Mini Review - Resolute: Towers of Arvandoria RPG

This is, surprisingly enough, a mini review of a mini RPG.  Literally.  Maybe not as small as Microlite 74 or such, but the Resolute Superhero RPG from Teddy Bear Press that this draws its mechanics from clocks in at a minuscule 17 pages - including the obligatory introductory adventure.  Me, I'm not hugely into superhero RPGs, and trying to get my group to play one is like the Hatfields and the Macoys - opposite sides of a fence that will never agree with each other.  17 pages is probably all I can invest in a supers game these days.

Fantasy RPGs are something they are much more flexible with.  Which is great, because sometimes you want to step away from the D&D legacy, without stepping away from the fantasy it is grounded in.  At the same time, I don't generally cherish learning a whole new game system - there is a comfort of familiarity with the OSR and the assorted clones.   So I want simple, but complete.  Oh, and chea- inexpensive.  I'm not looking to spend much on a game that is there for a change of pace.

In steps Resolute: Towers of Arvandoia - A whopping 16 pages of fantasy RPG goodness.

For players, RToA offers flexible character creation, with a point-based system that allows for total customization. You have 7 races and nearly 50 different abilities or spells to choose from, many of which you can tailor specifically to your character concept.

For the game master, RToA offers:

- A textured and balanced combat system that makes resolution simple to run but that provides a wide range of options to players.

- Clear, quick and easy-to-adjudicate rules that cover nearly any situation.

- A single mechanic that applies everywhere; creating foes takes only minutes, and you can build entire adventures quickly, with virtually no prep work.

- 12 sample monsters that give you models to work from.

- A dynamic and textured game setting that inspires further adventure.

- Rules to quickly generate hundreds of magical treasures.

- An introductory adventure to get you started right away.

As I said, pretty loaded for your 2 bucks.  For 95 cents more you can add the Hero’s Handbook (more spells, classes, races) and the Book of Monsters 1.

Could you run this as your main campaign and system? Sure.  But for me it’s going to be the change of pace for when we need a break.  At 2 buck for a buy in my players can’t complain too much ;)

Mini Review - Blood in Ferelden - Three Adventures for Green Ronin's Dragon Age

Green Ronin's Dragon Age RPG is based upon the computer / video game RPG of the same name.  The computer version is outstanding, and well worth the price of admission.

Dragon Age, the Table Top RPG, uses the same setting and gives the players a chance to play in the setting that is so well detailed for the computer.  The initial game set covers levels 1-5, and is well done and nicely put together.  Without support material in felt incomplete tho.  Blood in Ferelden does a fine job at removing that incomplete feeling, and gives you three complete adventures and three adventure seeds.

In reality, Blood in Ferelden is more like a mini-campaign, or an Adventure Path (that's what the kids are calling it these days - its all the rage).

A quick synopsis from Blood in Ferelden for the three adventures follows:

     In Amber Rage the heroes survive a surprise attack on a village fair and must journey, in the aftermath of the attack, into the Korcari Wilds to find a key ingredi- ent to the cure for the horrible disease that the attackers brought with them.      

In Where Eagles Lair the PCs are pressed into ser- vice tracking down the kidnapped daughter of one of Ferelden’s arls in the Frostback Mountains, where the strange and savage Avvarian hillmen dwell.          

Finally, in A Fragile Web the heroes must negotiate an entirely different manner of challenge, where almost nothing is as it seems, in dealing with a series of deadly political intrigues in Fereldan’s capital city.

The adventures average about 40 pages a piece and should probably take 2 to 3 sessions each to complete, so you are getting a nice bang to your buck ratio.

Did I mention that Green Ronin did a fine job bookmarking this?  They did.  It's a pleasure to read.

RantCon - The Odyssey

Let me begin by saying this is all me.  I'm sure RetCon is a fine convention and there are hundreds of people having a ball - I just don't know.

Last night I got eaten alive until about 4 am -  the joys of summer sleeping.  Needless to say, I had a heads up that today was not going to be my day.

The trip to RetCon from Queens, NY is about 40 minutes with traffic, according to google.  Apparently I found something worse then traffic, it took closer to an hour for a 26 miles drive.

Then it hit me as I arrived at the Four Season - the parking lot was half empty, and this was an operational Hilton Hotel.  For a con expecting 250-300 gamers, I began to doubt there were even 1/5 the numbers.  I did see a 20ish, unkept  young man with with a canvass army styled backpack with horrid posture roaming the parking lot - its a shame we still have the same, fairly accurate sterotypes nearly 30 years after I entered the hobby.

