Saturday, July 31, 2010
Gathering of Fools Recap
We did however, watch The Hunt for Gollum. Very well done, especially considering it is a fan movie. Better then most of the made for SciFy Channel stuff in any case.
Family Guy, bad Heavy Metal videos, classic arcade games like Gauntlet 2 on the PS3... plus beer, chips and beef jerky. Classic Fools Fare. Oh, and some Krod Mandoon. My god but that show left little to the imagination.
In the end I gave everyone copies of Dark Dungeon, and they got to do a last man standing with generic level 1 fighters for a copy of the collectible Swords & Wizardry Whitebox boxed set (a copy of the S&W Quickstart rules went to the three eliminated). Probably the first time I had the classic group rolling dice in a meaningful manner in 13 years... it was a blast. Think I've hooked 'em, no to reel them in ;)
I Looted the Birthday Beast
I feel truly blessed, as I received presents way beyond what I deserved. I'll be hitting Amazon pretty hard in the next couple of days and will need to hit Microcenter soon to spend my new gift card. Got some new Teva sandals which will be worn at the Gathering of Fools in lieu of socks ;) Even got a handly dandy Apple Keyboard and Stand for my iPad. Most excellent. Oh, and of course Monty Python's Holy Grail ceramic goblet. Good one.
Number one b-day loot? I Hate Your Guts, by comedian Jimmy Norton (also a regular on the Opie and Anthony Satellite Radio Show). This book was delivered to my Kindle app on my iPad thanks to my son Chris, who figured out the prefect gift without any help from me (i just said get me an iTunes gift card). I'm a real proud poppa.
Of course, his other idea was to put money on my Paypal account so i could by some of those silly RPGs at RPGNow. He really knows me well ;)
I get to give gifts out in about 3 hrs at the Gathering of Fools. Awesome vacation so far. Heh
Friday, July 30, 2010
Pending Gathering of Fools
More importantly tomorrow is the seasonal (more or less) Gathering of Fools. The core of my old High School / College / Life Before our own Families and Responsibilities Group gets together every few months to shoot the shit, have a few beers for old fiends we've lost, watch Army of Darkness for the 27th time, eat lots of beef jerky and basically act like we did 25 years ago.
I like to bear gifts when possible during these gatherings. Castles & Crusades books, OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry... I've given them all out.
Tomorrow I get to give out copies of Dark Dungeons, some Swords and Wizardry Quickstarts and a single copy of the Swords & Wizardry Whitebox Edition in the collectible box. Think I'll run a mock combat with the S&W rules, last man standing gets the boxed set. Should be a blast.
Posting may be light the rest of the weekend. Or not. One never knows what may spark a post ;)
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Warrior, Rogue & Mage
In this game, the classic class names from fantasy RPGs are instead your attributes. Once you wrap your head around that a few times you'll be fine.
In simplest terms, Warrior defines your combat abilities, Rogue your stealth and Mage your academic / magical abilities. Add in skills (that are linked to your attributes) and talents and you've pretty much defined your character.
Simple games can be a lot of fun, but they take the correct group. A 40 page PDF is not going to cover all possibilities, so common sense and GM fiat may be needed at times. Still, for a quick and easy system Warrior, Rogue & Mage reminds me in ways of Ancient Odysseys - both games are easy to pick up and get gaming with pretty quickly.
Decent layout and nice enough artwork makes this a keeper. Warrior, Rogue & Mage is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
LotFP - Weird Fantasy in Hand
Lots of goodies jammed in the box. Its a tasty box too, or at least my cat thinks so. She was nibbling on the edge.
The first parts I plan to read are the Tutorial (to see how well it might actually explain role playing to those outside the hobby), and the two included adventures: Tower of the Stargazer and Weird New World. Need to step away from my iPad for a bit it seems ;)
Heck, the dice may be small but they look to be decent quality.
I'll give a review after I read thru everything.
Dungeon Demon - Mapping for this Dummy
I stumbled across Dungeon Demon from Rusty Axe Games last nite, a surprisingly intuitive mapping program for the mapping impaired. I was able to put a no frills 4 room dungeon together in about 10 minutes, suitable for my online Virtual Table Top of choice, Fantasy Grounds (tho iTabletop may be knocking on that door soon). I figure if I spend another 20 minutes making it all pretty I'll be pretty well set.
It won't overwhelm you with options, and will probably be seen as a mapping program with training wheels for the mapping masters out there, but I need the training wheels :)
This is a first for me. I'm actually kind of excited. Another excuse for not running a game removed from me. Going to need to get off my ass and DM soon it seems.
