Kickstarter - Action! System 2.0

When I saw Action! System 2.0 pop up in my Kickstarter feed, it took a few minutes to remember why it looked familiar. Then I remembered: Gold Rush Games. This was an interesting little system from the early days of D&D 3.0 that took just the OGL and released its own open ruleset. I have a PDF copy of the Action System rules on one of my external drives, but other than that, I don't remember much else about it.

According to the Kickstarter page:

The Action! System™ was the second commercially-supported set of tabletop RPG rules ever to be published under the first edition of the Open Game License (OGL). It was originally released by Gold Rush Games in 2001 and used by multiple publishers between the years 2001 and 2005. It is a generic system that was designed to be incredibly similar to a variety of late-90s RPGs, specifically to ones that were used in anime RPGs.

After using it for some home games starting in 2013, Neon Necromancer Games finally bought the rights to it in 2020 intending to publish a second edition for its twentieth anniversary and then, well... *gestures broadly to the news events of the past couple years*.

Now that a certain company is being evil [censored]holes about the Open Game License, we feel it is necessary to revive this OGL pioneer. The Action! System was an entirely new creation upon release, with no text taken from other "system references". The intention is that A!S 2.0 will be released both under the original OGL 1.0a as well as Paizo's new Open RPG Creative License (ORC) once it is ready and released. (In the event that the ORC license sucks we will also release it under another open license, such as Community Commons.

So, is a two-decade-old system that barely made a splash 20 years ago a good candidate for a Kickstarter refresh today? According to the funding I'm looking at, the answer is no. The Action! System 2.0 Kickstarter has $1,397 pledged of $7,500 goal with 4 days to go. It simply aint gonna happen.

Nostalgia doesn't work when one has no nostalgia for something. Ah well.

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NEWS! OGL 1.0(a) is NOT being Revoked. 5.1 SRD is Released Under Creative Commons 4.0 International

I had plans for today, and they included catching up on emails, especially from OSR Christmas Day 12 and the Wednesday Night Giveaway. A small emergency last night, a scheduled doc appointment this morning, and obligations today that were related to last night's small emergency in addition to the totally unexpected OGL news today - including an extra video and tonight's scheduled but likely extremely lively livestream - means little will get done until tomorrow. I beg forgiveness. Now, onto the news! - Tenkar

When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously.

Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said:

• 88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.
• 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.
• 89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.
• 86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.
• 62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.

These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons.

The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now.

We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched.

We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license.

You choose which you prefer to use.

This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.

Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted.

So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process?

We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature.

We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.

Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question.

SRD 5.1-CC

We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now.

We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts.

Kyle Brink

Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

The New "Playtest" OGL 1.2 Survey is Live - Please Give Your Feedback

Yep, the OGL 1.2 "Playtest" Survey is live. I guess they figured "Draft" was a poor label to use after the OGL 1.1 fiasco ;)

Here's the link: https://t.co/75JmccffF1

And here's my closing comment:

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

The OGL, SRD, and a Few Days of Distractions - Why You Should Care About the Revocation of OGL 1.0

We have one more day of OSR Christmas and still need to wrap up with Day 12 Gifting, but I've been sleeping light and sitting at my desk the past few days, answering phone calls, text messages, PM on Facebook and Discord, and active on Facebook and Discord. 

This is what the OGL 1.1 fiasco has caused. Want to read OGL 1.1 yourself? Here's the link: http://ogl.battlezoo.com/ Be prepared, it ain't pretty.

Why is that? 

Well, 1.1 cancels 1.0 and 1.0a of the OGL. Like your OSR games? Expect many of them to be pulled from the market by the 13th of this month, the day we expect 1.1 to release and REVOKE the older OGLs. Perpetual no longer means what it means.

Oh, that applies to Pathfinder 1 and 2, Starfinder, Cepheus Engine (what? it's not based on a D&D SRD - but it does use the WotC 1.0 OGL), and others.