No signs for the event at all at the hotel, in the parking lot or anywhere.  I know the Long Island Meet-up club was running it, so maybe there was a secret door to find or handshake you had to share, but in the mood I was in I just got back in my car and drove home - sans traffic about 25 minutes.  The return trip was the highlight of my day.

I shouldn't have even made the trip in the mood I was in, but the idea of spending 20 bucks to view a few vendors tables - as the idea of gaming was slipping from my mind as I tried to find any sign of a convention sign - made me cancel the trip on the doorstep of the con.

Ah well, hope it went well for those that found it - I think the bearded man in the trenchcoat might have marked the entrance, but I'm not sure ;)

The Overlooked Blogs Collection - White Haired Man

White Haired Man is not new to the RPG Community, especially if one games via Virtual Table Tops such as Fantasy Grounds.  Their Blog is fairly new tho.

 

First things first:  White Haired Man has it's generic, system free campaign setting called Kith'takharos available for free online.  Nope, not as a PDF, but as an honest to god webpage, with links and maps that one can blow up and print out as they desire.  It is a fully detailed, ready to run, campaign setting.

They also produce and sell modules that can be used with the Fantasy Grounds 2 software, both for the 3.5 OGL rules and Savage Worlds.

If you play online via FG2, you really can't go wrong by checking out White Haired Man's modules, as they are created for use with FG2, not conversions of previous products (that being said, each module includes a full PDF, suitable for reference during online game by the GM or for running a face to face game).

The blog contains observations, gaming material for a Kith'takharos, behind the scenes game session info, and all the stuff you expect from a gaming blog - except that there is an emphasis on Virtual Gaming.  Since a good Virtual Game session can compete with a good face to face gaming session, I think that's a nice change of perception.  Well, that and I tend to do most of my gaming with VTTs myself these days ;)

How to Embarrass Your 17 Y/O Son

As a father, call out "I love you!" as you drop him off at the airport for his 2 week vacation to Florida. What can I say, I'm gonna miss him. ;)

Of course, it does mean I'll have much more time to read and catch up on some things I want to watch on Netflix on Demand (Dresden Files comes to mind).

Tomorrow is Day 1 of RetCon out in Long Island NY. I'll probably stop by for a few hours tomorrow afternoon, take a few pictures with my cell phone, check the dealers tables, and jump in a game if I find one I like with an open seat.

Which reminds me, if JoeTheLawyer is reading this, any idea when and where you want to run that Weird Fantasy session that was mentioned last month?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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.

 

 

LotFP's Weird Fantasy Featured in This Week's RPGNow Newsletter

Nice.  Today's DriveThruRPG/RPGNow Newsletter has LotFP's Weird Fantasy as one of its Featured Products.  It's time for Weird Fantasy to crack the RPGNow Top 5 list I think ;)

All that and tomorrow is H.P. Lovecraft's B-day!  Cool beans.

iPad Dreams, Wants and Desires

I'm still in search of the perfect blogging software for the iPad. I have a feeling it is going to be a long wait. BlogPress isn't bad, but it is extremely basic. Hopefully someone, somewhere has better software in the works.

As for the multitude of PDF readers for the iPad, I still think that GoodReader is the best of the bunch by far. Supposedly the next update for the app will allow annotations and notes on the PDF (a feature available in some other PDF apps for the iPad). Being able to scratch up a copy of a module on my iPad, or write some house rules in the margins of Weird Fantasy will bring this damn close to having my beat up 1st edition modules in hand.

I need to spend some more time with the iPad mapping program I download last week - the name, of course, escapes me at the moment. I'd really love to have an iPad VTT, but it would probably need to be cross platform, and that ain't happening anytime soon.

I have high hopes, don't I?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trollzine #3 - For the Other OSR Game

Tunnels & Trolls is the other Old School game.  Actually T&T, Runequest, Traveller and D&D mark the four corners of classic role playing in my opinion. That could probably rate a post unto itself, but I digress.

Trollzine, for those who miss the obvious, is a magazine for Tunnels & Trolls.

