Using Technology in Roleplaying Games - Help?

   I had an idea a year or so back. For it to make sense, I guess you need to know that I have a good sized (32") flatscreen on the wall of my game room. It is usually hooked up to my sons' video game consoles, but does have an input that I could drive from a computer.

  Anyway, the idea struck me when we played a couple of games of Star Frontiers. Good OSR Sci-Fi stuff there. I want to use my mini laptop and the big screen to put up video transmissions. For example, when the characters get a call on their vidphone, explaining a potential job, or when the enemy starship captain sends a threat to "lower your shields and prepare to be boarded, or be destroyed!" 

   I just imagine this as a really cool use of technology to make for a memorable gaming experience. Problem is, how do I make the videos look good? Does anyone know of a cheap utility that could help me make good backgrounds, animate aliens, that sort of thing? I mean, a Sathar is a big worm. I can act, but that's a bit beyond me. By the way, I hear its voice as a mechanical translator with a heavy German accent.

"Blimey! Quiet around here, innit?"

Sorry guys. Real life has a nasty habit of getting in the way sometimes. End of school craziness. Only one more week to go!

Little progress. We have been playing a bit of Labyrinth Lord lately, for an hour or so in the evenings. The boys are still slowly working their way into the Caves of Chaos. In fact, I need to re-populate parts of it, as they were down for a month with a nasty infected rat bite or two... So those caves they thought were clear... aren't any longer. I wonder if they go back over there?

One beef I have with LL is that it is way too easy to kill off a first level character or five. Even in what is supposed to be an introductory module, the boys are either having terrible luck or just not enough healing. We frequently play one encounter, then have to go back to the castle to heal up for a day or two. Their tactics seem sound (fighter and dwarf in front, then elf and cleric, then wizard and two hirelings). But with only one 'cure light wounds' spell, the cleric runs out fast.

I did finish the black smoke projector and the four heavy BattleMechs, plus a couple of trucks for BattleTech. I need to finish work on the Aethergraph. It is looking pretty cool, I just wanted a little more content for it. Again, if you have any... email me! aethergraph@gmail.com I especially would like artwork or reviews of rules sets or even fiction... plan to publish what I have on May 31, God willing and the creek don't rise.

More Labyrinth Lord...

Still exploring the Caves of Chaos, our heroes have hit many snags.

The original adventuring party consisted of an Elf, Halfling, magic user, fighter and cleric, all just beginning their careers.

The goblin tribe of Ghazgug the One-Eyed has been destroyed, including Ruben the Ogre Mercenary. Ghazgug himself was not discovered by the adventurers as they cleared the caverns of goblins, but his losses forced Ghazgug to flee. Ghazgug took his tribal treasure and few remaining followers to serve his allies, the hobgoblin tribe of Hakazuz the Mighty. The heroes were saddened by their heavy losses in this scouring: Dyacus the Meek, a young wizard, Marid il Shibbaq, a halfling warrior, and a human fighter named I. Arthur Tickus, who plunged to his death while leaving the caves to return to the Keep.

The adventuring group recruited three new members at the Keep after waiting a week: Keith Stone, a fighter, Oumdur of Clan Telttab, a Dwarf, and Arrod Blackstock, a magic user. They set off again with the Elf warrior Lancegorn and Brother Eltsen, an acolyte in the service of Oz the Great and Powerful. Returning to the caves, they began the scouring of Hakazuz's tribe.

In their first foray against the hobgoblin menace, the adventurers purged one of the tribe's common areas, slaying the males and the females as well, but allowing the young to flee. One female fled early in the battle, and returned with additional forces: six goblins and a hobgoblin guard from the nearby guardroom. Defeating these foes, our heroes decided to retire to the Keep for healing and rest.

Two days later, the heroes again advanced into the dark caverns. In this foray, they discovered a guard chamber, and cleared it, and then found a torture chamber. The two brutal hobgoblin torturers were slain, and most of the prisoners released. Among the prisoners were four humans (a merchant, his wife, and two guards), an orc and a gnoll that gibbered madly about "slaying them all." The humans were released and the guards armed with hobgoblin weapons (crude, but serviceable). The orc was also released and given a sword, as he had sworn to kill any goblin or hobgoblin scum he saw. He got the chance to do so soon, as the party ran into a small group of goblin messengers almost immediately after leaving the torture chamber. Although our now quite large group managed to slay the goblins before they could flee, the orc fell to one of the goblin spears. The remainder escorted the merchant and his wife back to the Keep, to safety.  The guards, cousins named Efil and Erup swore to serve the party faithfully for one year for no more than equipment, room and board.

That's where the adventure stands as of the start of the day today. This afternoon's epic struggle against Hakazuz the Mighty will be chronicled in the near future.