Saturday, September 25, 2010
OD&DITIES Goes Back on Hiatus
Long Island City Craft Beer Festival
Alright, four days at GenCon probably beats a four hour beer tasting, but not by much ;)
- Posted from my iPhone
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sometimes the Best Review is No Review at All
They way I see it, if there is no chance that I will EVER use the product in any way, shape or form, I'm probably better off not snagging a copy. Pathfinder stuff falls into that category, except for the modules, as they are easily converted and I still speak the language, if not the dialect.
4e stuff is out. A pain to convert to anything that resembles OSR. Ah well.
Most things that give out the "overpriced vibe" unless they look fricken awesome. I'd hate to grab a reviewer copy of something that I suspect is over priced and find out that I was right. Besides, I suspect reviewer copies are counted in the sales levels / awards (this is a guess only), and I don't want to boost the numbers of an item I expect to not justify its price in my eyes.
Most adventures for games I don't own the rules to. There are exceptions. Sometimes an adventure / module look so damn intriguing I'll buy the rulebook just to enjoy the adventure.
Foreign language products. If it isn't in English, I won't touch it. German language products are tempting, to see how far my college German can take me, but I suspect after the first page I'll give up ;)
Diorama products, as I have no space to display anything that I might actually produce from it.
So yes, I leave about 95% of what I am eligible to grab just where it is... but I'm getting fairly good at ensuring the other 5% is worthwhile, which ain't that bad ;)
Job Title of the Day
I feel bad for the above civilians that were promoted as hardened cops burst out laughing when they were announced.
Worse even then calling our Detectives Defectives ;)
- Posted from my iPhone
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Bits N' Pieces as the Week Winds Up
Anyone know of any decet blogging software for the Mac? I'm using Quamana at the moment, and while it isnt bad, it isnt the best I'm sure. Figure I'd throw that at my fellow bloggers for some input.
I'm going to work on a quick iPad, Kindle, Kindle DX comparison postfrom personal experience. Depending on what you are looking to get out of your device, each has its own, well served, niche.
Going to a beer tasting on Saturday, and thanks to my brother in law who is in the industry I'm going for free. Only thing better then microbrew beer? Free microbrew beer ;) Maybe I better not post directly after returning from the event... heh
Oh, and my Detective is officially promoted to Sergeant tomorrow. Congrats Maria! Now that you are out of my office maybe you can stop dissin' on my blogging ;)
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PDFs on the iPad, Why I Don't Mention the View in My Reviews
Which is why I tend to forget to mention how they look on the iPad. So for now on, if I don't mention how they look on the iPad, it is safe to assume they look great ;)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Confessions of a Completist
To balance out the 4e-ness of my recent purchaes, I found and bought (Buy it Now) a Holmes and a Metzner Basic Rule Books. I already had a Metzner, but I figured an extra copy wouldn't be bad to have. Now I think I'll search for some Tunnels and Trolls goodness and call it a nite ;)
(edit: Between Ebay and the Flying Buffalo website I have a crapload of T&T solos on their way. I feel better now, having balanced the 4e karma with some T&T Old School karma ;)
The End of Summer, the Return of the Game
Now, at the ripe old age of 43, I'm happy the summer has drawn to a close so I can return to the once a month C&C game I play in via Fantasy Grounds.
Something tells me I need to find more time to play these days ;)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Shadow, Sword & Spell - If it is Basic Where's the Advanced?
I've just started digging thru the rules (as you can see, I'm digging thru a whole slew of rules at the moment... I need to focus). The 12 degree system seems workable (after reading a handful of pages for opposed rolls, but I'm not sure how useful degrees of succes will be outside of combat, as an "impressionistic" approach is suggested (DM fiat or just wing it).
It looks like it should be a quick and enjoyable read. Hopefully I can get it done before the end of the month and post a short review on it. I am curios as to why this is "Basic", as it infers an Expert or Advanced edition. Eh, just me picking nits again it seems.
In the meantime, here's the blurb from RPGNow.
In Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basic, you create a character embarking on an adventuring career. Some event or desire, drives you to thumb your nose at your lot in life and seek out a destiny of your choosing. Society holds no bounds for you and you choose the life you want to live. Why should the only wealthy be wealthy? Why should only the baron own his own land? You want that — and more — and by Azathoth’s Radiance, you will!
In Basic, your character adventures and grows, becoming not only stronger, but more influential. Over time, a character can acquire not only wealth but power. Your influence and fame enables you to command armies, rule a kingdom, influence society — but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Basic gets you to this point, if you survive it…
It's Almost Time to Homebrew
The return of cooler weather means not just the return of the C&C game I play in, but also the return of my opportunity to make some more home-brewed beer. Mmmmmmmm. Beer.
Anyhow, I need to figure out what the first batch of the season will be. I'm leaning towards using my Cooper's kit, although I will need to see what I have waiting.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, September 20, 2010
Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul - Free Quickstart
Spectrum Games has released Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul - Quickstart Preview at RPGNow. Lets see, we had the Villains & Vigillantes new edition released (and the original edition re-released), Icons, DC Heroes... I'm missing another, aren't I? In any case, there's a new Supers game on the block.
If I only played the genre, my options would be endless ;) It's free, so why not give it a peek?
From the Blurb:
Imagine, if you will, a superhero role-playing game that emulates how comicbooks actually work. When comic writers sit down to pen a story, they don't have a character sheet in front of them that defines precisely what the characters can do... how strong or agile they are, what skills they demonstrate, what the exact parameters of their powers are.
Instead, they give the characters what the story demands of them. If the story requires the power-armored hero to have stealth armor, he'll most likely have it on hand. Should it be critical that the hero with the magic amulet needs to generate a mystic shield, you can almost bank on her getting it. Does the hero with normal human strength desperately need to lift a gargantuan chunk of concrete off of his ally? Chances are, he'll be able to muster up the power to do so. It all comes down to what makes for a more entertaining story.
Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul, takes this fully into consideration by offering a game system that is open-ended and flexible, treating the players and Game Master like comicbook writers rather than just some people playing a game. The sky really is the limit... so why not soar through it like the hero you've always longed to be?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
A Plethora of PDFs
Cubicle 7 recently released the Clockwork & Chivalry Core Worldbook for Runequest 2 (I'm tryng to figure out how much work would be needed to make it work with BRP or Openquest). A nice twist to the historical time of the Musketeers. Cubicle 7 has been putting out some interesting releases recently.
Troll Lord has released an updated and expanded A1: Assault on Blacktooth Ridge, for Castles & Crusades. From what I can tell it now includes some of the web enhancements to the original release. I've already caught a typo, which may be a hold over from a print release, but I'm not sure (when you rfer to pages 50-51in a PDF that is 43 pages, you might be Troll Lord Games). Despite the typo(s) I'm a big fan of Assault on Blacktooth Ridge... it has some Keep on the Borderlands-ness to it, and it presents a nice low level sanbox.
The Sanctuary Ruin from Ludibrium Games is a module for the OSR rules of your choice. It clocks in at 10 pages, so maybe I should hit this first.
