Listing of RPGNow Bundle

Damn this list is long.  I'll highlite my favorites :)

(heck, Three Sixteen has been on myRPGNow wishlist for montha)

1 x	Dork Covenant	$0.00
1 x	MonkeyGod Presents: Frost & Fur	$0.00
1 x	MonkeyGod Presents: From Stone to Steel	$0.00
1 x	Roma Imperious	$0.00
1 x	Squirrel Attack! Operation: Get Mr. Jones' Nuts	$0.00
1 x	Serenity Role Playing Game	$0.00
1 x	Seven Leagues roleplaying game of Faerie	$0.00
1 x	C&C Shadows of the Halfling Hall	$0.00
1 x	17 Plants	$0.00
1 x	17 Rogue Feats	$0.00
1 x	Privateers and Pirates	$0.00
1 x	NEO MONKS: The Dragonlord	$0.00
1 x	Bits of Darkness: Dungeons	$0.00
1 x	Unorthodox Sorcerers	$0.00
1 x	17 Bard Spells	$0.00
1 x	More Mighty Than Steel	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: Lucky Bastard	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Technology Update: AAP/CPR Med Kit	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: Bar Room Berserker	$0.00
1 x	Tales of Wyn D'mere Role Playing Game!	$0.00
1 x	Valherjar: The Chosen Slain Core Rulebook	$0.00
1 x	Barbarians Versus	$0.00
1 x	WorldWorksGames / UrbanMayhem: Streets of Mayhem	$0.00
1 x	BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes (New and Improved)	$0.00
1 x	Objective Interim Modern Combat System	$0.00
1 x	17 Magic Shields	$0.00
1 x	NEO RANGERS: The Spider King	$0.00
1 x	Gravitic Thrust Vehicles	$0.00
1 x	Damnation Decade	$0.00
1 x	WorldWorksGames / DungeonLinX: Dragon God	$0.00
1 x	The Veggie Patch	$0.00
1 x	Adventurer Essentials: Holy Water	$0.00
1 x	Modern Dispatch (#104): Line Zero	$0.00
1 x	17 Monk Feats	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: Gravity Slinger	$0.00
1 x	Castlemourn Campaign Setting	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: NeoWitch Guardian	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: The Prince of Doggs	$0.00
1 x	Classic Spycraft: Spycraft Espionage Handbook	$0.00
1 x	Classic Spycraft: Shadowforce Archer Worldbook	$0.00
1 x	43 Space Opera Adventure Seeds - Space Opera Support #6	$0.00
1 x	Destinations: Spaceport Trident Vespa	$0.00
1 x	Adventurer Essentials: Rope	$0.00
1 x	17 Archer Feats	$0.00
1 x	Fantasy Firearms	$0.00
1 x	Character, Hero	$0.00
1 x	Blood Games II	$0.00
1 x	QAGS Second Edition	$0.00
1 x	Pimp My Paladin	$0.00
1 x	Turris Lemurum : Tower of Ghosts	$0.00
1 x	Dark Raiders of Misty Ridge	$0.00
1 x	The Lazy GM: Lizardfolk	$0.00
1 x	Hollow Earth Expedition Earth Drill	$0.00
1 x	Bits of Magicka: Pocket Items	$0.00
1 x	Beast Hunters RPG	$0.00
1 x	Shaolin Squirrels : Nuts of Fury	$0.00
1 x	Divine Homelands	$0.00
1 x	Piledrivers and Powerbombs: Chokeslam of Darkness Edition	$0.00
1 x	Quirin Encounter #3: Healing Device	$0.00
1 x	Behind the Monsters: Skeleton	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: The Innocent	$0.00
1 x	The Book of Dumb Tables	$0.00
1 x	Advanced Fleet Designs: Titan Class Scout	$0.00
1 x	Behind the Spells: Sanctuary	$0.00
1 x	Spirit of the Season	$0.00
1 x	Future Firearms Pack One	$0.00
1 x	Treasure Chests: Volume 2	$0.00
1 x	Colonial Gothic: Secrets	$0.00
1 x	Trail of Cthulhu Player's Guide	$0.00
1 x	Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113)	$0.00
1 x	Modern Dispatch 120: Cyber-state Avatar Toolkit	$0.00
1 x	Divine Quests	$0.00
1 x	Three Sixteen	$0.00
1 x	The Squared Circle:Wrestling RPG	$0.00
1 x	Quirin Maps #14: Bandit's Territory	$0.00
1 x	Lady's Rock	$0.00
1 x	Slivers of Dawn	$0.00
1 x	Items Evolved Rituals	$0.00
1 x	Cortex System Role Playing Game	$0.00
1 x	Kids, Castles & Caves	$0.00
1 x	Karma Roleplaying System Core Rules Book	$0.00
1 x	Demimonde	$0.00
1 x	One Shot Adventures! Days of Knights	$0.00
1 x	OSRPG CCG Card Template 1	$0.00
1 x	Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.	$0.00
1 x	Wayfarers	$0.00
1 x	Diana: Warrior Princess	$0.00
