was very limited, but he was a good worker and they got on reasonably well enough to do the jobs they did together.

Duncan insisted on Radio 1 being on pretty much constantly when they were working. They had had arguments over it in the past.

“I seriously don’t know how you can listen to this shit.” Toby said.

“It beats Woman’s Hour and The Archers.” Duncan replied.

“But this is just mindless drivel, the music all sounds the same and the presenters are just brain dead morons.”

“Takes my mind off the boredom of working with you, you don’t drink, don’t go out, don’t do anything. Just ramble on about the sodding aliens. No wonder you never get a shag.” Duncan mumbled past the rolled up cigarette he was smoking.

“Some of us like to use our brains to think with mate, not our dicks or our pint arms.” And with that he carried on measuring the wood that was going to form the massive wooden lintel over the fireplace they were currently building.

It was pretty much like that all the time between the two of them, good natured for the most part, but with an understanding that they would never truly understand each other’s lives, nor really want to.

The wet spring passed into a glorious summer. The sun shone through the windows of the barn they were converting, shining on the motes of dust as they floated about in the still and oppressive air. The old barn was up in the hills at the back of Bont Goch, remote and pretty and also pretty wild. Set in its own valley, it was the sort of place that Toby dreamed of owning himself. You could be self sufficient here, there was a small wood on the hill side, about four acres of scrubby but relatively flat pasture that could be turned over to growing veg and most importantly there was a stream that flowed down from the Cambrian Mountains at the back of the house. It was quiet, remote and just how Toby liked it. There had been a couple of days recently where Duncan had been “off ill” he knew what that meant, recovering from a heavy weekend. He had no sympathy with him, Duncan was the one losing money not him and he enjoyed working on his own up there.

But now Duncan was back and they were doing some pointing outside, Duncan was complaining bitterly about it as usual.

“I hate pointing, it’s so sodding boring!” He said, throwing his pointing trowel onto the plank of wood they were both sitting on, about eight feet off the ground.

They were both working with their shirts off in the summer sun, both of them were brown and lean. Toby had one of his manky old hunting caps on, a really old real-tree camouflage cap he had had for years. It was more ingrained stains and cement dust than fabric these days, he worried if he washed it, that it would fall apart.

As usual Radio One was pumping out the latest offerings from the chart and once again, Toby was not paying attention, trying successfully to blot out what was to his mind, mindless repetitive drivel.

It was nearly time for what passed for the news on Radio one when they cut the song short.

“Sorry we had to cut in on Jason Derulo there, but we’re going over to the BBC news centre early for an important news update…”

“What’s happened now then?” Duncan said.

“If you shut up, we will find out won’t we?” Toby said.

“Get you you stroppy sod.” Duncan replied.

“Just shut up will you!” Toby Snapped.

“… Increase in the strength of the signals and now from multiple points.” The voice on the radio said.

“Woah. Wonder that means.” Toby said. There had been little development in the news on the signals. People had almost forgotten them. Toby had kept an ear out for the news and always checked the reports online when he got home, but other than speculation as to the origin and meaning and endless debates about the source of the signals, there was nothing really new. The space and ground based telescopes were all pointing their lenses and antennae in the direction of the signals now, but there was nothing close enough to earth for the signals to make sense. They were coming from a relatively empty patch of space and there were no stars within thousands of light years in the direction the signals were coming from.

“… We’re not quite sure what this means, it was only by accident we found the other signals. One of our receivers was out by not even a degree, and if you extend that into space, that’s hundreds, if not thousands of light years that arc of coverage can be off. Anyway, the signals we picked up are of the same type, but obviously from a different point source in space. And they are stronger. Whatever is broadcasting them is either a lot closer than we thought, bigger or more numerous.” The unnamed scientist said.

“What are the implications of this latest discovery Dr Henk?” The interviewer asked.

“We’re not sure, we’re quite baffled to tell you the truth. There are a number of possibilities being discussed at the moment. The original source is still broadcasting, the signals are stronger again from those too. The wealth of material we’re getting is huge, but totally unfathomable. At the moment, the only way I can describe it, is we’re like chimps trying to comprehend human speech. We can hear the sound, we know it’s some form of communication, but it’s just noise at the moment. We have no earthly idea what they are saying to us, or now it appears to each other.” Dr Hank Said.

“To each other?” The interviewer pressed him for more details.

“Yes, we’re quite certain that the signals we are getting are some form of communication between point sources in space. There are, as we said numerous sources now, and there is some sort of pattern. We get a signal from one, then a short delay, then a signal from another point, followed by signals from the other points. Then another longer signal from the first point of origin we discovered initially. Some of us have postulated that it is communication between some sort of galactic civilisation and it’s from such a distant galaxy and it’s taken so long to get here that we’re getting it through now in bits and pieces. There are other more wild speculations, but we’re really going through all the possibilities and calculations at the moment. We are after all at a very early stage though, so we ask for your patience in this matter.”

“What other speculations Dr Henk?” The interviewer asked.

“I can’t possibly say at the moment, just that there are a lot of top researchers working on this and we will bring you the results of our work as and when they come out. This is a very exciting time for mankind. The implications are massive, not only are we not alone in the universe, but quite evidently, there are a lot of them out there. We’re part of a big universal family after all.” You could hear the excitement in Dr Henk’s voice as he spoke.