Lines of battle are being drawn. Companies big and small, dozens of employees and one-man shops, full-timers and those that supplement their income - all stand together in the face of WotC's likely unlawful action - but as many already know, the civil court system in the US isn't about who is right as much as who can outspend who.

As Alexander Macris (ACKS) put it so well earlier today: "In real-life courtroom dramas, the good guys don’t win. The rich guys win."

All publishers affected by the revocation of the 22-year-old OGL need to stand together. Gamers need to support these publishers. To paraphrase Bill Webb of Frog God Games: "Support your OGL publishers. We don't want your donations, simply spend your money and get value in return."

Some resources: 

Defend the OGL Discord Server https://discord.gg/MMq9GkNS  Go to the #what-to-do channel

Wizards/Hasbro - Do NOT Change the OGL License - Petition https://www.change.org/p/wizards-hasbro-do-not-change-the-ogl-license

The best resource is YOU. Comment on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. Get your voice into the discussion. Support your favorite game publishers and creators.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

There has been a lot of brouhaha over Ha$bro updating, or at least contemplating/trying to update, the Open Game License to version 1.1 and start skimming money "off the top". This whole thing feels so far past ridiculous as to actually be recockulous.

Now I understand that this is alarming to some people, but to the average gamer, and I dare say small publisher, that would read this blog....meh, it's not something to get too worked up about....well, at least from a more common-sense perspective.

I am fully cognizant that there is always the possibility of a "frivolous" lawsuit from a big company like Ha$bro, which could just ruin a "small guy" even if they're in the right....because lawsuits and lawyers cost money up-front, but I'm discounting that for the purposes of this one-sided discussion.

1st off, if you read the SRD-OGLv1.1 (published January 1st, 2016...according to the PDF) and the OGLv1.0 (pulled WotC via the internet archive), I don't think you can get much clearer than the Offer and Acceptance, "By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License." and the Grant and Consideration, "In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content."

This legalese was deliberately written in an easy-to-understand language for a reason. I will postulate that the reason was to entice people to write compatible 3rd party materials for D&D. This is a good thing for Ha$bro, and I will argue that it is still a good thing!

Unless you really want to use the shiny & new version of D&D and need to use the updated OGL & SRD, you can just use the old one......let's see...oh, yeah...in perpetuity.

A lifetime ago I worked in an overly competitive industry and my boss, ever the salesman, worked to break down some of this competitiveness. He realized that there was no possibly way for all these companies to be able to service all of the potential customers. There was always going to be some high-level competition for the high-end(paying) clients, but the well of customers was (unfortunately) never going to run dry and there was far more value in everyone working together.

One of his favorite sayings was "A rising tide lifts all boats."

If you are able to, look at your gaming stuff. Do you have more than one rulebook? More than one set of dice? How about adventures and/or other sourcebooks? If you're here odds are you have multiple game systems, multiple editions, and possibly even multiple copies of certain books of the same game system! I'm willing to be $$$ that you will be adding to your library of material. Most of my gaming friends like to share with new players and each other as well, and I think that's more common than not.

The thing is, all of as, as players, are not just going to pick up a Player's Handbook and call it good. You know this, I know this....hell, Ha$bro knows this! They should know this....I mean most companies do research and have marketing people! Heck, Marketers usually like to segment customer groups and give them interesting names somewhat indicative of their perception of said customer group..... 

I'm sure somebody at Ha$bro realized that everyone is making more money off of RPGs than they are, but I'm not sure that they realize that more than likely nobody is making more money than they are. Obviously by "everybody" I mean collectively. Trying to get a chunk of change off of everyone successfully making products using the OGL & SRD will only reduce the effectiveness of these 3rd party producers, raise their prices, and shrink the number of "competing" products. This is basic economics....seriously Econ 101.

