IRPS NEWSLETTER August 1, 1996. Issue #8 Table of Contents: IRPS Monthly status Report (Michael Popovich ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monthly Columns: IRPS Internet Programming Project (Jared Nielsen ) Fires of the Heart (Thom Allen ) Rambling Thoughts (Kosala Ubayasekara ) DM's Advice (Earl Harrison ) Battle Lust (Aaron Harrier ) Top Ten - Famous Last Words (John "B.J." Tomkins ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monthly Classified Ads: Subject: IRC Roleplaying Subject: Campaign Name: FireFly! Play Testing Subject: Column Submissions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: IRPS Monthly Status Report Author: Michael Popovich ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hey everyone, as usual the club is still here and growing. Our approximate size is about 1300 people, and we seem to be stablizing out for the number of members in the club. Also, IRPS has another Associate gaming club, the Kindred Network, which is an Officially Sanctioned White Wolf club located in England, and we have a web page linked to them. See the associate gaming section of the IRPS Homepage if you're interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: IRPS Internet Programming Project Author: Jared Nielsen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have you considered on-line front-end games? Origin and 3DO have theirs but the worlds are proprietary, closed except to certain "qualifying" members. Palladium and TSR are closing their doors somewhat to free on-line creation as well. I have been developing a Win/95/NT based gaming front end that passes Winsock packets to register information/updates. A virtual world with the downloaded front end software has always been a dream of mine. The ultimate extension of role-playing. I am more than willing to donate asignificant amount of time helping out with a project like this.If anyone is interested in helping Jared with this project please contact him at . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: Fires of the Heart Auhtor: Thom Allen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The tug was almost imperceptible. Almost. Pelonius of Tyr spun quickly around and made a wild grab for the grubby little hand that had reached out from a nearby shadow to lift his belt pouch. Even before he had the tiny arm in his grasp he knew it must have belonged to an amateur. The thieves and pickpockets in Shadow Square were masters of the art and Pelonius rarely made it through this rowdy corner of the city still owning all his possessions. On this night, though, he would not only escape with a full purse, but catch athief, as well. Pelonius yanked on the small limb with the intention of pulling the attached halfling into the brilliant glow of Guthay's celestial lunar light. With shock he looked down, not into the feral face of a halfling, but into the eyes of a dirty human child. A gruff voice reminded Pelonius of his surroundings, "Ah, let the urchin go. You can't reform every soul in this blasted city." Looking around Pelonius exchanged a glance with his burly companion, Maedoc, an overly-muscular barbarian born and raised in the unforgiving desert. He and six others, stood in the cramped alleyway impatiently waiting to finish their trek back to their home, a two-story building located in the heart of Tyr's poverty stricken district known as `the Warrens'. In the days after King Kalak's death, walking these lawless streets during the day was bad enough. At night, leaving the home was tantamount to walking a gauntlet. Pelonius and his friends knew that safety was found only in numbers and the occasional trips out- doors mandated a group this large. Suddenly, the child twisted sharply in Pelonius's grasp. Aided by the greasy filth covering her body, the girl broke free and fled back into the shadows. His first thought was to follow, but a restraining hand on his shoulder made him pause. "Let her go," Maedoc said once more in a calm voice. "You have done much to help these people, my friend, but we must rest. Tomorrow we leave for battle." Maedoc was right. The next day, all eight of them were leaving with the rest of the Tyrian army because the neighboring state of Urik had declared war. The Urikite king, Hamanu had pledged to wrest control of Tyr's iron mines from the struggling, chaotic city. Fortunately, a motley collection of arena gladiators, king's templars and newly emancipated freemen had vowed to stop him. Pelonius and his friends would be among them. The army would need his help, after all. He possessed invaluable skills of healing and medicine that would be of great use during the fight to come. His form of priestly magic had another purpose. For unlike the urban templars, he commanded the magic of fire - the spiritual magic of war. Long ago Pelonius had taken the oath dedicating his life to the purpose of the cleansing elements of flame. His master, Barchan Dune, had been with him then as he had risked his life in the ritual that bonded him to that particular element. As he stood all night within a raging bonfire, protected from the heat by Barchan's own powerful magic, Pelonius vowed to do all that the flames had asked of him. He had survived that ritual out in the desert so may years ago. However, the Lords of Fire had left their mark upon him. His once dirty-brown hair and dull green eyes now flared brightly red. And he saw things a bit different now, as well_things others did not perceive. To Pelonius, this bleak and dead world