Fiery Dragon is Raising Money For Jeff Freels (Artist in Need of a Kidney Transplant)

If you are a follower of all things Tunnels & Trolls, none of this will be news for you, so treat it as a reminder.  Jeff Freels (T&T artist and designer of the Bean! RPG) is in need of a kidney transplant.  In truth, his wife needs one too, but Jeff's health is more dire at the moment.

This part is news:  Fiery Dragon is going to donate a portion of all T&T proceeds from sales at their website for the year of 2012.  That's 12 months to buy some great T&T stuff and help out a member of our hobby.

I'm going to copy the posting from ENWorld (I'm sure the guys at Fiery Dragon won't mind):

Hi, I'm James from Fiery Dragon, and I just wanna drop in a little post about an artist named Jeff Freels. When the Fiery Dragon crew gets together to play a fantasy or sci-fi or post-apocalyptic rpg, we pretend we’re amazing individuals with crazy histories and mystical abilities. We use our imagination and pretend the impossible is possible. And then you deal with someone like Jeff Freels, the blind artist, and you quickly redefine what amazing abilities are. Jeff is a guy who came to us through the Tunnels & Trolls community, and his art captures the feel and magic of that game perfectly. Now, whatever challenges our characters may face in our fantasy roleplaying games, Jeff is certainly dealing with issues that are just as difficult and facing them as bravely as any warrior. Jeff needs a kidney transplant. He’s created a page on his website that gives the details of his situation and his plan:http://www.jeffwerx.com/tf.html. Inspired by Jeff’s courage, we’d like to help him raise money for this worthy cause. Fiery Dragon will be donating a portion of the proceeds from every digital and direct sale (from our website) of all Tunnels & Trolls products sold in 2012. We’ve just released CASTLE OF THE DEAD, a T&T Solo Adventure that features Jeff’s artwork, and we’ll be re-releasing the latest version of the Tunnels & Trolls Roleplaying Game rules and additional adventures throughout the year. You don't have to be a T&T player or Fiery Dragon support to help out, though. Jeff has a donate button on his website that can be used to send funds to him directly. Together we can enjoy a great game and help a great cause. Thanks for your support

I've already ordered a 2-pack of Castle of the Dead (free shipping for the win) and the site takes Paypal.

I'm excited to see a re-release of Tunnels & Trolls 7.5 and additional adventures being released throughout the year.  Hopefully we can make it a good year for Fiery dragon, Tunnels & Trolls and most importantly the Freels Family.

Mini Review - Bean! The D2 RPG - 2nd Edition (Solo and Group Play)

Bean! The D2 RPG has just released it's 2nd edition.  I happen to like Bean! a lot, and not just because it has a bit of a Tunnels & Trolls feel to it.  I like it because it's a nice, simple system that should be an easy one to introduce new roleplayers.

Some of you (like the recipients of the copies of Bean! I gave out a few months ago) may be wondering if they need to upgrade to the new 2nd edition.  You don't need to, but it is a nicer and fuller presentation.  Some of the stuff added to the 2nd edition was first presented in the free 1st Edition errata, such as skills and custom archetypes.

Now, if you are new to Bean!, this is definitely the version you want. A fuller spell list, more monsters in the bestiary, mounted and ship to ship combat, a cleaner explanation on how to roll... it really is a nice package.  Just like the original Bean!, you get a Solo and a GM adventure included in the rules.

Don't forget to pick up your free Bean! adventures.

From the blurb:


BEAN! is an easy-to-master, rules-lite, d2 RPG system! It's perfect for introducing new players or children to the hobby, and will keep veteran gamers rollin' their beans with a system that's flexible and easily customizable to any setting. Complete in one simple volume, spend less time reading and more time playing!


The d2 game system is unique and quickly memorized, so simple, yet able to handle any situation on the spot, without having to thumb through volumes of obscure rules. The best part? You get to toss your beans! With a d2 dice system, you could use standard dice for "high or low" "odd or even" rolls, you could toss coins or any other objects that have two distinct sides, but we recommend plain ol' beans! They're cheap and plentiful, some people really enjoy customizing their own beans, and a handful of beans keeps the game moving along quick and easy!


