A Site Geared FOR Gamers, BY Gamers
I just finished up the alpha version of the Aces & Eights Wound Calculator, which will greatly simplify the ridiculously intricate damage and healing system in the system. Go forth and check it out!
If you find any bugs, please be sure to let me know and I’ll fix it when I can.
Two of our campaigns have come to close with the end of the year. We ended our Star Wars: Smuggler’s Run campaign on an epic note, with our player characters saving the Rebel Alliance and getting revenge on the Empire. The campaign started in 2019, making it the longest running campaign we have ever run.
We also tied all all loose ends in our HackMaster: Dragon Heist campaign, finally discovering the titular dragon hoard as our characters live a lavish life of riches and fame. It was our first attempt at using the HackMaster system, which had a rocky start due to the myriad of rule changes, but it ended up being a rewarding experience for all.
Starting with the new year are two new campaigns, as mentioned in a previous post. Both are two new TTRPG systems for us, so there has been a lot of book learning in the background for the last few months.
The new wild west-era themed game will be starting this Saturday, as can be seen on the events page. It is Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier, and it be a cowboy adventure taking place in 1887 in an alternate past where the United States was not quite so united. The exact details are still a mystery, so we’ll have to wait and see.
The other game is Fallout: New California, based upon the popular videogame series. We have people playing vault dwellers, ghouls, members of the Brotherhood Of Steel, and even robots. The campaign takes place in the alternate world timeline in 2240, somewhere in California. Stay tuned for more updates.
Today I updated the code for the HackMaster Wound Calculator and made it so that it works with Master Level First Aid to accomodate Joram’s new skill levels. I also made it more Mobile-friendly and changed its web address, so don’t forget to re-bookmark it!
Next year, we are planning on running a cowboy-themed TTG called Aces & Eights, taking place in a fictional United States that never unified after the civil war, the Mormons have their own Theocracy, and Texas is its own country. There’s no leveling up per-se, and the system is as brutal as HackMaster, so character death is a strong, looming possibility. More details to follow.
The other game being run is one taking place in the Fallout universe. Ever since the hit show, I think everybody is a little excited for this one.
Both games are to be DM’s by Brett. See discord for more details.
Both campaigns are wrapping up at the end of the year. DM’d by Brett, so far both have been an amazing adventure that can be read about in the game notes. Below are some photos from our campaign.
We spend 20 minutes arguing in-character about what we want to do. Brett does everything he can to keep us arguing, stirring the pot.
Well guys, it’s finally over. We have our website hosted on a new server. I want to give a particular shout out to Ash, Grant, and Andy for contributing to the server costs as seen below:
I’m glad to announce that I’ve been able to reduce our server costs from ~$13/month to less than $2.40/month. And we are paid off for the next three years. 🎉
I’m changing the look of the new website a bit, as we have had the old look for several years now. Time for a change. I’ll likely be fine-tuning the website appearance in the coming weeks as inspiration hits me, but if you guys have any ideas, feel free to let me know. In particular, I’ve been thinking that we could use a rework of our TableTopGuild.com main logo, if anyone is feeling particularly artistic.
We have some nifty new things made today by some of our members.
Andy has made an Honor & BP Tracker that keeps track of the aforementioned stats as your character levels up in HackMaster. Only those with TableTop Guild accounts can access it over on our Downloads page.
Patrick (me) has also made a Wound Calculator for HackMaster. It will help see how long it will take for those wounds to heal. For example, if you plug in 17 wound damage, you will find that it will take a whopping 153 days to naturally heal up from what might have been an accidental Glaive wound. Feel free to beta test it, as it might have some kinks in it.
At the same time that we have recently ended two campaigns, we are starting two new campaigns in the new few weeks. Read more below for more info.