The thing is, there isn't a set, defined pool of customers and customer dollars (although Marketers act as though there is). Getting a 3rd party vendor to lose $100 of profits does not mean that Ha$bro makes $100 more. Instead it just means there is less product "out there", which assuming full utilization of purchased products (no collections, etc.) means there is less gaming going on.

Ha$bro needs more gaming in general, and I'd argue it needs more new gamers than anything. Most of us reading here probably do not play the current edition of D&D, and even if you do, it probably isn't your preferred system. Now, this is going to be my weakest point because it is my "gut" feeling here, but I think there are two main purchasers of the current edition of D&D: die-hard fans, and brand-new-to-rpg players.

Some people will always pick up the current flavor and run with it until there is a new edition. These purchasers are not likely to be "lost" to 3rd party vendors and would be labeled, by the marketers, as "Brand Loyal". This OGL/SRD issue is lost on them.....

Now the other group, new players....they're going to pick up the core books and supplements/adventures. If they enjoy themselves they may pick up 3rd party materials and/or more "in house" products. With any luck, these new players, that marketers would label as well....I'll jokingly call them "Newbs", will become Brand Loyalists.

I've already insinuated it, but there is a 3rd group of potential D&D players and that is the established RPG player that isn't a Brand Loyalist or a Newb.....and odds are most of you reading this fall into this third group. For the sake of this discussion we'll say the Marketers label us as "Gamers". Now the Gamers might interact with the Brand Loyalists and even the Newbs, but this would be in addition to our normal gaming, and with regard to Newbs it might be to help establish non-players as Newbs. Gamers are much more likely to pick up a 3rd party vendor product for a variety of reasons, but one I'll highlight is the likelihood that there is little to no chance that a Brand Loyalist or Newb has seen the 3rd party product (pretty much by group definition). In this instance the availability of 3rd party OGL/SRD products directly impacts the the creation of a new D&D customer. This is a bit of a stretch, which I understand.

The absolute best way for Ha$bro to increase their sales of D&D products is threefold: Make quality products, making playing RPGs more socially-acceptable, and increase the number of RPG players overall.

1. The availability of 3rd party products does not have a direct impact on the quality of Official D&D products from Ha$bro, but if an author/designer is making good product for someone else, it stands to reason they could be a good designer/author for Ha$bro....
2. There has been a concerted effort by Ha$bro to make D&D more socially-acceptable. Movies, affiliated products, and time have all been a factor here.
3. More players means more customers. It doesn't mean Ha$bro gets a larger slice of the pie per se, but the pie itself is bigger, so kind of the same thing?

2nd (I had a 1st off, so I need a 2nd), if Ha$bro is going to play corporate fuck-fuck games, then they can probably expect more dumbfuckery to follow. I'm assuming that since the original OGL is pretty well spelled out that the only way Ha$bro is going to be able to get their skimming operation going is to force 3rd party publishers to update from the old OGL to a new one that has these profitable provisions in it. My assumption is that if you want to make "stuff" compatible with the newest, shiniest edition of the game you have to use the new OGL and it'll be provisioned such that you cannot use the old OGL. What can a publisher do?

I'll tell you...they'll form a new corporate identity to publish material just for the new OGL and keep the old company working under the old OGL. Clearly IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but since companies are essentially people, you just have one person doing one thing and the other person doing the other, and they're brothers in the same family. 

TL;DR

This whole Open Game License update is a lame cash-grab that is more likely going to hurt D&D and Hasbro than it is to bring in gobs of cash, unless you're of the opinion that any publicity is "good" publicity. Hasbro made a very legal promise to the gaming community and trying to rescind that promise is going to cost in multiple ways. They're much better off growing the gaming community overall than they are tearing it apart.

Time to Scrape Out the SRD Parts of Continual Light

 

Originally shared on Facebook

Driving home from an afternoon with my niece, Rach and I were discussing tonight's topic(s) for the Gamers' Health livestream. The conversation of course strayed into 1.1

It then dawned on me that I've been sitting on my proof copy (with needed corrections) of Continual Light for the past 2 months, having failed to forward any scans to Jeff Jones for the final layout.

