Pinned Post: Looking at My Stats and Revisiting My #RPG #Copyright Posts

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The quarantine has me doing a bit of blogging lately, which means I’m also looking at my stats. With respect to my posts regarding copyright and RPGs:

The posts are broken into two separate issues. Part 1 and part 2 are about the copyrightability of RPG stat blocks, and part 3 (not relevant here) is about the OGL. As to the first issue, to date, part 1 represents ~30% of text by page count and has 17,037 hits (edit 10/20/2020: 17,667 hits), whereas part 2 (70%) has only 704 hits (edit 10/20/2020: 802 hits). Moreover, part 1 spends much of its text on going over basic copyright principles that don’t represent the actual argument. It’s clear by the stats and the basis of the criticism itself (often peppered with personal insults) that the vast majority of (non-lawyer) criticism I’ve received is from people that have read only 30% (at most) of that argument. I know it’s long, convoluted, and at times poorly written (mostly because it targets two very different audiences); and you’re under no obligation to read it (or even care about it). However, it’s all connected, and if you’re going to criticize it, you should probably understand it first.

Or not. Free speech and all that.

Endnotes:

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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)

FASA Star Trek RPG VTT

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I’ve created a VTT (virtual table-top) for the FASA Start Trek Starship Combat system. This may not appeal to the few of you that still play the game because this is not intended to turn the RPG into a video game. It’s intended to facilitate online play for the RPG. You could certainly use it for the starship combat system alone, which is often used as a board game, but however you play, you’ll need your ship recognition panels. The game does very little along the lines of game mechanics.

The only mechanics it handles are calculation of 1) your fleet’s total combat efficiency, and 2) range to target. The VTT just tells you the range to target is # hexes. Whether or not you have the power points to move to that target hex, or hit an enemy ship located there, is something you need to gather from your character sheet.

My inspiration for creating this is that I’m planning to introduce my gaming groups to the game. One of our group moved across country, so he has to dial in. Using MS Teams, I can give him access to the game board, both visually and in terms of allowing him to take control of the screen and move his ships around. That said, a planned future enhancement will be to implement remote multiplayer rooms, allowing him (or any remote player) to join our game just by entering a game room code. Remember, though; it’s not a video game.

This is in beta test, which means a few things.

  1. I’m seeking honest feedback on the user interface. Does anything bother you, even if just a little? Do you have any preferences? Were the basic instructions on the left side of the screen clear enough to understand? If so, are the shortcut keys intuitive? No nitpicks are too nitpicky.
  2. There are still a few tweeks I need to add in. For example, select a ship and hold the A key, and four firing arcs appear (forward, port, aft, and starboard). Let go of the A key, and they’ll disappear. The problem is that space stations use three firing arcs, not four, but for now they’re showing four. That’s literally the next item on my to-do list, but I’d like to add others.
  3. I have yet to add every ship in the game. The Federation is almost complete, but there’s plenty more Klingon and Romulan ships to add. The Gorn and Orions are complete but only because there aren’t many options for those cultures. I’m considering adding the ships in the fan-created Gorn and Orion ship recognition manuals, but because they’re third party products, that’s low on my list of priorities. That said, there are certainly enough ships right now to actually play a game. The ships it has are the ones you’re most likely to use anyway.
  4. Other items on my to-do list include better interaction with obstacles (e.g., asteroids, planets, stars), alternative panning controls, search function for the list of assets, better movement visualization tools. How these enhancements are implemented will rely heavily on the feedback I receive.

Once I have a full release, I’ll place the code on github, after which I’ll create another VTT to deal with the personal combat system, and then after that convert my MS Access character builder application to a web application.

As always, happy gaming!

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Gamma World 7e Masterplan Files for Steading of the Iron King

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As readers of this blog are aware, Luddite Vic and I have been working on Masterplan. I’ve been cleaning up the libraries and supplying projects and libraries for my 4e Dungeon Delves based on 1e adventures, and Vic has been cleaning up the application itself by modifying the code. You can download his latest beta test application here (choose the first link, “Masterplan 13.0.2 – BETA – Upgrades .Net from 4.8 to 8. Implements some fixes and new functionality- For testing ONLY”).”

You might also be aware of my Gamma World 7e character builder and game management system and its alternative, a prompt suitable for ChatGPT that generates GW7e characters.

