Free - d6 Magazine Issue #1 (Open d6)

I do love giving away stuff, especially gaming goodies to my fellow gamers.  That is why I always have something for my old gaming group when we get together a few times a year.  It's why I run the contests that I do.  It's also why I love finding free stuff on RPGNow that I can share with my fellow gamers.

d6 Magazine is a free magazine devoted to the Open d6 gaming system.  The system that finds it origins in the original Star Wars RPG is now an open system, much like D&D 3.5e.  Free magazine for a free RPG.  Amazing how things work.

Inside you get a very insightful interview with one the core writers for the old WEG company,  I love my gaming history articles, and this is a good one.

The article on the Wild Die is a good one, especially as I don't remember using a wild die in the few sessions I ran of Star Wars - must have been first edition.

Oh, can't forget the sample campaign for a d6 sci-fi campaign.

The price is right and it's well written and presented. 

The Winners of the Free Wedding Favors Are...

Everyone that entered!

Well, 24 fine folks will be getting copies of Maidens Of Moordoth , 5 others are getting individual prizes, as my count shows 29 total entries.  So, if you entered and you aren't named for one of the 5 prizes below, you are getting the prize above.

I broke out my trusty d6 and d10 (because even though I have every weird ass die used in DCC in my bag, I lack a d30) - ignoring any 30s that come up, I rolled 19, 21, 1, 20 and 12

Knockspell #6 (my first and only published article lies within) - JDJarvis

Oubliette #6 (cause it rocks) - NEMO235

6-Pack Adventures: Kiss of the Frog God - (you need something weird, and this is a LotFP WF compatible module) - Loquacious

Elder Tunnels:  Fall 2011 (i have to include something for Tunnels & Trolls on the list) - Tim Shorts

Resolute: The Splintered Realm (neat little system rolled into 20 pages) - Sir Timothy of Kent

I need you all to email me at erikATtrubluniteDOTnet.  I need to know your blogger name (so I know the prize) and the email address you use at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG/OneBookshelf.  These won't be coming as coupon codes - I'll actually be buying it for your account.  This may take me a few days to get them all out, but I'll do them in the order received.

edit:  post a commned to this post too if you could - that way i know that the person claiming the prize is who they are or should be or something along those lines... heh

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment.

It's a Brady Bunch Mini-Moon

Yep, the misses, the kid, the dachshund, my kitty and myself are away in the country for a few days to enjoy the new marriage / family / everything else.

The wedding ceremony / mass was perfect, the weather was amazing and the reception was a blast. Win-win-win! Thanks to all for their well wishes. I couldn't have asked for a better wedding day.

The contest can now be considered closed. I believe Andugus was the last post. I'll announce the prize winners later tonight or in the morning. Time to settle in and go out for dinner. My son is treating to Pizza Hut :)

Maintaining Radio Silence...

Alright, getting married in 3 hours.  It will be at least 24 hrs before I log back in,and probably later in the day tomorrow before I start awarding prizes from this post.

You can still enter through sometime sunday.  As it stands with the number of current entries, I'll be awarding a copy of Maidens Of Moordoth to everyone that doesn't win one of the other prizes.  Unless, of course, I have dozens more entries before tomorrow ;)

My Favorite Pre-Written RPG Adventure - Haunted Halls of Eveningstar

I can't let y'all have all the fun!  heh

My favorite adventure to run (favorite to read is probably Paranoia's Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues) has to be Haunted Halls of Eveningstar.  I must have started four or five campaigns with this module, and I'm sure those included some of the same players.

It was great, as it had an adventure, a nice amount of hooks and a sandboxie location for the players to start their explorations in.  After the first time through, I don't think I used the core adventure as is, but there was so much to play with, it was easy use it as a campaign starter.  Back in the day, if it was time to start a new campaign and I was relatively unprepared, tis was my go-to adventure.  I knew it well enough to run it with minimal referencing.

Something else I need to dig out when renovations are complete.

Remember to let me know about your Favorite Pre-Written RPG Adventure and you could win some free stuff.