This Second Edition features a streamlined rules presentation, rules for Skills, Custom Character Archtypes, Mounted Combat, plus new monsters and spells.

Simple, versatile, and sometimes silly, welcome to BEAN!

More Beans! First Edition Errata

I know they refer to it as errata, but it's more optional rules.  They're good, and probably should have been in the initial release, but they aren't make or brake.  They are free, so for all of you that bought (or won a copy here) Bean!, grab your free update to the rules.

The Blurb:

The BEAN! The D2 Role-Playing Game First Edition rules introduced a rules lite super easy fantasy gaming mechanic with a fun alternative to dice, yep, you guessed it: beans! While these rules could have stood on their own, Fabled Worlds Games is offering this free errata to introduce a few alternate rules that open up the game so that it works with any genre while still keeping the speed and simplicity of the game. This errata includes the addition of Health Points, Skills, and ideas to create your own Character Archetypes. Now you can go anywhere -with BEAN!

Bean! - Another Cool Free Adventure

You just have to luv Bean! The D2 RPG - The game itself costs just 2 bucks, and free stuff is continually being released for it.  Gone to the Dogs is the latest, a free GM adventure by Mike Holcomb.  16 more pages of Bean!ie goodness.

From the blurb:

Mike Holcomb's latest BEAN GM adventure is a fun mystery full of monsters and puzzles geared at younger gamers. Gone To The Dogs can be played as the follow up to Princely Ransom, or as a stand alone adventure.

More Beans! For Free

I gave away a nice number of copies of Bean! the D2 RPG over the last two contests.  I was able to, as it cost the fairly cheap price of 2 bucks.  It's not like I'm rolling in referral credit at RPGNow ;)

To make it an even greater value, there are two free adventures for it, one solo and one for a GM and a party.

Grab them, read them, play them.  Stretch that purchase Bean! value even further.  Remember, beans are a good source of protein.  These Bean! products are gas free BTW...

Mini Review - Bean! The D2 RPG

Bean! is a recent sprout in the gaming world, having just been released November 12th on RPGNow, but it has become something larger then the sum of its parts.  As the game itself takes less then 20 pages for it's full write up (the other 11 pages are composed of a solo adventure and a GM adventure), that's a decent feat.

Basically, the mechanic is roll a plus or minus, even or odd, high or low, etc - but no matter how you define it, each plus is a degree of success (or brings you closer to success).  The number of beans, dice, coins, mattresses, etc you toss depend on your score in that attribute.  It really is that simple.

Still, this rulebook includes not just 3 character classes, not just 3 stats (yes, they are linked in a sort of way to the 3 classes), not just a fairly comprehensive spell list, equipment list and bestiary... it includes a solo adventure and a GM / group adventure.  All in 30 pages.  All for 2 bucks.

Heck, you don't even have to roleplay animated beans... you could go strictly old school with the races if you want.  I think you could flex this system into a pretzel and it wouldn't break ;)

From the publisher's blurb:

BEAN! is an easy-to-master, rules-lite, d2 RPG system, and the latest stand-alone title from the Fabled Worlds RPG game system! Perfect for introducing new players or children to the hobby, BEAN! is also great for veteran gamers who enjoy flexibility in their rules. Complete in one simple volume, spend less time reading and more time playing! The highly versatile and customizable d2 game system is unique and quickly memorized, so simple, yet able to handle any situation on the spot, without having to thumb through volumes of obscure rules. The best part? You get to toss your beans! With a d2 dice system, you could use standard dice for "high or low" "odd or even" rolls, you could toss coins or any other objects that have two distinct sides, but we recommend plain ol' beans! They're cheap and plentiful, some people really enjoy customizing their own beans, and a handful of beans keeps the game moving along quick and easy!

Simple, versatile, and sometimes silly, welcome to BEAN!