that he lived in was actually growing. Centuries of abuse by the dreaded defilers and the power-hungry sorcerer-kings had brought Athas to the brink of utter disrepair. However, his order of priests, and numerous other factions had long fought against the destruction. Now, with Kalak dead, Pelonius actually felt the spark of life within the dusty sand underfoot re-kindle and begin to grow. Pelonius remembered his vows, then, and everything he had done to aid in the revival. That night in the bonfire he had promised something to a voice within the flames. He would toil the rest of his life to return the splendor of the great cities to the desolate world of Athas; to replenish the forests that once grew over all that is now dust and hot desert sand. In return, the elemental spirits of fire would grant him power. The magic that flowed in him now was magic for healing, growth and even destruction if needs be. "Come on it's getting late," Maedoc's voice brought him again from his revere. It was near midnight before the small band of Tyr's defenders made it back to their home and settled in for one last cool night behind their beloved city's walls. <<< >>> The following morning, Pelonius and his band of patriots led a grim march through the city streets. The morning's chill had quickly fled and the heat of the dark sun crept in. A greenish-orange haze crowned the sky, just like every other day on Athas, and hot dust clung to freshly aired clothes and filtered into lungs, producing muted coughs from those in the processional. Words were not spoken and were not needed. A shared thought consumed the small party. This could be the last morning they would ever spend in the hellish paradise city-state of Tyr. All eight had consigned their very lives in the defense of their city. A woman's scream shattered the morning silence. Instinctively, everyone in the group turned to face the direction of the commotion, but Pelonius was the first to act. The others watched as he sprinted down a deserted street somewhere in the middle of the maze-like Warrens. Pelonius had rounded the first corner before Maedoc finally spoke, "We best follow. Who knows what trouble he'll get himself into." Griggs, a wily half-elf in the back of the group murmured to himself, "When are we gonna start charging money for services rendered?" Maedoc had only gone halfway down the street in the direction Pelonius had gone when he saw the smoke. A black, billowing cloud of fine ash rose into the sky above the rooftops in front of him. The shouts for help and more screams could now be heard just ahead. Rounding the block, Maedoc and the others saw a squat two-story adobe style building set among a number of other dirty little hovels. A crowd of nearly twenty people had gathered outside to watch the spectacle, and some were actually cheering. A frantic, disheveled woman of indeterminable age stood near the doorway screaming and pointing towards the upstairs window where flames were just beginning to lick the outside sill. The first floor doorway near the woman was completely engulfed in flames and the little group could just make out a stout red-haired man as he dove into the doorway, heedless of the deadly flames. <<<>>> Pelonius had to hurry. One of the benefits of his craft left him immune to the effects of flame, but at best, this power only shielded him for a matter of minutes. As he rushed through the burning doorway, his mind was filled with the image of that woman outside screaming for help. Her baby was trapped upstairs. Pelonius's first impression of the dirty little room was that nothing this poor family owned would be saved. The flames had spread over the entire first floor. However this blaze had started, the fire had indeed grown at a phenomenal rate. As Pelonius studied the room looking for access to the floor above, he became aware of the eyes. Perhaps you would have to be actually looking for them to see them, or perhaps a normal person would not be able to see them at all. A small flight of stairs at the back of the room was his obvious destination, but he found that he could not move, the sight of the eyes held him transfixed. Dozens of them were flitting amongst the flames as if performing some gleeful yet horrible dance. As he stood and stared, the voices came to him. Hardly discernible at first, but then gaining in clarity. "Ooo, ank. ooo tank," they seemed to be saying. Over and over again the voices repeated, popping and crackling in his head. At first the voices held a cadence, keeping rhythm with the dance of the many eyes, then they began to blend together and become a turbulent chorus, "Tank ooo, tank ooo, Pelonius! Unger, eed, unger," they babbled. Pelonius made a break for the stairs. "Feed hunger, feed hunger. Thank you, Pelonius!" the tiny elementals chanted in his head. Ignoring their words, Pelonius reached the second floor. The entire room was nearly ablaze. A small bed near the window was enveloped in flames as more of the eyes spun wildly under and around it. "Thank you!" Burning debris littered the floor and Pelonius had to duck because a thick layer of black smoke covered the ceiling. "Feed!" Finally, Pelonius spotted a small form huddled in a corner opposite the burning bed. Waves of heat and flames nearly hid the child from his view. Although he was still protected from the flames for several more minutes, he knew that his shielding magic would do nothing to save him or the child if the structure it- self collapsed. He reached the child a second