Tales from the Gazebo – When to Win With a “Loss”, Part 2
When to Win With a “Loss”, Part 2
By Cape Rust
So now we get to the heart of the matter, and what better way to drive this point home than to share yet another gaming story. So there we were; we had done all of the things you do when going through an adventure. Almost died a few times, killed kobolds, orcs, skeletons, and even tangled with some drow. We had reached the “final” battle....
Tales from the Gazebo – When to Win With a “Loss”, Part 1
When to Win With a “Loss”, Part 1
By Cape Rust
When you are running a game, you should never view your game as “me versus the players”. Stop right here if that is how you approach your games. Rethink your life and ask yourself if you really should be running games if you think that way. Sure some of you have run games with just that attitude and things have turned out just fine. Sometimes...
Tales from the Gazebo – Are you Really Friends with the People in your Gaming Group?
Are you Really Friends with the People in your Gaming Group?
By Cape Rust
This article/rant/whatever you want to call it was inspired by something that recently happened to my gaming group. As you read this, please remember there are no absolutes and if you disagree with my statements or opinions, I recommend you comment on this article, and while you’re at it visit the RPC Facebook page and...
Tales From the Gazebo – The Clothes Don’t Make the Man and the Weapons Don’t Make the Woman, Part 2
The Clothes Don’t Make the Man and the Weapons Don’t Make the Woman, Part 2
By Cape Rust
(C) V Shane
In the last installment I left off talking about some easy ways to get rid of mundane items that might be overcoming player characters in your game. In this round I want to talk about those magical iconic items that are much more insidious. Those powerful or intelligent magic items that become...
Tales From the Gazebo – The Clothes Don’t Make the Man and the Weapons Don’t Make the Woman, Part 1
The Clothes Don’t Make the Man and the Weapons Don’t Make the Woman, Part 1
By Cape Rust
(C) Joe Calkins
Signature weapons, iconic items and trademark clothing items are a part of any RPG and many fantasy stories. These weapons, items and articles of clothing add flavor to a character. Your Bard wears a jaunty beret, with an exotic bird feather in it, your fighter wears a very lacy and feminine...
Tales From the Gazebo – Star Wars Rebels: A Spark of Rebellion
Star Wars Rebels: A Spark of Rebellion
By Cape Rust
Last night I got a real treat and it isn’t even Halloween yet. Last night I got to watch the premier of the new animated series Rebels. I have been excited about this series from the first moment I heard about it. Like many other fans of Star Wars, I was worried about what the mouse and his minions might do with the beloved movies that helped...
Tales From the Gazebo – The Verse Short Film by Loot Crate
The Verse Short Film by Loot Crate
By Cape Rust
Hungering for more Firefly? Who isn’t? OK there are like three people who might not give a gorram about it, but those are not exactly the kind of people I want to deal with on a regular basis. Loot Crate has your six; they have just released a sixteen minute short film called The Verse. Now before you get all pissy and whining because you’ve seen...
Tales From the Gazebo – Snowpiercer, One of the Best Movies you Might Not See
Snowpiercer, One of the Best Movies you Might Not See
By Cape Rust
This past weekend my wife and I found us divested of parental duties from supporting our teenaged daughters’ myriad activities and decided to have a date night. Now before you get all excited (I know that wasn’t the case), understand that rather than going out and painting the town red, we chose to stay at home have a nice...
Tales from the Gazebo – When a GM Says, “Are You Sure You Want to do That?”
When a GM Says, “Are You Sure You Want to do That?”
By Cape Rust
Sometimes you need to look before you leap…
I have an amazing gaming group; we get along and have a good time enjoying our hobby. Sure we all do things differently in game, but that is part of the fun of gaming after all. It would be no fun if we all approached a problem set in game the same way, each weekly session...
Tales from the Gazebo – Rebuilding the Gazebo with Plugable
Rebuilding the Gazebo with Plugable
By Cape Rust
As you can tell it has been a long time between Gazebo installments. Excuses are like underarms, everyone has them and they all stink, so no need for any of those….. The table-top gaming industry has continued to move forward and some of those advancements have been really exciting. D&D 5th Edition looms just over the horizon; Pathfinder continues...
Tales from the Gazebo – Saying Goodbye to my 1st DM
Saying Goodbye to my 1st DM
By Cape Rust
Last month the RPG world lost one of its most important assets, and didn’t even realize it. Last month the RPG world lost a gift giver. Last month the RPG world lost a husband, a son, a brother and a friend. Last month my first Dungeon Master died of a sudden and massive stroke. Edward Ames is not a name most of you will know, his isn’t a name that you...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 9
CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 9
By Cape Rust
Here we are again with some variations or themes for the Ranger class. One variation on the class that I have seen get a lot of love is the bounty hunter type Ranger. There are plenty of prestige classes dedicated to this type of Ranger in D&D, but even from level 1 a savvy player can start down this path. Boba Fett was and still is one of the...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 8
CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 8
By Cape Rust
I’ve covered the ”typical” Ranger, now I’ll touch on some variations. The first that comes to mind, and granted this is another obvious one, is the urban ranger. Like his/her wilderness counterpart this ranger excels at the same kinds of things, only in a city setting. The Urban Ranger is fun, if you are in a campaign that mostly takes place...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 7
CLASSics: Ranger Lead the Way, Part 7
By Cape Rust
Now that I’ve gotten finished with the 28 rules, I’m going to start discussing Ranger concepts. Let’s start with the baseline. Well actually, because of the utility of the Ranger, it is just a bit harder to establish a true baseline. So rather than use the word baseline I guess I should talk about the fundamentals of the class. To be frank,...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 6
CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 6
By Cape Rust
Let’s get back into this with the last of the 29 rules Rogers had for Ranging, which is what Rangers do. Rule 23 encourages Rangers to not use the enemies trail when following them, but rather come up with a plan to cut them off and ambush them. The British would say those kinds of tactics were not very cricket, but if it works….. If an adventuring...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 5
Classics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 5
By Cape Rust
Rule 19 recommends avoiding the usual river fords, in case the enemy has discovered them and is waiting in ambush. This seems like it would be common sense, but it ends up making things hard and people don’t always like to take the hard right over the easy wrong. Not using river fords is much easier on lightly armored players; for some reason...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 4
Classics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 4
By Cape Rust
For those of you who have not been following Tales from the Gazebo for the last few weeks, I have been discussing Rangers and I decided to start the discussion with Robert Rogers rules for ranging. These rules were the “doctrine” for his force of Rangers during the French and Indian War. We have finally made it to sweet 16, rule 16, here we...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 3
Classics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 3
By Cape Rust
Who needs preamble when you’ve got rule 8. This one is great; if you make your enemy retreat, be careful when you pursue them, don’t get sloppy and don’t let them get high ground that might make them think they should fight back. As a GM, I have seen plenty of hot pursuits go horribly wrong, because that player with the increased land speed...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 2
Classics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 2
By Cape Rust
Last week I opened my coverage of fantasy Rangers by introducing a brief history of Rogers Rangers and posted Robert’s rules for ranging. Yes it was at least twice as long as my normal articles, but I think posting these rules is important for GMs who want to make their players glad they chose to play a ranger. Having served in the military...
Tales from the Gazebo – CLASSics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 1
Classics: Rangers Lead the Way, Part 1
By Cape Rust
We have found our way to the Ranger. That wilderness warrior, who shoots things with a bow or enters combat lightly, armored wielding two weapons, the woodsman, the tracker, the scout. My first recollection of the Fantasy ranger was Strider (Aragorn) in the Lord of the Rings. I remember thinking how cool he was in the books and animated movies....
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