If I get anywhere near passable I'll post some on the blog, just don't hold your breath ;)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
No More Core 4e Books?
ManaNation has received a tip that Wizards of the Coast has decided to end the print run of the Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Core Handbooks, instead aiming to turn the game in the direction of “Dungeons and Dragons Essentials”, a product to be released later this year. The first product for the Essentials line is starting with the ‘Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game’ also being called ‘the Red Box’ and is due to be released on Sept. 7th, 2010.
It is our understanding that they are not going to be reprinting any of the three main books, the Players Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide and Monster Manual from this point on to allow them to be phased out. No other books have been mentioned.
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EGG's Lejendary Adventures - Quick Start
These days it is out of print. As Gygax Games has yet to decide what to do with the property, it may be out of print for a while. That being said, DragonsFoot has a decent amount of material for use in the game. More to the point, they have the PDF version of the Lejendary Adventures Quickstart available for download.
On the day we remember the man who did much to bring about this hobby of ours, why don't you download a copy of the Lejendary Adventures Quickstart. Designed by the man. Played by the man.
Heck, I'm gonna download another copy myself. So I can give it a good reading. I never got to play on the man's porch, but I've gotten the chance to spend many a year with his creations.
Roll them dice lads and ladies.
edit: fixed the damn "G" for "J" deallie - Gary's f'n with me from above I tell you! ;)
Encounters Mag - Aussie for Classic Gaming
Very high production values and a decent page count, this quarterly magazine would have me subscribing if it offered such, but it's free, so I'll need to remember to track it down very few months.
Issue 2 of Encounters was just released. Do yourself, and your gaming group a favor, and grab a copy.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Quick Start Rules - The Listing - Part the Seventh
HELLAS: Quick Start Rules - Hellas is an exciting fusion of high drama, action-adventure, romance, mythology-infused space opera and science fiction - all that seems to be missing is the kitchen sink.
S.A.V.A.G.E. Essentials Rulebook - (Survival and Victory after Global Extinction) - Stripped down core rules for free. When the author says "for experienced gamers only", I lean toward beleiving him. Still, mightbe some stuff stealable for your Mutant Future game.
Promethean: The Created Demo - Promethean: The Created Promo - Think Frankenstein and Golems. Its set in White Wolf's World of Darkness. Hell, with of of the WoD quickstarts, you could game for months and not spend a cent.
SLA Industries FREE Rulebook - Not a quickstart, as the quickstart's link appears to be dead. Instead, its the full core rulebook. Spies, espionage, magic, biogenetics and more. Over 300 pages. Full game. 'Nuff said.
Destination Now Known
I'd link it up for ya, but still haven,t figured how to do that from the iPad. ;)
I'll edit this tonight for linkability.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
edit: Got mine in my snail-mail box today. Woot!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Weekend Bits N Pieces
I just realized yesterday that Netflix on Demand has many of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies for instant viewing. Some great Scifi and Fantasy cheese to watch. Of course, my all time favorite Mitchel isn't available for instant viewing... I might have to pick that one up on DVD (not a gamer movie, but oh god, its great in its badness).
The Smallville RPG just hit RPGNow. I don't think I've watched more then an episode or two, but I have friends that watch it religiously. I have access to a reviewer's copy, so I might have to check this out. Alot of folks like the Cortex System, so it should be fun to see how good a fit it is.
Oh, and I'm still going to bitch about the heat we've had in NYC. Last year I didn't need to run my AC at night until August - but then again, last summer was unseasonably cool.
Last bit - open to suggestions for a new wireless router. Mine is "okay", but I'm looking for some extra range and perhaps better support for wireless gaming.
Thanks for listening. Should have some more Quickstarts listed in a day or so.
Fantasy Hero 6th ed- The Beast
I tend to beg, borrow and steal from many sources when I run a game, and good ideas don't need to share the same rule system. There is much here that is not specific to the Hero system. The sections Elements of Fantasy, Fantasy Sub-genres, and crossing fantasy with other genres could stand on their own as generic advice for anyone about to begin a new Fantasy game with any set of rules.
Other Chapters, such as Beyond the Fields we Know: Fantasy Worlds and Races and Wonders of the Imagination: Gamemastering Fantasy Hero stand pretty well on their own too. The ideas and advice presented could easily be published as a systemless supplement, and I strongly suggest that Hero Games, or whatever the company is called these days, consider publishing these chapters to an audience outside of the Hero Game circle. I suspect they would do well.