I now realize, if I had, I'd likely have a dead-on-arrival RPG, with no way to support it.

Its 32 pages digest-sized and currently under the 1.0 OGL. I'm pretty sure I can de-SRD those pages fairly easily, while still keeping the core system intact.

No SRD. No OGL. Allow support and derivatives under CC licensing.

Damn, for once being a procrastinator might have been in my favor 😉

Note - The last Day of OSR Christmas is delayed. Current events in the world of tabletop RPGs have kept me bouncing around and answering calls and PMs. We'll wrap up soon, I hope.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

The Tavern's Book of Mundane Majiks - Page 1

Remember how I was musing about mundane spells last week? Well, I've been putting some together. This is the first installment. If you want to add your own, add them to the comments below and I'll share them on a later post. Note, your comment must include the following statement if you want it to be shared "I agree that the attached text may be released under the OGL" followed by the name you want credit under. If we get enough entries I'll have them put together as a PWYW release on RPGNow.

Consider the following to be written with the template you should use if you choose to share.

Venerated Wine
Spell Level: Cleric, 1st Level
Range: N/A
Duration: 24 hours or until consumed

This spell will fill a wine flask, decanter, jug or other vessel with up to a quart of weak, watered down wine. Usually used in religious services, some clerics keep this spell memorized out of personal necessity.

Magic Wisk
Spell Level: Magic User, 1st Level
Range: 10’
Duration: 20 minutes per caster level

This spell summons a wisk that is used to whip eggs, milk, cream and other dairy products. It will follow the caster’s directions until given newer ones.

Mullon’s Restorative 
Spell Level: Magic User, 1st Level
Range: Self
Duration: Special

This spell will remove the symptoms of a hangover (but not any lingering intoxication). It also provides a +1saving throw vs poison for 4 hours after casting. The reverse of this spell imbues the recipient with the effects of a proper hangover (-1 to all rolls for 4 hours). A successful save will negate.

Kelvan’s Comfortable Repose
Spell Level: Magic User, 1st Level
Range: 5’
Duration: 8 Hours

This spell summons a water-resistant sleeping bag. If used outdoors in temperatures between 45 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, with light rain or less, the user will receive the benefits as if he or she had slept in a bed in town.

The above is released under the OGL

"This work features art by Daniel F. Walthall, found at: drivethrurpg.com/product/181517, available under a CC BY 4.0 license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"

D&D 5e Goes OGL with it's New SRD (Yes, Hell Has Just Frozen Over)

Imagine my surprise waking up to a message from +Jason Paul McCartan linking to Dungeons & Dragons 5e's new SRD (which is under the OGL) My jaw just about hit the floor.

Of course, so many publishers were releasing 5e material under the OGL without a 5e SRD or simply using copyright law that the genie really was out of the bottle.

Wizards did find a way to get some monetization from the new SRD - The Dungeon Masters Guild (powered by DTRPG) is their online 5e store which includes 3rd party publishers. It's 5e's D20 license and allows the use of Forgotten Realms material (so long as you let WotC do all the selling)

I expect we'll see a real surge in 5e releases now.

Another WTF Kickstarter - FanAdv- A new d20 RPG

Really, shouldn't this map speak volumes for the project?
A picture is worth a thousand words...

Actually, let me present the author of FanAdv in his own words:

So, what makes this different than every other OGL system? Who knows, he doesn't say. He just says he can do better than the core rules that are presented in the 3.5 SRD. Based on his amazing map work, I think it's a safe bet that he can't.

WotC Talks "5e OGL Plans" - 2015 at the Earliest

From today's Legends & Lore Column

(offered without comment - edited and trimmed from the full original, so as not to violate any of WotC rights)

As we gear up for previews of the upcoming D&D products, I wanted to take a moment to address a common question we receive about the Open Gaming License and what it means for the future of D&D...