“That is phenomenal!” Toby said.

“What is?” Duncan asked.

“Weren’t you listening? There are more signals!” Toby replied.

“I got that bit, but big deal, more whale song. Woopee.” Duncan said, obviously un-interested.

“You have no imagination Duncan, just imagine what they are like! They have had thousands, if not millions of years to develop. They may not even still be functioning as a civilisation; it's been so long for the signals to get here.” Toby said.

“So what’s the big deal, dead ET’s that are sending us their whale song. Even less exciting.” Duncan said.

“You really are a dull person mate, this is staggering for humanity. How many religions are going to have to re-think what they have been saying.  Mankind was created in the image of God after all, and God created the universe, so these aliens should be in God’s image too. If you believe the bible. I bet they are going to be having fits at this news in religious circles.” Toby said, getting quite animated now.

“Calm down mate, it’s not important. Getting this sodding pointing is important. I don’t want to be doing this for the rest of the week.” Duncan said.

“Mate, you really have no views other than Friday night and the Inn on the Pier do you?” Toby asked, knowing the answer already.

“No Tobes, there are more important things like Stella and young fit students to worry about.” Duncan said grinning.

“You are about the shallowest person I have ever met!” Toby said grinning up at Duncan who had stood up to go and get another bucket of cement to carry on the pointing.

“I take that as a compliment from you Tobes. You are the dullest person I know, walking, fishing and Radio Four.” With that Duncan climbed down the ladder.

Bont Goch

Bedd Taliesin Part 2

    He was outside in his shed one rainy Sunday morning, filing away at the end of a walking stick he was making, getting it ready so he could fit the metal ferrule to stop it wearing away when it was used. In his economy drive he had taken to spending more and more time in the shed, he had given up the TV as an extravagance he could live without, preferring listening to the radio or music. As soon as he had made that decision he had suddenly found he had even more spare time and so had taken up tinkering a lot more in his shed. He was currently making this new walking stick for his step dad. He was not very good, but it was satisfying work and as well as the hands on crafting it also meant he could combine his love of walking as well. He could spend hours, just rambling round the lanes and woodland nearby, Ben rummaging with him, scenting rabbits and squirrels as he looked for shanks that he would set aside to dry ready for the next year when they would be seasoned enough to use. It was another way for him to spend time outside, not that he needed many.

    He had always lived in the country and had always spent a lot of spare time outside. He was a fair shot with an air rifle, preferring that method of hunting to the shot guns his step-father used. It was quieter and he had to get a lot closer to the animal he was stalking in order to make a clean safe shot. He just found it more satisfying. He had never been into lamping or the killing in large numbers of game, just enough for him and his dog to eat. It never seemed right to him to just kill for the sake of it. It was the same with fishing; he preferred fly fishing to worm drowning as he put it. It was more active and much more therapeutic he thought than just sitting on a back watching a float bobbing up and down. Plus it meant he did not need as much kit and he could travel light.

    If the conditions were right, he could just sling the gear in the back of the Landy, some of it was always in there ready to go and he could head off to the river or lake he had in mind and just spend the day or the evening just fishing. It was that sort of freedom he was just not prepared to give up. His mum always asked him when he would settle down. As far as he was concerned he was settled.

    He finished filing the piece of wood and picked up the ferrule for a trial fitting, it was a snug fit and required a gentle tap with a hammer to get it to seat securely.

    “Perfect, just a bit of varnish now and then I can fit it properly.” He worked the ferrule off again and set the stick aside, and reached for the small tin of marine varnish he had for coating the ends of the sticks he made. Radio 4 was on constantly, he had a small radio in the shed, a wind up one that also ran off the mains if needs be. It went with him camping also as he liked to listen to it late at night to help him get off to sleep. The Archers were in full flow when all of a sudden it broke off; he had never heard them do this before.

    “…We interrupt this broadcast with a breaking piece of news. Scientists with the SETI institute have reported a signal has been received that defies any natural explanation. It was received last week on Wednesday at their headquarters in California and has been worked on round the clock until they felt ready to go public with their results. An official spokesman for the institute said they were ninety nine point nine percent certain that this has not natural source and that it bore the signature of intelligence. The question of whether mankind is alone in the universe seems to have been answered. We will bring you more updates as and when they come in, and now we take you back to the Archers…”

    Toby realised he was shaking. He had stopped mid movement, hand hovering on its way to the shelf where the varnish was. He had been reading science fiction since he was a young boy and this had always been the subject of dreams and fantasies for as long as he could remember. It was that much in his thoughts sometimes that he had had trouble for years camping on his own as his imagination would just get the better of him. Too many films watched and books read about alien abduction had left him nervous about being alone at night in the middle of nowhere.

    It was the sort of thing he had hoped would happen one day, but really never truly thought it would. He immediately stopped what he was doing and dashed back into the house, Ben trotted along behind him, tail wagging in the rain as they made their way back up the short path from his small shed. Once inside he turned on his laptop and logged onto the BBC news website only to find it really slow.

    Sorry, the page you were looking for is unavailable…

    “Damn it, it was the same on 9/11, too many people trying to log on to it, eh Ben?” Toby hit the refresh button. This time it loaded, but very slowly.