 

TrollsZine 3 is the adventure issue. It contains two ready to run adventures for the busy games master, as well as two new solo adventures. Four Jars of Mead is a previously unpublished solo by Ken St. Andre, beautifully illustrated by Jeff Freels. The Temple of Issoth is a new solo adventure by the prolific Dan Hembree. Also included are adventure locations, magic items, new spells, several new monsters, the continued adventures of Aeulung and rules for character inheritance. Contributors include Ken St. Andre, Justin T. Williams, Randy Whitley, Tori Bergquist, W. Scott Grant, Dan Hembree and Mike Tremaine. It is packed with great drawings by Jeff Freels, David Ullery, Kevin Bracey and Grantt Ennis, amongst others. Edited by Dan Prentice and Kevin Bracey, TrollsZine 3 continues in the grand tradition of writing by gamers, for gamers and is still available for the bargain price of $0.00.

Not bad for free, huh?  Tunnels & Trolls was my system of choice for solo play.  I never quite liked it for group play, but admittedly only played in about 2 or 3 sessions, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Trollzine 3 is 80 plus pages of Old School gaming.  It may not be the Old School you know, but it can definitely stand on its own.

If you don't have a copy of the Tunnels & Trolls rules to make use of the enclosed adventures, especially the solo ones, a shortened version of the Tunnels & Trolls rules is available here.  Go play by yourself!

 

Rant and Roll

I do not enjoy getting work phone calls at home after a day of work. Days that I take off I almost expect them, as it usually entails something that falls under my responsibilities and I need to walk somebody through something. Comes with the job. Calls at home after I've left work? Somebody dropped the ball and is trying to make their problem my problem. Don't like it at all. Can you tell I had a phone call or two last night? End of Rant.

I should have about 2 weeks of significant reading time coming up. No, I'm not going out sick. The kid is visiting relatives for 2 weeks, and I highly suspect my ability to find time to read will grow exponentially. It will be short lived, and that's okay. I'll be missing the kid from moment I put him on the plane.

This weekend is the RetCon out on Long Island, NY. I might drop by for a few hours on Saturday, more for the atmosphere then anything else. It's been about 13 years since I've done any face to face roleplaying, and even longer since my last con.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mini Review - Stonesky Delve from Expeditious Retreat

Why do I call most of my reviews Mini Reviews?  Because I don't break the product down to its components and pieces like some others.  I'd rather give you my impressions and feelings then inadvertently drop spoilers.  Besides, I don't don't have the time or energy to write a magazine length review.  Wish I did 'tho, and god bless those that can and do.

Anyhow, on to the Mini Review of Stonesky Delve, an Advanced Adventure for 6-10 characters of levels 4-7.  The module assumes the group will have access to the AD&D core rulebooks and / or OSRIC, but I see little reason why it couldn't work with Labyrinth Lord, especially with the Advanced Edition Companion. with what little conversion is needed done on the fly.

 

The module itself was run as a 2 part tournament module at the 2010 GenCon Convention and as such it comes with pregen characters, or, as I like to call them - new NPCs for my collection.

This is one of those adventures that the DM should know very well before running.  The caves in the module are more then the standard D&D 2 dimensional fare (yes, it is advised to let the players know to prepare for spelunking).

If run for the standard gaming group as part of a campaign, it would probably last one long session or two shorter sessions in my estimation.  If run for a gameday or convention, it should take two 3 1/2 to 4 hr slots to finish.  Included is a tournament  scoring system.

Its a nice change from the standard dungeon crawl as it forces the players to think in three dimensions.  It should be fun to run and play in, but the DM must have a good handle on the adventure before running it.  Yes, I am repeating this piece of advice.  It bears repeating ;)

Update to the Minor Renovations at the Tavern

The list of websites is now above. I like it there. It is nice. I like cats... okay, in any case, I'll probably be changing the sites fairly frequently, especially the more major ones.

I will be adding a listing of free games with links on the left. Again, I'll be rotating games in and out as time goes on. I'm always open to suggestions, both on sites to highlight as well as free games to link up.

Alright, more after dinner. Time for a review. And I don't think it will from the bottom of the pile either.

Minor Renovations at the Tavern

I've added a small list of websites and forums to the left. Some are very popular, some are overlooked, all are worth visiting in my humble opinion.

I enjoyed putting up the Overlooked Blog Collection so much It will be a regular feature. Which is good, as I am running out of Quickstarts to post. Still, there should be an installment or two left in the free Quickstart collection.

I believe that both of our winners received their prizes. Marcello promised me pics of the assembled results of his prize. With his permission I'll post them here when I get them. Get building lad! Heh

We are at 52 Google Connect Friends - at 60 the Tavern will award another prize to a randomly chosen member. Now ain't that a simple contest?