As for the bulk of the book? Its been ages since I've run anything Hero / Champions - wise, so I am far from the person to be counted on for a definitive judgement, but even with my time away from the game I could see myself creating a Fantasy Hero character. I don't have the day and a half available to do so at the moment ;)
On a more technical note, there is an excellent use of bookmarks in Fantasy Hero, something that is unappreciated until you start using them. At that point, they become priceless.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Lonely Coast Campaign Setting
The setting details a small area that can fit into just about any campaign world. It's designed to fit on the outskirts of a kingdom, and doesn't cover a huge area, so it shouldn't disrupt much if you drop it into a world you already plan to use.
Five wandering encounters are included to help the DM hit the ground rolling.
You can grab The Lonely Coast here and visit the Raging Swan Press' website here.
Raging Swan has also released an adventure named Retribution for 1st level PCs, that can be used with The Lonely Coast or not. It's also for Pathfinder and would required some conversion to use it with other rule sets. I'll give my thoughts on it when I finish reading it.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Fantasy Games Unlimited Seems Limitless
There are 26 adventures and supplements for Villains and Vigilantes along. I assume that they are pretty compatible to the new release of V&V, but maybe someone can confirm or deny that for me.
The title that caught most of my attention last night was Swordbearer. It was one of the first non-AD&D RPGs that I purchased. Never played it, not even sure if I understood how all the rules would have worked in game play, but I loved that boxed set. Come to think of it, games in boxes were generally more exciting then book format. It's kinda like opening a present every time you play.
I did use the Swordbearer adventure Dwarven Halls in my AD&D campaign back in the day. Wish I could remember how well it played, but time has stolen the details from me.
Anyhow, FGU appears to be participating in the Christmas in July promo on RPGNow. 25% off aint bad.
FGU Classic Releases on RPGNow
Last night I received numerous emails informing me of Fantasy Games Unlimited releasing classic titles from it's library on RPGNow. It included some V&V titles, some Aftermath and Space Opera supplements and even the Swordbearer rules (of which I have the original box packed away somewhere).
Over the weekend I'll take a closer look at the releases. I figured I'd let y'all know now, as there are some FGU fans out there ;)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, July 22, 2010
And The Winners Are...
Still haven't figured out a better method than rolling dice by hand, although I'm sure there is a better method.
Forty-three peeps registered via Google Friends Connect. I'm going to be lazy and just roll percentile dice and disregard any results over 43. Breaking out the pink crystal dice inked in black (which I SWORE were red when I ordered them online).
Ashley the Feline will be our dice rolling witness. Hopefully she will refrain from playing with the dice until after the winners are chosen.
And the rolls are:
Congrats to all.
Just think, we get to do it again at 50 - just need to check the prize closet and make note of what we have ;)
Breaking Out the Dice Tonight
We, I have three items to give away from June, and I'd hate to see them expire and go to waste, so everyone that is on the Tavern's Google Friends list by 7 pm NYC time tonight is entered. Raffling off PDF copies of:
Fantasy Craft Karma Roleplaying System Fat Dragon Deluxe Set
Should be fun ;)
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
My ENnie Choices - Atomic Highway
Even the cover plays homage to the Road Warrior series of movies.
This book is a blast (nuclear?) to read. Simple rules (as in not too crunch heavy), nice setting rules (so you can customize your own setting) and a well done sample adventure. Haven't yet put the rules to a playtest, but I suspect they would be quickly picked up by the average gaming group. All that and a solid 5 star rating on RPGNow.
Now, for a free alternative post holocaust RPG (more on the side of Gamma World then Road Warrior) you can check out Mutant Future.
Or just read them both and make your own future.
The 40th Person Just Stepped up to the Bar
Tomorrow night I'll do the random rolling to determine the winner of a PDF copy of Fantasy Craft, compliments of RPGNow. Actually, I'm leaning on giving more then one prize away, as the codes are from June and I'd hate for them to expire ;)
Best of luck to all.
Bits n Pieces
Over the next few days I'll be posting some short reviews of my picks from the ENnies list. I figure most of them are independent publishers and might have flown under some folks radars.
I also need to complete another Tales of the Blue Knight installment. Let's see how far I can get on that.
Another week in the 90s here in NYC. Saturday will be gunning for 98. Did I mention I hate the heat?
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Eenie, Meenie, More ENnies....
Best Production Values
Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios) - 'cause its a damn good book
Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo Publishing) - Paizo outdid their already high standards on this one
Warhammer Fantasy RPG (Fantasy Flight Games)- Holy Shit! Open the box and be left in awe!