1 x	Zombacalypse	$0.00
1 x	Book of Races	$0.00
1 x	Tendril's Oak Inn	$0.00
1 x	C&C Arms and Armor	$0.00
1 x	For the Love of Dungeons	$0.00
1 x	Shrouded Agendas for D&D 4E: The Purifiers	$0.00
1 x	London Fires module A101 for Fellowship of the White Star	$0.00
1 x	Fantasy Women Clipart JPEG 7	$0.00
1 x	API Worldwide: Canada	$0.00
1 x	Breathe Life Into #1	$0.00
1 x	Thousand Suns: Transmissions from Piper	$0.00
1 x	Counter Collection 4th Edition Paragon 1	$0.00
1 x	Best of The Rifter	$0.00
1 x	MARS: Savage Worlds Edition	$0.00
1 x	Qalidar	$0.00
1 x	API Demon Pack 01	$0.00
1 x	The Fate of Inglemia - Superlink Edition	$0.00
1 x	The Lunar Scrolls	$0.00
1 x	Forlakh's Tower - CR 4 D20 Module	$0.00
1 x	API Demon Codex: Lochs	$0.00
1 x	DRAGONSHIRE: City Interiors	$0.00
1 x	Brandy's by the Bay	$0.00
1 x	Mini Nuclear Plant	$0.00
1 x	COPPER DRAGON: Basic Dungeons 1	$0.00
1 x	Earth Space Marines	$0.00
1 x	WorldWorksGames / Deadly Encounters Combo	$0.00
1 x	WorldWorksGames / Wormhole	$0.00
1 x	WorldWorksGames / Uncharted Space: Sathrican Homeworld	$0.00
1 x	Special Vehicles	$0.00
1 x	Chronica Feudalis	$0.00
1 x	[Savage Worlds] Strike Force 7 - Savaged!	$0.00
1 x	Labyrinths & Lycanthropes	$0.00
1 x	Ephemeris	$0.00
1 x	Thousand Suns: Foundation Transmissions	$0.00
1 x	Interface Zero: Modern20 edition	$0.00
1 x	Basic poker playing cards 1	$0.00
1 x	[PFRPG] The Book of Arcane Magic	$0.00
1 x	[PFRPG] GM's Aid VII: Condition Cards - Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Edition	$0.00
1 x	Kiddy counters	$0.00
1 x	Liber Sodalitas: The Dream Healers (Pathfinder edition)	$0.00
1 x	Open Game Table - The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 1	$0.00
1 x	No Dignity in Death: The Three Brides	$0.00
1 x	Magpie Codex 2	$0.00
1 x	The Kerberos Club	$0.00
1 x	Thrilling Tales 2nd Edition (Savage Worlds)	$0.00
1 x	eCollapse	$0.00
1 x	90 Phenomena in the City of Copenhagen	$0.00
1 x	Creatures of the Wastelands: The Thrasher Gang	$0.00
1 x	Creatures of the Wastelands: Habitats	$0.00
1 x	Creatures of the Wastelands: A Menagerie of Mutants and Mutations (Revised Edition)	$0.00
1 x	Torn Apart by Radiation Wraiths	$0.00
1 x	Summerland Revised and Expanded Edition	$0.00
1 x	F-211 Copperhead	$0.00
1 x	Kobold Quarterly 11	$0.00
1 x	RIO DRACO: Base Set	$0.00
1 x	The Black Book	$0.00
1 x	Zombie Bytes: The Anthology	$0.00
1 x	Book of the Faithful: Power of Prayer	$0.00
1 x	Fantastic Maps: The Dragon's Lair	$0.00
1 x	Blood of the Innocent: A Savage Worlds mission set in the jungles of Evil	$0.00
1 x	Reign of Discordia (Traveller Edition)	$0.00
1 x	MegaCity Sector Maps	$0.00
1 x	Instant Antagonist: The Selfish Succubus	$0.00
1 x	DRAGONSHIRE: City Ruins	$0.00
1 x	Stolen Blood	$0.00
1 x	Threat Record Vol. I, Issue #2	$0.00
1 x	[PFRPG] Loot 4 Less Vol. 1: Armor and Weapons	$0.00
1 x	Shambles	$0.00
1 x	d66 Ship Names 2	$0.00
1 x	Power Pics Heroes 1 -Female Speedster	$0.00
1 x	Power Pics Villains 1 -Male Cyborg	$0.00
1 x	Portrait of a Villain - The Desire	$0.00
1 x	The Black Spot	$0.00
1 x	MADS Role Playing Game	$0.00
1 x	Afterpeak Systemless Setting	$0.00
1 x	Scenes of Space Hex Battle Maps	$0.00
1 x	Class options volume II: Paladins Prevail!	$0.00
1 x	Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: The S.L.A.M. Soldier	$0.00
1 x	Ápocrypha - Myths of the World	$0.00
1 x	The Book of The Dead	$0.00
1 x	Rugged Adventures	$0.00
1 x	Grumlahk's Troll Tales	$0.00
1 x	Wyrd of Questhaven (PFRPG)	$0.00
1 x	Vampire Castle	$0.00
1 x	Rise Of a Legend:NEW Issue #1	$0.00
1 x	Degenerate Seaside Town	$0.00
1 x	The Otherworld	$0.00
1 x	Zombie Apocalypse	$0.00
1 x	Full Light, Full Steam	$0.00
1 x	Martial Cultures: Arytis	$0.00
1 x	S.C.A.R.E. Vol. 2-Viesca Melin Aella	$0.00
1 x	Gamers Helping Haiti $20 Special	$20.00
1 x	Police Precinct	$0.00
1 x	Gamers Helping Haiti [BUNDLE]