later. Her form offered no resistance as he attempted to wrap her body within his robes, but all that r emained of them were charred shreds of cloth hanging from his broad shoulders. Covering the girl with his arms, he raced back across the room to the window and certain safety. Outside, Pelonius could see that the crowd had grown to twice its size since he had entered the building. A few of the king's templars had arrived outside and were instructing three half-giant guards who were busy scooping enormous armfuls of dirt and sand from the street and dumping them into hardened leather buckets. The templars were ordering the buckets dumped on the flames just as Pelonius began lowering the child out the window and into Maedoc's waiting arms below. Just then, a flash of recognition struck Pelonius with a jolt. The tiny arms he now held were the same he held last night in Shadow Square. Beyond the grime and filth that covered her face, Pelonius remembered the face he had seen, as well. But those eyes, the same eyes he locked gazes with last night, were now closed, her form limp and lifeless. Her head lolled to one side and he could see the charred ruin that had once held cherubic beauty. He could sense it now. Her life spirit had indeed fled, she had probably died from the smoke long before the fire had reached her. Pelonius let her arms go and stepped back into the conflagration, his screams of denial bleeding with the screams of a grieving mother below and the roaring flames around him. When Pelonius finally stepped from the burning building, the templars had moved the crowd back down the street, clearing the way for the half-giants to douse the fire. As he reached the crowd, Griggs handed him a spare cloak to cover his nakedness. Normally Pelonius felt a sense of complete inner cleanliness after walking with his element. Now he felt only corruption, betrayed. The throng of people witnessing the event had grown quiet. The sobbing of the woman drowned the street in a morose somberness that none could resist. Quite smoothly a man stepped from the crowd and bent towards the woman. He wore a light blue robe and his white wispy hair was pulled back tight behind his head and held there by a leather thong. On his feet he wore a pair of thick oled sandals as if he were accustomed to walking through mud. The man scooped up the body of the girl, his whispered words heard only by the bereaved mother. "Come my brother, we have work to do," the man said to Pelonius. With a start, Pelonius stared at the stranger and then followed him as he walked back towards the burning house with the child cradled in his arms. The man carried his burden into the narrow alley between the burning house and the building next door to it, dodging falling embers and showers of dirt and sand. When Pelonius caught up, the man had reached the rear of the house. A small cluttered yard was all that was back there. With a sudden kick, the man forced open the crude wood and bone door leading back into the still burning house. "No need to build a pyre, my brother," he said and laid the child's body in the doorway. "But I'll need your help here." The man gestured towards the flames billowing from the open doorway and Pelonius did as he was bidden, easing the body back into the blistering heat. Without thought, Pelonius began his rites of the dead. His words seemed hollow and meaningless, as he spoke to the fire lapping at the empty vessel at his feet. "Lords of the Eternal Embers, take this now so that one day another may return to this world, stronger than before." He ended his heartless chant only to hear another voice behind him echoing his words with all of his lost conviction and more. A warm gust of wind rippled at Pelonius's new cloak, fanning the flames like a smithy's bellows. As he stepped back out of the doorway, he turned to face the mysterious stranger. The older man spoke first, "The conflict in you rages like these wind-fed flames. Your heart is a noble one, I can sense that." "I feel as if my whole life had been dedicated to the spirits of fire," Pelonius rasped, "yet today my eyes have been opened to the monstrosities I have served." The stranger smiled, "Your consciousness and your heart work together to tell you what is right and wrong, my brother," he said, "And you choose to follow the path of the just. Yet the spirits that you serve, the very spirits that give you the power to weather the inferno, to heal the sick, this power knows no laws nor morals, only hunger." The man spread his arms wide. "They are tools, my friend. Only tools. You may freely use them as they would you. But the craftsman decides if his work will be of fine quality or not, not the tools." At this, Pelonius turned back towards the doorway. The rippling breeze had continued to blow while the two had talked and now the body that had once housed the spirit of a beautiful young girl was in ashes. Only blackened bones remained, and by the heat of the blaze in front of him, Pelonius guessed that even those would be ashes soon. After a moment of pondering what the stranger had said, Pelonius amended, "But the skill of the craftsman and his tools determines his worth, isn't that right?" When the man did not reply, Pelonius turned to face him only to find the man had vanished and not a trace of his presence or his departure remained. Pelonius stood for a moment longer, lost in his troubled thoughts, then turned and slowly walked back to rejoin his friends back on the street. <<<>>> The crowd had dispersed