    The red ticker at the top of the page repeated what he had just heard and the link when he clicked on it said exactly the same thing, more news would be revealed later on as the details emerged.

    “No point trying to watch the News 24 streaming, it will be dead with this many people trying to watch it. Wish I still had the TV. Never mind Ben, fancy a trip to go and see Mom?” He asked the dog.

    Ben’s tail started wagging immediately, he knew what that meant and he was over at the door underneath the peg where his collar and lead where kept before Toby was even off the chair. He followed the dog, grabbed his wax jacket and cap off the peg and was out the door, dog, bounding up the steps to the pavement ahead of him. Rain pelting down onto the slick wet stones of the path.

    The door to his Land Rover creaked as he opened it, the familiar smell of diesel and camping and fishing gear was as welcoming to him as anything else he could think of. The Key, worn with age and use turned easily in the ignition and the old diesel lump rumbled into life. Ben was sitting next to him in the middle seat, he had a habit of leaning in on him as he was driving, he suspected it was just to help him balance, but he liked to think it was for company. He pulled away, the road was always quieter on a Sunday and it was even quieter today. Possibly everyone is watching the news he thought, and then he remembered Wales was playing Ireland today in the Six nations. So they would be at home getting ready for the match to start.

    The drive over to his mom and step dads’ house would only take twenty minutes or so, even in his slow old Landy. The rain was bouncing off the road and wind-screen, the less than effective wipers were struggling to keep up with the deluge. He took his time, there was no point in rushing.

    The drive over to the house was normally a very pleasant one, with a fantastic view over the farm as he topped the hill on the back road over. On a good day he would quite often just stop and take in the view for a moment or two. Today was not a good day, the cloud was right down and the wind was driving the rain hard and horizontally off the sea. He could barely see the hedges to either side of the car in this weather. It was already steamed up inside, the heater, not efficient at the best of times, took ages to warm up and it was struggling with the moisture in the air. He had to keep leaning forward over the high steering wheel to wipe the window with the back of his hand so he could see out clearly. Not for the first time he was regretting not having a cloth in there to wipe it.

    “Nearly there Ben… You never know, we may be in time for a bit of food, you know how mom is.” It was Sunday, she never failed to cook a roast and she never failed to cook way more than she or Dewi, his step dad could eat.

    The swung up the lane to the short drive in front of the house where his mom and step dad lived. He and the dog jumped out and jogged round to the back where they were greeted by steam coming out of the open back door and the sound of his mom talking to Dewi. They were both slightly hard of hearing so they always spoke loudly.

   

    “Hi mom, have you heard the news?” He asked her.

    “No.” She replied “What’s been going on?” She suddenly looked all concerned. His mom, he knew, had a tendency to think the worst and panic a bit.

    “Nothing bad mom, don’t worry, it’s really exciting actually.” He said.

    “Dewi, put the telly on.” She shouted at the man sitting on one of the chairs surrounding the table in the kitchen.

    Dewi, looked mildly confused for a while, as he always did when he was asked to do anything by his wife but with a long sighted squint at the remote control, he turned on the TV that was sat on top of an old oak dresser at the side of the room.

    The news was on as Toby thought it would be.

    “… Signal undoubtedly from an intelligent source…” A man was saying with an American accent.  “It’s on a frequency we had sampled many times before in a region of space we had tried before, so we believe this has taken quite some time to get to us. Radio signals travel at the speed of light, so it has undoubtedly taken these signals a long time for us to reach us here on Earth.”

    “What form are the signals in, can we hear them?” Asked the interviewer.

    “Yes of course.” He turned and pressed a key on his computer. The sound that emanated made Toby tingle with excitement. He was finally listening to an alien species! It consisted of very low frequency modulated clicks and you could only describe them as warbles. Almost like a mixture of whale and dolphin calls but as if they had been digitised. The sound played for about 25 seconds and then stopped.

    “We have heard that particular sequence transmitted 23 times in the last 76 hours, there are numerous other recordings coming in all the time now, we almost have too much to go on. We will be here for decades just analysing this one recording and we now have hundreds like this! The SETI scientist was obviously buzzing with excitement.

    “Bloody hell!” Toby said, loudly.

    “What does it mean? What are they on about?” His mother asked.

    “Aliens mom, they are signals that are being picked up that are extra terrestrial.” He replied.

    “Oh wow.” She said. Obviously a bit too unsure as to the significance of the news.

    “It means mom, that we’re not actually alone in the universe, that there is life on other planets. You know all those books you used to complain about me reading, all those science fiction books? Well, it’s not science fiction any more mom, it looks like it's science fact.” He explained a bit more about it, simplifying what the scientists were saying for his mom and step dad. He may not have gotten straight A’s in his GCSE’s, but twenty odd years of reading science fiction books had actually given him a good basic grounding in physics and astrophysics.

    He carried on talking and listening all the way through the roast chicken dinner his mom served up for them. After the Sunday lunch was finished, his step dad went straight out as was normal for him to either his shed or his small gun shop. Toby continued to sit and watch the news with his mom in the lounge. Cups of tea and puddings later and it was getting dark and time to go home. Nothing new was coming on the news and they were just repeating the same endless images and recordings on a seemingly endless loop now. The news for now was as up to date as it was going to be. He headed off back over the hill to his own snug little cottage.