RPGNow Extends Offer to 31st

It looks like RPGNow is extending the $20 gamer's bundle / Hait donation to January 31st. Value was over $1400 when I purchased mine this morning.

I have heard their servers are taking a beating. Have patience ;)


- Posted from my iPhone

RPGNow Midnite Sale for Haiti Relief

Tonight at midnite Eastern Time,  RPGNow is holding a one day sale to raise donations for the Tragedy in Haiti.  For a $20 donations, RPGNow/OneBookshelf/DrivethruRPG is offering  over 100 PDFs in a bundle (retail value over $900).  Publishers are donating their products, RPGNow is matching donations dollar for dollar.

You get a chance to do the right thing and reward yourself many times over.

Heck, I'll have a never ending pile of PDFs to review.

Its a 24 hour sale folks.  Snooze, you lose.  As will the needy that could have used your donation (which is being matched.

The Old Guy's RPG Blog: Gygax statue news - plans and fund revealed

The Old Guy's RPG Blog: Gygax statue news - plans and fund revealed

Chgowitz has some details of the future EGG memorial.

Weekend Wrap-Up

First things first - Go JETS!  Nice game ;)

Now that that is out of the way.  Just got the latest (and probably my last) print copy of Kobold Quarterly delivered on Saturday.  My last print copy because I scored a deal on the PDF only sub, and truth be told, I'm short on storage space and it reads extremely well on the Kindle.  It's a great magazine that covers 3.5, 4e and Pathfinder.  Much of it is more fluff then crunch, so finding material  to crib for older systems is fairly easy.  If you liked the old Dragon Magazine when it was in print, thisis the magazine for you.

On the beer front, I just started 2 gallons of Whispering Wheat Weizenbier fermenting in the Mr. Beer keg.  Should be ready to bottle and carb in about 2 weeks.  The earlier beer still has a week of carbing left to go.  Then I have some blueberry and blackberry beers lined up for February.  Yum ;)

Weekend Update

Lets see, it's saturday afternoon and I need to figure out which PDF / RPG Product I'm going to review next.  That's not so simple when your son is trying to drag your ass in to the Star Trek Online Open beta every free moment that you have.  I'm sure there is something I can catch up on.  Hmmm, I may need to do a quick spreadsheet just to organize what I have, what I have and haven't read, and what I have and haven't reviewed.

On the brewing side, I'm starting a Home Brewers Blog.  Gonna be slow at first but what the heck, everyone likes a good beer ;)  In the meantime, one more week of carbonation and then I start sticking some beer in the fridge to condition for a week or so.  All that and probably another 2 gallon batch will start brewing today or tomorrow.  Variety is the key...

Review: White Haired Man

The Nine Towers -  Fantasy Grounds 2 Module Review

In the first part of this review I talked about the PDF that comes in the package with the FG2 module.  Now we get to the toys, and I mean that in the nicest way.  

