November podcasts

[chirine ba kal]

Hello! The dates of my next two podcasts using the 'Bloggie' will be this coming Satuday, November 16th and again on Saturday, November 30th. I will try to answer some of the questions you've been sending me on the 16th, and talk about playing Tekumel miniatures on the 30th. Live broadcasts at one, uploads to both Qik and You Tube will follow right away.

Please feel free to e-mail me or message with questions! Thanks!

yours, chirine

[Rafael]

Posted a note on my blog, and on my FB pages.

http://daysofrain.me/2013/11/10/jeff-be ... ideo-blog/

Should be good for a nice little bump.

[Havard]

Excellent! I will try to come up with some clever questions

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Excellent! I will try to come up with some clever questions

-Havard

That would be great - post 'em here, or e-mail them to me. Thanks!!!

yours, chirine

[Havard]

Okay, here are a few questions:

1) I'd love to hear more about your experiences with Dave Arneson's Company Adventure Games. Did Arneson hold shares in Flying Buffalo Games as well?
2) Any more you can tell us about Captain Harchar, his strategies or his ship(s)?
3) You ran a few Dave Arneson memorial games set in Tekumel. Could you tell us more about how these events went? Any highlights from in-game?

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Okay, here are a few questions:

1) I'd love to hear more about your experiences with Dave Arneson's Company Adventure Games. Did Arneson hold shares in Flying Buffalo Games as well?
2) Any more you can tell us about Captain Harchar, his strategies or his ship(s)?
3) You ran a few Dave Arneson memorial games set in Tekumel. Could you tell us more about how these events went? Any highlights from in-game?

-Havard

I'm sorry - I didn't get this until this morning, so I'll do my first December podcast on these questions - will that be all right?

1) Dave thought that the profusion of 'Presidents' at TSR was stupid, so he titled all of as 'Vice Presidents' and himself as 'Vice President In Charge of Vice Presidents' and issued everyone with T-shirts with their titles - I still have mine, I think. I was the 'Vice President For Tekumel Affairs', which pretty much summed up my position. The company was staffed mostly by Dave's friends from the First Minnesota, who in turn were mostly historical gamers specializing in the black powder period, and they were some of the smartest people I ever met.

I'll talk a lot more about this in the December 14th podcast; I have lots of stories, like the one about The Night We Spent Prolonging The Trailer and The Day We Played Aztec Baseball.

2) Harchar was Blackbeard, Al Capone, Henry Avery, Don Vito Corleone, and Mohammed al-Raisuli ("the last of the Barbary Pirates", according to the US Secretary of State, John Hay) all rolled into one. His strategy can be summarized as "Get the loot, and don't get caught!".

Dave's ships included:

a) The "Thousand Falcons" ("She'll do point nine knots past Ngastu head!") - a large 'Tn'ek' or galleon, lost in a shipwreck on the Southern Continent (it was a long swim home);
b) The "Malia (one)" - a large merchant galley based off Venetian designs - lost by stranding near Sunraya in the Milumaniyani desert (it was a long walk home);
c) The "Malia's Revenge" - another Tn'ek, built to replace the first one - still in service and in use as his long-haul cargo-carrier, usually found along the Tsolyani coasts to the east and west of Jakalla, and purpose-built with a myriad of secret compartments for smuggling purposes;
d) The "Malia (two)" - another merchant galley, built to replace the first one - still in service in the Jakalla area and for runs up the Missuma ("death", in Tsolyani) to the capital, Bey Su; noted for the ability to execute very fast get-aways from the river police.

I should also note that the latter two ships are armed to the teeth; there's a 'pop-up' disappearing mount for a large stone-thrower on the second Tn'ek, for example. Harchar was always getting into trouble, and a lot of folks found out the hard way that he could both sail his way and shoot his way out again. I have the plans for all these; I drew them for Phil and Dave.

3) The David L. Arneson Memorial Maritime Miniatures Mayhem Games are hard to describe; they are basically 'Braunsteins' in form, and with a lot of boats, ships, and water. I have photos of a nu,ber of them up on my Photobucket site, as well as videos from a recent one on the video page.