before Pelonius reappeared from around the side of the still smoldering house. The grieving mother was nowhere to be found. The half-giants continued to heap dirt and sand onto the ruins, the aftermath of their labors had produced huge craters in the street. No words were spoken as the group of eight once more took up their now much more solemn march towards the army's mustering site outside the gates of Tyr. To six members of the group, another life had been culled away by the harsh world they all lived in. To Pelonius, an innocent spark that once was a beautiful life was snuffed out long before it had the chance to grow into a flame, and he couldn't help but think that somehow he was responsible. But to Maedoc, a friend was in pain, struggling with some inner turmoil that he could not help to fight. The two had been through many scrapes in the past and by the might of his fists, Maedoc had always seen the other through it safely. Today his friend suffered and there was nothing he could do about it, let alone fully understand his pain. Maedoc stood for a minute more in the hot and dusty street while the others plodded away, and he surveyed the ruined structure before him. As his gaze wandered to the smoke smudged sky, he thought he saw the figure of a man floating high up between Tyr's golden spires where only the Kestrels belonged. It was just a flash of blue garb and wispy white hair that had caught his attention, but a second look revealed nothing. His eyes had deceived him. Thinking the illusion must have been a result of his liberal celebrating the night before, Maedoc shook his head and mumbled to himself, "I've got to remind myself to take it easy on that Mericlean wine." With a heavy heart, Maedoc turned and jogged back down the street to catch up with the others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: Rambling Thoughts Author: Kosala Ubayasekara ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Coming Of the AD&D Core Rules CD-ROM There I was browsing through my favorite fantasy shop the other day, when I chanced upon this month's DRAGON magazine. Much to my amazement I discovered it came with a demo CD-ROM of the much longed for AD&D Core Rules CD-ROM from TSR. So I thought I would take a look, and having been sufficiently impressed I decided to share the cool news with the lot of you. The demo CD-ROM itself doesn't do much but it does give you a clean idea of what the final product will be like. Note that the final product might turn out somewhat differently than I describe it, since they are still refining and perfecting the program. But here is how I found the program. Some of the details of this description came from the article about the CD-ROM in DRAGON issue #231. Here are all the features that will be included: * A very detailed character generator. Every single feature of the character generation method is incorporated. You create the whole character by clicking the appropriate selection with the mouse and everything from rolling the statistics to choosing spells and proficiencies is there. You can even click on an option for more information about that option during the selection phase (Non-weapon proficiencies etc.) You can print the character sheet in full color if you have access to color printers and even choose a background and/or border from the ones made available. * If you already have a character then you can type in the statistics yourself without going through the character generation phase, you can update existing characters, view character sheets without printing them etc. * There is Books on-line feature. The Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, Monstrous Manual, Arms and Equipment and Tome of Magic are all completely online on the CD-ROM (the demo only contains limited excerpts from these books). The article in DRAGON says that all the books will be completely cross-referenced and hyperlinked in the final product. You can even bring the text into a word processor and reorganize and rewrite parts of the rules books to reflect house rules etc. if you wish! And then save the database with your changes! There is also a key topic search facility. * A series of invaluable DMing aids. These include the Handout Generator, the Treasure Generator, Monster Generator, Encounter generator, NPC generator, Map Maker, Dice rolls and Table rolls. The handout generator, as described in the article in DRAGON, is a collection of pre-formatted templates for creating handouts. They can be printed with a variety of medieval looking borders and styles. * The treasure generator allocates and identifies treasure. The treasure database is readily customized and treasure not suitable to a campaign can be temporarily removed and will then be ignored by the random generation process. * The monster generator is used to create your own monsters by answering a series of questions. * The NPC generator is the fast way to generate NPC's. It will let you develop them yourself or plonk them out totally automatically if you so wish. It is even supposed to be able to name them if you cannot be bothered to pick a name yourself. * The encounter generator sounds snazzy! It is supposed to be able to provide a user with lists of possible foes and monster encounters after the user has entered in the type of terrain and level of play the encounter should take place on. The program can even automatically generate monsters randomly, complete with hit points, experience etc. for pre-assembled encounters. * The Map