I've got a review pile that is way too deep. I might try a poll to see which I should attack next. Or I'll just start from the bottom. Not sure yet.

Ah well. Back to the paying job ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mini Review: GOLD - The Web Series That Does Double Damage - Complete Season 1 Special Edition DVD

GOLD - The Web Series That Does Double Damage - Complete Season 1 Special Edition DVD - - Now THAT's a Title.  Heck, I almost sprained a finger typing all of that out.  Damn, I'd no longer be a contender.

I'm sure most of us have seen The Gamers, a low budget spoof about, what else, gamers and gaming.  GOLD- TWSTDDD is a more serious approach of the topic.  Or if not more serious, then certainly less campy and with higher production values.



The premise is that gaming is a spectator sport, with teams, training, fans, sponsors - even televised championships.  Its every geek gamer's dream, and even the not so geeky.

There are other story lines going on, and in many ways the gaming story line is the background - characters, as in the player's themselves, come before the gaming.

To be honest, I had trouble caring for most of the characters until the second episode, so stick with it.  When I finished I was left wanting more, which is always good for a series, and I think this one can do well. 

The British accents are poorly done, or greatly done if one is looking for over the top.  Still, the series gets it's legs with the arrival of the Brits.

The DVD is well done, but I'm unsure how many will pay for something that is freely available on the web.  Still, you can't go wrong by giving the series a peek.

Random Thoughts

Al still hasn't stepped up for his prize from last week. If I don't hear from him by 6pm NYC time, Wednesday August 18, i'll reroll and award it to someone else. Can't let this stuff go to waste.

I've noticed a couple of companies are going the "free PDF with dead tree purchase" and I think it's great. It increases the odds of me making the dead tree purchase, as I make most of my gaming buys in PDF these days.

LofFP Weird Fantasy - thinking of the Ranger Class conversion, how do you have a damage or combat bonus against certain creatures when such creatures aren't included in the rules... Aargh!

Weekend get aways are fun, but I really need a nice week or two out sick, so I can be forced to stay home and read. I really need to catch up on my reading time.

I enjoyed doing yesterday's Overlooked Blog. It may become a semi-regular feature.

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The Overlooked Blogs Collection - August 15, 2010

Today I had one of those "Holy Crap!  I've overlooked this for how long?"  Sometimes it just takes a few minutes to see where some of your blog's traffic is coming from to find other blogs that you yourself have overlooked.

Such is Joseph Browning's Blog for Expeditious Retreat Press.  I've bought his products in the past, I've enjoyed reading the House of Blue men, and I'm seriously considering picking up Sorcery and Super Science! even though I have no idea when, let along if, I'd ever get a chance to run it.

Lo and behold, I'm checking where Tenkar's Tavern gets some of its traffic from, and I see http://josephbrowning.blogspot.com/.  That was the Holy Crap moment, I never even realized he had a blog.  Should have clicked yesterday when we had the OneBookShelf sales number discussion, but I can be a bit slow at times.

Do yourself a favor and give it a peek.  It's full of good stuff you can steal for just about any OSR RPG, and you can read up on the development of Sorcery and Super Science!. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

LotFP - Weird Fantasy - My Stab at a Paladin Class

Ever since I read James' take on the Thief (Specialist) I started thinking about how the 6 pip system (for lack of a better name) could be used to emulate other classic character classes in Weird Fantasy.  The Paladin is my first stab at it, and this is my first stab at the Paladin.  I'm sure it will be revised after feedback and y own further thoughts.

Paladins in Weird Fantasy aren't as powerful as Paladins in the classic rules.  Their over the top holiness has to be toned down for the default setting, which is grittier then most.

Here's the basics:

Paladins fight and save as fighters of the same level.  They advance using the experience chart for Wizards.

They have a permanent Protection From Evil - Self Only, in effect at all times.

The following Paladin abilities can be improved as the Paladin levels, via the "Pip System" used by Specialist in the main Weird Fantasy Rulebook, with changes as indicated as follows: all 3 abilities start with 1 pip.  1 pip is awarded with each level gained, to be used as the player sees fit, except that no ability can be 3 pips or more then any other.

