My NTRPG 2024 "Haul"

Last weekend was North Texas RPG con and it was a good convention for me, for the most part. The worst part was probably Sunday with the %!$@#ing fire alarms.

I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see and the Whiskey Tasting went better than last year, but if I served everyone toilet water (as-in Eau de toilette) it'd have been better received than last year's hooch!  I finally experienced the Chariot races and played in an OSR game, a MCC game, and in a Dare-Luck Club game. Unfortunately I had to bow out of one game because the tasting was scheduled for an odd time, presumably for an attendee that didn't actually attend the event. These things happen.....especially when the schedule is made months in advance. We'll square that away next year.

Since Erik posted last Sunday I took the opportunity to have a leisurely drive back home and get myself mentally prepped to go back to work....something that was actually needed this year.

Today, before I mention my "haul" from NTRPG, consider this a PSA: Ticket sales have already been opened up for next year. Don't fiddle-fart around and wait until next spring to get yourself one of the limited opportunities to attend.....

This year, between the Dealer's Room and the auction(s), I mostly picked up art and modules. Only a couple of items fall outside this range:

I've been kicking around an idea for a choose-your-own-adventure that I wanted to write and I've collected a few of the Endless Quest books to look at as an example. When I saw this one from Douglas Niles I had to have it. I wrote to Mr. Niles back in the day after finishing one of his novels that I just could not put down. I think I read it in record time, which is generally not something I do. My reading pace is usually a bit haphazard. To my surprise he wrote me a response to my thank you letter.

So his work is something I'm often on the lookout for....

At the Saturday auction there were four (?) sets of old D&D minis that were up for grabs. The other three were probably more desirable because they were generally unpainted and had the insert ad paper in them. I have no idea if I got these at a good price or not, but it's for the con to begin with and I wanted the box more than anything.....

Now we get into the modules.....

I bought the Pacesetter adventure from the convention tournament that I completely forgot to try and play in this year. It wasn't even on my radar until they were announcing the winners.....d'oh!

I also picked up a free RPG day DCC adventure...for free and I was gifted the last adventure from one of the writers (or was it editor?) that ran it for a few of us at the con. I have to do some research to see if I can get in on some online games this larger group has.

Of course I had to get the convention tournament (reprint) that I didn't pick up last year...or at least I don't think I got it last year. It would not surprise me at all if I find a copy later that I had failed to document as having picked up before.....

I also managed to pick up a 1st Edition adventure signed by the author and the cover artist...

Now we get to the majority of my purchases for this con...the art!

I paid (probably) too much money for this piece, but I really don't care. This money raised from this piece wasn't for the con, but part of a fund raiser to help Darlene with some home repair expenses. Her story is pretty cool, and it isn't mine to tell (and I think Wikipedia is totally missing the mark!), but you can get some of it here.

Now I'm not some philanthropist here.....I only pick up pieces I like and I liked this for a couple of reasons. It's just Darlene's sign from Garycon IX that was salvaged by Bad Mike from the post-con trash heap. He schlepped it back to Texas and she added her signature and a quick (?) mermaid drawing. This thing is absurdly large and the story is amusing to me. It's going to cost me a small fortune to get it framed and displaying it will be hassle....but it will definitely be a unique piece.

I did, however, pick up a more "normal" piece that I hope to get framed and displayed at my work desk. I think it will accurately portray what I mean when I try to explain to my co-workers what I mean when I tell them I'm a gamer.

They still won't get it, but whatever.

At my first NTRPG I picked up some cheap-assed prints from Jason Braun (now Brauncowski). Kind of crappy prints really....as in how they were reproduced, not crappy drawings. Now I firmly recally paying an appropriate price at the time, so that's not a complaint even though it sounds like one. I've since picked up nicer prints and originals from Jason and I was pretty "meh" when I first saw this piece, but I do have another one in this style and this one kind of gnawed at the back of my mind and I found myself keep coming back to look at it.....eventually I realized it was pretty cool, I was being a cheap dumbass, and if I didn't pick it up I'd be pissed that I hadn't when I had the chance. I'm really looking forward to getting this matted and framed so I can get it up on my wall.

I floating art shelves all over my house, and I have a few more to still put up. The idea is I can rotate what I have on display because I have a lot of framed pieces, with more still needing to be framed. I try to pick up something every trip, and I'm kind of surprised that I'd say about half of it is smaller B&W pieces. 

I have quite a few pieces from James Shields (jeshields) and his work hits a sweet spot for me. It doesn't hurt he's a good guy and I enjoy his company (I can say that about most every artist I've met, but I've had more opportunities with James). This year he brought the whole family and I played in two games with him and his son. After meeting the family I felt bad I wasn't able to break away and visit him at his home last time I was in his general vicinity (Alaska) while on a business trip. Hopefully I'll go back this next year and have another opportunity.