Bedd Taliesin, Part Two

Enough already!

I used to work in the motorcycle industry for years, involved in marketing and sales and working at a lot of trade shows and one thing that was always present and you could not get away from it was... Scantily clad women.

There are some aspects of motorsport and the motor industry that are firmly stuck in the last century and REALLY need to catch up

Sadly fantasy and science fiction art were and to a lesser degree are, still very much similar. Women being used to sell genres and ideas, clad in little more than a bikini (sometimes metal) alongside the muscle-bound hero of the piece, of if the woman is the focus of the art work, wearing bugger all and draped over a large tiger or dragon.

ENOUGH ALREADY! The people that play fantasy and sci-fi games now are probably the most switched on generation with regards to gender and sex ever and I am not sure this use of the female form to sell things is necessary any more.

I am a member of an old fantasy art group on Facebook and if you look at the sort of people that post the pictures of semi naked women, it is predominantly white middle-aged and older men. The sort that had these sort of posters on their walls in the 80's.

And chain mail bikinis? WHY? What is the point? Even in some of the really popular fantasy artists are guilty of this, women warriors in totally pointless armour.

Armour is protection, it is there to stop you being made dead. Protecting your groin and breasts to the exclusion of everything else is just mindless, and clearly there again, to sell the artwork or the game, or the book.

This has all the main elements you need for cheesy sexploitation. Large cat, no armour of any worth on a woman famed for her fighting prowess.


If you insist on painting women and men with no armour who are fighters, please cover them in scars and lost limbs. You do not get out of a fight without armour without cuts, lots of cuts. They have examined the bones of people who were clearly fighters and they had massive disfiguring injuries. You don't get out of a fight unscathed... Ever. 

A skull found at the battle of Towton England, shows a fighter with a severe but healed facial wound. 

So, apart from being sexist, exploitative, these sorts of images, as skillfully done as they are, they are just not realistic. But but but… It's FANTASY! Yes... And? How many of you have fighters that have had a few hit points of damage in each combat encounter they have had? Do you think all those little cuts and bashes heal without leaving a scar? People scar, people get wounded, artsists are kind of ignoring this fact. Writers often do as well, with the odd exception. David Gemmell wrote of Druss that he was covered in scars, and he wore armour of sorts. David Gemmell did try to have a look at weapons and armour so he knew what they could and could not do at least. 

Modern Day Master | Thomas Christian Wolfe. Joan of Arc

It is totally possible to do it right and realistically in fantasy art, be inclusive. Don't be sexist, don't be racist and if you want to pander to the sad old sexists that sadly still exist, then expect your market place to die off. 

Bedd Taliesin Part 1

    A fly buzzed around Toby’s ear as he sat in the long, sun-burned brown grass on the cliff tops looking out over Cardigan Bay. He flicked it away without seeming to really notice the action. Sea birds were calling; somewhere in one of the fields behind, a lark was singing as it rose into the crystal clear blue sky. Around him the early morning summer sunshine was waking the insects and everywhere it seemed everything was springing into life. The field behind him had a few sheep with scraggy fleeces that needed shearing badly, the wool had started to fall off in clumps as it did when they were left alone. Dirty brown wool could be seen here and there in the field. They looked in poor condition.

    The fields looked a bit more overgrown than usual and the farm house he had passed on his way to the cliff tops was a tad more run down that it had been this time last year, but it had stood empty now for fifteen years and another year was not going to make much difference. Had this been a day a year ago, it would have been idyllic and perfectly normal. Now it just hammered home how alone he was. Toby guessed he was the only person around for miles in all directions. In an area that had once been populated by thousands of people, bustling little market towns, villages and hamlets, farms and small centres of industry, there was just him and his dog.

    He tried not to dwell on the last year, but it was nigh on impossible not to do so, so much had happened, so much had changed. This was an area of the cliffs his mother had loved and he had resisted coming here over the last year as he knew it would bring back painful memories, and it did. He felt his eyes stinging as tears started to well. He had cried a lot over the last year. Not for the first time he wondered where she was. Where any of them were.

****

    Toby had always been a keen reader and a bit of a loner, he lived with his dog in the small village of Taliesin in Mid Wales. The view from the back of his small terraced house looked down over the hill bordered valley down towards the sea by Ynyslas and Borth. The front of the house was on the busy main road that connected the university town of Aberystwyth and North Wales. It was only a thirty mile an hour zone through the small village, but it did not stop the big tankers thundering down the road. It was noisy and he longed to get away from it, but he had bought the cottage when the house prices were cheap and the mortgage was cheap and he just could not afford to move now. Work was slow and although he had enough work to keep him and his black Labrador Ben fed and watered and the mortgage paid and enough diesel in his battered old ex army Land Rover 110, that was basically it. He had never been brilliant with money and after a prolonged period of being constantly short and a bit reckless with his money he was only now in a period where he was sorting himself out. 