Smite Undead - Undead attack bonus

Pip 1 - +2 hit, +2 damage, 1 use per day

Pip 2 - +2 hit, +2 damage, 2 uses per day

Pip 3 - +2 hit, +3 damage, 2 uses per day

Pip 4 - +2 hit, +3 damage, 3 uses per day

Pip 5 - +2 hit, +4 damage, 3 uses per day

Pip 5 - +2 hit, +4 damage, 4 uses per day

Lay Hands

Pip 1 - Heals 2 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 2 - Heals 5 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 3 - Heals 8 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 4 - Heals 11 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 5 - Heals 14 points on 1 individual once per day

Pip 6 - Heals 17 points on 1 individual once per day

Cure Disease

Pip 1 - Self Immunity to non-magic disease - +2 save to magical diseases

Pip 2 - 1 Casting of Cure Disease once per week

Pips 3-6 - 1 Additional Casting per Pip per week

The restriction in pip levels keeps one from overspecializing, while allowing individualization of each Paladin.

Consider this still a work in progress.  Comments and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

All the Treasures of the World: Gems - Free Sample

Grognardia has a nice review of All the Treasures of the World: Gems here.  Depending on the campaign you run, it might be a handy reference piece, but that is often hard to know without taking a peek for oneself.  It is not the usual RPG supplement.

 

Faster Monkey Games has a free sample from the product available here.  Check it out and see if it works for you.

(back to the Paladin grindstone)

Sales Rankings on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG

I always assumed that the sales rankings on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG would be one and the same.  They are storefronts for OneBookshelf.  You use the same login, purchases made on one site are recorded on the other, etc.

But they apparently record sales separately, and this shows in the Hottest items rankings.  It seems that each site has a different demographic, and I find that very interesting.

LotFP's Weird Fantasy seems to do much better on RPGNow.  I'll be bolding James' latest releases below.

RPGNow.com
Hottest Items (Overall)
01.ION GUARD - ICONS Edition
02.WINTERHAWK: The Watchtower
03.Villains and Vigilantes
04.ICONS: Sins of the Past
05.Icons
06.Smallville Roleplaying Game
07.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
08.DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
09.ICONS: The Skeletron Key
10.Sord Pf
11.ICONS Character Folio
12.E-Z DUNGEONS: Expansion Set 3
13.Sorcery & Super Science!
14.Tzak-Nal: The City
15.Eclipse Phase: NPC File 1: Prime

DriveThruRPG
Hottest Items
01.Return of the Scarlet Empress
02.Eclipse Phase: NPC File 1: Prime
03.Invite Only
04.Dudes of Legend (Full Version)
05.World of Darkness: Mirrors
06.Eclipse Phase: Sunward Hack Pack
07.DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
08.Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun
09.Glories of the Most High: Luna
10.Glories of the Most High: The Maidens of Destiny
11.Thousand Correct Actions
12.Mage Chronicler's Guide
13.Smallville Roleplaying Game
14.BattleTech: Technical Readout 3085
15.Yazata: The Persian Gods

RPGNow - Fantasy - Hottest Items
01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Sorcery & Super Science!
03.Tzak-Nal: The City
04.Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 2
05.Hero's Handbook for Resolute: Towers of Arvandoria
06.[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Time Thief
07.Tower of the Stargazer
08.[PFRPG] Krazy Kragnar's Alchemical Surplus Shop
09.Core Spell Card Sets - the Master Compendium (PFRPG)
10.World vs. Hero
11.Hammers of the God
12.Weird New World
13.Book of Beasts I for Resolute the RPG
14.Trailblazer
15.All the Treasures of the World: GEMS

DriveThruRPG- Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.Return of the Scarlet Empress
02.Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun
03.Glories of the Most High: Luna
04.Glories of the Most High: The Maidens of Destiny
05.Thousand Correct Actions
06.Contagion of Law
07.Debris from the Fallen Races
08.Manual of Exalted Power: The Alchemicals
09.Splinters of the Wyld
10.Scroll of Exalts
11.ExXxalted: Scroll of Swallowed Darkness
12.Hellfrost Region Guide #18: The Freelands
13.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
14.Tannhauser: Revised Rules
15.Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters

RPGNow - Dark Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Tower of the Stargazer
03.Hammers of the God
04.Crypt 30mm Paper Model
05.Hermit's Hutch 30mm Paper Model
06.World War Ruins #1
07.Winds Of Magic: Advanced Magic and Wizardry
08.High Valor
09.Hyperborean Mice
10.Critter Cache 6: Lovecraftian Bestiary
11.Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change
12.Cropland Ground Tiles
13.High Ground Tiles 30mm Paper Models
14.Crosspiece Ruins Set 30mm Paper Models
15.Medieval Ground Tiles

DriveThruRPG - Dark Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Call to Arms: Mist Dancer
03.Call to Arms: Force of Nature
04.Call to Arms: Bloodsworn
05.Winds Of Magic: Advanced Magic and Wizardry
06.Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change
07.Call to Arms: Infernalist
08.Dark Heresy: Dead Stars: Haarlock Legacy III
09.Dragon Age RPG, Set 1
10.Ordo Draconis 2
11.Houses of the Blooded
12.The Gathering Storm
13.Earthdawn Third Edition Player's Guide
14.Tower of the Stargazer
15.The Darkest Hour

I wonder if RPGNow is regarded as more "Old School" in the traffic it receives.
As I said earlier, I find this interesting, although I really don't know what to make of it.  Food for thought I guess.