Anyway, I bought two pieces from his wife (well, she was manning the booth at the time), a relatively larger piece used as a cover on an RPG product and the smaller piece from his MACE book, which I had the pleasure of backing on Kickstarter.

What I really like about this cover piece....I don't have the name/product info handy at the moment. Is that it's kind of unfinished, as it was. This is the original and you can see all the marker strokes. I'm sure when scanned in it's perfect for the end product, but the raw initial work is pretty cool on its own.

The smaller piece is one of the monsters from MACE, but I liked the Dwarf myself. He's what made me want to pick it up.

One of the things James does, which is cool as well as frustrating (because I have to make a decision and I know I'm going to frame it out...) is that he has a loose stack of small pieces that he gives away as a bonus if you buy certain other pieces (like anything from this book or that other....). I was surprised that this giant eagle wasn't for sale on its own, but I'll take it.

I like the tabletop scene, but since its trimmed to the edge of the art it doesn't lend itself to easy framing. I do have a big (enough) jug of deep-cast resin I need to use up and I'm thinking of making a big block of black resin, fixing this piece to that so it forms a backing & border, and then adding a thinner layer of clear resin on top. After getting it cleaned up and polished I'd drill holes behind the art, into the thick black layer, to serve as a pencil holder. I think it could come out pretty cool, would serve as a learning project, and give me something good-looking and useful for my desk.......assuming I can pull it off.

Should Adventures Be All Wore Out?

I'm busier than expected today, just life & work "stuff", but I've been (im)patiently waiting for a particular online auction for an old adventure I want to pick up. This last week I started going through what printed adventures I have, cataloging them, and then putting into storage. A select few I'm going to display (somehow) and I've always wanted to have a big display of every version of Tomb of Horrors from each edition. Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't.

I have a few old TSR adventures that have never been played. Whenever I look at one of them I'm reminded of an old friend I know I've posted about here at the Tavern (Link if it matters). I still wish I had a microphone handy when he went on a truly epic rant about how about the only pristine adventure should be the one that wasn't sold. Adventures should be dog-eared, highlighted, notes in the margins, maps all marked up.....

.....and I kind of agree with him, but I'm not going to do that to an adventure that is almost as old as I am!

Since most of the adventures I've written were made for specific tournaments, they didn't have print runs, but local copies. I fondly remember taking my outline, doing a preliminary copy, and then marking the ever-loving-sh....stuff out of it. Those notes went back into a re-write and I wish I had the foresight to keep that original marked up copy.

Now I know I'm no Gary, but can you imagine how many people would lose their shit (I said it this time) and the contents of their wallets to get their hands on a personally-destroyed Gary Gygax copy of an adventure? Or maybe his initial outline/notes/whatever his system was? That would be an epic auction, for sure!

I haven't GM'd in far, far too long, but I assume I'll do more like last time and play a little fast & loose by stitching parts of multiple adventures together. I like to have set "events" planned with each event mostly taking place at the player's pace, but some stuff just happens and if the players aren't involved they'll get to see any aftermath, assuming there is one. 

Until then though, I'll probably still be picking up new, or just new to me adventures and not destroying them through play.....

Support Your Local Game Convention

Here I am, sitting at home instead of attending a "local" game convention: LongCon. Unfortunately I had to be in wonderful Fayetteville NC, home or Fort Bragg and the XVIII Airborne Corps and I wouldn't get back in time to attend.

Work does come before play after all, which sucks 'cause I could've gotten a free room and maybe even a free badge. On the plus side I was able to do a little back-door support by picking up an unsold copy of the convention module.....well it might have been reserved instead of unsold stock. Not sure, don't care 'cause I get to donate AND get a module, so...win/win?

I like it when a small convention puts out a module. Even better if they do a two-part printing. 1st is a limited run & numbered version for the collectors and/or "deep pockets" that want to toss a few extra bucks to the convention. 2nd is a larger run that is more affordable and still supports the convention. Now if I can afford it I'll get one of both, but that's largely due to the "influence" of an old gamer buddy of mine who passed away a few years ago.

Steve "Stevil"  Johansson, one of the D-Team for KenzerCo was a hoot to play with or under. He'd go off of these tangents, almost rants, that were just EPIC. One time I was on vacation and spending the day at the KenzerCo warehouse/office when Stevil launched into this slightly heated "discussion" regarding printed adventures. I really wish I had recorded this for posterity as ...it.....was...AWESOME. The gist of it was that there should be absolutely no such thing as a pristine copy of a published adventure. Adventures should be dog-eared, marked up, and generally abused by the GM....as they are used at the table. In short, an archived adventure is an unloved, and failed, adventure.

With two copies you can collect one, and play one. I don't run enough these days to really play one and when I do run some games I tend to not use printed adventures as-is, but often rather close to as-is. A few tweaks here & there go a long, long way.