Maker is a truly wonderful utility that makes drawing and maintaining maps trivial. You can draw both exterior and interior maps, complete with icons in full color, descriptions, encounters, monsters etc. Encounters generated in the Encounter generator can be keyed to the maps. Just clicking on the appropriate encounter on the map shows you a description of the encounter. The same goes for monsters and treasure! It is also easily updated and after drawing an interior map such as a dungeon you are supposed to be able to render it into a 3D, first person perspective view, which you can walk in! * An on-line help for all the features is provided in the shape of wizard that you can click on, for more help on a particular screen. This product is being developed for TSR by Evermore Entertainment and the final version will be released first at GEN CON and will be available world-wide by September, according to DRAGON magazine. The information for this article was taken from DRAGON issue #231 and my own examination of the demo CD-ROM. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: DM's Advice Author: Earl Harrison ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want to thank everyone for the responses I have received regarding my utilities package. As of this writing I have not received any good or bad remarks back from you. How about a few? Criticize please, it will only help my package get better. I have started writing some of the additions I talked about, so if you want them wait a bit longer and then e-mail me for the current additions. The GNSB proved to be a bit bigger than my program can handle so unless you out there can come up with a solution to the problem I am afraid the GNSB will be out of the picture. For those of you wanting the passwords you should have them by the time you read this. To be a great DM you must have a few essential tools. 1. Have all books and rules your group uses 2. Knowledgeable of rules 3. Have improvisation skills 4. Create NPC's 5. Role-Playing Skills 6. Get All players involved 7. Handle Power Mongers 8. Character/Player Knowledge 9. Imagination First and foremost you must have access to all of the books and rules that your group use. If you are going to be the main DM for your group I recommend that you either hold the books at your house or that you go and buy the books that you need. About five sets of dice are needed also. A few extra twenties and sixes are always helpful. Next you have to be very knowledgeable of all of the rules and to know where to look them up if ever challenged by your players. Have the books handy at the table when you play. Don't have them memorized word for word, just be able to tell the players what the rule is and where it is if you need to. Be very knowledgeable of the spells and magic items that your players use. It is not to much to ask to have your players jot down all of their items and spells a day or two before the game. This way you have a chance to go through the books and really get to know their items and spells. Just to protect you and your game. It is also not to much for you to throw out an item or two. It is rare that a mage have two staves of power. With spells on the other hand, little can be done unless you want to destroy pages of their books or make them lose their memories when they start to cast the spell. Next, be able to improvise as needed. Not all players will go down the straight and narrow path you have created for them. Be able to make something up on the fly and lead them back to your adventure. If you make the players think this is part of the game and not just something that you are making up they will think that you are a better DM than you actually are. Be ready for these times, they will happen. A possible impromptu might be the characters going out the east gate instead of the north gate. There they head south a bit when you had them going straight north. Put a jungle out there or a very nasty creature that you know they can't defeat. They might take the hint. The jungle idea works well if you can get them lost. When lost they don't know where you are leading them. Lead them back north again and the jungle will clear out a bit. NPC's are another thing some DM's don't do much with. I am not going to tell you to create every NPC in the city. Just create enough of them to make the players feel like they are in a real city. Keep the adventure going here to. Pickpockets, caravans, carnivals and street urchins always come in handy when just cruising through the city. Have royalty come by them and watch their reaction. The party could create a very powerful enemy or a very powerful friend. An adventure is just waiting to happen with this one. Don't always let them get to the bar and start a fight and then escape from the very powerful NPC chasing them. Lead them into more interesting NPC's. Perhaps the gypsies have an adventure for them. They must travel with them and they get to meet some of the gypsies and make a few good allies. Even let them take a few of the NPC's as characters. Then you have control over what the character has and doesn't have. When they encounter a new NPC have fun with the person. Give him an attitude! Role play the person. Don't just be mundane about him. Just three descriptions about a person and the player can instantly visualize the person. Give them a race, a few things they are wearing and body structure. The players can get into something like this. I have had NPC's that the players just love to come back