General RPG Materials from Mark Joseph Young: These pages may be related to Multiverser, or to Dungeons & Dragons; but they are easily adapted to most role playing games.
Several of these sites have garnered interesst from readers. I woul very much like to hear your opinions, as well as what brought you to these.
This is a sub-index page of the Index to the Writings of Mark Joseph Young, which cover many areas of thought and life, including, law, bible, rpg's, time travel, fiction, and many other subjects.
About the Author: M. Joseph Young: Intended as the author bio for the Christian Gamers Guild Chaplain's Corner series Faith and Gaming, this includes links to a few significant articles including those in the series.
AD&D Character Creation 9: Roll Height and Weight: A modified system of randomly determining the height and weight of Dungeons & Dragons characters is included in this Character Creation site page.
Adjudicating Chess Games Played by RPG Characters: One of my D&D player characters gave a hand-carved chess set to another as a birthday present; I needed rules to determine the outcome of games within the game, so I devised these.
BASIC Programs for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Games: The best of these is my ADR's and Surv's program, which allows character weapon attacks and durability to be compared in a realistic way; but there are others which referees and players will find useful to designing and enjoying their game worlds.
A Beginner's Guide to Role Playing Games: This page in the Multiverser information center gives a quick look at how real role playing games work, in contrast to computer role playing games, and also discusses to what degree players and referees must be familiar with the rules in order to play a game.
Christian Gamers Guild--Chaplain's Corner: A new section of the Christian Gamers Guild web site addresses Christian concerns about role playing games. This entry page is mostly links, with a bit of introductory material.
Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons Addict: An intelligent consideration of conservative Christian charges that Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is satanic, the paper discusses exactly what is and is not wrong with this and other role playing games.
Conned Into Having a Good Time: A major departure for the author, this is a telling of his trip to a rather humorously small gaming convention as guest of honor, and the events surrounding the Multiverser game and other games played there.
Conversions to adapt Multiverser to other RPG systems: Part of the Multiverser information center, it describes in brief the methods used to integrate Multiverser into other RPG's and other RPG's into Multiverser.
Cults of the Past: Bibliography: As background for a fantasy game, I devised an imagined collection of scholars and scholarly documents, all cited by a fictitious author who wrote about sects which provide background for fantasy play. This bibliography collects all of those imagined documents, and links to their references in the pages which cite them; but I've also offered to link them to documents written by others who would like the challenge of creating a fictitious ancient work of scholarship.
Cults of the Past: Libra Facta: Part of a collection of sects devised for background and adventure in fantasy role playing, this group is suggested as an insidious switch on the concept of neutral alignment.
Cults of the Past: Libra Ficta: An imagined sect for fantasy role play which takes the techniques of another imagined sect and twists them again.
Cults of the Past: Magice Vincit Omnia: The collection of imagined sects for fantasy role playing includes this one founded and run by power-hungry wizards.
Cults of the Past: Might: A fantasy sect of fighters trying to take over the world, for use in fantasy scenarios.
Cults of the Past: Moradin's Army: This sect is imagined as a military reserve unit of dwarfs spread throughout the world, ready to rise up and defend law and good whenever it is seriously threatened.
Cults of the Past: Secret Societies for Fantasy Role Playing Games: This is the contents page for a collection of pages written as if by an ancient scholar. The linked pages create the framework for several organizations of different structures and persuasions which can be used to dress up fantasy worlds.
Cults of the Past: The Border Guard: A description of a fictitious organization of goods which defends civilization against the evils in the wild beyond.
Cults of the Past: The Brotherhood of Death: A description of a secret society of demon worshippers used for background in a fantasy role playing game.
Cults of the Past: The Chance Meeting: A disorganized assortment of affiliated bands related in intent is said to have adopted this name, and is described in a fictitious research paper for use in role playing games.
Cults of the Past: The Elfin Legal Defense: This group of lawful good elves is offered for use in role playing games, especially D&D, both as background and as a secret society for player characters to join.
Cults of the Past: The Freedom Fighters: Another sect created for use in fantasy settings, this is a description of a group of militant anarchists.
Cults of the Past: The Iron Hand: Headed by religious leaders dedicated to law above all else, this imagined sect is part of those offered for background in fantasy game settings.
Cults of the Past: The Lawmen: An ancient sect with a twist, this imagined group did nothing but discuss and debate law, but may have had a significant impact on the fantasy world from which they sprang.
Cults of the Past: The Mithril Chain: An insignificant number of powerful and noble knights with magically enhanced abilities fighting for justice and righteousness throughout the world makes a nice piece of background or adventure for a fantasy scenario.
Cults of the Past: The Ring of Blood: This imagined sect is comprised of a handful of assassins dedicated to excellence in their craft along with the promotion of terror.
Cults of the Past: The Welfare Society: This sect was imagined as dedicated to good, to helping all in need, and as such makes an interesting addition to the background of fantasy play.
