GenCon 2010 was a success, in that we made it there and back in one piece (a feat that may have been in doubt a few times…)

With minimal comment, here are some photos from the con.

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GENCON: The Best 4 Days in Gaming

Though I have friends who went to GenCon in our early teenage years, my first GenCon was in 2000, the year that Fiery Dragon started up. I’d known about the show for decades, reading about it in Dragon Magazine and hearing stories online, but actually experiencing it was something else. That first year was mind-blowing: we weren’t exhibiting at the convention, we were there as attendees and fans, who also happened to be networking to find a distribution deal for our soon-to-be released d20 products. Ah, the early enthusiastic years of the d20 movement. Fun times.

This year we’re trying that again: Fiery Dragon won’t be exhibiting at GenCon in 2010, but Todd and I will be there as attendees, checking out the Great Hall, playing some games, and hanging out with all the great friends we’ve made over the past decade. Since we won’t be driven by a shift-schedule or anchored to a booth, we’ve got a real chance to explore the Exhibit Hall at our own pace (rather than a hurried half hour break), and here (alphabetically) are some things I’m interested in seeing.

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I know that we played a bunch of different boardgames when I was a kid, and I’m sure that we hit on all of the traditional classics, but there are some memories that have survived better than others in my hazy recollection. With this entry, I’m going to look back at some of the games I remember playing as a child, and a follow-up post will discuss some of the games I’ve been playing with my children over the past year, hoping to give them some boardgame memories of their own.

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When you look at my game collection, one of the things that sticks out is that the majority are pretty “light” games, or can be seen as “non-gamer friendly.” One of my latest additions certainly follows this theme: INGENIOUS from FFG.

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The Counter Culture 2009 Part 3: Counter Workshop By Todd Secord

Introduction

This is the third of 3 articles that delve into Fiery Dragon Production’s long line of Gaming Counter products. Part 1 “The Culture of Counters” talks of the company’s long standing history of producing counters for the gaming industry and many of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that we have encountered over the years. Part 2 talks of the Philosophy of counters; how counters can help to improve one’s game beyond their obvious use, and lastly, Part 3 “Counter Workshop” gets into the construction and care of counters. Let’s begin!

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The Counter Culture 2009
Part 2: The Philosophy of Counters
By Todd Secord

Introduction
This is the second of 3 articles that delve into Fiery Dragon Production’s long line of Gaming Counter products. Part 1 “The Culture of Counters” talks of the company’s long standing history of producing counters for the gaming industry and many of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that we have encountered over the years. Part 2 talks of the Philosophy of counters; how counters can help to improve one’s game beyond their obvious use, and lastly, Part 3 “Counter Workshop” gets into the construction and care of counters. Let’s begin!

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The Counter Culture 2009 Part 1: The Culture of Counters

 What are counters? Well, if you’ve ever played, still play, or wish to play a table-top Role-Playing Game (RPG) then chances are you are familiar with miniatures, as well as other kinds of markers/playing pieces to represent characters, monsters, or villains. The term “Counter” refers to a graphic image that can be used as a playing piece in any genre of RPG. Generally, Fiery Dragon has focused on counters for fantasy related games such as Dungeons & Dragons, but given the format with which we present the counters, and the many different themed packages that we offer, our entire counter line can cross over and be used for just about any RPG out there. Generally speaking, to an experienced gamer, counters are an alternative to miniatures, which for many years has been the playing piece of choice. Understandably, miniatures are great fun, but we at Fiery Dragon think that while miniatures have their place, our counters are a must-have for any table-top RPG…

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TODD MAN OUT – thoughts rattling around inside the head of Todd

Top 10 (New ) Perspectives on Star Wars

The 30th anniversary of Star Wars just happened and from a fan of 30 years, here are some observations about the series as a whole.  I must note that I do not consider myself a scholar of Star Wars.  That is, the movies are my primary source of official content.  The huge line of novels, which have become the Dead Sea Scrolls of Star Wars lore, do not play a part in my interpretations of what is happening on film. Really, this list is about my 2 cents on setting the record straight with regard to number of criticisms and misconceptions about the Star Wars saga…

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TODD MAN OUT – thoughts rattling around in the brain of Todd

The Modern Destruction of Myth

About 30 years ago, before I officially developed my addiction to D&D and role-playing games, I was always strongly attracted to anything that related to ghosts, supernatural phenomenon, UFOs, Bigfoot, Loch Ness, historical legends and so forth.  In those days, such things were not considered real by any stretch, but there was definitely enough “what if” that should you have any modicum of an open mind, you couldn’t completely dismiss them.  Now-a-days, generally speaking, I have found that this not the case.  With the advent of technology and its powerful amplification on fields of research it would seem that such things, one-by-one, are being debunked quite easily.  The skeptics, who always seem to be the villains in these discussions, now appear to be wining.  This is fine in my opinion, they can have it because in light of these new arguments and revelations, I seem to be joining them – something I couldn’t have imagined many years ago.