That's just what I'm trying to dig thru at the moment... I've got a larger pile waiting to be even looked at. Well, actually, at the moment I've got the Jets game calling my name. Hey, this is a tavern, you need to watch the game :)

Blogs of Inspiration & Erudition
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GURPS Dungeon Fantasy - Session 149, Felltower 115 - Staring at Doors - *Sunday was the latest game in our DF Felltower game. For more notes and summaries, check the DF Felltower campaign page.* *Date:* March 7th, 2021 *Weather...4 hours ago
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'Playing Out In The Rocks' Cepheus Engine Rpg Session Report - Among The Population & Into The Bloodsoaked Jungles - This session picks right up after last week's game with the prisoners erm player's PC's circulating among the general prison population. DM Steve's PC was...6 hours ago
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Pestilential Painting: Lord of Contagion - Welcome back to the Vectorium! Having procrastinated away from painting over the last few weeks, the bug to pick up a brush hit hard this weekend and I'...10 hours ago
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One of Us Review - One of Us is a new third-party zine for Dungeon Crawl Classics and introduces a new setting to the rules. The overall setting is post-apocalyptic dustbowl....12 hours ago
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Folkloric Fearsome Foursome - A Wicked Secret and Other Mysteries is an anthology of scenarios for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the Sweden-set roleplaying of folkloric horror se...15 hours ago
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Sword & Sorcery & Cinema: Barbarian Queen (1985) - [image: Barbarian Queen (1985)] Roger Corman. What can I say about Roger Corman? Well, to be honest, I am a huge fan. Sure his movies are schlock and ...1 day ago
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Wallowing - So. Getting bloodwook done last week, I tested positive for cancer. A couple things about that: the test isn't conclusive, I have to see a specialist, ...1 day ago
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Musings on Retro B/X House Rules - Both D&D basic sets in the late 70s and early 80s tried to simplify D&D but of course at the … Continue reading →1 day ago
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A map discovered! (overland style) - Last week the players stumbled upon a map in the bandit's treasure (a horde really...and they claim I'm a mean DM!) During Zinequest 3 this year one of the...1 day ago
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Reaper Minitaur Pink Demons - When Reaper did their Bones 4 kickstarter, one of their little stretch goals was a set of minitaurs... short minataurs. [image: Minitaurs (4)] They'r...1 day ago
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Sulphur & Snuff, D&D adventure review - By Rook Self Published OSR Levels 1-3 A wicked theatre, a blue-skinned vizier, an imprisoned demon, evil noblemen and lots of torture, mutilation and canni...1 day ago
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On Artifices, Deceptions, and Dilemmas - Hi all! My new book, Artifices, Deceptions, and Dilemmas is out in PDF on DTRPG. It will be on Kindle and in Print on Amazon by early next week, and on D...2 days ago
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Library in Miniature - I'm not sure what the function of this piece of jewellery is: maybe a belt buckle, or a wristwatch with a spring-cover.... I don't know. However, in a ...2 days ago
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The Invention of the d4 - When it comes to using Platonic solids as dice, the d4 is something of a special case. There are precedents that stretch back into ancient history for...2 days ago
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Big OSR sale! Plus some 5e D&D, etc. (GM's day 2021) - In my last post, I talked about some D&D classics on sale. Take a look! There is awesome stuff in there... My books are included in this sale, BTW! Now I...2 days ago
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Velvet Hooks; Zug-Zug - Aye the content-mines have ruined many a man.. BUT NOT ME!! For behold, after consulting with my Art Director, I/we now continue and enhance our long-run...2 days ago
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Free GM Resource: Dungeon Scrawl - [image: Free GM Resource: Dungeon Scrawl] This week's Free GM Resource is a beta version of an online map-maker that I'm finding pretty cool: Dungeon Sc...3 days ago
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Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos & Ghoul Island - Now i have used the Cthulhu Mythos since early 80s where friend had the deities book with them which got me a bit late...3 days ago
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Teofil Ociepka (1891 – 1978) - [image: Teofil Ociepka - Basilisk, 1964]Basilisk, 1964 [image: Teofil Ociepka - Self-portrait , 1960]Self-portrait, 1960 [image: Teofil Ociepka - Fanta...3 days ago
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But why, tho…? - As I have whinged about here many times over the years, the biggest difficulties for me about the preparation for new campaigns has always been finding som...3 days ago
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Chronological Vampires - One of my pseudo-quarantine entertainments has been to read or reread most of the vampire stories I have on hand. So far, this has included I Am Legend, In...5 days ago
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On D&D's Speciation Event... - In biology, a *speciation* event occurs when a segment of an animal population changes so much that it constitutes a separate species. Well games evolve...5 days ago
