New Ogres, New Chapter, and Egypt Wars

You may have noticed that we haven't uploaded much to Ye Olde Blog in the past few weeks. Well, here is our excuse - and it's a good one: our blogger just had a baby. Well, he didn't have it, his wife did, but he was there man. He was there.
Meet our newest Ogre, William James Riley Hooper, who came in at nearly 10 pounds after 36 hours of labor (followed by a C Section because who doesn't want to have all the agony of prolonged labor with the fun of surgery?).


You can see more chapter members here. Speaking of chapters, the Organization of Gamers & Roleplaying Enthusiasts would like to welcome yet-another new chapter aboard. This chapter goes by the name the Friendly City Ogres and hail from Athens in Eastern Tennessee.

Currently, our chapter is preparing for its participation in the Egypt Wars gaming convention in Carbondale, IL next month. Sponsored by Castle Perilous game store, the event is in about two weeks and we strongly recommend you come out and visit us at our O.G.R.E. booth. Til then....

GULGAR
Ogres Out

Nominated?

Wow. This blog had a couple of posts nominated to be included in the Open Game Table Vol. II - a collection of significant blog posts that are bound together to make a great read. Take it from us, a bunch of midwest gamers (who are by no means studying in the writing fields, nor do we actually speak what most would call english) - its an honor.
We didn't even know people other than ourselves read this thing? That is rather rad, people. One karma point a piece.
Anyways, whether we "make the cut" or not, we're looking forward to seeing the final product!

GULGAR
Ogres Out

Playtesters Requested

Hi all. The chapter is looking for a few individuals interested in assisting us flesh out our augmented D20 System for use in D&D 3.5 Superhero games: Super or Sinister. The concept is fairly simple (we think), but will take some playtesting to get all the kinks out. First, we understand that many other systems do exist for playing Superheroes within the revised second edition, but after looking into each it seems like they augment the system too much for our taste. We're trying to develop a small augmentation that will make it easy for those already familiar and comfortable with the 3.5 mechanics to learn.

The Super or Sinister augmentation is based around the gaining of Feats, just like many current characters built within the bounds of the mechanics already available. At character creation, a player will select one "Origin Feat" - a feat that exemplifies one of the classic powers and/or abilities of Superheroes. Currently developed rules for Origin Feats include Super Speed, Strength, Flight, Size altering, Telekinesis, Telekinetic, and Amphibious anatomy.

Other than the Origin feat, the player creates their character like any normal game. So you could create a fighter with superstrength (Superman?), a ranger with superspeed (Flash?), or an amphibious, umm, amphibian (Aqua-f'n-man).

Now, as the character progresses in level, he/she may take on additional Super or Sinister feats in the form of "Honing Feats." The feats may augment or improve a Origin Feat, and will require the Origin Feat as a prerequisite, or they may be smaller or less-amazing superpowers that do not require one particular Origin Feat. These feats are available whenever a character would normally be granted a feat, so a fighter would have the ability to get more Honing feats (and lets face it, Superman would need every feat for all the ridiculous stuff DC lets him do).

Depending on the Dungeon Master's desired power level, the Super or Sinister feats may either be the only available feats (very powerful game) or used for every other feat (normal). For just slightly altered games, the DM may only allow the use of the single Origin Feat.

Anyways, enough with synopsis and bad writing, we need your help! It is actually a two part help request. First: think about some good Origin and Honing Feats that you don't see listed on those respective lists, and give feedback on the ones you do see. When it comes to Honing Feats, we've really just begun and there is an arguably-endless amount that we could create. A DM and player may always work together to create a new Super or Sinister feat when needed, but having them prepared before hand is always nice.

Secondly: we need playtesters. So, come forth merry traveler (read: die roller) and tell us what you think.


Other things to keep up on to playtest: Valgora and West Canaan Wizards.

GULGAR
Ogres Out

2010 First Quarter Events

Ah, a new year! And as such, time to prepare exactly how, when, and where we're going to get our geek on. Luckilly, we've got plenty of geek to go around and this year has plenty of opportunities for us to do so. We won't get too far ahead, but here is what the first quarter of 2010 currently holds for us:

January

It all starts early on later this month when the people behind Bazooka Magazine, Crash Comics, and Gamer's Paradise are preparing to put together what they're referring to as "Geekfest" to be held Friday, January 29th here in Paducah, KY at Gamer's Paradise on downtown Broadway. Our chapter of Ogres is planning to be present with all sorts of RPGs and board games, from the easy (to introduce newcomers who have never played) to the hard (cruncyfest for those with AD&D and Rift tattoos). More information on this event will be seen over at the Bazooka website, as we're just participants, so keep up to date over there.

February

Keeping things more close to home, our main event this month will be the Board of Directors meeting. Remember other chapters: this meeting will finalize the if/why/how of chapter dues (will we have them? / why are they necessary? how much and how will it be managed? ). Currently chapters do not have to abide by any dues, but may if they wish to help pay for any RPG materials, food, gaming locations, or the like. For example, our chapter dues is $5.00 per month per active member. For more information on the Dues Discussion and how to make your voice or chapter's voice heard, check out the Board of Directors page over at The Ogre Lair Wiki.

March

Other than some grand personal Ogre things going on (the Hooper family has their baby boy due early this month, a few birthdays, and the like), the month will be mostly quiet with the general gaming schedule for the chapter staying the same. Former chapter member and now Derby City Ogres Chapter Coordinator Charles Ringstaff is going to be doing a large scale recruitment process for the chapter out in Louisville and we will be helping him out with that process. Additionally we hope to have our layout finalized at this time for the upcoming Valgora Campaign Setting pdf utilizing the Quick Ass Game System (aka QAGS).

Later in Year....

As the snow melts and the sun stays present more, the year will kick in to high gear later on with many convention appearances and road trips that our chapter has on the books. Not to mention the slowly growing and crawling out of their caves other chapters in the area that are starting to be more active in their local communities. Anyways, 2010 looks to be the Year of the Ogres, and we just can't wait! Till next time...

GULGAR
Ogres Out

Meet the Board

In lieu of Jake's profile yesterday, we've decided to postpone his spotlight until next Saturday so we can devote more writing to all of the wonderful things that happened at yesterdays Incorporation Meeting/first ever Board of Directors meeting! The best way for us to do this, will be to just let you meet the board, so without further ado:

Chairman of the Board (Director of the Organization as a whole): Jake Kubitschek

Vice Chairman of the Board, Director of Communications, and the Chairman of the New Chapter Recruitment Committee: Hooper

Supreme Dungeon Master (Person individual Senior Dungeon Masters report to): Walter

Webmaster (Handles online image campaigning and site maintenance): Cain

Chairman of the Committee on Organization Promotion & Marketing: Gayle

Chairman of the Committee on Gaming Advocacy: Lacey

Other Members of the Board Include:

Charles Ringstaff of Derby City Ogres
Steve Johnson, adviser/industry representative
Nick Henley of Saluki City Ogres
Kelsey Phelps of Quilt City Ogres

GULGAR
Ogres Out

Exciting Day

Today is a wonderful and exciting day to be a member of our chapter of O.G.R.E.s. In a few short hours, members of our chapter and a few other nearby chapters will hold the very first meeting of the Board of Directors. We'll be officially submitted for incorporation Monday morning, and let us just say that some very exciting things are on the way for O.G.R.E.s all across the land.
We'll be back this evening with a slight update, as well as our Saturday Profile spotlight on member Jake! Until then....

GULGAR
Ogres Out