and visit. Role-Playing is another key variable in becoming a good DM. You must be able to act out what is happening with the monsters and NPC's alike. Don't be shy about acting like the monster. I am not saying to actually get out of your chair and dance around the room. Noises, facial and arm movements are usually enough to get most players into it. Make sure that if you are role-playing your part that they are doing the same with their characters. Don't just let them sit there and be boring. After all this is a role-playing game! I have a few players that really get anxious when they are in the heat of battle or when they are really into a NPC. Encourage the new players in the group to role play. There is nothing to be shy about if everyone is doing it and it starts with the dungeon master. They are the one that is controlling the game. He is the one telling the story. However the DM is reacting to the game is the way the players will react to the game. Get the boring players involved. You know the one guy over there doodling on the back of his character sheet. If he is not paying any attention to you then that means he is not having any fun. Have him be attacked or accosted by one of your drunk NPC's. Have a little kid come running up to him and grab something from him. Now watch him get into the game. The way you handle this is not to make it into a very big deal in the whole scheme of the game. It is only to get that player involved in the game more. The main objective of the game is for everyone to have fun and not just a few players. The ones that are constantly reacting to the DM are the players that the DM must do something with. If you find one player constantly in your face have him fall into a trap or get captured by the city watch. Now that he is away from the party there is no need for him to react with the others. Remind him of this also. Handling power hungry players is a very key item to becoming a good DM. Most players at one time or another will get attached to a favorite character and want him to achieve "God-hood." What I mean is they want this character to be able to walk through the monster manuals and kill everything without getting a scratch. The job of the DM is to prevent this from happening. Do not give out to many magic items and if you do make sure they have a purpose in being where they are. Make your players use their gold for obscure things like bribes, food and rentals. What I mean by rentals is to make them sleep at the inn, buy a wagon, horse or pack animals. If they insist on getting cannon fodder NPC's make them pay high prices for them, especially if they have been to this town before with none of the henchmen with them that they had bought here previously. If they want to buy magic items be wary of this. This is only the power coming at them. They want the items without adventuring for it. Make the prices be double or greater for really good items. If you allow them to buy try to have a plan to either destroy or take the item from them. After all they did not earn the item they merely bought it. Easy come easy go. One of the hardest things for the DM to control is the character/player knowledge thing. Yeah, your players all know the description of the mighty orc or they know that the flapping of wings from behind them is that dragon come chasing them again. One thing that I like to do is an old trick that TSR taught me long ago. Change the descriptions around a bit. Why can't you have a mutant orc that is green and only has one arm in the middle of his chest? Will your players be afraid of this abomination? Hopefully they will, and your lowly orc can get the first attack and maybe do some damage before they realize that this creature is no threat. Maybe they may even run from it. Boy won't he have a story to tell when he gets back to camp! Why can't that dragon have a silence spell cast or like the orc, be mutated or have a polymorph spell cast. There are endless things you can do to change what the players know. It is usually not enough to remind the players that their characters have never seen an orc. It is more fun to play this out as if the characters have not ever seen an orc. Another one for this is an old NPC. The new characters may never have seen him but the players may have run across him hundreds of times with other characters. It is your job to make the NPC not know the characters and make him behave as such. Another thing to do is not let the players let their characters know each other. A few can but not all of them. The players might tell the NPC that they know so and so and ask him if they ever heard of him. To get the players going is to have the NPC tell the characters something that he does not like about the other character. They will usually leave this guy alone. Just don't let them pick on the NPC, have him alert the city watch of troublesome characters. The last thing I want to talk about is your imagination. Yeah you might be able to visualize the happenings going on but can the players. They can not see into your mind. You have to describe what is going on around them. What they see, smell, hear and feel. You cannot give them emotion but you can set the stage for them to feel the emotion, may it be love, hate or somewhere in between. You have to describe the surroundings and the people. Just three descriptions about a person and the player can instantly visualize the person. Give them a race, a few things they are wearing and body structure. For example the chubby old human