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New Video: Beyond the Living Room Review - New video is now up: I review “Beyond the Living Room” by Rob Kuntz.5 days ago
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400 Types of Pathetic Jerk - Anybody that runs enough games will start to notice recurring themes and patterns. It's even worse when you have twelve years of blogposts to look back o...5 days ago
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The Game Is The Thing - I've been neglecting the blog - a combination of house refurbishment and lots of extra work, but also DMing a regular weekly game. I've remarked before t...6 days ago
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grodog's virtual GaryCon XIII events - March 2021 - I submitted two five-hour delves into my version of Castle Greyhawk to Virtual GaryCon XIII this evening. The events will hopefully be scheduled...6 days ago
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My favorite comic book scientists - It's becoming clear to me that my posting here will slow a bit now that I've finally started a new job here in Jersey. But first, to celebrate the fact...1 week ago
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Atlantaverse: Full of Dread - We sat down for some old-school superhero action and ran the new Discord server for it. The Heroes: Jack- Sirius the Winderdog. Exposed to a meteorit...1 week ago
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[NEWS] From Baklin to the Black Soup: News Roundup - I have been flying under the radar for a while now, and haven’t had a news in a long time – so here it goes: what has EMDT been up to? *** *B**aklin in ...1 week ago
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Ravenloft 5e setting book coming soon - Like many who got into role-playing games, and especially *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons*, during the 1980s, I owned (and still own ... somewhere) a cop...1 week ago
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Myconids - Psychology Humans are very contemptuous of orcs. They are brutes, never shying away from any cruelty. And they are warmongers, always divided against ea...1 week ago
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Getting Started With Science Fiction RPGs - Over on the Trilemma Blog, Michael Prescott has a post about the dearth of science fiction games on Roll20. Yesterday’s Five Minute Friday on the Thought...2 weeks ago
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Fifty Years of Fantasy Role Play Table-top games. - Today marks an interesting, possibly momentous, anniversary. It has been 50 years since the Boris Karloff movie *The Black Room* aired as part of a dou...2 weeks ago
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Nothing at the Bottom: MOSAIC Strict RPG Design - *This blog post describes some experimental RPG design constraint, MOSAIC Strict. I'm defining it because I'm curious what kind of games result from appl...2 weeks ago
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40k: Crassus Command Vehicle - Brace yourselves for 40k minutiae. The Praetor Armoured Assault Launcher is usually pictured open, with its bank of ludicrous missiles on display. When ...2 weeks ago
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Successfully Funded! Some Stats and Insights - The Zine Quest 3 Kickstarter campaign for The Many Crypts of Lady Ingrade came to a close. It funded within an hour and had a steady growth through the ...2 weeks ago
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The Many Crypts of Lady Ingrade and Zine Quest #3 - My good friend, Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor is in his last three days of his kickstarter, an adventure zine called the Many Crypts of Lady Ingrade. ...3 weeks ago
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Zine Quest: Errant - Before anything else, I want to apologize for writing two posts in a row which prompt you to spend money. Its been my entire 2021 output so far. Hopefully ...3 weeks ago
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Looking Backward from 2000: 1894-5 - One of the more interesting ideas that is (or should be) a part of a Victorious chronicle is that of the influence SuperMankind can have on the history of ...4 weeks ago
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The PC Graveyard PT 2 - *Jax windlehen * A Black Hack Character from one of Matt's games. I believe he died. This may have been the adventure with the weird unicorn and the fa...4 weeks ago
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Be Wary of Wizards - So I'm still putzing around with *Tunnels & Trolls* solitaire adventures. There's a lot of them. At least 25 full-length solitaire modules were published ...5 weeks ago
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The Only DM Advice in Brechewold, I Swear - A subject fraught with peril, to be sure, but I gotta admit I'm feeling good about this lil nug I wrote as part of the Brechewold intro: This book does not...1 month ago
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New Cover for The Salt Mine - Heya folks, got a new cover in for Dark Matter (The Salt Mine 15) and thought I should share.1 month ago
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Necrotic Gnome Website - It's been a long time since I last posted on this blog... and the reason for that is that I'm now posting news and updates at necroticgnome.com directly....1 month ago
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AD&D Poison Notes - In *Dragon* magazine #81 (January 1984) the article "Taking the Sting Out of Poison" by author Chris Landsea offered truly exhaustive coverage of the top...3 months ago
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My RPG Zine Trilogy is on Kickstarter! - I can't believe I didn't post about it here! The Dead are Coming, Screams Amongst the Stars and Running Out of Time are on *Kickstarter right now!* Thes...3 months ago
