An Interview with Quinn Conklin, author of Toys for the Sandbox

The following is an email interview conducted with Quinn Conklin. The image in the above banner was created by Rodney Ruppert for the cover of Toys for the Sandbox #15, Orcs of Hermit Island.

TEO: Quinn, first off, thank you so much for your time. I’ve had the opportunity to read several
issues of your system independent RPG supplement Toys for the Sandbox, and I’m impressed
by the content. The first question that comes to mind is why did you decide to publish it
weekly?

QUINN: Overoptimism. I felt when we where starting this that it could reasonably sell around 500 copies of each issue and if I could do that weekly I could leave my day job and have the same amount of income. Also my professional writing background is journalism. In that field I became accustomed to same day deadlines going monthly was just to far out of the norm for me. Read more »

Posted: April 25th, 2012 under Articles - No Comments.

Episode 9 – Religion in and Out of Game

In this episode, the BBLG crew discusses religion and how deities, gods, clerics and priests play in your typical D&D game. Eric, Rob, Mike, and Sal, also talk about religion off the table as well–how religious groups have viewed table-top RPG’s over the years and if gaming can sometimes conflict with one’s spiritual beliefs.

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Posted: March 23rd, 2012 under Podcasts - No Comments.

We got one!

We’ve always intended on doing interviews, but have had a hard enough time syncing schedules between the members of the BBLG crew (the rotating cast is evidence).  It’s with much enthusiasm that I report Quinn Conklin of Occult Moon publishing has agreed to do an interview with us.

Stay tuned for our discussion of his Toys For the Sandbox series of RPG supplements, and other (rolls 4dF, free tags “Quinn is an interesting guy”, and pays a fate point to invoke, “I’m not too shabby either”) Epic stuff!

-T to the E to the O

Posted: April 17th, 2012 under Articles, Foreshadowing - No Comments.

Baby Cakes Implores You To BE AGRESSIVE When Role Playing!

Howdy folks. Bobert here. Saw this music video on a site I frequent (badassdigest.com) and decided I had to share it. The lyrics are pretty dope. And the visuals just get me rolling. Give it a look see, will ya?

(source: BadAss Digest)

Posted: February 24th, 2012 under d100 - Random Stuff - No Comments.

Episode 8 – Is Fantasy Football Just D&D for Jocks?

The podcast gang discusses Fantasy Football and its correlation to traditional pen and paper gaming. The crew also reveals their experiences with Risk: Legacy and what their future gaming plans are.

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Posted: February 16th, 2012 under Podcasts - 1 Comment.

Episode 7 – Don’t Call it a Comeback

The BBLG crew is back. They discuss where they’ve been during their long hiatus, what they’ve been playing, and where they are going when it comes to gaming. We find out if the podcast crew is excited about the announcement of D&D 5th Edition and we are hear about their plans to go to war in Risk: Legacy!

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Read more »

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Posted: January 17th, 2012 under Podcasts - 1 Comment. Tags: risk legacy

Episode 6 – All Racial Up In Here!

The BBLGcast crew discuss the role of Race in Gaming, as well as the Nature of Evil within the context of the Game. Plus, we recap our latest Diaspora gaming session!

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Posted: August 2nd, 2011 under Podcasts - 2 Comments.

Hollowpoint by VSCA

Okay. Let me stop to catch my breath. I guess I’m actually a little late in finding this out, but the guys at VSCA have been busy putting together a little game called Hollowpoint, and it is due to be released in print via Lulu.com very soon.

From the website:
“Hollowpoint is a role-playing game that uses a novel engine to generate fast on-the-fly violent action at the drop of a hat, brought to you by the award-winning developers of Diaspora. It’s ideally suited to a single evening’s play and encourages regular character death because, hey, this shit’s dangerous. ”

Sounds like a unique kind of blast.

Check it out here.

-Tayo

Posted: July 19th, 2011 under Articles - 3 Comments.

Episode 5 – Save Versus Sex!

The BBLGCast crew tackle the topic of Girls & Gays in Gaming in this gender bending episode that also includes discussions about why Bobert prefers Fate over Hackmaster, and the card game “Munchkin Cthulhu”. All that and a recap of the latest HackMaster Campaign session on this week’s BEND BARS LIFT GATES podcast!

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Posted: June 17th, 2011 under Podcasts - 4 Comments. Tags: gender, hackmaster, munchkin cthulhu, sex

Doomsday meets Film Frenzy

Yesterday Bobert, Eric, and yours truly sat down to watch Doomsday. We didn’t just watch the movie, but were held spell bound by it, due to playing the neat little OOP card game Film Frenzy right along with it.

Doomsday was everything I expected, and more. There were a few cards that couldn’t be played, as the wildly random plot managed to avoid things such as Crime Scene, Trench Coat, and most ironically… Doomsday Device, but we were able to lay down most of the cards in the deck by the time the credits rolled.

Film Frenzy is very rules light, which makes it suitable for play with non-gamers of most sorts. You start with 5 cards. If you play a card then you draw back up to 5. Rewind cards let you play cards from your hand that had appropriate scenes earlier in the movie, and Pause cards let you Pause the film for any reason, and also discard, and redraw. All the other rules are printed on their respective cards. If a person can bear watching an action movie they will be able to handle Film Frenzy. The most complicated part of the game is the rules lawyering that occurs. That could reach a fever pitch among very competitive people, but in our group it is manageable with comments such as the following by Eric, “Rob, if I were you I would much rather keep that card [which we did not feel was applicable to the scene we just saw] in my hand than play it, and lose my dignity, and respect.”

Next time we play Bobert suggested a film we have all seen, because he fears I may have missed the finer, more sophisticated points buried in the plot, and character development of Doomsday. I doubt it. Still, it is sound advice. Watching a movie while playing this game does cause one to scrutinize the film on a very superficial level. If you play, you will find yourself scanning the screen to match the cards in your hands to the cliches, and tropes rather than delving into the deeper meaning of the explosions, and gunfire. For that reason, and for the sake of fairness, it would be prudent to view a film everyone has already seen.

Another helpful tip is to have a supply of pennies, poker chips, or some other token to mark the extra points some cards grant based on conditional bonuses ( e.g. Hand Gun provides an extra +1 if someone is dual wielding).

Back to the movie, I was persistently nagged through the entire spectacle by my inability to locate where I had seen the lead actress Rhona Mitra before. It finally struck me that she was Commander Kiva in Star Gate Universe. This doesn’t mean if you like that show you will like this movie, but it does mean if you ever tried to imagine what Commander Kiva would look like with her hair down Doomsday is your chance. If you ever wondered what would happen if somebody did a mash-up of Beyond Thunderdome, 28 Weeks Later, and Drakmar: A Vassal’s Journey to a synthy Carpenteresque sound track check it out.

BTW, I won.

More information on Film Frenzy.

More information on Doomsday.

Posted: June 12th, 2011 under Reviews - 3 Comments.