Time is a Variable Thing

(free swag - post a comment to this thread by sometime in the morning of November 6, 2011)

The months leading up to my wedding on this coming Saturday seemed to take forever, but the days of this week so far have blown past me, and today has gone by in the wink of an eye it seems.

All this, of course, is the exact opposite of the typical RPG campaign.  There, days, weeks, months... sometimes years go by with a few words from the GM.  Then you hit combat, and 5 minutes of game time can take an hour or two of real time to complete.

I've been reading some more of Designers & Dragons in my spare time,  It's an amazing read, but I doubt I'd be reading it if I hadn't received it as a reviewer's comp.  Content wise it is a home run and a half, but I can't help but compare it to the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper's Guide - great piece of work, but the pricing is a bit high.  Maybe it will come down in price, maybe it will sell at it's current price.

Time to Give Out Some Free Wedding Favors!

Yep, time to give some shit...er, gaming material, away.  I may as well, it is YOUR money I'll be using, or rather the small commission that gets added to my OneBookShelf account when someone makes a purchase from one of the RPGNow / DriveThruRPG links on this blog.  I'm getting married this weekend, and in the spirit of the joy and excitement I'm feeling, I'd like to give back to the readers of this blog.

So, here's what we're doing.  Add a comment to this blog post and I'll be giving out goodies to some random readers that do so and follow the instruction in the next sentence.  The topic for the comments is: "My favorite pre-written adventure (any game system) of all time".  Hey, it could be worse.  I could make you suffer through some of those god awful songs they play at EVERY wedding reception (not ours tho - we have an actual living, breathing Irish Folk singer.  No damn "duck" song, no conga line, just good music).

Here's the list of goodies:

Knockspell #6 (my first and only published article lies within)

Oubliette #6 (cause it rocks)

Maidens Of Moordoth - (cause it's cool and at 50 cents a pop i can give out 5 copies ;)

6-Pack Adventures: Kiss of the Frog God - (you need something weird, and this is a LotFP WF compatible module)

Elder Tunnels:  Fall 2011 (i have to include something for Tunnels & Trolls on the list)

Resolute: The Splintered Realm (neat little system rolled into 20 pages)

1 of each, except for Maidens of Moordoth, of which I'll be giving out 5 copies.  So, 10 prizes in total.

Entries can be entered up until whatever time I wake up and stumble to my computer Sunday morning.  Prizes will be given out sometime thereafter, depending on internet connection and wife agro ;)

Things to Post, Places to Be, Vows to Exchange

I'm working on the OSR by complexity / simplicity list behind the scenes, just way too many distractions at the moment.

You know, the Pathfinder Beginner Box, some of the free Halloween stuff that I grabbed on OneBookShelf over the weekend and crunch time for my wedding this coming Saturday.  Four days.  Holy crap!  heh

Crazy busy but exciting times.  I'm sure the lass is gonna love my blog posting on the mini-moon (honeymoon will wait until the spring).

The thing is, when this calms down I should be able to get my gaming in again.  Woot!

Can D20 / OGL / OSR Be Used for an Effective Horror Campaign?

I know its the day after Halloween - so shoot me!

The thing is, I was thinking of effective horror gaming and it occurred to me that is hard to accomplish using most of the D20 / OGL / OSR rules.

Here's my reasoning: D20 is based on level. Skills and Hit Points increase with each level. Higher level characters by nature of the rules have less to fear. That is why Ravenloft never really satisfied my taste for "Horror Gaming". It felt almost campy. My players were never really afraid, at least not more so than in any other level appropriate adventure. Annoyed maybe that they were yoked to the Demi-Plane of dread, but scared? Nope.

Call of Cthulhu and such are skill based. There's no bucket of Hit Points to save your ass. A more skilled investigator may have a few tricks to pull out of his hat, but it's still very easy to die within the framework of the rules. Also, CoC is less geared to campaign play, which assumes some character survival to move the plot along.

D20 / OGL may be able to do effective horror at low levels, but even in a game like LotFP Weird Fantasy, higher levels will by nature of the rules be less scary.

Can D20 / OGL do an effective Horror Campaign? I'm leaning heavily on the side that the game is built against it, but maybe some of you can or have prove(d) me wrong.