Weekend Getaway - Lets See if I Can Get Things Done

So, the moment I found out I was not going to be stuck working this weekend the decision was made to run away from the city and head to the Pocono Mountains.  It serves the dual purpose of getting the kid a lot of driving time in, and it removes me from all the distractions of the city... okay, almost all, as I do pay for the piss poor DSL at my parent's place.  A man (and his son) need the internet!  heh

Thankfully my son can entertain himself.  Now if my mother can do the same, I'll have time to accomplish stuff that's been rattling around between my ears for the past week or so.

Come to think of it, I need to give Weird Fantasy's Magic book a closer read. I skimmed my first time thru, but I've heard that James did some tweaking on the otherwise mundane spell entries.  

Oh.. and sleep.  Lots of sleep ;)

LotFP -Weird Fantasy - Unsorted Thoughts on a Paladin Class

Looking at the Paladin class, the conversion to Weird Fantasy shouldn't be too hard. Drop saving throw bonuses, detect evil, protection from evil 10' radius becomes self only, no undead turning and no spell gain at higher levels.

Lay Hands, Cure Disease and an Undead Power Attack (poor choice of attack name - consider it in progress) get increases based upon the "Die Pip" system used by the Specialist Class. I have an idea for this, probably won't get written up until tomorrow.

Only one pip awarded per level gain, and no power can have 3 pips or more then any other, which should keep them fairly balanced while allowing specialization.

Expo chart needs to be worked out.

Anyhow, that's a snapshot of my notes.

Hopefully this gets fleshed out better over the weekend. Then I'll attempt the Ranger ;)

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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 ;)

Working on the Weird (Fantasy)

Work has been relatively insane since I came back from vacation on Monday. I'm still working on the Paladin and Ranger for Weird Fantasy, but might not have much time free until the weekend (assuming I don't get ordered in for the weekend, which at this point in time is a possibility).

I'm also toying with a few more (minor) house rules for Weird Fantasy. Time is the adversary at the moment.

I've reread LotFP Weird Fantasy Referee book on my iPad. First, kudos to James for making an excellent PDF conversion. It looks awesome on the iPad. Secondly, the advice James gives is priceless, even the parts that I don't agree with in total. Magic is a rare, wonderful and scary thing in the default setting of Weird Fantasy. I still think this book is worth the price of admission on it's own, and it would be nice to see it for sale separately.

Okay, more when I have my next few minutes of lucidity in this insanity ;)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The House of Blue Men - A Sorcery and Super Science! QuickStart

Sorcery and Super Science! is Expeditious Retreat's new RPG.  I don't think I can explain the game setting better then they do, so here it is:

After the cracking of the moon and before the rise of Atlantis the world was a place strange to the thoughts of honest men. The death throes of science amid the birth of magic sculpted new generations of conquerors who strode the lands forging civilizations of steel, sinew, and sorcery from the decrepit hulks of the ones that fell before.

Tyrannical wizards, amoral super-scientists, charismatic catalysts, and multifarious mutants battled for wealth, power, and honor. It was ten thousand years of barbarity; ten thousand years spent in the shadowy shells of past glories, hiding from horrible creatures that scratched and skittered for blood; ten thousand years of tyranny and injustice, ten thousand years of Sorcery & Super Science!

The House of Blue Men - A Sorcery and Super Science! QuickStart is a free peek at the setting and the rules.  At 48 pages, its a fairly large free peek.

It's written to be Old School at heart, or so they say.  I'll have to give this Quickstart a full read and get back to you on that.  First glance does show a professional prepared product.  Nice bookmarking in the Quickstart too.

And the Winner is...

We hit 50 Google Connect Friends / Followers today.

So I get to give away a prize... fun.

