After-Snow Day

So, I left the house with the intention to take the subway and get some reading in... but then I noticed my car was barely snowed in.  So I brushed it off, shoveled a little bit, and drove to work.

There went my idea to get some commuting reading time in on the DX.

Still, I was drawn back to The Dungeon Alphabet during my lunch.  I'm amazed at how well the DX reproduces the artwork from the book.  Might have to use the included table in my One Page Dungeon if I ever get closer to finishing it.

Oh, JoeTheLawyer has twisted my arm, so I will be at the Compleat Strategist in NYC on March 27 (damn, though it was in 2 weeks for a bit there).  Joe has the details here.  Not that my showing up is all that big a deal, but maybe a few more will show up and make it a BIG deal ;)

Snowy Reading Day

Otherwise known as the Blizzard that wasn't.  I hear the wind right now, and there is some blowing snow, but its not the 15+ inches they were all harping on.  I'll be surprised if I wake up to 8 or 9 inches in the morning.

All that being said, I still had to drag my lazy ass to work today.  It was one of the rare times I wasn't driving into Manhattan.  Nope, today I enjoyed the wonders of the NYC Transit System.  Not to be confused with the NYC Transient System (although I think I did spot one homeless person keeping warm and dry and sleeping on  the train) it is better run then it was in my college days.  Probably safer too.  Probably.

Now, there was one advantage to not driving in to work (besides saving on gas):  I had about an hour to and from that I was able to read some gaming goodness on my Kindle DX.  Yes, I gripped it tight, but use it I did.

Finally got around to giving The Dungeon Alphabet a good read.  I am truly amazed at how well the artwork is reproduced on the Kindle DX.  I did have to rotate the screen orientation to make the viewed page large enough to be read comfortably, but that is a minor quibble.  I kinda lost myself in the tables and art and before I knew it it was time to change trains from the express to the local... nice little time warp.

Tonight I need to move some of my more recent  PDF purchases to the DX.  Tomorrow looks to be another train day.  I plan to make it work for me ;)

LL Advanced Edition Companion in Hand

Lulu is a much better, if more expensive, option when I pay for FedEx instead of USPS.  My Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion in was awaiting me at my front door when I arrived home.  Which is really good, as depending on the weather report I listen to the "snow event" that is going to be arriving in NYC is going to deposit anywhere from 6 to 16 inches of the white stuff, and that will probably mess up any deliveries.

I must say it looks "damn purty" in hand.  Excellent match to the Revised Labyrinth Lord book.  I already know the contents are great... can't wait to put this pair of books to good use.

Have Carcosa in my "digital" hand.  Definitely formatted to be printed and used as a digest sized book.  Just 2 classes in this setting: Fighting Man and Sorcerer.  Sorcerer does everything a Fighting Man does, plus all the extras.  So, why be a Fighting Man?  Anyhow, need to do more then skim this.  It's only 40 odd pages so it shouldn't take too long.

If only I had the type of job that allowed one to stay home on "snow days".

Reading Time - Bedtime Stories

My Lord but I am beat today.  This should be a good nite to slip into bed early and read some more of The Majestic Wilderlands.

Just sent off my 6 bucks Supplement V: CARCOSA, The Expurgated Version   Yes, I'm mature enough to read the un-edited version, but as the initial reaction from all sides had me disregard this release back in the day, I figured I'd order the Neutered version.

 The World of Onn is going to get a re-read from me soon too.  Hmmm. wonder what kind of bizarre setting I'll be able to get from melding the three?

Damn, and Savage Swords of Athanor  Just 2 bucks for the PDF on Lulu.  Wow, 4 supplements for Swords & Wizardry.  Next week's vacation will lead to lots of reading and reviewing.

My Latest Lulus

I was feeling very anti Lulu for a while.  Back in November I ordered 5 copies of Chgowiz's Swords & Wizardry Quick Start.  Either Lulu screwed up or the postal service lost it, but I never got my shipment.  Truth to tell, it was probably the USPS... my local postal office sucks.

 Anyhow, with the coupon code floating around last month for Lulu, I figured I'd give it a shot with a more expensive (and trackable) shipping option.  Boy, I'm glad I did.

Got my 5 copies of Swords & Wizardry Quick Start, a copy of the new Revised Labyrinth Lords Rules, Swords and Wizardry White Box Edition, and Supplement VI The Majestic Wilderlands for S&W (but I'll probably borrow stuff for LL instead.  Still waiting on the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Characters to Arrive.

I own all the above in PDF, so to purchase again in dead tree version means I plan to get much use AND bathroom reading out of them ;)  All are top notch on their own.

When did the OSR Assimilate Me?

