My refamiliarization with AD&D continues. As explained previously, the 3.5 campaign that I’m running for my family is going well, and they’re having fun. I haven’t hit them with anything truly sinister yet, with only a couple of divine/DM interventions needed thus far to avoid complete disaster.

But I’m still somewhat nonplussed with the 3.5 system. It’s incredibly complex and some of the details just don’t feel right to me, even with my house rules applied. I’m ignoring some of more intricate details for now, at least until I can get my arms around them. I’m also not really interested in investing in the 4E stuff, given what I’ve read about it.

Anyway, the Pathfinder RPG looks very intriguing to me. It’s NOT a completely new game, and looks to be a very nice 3rd-party take at a revamp of AD&D 3.5 (even though they’re very careful not to say D&D or mention WoTC). I took a quick read through some of their stuff, and it’s very interesting and well done, and is getting rave reviews. I might pick up the core books just to read through them more and pick up some useful details – even then, the characters are only 4th level right now, so if it makes sense, I might just do a conversion if applicable. PCGen is supporting the Pathfinder rules now, too, which is a huge plus.

Anyone out there have any suggestions or comments on Pathfinder?

Even though we’ve added a few more activities to our family’s already-full weekly agenda (Fencing lessons on Monday nights, regular weekend hikes, etc.), we’ve been pretty successful at keeping our burgeoning AD&D campaign going. Rebecca and Jacob have been joined by Mary Lou and my brother Jon almost every week for the past couple of months, and have progressed nicely in their character development.

It’s been pretty fun for me as well: despite the unwieldiness of the v3.5 system, I’ve been able to craft some memorable (I hope!) encounters and NPCs for them to interact with, and the world around them is really starting to take shape. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m using the Forgotten Realms as a base world, but the lands for this campaign are set in a distant location – I’ll connect everything at some point.

The characters so far:

• Feanora: Half-Elf 4th level longsword-wielding Cleric of Corellon Larethian – Masterwork Longsword, Chain Mail – Rebecca
• Calinar: Half-Elf 4th level dual-wielding Ranger (major dps here!) – Masterwork Longsword, +1 Short Sword – Jacob
• Mantis: Human 3rd level Monk/1st level Sorceress – Quarterstaff – Mary Lou
• Fareis: Wood Elf 4th level Rogue with a haunted past – Dagger +2 (quest item), Padded Leather +1 – Jon

I’ve found some really good resources to assist me on our ‘adventure’ nights. Encounter locations are designed either by hand using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, or using a Map-Making Tile tool. The latter tool was a bit expensive and limited for what you get ($30) but it does allow for quick assembly of most necessary locations. I take the resulting PDF’s and modify them in Photoshop.

I bought Campaign Cartographer 3 along with the City Designer 3, but find the system very confusing and clumsy. I’m spending some time getting used to it, but it’s a tough haul. What I’d really like is an automatic town map generator, where I can specify walls, ports, gates, population, etc. and have the base map prepared for me. There are some freeware takes at this, but you’d think that a commercial product would incorporate that functionality instead of forcing you to start from scratch for every design.

I’m using PCGen for character maintenance. This tool also has its quirks, but I think some computer-based character creation system is a must for v3.5. The d20 SRD site is a must-have for in-play documentation. I keep the books handy, but have thankfully never had to refer to them during play.

Finally, as the pièce de résistance, I’ve taken an old projector and hung it on the ceiling, pointed towards a table. Real-time dungeon exploration is handled via ‘erasing’ a fog layer on top of the map in Photoshop. This is also nice in that I can swap out locations quicky and display previously prepared graphics of monsters. I started by printing tiles and using an old collection of dungeon pieces, but this was very limiting in a couple of ways. The projector-method, while it has its weaknesses, is a much more manageable solution. All the players have to do is move their miniatures on the map, and roll their dice.

Speaking of dice, I’ve been very surprised at the lack of good gaming supply stores around here. There are a bunch of R/C or model stores, but only one store in the area (The Whiz on Route 9) has any sort of selection at all. I suppose it’s understandable that the world of pen & paper gaming has been overrun by computer games and MMORPG’s, but wonder if a well-stocked specialty store couldn’t do well.