Whereas the PDF gives you a handy way to read the adventure, the FG2 module includes all of that and more for use with the FG2 software.  Unless you are a Skype / Teamspeak / Ventrilo / or some other voice software user, the idea of typing out all the descriptions, color text, NPC chat and such can be overwhelming.  A well designed FG2 module does all that heavy stuff for you - a few clicks of the mouse and you are moving right along in your role as GM.  White Haired Man has done that for you.


Just as an aside, I reviewed an adventure for FG2 on RPGNow in 2008 and basically said it's only saving grace was as a tool to designing your own FG2 modules.  After poking my way through The Nine Towers, I would take that back.  That old adventure from a company I shall not name has no redeeming graces compared to this product.

The Nine Towers is a great insight in to how, or at least, how high one can strive, to make your own FG2 module for your own use.  This is the example one should follow.  Links are there where you need them.  Need to find the handout of Tarshal'din's Shining Spear for your players?  Its linked right in the encounter.  Narrative boxes?  Check.  Tokens specific to the module that can be readily recycled into other game session or systems... or even, heaven forbid, a different VTT?  They are there, waiting to be used.  They are also very attractive.  I happen to like the top down look that was used.  Personal preference I guess.

Overall I give the complete package a 4.5 outa 5.  The Nine Towers is a well written adventure, slickly produced FG2 module for use with the Savage Worlds ruleset.

Now if White Haired Man would come out with a version for Castles & Crusades or Labyrinth Lord I'd be flying high. ;)

Teacher, My DX ate my PDF!

My Kindle DX displays the vast majority of my RPG PDF collection quite well, tho it chokes on a few and needs the Heimlich in one or two cases.  The Nine Towers gives the DX some isses... nothing that totally breaks usability, just a minor annoyance when it crops up.  Before I go any further, I wish to state that Adobe Reader 8.1 reads the PDF flawlessly.  Remarking that other programs or devices don't interact as flawlessly with it reflect more on the program or the devices shortcomings, not necessarily the PDF in question.

So, to answer White Haired Man games inquiry as to the problems my Kindle DX has with The Nine Towers PDF:

1 - The cover art doesn't display - its just a grey smudge (with the footnote on the bottom of the screen "some elements on this page could not be displayed").  It also lacks the Savage Worlds and FG2 Partner badges.  To be fair, Sumatra, an alternate PDF reader doesnt handle the art well either.  Adobe 8.1?  Perfect.

2 - Hitting the next page on the DX brings up a blank page with the same message as previously.  This might be a reference to the missing badges.

3 - The creature from page 4 is missing, but the Image: Token Outline is there.

I think I misspoke when I referred to layers i my previous post.  I am far from an expert at composing PDFs.  The problem the DX is having with this PDF is similar to others that have, what appears to me, to be "layers" of art / page shading or such.  Its all mumbo jumbo to me anyway ;)

In the end what matters is that the PDF is usable, well written, and appears like it would be fun to run.  The Nine Towers fits that criteria.  It is still readable and usable on the DX... just not a perfect fit.  I feel like I'm complaining I didn't get my "gift with purchase" that was neither promised nor offered ;)

Tomorrow  hopefully I get to the FG2 part of The Nine Towers.

Star Trek Online - Beta Action

The Star Trek Online Open Beta is in its second day.  My son and I got to play a bit of the end of the Closed Beta, which was surprisingly tight for a Closed Beta.  The Open Beta includes some of my friends from my old gaming group / MMO group.  I think this will wind up being a fun diversion, but I doubt it will keep everyone logged in and gaming like the early days of Everquest 2.

Still, starship combat is way cool.  Almost as much fun as rolling dice and high fiving at the dining room table.  Amost ;)

Brewing Apprentice 101

So, over the weekend I bottled my beer.  The Red Ale will need to be filtered as it appears some hops and dead yeast made it to the bottles.  No biggie, its all good ;)  The Oktoberfest looks nice and clear.  Both seem to be carbing well, as the plastic bottles are firming up nicely.  It will all be ready in plenty of time for the Super Bowl... heh

A side note to yesterday's review.  The PDF is not very Kindle DX friendly.  The DX seems to have issues with PDFs that have multiple layers on the page... it tries to view each layer as a separate page.  I could go into the PDF with some editing software and take out the offending layers, but it looks damn fine using Adobe Reader.  Sumatra has some minor issues, but I've been finding the Sumatra has issues with just about all but the most basically laid out PDFs.  Minor quibble, and it probably only effects me :)

New Layout - Semi - By Choice

The new blog layout is due to the fact that while experimenting with some new templates, I inadvertently forgot to save the old layout.  All that being said, I think I like this one better.  If nothing else, three columns means less wasted screen space ;)

Review: White Haired Man

Nine Towers -PDF Review

"Learn the adventure, the setting, and the motivations of the various NPCs. Careful preparation should give the Gamemaster a deep enough understanding that the right responses will spontaneously emerge and make perfect sense for the situation." (lifted from page 85 of this 88 page Behemoth)

Better advice could not have been written.