Just recently, we ended two long ongoing campaigns: Grant’s Storm King’s Thunder (D&D 5E) campaign, and Brett’s Running Alive (Everyday Heroes) zombie campaign. Both were amazing and you can see some of the highlights below. The Storm King’s Thunder epilogue has been added to the notes earlier tonight. The Running Alive epilogue has been available for a while on our Game Notes page.
We have two new campaigns starting in the next two weeks. This Saturday, Brett is starting his HackMaster Dragon Heist game. Next weekend, he will be running the long-running saga of our Star Wars: Smuggler’s Run.
This will be a fusion of the HackMaster system mechanics with the Dragon Heist D&D module. It will be interesting, for sure. HackMaster is a whole new system for all of us, and can be daunting. Make sure to head over to our downloads page to take a look at the guides. Some of them are super handy.
Since it sounds like the entire campaign is taking place in Waterdeep, you might want to check out this awesome, interactive Waterdeep Map connected to the D&D Wiki:
In addition, we will be needing to use counters to keep track of what we are doing second by second in combat. I recommend those with Android phones go check out this Counter App to help in this endeavor.
Our longest running campaign returns for its third season. For those who haven’t played in a while, feel free to check out what happened last time in the Star Wars: Smuggler’s Run, Part 2 Epilogue. Our band of troubled Rebels have just survived Hoth and have to navigate the dangerous universe they now find themselves in. At least they aren’t in another dimension anymore!
Below are some of highlights from our games.
Spent some time yesterday and today working on the website a bit. Have a few updates for you all.
New Downloads Page
We have a brand new Downloads page full of resources for our games. This includes character sheets, source books, links to Wiki pages and more! Make sure to register a username if you haven’t already to gain access, as only members can view the files. If you are already registered, login to have full access.
User Registration
I have moved away from password-protecting pages/game notes and towards being logged in to gain access to the aforementioned things. If you are already have a login, you are already set. If you don’t, get to it! I am now manually verifying users and will grant you access to everything on the website as soon as I notice the new registration.
We had almost 1000 bots signed up for the website before I knew it, so I had to add a CAPTCHA to a few places. Crazy.
Expanded User Capabilities
Everyone who signs up now will also have the ability to create posts and articles on the website after being verified. Feel free to check out my guide to posting if you are interested. Go at it!
Game Notes
All game notes are still viewable, but only registered & verified users can now edit them.
I know, CAPTCHAs are super annoying…
Well, it’s been almost 3 months since our last update and we’ve been pretty busy. In our D&D Forgotten Realms campaign Storm King’s Thunder, we have started to touch upon the edge of war with the Giants when we aren’t busy leaving destruction in the wake of every town we visit.
In our D20 Modern Running Alive game, the player survivors are starting to piece together the cause of the mysterious apocalypse as we fight for survival against zombies, genocidal hillbillies, nuclear radiation, cannibals, and the upcoming weather conditions of winter.
The TableTop Guild Christmas Party was a resounding success as everyone gathered to feast and celebrate the season at local pub Monk’s Cellar. After feeding ourselves and running up large bar tabs, the group moved on finish up the night with a session of our 5E game as we took on an evil green dragon in the ruins of an ancient elvish city.
Many of our group members have continued to hobby out or discover usable models for our games. Shout out to Brin in particular, as he has been a workhorse for the last few weeks, finding and painting dozens of models.
Our friends at Hobby Badger have moved into a new, larger location. For those interested in visiting, feel free to check out the Hobby Badger Facebook page.
Finally, In the coming days I will also be doing a much revamp of our Media page. More details can been seen below.
The Triboar Explorer Corp have continued their adventures, facing road bandits, sieges by Giants, bridge politics, detective work, and attempts to infiltrate flying citadels in a high stakes heist. For more details, make sure to take a look at the game notes.
Times have been tough for our group of apocalyptic survivors. Being chased from their home by a genocidal paramilitary group with a combat helicopter, everyone tries to find new roots in Rio Linda in a new compound next to Andy’s brother’s house. We have been able to survive as a group for 75 days, but not everyone in our group has made it. For more details of our adventures, make sure to take a look at our game notes.