I can talk a lot more about these, but think all those 1950s and 1960s 'swashbuckler' pirate epics - Dave loved these, and I run what amount to miniature versions of these movies on the game table. I have lots of stories - I'll do a specific 'cast on them - and we have a lot of fun dong them. That's the idea - Dave was a lot of fun as both a player and as a host, and we laugh a lot thinking about him. So, me bucko, shiver me timbers and lay us alongside! Arrr!

yours, chirine

[Havard]

I'm sorry - I didn't get this until this morning, so I'll do my first December podcast on these questions - will that be all right?

No problem at all!

1) Dave thought that the profusion of 'Presidents' at TSR was stupid, so he titled all of as 'Vice Presidents' and himself as 'Vice President In Charge of Vice Presidents' and issued everyone with T-shirts with their titles - I still have mine, I think. I was the 'Vice President For Tekumel Affairs', which pretty much summed up my position. The company was staffed mostly by Dave's friends from the First Minnesota, who in turn were mostly historical gamers specializing in the black powder period, and they were some of the smartest people I ever met.

I'll talk a lot more about this in the December 14th podcast; I have lots of stories, like the one about The Night We Spent Prolonging The Trailer and The Day We Played Aztec Baseball.

Pretty funny. I seem to recall some people referring to Dave as the "Cheeky Mage"?
Was Rick Loomis ever involved in any o this? If I am not mistaken Adventures in Fantasy went to his company eventally?

2) Harchar was Blackbeard, Al Capone, Henry Avery, Don Vito Corleone, and Mohammed al-Raisuli ("the last of the Barbary Pirates", according to the US Secretary of State, John Hay) all rolled into one. His strategy can be summarized as "Get the loot, and don't get caught!".

Dave's ships included:

a) The "Thousand Falcons" ("She'll do point nine knots past Ngastu head!") - a large 'Tn'ek' or galleon, lost in a shipwreck on the Southern Continent (it was a long swim home);
b) The "Malia (one)" - a large merchant galley based off Venetian designs - lost by stranding near Sunraya in the Milumaniyani desert (it was a long walk home);
c) The "Malia's Revenge" - another Tn'ek, built to replace the first one - still in service and in use as his long-haul cargo-carrier, usually found along the Tsolyani coasts to the east and west of Jakalla, and purpose-built with a myriad of secret compartments for smuggling purposes;
d) The "Malia (two)" - another merchant galley, built to replace the first one - still in service in the Jakalla area and for runs up the Missuma ("death", in Tsolyani) to the capital, Bey Su; noted for the ability to execute very fast get-aways from the river police.

I should also note that the latter two ships are armed to the teeth; there's a 'pop-up' disappearing mount for a large stone-thrower on the second Tn'ek, for example. Harchar was always getting into trouble, and a lot of folks found out the hard way that he could both sail his way and shoot his way out again. I have the plans for all these; I drew them for Phil and Dave.

This is just pure gold! Any chance of getting a look at these ship plans? Will they be included in your book perhaps?

3) The David L. Arneson Memorial Maritime Miniatures Mayhem Games are hard to describe; they are basically 'Braunsteins' in form, and with a lot of boats, ships, and water. I have photos of a nu,ber of them up on my Photobucket site, as well as videos from a recent one on the video page.

This is quite interesting. For some reason I was under the impression that these were mainly strategy based events. Do participants get Braunstein style character sheets/handouts as well?

I can talk a lot more about these, but think all those 1950s and 1960s 'swashbuckler' pirate epics - Dave loved these, and I run what amount to miniature versions of these movies on the game table. I have lots of stories - I'll do a specific 'cast on them - and we have a lot of fun dong them. That's the idea - Dave was a lot of fun as both a player and as a host, and we laugh a lot thinking about him. So, me bucko, shiver me timbers and lay us alongside! Arrr!

Looking forward to hearing more about this!


-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Hello!

I'll try to answe these for you - feel free to edit it all to make it easier for people to read - I still don't quite know how the 'quotes' thing works...

Pretty funny. I seem to recall some people referring to Dave as the "Cheeky Mage"?
Was Rick Loomis ever involved in any o this? If I am not mistaken Adventures in Fantasy went to his company eventally?

Chirine: Sorry I didn't get to this on the first reply! Yes, Rick and Dave were thick as any buccaneer could be. Dave provided Rick with funding for a number of projects, and was effectively a silent partner in Flying Buffalo. This worked out very well for Dave, as FB (Rick, Mike Stackpole, and Liz Danforth) were focused on RPGs and Adventure Games was really more interested in miniatures gaming. When Dave closed up AGI, I packed up all of the inventory - except the Tekumel stuff; I got that - and sent off to Rick. You can still get AGI products from him, I think.