Best Regalia
I'm not even sure what this means
Best Rules
Atomic Highway (Cubicle 7 & Radioactive Ape Designs) - a most excellent post nuke the world game
Diaspora (VSCA) - FATE system rules rule
Best Setting
Day After Ragnarok (Atomic Overmind Press) - If I were to play in a pulp setting, this would be it... excellent read, even w/o getting to play it
Best Supplement
eh, I refuse to vote for Player's Handbook 3
Best Website
Obsidian Portal - if you want a site that will help you run your game between sessions, this is it
Best Writing
Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios) - like i said before, its a damn good book
FantasyCraft (Crafty Games) - i like the book, even if i know i will never use it
Product of the Year
Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing) - why? because this one goes to ELEVEN! or 3.75, or the alternate 4e
Closing the Pandoren Box
Something I think I forgot to mention about iTabletop Pandoren is that is uses Silverlight or some such (I'm doing this from my iPad so I'm just gonna roll with it). There is nothing to download. Everything is saved server side, even the application.
Which can be good or bad, depending on the future health of the company. In the hear and now it is awesome. Log in on any computer that can access the Internet and your account, your resources, everything you have saved game-wise is there.
Alright, closing the Pandoren box for now. I'm sure I'll have more after I give it a bit of a workout in the coming weeks.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, July 19, 2010
Opening the Pandoren Box
For a brief time I was a volunteer mod on the site, it was at a point where v1.0 was no longer being worked on, and v2.0 wasn't even in pre-beta. Like any real growth, it was a rough spot. So I walked away. Not proud of it, but I was hoping to get my own fairly regular game running, and iTabletop wasn't ready for prime time. I turned my attention back to Fantasy Grounds 2, no slouch in the Virtual Table Top field, but with a decent learning curve if you wanted to run a game with it.
I never completely walked away from iTabletop Pandoren (which I assume is a play on Pandora's box), as the stream of emails updaying threads I was following on the forums could attest to.
At the moment they are offering $25 Lifetime memberships, good for one person, with all the bells and whistles. Crap, that's right, the bells and whistles that set iTabletop Pandoren apart from the others: Video and voice built into the platform. Which is damn nice, as my group is in NYC, Texas and Washington State... and everyone wants to make faces and crack jokes. Hard to do that via the chat log in Fantasy Grounds 2.
You can also share sounds for events, video clips, PDFs (tho the last part is a bit touchy, as copyrights can be involved). Suffice to say it is far enough along that I can now stumble my way thru the idea of getting a game running with it.
At the very least my group with use this for the 4 time a year Gathering of Fools... so that those in distant lands (Texas and Washington) can enjoy and participate in the foolishness.
Eenie, Meenie, ENnies....
Best Adventure
The Grinding Gear (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
Best Aid or Accessory
er, don't know, don't rightly care
Best Art, Cover
Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios)
Pathfinder Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
Rogue Trader Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
Best Art, Interior
Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo Publishing)
Rogue Trader Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
Best Blog
guess i dont read the big ones
Best Cartography
and don't now much about the final picks
Best Electronic Book
not one of the finalists are on my digital bookshelf... sigh
Best Free Product
amazingly enough, I don't know anything off this list either... and I LOVE free
Best Game
Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing)
HM: Labyrinth Lord (Goblinoid Games) Honorable mention isnt bad, but I'd have preferred a vote ;)
Best Miniature Product
I dont really do minis these days
Best Monster/Adversary
Pathfinder Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
Pathfinder: Classic Horrors Revisited (Paizo Publishing)
Best Podcast
I listen to like 4 podcasts a year, so my vote doesn't count
eh, there's more, but I'll post it later tonight
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Quick Start Rules - The Listing - Part the Sixth
Misguided Ambitions - An Introduction to Earthdawn Third Edition - My experience with Earthdawn is limited to the harcover published by FASA back in my early days of gaming. This cover to the new edition's quickstart reminds me of little in that old book, which is a good thing.
Mage: The Awakening Demo Part 1 and Part 2 - ENnie Nominated for best free product or web enhancement. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the Ascension and Awakening line for Mage?
City of Heroes RPG Quickplay Pack - Based on the MMORPG of the same name, it appears the full system was never released. If this weren't a PDF, it would be a collectible.
A Players Guide to Castlemourn - Not so much a quick start as an intro to the setting with enough rules (for use with 3.5e) to allow a player to create a character for use. Includes original fiction from Ed Greenwood, which by itself means it deserves a gander, especially for free. Castlemourn Quickstart for the Cortex System here.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Osmond Family RPG
That damn stupid ass song: I'm a little bit Country... I'm a little bit Rock n Roll!
I'm a little bit OSR, I'm a little bit 3E. And a smidgen Rolemaster, MERP, BRP, CoC, FATE, Rifts, peanut butter and chocolate...
Just imagine if I HAD been drinking. This could have been a whole lot worse, but the point is labels dont mean shit except from a marketing perspective.