Like most (if not all) of White Haired Man's adventures, Nine Tower's takes place in a grittier, lower magic setting them most fantasy games. Take the time to learn the background of the setting, Kith’takharos, as it will add your appreciation of the adventure.

As to the adventure. How to describe it without giving away the plot? This is from the blurb itself:

"The ruthless archaeologist-mage Lenar Hoyt has stolen the most holy artifact of the Bright Water Swamp Men. The tribe holds Kith'takharos responsible, and will destroy the village unless the Order of the Jade Leaf retrieves Tarshal'din's Shining Spear. As the Swamp Man warriors gather for the assault, Hoyt activates the first Teleportation Tower."

Hmm, that is much of the plot I guess. Still, in its simplest summary, the players are on a recovery mission. A timed recovery mission. Thankfully, there are multiple choices for the adventure hook, so it can be tailored more to the party as opposed to shoehorning them into the plot.

This is not a dungeon crawl, although there are rooms and corridors to explore at points in the adventure. It requires more thinking and less swinging. Traveling is the key here, much of it in non standard ways (teleportation anyone?). Some events can be quite deadly (falling comes to mind) that players have little control over (about the only negative that quickly comes to mind).

The use of sidebars for added background and other information is pretty close to perfect. It keeps the flow of reading of the adventure uninterrupted, yet allows one to pause for added detail.

My best undereducated guess is two to three sessions to play out this adventure on a face to face tabletop session, then add one more session for the time lost using FG2 (VTT games always seem to take just a wee bit longer to complete in my experience).

Now, this review has just touched upon the PDF that accompanies the Fantasy Grounds 2 Adventure. Why have I covered just the PDF at this point? Because it is no light weight. It is easily worth the price of admission on its own. It is well written and edited. It is a professional piece of work that stands on its own. I've purchased adventures for use with Fantasy Grounds that offered no accompanying PDF at a higher price that left me regretting my purchase within minutes. All that and truth be told, reading the PDF has left me no time to play with the FG2 software. I'll peek at that tomorrow or wednesday and give a follow up.

I'm going to give this a 4 out of 5 star review - a full 5 stars to those that truly dig the setting Kith’takharos. This rating is for the PDF alone. Once I've given the FG2 software a shake with this I'll give the full review and rating.

The Nine Towers is a Savage Worlds adventure for 4-6 Seasoned characters.

Much thanks again to Andugus over at White Haired Man for letting me get my hands on a review copy

Body Scanners in the City of Hawks

Sitting at my work desk and a thought occured to me: isn't the whole "Detect" line of D&D spells the fantasy equivelent of the Body Scanners they are looking to deploy at airports?

How would your character feel if a Paladin detected evil on everyone before they could enter the town gate?

How far do we go in applying today's moral code and sense of personal right to our semi medivel fantasy worlds?



- Posted from my iPhone

Its Been Busy at the Tavern

It's been a busy couple of days on this end. I came home from work on friday to find sewer specialists were called in as the 100 year old sewer line had backed up... yet again.

After a couple of harrowing hours (and fears that a need to replace the line would easily top 10 grand), our lovely specialists pulled a roots system from the pipe that would have made for an excellent baddie in any waterborne adventure. It looked like some bizarre sea creature from the depths of the deepest ocean instead of some roots and soil (and sewage oh my). Things we take for granted in today's modern world and probably our fantasy worlds too. All that for just $2700. Sigh, I need to take up a career in adventuring ;)

Yesterday I bottled one of the two batches of beer that have been brewing for the last three weeks. Irish Red is carbonating and the Oktoberfest will follow later today. About three to four weeks before the first beer from these batches get drunk.

If all goes well I'll have a short review of one of White Haired Man's products posted tomorrow or tuesday. Although packaged for FG2, the enclosed PDFs really make them suitable for all VTTs or even tabletop play.