I know I've always been a fan of the local game convention, and even some of the "Big Cons"....but not GenCon. Too expensive and way...way too crowded for me. I'm getting a few heebie-jeebies thinking about the crowds. The Origins Game Fair can be crowded, but not nearly at the same level for most of the event. Anyway, a big problem with these smaller game conventions is just the opposite: they are, pretty much by definition, small.

Just finding out about conventions in the first place is probably the largest hurdle. Small conventions have small budgets and commensurate small outreach. Hell, there is a small comic convention in my town this weekend, and I only found out about it this morning...... So what to do? For the real small cons....tiny even, you might find out from your FLGS, but you generally have to be very active in looking for these events. Don't expect their marketing to jump out at you.....

Now for the smaller, regional conventions, a better source might be TableTop Events, assuming they're using this popular service. You can search by location and try to be a bit generic. Search for "TX" or "Texas" instead of "Dallas", but don't expect to always find events on the 1st try. Here's a quick search for "Texas":

You'll note that Long Con is listed on there, but you know what isn't listed? North Texas RPG 2023....and I've already registered for this event....through this website!

If you're lucky, there might be a "local/regional" website. Here in Oklahoma we have OKGamers.com, but you'll probably have to look around a bit to find your state/regions alternative.

Deal of the Day - Trilemma Adventures Compendium Volume I (System Neutral)

If you are looking for "oomph" for your gaming buck, look o further than today's DTRPG Deal of the Day - Trilemma Adventures Compendium Volume I. It's a system-neutral compendium of 55 adventure sites, regions, and settlements. Literally a campaign or more of material for your gaming sandbox laid out for perfect use on your computer screen or tablet - with hyperlinks. Trilemma Adventures Compendium Volume I was worth some of my admittedly limited gaming dollars and should be in every DM's toolbox for inspiration.

Note, there is a systemless bestiary PDF included. The bestiary is also available in B/X and 5e flavors at additional cost.

(For more "oomph" for your gaming buck, see last night's DCC RPG Humble Bundle post - less than a buck an adventure)

Each location is written to be usable separately, perfect for one-shot sessions, side quests, or to help populate your home grown campaign setting.

All have been lavishly illustrated and laid out to make them easy to run, straight from the book.

This book is packed with caverns, castles, underworld cities, labyrinths, mansions, flying tombs, hidden temples, and fallen shrines.

Also inside is more than 60 pages of new material:

an illustrated bestiary

an appendix of magical items

ten solid pages of hooks, rumors and secret lore

six regional gazetteers tying the adventure locations into a ready-to-use campaign setting

a full-color regional map, in GM and player versions

a complete index

a bonus location, set in the aftermath of the Kickstarter invasion scenario

This compendium is an essential part of your GM kit!

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Compiling a List of Low Level Adventures - Part 1 - Goodman Games

I plan to seed a nice amount of published adventures throughout the Southlands (it is, after all, a sandbox campaign), and the first publisher I looked at was Goodman Games.

Admittedly, most of what I have in PDF (and on CD for the first 8 adventures) or print is for D20 / 3x. Still, they are old school in feel and easy enough to strip of their 3x'isms.

Regretfully, my boxed set of the Known Realms is sitting in storage, but I may just break that out of the Southlands get to small for the party (or just move them on to Blackmarsh, who knows). My boxed set of DCC 51, Castle Whiterock, is sitting under my desk. I don't see my players looking to spend that much time in one dungeon at this point.

So, I went through Goodman's RPGNow listings and found the low level adventures, most of which I have (and will need to skim to see which ones are applicable). I'll gladly take any feedback or thoughts you might have. Next, I'll go through he three volumes of adventures in hardback from Expeditious Retreat Press and find their low level gems (as they use OSRIC, conversion to S&W is even easier).

0 - Legends Are Made, Not Born - Level 0-1

1 - Idyllis of the Rat King - Levels 1-3

2 - The Vault of Tsather Rho - Level 1

11 - The Dragonfiend Pact - Level 2

14 - Dungeoo=n Interludes - Levels 1-13

24 - Legend of the Ripper - Levels 1-3

28 - Into the Wilds - Levels 1-3

29 - The Adventure Begins - 20 adventures in the 103 range. A fucking steal at 20 bucks

31 - The Transmuter's Last Touch - Levels 1-2

41 - The Lost Arrows of Aristemis - Levels 1-3

44 - Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar - Levels 1-3

45 - Malice of the Medusa - Levels 1-3

51.5 - The Sinister Secret of Whiterock - Levels 1-3

A large selection to pick through, I know, but I value the input of my readers. I am looking for the cream of the crop (and saying "Just use +Harley Stroh 's stuff" might be valid, but I've already used it, so you need a different reason ;)