Metric vs. Imperial… what is your Gamma World preference?

I had just finished rewriting the various physical and mental mutations and, while reviewing them, paused to wonder whether I should eschew the use of Gamma World’s default metric system in favor of the more familiar, to me and those I game with, imperial system. Mentally converting meters to feet and kilograms to pounds, I suppose, is part of classic Gamma World’s charm but, as a stubborn American, think that changing over to imperial would most definitely make to game run more smoothly for my gaming group (which, admittedly, probably won’t be getting around to play this for quite some time).

Does anyone out there have strong opinions on this, either way? I’d like to both hear the pros and cons before making the change and continuing with the rules.

Next Project… Gamma World

Since my gaming schedule never fully recovered from Covid, and I’m too lazy to use my free time for exercise or other forms of self-improvement, I need some kind of gaming project to keep me busy.

My mind keeps going back to creating a “modern” remake of 1st/2nd edition Gamma World. While I love the Bruce Nesmith’s 4th edition rules from the early 90s, I’m aiming at something more basic than those rules.

So… over the next few months I’ll start posting notes on my progress with that project. Feel free to post any ideas that you have for such an undertaking as a comment!

Darlene’s Map, Reborn!

2022 has been good for fans of old-school Greyhawk (my favorite D&D setting), particularly of it’s incredible map by Darlene. Not only do we have Anna Meyer’s new rendering of the classic map, but now Zach Henderson and Robert Conley have teamed up to digitally restore the original map (with Darlene’s permission).

This new take on Darlene’s evocative map of the Flannaess takes the form of a clean-up JPEG map, as well as a PDF map that breaks up the map into layers. This allows viewers to remove text and/or hexes from the map, or change the hex-size from the default, 30-mile, hex to 6-mile hexes.

I’ve attached a small thumbnail of Robert’s preliminary map, but you should click the links above to get the bigger picture (pardon the pun). I’ve also posted links on my Greyhawk site for AD&D3e.

Zach Henderson’s cleaned up version of Darlene’s Greyhawk map.

The Perils of Self-Publishing

I’ve seen that some people have been using online printing services to print up copies of my rules… and have posted pictures of these books on Facebook or in their blog posts.

While it makes me happy to see the product of my many hours of hard work in print, I just wanted to warn others against doing so.

Recently, I had my Lulu account shut down because I was printing out copies of my books for personal use or to give out to the guys that I game with. When one order failed to show up, I contacted customer support and got this reply:

“Hello, We are sorry to hear that your package has not arrived yet. Under normal circumstances, we could assist further in possibly reordering the items, however, it has come to our attention that your Content, titled “Everywhere,” “Dungeons and Dragons,” and other works on the account  may be in violation of the Lulu Membership Agreement, which states that your Content cannot contain material that is intellectual property of another, invasive of privacy rights, defamatory or otherwise questionable and/or determined by us in our sole discretion to violate our Membership Agreement. Dungeons and Dragons and other works on the account may infringe on the trademarks and copyrights owned by TSR Inc. and other companies. Please know that Lulu does not allow fan fiction or reproductions, in any form, to be published on the site regardless of if they are public or for private use. All users are required to read our terms and conditions prior to publishing with Lulu. As a result, we must remove your Content from availability and terminate your Lulu Account.

For more information on the terms and conditions of publishing through Lulu.com please review our Membership Agreement.