The issue with my GW7e character builder is that it’s written in MS Access. That means, to run it, 1) without jumping through major hoops, you have to be using a PC, not an Apple product; and 2) you have to have Microsoft Office (any version) installed. The issue with my AI prompt is that many people refuse to use AI. Well, I can’t help any of you with the inability to use a character builder for the technical or social reasons mentioned, but GW7e is so similar to Dungeons & Dragons 4e that you can easily use Masterplan as is to run GW7e. Nevertheless, I asked Vic to add support for GW7e in his Masterplan 13.0.2 beta version, and he incorporated every one of them within an hour. There’s really not much of a difference between the systems.

My Point

And that brings me to the point of this post. I added my GW7e monster library to my D&D 4e Resources page, but now I’m adding the project file for you to run Steading of the Iron King, which is the adventure included with the base box set for the game. I’ve also included the player characters I generated that are loaded into that project file as project PCs. Of course, you can use their own. They’re just ones I randomly created. Trigger warning: The project file uses a lot of AI-generated imagery. But keep in mind that 1) art improves the gaming experience; 2) using WotC’s art would lead to threats, which discourages fans from distributing material in the first place; and 3) I’m not going to pay an artist to produce art for what will eventually be a two-shot adventure. If you don’t like the use of the art, delete it, or just don’t download the project. This isn’t my job. I don’t rely on clicks or downloads to pay my mortgage.

An Observation

Steading of the Iron King really is a below-average adventure. It’s nothing more than a dungeon crawl, which never appeal to me. (YMMV, of course.) However, the game itself is so damn goofy that everyone had a lot of fun despite that. The game seemed to get everyone into the spirit of the goofiness. If you haven’t played it, do so.

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Masterplan Library Updates: Traps and Hazards

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I made several updates to the Masterplan libraries. You can find them at my D&D 4e Resources Page. I went through all the libraries and cleaned up all the traps and hazards. Not all libraries have revised copies uploaded. I’m holding off on those until I get around to cleaning up their monster stat blocks.

This clean up process is going far beyond the libraries. Luddite Vic has been cleaning up the application itself and at my request has added some minor support for Gamma World 7e. With that in mind, I also uploaded the library for the Gamma World 7e base rulebook.

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Gamma World 7e Character Generation Using AI #GammaWorld #AI #RPG #TTRPG

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I did yet another thing. I created a ruleset for Gamma World 7e character creation in a format suitable for AI to generate characters. Just head to this page for instructions: https://gsllcblog.com/randomcreationofplayercharactersingammaworld7thedition/.

This doesn’t render my Gamma World character generator software useless. That software contains a bunch of GM tools as well, and eventually will be usable for running games via the internet. It certainly doesn’t render my Star Trek character builder software useless. There’s no way publicly-available AI could possibly create a character builder for such a complex system. It took over a week to get the Gamma World prompt to work, and I doubt even it is foolproof.

I’m fully aware of how controversial AI is among gamers, but I’m not going to get into that. It’s an incredible tool, and it represents our future.

Whether you’re on board or not.

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Choose Your Weird Superpower cc: @nathanwpyle #meme #superpower

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Someone shared this meme on Facebook.

I refuse to tell you who. Bet you can’t figure it out.

This is a tough one. My first instinct is 1 hour nap = 8 hours of sleep because I’d get sooooo much done. But if you think about it, that means I’d be doing a lot of “work.” Who wants more work? No one. We want more “play.” How am I supposed to “play” if no one else is on my schedule? What’s the point of being up at 3 am if everything is closed and everyone else is asleep. I think I’d get bored, even in New York City or Las Vegas.

7 weeks from today for my next visit!

My next thought was super speed reading, but I’m worried this is like a genie in a lamp. You make a wish, and it’s manipulated to be a curse. Sure, I’ll be able to speed read, but there’s no guarantee I’ll retain the information. Add retention to the mix, and you have my answer, but as written,I don’t trust it. Most people’s brains can retain only so much, so a lack of retention seems to be a necessary consequence of the power. That severely limits its value.

Doesn’t seem trustworthy.

Telekinetic power limited to only 5 lbs doesn’t help much. It’s a parlor trick that would get old really quickly. Perhaps it’s marketable as a street performer, but I don’t want to be a street performer, not even for a few extra bucks.

Can you tell I now subscribe to ChatGPT?

