Lmst

Hey Folks! We are delaying the games of the year show due to scheduling conflicts, so instead, here is a brief intermission show.

-- #StarCitizen
-- #Pokemon Legends Z-A
-- #Hytale
-- #OrcaCon
-- #Starfinder
-- #VoidMiner
-- #Retro Handhelds
-- #PathOfExile2

https://aggronaut.com/2026/01/18/aggrochat-553-a-brief-intermission/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxZPFzcRj8

#ARPG #MMO #MMORPG #VideoGames #Games #Gaming #Podcast

Lore collage: Inspirations, disasters and conventions

The irregular column where I share links to the things that inspire me is back!

Today, I’m writing while a third atmospheric river in a week passes over my home state. It offered a new twist, a levee break near where I go shopping and attend Sounders practices. The repair seems to be going well and the flooding there is only bad enough to wet parking lots. Up in the North Sound things are not simple, nor easy. Their recovery is going to take a long time. The communities up there will learn on each other and those of us that can help, because it’s bad.

Working in a field adjacent to disaster prep I’ve given some talks about how RPGs can help people learn what to do in crisis through short games that are D&D adjacent (ability+skill/class, d20). Next month I’m giving a different but similar talk at OrcaCon in SeaTac.

Attendees can find it in their schedule as: Special Event: RPGs as Natural Disaster Prep Tools.

Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Volcanoes! Learn how to prepare using TTRPGs. Themed around community, and helpful for memory retention, these small, educational TTRPG games can help a community prepare for the natural hazards that are impacting them more than ever.

There’s obviously going to be an example about floods, bomb cyclones and atmospheric rivers too. If you are in the South Sound come to OrcaCon. I’d love to meet you.

A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry takes a deep dive, in series, into the lives of peasants. The hard work of the pre-Industrial Age by those nameless families who make up the majority of those humans who have ever lived is modeled and described.

Much of it runs counter to my previously cited works about the amount of leisure time available that should inspire characters to have hobbies.

There is almost no dedicated leisure time during the day. There is a regularity to the cycle, a monotony – each day more or less like the one before it and the one after – one imagines it was comforting to some peasants and deeply constricting to others, shaped by the continuing demands of peasant labor (itself structured by the heavy extraction regime they operate under, which consumes the leisure time they might otherwise have).

But your characters should still have hobbies — even if they are peasants.

Modern D&D is mostly in a near industrial format that allows for specialization.
Wide magic definitely enables specialization and light.
It’s more fun to have.
ACOUP also points out that days may not have breaks, but weeks likely do and there are fest periods annually.

In any case, for those long days in the fields or the long hours of spinning thread while keeping one eye on the large pot and the other on the tiny tot, our peasants would be looking forward to the next festival, the next feast day, the next major event…

But also, games are common, everywhere.

Ancient Maya game board with unique mosaic design discovered in Guatemala

This board is different than previous finds in that it was built in to the floor in a mosaic rather than on benches or tables. It was large and meant to be permanent.

People like to play games.

Sometimes people play games to avoid thinking about the Apocolypse.

When You Say, “Thermonuclear War,” I Think You Mean “the Call to Adventure”! The Twilight: 2000 Tabletop Role-Playing Game and the Postapocalyptic World’s Imaginary Spaces

Or to learn about how to behave during natural disasters.

A few months ago this beat wound up in my reader. I still haven’t used it in a game, but need to do that soon.

https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/new-monster-blighted-bird-of-prey/

Now, normally I love to add more dragons to a fantasy world — I prefer Dragons of Wales for my non-traditional dragon art.

What if you wanted an armadillo looking thing with a humanish face smoking something?

The history of oddities that aren’t natural beasts is vast and open to your use. Public Domain Review shared a selection of them recently.

Does your fantasy world include smog-punk goblins, artificers, or take place in Eberron?

You may need Gadgets From A Parallel World by Pantograph.

A tube amp wireless router? A binary code typewriter with only a zero and one? A record player that can play 4 records – vocals, guitar, base and drum – at the same time? These are all gadgets that almost seem like they could exist, but of course they don’t.

The binary typewriter is going into my world right now.

Work passed 300 disaster relief and humanitarian aid NGOs supported for free. I’m proud to work at a place that lives its values and helps humanity. Factal produces free resources for the public too.