I'm really trying to figure out when the OSR became my style of gaming.  I cut my teeth on AD&D back in 80 or so... never really played the boxed D&D sets even though I owned most of them.  AD&D 2e was awesome... except the books fell apart way too quickly, splat books multiplied like rabbits on fertility drugs, game balance went further and further out the window...

Next thing I knew we were playing Rifts, Battlelords and other such unbalanced games... because AD&D 2e showed us that balance didn't matter.  Power mattered.  Munckin mattered.

3/3.5 was supposed to clean up 2e, but the explosion of splats and the power inflation was even worse.  I bought books and more books, but played little.  It was overwhelming and unsatisfying at the same time.

At some point I found Castles & Crusades.  It seemed damn close to AD&D of old, close enough that I didn't have to relearn all of my gaming instincts from years of AD&D gaming.  The editing was horrid tho'.  Sorry Trolls, it wasn't and (to a large extent) still isn't your strong point.

Then I heard word of something called OSRIC.  AD&D re-imagined.   Labyrinth Lord was fairly close behind.  Basic fantasy Roleplaying appeared.  Swords & Wizardry.  Holy crap, but there or some amazingly great reincarnations of the original D&D and AD&D rules out there.  Most of the rules in question were available free, or real cheap in PDF format.  And I was hooked.

4e had interested me before release, but couldn't compare to Old School gaming for me.  Pathfinder is a nice evolution of the 3.5 OGL, and Paizo's Adventure Paths are simply incredible, and I find myself reading and converting in my head to LL, and I never really was drawn to Basic D&D back in the day.

Ah well, I'm a convert.  I've been assimilated... and happy at that.

OD&DITIES - Relaunch Forthcoming

Bat in the Attic earlier today announced that OD&DITIES, a classic fanzine of OD&D, is about to relaunch at the end of this month using the Labyrinth Lords rules and the OGL.  More OSR goodness is quite simply awesome.

The plan appears to be a monthly magazine in PDF format for $2 an issue via RPGNow and quarterly compilations via LuLu. First issue should arrive around the end of February.

You can find the first 12 issues of the OD&DITIES fanzine for free here. (published and reproduced there by permission from R.E.B. Tongue)

Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion

Greyhawk Grognard: Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion Now Available!


Thanks for the scoop GG. I just ordered it in print from LuLuand a digital copy with art from RPGNow. You can downloaded it for free without the art too.

I had the advance copy that Labyrinth Lord Society members were given access to and I'm really psyched. Great stuff for a great game.

The OSR - Niche within a Nich

Sometimes we forget that the Old School Renaissance (OSR) is a small movement withing a relatively small hobby we call Roleplaying.  Its easy to lose sight when one forgets to look beyond their immediate surroundings.  My guess is that those interested in the OSR are involved, either actively or passively, in forums, blogs, and other online knowledge sources.  Most of out hobby isn't.  They know little beyond what they see in their game store or Amazon.

The OSR has many options for play (in no particular order):
Labyrinth Lord
OSRIC
Swords and Wizardry (and all of its different flavors)
Microlite74
Monsters and Mazes
Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game
Raven Crowking's Fantasy Game
Mutant Future
Gore

I'm sure I missed more then a few (and them as a response and I'll edit to fix) , and this isnt counting the games that are currently in the works.

Yet for all this, WotC's forthcoming Gamma World with it's noxious collectible power cards aspect will not only outsell (and I'll count free downloads as sales) Mutant Future by many powers of 10, it will also outsell our little niche IN TOTAL by a huge factor.

There is one thing WotC doesn't have tho, which our niche has in abundance:  love of the game before the bottom line.  Most of the OSR is available in PDF for free, or damn close to it.  Most of the print books are damn near close to cost.  This hobby of ours could crash and burn around us, and yet the OSR will remain.

The OSR.  It's small, but resilient.

Review - The Hideout for FG2

Short and Quick review, as the module itself is short. 

The Hideout is a Savage Worlds mini-adventure for use with the Savage Worlds Ruleset and the Fantasy Grounds 2 Virtual Table Top (VTT).

The Hideout details an encounter with Poachers (think evil Ranger types and you get close to the type) that the party might stumble between adventures.  Its a combat encounter at its heart, which will require tactical play on the part of the PCs.  A head on assault will probably be... less then successful.

It is set in White Haired Man's Kith’takharos setting, which is available in a rule agnostic format for free at White Haired Man's website.  It is very much set in the setting and is not really a stand alone encounter.  It's purpose is to fill the gap between two adventures, and it fill that gap well.