White Hair? Just Hints of Grey ;)

White Haired Man Games has been kind enough to forward me review copies of their latest products for use in Fantasy Grounds 2 (or without, as the accompanying PDFs are probably worth the value on their own). Its going to take me a few week to get thru their review material and I have a few other products from other publishers I want to touch on. Janauary is going to be a very busy month it seems.

Totally off topic, but I think this Friday will be Beer Bottling Day at Tenkar's Tavern. Then at least two more weeks to carbonate and at least one more week of conditioning in the refrigerator. So at least 3 1/2 weeks before a true sample can be tasted.

In the meantime, thanks to my Brother-in-law Chris for the 1 liter and 1/2 liter bier steins he brought back from Oktoberfest in Germany for me. Dude, you rock!

Reprint or Repost - Its Still a Neat Trick

Over the summer I found a neat little program that allowed you to turn your photographs into "fake" art. Its a decent trick for both VTT gaming and face to face when you need a prop or handout. So I'm re-posting it for the new year. Enjoy :)




Ever want to show your players what they see and not just describe it to them? How about while playing using a VTT? Doesn't that just scream visual aids?

Using real life photographs can be a real shortcut, but I find that using a photograph limits the players' imaginations and distracts one from the escapism. Here's my solution: photosketcher (did i mention it's free?)

It turns my photos into faux paintings that I can tweak for effect.

Here's an example using one of the sample pics supplied with Windows Vista.

I'll post more before and after pics later.




Pencil effects of a pic I took last fall. One with some color, one without.




I think I do prefer the pencil effect myself, especially for use in gaming. Cropping and photoshopping prior to conversion gives one lots of possibilities. Here's my feline daughter and the pencil conversion. Imagine her sitting at a height of 6' and asking the party a riddle...

Supplement VI - The Majestic Wilderlands

It seems like everyone has their own spin on the classic Wilderlands line by Judges Guild. James Mishler has his spin on the Wilderlands and now Robert Conley is giving us his vision with the Majestic Wilderlands.

So, what do you get for your 7 bucks. 140 pages full of gaming goodness for Swords & Wizardry (OD&D). Actually, just short of half (the second half) of this PDF gives you setting material that could be easily used in any version of D&D, its clones, heck, just about any fantasy ruleset - it is system agnostic.

The first 80 pages or so detail new sub-classes, spells, optional rules for your S&W campaign and the obligatory spin on the rogue class. There's a hell of alot of crunch for anyone that is looking to expand their Swords & Wizardry game.

Final verdict? 5 stars - either section of this book is easily worth $7 bucks on their own. DX-ability is a solid 5. Nice, clean and simple layout.

Yesterday's Brain Fart

My son is playing the "Star TREK Online" beta, not Star Wars. Star Wars Galaxies was / is an aberration. Correcting yesterday's post. I don't need to look sillier then I already do.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Brewmaster 101 - or Why I Would Never Drink What my PCs Do

My plan was to post about some of the really nice PDFs I picked up last week. It was going to be "The Anti-Rant". Somehow I never got around to transferring them to my Kindle DX, and my son is currently glued to my PC playing the Star Wars Online Beta. Lets just say if it plays half as well as it looks I'll be sold. In any case, no PDFs to review (working off my netbook at the moment)

I still need to bottle my beer as it has been 15 days since it started fermenting. Looks like tomorrow nite will be the nite to do so. I have some 1/2 gallon and quart bottles waiting to be used. It has been a busy but fun four day weekend, and I just don't have the energy to bottle tonight.

So, what am I doing at the moment? I'm flipping thru a X-mass gift my brother-in-law got me - The Alaskan Bootlegger's Bible by Leon W. Kania. Holy crap. If you have any desire to brew anything at any point in your life, pick this book up. If you want to know how booze was made back in the days before mass production and pasteurization, this is your bible.

One recipe included is for Corn Whiskey. It call for 10 lbs of corn to be aced in a feed sack and buried in the warm moist center of a manure pile for about a week and a half... you are basically waiting for the kernels to sprout. Now, imagine being told that the Whiskey you were drinking had its start in the center of a pile of cow crap?

There is alot of information on stills, distilling, brewing, and real life characters that that were involved in bootlegging. My favorite so far? The retired Catholic Priest that made milk wine, much to the authorities frustration. I'm finding hooks and props that I can drop into my next campaign no matter the genre.

I'm tempted to try my hand at wine now. I can legally brew 100 gallons of beer and wine yearly for my personal use. Heh. Nice thought.