Rolling my wonderful crystal red (I've been told they look pink, but whatever) I've rolled:

a 14

"Al" is the winner of his choice of the following in PDF, courtesy of RPGNow / OneBookShelf:

     Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion
     Paths of Power (Pathfinder)
     Dark Heresy:  Inquisitor's Handbook

I'll be sending an email to Al's google email shortly.  Once he picks I'll send him his code.

Congrats!

Next prize at 60 members ;)

Let's Get to 50!

The Tavern currently has 48 Google Connect Friends / Followers. Let's hit 50 so I can randomly reward one of the 50 with a free PDF product from RPGNow.com.

I enjoy giving stuff away, so if you regularly pull up a seat at the Tavern, why don't you sign the book and possibly get some free swag.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

August Sales at RPGNow - 20% of Coupon for Selected Publishers

The following publishers are offering 20% off with the following coupon code for the month of August:

Code: DTRPGAugust2010BlogPCast

Publishers:

A Terrible Idea

Aethereal Forge

Bailey Records

Crucifiction Games

Dream Pod 9

Fantasy Games Unlimited

Final Redoubt Press

Gold Rush Games

Goodman Games

Highmoon Games

Morbid Games

OtherWorld Creations

Palladium Books

Rogue Games

RPG Objects

Savage Mojo

Tricky Owlbear

Vigilance Press

Enjoy ;)

OSR Rulesets - Art Free for Free

I think Goblinoid Games the first with the art free version of the Labyrinth Lord PDF given away for free and a version with art sold an a nominal price.

LotFP Weird Fantasy is the second OSR publisher that I know of that went art free for free, pay for version with art. (although Weird Fantasy's art enhanced set includes 2 books not in the free version).

Has anyone else gone this route? Did I miss a game or two?

Is this effective marketing? I suspect it is, but I have no way to know for sure.

Some people put little value on free. Does the fact that there is a pay for version that is essentially the same make the free version more valuable?

Please leave your thoughts after the beep. BEEEEP!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Cartographer - RPG Mapping for the iPad

Cartographer is a mapping program for the iPad that allows for downloading of maps to your computer for printing or Virtual Table Top use.

At 12 bucks it's 18 dollars cheaper then it's only competitor I know of (whose name escapes me at the moment).

The mapping is fairly intuitive... It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to do a small 4 room dungeon complete with doors, stairs, pools and assorted trappings.

You can also use the map as a battle map directly on the iPad, and can move counters around on the virtual screen. A bit small for my use, but with a video out to a HD TV or computer monitor it might make a decent option

I only stumbled across this little gem late last night, so I haven't put it thru all of it's paces. My one peeve is that the zoom is not set to work with the ipad's pinching feature... Instead it uses preset zoom out /in settings.

Interesting so far, this might become a mapping program I can actually use ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

LotFP - Weird Fantasy Role-Playing Rules - On Sale at RPGNow

James put the Weird Fantasy Role-Playing Deluxe Edition - Rules Book, The Magic Book, The Referee Book and the Tutorial Book up on RPGNow - $12.50 for the lot of it.  The Referee Book might be worth that on its own, its just that good.

485 pages  of gaming fun, including character sheet, an info sheet and Raggi's Recommended Readings

(short review of the Referee Book here.)

 

Some might prefer a free peek, and James is doing you one better... he's offering the Rules Book and Magic Book as a free download on his website.  They are art free but the real deal.

I think it's awesome that you can get everything that was offered in the collectors box for less then $23 total in PDF (if you add in Tower of the Stargazer and Weird New World, reviews here and here).

Give Weird Fantasy a free grab if nothing else.  It's good, well written, and making me think of house rules and adding classes - that's amazing unto itself ;)

Back to the Grindstone

The joys of returning to work after nine days away... this morning was painful just to deal with the alarm. I'd like to know where all the time went on my vacation, as I have little of productive completed projects around the house to show for it.

At least i've found time to think of the ways to stat out the Paladin and Ranger classes for Weird Fantasy. It may be a few days before I have anything ready to post. Damn work and it's ability to destroy free time ;)

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LotfP - Weird Fantasy - More Thoughts on Houserules / Adding Classes

Driving has become a very relaxing way for me to think about life, love... and gaming.  If I could write and drive, I'm sure the products would be awesome, at least until the point the car I was driving went off a bridge or into a wall due to my attention being diverted.

Anyhow, I'm really digging the Specialist class in Weird Fantasy.  It is a great solution to a class with multiple abilities that increase with level gain.  It allows for the individualization of each character, specialized or jack of all trades.  It is very well thought out.