Invisible every Tuesday is right out because it’s mandatory. My job would be pretty pissed off with me if I showed up to work invisible every Tuesday, but even if it were a weekend, I think it’d still suck. I just don’t even see it as a good thing at all.

ChatGPT is still not perfect. Why are his hands visible?

That leaves my clothes always clean. Useful, which means boring, but it’s the only thing without a downside. Unlike reading, I don’t see any necessary downsides. Sure, a genie could say, “Surprise! You always stink!” Or perhaps, “But you must wear nothing but underwear!” Those would be cheats, though. Stench certainly don’t follow having clean clothes; quite the opposite.

I have to go with A. I don’t like it, but them’s the breaks.

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My Appeal of a Tax Sale in Pennsylvania #law #lawyer #attorney #tax #taking #constitution #Pennsylvania

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As some of you may know or remember, my grandparents’ home was taken in a tax sale. I didn’t care, but my cousin asked me to fight back. I said I’d try, but the deeper I dove into the issues, the more I realized the injustice occurring across the country. Long story short, 1) counties are auctioning off homes for a fraction of their value to recoup relatively small tax bills (in my case, at least a 94% theft of value), and 2) doing so to people who are particularly vulnerable and therefore cannot fight back (e.g., dementia, financial hardship, logistical issues). Despite SCOTUS unanimously forbidding the practice in Tyler v. Hennepin County, it continues because, well, the victims can’t fight back, so there are no consequences for continuing the practice. Thus, the legislature, counties, and even courts allow the unlawful scheme to continue.


Facing local, small-town bias, I lost in the trial court without any stated argument other than, “Those SCOTUS cases aren’t relevant.” Her honor also claimed I was fighting the battle in the wrong type of case, and to justify that, carefully parsed out the relevant part of the statute that says otherwise. I suspect that, as a trial court judge, she simply doesn’t want to overrule a decades-old statutory scheme based on Federal Constitutional grounds, but that’s reversible error. I don’t think either her Honor or opposing counsel expected the appeal. (I don’t think opposing counsel even expected my Answer to his Complaint.)

Now I’m working on my appeal. It’s been a grind. I’m learning litigation on the fly, and certainly screwing up, but so far it hasn’t bit me in the ass yet. The bad news is that it may. I might get my appeal thrown out on a technicality I didn’t anticipate. The good news is that, if it goes through, there’s a good chance that SCOTUS will decide Pung v. Isabella County (MI) by the time my reply brief is due. You see, the way the states have continued to justify this is by splitting hairs on the facts. That’s going to be exceptionally hard for Pennsylvania to do once Pung is decided. It’s even closer to the facts of my case, and I’d bet serious money that SCOTUS will not only rule unanimously in my favor, but also do so with a biting takedown of the unlawful practices of the counties and the dereliction of duty committed by the legislatures and judges. (Note: The Michigan Supreme Court took the taxpayers’ side, but the counties are still doing this because, again, no one fights back.)

Either way, this practice will be unquestionably forbidden going forward, so you won’t lose your potential future case even if I do on a technicality. Pung did the work to make sure of that.

And in case you’re wondering, none of the non-profits are willing to help. I asked all of them, but unless it’s a SCOTUS case, they aren’t interested. Only one even responded, asked for the Order I was appealing, then never replied again. The arguments I made were in part copied from their amicus brief in Tyler, so I know were on the same page. It’s just not yet worth their trouble.

I’ve also tried to get Pennsylvania media to interview me with no luck. If anyone has any media contacts up there, I’d appreciate you putting my case in their ear.

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Merry Christmas, Foolish Mortals #holiday #Christmas #LotR #movie

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Everyone likes to claim Die Hard is a Christmas movie despite it being released July 22 (1988) right in the middle of the USA’s summer. I’ve always had trouble with this because I remember the theater being sweltering.

Here are two other potential Christmas movies for your consideration.

This is no different that Die Hard being a Christmas movie. First Blood takes place during Christmas, and because it was released in October (1982), it at least wasn’t hot out when the movie was released.

Now, now. I know this seems to be a stretch, but there’s more.

Okay. Maybe not the Lord of the Rings.

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The Night Before Deadwinter, A Christmas-Themed Adventure #DnD #RPG #TTRPG #4e #holiday #Christmas

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A few weeks ago, I had a memory pop into my head. It was a stupid song parody my middle school friends and I used to sing around Christmastime.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse.
The children were hung by their stockings with care,
in hopes that Count Dracula soon would be there.
Mommy was screaming, and daddy was dead,
and Junior was splattered all over the bed.