threw back his cloak to reveal his overgrown belly. Most of you instantly saw this guy and probably a few chuckled at what you saw. I know the good DM's out there are still going on with a short story of the guy. After a brief description give the person something to do. The surroundings sometimes are a bit tricky. "The sloping meadow led into a thick jungle". Sometimes this just does not get it. You need to add some wind and a few smells and sounds to this. I will let you finish this one off for yourself. You get the idea though. Imagination is something we all have and most rarely use it. As a DM you must use it all of the time. Don't let the players leave your story behind because of a lack of imagination. You may have the best game ever going and without the descriptions of the surroundings and the people they are interacting with they will be lost. I hope I have not rambled on to much with this but I enjoy being the DM for our group and this is just some of the things that I do as a DM to keep my players coming back. I hope you agree with just a few of the things I have said and maybe some of you out there were thinking of becoming a DM and with my words may have gotten the help that you needed. I do want to thank Kosala Ubayasekara for inspiring me to write this article. He opened my eyes and made me want to add a little something to what he had written last month. This article is dedicated to him and his wonderful writing. I just hope I have done just as good of a job as he had done last time. Until Next Time Earl Harrison harrison@comsys.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: Battle Lust Author: Aaron Harrier ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BATTLE LUST Atop the hill he sat and stared wondering where he might have erred. When there came a sound from far below what terrors in him it did bestow!! He had heard it only once before from deep below a dungeon floor. The monster that made that horrid note sing from the depth of the abyss came it's horrible sting!! But fear is now over in this noble man he will defeat this thing-he knows that he can! His heart beats strong as he sees the beast His battle lust is now complete. Sword in hand helmet in place he stands and sets a hurried pace. The monster comes on just as fast he has defeated many in his past!!! He never felt the final blow just fell backwards into the snow The battle lust had finally died, he accepted fate with even strides The monster just smiled and few away, he leaves NO foe for another day! But he would never forget that noblest man for he was the only one who hadn't ran... Aaron Harrier ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Column Name: Top Ten - Famous Last Words Author: John "B.J." Tomkins ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Top Ten Famous Last Words 10. "Hey guys! Look at the pretty flower." 9. "Now where did that thief go?" 8. "DM's never use Piercers!" 7. "I turn the Lich!" 6. "They're only Orcs." 5. "I pickpocketed the Vampire." 4. "Did I make my saving throw?" 3. "I, Samford the Mage, will charge into battle." 2. "I cast Fireball on the Ogres next to me." And the number one Famous Last Word; 1. Ya know, as a DM you suck!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Classified Ads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: IRC Roleplaying Author: John "B.J." Tomkins I am looking for players in an IRC game based in the lands of Greyhawk. Be a part of the group that makes headlines in the most famous newspaper across the Flanaess (okay, the only newspaper). Stop by #BJSROOM at either us.undernet.org or nemesis.acronet.net on Wednesdays, 9 p.m. EST and say Hi and read about the action going on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Campaign Name: FireFly! Play Testing Author: Web Page Location: http://www.peinet.pe.ca./raven/firefly/ Description: FireFly! is the first of several PBM/PBEM strategy games, to be published by Visceral Games. FireFly! is a ship to ship "arena combat" game. In FireFly!, you are the Captain of a spacecraft you design yourself, pitted against other Captains. There is one computer controlled opponent, known as the Rabbit Ship. The Rabbit Ship is your moving target for the duration of each Round. It may prove to be the least of your worries. For those of you who require a set up, you're in the far future where elite pilots are at the top of the food chain. They get the luxury goods, the best looking dates, and the best pay. However, they are constantly bickering over which of them is "the best" pilot, so they compete in FireFly! Their Commanders consider it to be good training. The FireFly Home Page has a complete set of rules on-line, and sample play aids. Interested Play Testers should check out the appropriate link at the page for further information on how to become a playtester. Cheers. Dale Poole, Raven Information Systems dpoole@bud.peinet.pe.ca * www.peinet.pe.ca/raven/ * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Column Submissions Author: John "B.J" Tomkins I am taking submissions of campaign journals, notes and so forth that are entertaining, funny or enlightening. They should be in context of the genre of game being played and from a one person point of view, as if the person were relaying the story around a camp fire! Whether the camp fire is made with wood or nuclear waste... Please direct these to John "BJ" Tomkins at . A few will be chosen to be published each month in a new IRPS newsletter column called "Fireside Talk".