    “Enough is enough!” He had told himself one morning after another call from his bank. He had sat down and budgeted for the first time ever and was strict with it, no longer spending his money frivolously. Books he found in charity shops, as did the clothes he brought as and when they needed replacing. He had enough bits and bobs to last him a lifetime, his small house was cluttered enough as it was, books were piled high on shelves and floors, a collection of air rifles and knives were in cupboards and boxes. Fishing gear spilled out of the cupboard under the stairs jumbled in with all the camping gear he had amassed over the years. He had always found reasons and excuses to get more gear, now he reasoned he finally had enough and would just have to make do. Sometimes you just had to calm down. 

    Perhaps at the age of 33 he was starting to grow up a bit, his mother despaired of him he knew, but she was always there for him. Cooking him a meal once a week when he went over to see her and her husband, his step-dad who he adored. She sometimes still brought him clothes and food from time to time, she just could not help herself, and he was not about to tell her to stop. He was the only child and he knew she did spoil him from time to time, she always had.

    “Any girlfriends on the horizon?” His mom would ask him.

    “Nope, sorry, not interested.” Toby replied. “Who would want me any way, when I am not working I am usually out walking, camping, fishing or shooting. And when I am at home I am either in the shed or reading. I am not much of a catch mum, no money and no interest.”

    He had had a couple of girlfriends in the past, but nothing lasted for the reasons he had given many times before. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in women; it’s just that he wasn’t interested enough. He would rather be outside and more importantly, he would rather be on his own. He had always been like that. At school he had just bumbled through, not getting bad grades, but not getting good ones either. When he should have been reading his books to revise, he was reading fantasy and science fiction books instead. He had had friends, but nothing like the classical best friends he saw everyone else have. And when he left school and more importantly, when his mom moved to Mid Wales, he left them all behind and that was how he liked it. It was quite a selfish outlook on life he knew, his mother was desperate for grandchildren and all the trappings that went with it, but it was just not going to happen, not just yet anyway.

Rich 2021

Talking about running?

 Yes that's right, running, not running an adventure... Actual running. 

I shall start with a wee bit of personal history... I used to be fat, not just a bit overweight but proper fat. To the point where it was literally crippling me. Operations on my spine, paralysis and long periods in traction etc. It wasn't until a surgeon said "Mr future old Git... Unless you sort your weight out, you will end up in a wheel chair in your thirties." 

It quite honestly scared the crap out of me. The following week I lost 11lbs, I noticed the difference straight away. I felt better, happier and looked different. I lost more, started rock climbing, lost more weight, started running and got down from 19.5 stone to 13 stone. Felt wonderful and lifted my mood hugely.

Skip a few years, things were a bit rubbish and I was going through a rough patch and getting bouts of depression. I went to the doctor and he asked if I ran at all, I said I used to. He told me the best way to beat low moods and depression without chemicals is to run and do exercise. I started running again and it worked a treat. I got massively into running, did marathons and half marathons, my week revolved around my Sunday long run. 

What on earth has this got to do with TTRPG's I hear you ask?

I can't help noticing on Twitter especially how many role-players say they have mood issues, mental health issues and especially sleep problems. 

This isn't me preaching, this is me trying to help a bit. I know it's difficult at the moment with lockdown and everything, but exercise is a massive boost to your mood, it gives you free headspace time to think about game ideas, stories, scenarios, characters. Away form a screen or a TV, which do sap energy and don't always help with the creativity. It can help you to sleep, lift the dark thoughts and leave the demons behind you. Those things that can affect your creativity can literally be left eating your dust. 

It helps me loads. I plan and think about all the things I want to do when I am out, walking or running. It also has the added benefit of improved stamina, long game sessions fueled on coffee, coke and crisps get run on pure zest and energy then. It's a much healthier way of gaming. 

Sorry if I am preaching. It's not meant that way. I am fifty in a couple of years and if I did not run or walk, I would quite honestly go bonkers. Exercise can really help improve your gaming. 

Cardio is important

Mryddin's Circle

 One of the original old gits @Hopper_JT and I made contact last week after getting of for thirty years of no contact at all. It was a good evening spent chatting and reminiscing about events and people and our old gaming club. 

I moved to this area in 1989, straight from school aged 16, no friends here and just a fascination for fantasy books and painting Warhammer miniatures and with only a small amount of experience with roleplaying. On one of the first visits to the town I spotted a hand written poster in the local hobby shop where I purchased some miniatures. 

This is how we rolled back then, hand drawn posters and land line numbers6

It was for Myrddin's Circle, a roleplaying / gaming club in town. It had a name and a contact number. So for me, I did something that was very brave and I called and arranged to meet Jon. What followed was friendship that lasted directly for a year or so while Jon was in the area and fortunately has carried on where we left off. 

Quality posters, you don't get them like this any more... Sadly. 

Jon was great, he made me (aged 16) very welcome and suffered me being an irritating teenager at the games. But I learned a lot and he helped my find my roleplaying feet (not furry). We had a few extra players, Eric from Canada (also just made contact again after many years) and Griff and a few others. We even made the local paper at one point, because you know, Dungeons and Dragons was so weird and wacky back then!

Two members of the original Old Gits... Mryddin's Circle. That's me in the middle with the hair, when I still had hair. 1989!