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TODD MAN OUT – thoughts rattling around inside the head of Todd

Top 10 Action Movies of All TimeOk, I just saw 300, and I really, really liked it.  I did.  And since the gang at Fiery Dragon are more then just fans of RPGs, the genre of action films plays a big part in whatever kinds of influences that we draw from when designing games in general.  Plus, we just like movies.  As for the contents of this list I can’t speak for the other fiery dragons, but here are the best action movies of all time.* 

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JAMES ON GAMES: Opinions, Observations and Ideas from James

Games We Play

In the Before Times, back during the Long, Long Ago… we played lots of D&D.  We played lots of Battletech.  We played lots of Car Wars, Strat-o-matic, Golden Heroes, V&V, Gamma World…  We played lots of everything.

In the spring of 2000, we created Fiery Dragon Productions, intending to release third-party supplements for the soon-to-be released Third Edition of the World’s Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game.  Perfect, huh?  A bunch of gamer friends creating a game company!  Imagine all of the gaming we’d enjoy…

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TODD MAN OUT: Rants, Monologues and Opinions from Todd

The Music from Lord of the Rings… Sucks.

K’now, I’m as big a fan as anyone might be of the Lord of the Rings movies, but I gotta say, I’m not a big fan of the music.  Sure, the sound track won an oscar, and sure, it really is great in the first movie, however it’s more of the same throughout the second movie, and consequently, when you hit the third, it becomes a serious case of bin’ there – done that.   

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TODD MAN OUT: Ideas, Opinions and Observations from Todd

Lord of the Rings: Is the Bakshi film really that Bad?

The late 70’s was fantasy film heaven for kids.  Obviously there was Star Wars, Fantasia had been re-released, and then there was Bakshi’s version of Lord of the Rings.  Having just read the Hobbit, the size of the LotR books was a little daunting at that point, but the movie was more then enough to satisfy my curiosity.  I loved it.  But, as one got older it seems, the movie seems to loose its luster – as evident from the hammering the movie gets every time it’s mentioned.  Childhood perspective aside, the movie STILL got hammered by many of the adult critics at the time and to this day is not remembered well.  I myself never actually developed a hatred for the film, and even in light of the recent, albeit far, far more superior films, could still appreciate its attempt.  I think to pick on the film now-a-days is about as fair as picking on the original King Kong for its outdated special effects or the fact that it isn’t in colour.

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TODD MAN OUT: A Guest Blog from Scott Holden

The GM and Game Balance

I’ve just finished reading yet another online forum thread about “why the paladin should be balanced with other classes.”

Balance. This concept seems to dominate discussion in and around RPGs these days. Everyone wants to be entirely sure that new classes, spells, items, and so on are balanced. The more I see people touting balance as the be-all and end-all of game design, though, the more I’m beginning to question the necessity (and even the value) of this concept. For one thing, the very idea that a designer can balance even just two core classes perfectly against one another is a white elephant of the first order. Simply look at the ubiquitous posts out there about “this class sucks” or “that class got the shaft” to see what I mean. You’ll simply never make everyone happy.

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TODD MAN OUT: A RANT

LORD OF THE RINGS: The Circle is Complete

     It is no secret that the media, given its super huge vastness, is comparatively controlled by a small number of individuals.  Now, to the conspiracy theorists out there, this rant is not about them.  In fact, I’m not even going to presume that these people are evil, or uncaring, or anything that may cast them in a negative light.  However, I think it is safe to assume that they have an extremist orientation for big business and an obligation to equally minded individuals that have ocean-like investments in their respective media companies.  Seeing as there is no true method of right or wrong in making piles and piles and piles of money, being evil, uncaring or any other negatives that may derive from this goal probably never actually enters into it.  Anything that gets in the way of making more or losing little is an obstacle that is either avoided or destroyed. 

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