Dice Tales - Multiverser: The premier game stories site has published a tale from one of my game sessions as told by me, a very funny string of events in a Multiverser® campaign.
Difficult Questions: Christian Life and Role Playing Games.: This is something of a section index page, a letter asking some difficult questions about Christians and role playing games, presented here, edited to correct a few glitches, and linked to the answers.
Difficult Question: How Can Faith Be Expressed in Gaming?: In response to a question sent in, a number of ideas about how to express faith through fantasy are presented.
Difficult Question: What if Non-Christian Friends are Interested in Magic?: A Christian gamer asked what to do if a non-Christian friend becomes interested in witchcraft. In response, the attraction of magic is considered.
Faith and Gaming: The series addressing Christian concerns about role playing games, from how to answer objections to how to bring religion into play, is fully detailed in the series writings section of this index.
Game Ideas Unlimited: The subscriber series at Gaming Outpost is presented in the series writings section of this index.
Gamer Preferences Quiz: Hours of forum discussions on Gaming Outpost led to the development of this short quiz which helps focus on what individual role players like--and don't like--about the games they play. The listed page provides the questions and the scoring; but for convenience there are several other versions, including a mailto form, an excel spreadsheet version, a Word 7 document, and a BASIC program (written in QBASIC but made to be as compatible as possible).
Good Tippers: Sites Displaying the Tip of the Week: Valdron Inc. offers to provide a free role playing game tip for display on web sites. These are the sites which have included the tip, linked and described.
Holidays for Imaginary Worlds: Every world has holidays; these are a few ideas, many from games I have run or played, which can fill the calendars of any world.
How to add the Valdron Tip of the Week to your web site.: This page includes instructions for including the Valdron role playing Tip of the Week to your web site, including HTML coding and a registration form to have your page listed/linked from the Good Tippers page.
And I'm a Gamer: The seeming conflict between Christianity and gaming is examined from the other side--from why it is that gamers don't like Christians. This appears on the Mystic Ages Online e-zine.
Incomplete Games and Necessary Supplements: Why do role playing game companies publish these? Some of the reasons behind them are examined by one who dislikes them as both publisher and consumer in this contribution to Gaming Outpost.
Interview - M.J. Young: Doomtower Productions' Dak conducted this interview for Gaming Outpost, discussing principally role playing and Multiverser.
Intuition and Surprise: This gaming article published on RPGnet examines a possible explanation for those mysterious "feelings" people have, based on the psychology of subliminal awareness, with some ideas on the mechanics of surprise and how to take advantage of character intuition as a game referee.
Law and Enforcement in Imaginary Realms: The Course of Law: Published in the role playing game e-zine Places to Go, People to Be, this article looks at possibilities for the criminal law process, from the procedures governing arrests through rules of evidence, including some of the nuances of what is meant by "proof". It is the second of an continuing three-article series.
Law and Enforcement in Imaginary Realms: The Force of Law: The third and final article in the series for the Places to Go, People to Be e-zine looks at how and why we punish, and how those decisions affect our worlds.
Law and Enforcement in Imaginary Realms: The Source of Law: First in a series published in the RPG e-zine Places to Go, People to Be, this looks at the many ways laws have been made throughout history, the ways they might be made in the future, and the way government and the legislative process reflect the world around them. It was chosen from all of that e-zine's material to be reprinted on Gaming Outpost.
Martial Arts Rules for Role Playing Games: This sub-site contains many pages of rules on the use of martial arts within AD&D and Multiverser, including a number of styles created for use in the game. With the rules of these two games alongside each other, it should be possible to adapt most of this material to most RPG's. The site is fully indexed elsewhere in these indices.
Monthly Expense System for AD&D Characters in Games: This page in the M. J. Young's Dungeons & Dragons Materials site Special Rules section creates a system for charging party living expenses monthly, instead of attempting to update character treasure records for every game day.
Old and New Gamers: Invited to contribute something to Dark Realm Games, the author presents his views on the variety within the role playing game hobby today, but also the misfortune of those who are caught in the electronic simulation of it and never realize how much more there is.
Morality and Consequences: Overlooked Gaming Essentials: Considering the criticism that role playing encourages people to play evil characters, this article on Gaming Outpost's Listen Up feature section suggests what referees should do to assure that players don't get away with murder.
Multiverser Downloads: Free Accessories for Role Playing: This page is what it says, a brief introduction to materials linked to it which are available for download from Valdron Inc. to enhance Multiverser and role playing game play.
Multiverser Information Center: The Experience: This page gives an overview of the Multiverser role playing game system, with an emphasis on the flavor of the game.
Multiverser RPG Books Described and Compared to Other Games: A description of the books included in the Multiverser role playing game package, including physical attributes and an outline of the contents, along with a comparison to what gamers get for their money from other games, is given as part of the Multiverser information center.
Multiverser(R) RPG Download Accessories: As the Valdron clearing page for accessories for the Multiverser role playing game, this page will be expanded as more material comes on line.