Talking about marketing, I wonder if one could pull off an Osmond Family RPG. I mean, TSR did publish a Dallas boardgame. I actually owned that train wreck in my youth.
Pendragon - The Once and Current King
Pendragon is one of the great games that I never played. I have the 1st edition boxed set and the 3rd edition soft covered book (there was no 2nd, and i missed the 4th and 5.0). I've read them repeatedly, cover to cover, over the years as they are great King Arthur resources unto themselves and make for nice reading (my BA is in History, so I may be biased).
The new PDF is 238 pages from end to end, and I'm starting at the begining and moving directly forward. It's not the only thing on my plate, so its going to take some time before I can give a full (or even partial) review, but if it stays true to form it should be excellent.
Maybe I'll finally get to play with the rules this time.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Room for Another Mag?
In addition to covering many different RPGs, the plans include coverage of tabletop and live action gaming. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.
Issue Zero, a 16 page preview, is available for free as a download from RPGNow here.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Life Sucks - Then You Blog
It's one hell of a distraction. I'm sure its a D&D spell already, but damn I'm ready to write one from experience.
On a positive note, despite all the noise James managed to raise recently, his Weird Fantasy game is ready for preorders. I'm in for one. He may be a loud mouth, but he is an extremely talented loudmouth. I have high expectations for it. I'll review it when I receive it.
It aint cheap, but damn thats alot stuff!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Optimal Salacious Review - OSR
Truth of the matter is it served its purpose. It drove traffic to Jim's site, just as Weird Fantasy is getting set to release. Who will be the main buyer's of Jim's game? People that are interested enough in this corner of the hobby to read blogs about this crap... me, you maybe?
I personally didn't like Jim's telling people what they should be called, making people a part of the OSR based on his word alone. If I read a book by a Communist, am I now a Commie? If I read the Bible do I now have to "witness" for everyone, or whatever the heck it is they do when they knock on my door and try to save me?
I'm fine at defining myself. I might game mostly in what is defined loosely as OSR, but I have no products to push, no game to publish. As someone else said... this is my hobby, and lets leave it as such.
Greyhawk Grognard: Marketing the OSR
Greyhawk Grognard: Marketing the OSR, Part 2 of 4: Innovation
GG has put forward two really great posts on the OSR. Do yourself a favor and check them out.
I'd Make a Horrible PC
My sinuses and the accompanying post nasal drip are driving me out of my mind. I blame the wonderful NYC weather.
I could never survive as a PC, getting my ass beat on a daily basis, sleeping outdoors or in a dungeon.
Sinuses knock me down ;)
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Another Twofer Tuesday
First up is Oil Pressure, a module for Villains and Vigilantes. Coming in at 16 pages, it should give you an evening of entertainment and a nice sample module for you V&V game.
Our second freebie is also the second part of a series of adventures.
Campaign 1: Secrets of the Ancients from Mongoose Games for Traveller. There are three separate download links on the page. The campaign intro, part 1 and part 2. Enjoy
Monday, July 12, 2010
Waiting is the Hardest Part
So, The Kid is at a birthday party tonight. He's 17, stubborn, likes to show he is independent. Got a whole lot of: "and you know you don't have to text me every five minutes." "You DON'T need to know everything." Normal adolescent spreading of wings.
All I asked was: "When you know what time it is wrapping up, send me a text"."
The independent lad needed 5 bucks for a MetroCard (NYC Subway) and has already texted me that: "It wraps up at 10 and if I feel lazy I may need a ride." That's my boy... you can spread those wings as far as you want, but your father will always be there for you.
So, what am I doing in my spare time this evening? Watching the Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series
Alright, its a little dated, and the putz shares my name (Cavalier named Erik... sheesh, what a tool) but its still D&D, its still fun, and it makes me feel years younger. It can't be all that bad ;)
Looking For a Good First RPG
I started a thread pretty much asking for the same on ENWorld.
I'm looking for a good RPG to introduce a first time player to roleplaying. They want something they can read first, so it shouldn't be too huge and should include an easy to follow sample of play.
The vast majority of my 30 years of game collecting assumes prior knowledge of roleplaying games. I'd like to hear some suggestions if y'all if possible.
Thanks :)
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Sunday, July 11, 2010
And the Winner is...
In any case, we have 5 entries. In order of their posting it is:
1-2 Greg
3-4 Mikemonaco
5-6 James
7-8 dogrodeo
9-0 Tim Shorts
Can we have a drum roll please?
Taking a randomly chosen 10-sided die from my desk drawer. Witnessed by Ashley, the 4 y/o feline... we have rolled a 5.
