Does This Thing Still Work?

Logged in today to see that it has been over a year since my last update! And, I realized this week it has been two years since I released Sentinels of Echo City. Wow... um. Time flies and all that good stuff. School goes well and my march towards certification as a school administrator continues unabated... but I always have some gaming stuff turning in the back of my head.

I saw a picture of Doc Ock fighting Spidey the other day, and I realized that I never really solved a villain like him in game terms. Yeah, you can have multiple attacks, but he doesn't really have a multiple attack so much as a barrage of attacks at one time. In fact, this is something that I had not successfully resolved for any hero or villain that can pummel you quickly with a series of blows. Speedsters do this. Doc Ock does this. A big tanky guy could take this as his sort of signature. Instead of landing one big attack, he is always peppering you with quick jabs. I present to you, the barrage attack for Sentinels of Echo City:

Barrage Attack (self). You land a series of blows every time you attack in melee. Roll 1d4+1 for the number of attacks you can take every round. Roll 1d6 for the base damage from your attacks: 1-2 = 1d4; 3-4 = 1d6; 5-6 = 1d8. On each attack you roll, you roll a total number of 1d20s equal to your barrage attack rating (adding your total modifier to hit to each roll). For each attack that succeeds, you roll one of the appropriate dice from barrage attack. Add your STR modifier to the total damage (not to each individual die). For example, Professor Squid is level 5 (+3 attack modifier) has STR 14 (+4 modifier) and has barrage attack 4 (for his 4 robotic tentacle arms) with damage of 1d6 for each arm. He attacks a hero with AC 17. He rolls 4d20 each time he attacks. If he rolls 5 (+7=12; miss), 12 (+7=19; hit) 13 (+7=20; hit), and 20 (allowing him to double the die) on an attack, he lands 3 of the 4 attacks this round. He rolls 3d6 for damage, adding +4 (from his STR) to the total damage this round, and doubling one of the 1d6 results (he should roll this die separately before the other two 1d6s). He could potentially deal a large amount of damage this round... or he could roll a series of 1s.   

An Update on all things Desing

I've been flying sort of under the radar lately, and there's a good reason. I have recently been accepted into the doctoral studies program at Grand Canyon University, pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership K-12. My end goal is to move from being a classroom teacher to a building or district level administrator, and ultimately into the role of superintendent of schools somewhere.

My journey has already started, and the initial reading is already daunting. Everything I have read and encountered suggests that I am going to need to make this a key focus of my life, putting all of my free time (and much of my currently allocated time) into my studies... for the next three and a half years.

So while this doesn't mean that I will not be writing any more RPGs or publishing any more game content, it means that I am shifting my priorities around considerably, and I don't see any way that I will be able to publish with any frequency or consistency.

I'm very glad for the decision I made to publish games under a creative commons license. I hope that the games I have published continue to live on and grow despite my relatively minor involvement in their development for the foreseeable future.

I plan to try to maintain a weekly schedule with Teaching Ted, since that requires a minimal commitment at this point to keep it rolling. I'll be taking down my Patreon page in the next few days (to keep people from being charged for next month), and I'd expect that I'll be even scarcer of a presence here.

I wish you all well on whatever path your road continues to lead you. I would truly appreciate your prayers as I head down mine.

All my best.

Mike

Lincoln Station Stories

+Christopher Cortright has posted his supplement for Sentinels of Echo City, a city sourcebook called Lincoln Station Stories. It's a solid city resource (and is more fully developed than my own setting, Echo City, which has only been presented in broad strokes so far). Just reading through the book I had a half dozen ideas for adventures, and he's got some cool, unique concepts throughout that give the setting flavor. You should head over to rpgnow and throw a few dollars his way!

Lulu Free Shipping

Dang. Wish that I was finalizing a Kickstarter today... although for you it might be a good time to get caught up with some books you're missing. Just saying.

Lulu has free shipping today. Here's the e-mail they sent me...

It's everyone's favorite discount - free mail shipping. That's right, the books you want delivered free. Here's a tip to save money and make it easier on your postman, divide your larger deliveries into smaller orders. 

Today only, enter code GLOSHIP75 at checkout and get free mail shipping. Expires tonight,  March 22 at 11:59 PM. Remember, coupon codes are CASE-SENSITIVE.

The fine print: This offer is applicable to listed products only.  Weight and destination restrictions may apply. This offer cannot be combined with other offers and cannot be applied to previous purchases. 

Order today and save on shipping.

Teaching Ted Kickstarter

So I've launched a KS for something completely non-gaming related. I'm collecting my webcomics for Teaching Ted into one volume, and I've got some teacher swag to go with it.

Twitter Stuff

I don't know how many of you care about twitter, but I have an account there in case you want to follow along with my occasional musings and comic updates:

@michaeltdesing

Kirby from the new ants comic has set up his own account as well:

@kirbythebot

And by the way, a new ants page is up today. So there's that.

Get Yer Free Shippin Here!

Thanks to +magehammer Chad for the heads-up. You should be able to use code MARSHIP to get free shipping at Lulu for the next day or so... it looks like it's US only, but now might be a good time to stock up on some books... just sayin'.