This is just pure gold! Any chance of getting a look at these ship plans? Will they be included in your book perhaps?

Chirine: Yes; they'll be in the book, and I pan to have downloadable plans that one can print up as needed for use in games.

This is quite interesting. For some reason I was under the impression that these were mainly strategy based events. Do participants get Braunstein style character sheets/handouts as well?

Chirine: I'd hesitate to call these 'strategy' games; they are more like chaotic messes - i.e., they're Braunsteins! They use a lot of stuff on the table - see the photos - and yes, the players do get handouts telling them who they are and what they have. I tend to do 'blind draws' on these, so that players have very little idea what they'll be playing on the table before the game. This makes things a lot wilder, and a lot more fun!

Looking forward to hearing more about this!

Chirine: Ask away! Did you read the little excerpt from the book, by the way?


Thanks again!

yours, chirine

Edited by Havard at the request of chirine

[Havard]

Chirine: Sorry I didn't get to this on the first reply! Yes, Rick and Dave were thick as any buccaneer could be. Dave provided Rick with funding for a number of projects, and was effectively a silent partner in Flying Buffalo. This worked out very well for Dave, as FB (Rick, Mike Stackpole, and Liz Danforth) were focused on RPGs and Adventure Games was really more interested in miniatures gaming. When Dave closed up AGI, I packed up all of the inventory - except the Tekumel stuff; I got that - and sent off to Rick. You can still get AGI products from him, I think.

Aha, I thought i'd seen you mention FB in another post in relation to Dave. I was just reading Dave's chapter in Ports of Call, a generic fantasy sourcebook from Flying Buffalo, so I was curious about what the relationship was between the two.

Do they still hold the rights to Adventures in Fantasy?

Rick Loomis, Michael Stackpole and Liz Danforth, were any of these ever based in Minnesota? Or did Dave meet them elsewhere?

I know Dave Arneson also wrote a few modules for Michael Stackpole's RPG Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes. I was amazed to realize it was the same Stackpole as the one who wrote the famous X-Wing novels.

Chirine: Yes; they'll be in the book, and I pan to have downloadable plans that one can print up as needed for use in games.

Very much looking forward to these.

This is quite interesting. For some reason I was under the impression that these were mainly strategy based events. Do participants get Braunstein style character sheets/handouts as well?

Chirine: I'd hesitate to call these 'strategy' games; they are more like chaotic messes - i.e., they're Braunsteins! They use a lot of stuff on the table - see the photos - and yes, the players do get handouts telling them who they are and what they have. I tend to do 'blind draws' on these, so that players have very little idea what they'll be playing on the table before the game. This makes things a lot wilder, and a lot more fun!

These games sound like alot of fun. I have never played in a Braunstein, but I have seen the handouts from Braunstein 1, so at least I have some clue to that part of the game.

Looking forward to hearing more about this!

Chirine: Ask away! Did you read the little excerpt from the book, by the way?

Indeed I did! I will try to think up more questions later on

Perhaps other posters here want to pitch in as well?

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Thanks for your reply! Great job on making my post look readable, too!

1) The folks from FB didn't live here in Minnesota - we saw them all the time at Gen Con and Origins (had had some very fun times, too!) and Dave would travel down to see them - Arizona, I think.

I'd check with FB about "Adventures in Fantasy" - they'd know, and might even have copies in stock for you.

Mike and Liz are really gifted - Mike's the writer, and Liz the talented artist. They are good - really good.

2) We're trying to build the technology to let people participate in our games via the Internet; we had a very successful round-table discussion yesterday via Google+ 'Hangout', which was hosted by the U-Con convention committee, and I think it's the way of the future. I have a new(ish) PC in this morning, and I'll be spending the day getting it up and running os we can do inter-active gaming from here at the house. The Sony 'Bloggie' is also a part of this; besides the podcasts I'm doing, the hope is to be able to have video going out during games and have people able to send in over separate (for game reasons) audio or text channels.

3) I'm glad you liked the little story - I am trying to tell what happened, but also to get the information across in a more or less 'painless' manner...

Thanks again!

yours, chirine