When it comes to the mechanism by which we want to empower D&D fans to create their own material and make their mark on the many, exciting worlds of D&D, we're taking the same approach. While we are not ready to announce anything at this time, I do want to share with you some of our goals. 

To start with, we want to ensure that the quality of anything D&D fans create is as high as possible. The Dungeon Master's Guide will contain the guidelines for creating many elements of the game, from adventures to monsters. While Basic D&D will cover the basics that DMs need to create and run campaigns, it won't go into details on the thinking behind the rules and the consequences of tinkering with them. Basic D&D is aimed at new players or people who aren't looking for a lot of mechanical complexity or depth. It's enough to create adventures for use at your table, but not for material that you want to share broadly. For that reason, we don't want to launch anything at least until the Dungeon Master's Guide has been released in November. 

Moreover, it's not enough simply to launch anything the day the DMG hits shelves. It'll take time for everyone to absorb the rules and how they all interact. The R&D team can also share what we've learned while working on the game and the traps and challenges to avoid in design. 

Therefore, we want to share the timeline we're working with. While the details are still in flux, we can say that we plan to announce the details of our plans sometime this fall. After that announcement, we plan on launching our program in early 2015. 

Until then, we hope you will familiarize yourself with the new edition as the products are released, learn how and why it differs from past editions of the game, and dive into your first campaign. There's no better way to learn the game's intricacies than by digging into it through play. Once the community has some experience with the game, both we and you will be ready to creating the next wave of material for it. 

A Kickstarter to Support D&D Next? Is Next Going OGL With an SRD? Amethyst - Fantasy & Technology Collide

I have a previous version of Amethyst somewhere, purchased back in the 3x days, when I collected RPGs and did not play. It was certainly a pretty release, but nothing in it lit my fires and said: "you need to run this".

I saw the Kickstarter to reboot it for 4e and Pathfinder earlier this month, and again, looked cool but with so many gaming Kickstarters out there, it wasn't on my short list and barely on my radar.

Well, that is until I saw today's update on ENWorld.

Morrus is listing this as a rumor, but it's a rumor with legs, as the Kickstarter for Amethyst lists D&D Next as one of the supported systems. Here's yesterday's Kickstarter update that mentions it.

If D&D Next IS truly OGL with an SRD, that changes the playing field to a large extent and is a huge backtracking from the GSL.

Interesting times indeed...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, Does the OGL Not Cover Images of Creatures Covered By the OGL?

Apparently, the Rust Monster is in the OGL. It is also based on some cheap ass toy that EGG found in his travels, at least in appearance.

The Cease & Desist email that was this blog's topic yesterday was apparently in response to an illustration of a Rust Monster. According to the artist, it was his own piece of work: it wasn't traced or copied - apparently not even a homage.

So, if one draws a possible conclusion from this (requiring an "assumption" - and we all know where that can lead), WotC may be staking a claim that the OGL doesn't apply to images of elements that are covered by the OGL.

I really wish I knew the OGL better, but I'm not a publisher and I've only got one small article to my credit, so I'm hardly a writer, but if the OGL doesn't allow for visual interpretation of creatures described within, there's a whole lotta art that is in violation. The thing is, I don't think any of it would be in violation of copyright - but as my knowledge of such could fill a small shot glass, I'll leave such to those with more knowledge.

I do find the timing to be very curious.

Is Wizards' Latest Cease and Desist an Introduction to D&D 5E?

(see http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-osric-players-guide-woes.html for details)

Why is WotC suddenly getting defensive about the OSR? There are hints that D&D 5E, when it comes about, is going to be more "old school" in feel, if not execution, but is that a reason to issue a Cease and Desist on artwork that has been making the rounds of the OSR for years? Better question is does this Cease & Desist apply to those that have used the art in question over the past years, or just the latest OSRIC Player's Guide? If the offending art is removed from the book, is the book now in compliance?