That led to another memory of a friend, John, who wrote a Christmas-themed adventure during the 4th Edition days involving (Drow) elves working for and evil Santa Claus. (Santa might have been under mind control. I don’t remember.) I also recently observed that Jacob Marley is a Kyton (a.k.a., chain devil). These three memories came together to encourage me to write my own Christmas-themed adventure replete with carnage. While I intended to use the poem, a Visit from St. Nicholas, for the narrative, the fact that there were four encounters in a Christmas Carol made that story the better source material for the adventure. The goal was to write the second encounter in 1st Edition D&D, the third in 4th Edition D&D, and the fourth in Gamma World 7e, which is based on the 4th Edition D&D game engine (I hadn’t decided which to use for the first encounter). This in turn would mirror an adventure three of my friends and I wrote called “A Brief Tour of the History of Dungeons & Dragons” in which each of us wrote two hours of adventure each in a different edition of D&D, but all part of the same story. Each encounter was designed to exemplify the general feel of those editions. That was a fun adventure to write and run.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to write the encounters in the different editions, so I decided to write them in 4th Edition because I have a group playing that edition, which increased the chances I’d be able to run it. Whether not anyone will have time in December to play remains to be seen, but in any event, I’m publishing it for everyone.

If you prefer another edition (or game system), you’ll have to create your own stat blocks and perhaps modify the poetry to reflect the abilities of the enemies. “The poetry,” you ask? All my box text is written in verse, and it was surprising how much the beginning of a Visit from St. Nicholas synchronized with what I was doing. It inspired me to write everything in verse. So, when a player makes a successful knowledge check to determine what their enemies can do, even that information can be delivered in verse. However, moving from one edition to another may force you to change the enemies’ abilities and thus the verse describing them. On the other hand, you could just dispense with the verse and recite what they know without all the rhyming. For all I know that verse will quickly get annoying.

Despite being written for 4th Edition, I didn’t reproduce my Dungeon Tiles maps. Wizards of the Coast owns the copyright to the images on those titles, and while their use is almost certainly fair in this context, WotC is always looking for an excuse to threaten people. So, without the software to make my own maps, I’ve created some terrible ones based on my Dungeon Tiles maps, then told you the sets you could use to recreate them.

Also of note, I acquired the Krampus stat block from Kobold Press as envisioned by the Dread Gazebo.

If you have any doubts as to the legality of what I’m publishing here, or you’re publishing elsewhere, please visit my post here linking to relevant materials.

EDIT: After running the adventure on 12/13, the PCs are being tweaked, but the adventure is getting a major overhaul. In short, this was way too easy. While that doesn’t bother me completely — the primary purpose is to impart a moral lesson — this is D&D, and D&D should be a challenge.

I hope you enjoy the adventure. I had fun writing it. You can download it by clicking here (unless you may be playing it soon with me). The adventure is suitable for 5, 11th-level characters. James generously created pregenerated characters.

  • The Adventure in PDF format
  • The Adventure as a Masterplan Project File. You’ll need to delete the extension “pdf” from the end of “The Night Before Deadwinter.masterplan.pdf,” which will leave the name of the file “The Night Before Deadwinter.masterplan” (to be updated soon with the pre-generated characters).
  • The Masterplan Library with the monster stat blocks. You’ll need to delete the extension “pdf” from the end of “The Night Before Deadwinter.library.pdf,” which will leave the name of the file “The Night Before Deadwinter.library.”
  • Pre-generated characters and tactical advice for their play.

Of the pre-generated characters, Cameron is the most complex, and Argus and Fellick and the easiest to run.

Remember, the maps suck.

Disclaimer: Dungeons & Dragons and D&D are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to, nor endorsed, the contents of this publication. (Okay, jackasses?)

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Strange News out of Ohio

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Odd goings on in the midwest.

Generally speaking, trite, but this is a new twist to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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You Learn Something New Every Day, Even When It’s in Plain Sight #DnD #ADnD #RPG #TTRPG #gaming #football #NFL

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How have I, a rabid (American) football fan, never noticed that these typeface are identical until today, November 24, 2025?

Quentin EF Font

Seriously, I never noticed this until tonight while watching San Francisco beat up on the Carolina Panthers.

There’s something wrong with me.

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