Hollow Earth Expeditions meets David Acosta (seven years in the making)

Seven years ago I posted that one of the games I really wanted to play was Hollow Earth Expeditions. Thanks to the Google+ Hollow Earth Expedition community and Roll20, I may finally have a chance to roll those funky Ubiquity dice and kill a Tyrannosaurus rex with my trusty Colt .45 (or maybe not). Here is a couple of glamour shots of my Character David Acosta.

David was a Major in the Army He served in an Engineer Battalion in both the Philippines and Nicaragua, as well as Stateside. he resigned his commission (Though he's still a Reservist) and started working for the Government as a Civil Engineer. He is extremely intelligent- possessing not only degrees in Engineering but also in History. He is especially fascinated with the Engineering marvels of Ancient Rome. He is considered an expert in his field. For more information on David, please refer to his semi-completed Character sheet below.

A song in my head this morning

How I spent my summer vacation (My summer romance with Pathfinder)

I have three minions, one in College, one entering High School, and the third in Middle school.
Summer vacation usually means I have to find something for the two younger ones to do. Last year they tried their hands at water polo. I had forgotten how rigorous ans physical that damn game was, it's like aquatic rugby. (props to all you Water polo players out there).

This summer  the boys demanded something less rigorous.   I found that one of the local game stores was sponsoring Pathfinder Society (PFS) games.

PFS is everything the old AD&D Living City was and more. you create a Pathfinder character using their sanctioned character creation rules and then you play in modules tiered to your characters level. The modules are the same for most levels they are just tiered so that the fierceness of the opponents is somewhat in line with the abilities of the players to kick their asses.  The rewards are tiered as well so that a player in a lower level tier may get a Mithral chain shirt, a character in a higher tier will get a Mithral chain shirt +1.

PFS games at this store are mostly held in the evenings. But there are also games held around noontime on Mondays and Tuesdays.  I was afraid that it was going to be a hard sell to "She who must be obeyed", but it wasn't at all - the price was right (free) and I would be there with them (yer damn right i'd be there with them-Woo hoo!).

I convinced the boys to play regular fighters. One of my boys is playing a Dwarven Warrior with a penchant for axes. The other is playing a fighter specializing in archery. Nothing fancy, just a guy with an axe and a guy with a bow. Now that the two of them have a few levels and a ton of feats under their belts they are serious ass-kicking machines. The armored Dwarf is like a Sherman tank and the archer is a sniper with a .50 cal rifle.

We've been having so much fun that my oldest son has joined us during his summer break. He and I  play a supporting role as a pair of Bards. Mine is a Keshite who's specialty is stand up comedy,using Yo' Momma jokes to belittle our foes and inspire our comrades. My oldest is a Vudrani who is a true Sitar Hero.

My boys are getting older and their varied interests are becoming apparent, so seeing them all at the same table,working together and having fun is priceless.
Best Summer ever.

Trying to love Pathfinder

     The following was a Google+ post a few months back. It serves as a preface to tomorrows post:

A few months ago a good friend of mine suggested we get our kids together to game. He had been playing in a Pathfinder Society group at one of our game stores and wanted to run Pathfinder for us.

I was a little apprehensive since I tried Pathfinder several years ago and found that, at the time, it was too complicated for my boys. I suggested Castles and Crusades, but he had a Pathfinder campaign module all picked out and was itching to run it, so we went with Pathfinder.  It turns out the boys enjoy it, I’m okay with it and I’m trying to like it more cause soon it will be my turn to run something. 

     I don’t mind saying Pathfinder is a bit overwhelming, with all its situational rules, conditional rules, advanced combat feats, stacking on feats and then traits and more.  I think part of the problem is that my buddy and his daughter started in Society play where it seems players start grooming their characters at first level for eventual stardom at higher levels. They will take three levels of this and then switch classes to something else in order to get a certain advantage later down the line. Frankly without my Hero Lab program I would be totally lost.
    
 I mentioned this to another friend and he laughed and pointed out that I ran AD&D Living City and GURPS games and there were plenty of rules and power gamers trying to break the game there as well.  Point taken.
      
 So I’m reading the Pathfinder rules, reading the world-book, and basically trying to fall in love or at least start to like the system.  There is a lot to admire, especially the job they did with the world, they threw just about every sub-genre of fantasy in a blender and made it work smoothly.
    
 It’s clear that in my corner of the world Pathfinder is the now and near future of gaming. I have tried to get AD&D, Castles & Crusades, and Dicey Tales games going online and in real life and find only one or two people even vaguely interested. But someone mentions playing Pathfinder and the crowd starts forming.

Lazy Sunday Photo dump

3D Virtual Tabletop for Ipad and Android

I run across a lot of crap while looking for useful apps for my Ipad. 3d Virtual Tabletop is one of the best gaming apps I've seen. I've used it myself and it works great!

http://www.3dvirtualtabletop.com/index.html

Google +

I've made several efforts over the years to get involved in Facebook, but I could never really get into it.  I'm not sure what it was but Facebook just didn't work for me.  I did re-connect with a few friends from the past, which was cool, but all the poking and prodding that Facebook did to encourage you to post, answer "friends", play farm and Mafia games, and all sorts of other nonsense was a big turn-off.

By contrast Google+ pretty much leaves me alone. I've also noticed that G+ is becoming increasingly popular with my fellow gamer's. Gamer's and other nerdy types such as myself seem to have gravitated towards Google+, and with the recent addition to communities, interaction with folks who share you interests has become a wonderful addition to the various things G+ does. Below are the communities I currently belong to.

As you can see the majority of my interests on Google+are skewed towards gaming. So if anyone is trying to reach me on Facebook, chances are it wont happen. But if you stop by the Pulp gamer's international community, I'll be right there at the door to let you in.