New Multiverser Evaluation Version--FREE for Download: This is the introductory page for downloading a demonstration game.
Notes on The Elfin Legal Defense: This gives dungeon master details to help in running one of the imagined sects created for background in fantasy role playing games, called Cults of the past.
Notes on The Mithril Chain: This gives the dungeon master details on one of the imagined sects created for fantasy role playing background and adventure.
Online Discounters: How It Affects Publishers, Distributors, Retailers, and Consumers: Billed as "A Point and Counterpoint Article", this is a collaboration with British e-zine author Ian O'Rourke, looking at what impact online game stores might have on the industry. It is intended to be first in a new series on Gaming Outpost.
Orc Rising Free Multiverser RPG World from Valdron Inc.: Here for a limited time, this is the description of a downloadable game world for use in role playing games, geared especially for Multiverser.
Other Pages by M. J. Young or Related to RPG's: My original links page, it connects to many of these pages, and to several others by people I know.
The Perpetual Barbecue: This short story originally published in The RPG Review e-zine plays with time travel and the theories developed originally in the Multiverser role playing game. It has been reprinted on the award-winning Temporal Anomalies site and in Multiverser: The Second Book of Worlds, where it is a playable scenario.
Preface to Cults of the Past: This is part of a section written by a fictitious sage which describes a variety of invented organizations used as background in a fantasy role playing game.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 1: First page by this name on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this shows the earliest ten tips shown through the program on pages on web sites across the Internet.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 2: Second page of tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays the second batch of ten tips used in the tip program.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 3: Third tips page on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays tips 21 through 30.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 4: Fourth page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays more game tips.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 5: Fifth page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays more game tips.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 6: Sixth page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays tips 51 through 60.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 7: Seventh page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays tips 61 through 70.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 8: Eighth page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays tips 71 through 80.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 9: Ninth page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays tips 81 through 90.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 10: Tenth page of role playing game tips on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site, this page displays game tips 91 through 100.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 11: Continuing the series with tips 101 through 110, on the Tip of the Week site.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 12: Page displaying role playing game tips numbered 111 through 120 on the Valdron role playing game Tip of the Week site.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 13: Role playing tips numbered 121 through 130 in Valdron's ongoing Tip of the Week program.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 14: This page in Valdron's Tip of the Week site covers past tips numbered 131 through 140.
Previous Role Playing Tips page 15: The current page in Valdron's Tip of the Week program, this shows the most recent tips and spans the period during which the program went on forced hiatus.
The Problem With PokEmon: Written with editorial advice from the Christian Gamers Guild, this response to criticisms of the PokEmon entertainment products discusses what is and is not wrong with the collectible card game, the cartoons, and related materials.
Randomized Size, Appearance, and Gender of Game Horses: For referees whose players are like mine and want a horse of the color and size and gender they specify, the horses which are available in any given stable can be randomly determined. Although part of the Dungeon Master's Reference Materials, this chart is adaptable to almost any role playing game.
Re-educating the Power Gamer: This look at how to balance games so that "munchkins" and wargamers can play alongside story- and character-driven players was published as the lead article in the second issue of the e-zine Wounds Unlimited. It was reprinted by permission at RoleplayingTips.com.
Tables for Identifying Marks and Command Words for Magic Items: The first question I was asked about most treasure items was whether there was anything written or drawn on the object. This led to the attempt to determine command words for magic items--both questions inadequately addressed under AD&D first edition rules. These tables determine what kind of etchings might be on an item, what kind of command word is used to activate magic, and how likely the characters are to guess it.
Turns Rule in Role Playing Games: Part of the Special Rules section of the M. J. Young Dungeons & Dragons Materials site, this provides a fair approach to assuring that no player is lost in the shuffle at large game sessions.
Valdron Inc. Tip of the Week: The home page for the Tip of the Week program, this page presents the current role playing tip, and links to other significant pages on the site, including previous tips, a directory of pages including the tip, and instructions for adding the tip to your site.
What Gamers are Saying about Multiverser: These excerpted quotes come from web pages, e-mail, and ICQ responses, all praising the new role playing game concept of which I am pleased to have been part. My contribution to this page is strictly editorial.
What is an RPG?: This material was excerpted from the Multiverser role playing game Referee's Rules. It explains the gaming phenomenon in a way which is brief yet revealing.
What Should Valdron Do Next?: It's a quick and simple questionaire: tell us close you are to being a Valdron customer (from bought it to don't want it), then choose three possible products from the list, with a space for your comments. It's there for a limited time.
Where Will You End Up Next?: The mystery page, not described anywhere else, and only reached through this banner:
Who Should Do Reviews?: The second "Point and Counterpoint Article" at Gaming Outpost, this collaboration with British e-zine author Ian O'Rourke looks at what credentials might be expected of game reviewers.
1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Alternate Planes of Existence: From the Dungeon Master's Reference Material, this lists all the planes identified in first edition rules on a table designed to randomly select one, weighted toward the larger and more familiar ones.
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