Woot! James wins a PDF copy of Dragon Warriors courtesy of RPGNow.
James, check your email.
Still Six Hours Left...
Your comment must be in by 6 pm today, Eastern time. Just Do It! :)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Quick Start Rules - The Listing - Part the Fifth
There is still time to add your favorite BBEG to the thread here and have a chance to win a PDF copy of Dragon Warriors. Comments must be added by 6 pm Eastern Time July 11, 2010. Operators are standing by.
Anyhow, back to the Quickstarts:
FFGs quick starts for its Warhammer 40k line of RPGs is available at the following links:
Deathwatch Rouge Trader Dark Heresy
Actually, lots of free goodies at those links... enjoy
StarSiege from Troll Lord Games- Cross Castles & Crusades' engine with sci-fi and this is the result. My son gave me this as a Christmas gift when it came out. He rocks!
PDQ Sharp! from Atomic Sock Monkey - The game engine behind Jaws of the Six Serpents, Zorceror of Zo, and many others.
PDQ - For an ever more streamlined version of the above. In case you don't like Swashbucklers and such ;)
Lazy Saturday Afternoon
So far today I have played some Star Trek Online, read the latest Knights of the Dinner Table, surfed the web, played with the iPad... I've really missed the Do Nothing of Importance type of Saturday. I think I need to schedule these more often ;)
Oh, and we are getting some rain here in NYC. Woot! About friggin time.
Anyhow, when I motivate my lazy ass I'll put up the next installment of the Quick Start collection. I expect that should be sometime this evening.
K, back to blowing shit up in STO.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Tell us About Your Favorite BBEG
Besides, everyone that posts gets a chance to a single copy of Dragon Warriors RPG from RPGNow.
Yep, I have a copy to give away, and one lucky random poster will get it.
Get your posts in by 6pm eastern time Sunday, July 11, 2010. The winner will be announced by 6pm on July 12th, and probably a lot sooner.
The ongoing contest is still in effect. When we hit 40 Google Connect Friends, one lucky random friend gets a PDF copy of Fantasy Craft. Prizes at 50 and 60 friends also.
So, who is your favorite baddie anyhow?
Warhammer 40k Quickstarts gone from RPGNow
Apparently Fantasy Flight Games has removed the assorted quick starts for their Warhammer 40k RPG lines from RPGNow. They are still available if you dig through the FFG website, although you will need to sign up on their site to download anything.
I noticed this as I was preparing the next installment of the Quickstart Collection posts. In any case, any previous links I may have posted for these are dead. I'll try to get the new links up this weekend. (posting links with the iPad is a PITA... Heh)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, July 8, 2010
July Specials at RPGNow
JulyDriveThruBlogPod2010




Blogs of Inspiration & Erudition
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Geeky SKAturday: "Ride This Wave" by MAYSON's PARTY - Happy weekend everyone! Thanks for joining me on this Geeky SKAturday (or whenever you're reading), as I play around with new ska, time travel, and saving...2 hours ago
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OSR Review & Commentary On Malcon's Tome of Magic Volume Two by Malcon The Fire Bringer & Joseph Mohr Adapted to The Castles & Crusades rpg - " The ancient Lich Malcon the Fire Bringer brings you his next installment. This tome includes many new magic items for your campaign. There are many new c...2 hours ago
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Happily Never After - Watching this REC 3: Genesis has become one of the only Valentine’s Day traditions I have. I originally reviewed this one for the October Horror Movie Chal...3 hours ago
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Friday Roundup 2/14/2025 - Fun stuff for a Friday. Warning: may not include actual fun. - Ian McCullom / Forgotten Weapons takes apart a functioning replica of Deckard's pistol from ...6 hours ago
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Jonstown Jottings #94: The God Skin & Mad Prax: Sandheart Volume Four - Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of ...13 hours ago
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Hârn Regional Module (1983) - From the web: HârnWorld is a realistic medieval environment for fantasy gaming. Using any rule system, you can now create and plan your own quests and ad...21 hours ago
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Bad Things Happen: Unknown BFGs, Twits and Witches - As a father I have become reacquainted with the books of Roald Dahl, most of which I haven't read for well over thirty years. One of the things I have been...1 day ago
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In Search Of...Drelnza, Iggwilv's Treasure - [image: Drelnza, Iggwilv's Treasure] Drelnza holding Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn aloft. Art by Jeff Easley, 2012.My son is getting ready to run Module S4, The...1 day ago
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Under the Plateau of Peril - *Under the plateau of peril, behind the great cliff waterfall is a vast cavern where Underland folk and monsters dwell.d12 Cav...2 days ago
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The Evil That Men Do - By Hex GirlMelusine PressS&WLevels 1-4 […] Twenty years have passed and the boy Dagobert has become a man; cunning, cruel, and simmering with resentment. G...2 days ago
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Stars & Worlds - Here's what a star currently looks like in *Intergalactic Bastionland*. Remember, this isn't space as we know it, so here the usual black void is replace...2 days ago
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My statement on design 'copying' - I am a firm believer in that we, as humans that have been on this planet for 200k years, are inherently creative but almost nothing we make is 'original'. ...3 days ago
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Goblin Bottle - "Some say they bring good luck." Feris pointed out helpfully. "It's disgusting." Allianora all but yelled. Nimble frowned. "Who are we to judge?" It's not ...3 days ago
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Players Companion for Shadowdark - *This post includes affiliate links. * A grabbed a copy of Greg Christopher's Player Companion for Shadowdark a while back. And since then it has been ...5 days ago
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More glancing blows (and near-saves) - A quick rule for any D&D game. I'm certainly not the first one to suggest the "half damage" part. --- *Glancing blows* *When you roll the exact number n...6 days ago
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[CAMPAIGN JOURNAL] News on the March! Episode V. - This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup...1 week ago