PCs can earn themselves a new enemy and might even find themselves a fairly unique magic item if they survive the encounter ;)

It might be a bit light ( the PDF, which is very well done, runs  2 pages) compared to the amount of material you get with other White Haired Man products but it packs a lot into the smaller package.

So, after all that, how does it rate?   I'd say the encounter itself is a strong 4, FG2 programing a solid 5, value is a 3.  It's a short but complete adventure that accomplishes its goal, which is to serve as a viable drop in (or intermission)  between larger adventures or story arcs .  Which averages out to a strong 4 for The Hideout, Savage Worlds Edition (just noticed they released it in OGL/3.5 too).


Thanks again to White Haired Man for giving me the opportunity to dig thru their stuff ;)

The Book of Eli - Fallout 4?

I just got back from watching the Book of Eli.  Without going into to great a detail, it is a post nuclear apocalypse adventure with lots of violence and a story that would make for a very nice arc in RPG setting that would support it.  Probably not any of the many iterations of Gamma World, nor do I think Mutant Future would work (it is free tho', so maybe it could be tweaked to fit).  Atomic Highway might be the proper ruleset and setting. 

Still have the One Page Dungeon Contest whispering in my ears too.  Shhssssss!

Getting My Fix...

As I type this I'm playing in my monthly Castles & Crusades game via Fantasy Grounds 2.  Always a fun time.  Rob runs a really nice game.  I'm glad it was salvaged when work and life in general threatened it.  Rob had to move it to once a month instead of weekly, but in truth more then 2 Saturday nites a month would have been hard to maintian and not get killed by my girlfriend. ;)

Oh, I just joined the Labyrinth Lord Society.  Its free to join and you get a monthly newsletter and access to additional freebies such as early access to the Advanced Edition Companion (1st edition characters and spells for LL).

Free Kobold Quarterly

Would you believe I got this email on Monday, and it never occurred for me to post it until I saw JoeTheLawyer had done the same on his blog.  So, here it is.  Enjoy, I know I always enjoy the Kobolds:

Do you know someone who you're sure would love Kobold Quarterly, if only they would take the plunge and pick up an issue? Now we have a special offer that you can send them. From now through January 31, they can go to the KQ Store and download a FREE copy of issue #10 by entering the coupon code KQ10Free at checkout.

You remember #10, right? It had an interview with Paizo's Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood's Dwarven Goddess, Ecology of the Hill Giant, a wicked take on Halflings, Secrets of the Halberd, Monte Cook's Game Theories, Rampant Elf Lust. Your friends will totally dig it. And if they become fellow subscribers, you'll be helping to support Kobold Quarterly so that we can continue to bring you great content like the articles in this very issue.

Remember, this special offer ends on January 31! Tell them to head for the KQ Store pronto, and use that code!

Thanks for supporting Kobold Quarterly!

Shelly Baur

Kobold Minion

 

Cleric on Call

We've all seen the issue of health care and health insurance in the US.  There's probably not a day in the past few months where it hasn't been part of a newscast.  My question is this... why hasn't the issue cropped up in Fantasy Roleplaying?

Seriously, who needs a affordable access to health care then our very own adventurers?  The get sliced and diced, whacked and skewered, burnt and disfigured, disemboweled and decapitated... all on a weekly basis.  Why don't we see any local churches offering some sort of All Cure Insurance, where the members pay a premium up front, some sort of copayment for each incident and in turn get priority healing?

It's a great way to constantly drain cash from the players, especially during downtime.  It also ensures that they have adequate access to healing.  Then again, overusing the policy would lead to an increase in premiums...

Dragon Age RPG - The Boxed Set...

was at my doorstep when I arrived home yesterday.  I promptly opened it and was suitably... unimpressed.  The last boxed set RPG I had ordered was the latest incarnation of Warhammer.  Steep price but a plethora of goodies to fondle and oodle.  Not so much with Dragon Age.

Lets see.  We have a Player's Guide, a Game Master's Guide (both perfect bound soft covers), a fold out map, and three lonely 6-sided dice (2 blue, 1 green).  The box feels... light.  Eh, maybe because I received the PDFs earlier due to preordering  my anticipated excitement is lacking.  The books look nice, the artwork is professional and appropriate, they just don't feel like they were worth 30 bucks for 2 64 page softcover books, a map and three dice I could have grabbed from any family game.

Maybe I'm harder to please in my old age, but this was anticlimactic.

The computer / Xbox 360 game rocks tho ;)

One Page Dungeon Contest, 2010

The Rusty Battle Axe: One Page Dungeon Contest, 2010

Damn you Ken! Because of you I just went to DungeonForge to download some free mapping software.

Not that I don't own CC and Dundjinni, but I dont know their policy on using their source material in such an endeavor. Besides, I never really learned to use either besides the basic, might as well play with a third.