Oh, if you want to try your hand and brewing beer, run-don't walk, to your nearest Bed, Bath and Beyond. They have the Mr. Beer starter kit for $29.99 less half - so for 15 bucks (less 20% if you have a coupon)and some empty soda bottles you can try your hand at brewing some pale ale. If you get luck they may have a 3 pack of refills for about the same reduced price. Try it if you have the time. Its fun, it's fairly cheap, and tastes better then most of what the big breweries put out these days.

My New Year's Resolution - Getting back in the DM Seat

I've talked about this since I bought my first VTT with floating licenses (Klooge) but this time I'm about to get off the pot.

My plan is to run a session using a weird FG2 / iTabletop combination for my friends that I've alluded to for way too long.

Not sure what game system I / They want to use, nor the genre (although if I was a betting man I'd suspect fantasy of some sorts). I'll probably leave that up to them via an email vote / thread.

I'll need to run the sessions episodically, as I suspect organizing a game once a month is going to be hard, let alone aiming for more often then that. Self contained adventures with loose threads holding them together may suit our gaming fine.

I'll post more about this as I start shaking the tree and see how it all falls out.

My Latest Rant - The Crusader Issue 22

I'm sorry. I really enjoy the vast majority of the products the Trolls put out, and Castles & Crusades is my current game of choice, but their House Rag known as the Crusader really annoyed me this month.

Let me preface this by stating the following: "House Rags" are used by publishers to drive sales of their games. Mongoose does this with Signs & Portents, a free PDF magazine published monthly with articles useful in their many games. Dragon and Dungeon are kinda weird, as the sale of D&D is there to drive the sub numbers, at least that's how I see it. In any case, both these publishers put out professional "House Rags"

The Crusader is a print product. It competes with Kobold Quarterly, Fight On!, and Knockspell on that field (I'm leaving out Dragon Roots as who knows when the next issue is, and Level Up as that is pure 4e)

The Crusader is the only one that is trying to go monthly. It costs $4 for 36 pages. It is ad light, so removing ads and the OGL leaves us with 32 pages. Not too bad. One or two quality articles would make that a decent price to quality ratio. Key word: would

I have been reading the Crusader since the first issue. It was poorly edited and reading cover to cover took me 20 minutes, but I enjoyed those minutes. It reminded me of the Dragon Magazines of my youth in some ways. Heck, I actually found articles I thought I could use.

Jump ahead to the latest issue, number 22. In it, Managing Editor James Ward (yes, the same as in the old TSR days) bemoans the lack of subscribers. He actually suggests that every reader of Crusader buy a sub for a friend. Then we are told we should "start talking the magazine up" on the Trolls forums. We are expected to shill on the company's own forums to our fellow gamers? Oh, and then a second plea to buy a sub for a friend.

I'm sorry, but quality sells. There just isnt enough quality in these almost monthly, rushed issues for me to justify renewing, let alone buy for a friend. I feel there is more filler then crunch or fluff combined.

Lets see. Which articles are useless filler, used to fill the 36 pages in question.

1 - Upon the Blacktooth Ridge: 3 pages about how the "A" series came to be

2 - The Book of Familiars Finds a path: 2 pages on how the old D20 book is moving to C&C - its a fricken ad

3 - Troll Lord Freebies: 2 page spread with 2 totally worthless maps. Seriously, they are worthless. Part of some future product with labels such as "see future maps for details"

4 - The Aihrdian Newsletter: 6 pages on some fake parchment background, thereby making it annoying and painful to read. Its game world fiction, I think. Double spaced with large margins. More filler.

5 - Tales of the Brass Rings: 2 more pages of fiction. I regarded fiction as filler in the Dragon mags of the 80s and 90s, and that was of a higher writing quality.

Wow, 15 pages of filler, add 1 page for the table of contents and one page for the plea for subs, giving us 17 pages of blah. 4 pages for the ads and ogl. 21 filler pages out of 36.

Interestingly enough, there is a two page article on the C&C Society. Most interesting part? The end of the Doomsday Book, a fan created free magazine for C&C. Much more cruch heavy and useful then Crusader has ever been.

So there's my rambling rant. If you want subscribers you need to earn them. Give them a product that they can use in their actual games. Make it interesting. Make it presentable. Work out the proofreading issues... its been a weight around the neck of the Troll for years... showcasing it monthly doesn't help.

As a side note, Towers of Adventure by James Ward for use in C&C: worst waste of my money on a gaming product in years. Am I saying Mr. Ward is a bad designer and editor? No. But he needs to find out what his readers want if he is going to grow those subscriber numbers. This reader certainly hasn't been getting what he wants.