#blightedBird #DnD #dragons #games #hobbies #Links #monsters #OrcaCon

Words "Lore collage" and "A collection of D&D and genre links to inspire your gaming" with an image of a full moon partially obscured by trees with an inset d20

Dice Goblins

Our son mentioned that he and a friend at school have been discussing how they are both dice goblins. I’m not sure we strictly meet the definition, but we do like a pretty set and the vendors at cons (or even our local game store) can be dangerous.

I thought it would be fun to go through all the dice we’ve accumulated through the years, going all the way back to my original set that I got when I started playing D&D circa 1998.

A small hoardThe original teamCurrent heavy hittersPike for scale

There is of course some ridiculousness in having this many since right now only he is playing an in person game; most of my play is online, though I do sometimes still use dice locally for secret rolls. But there’s a story behind each of these, and my oldest dice introduced randomness to a lot of epic adventures.

Starting in the upper left where the first row is 1-10, the second row is 11-21, and the third row is 22-30, we have:

My original set, an earth elemental theme of green text on brown speckles. These are Chessex but I’m not certain where I bought them… probably a local game store. Sadly lost one of the d10s at some point.
As my group played more in high school, I realized I needed at least one more d20, so got this Chessex white text on clear set. Not sure what happened to the d10s. Kinda hard to read.
As I got into DMing more I picked up a Chessex set of white pips on red d6 for damage rolls and the like. There were 12, looks like I’m down one.
At some point (still in high school) I got these two white text on red d10 to use as trackers/counters. These might have come from a friend’s hoard?
This black text on orange swirl Chessex set is what I think of as my “new” set from college. Never mind that peak 3e playing time was over 20 years ago. Got in part because the clear set was a mistake and too hard to see!
A single black text on white hexadecimal die (similar to a d10 but with more faces on each half) that was a gift from my old roommate and fellow D&D player Emery. I should use it for generating encryption keys or something.
This set of six black pips on orange d6 with little kobold faces in place of the 1s was a Kickstarter reward for backing Kobolds Ate My Baby! (All Hail King Torg!)
A huge black text on dire metal d20 that is super heavy. I almost never roll it for fear of damaging things. I think I got it from a vendor at PAX East in 2011 or 2012?
This gold text on blue and purple swirled set was my wife’s first set and her first step towards dice avarice. Pretty sure it’s another Chessex we got so she could join me and my friends for a few one shots when we lived in Boston.
These extra white pips on blue green swirl d6s are also Andrle’s, gotten around the same time.
A set of six white text on blue d6 with little rocket logos in place of the 1s that I got for being a member of the Maximum Fun podcast network.
A single white text on light blue d6 with the little Angel logo in place of the 1 that I got for participating in the Extra Life fundraiser a few years ago.
A red text on black dire d20 that kid got at the Wizards of the Coast booth at OrcaCon in 2020, just before COVID.
A fungible token decision making coin my sister got me for Christmas a few years ago. It came with a whole joke pamphlet about how, unlike NFTs, it actually exists and can be held.
This white text on green and blue swirls set is our child’s first set, a Chessex we got at Blue Highway when we started playing together. Not sure what happened to the d4, it’s probably in the house as a caltrop.
A pink faces and metal text and edge dice set that is my wife’s and was also bought at our local shop. She wanted a pretty but heavier set to play with.
We got this light white marble set free with a large Die Hard Dice order, which also included the dice trays shown above. I think these are intended to be drawn on? We’ve been afraid to even though the inset text is currently almost unreadable.
Another freebie: gold text on black semi translucent set.
This white text on aqua set also free from Die Hard.
Free again: black text on black swirls set.
Kid picked a new set for himself with black text on blue-purple. It is called Eldritch Blast and glows in the dark.
Gold text on dark purple and pink swirls, Rose Gold, was Andrle’s choice.
Four different dire metal d20s from the Mythica line. The big ones can be split in half to have swapped sides and also glow in the dark. There is a blue a purple Spellbinder Nightfall, a pink and purple Spellbinder Fae Queen, a mostly pink AfterDark Neon Haze, and a mostly blue AfterDark Neon Rain.
I picked this single white metal Reticle Zenith Clone d20. The extra outlines on each face look cool and go well with my other sets.
My big set from this 2023 haul was this expanded Lumina Carbon Knight set that includes a second d20 and 4d6. The black outlined text is inset into the dark brushed metal. This is my new primary set and I love the heavier roll even if they’re technically Star Wars themed.
This year I joined a Dungeon Crawl Classics online play game with folks I met in a Star Trek podcast Discord. Our DM sent us all a set of the unusual DCC dice. Mine are white text on dark blue.
Kid had requested mini dice for his birthday this year, so Oma bought him these white text on translucent blue Critlings High Tide dice. (We helped.)
We realized we all “needed” a mini set, so Andrle grabbed this white text on translucent purple Critlings Iris Moon.
As part of this new mini dice order they gave us a freebie: a set of recycled material mini dice that are gold text on kinda dark translucent yellow.
We also selected this Critlings Indigo Sparkle set which is white text on dark blue-purple sparkles. Spaaaaaace!