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The Three Prongs of Art's Dilemma... - Okay, so the title's a bit misleading. There's lots of great artwork in the gaming hobby, with something good for everyone, whether old school's amateur ...1 week ago
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Here we are again. - I've given up on running TTRPG campaigns for the foreseeable future, because I've got sick and tired of never knowing from week to week whether the game...1 week ago
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A Brief History of Ukrasia - This post provides a rough overview and timeline for the World of *Ukrasia* (the setting for my “*Against the Court of Urdor*” campaign). The history is ...1 week ago
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Hobby Bingo 2025: January Progress - Welcome back to the Vault! I've painted a few bits and pieces in January and made a dent into my Hobby Bingo card! First up is a Chaplain in Terminator ...1 week ago
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Navigating Paintings - a review of the Rogue Trader CRPG - I bought this for Christmas and was playing it a bit every evening during my temp job, then I lost that job unexpectedly and at the same time UK got para...2 weeks ago
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NTRPG Gaming Weekend - [image: NTRPG Gaming Weekend] This weekend was a "game day" for North Texas RPG Con, held at the same hotel the con is held at. I haven't slung dice since...2 weeks ago
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The Stats of a Dave Arneson Player Character. - If you want to find the details for one of the characters that Gary Gygax made and played as a PC, perhaps to use as an NPC in your own game, it isn't t...2 weeks ago
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Brink of Calamity proofs ordered - Hello, blog family. It’s been a minute. I’m happy to inform you all that I’ve just ordered a proof copy of *Brink of Calamity* from DriveThruRPG. When I ...3 weeks ago
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On 1984 - * “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” -1984*3 weeks ago
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Check out this fashionable fellow. - I was looking at the *Tunnels & Trolls* stuff on the ebays and stumbled across this guy. I love his visor, though I think it would be better if it was p...3 weeks ago
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Into the Wild Blue Yonder: A Journey Through Blackmoor's Dark Realm - *We have been thinking about you.* *We know what you want from Rob Kuntz.* You want more than another brand-new RPG module. It has to be a *First Edition ...4 weeks ago
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Articulations - Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign, has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective house rule...1 month ago
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Bat in the Attic Games and 2025 - Happy New Year Folks! This would be a good time to update everyone on what has been happening with me and my plans for the upcoming year. Personal I ...1 month ago
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A Fiftieth Anniversary Year - The 50th anniversary year of *Dungeons & Dragons *is drawing to a close. A number of projects I'd been planning for this year finally came out, and I ...1 month ago
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A Quick Look at The Wizard’s Scroll II - October of this year saw the release of The Wizard’s Scroll II, the second issue of a White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game (FMAG) zine whose first ...1 month ago
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Writing playlists for all occasions - Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction pieces...1 month ago
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The Tarot of Pips - Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a secr...2 months ago
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Blue Sky Temple, Revised - Last week, we made a crowdsourced dungeon on Bluesky. It was fun and it yielded a cool dungeon with a lot of good ideas mashed together. This week, I ...2 months ago
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Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report - Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from “off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic item rese...2 months ago
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OSR: Magical Industrial Gunboats - Here's some useful information for river-based adventures using *Magical Industrial Revolution*. Skip to Part 3 or click this PDF link if you just want t...2 months ago
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Welcome new Greyhawk Fans! - With the publication of the new Dungeon Master’s Guide, there are doubtless going to be a lot of new D&D players interested in my favorite setting, the Wor...3 months ago
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New Planar Magic Items - Hellsguard, Mephrytis, Ring of Planar Vision, and Four New Potions - I've been busily working away on various projects since the end of April, including attending the North Texas RPG Con in Dallas from 5-10 June 2024 (and ...7 months ago
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Grimdark vs. Eucatastrophe - Noisms has some interesting ideas in this post about his desire for some depth to his grimdark, and turns to Gene Wolfe and Tolkien for relief. Now, it ...7 months ago
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It's been a bit - Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and other st...8 months ago
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The Economy Engine, v0.2 - I made a thing. For D&D 3rd edition, so it might not be that interesting to a lot of people. But I made it and I think it’s cool. The 3rd edition Dungeon M...1 year ago
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*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace - A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or more w...1 year ago
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Housekeeping 2024 - Coactus Illustration © Heather Gwinn. A gift she gave me in 2013 for an edition of Miscreated Creatures which I hope exists someday. Coloring by me. I am a...1 year ago
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Last move - to self-hosting! - As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to self-hosting. I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at) Blog: ht...1 year ago
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Time Rolls On - Today is December 31, 2023, in the mid-afternoon. In less than ten hours it will be 2024. 2023 2023 was a good year. But all years are good years. Both goo...1 year ago