Back in 1989 / 1990 there was a new thing just starting to be more heard of, Live Roleplaying, I had read about it and seen the amazing costumes in GM magazine and I had to do it! So I contacted one of the groups I had read about, Fools and Hero's and asked if I could set up a local branch. They ummed and ahhed about it as I was so young still, 17 at most. But they said yes, I got trained up, it was all very professional and the Aberystwyth branch of Fools and Hero's was opened. We celebrated with another hand drawn poster...

Fools and Hero's Aberystwyth. 

It ran quite well, even with the modest number of members we had in Aberystwyth. I went along to the festivals they held and again made a good number of new roleplaying friends. 

I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to see these pictures that Jon sent to me, I have not seen them for thirty years and in honesty, I had forgotten I set up the Fools and Hero's branch in Aber, when I was so young. 

This to me is proper roleplaying history, hand made, hand drawn, no smart phones and video screens... This is how us Old Git's rolled. 

PS..... I would love to get in touch with any of the old Fools and Hero's members if anyone knows of any?

Holding Out for a hero

 Now you all have Bonnie Tyler's famous song from 1984 going through your head, I kind of have your attention. 

For years when we were playing AD&D we had a very relaxed method of rolling up new characters, we would roll four D6, drop the lowest number and add the rest, do this six times for the stats and then do six sets of these and chose the best set. Plus we could arrange the numbers how we wanted them to assign them to the stats we wanted to be the better ones. 

Six sets of six, 4 D6 drop the lowest

We did this because not only did we not want to be limbered with really weak characters (weak characters are a pain for DM's as well as not much fun to play), but we jointly assumed that the sort of person who was going to be going off adventuring, was more than likely going to be above average in terms of capabilities. Stronger than average, better fighters, more intelligent, the most inquisitive and wise. Not content with the hum-drum life they had been given, they needed to seek adventure. 

There have always been alternative methods for creating characters, and we took this one and modified it to give us the best chance of having a character we wanted to enjoy playing. We did try playing with really restrictive stat rolling methods, but not a single player had fun, the DM struggled to make the adventures playable and not instantly deadly and we realised that most of the fun of roleplaying was being able to live out your fantasies and to play characters we kind of dreamed of being. 

There should always be an element of struggle and peril in a game, but not so much that it's just a chore and a grind trying to stave alive. We felt this relaxed rolling method worked the best for us, that and an understanding DM, if the six sets were all really pants.

I will leave you with Bonnie Tyler now so you can enjoy the Welsh singers best song ever. 

Rich 2021

The Joy of Hex

 Who here loves HEX paper?

MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I used to spend hours upon hours drawing maps, layouts and plans on hex paper pads purchased from game shops. I would selotape them together to make massive worlds, and then promptly losing interest in that world and start another one.

Happened all the time. For me, the joy was with the hex paper and the mapping, maps have always fascinated me. I was a member of my local mountain rescue team for a while and as a keen outdoorsman I can and do spend hours looking at maps. So to have a blank piece of hex paper and an overabundance of imagination fizzing away it was pure joy. Space maps, fantasy maps, town maps and dungeon layouts, all were possible and easy top use on HEX paper. 

I have not seen it in shops for a while, it's all gone virtual, but some kind soul sent me some pdf's of hex paper to print off and use again when I have time (that's the crux... time) to start planning adventures again.

What to do? The imagination I feel has been dulled by years of work drudgery and the need to be an adult, I would love to feel the same fizz again of ideas, of waking up buzzing to get started on a new world, new maps, new cities. That fire I am sure will come back.

The joy of HEX

Does anyone else still get the same thrill from using pens, pencils and HEX paper?

It started with a Hobbit

 Well...it sort of started with the Hobbit. Picture the scene if you will. It's 1978 and a young me is off to the cinema to see Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. I didn't know what the film was about, other than the cool poster

The film just captured my imagination and I have a soft spot for the movie today. I still own a copy! I found myself wondering about this story. The young me wondered if it had anything to do with the Hobbit. A story that had appeared on a kids show of the time called Jack-a-nory. I wondered if it had anything to do with those intimidating books I saw in the library. The drama teacher at my school had posters of certain characters on his wall. I had wondered for years who they were. Now I knew. It had captured my imagination in ways that no other kids movie had. I started reading fantasy. I started reading those intimidating books. I played the Hobbit on my old spectrum 48k (very old school home computer). That might have been that though, had it not been for the fact that I also had joined a wargaming group, roughly about the same time. 

One day I saw an advert for our wargame club, with a new offering called "Middle Earth" gaming. I was excited. When I saw one of the teachers who ran the club, I asked him what "Middle Earth" gaming was about.

His reply was:

"Not really sure to be honest. Something about knights charging each other in tunnels"

I tried to imagine what that would look like. I also couldn't recall anything like that happening in Lord of the Rings. And so I walked away, slightly deflated.

When the club met later that week, I had a chance to see "Middle Earth" in action. A group of boys had got a table at the back of the room. A green cloth had been thrown over it. Books were placed underneath to make hills. A few props placed on it. Some large miniatures were present that sort of looked like hobbits.

I watched this game for a short while. I have to be honest, I was not impressed. They spent most of the evening arguing over rules. The rules were of course the original dungeons and dragons boxed set. I didn't know what dungeons and dragons was, but what I did know, is that this game had nothing whatsoever to do with "Middle Earth". I got tired of watching this group go round robin on some interpretation of the rules. I didn't get it and frankly didn't care to.