Yes, I'm full of questions today. I'm just trying to figure out why artwork that has been in use for years is now in violation of WotC's IP. I need to look at the offending artwork and see if it replicates any WotC / TSR artwork. I sincerely doubt it does, but I'm not a lawyer (and I thank the Lord for that - I coulda been ;)

Washing Away the Piss n' Vinegar

I'm okay now. My piss and vinegar is gone. Time to breath deep of the beauty that is the hobby we call role-playing.

Which is good. I was close to doing a Feltothraxis video that, although it probably would have been funny as hell, would have channeled way too much of the piss and vinegar I was carrying over the weekend. Felty doesn't need that burden attached to him.

How did I let it go? Some G+ posts and comments about Occupy Wall Street. Cause the small pile of poo caused by someone that doesn't understand copyrights or the OGL doesn't compare to the powder kegs that are waiting for a match to go boom.

"It's Free" Does Not Mean "Free for all!"

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but this crap really annoys me. Probably even more so, as I get alerts from OBS for most of the OSR releases. I like to pass that info on to my readers as soon as I can, and in doing so I got burned by the same person twice.

Just because you are releasing your latest set of houserules for free it doesn't mean you don't have to follow the law.

Let me put it another way. John gives Mike a free joint. Free as in "Yo man! Just take it. I made it special. It's free!" Guess what, in the eyes of the law (at least under the NYS Penal Law)
John just "sold" Mike marijuana. Criminal Sale of Marijuana. No money needs to exchange hands.

Releasing your latest and greatest plagiarized piece of work for free is no different than asking cash for it. Hell, you might as well ask cash for it - it's product lifetime is gonna be short either way, you may as well make a few bucks off of it.

I'm wondering what his third release will be. You know he has something waiting in the wings.

Palladium Fantasy - Has It Ever Been RetroCloned?

I know Kevin protects his property more vigorously then a mamma bear, but I was wondering if anyone had ever RetroCloned Palladium's Fantasy RPG?

In theory, it shouldn't be too hard, as it is quite obviously built on the framework of D&D, and thus the OGL.

I am not looking to put another nail in the endless coffin known as Palladium Books, a company that rises and falls more often then the tides.  I enjoyed RIFTS for it's fluff, even if the rules were a horrid unbalanced mess, and that was my first taste of the Palladium system.  Palladium Fantasy I discovered later, and I found a lot to like.  Just wondering how well it would mesh with the OGL.  So Kevin, if you are reading this, it's just conjecture at this point.  A mental exercise.  No need for a Cease and Desist at this point.  Save the money.  ;)

Mini Review - Kaiser's Gate - A True20 Setting

True20 is Green Ronin's OGL derived generic ruleset and it is based and the Mutant and Masterminds ruleset (okay, that sounds awkward even to me).  It seems to me it has a bit more popular a few years ago, and that Savage Worlds appears to have settled in as the major "generic" rpg ruleset these days.

 

Kaiser's Gate is a mash up of standard fantasy fare and the events leading up to, including, and directly after World War 1.  It's a sandboxie setting for the most part, highlighting the major events,countries, npcs and the like.  Adventure seeds abound within it's pages, and the setting pretty much comes to life as you read it.  Then again, I was a history major in college, so mixing WW1 history and D&D fantasy into one setting is weirdly appealing to me.

I'm 3 or 4 years removed from playing in a message board True20 game, which should have put me at a disadvantage, but the first half of the book is more setting and fluff then anything.  Heck, even the crunch of the later half, creatures and npcs, items and vehicles, etc, could probably be shoehorned into one's favorite generic ruleset without too much trouble.

It also includes a random mission generator, random encounter generator, and a short intro adventure.  It's pretty complete.

My main complaint?  Lack of PDF bookmarking.  I've gotten spoiled by it, I know, but I don't see why it couldn't have been included.