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Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) - [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970]Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970 [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover Illustration 1970]Shonen Maga...2 years ago
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This is an Important Game Mechanic - *"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does some s$&...2 years ago
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Clean Your Room - Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it was ...3 years ago
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Steve Jackson Interview - James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and upcomi...4 years ago
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The Hero’s Journey 2nd Edition, Campbellian roleplaying at its best! - (this review done using the reviewers own purchased copy) I have been a James Michael Spahn fan since he wrote his Swords & Wizardry Companion. His writing...4 years ago
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ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman - Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack. Using the monster tables in th...5 years ago
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More Arden Vul Art - Another great piece from Del, this one's the Forum of Set: a place that the PCs may spend quite a bit of time within.5 years ago
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OCHRE SAND - Init +0 Ranged Atk • fire burst +3 (1d14+1, 20') AC 17 HD 3d6 MV 60 Act 1d24 SP 'breath' weapon, sideslip, perfect silence, morphing Fort +5 Ref +8 Will...5 years ago
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Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie - When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there was a strang...5 years ago
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New Map of the Elf Empire and Southern Isles - I’ve been having fun developing a new map-drawing style that I think is finally reaching a certain level of maturity. And yeah, it owes a lot to Matthew Ad...5 years ago
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The Faithful - An Optional Archetype for Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Revised Edition - Work on the revised edition of Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is moving along. This will be a hefty tome, with a LOT of tools and new options to customiz...5 years ago
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Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule - *As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in Warren...5 years ago
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Fiction in Airhde - On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by the T...5 years ago
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Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map - I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots of redu...5 years ago
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And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon - It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to indulge m...5 years ago
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The Withered Crag available now - I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be available startin...5 years ago
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Annihilation Rising Goes live - The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019! ...5 years ago
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James's Celebration of Life - We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined us tod...5 years ago
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Trap Tuesday: A step back - I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on Facebook I talked ...5 years ago
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Let's Talk About Pacing! - The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player was...5 years ago
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Profane and Profound Prep Part 2 - This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release, along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a Saint 8000...6 years ago
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MIDDLE DUNGEONS LEVEL FIVE 158 STAIRS. - 158 STAIRS. These stairs descend thirty feet to Area 79 on Level 6.6 years ago
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Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask. - A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's *not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to promote...6 years ago
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New website! - Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that site wil...6 years ago
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Please Update Your Link! - If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is out of date. Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is h...6 years ago
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Total Sales for WB:FMAG - Hi Folks, It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. *LULU* Print: 396 PDF: 433 *OBS*...6 years ago
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How can We Destroy this Campaign World? - d12 1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute of Annihilation* 2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...6 years ago
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Mord Mar - Session 5 - We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers: Moira, the Magic-User Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?) Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...6 years ago
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A Small, Quiet Plea - There has been a great deal of discussing political agendas, social grievances, and personal attacks within the little corner of gaming that is my hobby....6 years ago
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Bundle of Fantasy Age - Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy Age RPG ma...6 years ago
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New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults - A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex Zisch, a...7 years ago
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Session XCIII: One Pissed Off Dragon! - Our ongoing Swords and Wizardry sandbox campaign... *Current Player Characters:* *Thenus* (Ranger) *Wang Du* (Monk) *Wolfheir* (Viking) *Arg* (Half-orc) ...7 years ago
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Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6 - Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals, a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our next ...7 years ago