And so the years pass. Middle Earth faded from view. Real life intervened and I could easily have gone down a different path. One Saturday, I chanced across a sci-fi magazine in the local news agents. It was an American mag, called Astounding tales. Quite rare to see something like that in the UK at that time. It was an impulse buy and it put me back on the path so to speak. It was the usual collection of articles and short fiction. As I read it, I found one article in it concerning something called "Roleplaying Games" - I didn't know what these were, but I read the article all the same. Man! That article lit a fire in me that day. It not only explained what the hobby was, but gave a description of a crazy game that was a mix of high fantasy and Sci-fi. I was completely hooked. The passion with which the author had treated his subject, sold me on roleplaying. I also realised that this is what those boys from my time in School had tried to do but failed. They were playing it wrong - came the cry. (an issue for another blog perhaps) I would do better I thought. The problem was - how? I was too young and inexperienced to consider homebrewing something. I knew I had to get my hands on one of these games. It was then that fortune fell in my lap in the shape of an old wargaming magazine, called "The Wargamer" - this issue though, was a roleplaying special. I'm having that I thought and raced off home with my treasure. In it, it had a few essays on the hobby, but it also had a "pick your path to adventure" solo scenario. I can't remember much about it, but it was the first time I had an example of what a game could be like and let me try it out. The magazine had one more surprise for me. It had a review of a game being released in the UK. The game was called: Runequest. The review was quite the glowing one and I was determined to get a copy in my hands ASAP.  I had to wait a while, but one Xmas eve I was given money to go and buy it. (My folks were worried they'd end up buying the wrong thing.) I went to a game store (long since gone sadly) and picked up a copy and was advised to also pick up a packet of Dragon Dice, which I did. It will come as no surprise to anyone, that I started reading it as soon as I got home.

Runequest 2nd edition. It was everything I could have wanted. It was also a very easy system to pick up, especially for someone who was coming into this via an old movie and some magazine articles. It was clear from the outset that the game was a bronze age setting. The ducks threw me (ducks are playable race in the game) but the rest of the setting gave off strong vibes of Conan, Robert Adams Horse clans, the Sinbad movies like Eye of the Tiger and the old Jason & the Argonauts movie from the 60s. Runequest was a world with some very unique ideas at the core of it. It was a mix of ancient Babylon, Ancient Greece, Rome and plains Indians of America. It had no orcs or goblins. Trolls were an ancient race and not evil. Elves looked like man sized Ents. And yes, lets not forget the the Ducks. Everyone can use magic, Rune Lords and Rune Priests could wield God Power. Spirits could be captured and bound. Hero Quests could be attempted were characters would reenact ancient deeds of valour. At the heart of it was a very simple percentage system. First chance I had, I ran the first scenario set in the town of Apple Lane. From that moment the die had been cast and my path set.

From Glorantha, I would be dungeon delving in Tunnels and Trolls. Flying rusty old Free Traders in Traveller. Play survivors of the apocalypse in games like Aftermath, The Morrow Project and Gamma World. I play in westerns and play as Samurai in games like Bushido. Fought ancient alien and godlike beings in Call of Cthulhu. And yes - I finally got to Middle Earth via the Middle Earth roleplaying game. It would be a full 10 years before I finally encountered Dungeons and Dragons again. This time it was 2nd Edition "Advanced" Dungeons and Dragons. The difference here, apart form the mechanics. Was that the previous games all had worlds built around them. AD&D had none as part of its core rules. You had to buy into a world separately. But I encountered most of them From Greyhawk to Spelljammer, though I still rate the old Lankhmar setting as my favourite. I like the old sword and sorcery tales best.

It was quite a convoluted journey to get into the hobby. A movie. A terrible example of D&D. A couple of magazine articles. Glad I took the trip.

Rock n Roll Generation

 I was watching the Lemmy Rockumentary the other night, he was a man from a very different generation to where we are now. 

That's kind of how I feel. 

I have been away from the roleplaying world for a good number of years now, and although I have never truly disengaged from it, I have not been active or mixed with people who are currently active in it, until recently. 

Before I get too involved, I think you need to know a bit more about me as it is entirely possible I will get badly judged for some of the things I am going to say. I am (very) left wing and active in my politics, I would describe myself as an anarcho-socialist and pro LGTBQ and equal rights, civil rights. I am what a lot of people would describe as "woke", but...

Roleplaying back in the late 80's and 90's was a group of mates playing in a smelly bedroom, usually there was porn on a TV in the background, there was lots of cigarettes being smoked, often joints lots of crap food, fry-ups and endless bags of crisps and chocolate. The games were full of dreadful jokes, bad puns and really poor sexual innuendo along the lines of DM "Dawn comes"... The players in unison "Orgasm noises". 

Oddly enough, far from being the outcasts in the town we lived in, we were some of the cooler cats. I had moved from a place where being a nerd was bad to where being a nerd was cool. We loved it! We drank, smoked too much and played AD&D badly. We argued not over rules but over what we thought was physically possible, we never put any thought into characters backstory, they were just poor copies of characters from books, my mate basically played Rasitlin, but because he was a bit lacking in imagination, called him X the Mystic because he could not come up with another name. 