This is Jacob’s first year in Cub Scouts, so obviously it’s his first exposure to the Pinewood Derby. What a year to join Scouts! It’s the BSA’s 100th Anniversary, so this year’s PWD is actually being held at the Worcester DCU! There’s lots of other stuff to see, but we’re all excited to see how well our cars perform.

I have fond memories of my own PWD as a kid, but things have definitely changed since then.. it’s much more “high tech” than I remember, and the after-market for car parts, designs, tools, books, etc. is incredible. You can easily spend tons of money (and time!) getting your car built. Anyway, our Pack (Grafton 106) has a separate “Parents and Siblings” race too, so we decided to do cars for Rebecca, Amanda, and me. We did pretty much everything together (I handled all of the dangerous and/or very tricky stuff for them) and had a lot of fun both designing and building the cars. It’s been a very busy few weeks from start to finish! Weigh-in is tonight, and I hope we’ve kept all of them in the neighborhood of 5.0 ounces.

I underestimated the amount of time Amanda’s would take, though, so it’s not pictured above, and I’m not sure she’ll get to race it. But I don’t think she really cares, either – as long as she ends up with a “cool yellow car!” she’ll be happy. When I’m done with it, hopefully by Saturday, I’ll put a picture of it up here.

I still haven’t gotten around to posting our vacation pictures, but can tell you we had a whole bunch of fun! Chincoteague island in Virginia was, I think for all of us, the highlight of the trip. We just spent a day there, but it was beautiful and fun and instantly leaped to #1 on our list of places to retire.

Anyway, as the title indicates, Jacob had a recurrence of Lyme last week. We spent another long night in the hospital having a bunch of doctors look at him. I insisted upon a Lumbar Puncture, what with his recent bout with Lyme Menangitis, and luckily it came back clean. So, he’s back on some antibiotics, and of course we’re watching him, and his sisters, closely for any danger signs. For anyone who’s not familiar with Lyme, I highly suggest you do some reading: it’s frightening for sure, but knowing what you’re talking about (and potentially dealing with) can absolutely mean the difference between a treatable infection and life-long debilitation. Feel free to contact either Mary Lou or me with any questions.

Onto more pleasant stuff!

Jacob has entered the Cub Scouts, and I’ve volunteered as an Assistant (Wolf) Den Leader. We’re both looking forward to the activities this year, and I’m really pleased at how enthusiastic he’s being. The meetings are scheduled for Friday nights, which works into our schedules very nicely.

Rebecca is entering the Girl Scouts, too! Her meetings are on Sunday nights, which isn’t as good as Jacob’s, but at least none of her other activities (Karate & Piano right now) will need to be curtailed.

We made a go with Amanda being fully home-schooled this year, but Mary Lou and I agreed that she needs a bit more time in a traditional setting, so she’s back in Grafton Pre-School a few afternoons per week. This is good to give Mary Lou the time she needs with the older two, and allows Amanda to learn at a more comfortable (to her) pace.

We’re getting a Loop-Loc pool cover put on the pool, and both of us are really looking forward to the ease of opening and closing, not to mention the overall safety of it. If you’ve ever dealt with leaf nets and “droopy” pool covers before, you’ll know what I mean! It’s expensive, but we think it’ll be well worth it.

And finally, our siding and roofing is being done shortly – as with almost everyone in this area, our house got pummeled (FYI: this is a first-hand video where the language is NSFW), literally, with the hail storm earlier this year. I was amazed at how much damage there was, and the appraisal, but that’s why we pay for house insurance!

More when I have time!

Thanks to a suggestion by a friend of mine at work (thanks Cliff!) we all headed out to the 20th Annual Upton Police Fishing Derby today. It was at Pratt Pond in Upton, and we were amazed at the amount of people who showed up! We were there early, and got a pretty good spot.

Jacob caught a nice perch early on, and almost placed with it (he was a 1/2″ short). Rebecca caught a catfish, and that was just shy too. But Jacob got his wish of not only a “first bass”, but also a trophy bass! All-in-all, we had a great day, met some really nice folks, and found out about a local bait-and-tackle shop that I’ll be visiting often for minnows. For what it’s worth, I think Rebecca would have gotten a trophy on the first fish she caught, which was a decent sized Bluegill, but I didn’t realize that there was a category for it, and threw it back – ah well!

Upton Police Fishing Derby 2009

Images from our day of fishing in Upton on June 6, 2009. Jacob came away with a trophy!

4 Photos