Everyone got together to celebrate the season by having food, drinks, and gift exchanges at the Monk’s cellar. We then did what we do when we get together: play games!
Many of the TableTop Guild members paint or seek out miniatures to use in our games. Check them out!
Anthony’s gaming store has moved locations. The transformation has been amazing. For more information, head over to the Hobby Badger Facebook page.
Congrats Anthony on the new location and great job decorating it!
I’m going to be revamping our Media page in upcoming days since it’s in dire need of some changes. Some of these changes include:
Direct Links to Source Books
I know that most of us have digital copies of many of the source books. I personally have a fairly large collection, and I know Brett has a large dropbox with resources for many of our play systems. Our server currently has 20GB of free of space that we are under utilizing and I figure we might as well host some of this ourselves. The current rulesets I plan to make available for download:
If you want other systems available for public download, let me know in the Discord thread I plan to open in the coming days to gather opinions.
Personal Creations
I’m going to include an area for personal creations, such as art, 3D modelling of characters or items that we interact with in-game, etc. We have a talented group of people and sometimes we post really awesome stuff in Discord or FaceBook that eventually just gets buried over time in other posts. I want to create an area where we can sort of consolidate these creative works for posterity.
Any other ideas are more than welcome.
As always, if you are interested in creating posts or content for the TableTopGuild.com website, feel free to contact me (Patrick) and I can hand out a login. Also, don’t forget to click ‘Going’ to the D&D Movie event coming up in a few weeks if you plan to go. It looks to be at least mediocre – we can only cross our fingers it’s better than the majority of gaming movies.
It’s been a busy few months! Since our last update, the TableTop Guild has started not one but TWO new campaigns. Grant is taking the reins in running a bunch of us through the Storm King’s Thunder, while Brett has started a brand new original storyline in Running Alive, a d20 Modern zombie apocalypse adventure. In addition, we have a brand-new high-tech table with a 70” screen embedded into it. Finally, we have continued to craft more terrain and character models in our spare time to contribute to our growing collection of miniatures.
We are six sessions into taking on the king of giants in Grant’s new campaign, taking place in the Forgotten Realms 1885DR, five years prior to our Tomb of Annihilation campaign and five years after the end of our Saltmarsh campaign. So far everyone’s characters are all a blast, and we already have one destroyed town behind us. For more details, feel free to see the new Storm King’s Thunder notes.
In a completely original campaign, Brett is running a Modern D20 campaign that takes place in contemporary times, but with a twist: there is a zombie apocalypse. We play ourselves as the world collapses around us. Like any good zombie apocalypse, danger can be found everywhere, particularly from other humans. You can check out the Running Alive Game Notes to catch up on the plot.
View the cinematic intro created by Andy:
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Everyone in the TableTop Guild has contributed in some way to ensure we have an awesome new playing table for our games. Special shout outs to Brett for sourcing the TV, Jack for funding the custom protective covering, and Andy for doing everything from writing up the plans in CAD to ordering custom metal bracing for the TV and installing it all. Great work guys! Sam also contributed a series of programmable LED lights along the edges which has really contributed to the mood lighting during our miniature battles.
Some members of the TableTop Guild have been steadily creating new models for our games. Check out a few below.
Stay tuned for further updates!
After an intense, year-long campaign, the lich Acererak is dead. It was an intense survival game in which all of our characters shed sweat, blood, and tears. Not everybody made it out alive through the final fight, and their sacrifice will not be forgotten. Shout out to Brett Coker who DM’d like a boss and crafted a wonderful tale for us all. I’ll try to cobble together some of the photos we took during the last half of the campaign in another post.
Out with the old and in with the new! Our next campaign takes place against the Storm King! The Game Notes page has been appropriately updated. Time to start working on those new characters. The Storm King’s Thunder campaign starts in 9 days with Grant Reese at the helm. Looking forward to you all showing up.