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Quantum D&D - A funny thing happened to D&D in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s: it got popular. It went from a game everyone learned from someone whose knowledge of the...4 months ago
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Dolls and Devils - French Resistance sent a bizarre tale to Allied Intelligence. A French doctor, a Vichy traitor, was collaborating with the Third Reich. Doctor Le F. had...4 months ago
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Maximum HP 004, one week to go - Just one week to go for Maximum HP issue #004, the undead. We are pushing through stretch goals and wracking up contributions for the best issue yet. We...4 months 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...5 months 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...5 months ago
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Undermountain Map Origins - As documented on the Ruins of Undermountain sales page, "TSR didn't actually use Ed Greenwood's original maps," at least not in their entirety. This post d...8 months ago
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A to Z of Megadungeons - I've seen a couple of A to Z's lately and decided we needed one for megadungeons. So here, we go. A is for Architect Someone needs to build the megadungeon...9 months ago
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A Campaign Begins for Newbies - Like many of you, the affects of the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted how hundreds of millions of us fellow mutants interact and function in our jobs, co...10 months ago
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WB:FMAG Total Print Sales - Hello Folks, The last time I did a quick sales report was in September 2018. I pulled reports from Amazon, Lulu and DrivethruRPG from October to current fo...10 months ago
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The Minotaur for Old-School Essentials - *Minotaur* *Requirements:* Minimum STR 9, Minimum CON 9 *Prime Requisite:* STR and CON *Hit Dice:* 1d10 *Maximum Level:* 8 *Armor:* Leather, including shield...11 months ago
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The Mauve Plague, Gravy Urns, and Batlace Frills: News from the Hill Cantons - And now the News... In a statement beamed from the Oracular Society today *Morafans the Rickmaster*, the Psychosocial Health Minister of the Overking, ha...11 months ago
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WIZARDS OF POHJOLA - Init +0 Melee Atk • sword or dagger +1 (1d5 or 1d3) Ranged Atk • hot iron sparks +3 (1d4+2 to two targets within 20' but not closer than 5') AC 14 HD 12d...1 year 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...1 year ago
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Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, TSR's Co-Founder Now Available - LINK to Description and Ordering: https://www.tlbgames.com/collections/the-red-book-line/products/merlynd-the-magician1 year ago
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New AD&D Greyhawk Campaign Notes - I recently launched a new AD&D campaign on Fantasy Grounds. Although we're using the 2e ruleset FG released earlier this year, my only books for reference...1 year ago
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The Withered Crag custom print version for sale again - Just re-enabled the direct sales button for the custom print (classic style detached cover) version of F4 The Withered Crag, and also for F3 Many Gates of...1 year 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...1 year ago
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Home Sweet Home Azeroth - A very simple mash up of the World of Warcraft Cinematic Trailer and Classic Announcement set to Mötley Crüe “Home Sweet Home” from the Theatre of Pain a...1 year ago
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D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets - In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants and...1 year ago
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James A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Video - A beloved father, devoted friend, and D&D Dungeon Master extraordinaire. We miss you! To view video, click here Memorial Video Note - The original video...1 year 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...1 year 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...2 years ago
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SHORT BREAK. - I'm going to take a break for a week or so and will start up again in the New Year. Thanks for reading and we'll start with Level 6 when I get back.2 years ago
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Iain Lovecraft, 3D Sculptor - Nope, it's got nothing to do with Cthulhu. I just did a video conversation with Iain Lovecraft, who designs 3D miniatures and terrain. If you're not doin...2 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...2 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...2 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 megadungeo...2 years ago
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Mord Mar - Session 6 - We weren't able to play Mord Mar last week, due to a family funeral. This week we played on Monday for the first time, due to kids returning to school and ...2 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....2 years ago
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Don’t Sleep It’s Broken - Expanding/editing my comments from What Makes Something Broken G+ thread: “Broken”, for me, is anything that makes normal character choices, tactics, or ro...3 years ago
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Swords & Wizardry Light-Themed Birthday Party - Last month, my wife and I helped our oldest to celebrate his birthday in style. Ever since 2013, we have hosted a themed birthday party for our now-15-ye...3 years ago