Here's the blurb for Kaiser's Gate:

 

 

This alternate history, genre-blending setting for the True20 game system presents a fantastic take on World War One - combining the gritty battlefields of the Great War with elements of magical fantasy and horror.

* Sorcerers of the German Imperial Army - fueled by the magic of red dragons - bulldoze Allied defenses and push deep into France.

* Heroic griffin riders of the French Air Service fight to free their nation from the daily terror of zeppelin bombing raids

* British golem squads fight alongside tanks to turn the tide of battle against the Central Powers

* In the darkest days of the war, in desperation, the Kaiser makes a Faustian bargain that unleashes an invasion of legions of creatures from Faerie onto the European continent.

Kaiser's gate also includes a new map-less vehicle combat system for True20 and a sample adventure to get the action started immediately.

 

 

Blood Moon Rising - A New Labyrinth Lord Adventure

I'm sure all of you have been following the noise about Insidious, the adventure released using the AD&D trademark, under the OGL, and basically making a mess of thing but garnering lots of publicity.  If not, check out The Greyhawk Grognard's posting on it - its the best I've seen so far.  My main problem with this product?  It appears to be a crippled PDF, with a watermark on every page (apparently across the page).  I like my watermarks not to interrupt my reading, thank you very much.  I'll pass.


Blood Moon Rising is not the adventure you've been reading about all day.  Nope, this one is for Labyrinth Lord.  It appears to make proper use of the OGL.  Figure that one out.
Here's the blurb:

Garanton is a village like any other, except for five days out of the year when it hosts the Feast of St. Garan. During this time, fighters from abroad come to join in the revelry, mingle with other adventurers, and win fame and fortune fighting in the daily games. But all is not well in Garanton this year. Cruel orcs prowl the forest, dark wizards cast webs of treachery and deceit, and bat-winged demons fill the moonlit sky. Does your party have what it takes to ward off this evil before it consumes the entire town?

Blood Moon Rising is a Labyrinth LordTM adventure that is easily converted to other editions of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Designed for 3-6 characters of 1st through 3rd level, the adventure is set in and around the village of Garanton and involves a mixture of wilderness, dungeon, and urban encounters. Use your archetypical frontier village for more than just a rest stop between forays into the wild. Come enjoy the Feast of St. Garan today!

Hopefully Small Niche Games isn't penalized for actually following the rules as spelled out in the legal document they are apparently abiding by.
Still, I wish it was bookmarked.  I never used to care much, but LotFP has spoiled me for life i seems ;)

Holy Player Character Sheets Batman!

I'm sure I'm not the only one with fine memories of the AD&D "goldenrod" player character sheets.  Not that they fit half the crap that your character carried, especially if you had to do with a single sided photocopy.  Still, they were worth their weight in gold and 10 times better then loose leaf paper. 

Here I sit nearly 30 years later and you can print out character sheets yourself, on your own printer, and it's probably more useful then the old "goldenrods" were.  You can make your own (way beyond my ability), find ones on the net, or you can try Kenzer Co's Player Character Record Book instead.  Now, just so there is no mistaking, this is a 3.0/3.5/OGL uber character sheet set.  It could probably be used with Pathfinder with little to know issues, but using with some of the more OSR styled games may lead to some inconsistances, such as with saving throws.

The spell sheets sheets and the NPC sheets are extremely useful.  Heck, I could see myself using the NPC sheets as a DM, as I could fit 4 NPCs per sheet for easy reference.  As a player, what few henchmen I had would probably have gotten a full PC sized sheet, especially seeing how we are printing these out for ourselves.

My main complaint is this is still set up like a dead tree product.  There is no need to repeat the same pages that are common to each class grouping.  True, its not costing extra, and it is easier to print a group of pages then a bunch of separate pages,  but I found it slightly annoying, probably without any good reason.

My recommendation?  One copy for the group and print it out for the party.  I'll take the NPC/Henchmen sheets if no one else wants them ;)