We hit imaginary monsters with imaginary weapons and cast imaginary spells in imaginary situations and laughed and laughed and laughed. And that was it.

And now coming back into it after a gap of many years I see things like this, and I feel kind of lost. 

Alien concepts to me

And please please please do not think I am posting this example to make fun of it, it is merely an example of things similar to what I have found recently. 

To me, the above example is completely alien to me, not only do I struggle with the terminology, I just don't recognise it as part of roleplaying. I am not saying it's bad or wrong, I simply do not understand it or see it as part of what I remember a game to be.

I would love to hear some of your feedback on this. I know I grew up in a time when feelings were repressed, gender issues were not discussed other than to use as insults and they certainly played no part in roleplaying, what to us was a way to kill a few hours on a Sunday evening. 

I love roleplaying, I used to spend hours making maps, writing scenarios, reading fantasy and sci fi books (still do) and use them as inspiration for games. I am a total sci-fi and fantasy art nerd and I totally love arms and armour. But seeing people get so emotional over characters, agonising over drawing maps and seemingly seeking confirmation from other gamers over their feelings, just leaves me confused. 

I am not saying what goes on today is wrong, I need to get used to it, it's not going to change for me! I am not saying our games were wrong, they brought us endless hours of pleasure, what I am saying is us older rock and roll generation of gamers need to understand where the new players are coming from, and they also need to understand where us old gits are coming from at times.

Its a voyage of discovery for me now again. I am an old git in a new and alien world so please go easy on us old gits, we are often confused. 

Dungeon Master... Old school

Let's get muddy (Possibly)

 What started as a fairly innocent conversation on Twitter has sparked an idea that is continuing to grow.

A Table Top Roleplaying Festival... A place for you and your mates to come for a weekend, meet up, game, drink, listen to music, have a laugh and then go home with some festival tales and a wrist band. 

The Old Gits are working on it at the moment, it's still very much in it's infancy and we very much need Covid-19 to hurry up and do one, but it's there as an working plan. 

Rolefest or Burning Elf

Contacts are being made locally and discussions are being held, but what we want is people to come forward with ideas and suggestions, possible pit falls and things to look out for etc. Please do not be shy, spread the word and see if we can get this thing off the ground.

We will use this blog to keep you posted on any developments so keep checking in. 

Any ideas or offers of help please get in touch with us at oldgitsanddragons@gmail.com

Post Good Book Lag... Lightstone Series Book review

 Everyone who reads feels this at some point in their reading life, usually a lot more than once. This for me though is the worst I have possibly ever had it and it's definitely lasting longer than normal as well. 

The First in the Lightstone Series of Books by David Zindell

The books I am suffering withdrawal symptoms from are the Lightstone Series by David Zindell, (/the link to the first of the series is HERE). I first came across the author David Zindell when I was 15 and I read his science fiction book Neverness, which was the first real hard science sci-fi book I had ever read, it was also full of philosophy and concepts that quite literally altered the way I chose to live. To say it had a massive effect on me is an understatement. So, when I saw he had written some fantasy books I was hugely interested as that was really the genre I was interested in back then.

I read the first one when it came out in 2001 and read it and loved it, then I read the second book in the series that came out and loved that, but then I got confused. The second book that came out is the second part of Book 1, I then must have gotten the wrong book and got lost and put them to one side and forgotten about them until recently. The gaps in publication and life at the time meant I just got lost and confused with what I had or hadn't read. I was also a massive bibliophile and had hundreds of books to read (now sadly lost)

Fate landed me in a position where I have a lot of free time on my hands and I had recently been in contact with the author and it had sparked my enthusiasm to read the books properly and in the correct order. So I got the kindle version and sat down to read it. And it was as good as I remember. 

I am not going to go into detail with the plot, that's up to you to discover! Suffice to say it's a series set around a good old set of quests and an age long struggle between good and evil, as a lot of fantasy books are. The difference I got from these is that the struggle is really boomin difficult and the evil is truly nasty and has consequences not just to the world, but the whole universe if it succeeds. There is a real feeling of peril and risk in the books. 

David has also managed to work in themes and hints of mythology from our own world and past, leaving you wondering about the placing of the books. Are they in our past, in our far future, or are they just in a parallel universe that has close mirrors to our own. I have tried to ask him and he has been evasive in his answers!

The one thing I did find with these books is that I got so involved with the characters and plot that I genuinely felt I was living it with them. I even started dreaming about it, which has happened so rarely in my rather long reading life that it is quite important for me. This Is why I am suffering such an immense feeling of loss now I have finished the series. I wake up wanting to know how Maram is doing and missing the fact I have no epic struggle to read and enjoy during the day. Finishing these books has left a huge void. 

The books are not an easy read, there are long periods of quite intense dialogue and when it gets bleak it gets REALLY bleak to the point I felt quite lost. David has a deep interest in philosophy and like his science fiction works, these philosophical themes are worked through in the books, this can lead to some of the heavy dialogue, but bear with it, it's worth it!

They are nearly twenty years old now, but they definitely stand the time test and have not aged at all. Please give them a go. 

Rich 2020