The covers are cool tho ;)

Eclipse Phase - A Taste of the Dark for Free

Eclipse Phase is an RPG published by Catalyst Game Labs under the Creative Commons License. It is available for free in a QuickStart (40 pages) edition or for $15 bucks at RPGNow (400 pages) for the full package.

So, why am I posting about it? Could it be the five 5* reviews it received at RPGNow since its August release? Perhaps. I've seen fudged reviews on RPGNow, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.

Borrowing the blurb from RPGNow:

Eclipse Phase is a post-apocalyptic game of conspiracy and horror. Humanity is enhanced and improved, but also battered and bitterly divided. Technology allows the re-shaping of bodies and minds, but also creates opportunities for oppression and puts the capability for mass destruction in the hands of everyone. And other threats lurk in the devastated habitats of the Fall, dangers both familiar and alien. In this harsh setting, the players participate in a cross-faction conspiracy called Firewall that seeks to protect transhumanity from threats both internal and external. Along the way, they may find themselves hunting for prized technology in a gutted habitat falling from orbit, risking the hellish landscapes of a ruined earth, or following the trail of a terrorist through militarized stations and isolationist habitats. Players may even find themselves stepping through a Pandora Gate, a wormhole to distant stars and the alien secrets beyond.

All that and your can try the system, get your teeth into the background, and have a starter adventure for free.

Course, I already bought the damn PDF. It looked so damn purty ;)

(late edit: there appears to be a Lite version of the rules for free... no frills, white box, plain label, artless... yada yada


Beware, I think my next posting (or the one after) will be a rant. Shame too, because I like the Trolls and C&C.

More Beer! More Games... Tastes Great, Less Filling

Actually, I don't know if the beer tastes great yet but one can hope. Mr. Beer suggests one week to brew, one week to carbonate, and possibly one week to condition. All of the forums I've read push 2-2-2 as the cycle, so next weekend for the bottling / carbonation stage. At the moment the Irish Read has some nice activity with a healthy foam on top of the brew, the Oktoberfest less of a head.

RPG Blog II has a link to a way to get Iron Crown Enterprises Rolemaster Express in PDF for free. They did this offer last year and I snagged a copy (also bought like 6 dead tree copies at 5 bucks a piece last year when they had a promotion). It's a great write up of the Rolemaster Rules without the overwhelming pages and tables from the full set. Almost reminds me of the MERP rules of old.

The Gathering of Fools took place yesterday, and our host succumbed to the dangers of 12 year old Scotch by 4pm... we didn't realize until nearly 5, and didn't wrap things up until nearly 7. Another fun time was had by all. Er, almost all.

Palladium Books has extended their Grab Bag offer until January 15th. Basically, for 37 bucks (plus handling, shipping and possibly tax) you get 80 or 90 bucks worth of gaming goodies. I received 6 signed prints (one signed and numbered), one unsigned print, 14 blister packs of Rifts minies, The latest Rifter (signed by Kevin and the rest), a Palladium Fantasy sourcebook (also signed) and last but certainly not least, a signed copy of the Palladium Fantasy Rulebook with a scetch signed and dated by Kevin. That was a double order (2 x 37). I need to pick up some frames to display the art :)

Snow, Beer, and RPGs - My Kinda Weekend

We got about 11" of the white stuff here in t6he6 NYC area overnite Saturday into Sunday. This led to a few things:

1 - The girlfriend and her dog got to stay the nite as we were a bit snowed in. My kitty Ashley did her avoidance deal, which is basically to sleep under the futon that my g/f and her dog were napping on and watching TV from, thereby driving the damn dog crazy as SHE knew the kitty was near.

2 - Being in yesterday afternoon meant I got to do something I had put off for a bit - home brewing. Nothing fancy-schmancy, just 2 2-gallon mini kegs of Mr Beer brewing. One is an Irish Red, the other is an Oktoberfest. When I bottle in two weeks I may go for something a bit different for the next batches for the mini-kegs.

3 - RPGs. Andugus from White Haired Man Games mentioned the idea of giving my some review copies of their latest products. When that happens I'll be putting the reviews on here. I've liked what I've seen of their stuff so far and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on more.

4 - Fantasy Grounds 2 now has an ULTIMATE version of their VTT software. For $150 you get a full version of the license and unlimted floating license connections. Good deal if you are doing demo or pick up games, or need to convince your circle of the viability of successful roleplaying on a virtual table top platform. In truth this can only help other platforms, assuming that the market doesn't balk at the price tag.