Blue Dungeon Tiles - A Kickstarter for a Modular Gaming Mat / Map / Tiles

When i see a Kickstarter like this - Blue Dungeon Tiles - I regret the fact that I lack a face to face group, as this would be awesome. Inexpensive compared to set piece such as dungeon wall, it's also hard to discount the easy of storage and carrying. I have Dwarven Forge stuff from their last Kickstarter, and the stuff is awesome, but really, I'd have to be running the session from home for me to break out the pieces.

I'm actually surprised no one thought of doing this before. Wet, dry and permanent marker erasable tiles. Pretty sweet.

I may just have to kick in for the possibility of finding a local OSR styled group at some point, or even for use at a con.

Who am I kidding? 30 bucks for the basic set? I'm in...

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Cats

Last Sunday I was totally psyched. I had stuff in the review pile ready to be reviewed and even thought I could get to as many as TWO a day at times. Which was a great plan until Monday struck at work. Overtime every day but Wednesday (when I have 'Uncle Duty" in the later afternoon.)

Good for the wallet, not so good for reading and posting.

Today has been "clean out the pantry and deal with the mice mess". I'm going to try and steal some reading time even if my wife kills me. Oh, and prep for renovations on monday ;)

Oh, and have already spent a chunk of the overtime earned earlier this week on... mouse resistant storage containers that are air tight. Thank you Amazon for allowing me to spend the money that isn't yet in my paycheck without even leaving my home.

FLAILSNAILS - Why I Don't "Flail my Snail" ;)

I play with some fairly frequent "Flailsnailers", but I myself, have never done such.

I do see the appeal, even if it holds little for me.

See, if you have limited game time available to use and a steady group, there is little need for Flailsnailing.

As a DM, my group and myself vet any guest players into our sessions. As the campaigns we play have core sets or characters, I am likely to review any new PC coming in to see how well they fit and if any adjustments are needed - the inherit occasional FS wackiness is generally not an added feature I'm looking for (that being said, I can see it fit well into certain styles of campaigns).

As a player, I don't have the free time to bounce from game to game, system to system. My time to play is limited and scheduled well in advance, much like my DMing

Now, without a steady group and an abundance of free time, I can certainly see the appeal of Flailing One's Snail, as it were.

I can also see how it would work well as an underlining conversion set of rules for an OSR styles online con, where players could bring their own characters to the game and not use a pregen. There certainly is a lot to say for that use.

Ah well, just some random thoughts...

Of Mice and Men and Living Dungeon Trappings

So, I was sitting at my desk trying to brainstorm a post for the blog (it wasn't coming easy - today was a nearly a 14 hour work day) when I heard my wife scream.

Yep, there was a mouse in the kitchen.

I fail to understand how a mouse can run across the top of the stove when I have a cat that is a proven hunter in the house.

Still, there is a post hidden behind that mouse, as it's gotten me thinking about "dungeon trappings", the things that bring dungeons to life (as opposed to "dungeon traps", designed to remove life in dungeons).

Sure, we can always have 9 giant rats in a room waiting for the PCs to slaughter them for a pile of coppers, but where are the mice, the insects, the spiders and the dust bunnies. We'll mention the color of the walls and the stone cut of the floors, but what about the life that scampers about?

Shit, talking about scampering, i guess I'll have to put out some traps myself to remove some of the "extra life" roaming around The Tavern's kitchen.

You know it's been a long, cold winter when the mice are willing and able to brave the cats...

Almost Ready to Go Big - Big Maps, That Is

I'm thinking of leaving the mini grid map book to work to doodle during meal and use the larger book for doodling at home. Figured I'd grab a hex book of paper while I was at it, but don't expect to be filling in such a large hex sheet for a bit - still need to work on the smaller hex sheets first.

I haven't had the time (or the energy) to do much mapping this work week even if I find it to be a great tool for de-stressing. Overtime 3 days out of 4 (Wednesday afternoon I have "Uncle Duty") so far, and probably 4 out of 5 days once I finally sign out tomorrow.

Yep, the hits just keep on coming ;)

In any case, I certainly plan on getting some quality mapping time in this weekend...

Reddit "Flash Mob" at The Tavern Today

Apparently the following post: http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2013/06/mike-nystul-fiscally-incompetent-washes.html got linked in a discussion thread of the ass who burned a bunch of books he didn't ship to backers: Kickstarter Fail: Artist Raises $51K to Publish Books, Burns Them in Alley

Reddit drives amazing traffic. Sadly, I suspect its not quality traffic. Still, it's a fun ride and I've already hit twice my previous high for daily traffic and there's still 3 1/2 hours to go.

Go figure ;)

Stop the Presses - I've Agreed to Participate on a Kickstarter Project

Holy shit Batman!

Yep, I've agreed to participate on a Kickstarter project in a limited scope.

The creator of the project has Kickstarted in the past and has done it well. No complaints from my end and I've supported the previous Kickstarters - they never made "the list".

More details as the project gets closer to going live, but it is RPG related.

Gygax's Last RPG - Lejendary Adventures

Lejendary Adventures is the game I always wanted to play. I ordered the signed books when they originally came out, and never read them straight through, as I no longer seemed to be fluent in High Gygaxian. Didn't stop me from gathering another set of the books (unsigned) although all are currently in storage.

At some point, I realized that Troll lord Games had published a sized down and edited version of the rules in a boxed set, and I picked it up. Well, I picked it up three times apparently. One box is a full set with dice, one set has no dice, and one set only has one booklet in it, so the rest of it must be boxed away somewhere. I may need to take my son up on his offer and have him catalogue my gaming collection. Even the shake down he'll attempt will save me money in the long run.

At least the two extra boxes will be finding homes in my gaming group. Who knows, we may actually play it at some point ;)

Castles & Crusades - The Other "White Box"

I had forgotten I had the Castles & Crusades Collector's Edition, otherwise known as the C&C White Box.

I guess I should do a "White Box Comparison" post or series of posts at some point. Original Dungeons & Dragons, Swords & Wizardry White Box, Delving Deeper and the Castles & Crusades Collector's Edition.

It is kinda neat with just the 4 core classes, 10 levels and 4 races. A whole game in just one box.

Amateur Night at the Tavern - My Thoughts are Bigger than the Paper

Yep, stairs in the center and three open passageways of the paper.

I am certainly not ready for ink and it's "once and done" rules ;)

I'm not sure how to make the lower right room stand out more, short of cutting it by half a hex to the south and the west sides. Eh, work in progress.

That being said, I did order some larger sheets of graph paper and may need to order some more small sheets from across the pond at the rate I'm going...

Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay - Released on RPGNow as PWYW (OSR City Setting)

The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay has been released and I'm pretty pumped. +Pete Spahn puts out some damn good stuff, so when he Kickstarted this I was all over it.

There is even a Tenkar's Tavern located within.

The price is right at PWYW. Take a peek and download it. If you find it useful, and you will, toss Pete a few scheckls. Trust me, it's worth it.

A review with be coming soonish, as soon as I review the things that are sooner ;)

In the meantime, step in Tenkar's Tavern...