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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Complete Arcane - From the back cover: Master Eldritch Secrets And Formidable Power Myth and mystery surround those who wield the awe-inspiring might of arcane magic. Wh...1 hour 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...2 years 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...2 years 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-magician2 years 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...2 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...2 years 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...2 years 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...3 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...3 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...3 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.3 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...3 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...3 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...3 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...3 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 ...3 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....4 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...4 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...4 years ago
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