New Star Trek Television Series in the Works?

GiantFreakinRobot.com reports that a new Star Trek television series is being envisioned by David Foster of 1974 Entertainment.  They link to an interview on TrekWeb.com that includes a good deal of information about the potential project.  I'm not finding much information online specifically about Foster or his company, hence the lack of related links.  Despite this, he seems to have a rather fleshed out vision of where to take the franchise that doesn't include the changes from the reboot incorporated from JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek film.  IMDb.com still has a sequel to that movie slated for 2012 with seemingly all of its cast attached, though it has only been announced and it is unclear if production has even begun in earnest.  Frankly, I'd be fine if both projects go forward, no matter of their universes jibe with one another.  From my perspective, the more Trek the better!

Level 1 Human Baby Creeper

If you're a gamer and a parent of a wee one, you might want to pick up a Level 1 Human Baby Creeper from Jinx.com.  In their own words -

The casual RPG enthusiast will look at this creeper, chuckle, possibly buy it for their child, and move on. However, the avid J!NX gamer will inevitably flame this design with questions such as "Wouldn't a baby be level 0?", or "What is its class? Mage? Rogue?", or "My baby's INT should be WAY higher!", or "Does that high Charisma give my baby the ability to lead up to 15 henchmen?". We expect this. And that, my fanatical friends, is why we love you.

Pacificon Game Expo

Also this coming weekend is the Pacificon Game Expo.  In their own words -

The Pacificon Game Expo offers an amazing array of fun events for the entire Northern California gaming community. For 31 years, Pacificon has been the Bay Area's Labor Day Gaming Convention where friends come together and make new friends playing games through all hours of the day. The beautiful Santa Clara Marriott Hotel affords the perfect spot for gamers to while away the holiday weekend surrounded by a hotel staff that is expert at meeting our needs. You can find all kinds of games at the show, be it miniatures, board, card, role playing, or LARP, Pacificon has got it all!

CelestiCon - Labor Day Weeknd in Redwood City, CA

I mentioned last week that Dragon*Con was coming up again in Atlanta, GA, over Labor Day Weekend, a fan convention of all things SciFi and Fantasy with some gaming, but there's another event this coming holiday weekend for anyone who can get to the San Francisco Bay area, but in Redwood City, CA, called CelestiCon.  EN Worlder Spinachcat brought this event to everyone's attention over in the EN World General Forum and had this to post about some of the odderings -

CELESTICON is hosting over 150 events including RPGs, boardgames, Pathfinder Society, the War College with Dana Lombardy of the History Channel, Warhammer Tournaments and a Young Player's Room. / There is a whole litany of RPGs happening with a whole slew of Pathfinder events plus Cthonian Stars, Tunnels & Trolls, Dresden Files and lots more. / Special Guests include Ken Hite (Star Trek, Delta Green, Day After Ragnorak), James Ernest (Cheapass Games) and Ryan Macklin (Dresden Files) and many more! / Charlie Krank, the President of Chaosium, will be hosting a seminar on Friday night celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Call of Cthulhu and Kenneth Hite will be discussing "Keeping Cthulhu Scary" which will be awesome for GMs. And James Ernest will be doing a hands on boardgame design seminar teaching how you can publish your own games! James has published over 200 so he knows how its done. / The hotel is the Hotel Sofitel, one of the most beautiful hotels in the Bay Area with a luxurious pool and a very cool European flair. The convention has scored a great deal on the hotel rooms so check it out! If you are anywhere in California, Nevada or Oregon, CelestiCon would be an awesome weekend for you...and a non-gaming spouse too!

Chasing the Dragon and Not Finding Happiness

A recent thread on EN World begun by Bullgrit of Total Bullgrit Blog fame took up the discussion of what happens when a group of adventurers defeats a dragon but somehow doesn't find their treasure.  In the thread I recount one such event in a game I ran . . .

In a scenario I ran for a one-shot (therefore missing the treasure had no long term campaign implications), the adventurers fought and defeated a Steam Dragon (a sort of modified Mist Dragon) in his cavernous lair on a rocky coast. Despite the treasure being within reach, just beyond some steam geysers that were active enough to obscure the hoard from sight, it was not found. In the quick postmortem after the game I almost didn't have the heart to tell them what they missed, but I did since I knew some were wondering why there was seemingly little reward for their struggles.

Characters vs Pawns

There's something I see pop up from time to time, more often with inexperienced Game Master of Roleplaying Games than with those who have been around the block.  It has to do with plotting a game.  While this might work fine with a tournament game where the goals of the characters are defined in advance, it rarely works out well in campaign games.  This tends to be the truth of it because of how plotting limits the range of choices players can make and affect through their characters.

The fewer choices that a plotted game allows the players to make, the more akin to a board game such a game becomes.  Once players realize they have limited choices to make, the more they feel that their characters are merely pawns in a game where destiny is a foregone conclusion.  While it is possible to roleplay those situation in-game as if the characters do not have fore-knowledge, the players are not making meaningful choices that can affect the outcome of the game in ways that are not predetermined.  This goes against the grain of most roleplaying games, at least in common campaign formats.

For tournaments and one-shot convention or gameday games, this can be the norm and that's all well and good, particularly since in such structured play winning or losing the scenario is often understood to be possible.  But for campaign roleplaying games there is rarely the intent to have winners and losers.  Each moment of roleplaying games is meant to be its own reward and players are, under ideal conditions, allowed to glean as much from the experience as can be garnered.  In campaigns, once the players feel that their characters are merely pawns in a prewritten story, they will become divested of the primary motivations inherent behind a roleplaying activity.  At that point, we might as well break out a board game and remove the pretense that meaningful choices are actually possible at all.

Illustrated OD&D Wandering Monster Tables Poster

I don't currently run an (O)D&D game but this poster had me thinking how cool it would be to have this on the wall nearby while running one.  It's was being sold briefly by Paul from Bag of Holding website.  If they reissue this for any reason, but particularly to help raise funds for the Gyagx Memorial Fund, I think I am going to have to get one for the wall of the Game Plus Roleplaying Game Room!