Game Chef 2007 is Here!

Who among you is mighty enough to create an entire roleplaying game in two weeks?

Oh yeah?

Prove it!

A Couple Small BHAC Updates

Just a couple of follow on bits about BHACs.

First, Martin Ralya of Treasure Tables fame was nice enough to mention BHACs over there. That has led to a couple hundred people checking out My Play, probably for the first time. There is a bit of discussion of the idea over there, so it may be worth checking out for the interested.

There was also a page about BHACs on the Treasure Tables GMing wiki, but Martin pulled it down due to plagiarism concerns. I may go create a new one at some point, but if anyone else feels like giving it a shot, be my guest. Feel free to quote from the original post, but try to avoid just reposting the whole thing over there.

Finally, I forgot to credit another, secondary inspiration for BHACs when I wrote about them the first time. John H. Kim‘s public musings about an idea he had for a D&D campaign called Dawn of Fire are very BHAC-y, and certainly helped get me thinking about the concept.

Crucifying Elminster

A lot of people enjoy roleplaying in a well-established, detailed setting. In some cases it has to do with wanting to play in the world of a beloved book or movie — Middle-Earth or the Star Wars Universe, for example — while some just like the idea of a fully fleshed-out world like Hârn, or The World of Darkness. Others enjoy playing in a historical setting like classical Rome or Warring States China for similar reasons.

Running a campaign in such a well-defined setting can be a problem for the GM. Worlds that have a well-established metaplot, including real world historical settings, can be an especially large nuisance. If the GM hasn’t read every available source about the game’s setting, he will almost certainly contradict established continuity. When his players are devoted fans, they will probably interrupt play to point out every single one of those mistakes.

BHACs

For the last few months, I’ve really been hankering for a BHAC. For various reasons, they’ve never been a large part of my role-playing, and, as I get older and get a clearer view of how important fun for fun’s sake is, I find that this is a void in my gaming history.

Oh. You don’t know what a BHAC is?

It’s a Big, Hairy, Audacious Campaign.