A Letter from Captain Gothnog Dragonheart

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Liliana Blankenship
5 years ago
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1 Deceber 2013 Issue #4

2 A Letter fro Captain Gothnog Dragonheart Well folks, this has been a crazy issue. First of all, I want to apologize for its late release date. This was due to a nuber of factors beyond y control, but it still bothers e. Hey, you try self publishing a agazine fro a yurt in the woods of northern Maine! Anyway, now that that s out of the way, I want to thank everyone for their participation in yet another successful issue of Theater of the Mind. There are a lot of incredible peo who are willing to take the tie to share their thoughts and ideas with you, and they do it for nothing ore than the satisfaction of spreading the word of iersive gaing. Cheers to everyone in the credits page and all those who offer kind words. I would like to now challenge YOU the reader directly. This agazine has always been about creating a agazine that is of the gaers, by the gaers and for the gaers, and that eans that you are a part of this wonderful thing. I looking for peo to subit letters, questions, ideas, thoughts, and suggestions. Even if you feel you don t have a creative bone in your body, we still need input fro you so that we can put together the agazine that you want to read ore than anything else. Send all these things and ore to: Subissions@TheaterOfTheMindMagazine.co Keep reading and we ll keep publishing the best dan role playing agazine in the solar syste... as far as we know. Sincerely, aka Captain Gothnog Dragonheart Editor-in-Chief, Theater of the Mind Magazine 2

Contents Issue #4 Deceber 2013 Editor-in-chief Editors Carl linen Katrina Ray-ulis Writers Ander Wood Anthony Boyd Brian

ons Carl linen Forrest Bugay Publishers Art Director Artists/Photographers Runeslinger Creative Advisors Ander Wood Carl

Treaice by Brian Gregory 9 Creature Feature 10 Getting In-Character by Anthony Runeslinger Boyd 13 Story: The Pur Unicorn

Appropriate Muse The In Between Ties by Brian M.

3 Contents Issue #4 Deceber 2013 Editor-in-chief Editors Carl linen Katrina Ray-ulis Writers Ander Wood Anthony Boyd Brian Gregory Brian M. ons Carl linen Forrest Bugay Publishers Art Director Artists/Photographers Runeslinger Creative Advisors Ander Wood Carl linen 2 Letter fro Captain Gothnog 3 Credits and Contents 5 The Covetous Player by Ander Wood 6 Rando Map: The Vault of Treaice by Brian Gregory 9 Creature Feature 10 Getting In-Character by Anthony Runeslinger Boyd 13 Story: The Pur Unicorn by Ander Wood 14 Fro the Fringe: Review: Fate Core RPG by 16 Fro the Fringe: Review: John Wick Presents by Brian Gregory 17 Appropriate Muse The In Between Ties by Brian M. ons 19 An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Greed of Nations (For Iersive Role Playing) by Forrest Bugay 20 Gothnog s Magnificent Cantrips by 22 Story: Tale of the Blue Dragon by 23 Press Your Luck by Carl linen 25 Sall Beginnings: Cooperative Gaing by 26 The Aziuth: Deck Plans by 27 The Gold Standard by 3

THE COVETOUS PLAYER by Your Main Man Ander Wood you over to local authorities, chop off your hands, or even kill you.

Think long and hard though before aking a greedy character when playing with a group of peo that don t know you well.

Still, when a generous, selfless holy an is followed by an envious, hording noble; you are given a tool to show the depth of your role-playing ability.

5 THE COVETOUS PLAYER by Your Main Man Ander Wood you over to local authorities, chop off your hands, or even kill you. Also, you should not be surprised when the sae group does not invite you (the player) back to play. Don t isunderstand e though, for when greed is clearly in-character, it can be highly entertaining. Think long and hard though before aking a greedy character when playing with a group of peo that don t know you well. There are any greedy players out there and you do not want to be istaken for one of the. That sort of reputation can be hard to shake. Still, when a generous, selfless holy an is followed by an envious, hording noble; you are given a tool to show the depth of your role-playing ability. This can be wonderful, and like any other parts of role-playing, it has so uch to do with tiing. A great way to easure this is give the players an epic encounter with a great foe, such as a dragon. The victory should coe at a high cost, which ight ean the death of soe chracters, or perhaps NPCs (Ebers), that are with the. Watch the players. Do they have realistic reactions or do they siply want a count of the treasure? Do they attend the fallen, or do they leave the for the great prizes before the? Occasionally, there ay be justifiable reasons for this but ore often it will siply reveal the greed of the player. Throughout the years, your Main Man has seen capaigns end, hard feelings develop, and peo leave the hobby. So often, the beginning (and end), of these bad things can be traced directly towards greed. It s the oent your otivations are your own and not your character s. You need to carefully exaine that. Magic ites, gold, fortresses, lovers, titles, and any other siilar character otivating force are in the end, only iaginary. As a player, one of the worst things you can do is bring your own greed into a RPG group. The character concept of I constantly steal fro the party is a terrible one. We often see this fro thieves who pocket the best ges or agi who constantly lie to the rest of the players about what the best agic ites are, so they ay take those for theselves. You should carefully think before bringing this sort of character into a chronicle. Not only are they cliché, but often these sorts of characters are siply the player s baggage. Rarely do other players want to deal with this. Nor are these sae players likely to appreciate the constant annoyance this causes. More so, ost peo will not spend tie with those they think will steal fro the. When you play a character like this, do not be surprised when the other players force your character to leave their group, turn Illustration by Sébastien Allard Furtherore, watch how the group divides their treasure. This is key. Is there one player that is constantly attepting to get all the best stuff? Is there one person the other players roll their eyes at or snicker about? These slight annoyances can turn into ajor issues with one wrong push fro the offending player. Even saying all this, as a GM, you ight not be able to resist attepting to fan the flaes of your players greed. This, with the right group, can be highly entertaining. An exa ight include providing a rare agic ite that all the players would covet for their character. When this is done in a subtle way, you can end up with soe highly otivated role-playing where each character attepts to convince the others that they are the one who should have the ite. It is wise to be careful to onitor this, however, as it can begin to drag and leave soe players bored. In the end, reeber that you can t take the Grand Glaive or the +6 Long Sword of Infinite Bootiness hoe. What I saying is that greed can ruin great ties and leave you with nothing. Unfortunately, ost of you ight know players who atch the descriptions of those I entioned above. Reeber, when you see yourself becoing like the, just reeber WWAD? And do not fall. 5 Ander Wood is a video blogger and gae designer with over 20 years experience in role playing. He is currently publishing an innovative role playing gae called Within the Ring of Fire.

A Letter from Captain Gothnog Dragonheart

August 2013 Sa m ple file Issue #2 A Letter from Captain Gothnog Dragonheart Greetings my fellow adventurers. Welcome to the second issue of Theater of the Mind. Thank you to all for making the first issue