Not guaranteeing I'll get to finish the project, but it will be fun to try ;)

Pssst! Free Stuff from Lakofka

Treebore (from the Troll Lord Games forums) recently posted that Len Lakofka has released L4 Devilspawn and the accompanying The Lendore Isle Companion up on the Dragon's Foot website.  For those that don't know, Dragon's Foot is dedicated to AD&D 1st Edition gaming and has a large collection of fan produced adventures.

Lakofka (Leomund's Hut anyone?) has been involved in D&D since the early years, and L4 is a direct descendant the classic AD&D adventures of L1: The Secret of Bone Hill and L2: The Assassin's Know.  L4 comes it at 136 pages with some really nice maps (suitable for VTT gaming).  I haven't given either of these PDFs more then a quick scan thru, as I only came accross Treebore's post earlier this evening, but they look good and the price can't be beat ;)  Perfect for some AD&D / OSRIC / fill in your old school system of choice here.

All that and at a glance I suspect they will render perfectly on the Kindle DX.  I'll give that a try during the week and let the results be known.

Weekend Wrap-Up - The Next Weekend

Jets lost, but kept it honest for 3 quarters.  Nice game from both teams.

Well, I'm still underwater with the Haiti Relief Donation package.  I need to stop downloading, peeking and moving one to the next item.  Pick one or two and just read the crap damnit!  heh

Not part of the Haiti Relief package, but a damn sweet looking piece of work is Atomic Highway.  I know the smaller and indie RPG companies have put out a plethora (nice word, eh?) of post Apocalypse RPG games, but this one has been a fun read so far.  Hopefully I'll finish reading and get to reviewing.

I still have a digital stack of White Haired Man products that I need to dig thru and review.  Next month's week of vacation cant come soon enough ;)

OneBookShelf Press Release re: Donations

 (re-distributing with permission)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

In an effort to hurriedly engage publishers and fans in a charitable relief action for the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic (following the earthquake that devastated the region), DriveThruRPG put together the single most amazing bundle of products ever seen in the RPG hobby's history. For a $20 donation, fans are given over $1500.00 in RPG books, music, and more.

It killed their servers within hours of going live.

As one fan put it, "I've never been happier to get an error message." The generosity has been utterly overwhelming, and the collective patience of the customer base has been greatly appreciated by the folks at DriveThruRPG.

"It is an embarrassment of riches of the highest order," said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing & Communications Manager. "We simply had no idea how huge this would get, and how quickly it would become a massive sensation throughout the gaming world. I've never been more proud of my community or my job."

In order to resolve the server issues, DriveThru employed a "coupon solution" that enabled customers to gain a code that would let them select each of the products in the original bundle for free download. With well over a hundred products, however, this became a tedious and frustrating process, and the customers rightfully complained.

As of now, a new coding has been employed, and now customers are getting all of the products that go with the bundles automatically added to their download lists. The folks at DriveThruRPG care immensely for their customers, wanting the experience to be as easy and enjoyable as possible. While the main focus is to get help to Haiti, DriveThru also wants to leave a positive and lasting impression on everyone who comes to the site.

As of this press release, DriveThruRPG has collected well over $56,000, which will be going to Doctors Without Borders for their efforts in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The "Gamers Help Haiti $20 Mega Bundle" will be available until January 31st. Other relief efforts may continue as needed.

For more information, contact Sean Patrick Fannon at sean@onebookshelf.com. Go to www.drivethrurpg.com to obtain the bundle and learn more about what DriveThruRPG is doing to help Haiti.

(at the moment I believe the amount raised is over $70k)

Gamers Helping Gamers

As we dig into our pockets to help those in Haiti we also have the opportunity to help a family closer to home.  Our gaming home.

I can't imagine how much cancer treatment would cost here in the States without health insurance.  Well, yes I can, as apparently it tops $100k in some cases.  Or in the case or a particular gamer's wife.

I myself had Hodgkin's Disease (cancer lite as I like to call it) and it kept me out of work for 11 months between chemo and rads.  My bills?  Some basic co-pays.  My job even paid me my full salary the 11 months I was out.

I was lucky.  We, as a gaming community, need to be able to help those of us in need.  We've raised money for ENWorld, raised money for the Staff of ENWorld, sending over $35k and counting via RPGNow to help those in Haiti... here's our chance to help one of ours.

No donation is to small.

Heck, you even get a PDF copy of The Microlite74 2.0 Special Edition,  a 60-page PDF designed to be printed in booklet format from Adobe Acrobat.

Old School gaming and the gift of giving.  Nice combination.