(The observant will note a few of these got arranged out of order, because I didn’t think through these full timing details until writing the post.)

What are your favorite dice sets? How do you avoid accumulating a draconic hoard of them?

#collection #dd #dice #dungeonCrawlClassics #games #orcacon #paxEast #rpgs

Various dice sets arranged in a rough grid on the floor. The foreground set featured is a dark metal set, almost pewter-like, with two d20s and four d6s

Two rectangular folding lined dice rolling trays sit on a floor, both pretty full. The left one has more red tones and the right one has more blue tones, by chance.

One set of polyhedral RPG dice, green text on dark brown. There are six, the double digit d10 is missing.

#OrcaCon day 2! Kicking off with Gaslands. Made it through the pack and headed for the gate!

Max Max style miniature cars in a circular arena with giant silos in the center. The arena is divided into quarters by truss bridges, except the bridge nearest the viewer has collapsed on one end. One car is headed for the collapsed bridge while three more are in a tangle on the other side of the arena

#OrcaCon game two was the #Root #RPG. My Lizard paladin wound up getting in a bar fight stabbing the leader of his old cult, but then still going on pilgrimage with him…

Root character sheet for Jexri the Champion, a mighty, good-hearted but not so subtle lizard

A round hotel conference table with Root RPG materials on it. The GM appears lost in thought, while another player looks on.

Kicking off #OrcaCon with a little Action Science #AtomicRobo style

Round hotel conference table covered in sheets of paper, index cards, and a dice tower. The GM is looking away from the camera talking to a player

Atomic Robo RPG character sheet for Bao Lang, Tesladyne's second most dangerous employee

Set up to teach some #VampireRivals at #OrcaCon so if you want to play, stop on by.

https://tabletop.events/conventions/orcacon-2024/schedule/199

https://tabletop.events/conventions/orcacon-2024/schedule/200

Happy New Year! We are back for Season 11 of #AggroChat

This week we discussed:
-- #DaveTheDiver meets #Dredge
-- #SuperMarioRPG remake
-- #MonsterHunterWorld
-- @belghast returning to #WorldOfWarcraft after three years away
-- #PathOfExile and the financialization of everything in Trade League
-- #FinalFantasyXIV #Dawntrail reveals
-- #OrcaCon

AggroChat #462 - Copying Homework
https://aggronaut.com/2024/01/07/aggrochat-462-copying-homework/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELgJID_Xvg

#Podcast #ARPG #MMO #MMORPG #VideoGames #Games #Gaming

Anyone gonna be at #orcacon this weekend? Cuz... I will! I'll be demoing Oscacomp's Item Shop on Saturday morning, a casual card game based on English grammar rules. (I promise it's fun!)

An overhead shot of the cards at the end of an actual round, with a TON of cards in play. "Freakin' overwrought small, narrow and pint-sized stained and moth-eaten aging and vintage argent human, flame and Orcish vengeance, 'persuasion,' and mud cape."

As always thank you to @greenroninpub@twitter.com for coming to #OrcaCon & showcasing some amazing games. I managed to snag one of the limited editions Blue Rose books! https://instagr.am/p/CnLVRoXpSps/

Managed to finally meet the amazing @gregtito@twitter.com at #OrcaCon. You can feel the positive vibes from him, even as you approach. https://instagr.am/p/CnK7PKDpmn8/