It's also a fine example as a baseline to design other classes with abilities, some that increase with level, some that are gained at later levels, or a combination of the two. I'm thinking of writing up a Ranger, Paladin and possibly Bard class for LotFP's Weird Fantasy.

If nothing else, it gives me a reason to reread the rules again, and the referee advice.  Oh, and run the damn tutorial.  Sigh.  Where the F' did my vacation go?

Open Game Table Volume 2

I remember vividly when Open Game Table Volume 1 came out last year.  It reinforced my desire to blog and really opened my eyes up to some of the blog sites in our corner of the blogosphere.  It also made good bathroom reading material, as it could be read in short sections and picked up next round.  Yep, I own the hard copy.

This year I have the PDF version of Open Game Table Volume 2, and I just started virtually flipping thru it.  There are some blogs that will be added to my blog role (how Gnome Stew has missed it for so long I do not know, but I shall soon rectify it).

Still, there seems to be something lacking this time around.  In all probability, it is my sense of wonder that is missing, as now I have become part of this thing we call blogging, and although I am not a major part of it by far, I have lost the sense of wonder I used to have.

No matter, it should be a good read, and I expect to find some interesting blogs to read in the future.

LotFP - Weird Fantasy - Brainstorming Houserules

Like I posted earlier, Weird Fantasy comes together as you read the whole friggin' package.  The rules themselves work best with the implied low magic / low fantasy setting.

That being said, there is room to tweak, and here are some of my first thoughts on the matter:

Specialists - Sneak Attack - The rules state each "pip" bought in the skill increases the damage multiplier by +1.  It also states that putting any points into the skill gives a +2 bonus to the Sneak Attack.  I'm leaning towards making that +2 per "pip" bought for the to hit bonus.  Only Fighters increase in To Hit Bonus - I'd like to think a sneak attack at a higher level of expertise will actually hit.

Halflings - The implied class for Halflings is Fighter, as the descriptive text refers to "a chiseled, battle-scarred warrior Halfling."  I'd rather see him default to a Specialist, but keep the Halfling Expo Advancement, so he will lag behind a Human Specialist.

Fighters - The only class to increase in combat ability.  One problem, they may hit more often (if that isn't balanced out by decreasing AC in higher level opponents), but their damage won't be increasing - the Low Magic setting will make magic weapons vey rare - and forget about gauntlets or girdles of strength.  My suggestion?  Three attacks per two rounds starting at level 6, and two attacks per round at level 11.  He still has to hit, but we've increased his damage potential.  I foresee extremely long combats at higher levels otherwise.

Clerics and Wizards - On the fence on this one.  Thinking of adding one level 1 spell for a +1 in the appropriate stat bonus, a level 2 spell for +2, and a level 3 spell for +3.  Clerics aren't going to be going toe to toe in combat anymore, and Wizards are going to suffer from the lack of Christmas Tree goodies.  This keeps the player in the game a bit longer before he has an empty spell battery.  I don't think the balance issue is all that huge.

Dangerous what a day of driving - with most of that in the passenger seat as my son is getting his "driving time in" - leads one to think of ;)

LotFP -Weird Fantasy - More Thoughts

I've spent more time reading the Rules for Weird Fantasy and I have to say the pieces are falling into place. Keeping the magic item Christmas Tree from entering gameplay makes the Fighter's monopoly on combat bonus' even more valuable. Armor Classes across the board will stay in the positive number range for the most part, and no monster book means most monsters will be fairly unique, or at least I think that is the intention.

I have some house-rule tweaks I'm thinking on. I'll post them when I work them out. Possibly later today.


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Rebooting the Never Fully Booted

So, the Labyrinth Lord Campaign via Fantasy Grounds I was going to run will now be a Castles & Crusades Campaign via Fantasy Grounds 2.  Why?  Simple really.  There are aot of mods already converted from C&C to FG2... nothing for LL... and premade mods means much less prep time.

I simply don't have all that much time to play with too convert a module for use in FG2.

Besides, all we did was character generation, and that is easy enough to convert over.

Did have an interesting time with one of the group on Wednesday, who has it in his head that his Ranger is going to be "kiting" the "mobs" like in DDO or EQ2.  As he is the closest thing the party of four has to a tank, I don't think that is much of an option. Besides, bow and arrow isn't well suited for the low ceilings of a dungeon environment. ;)

Aiming to get this going in September when vacations are over.  Time will tell.

LotFP Weird New World on Sale at RPGNow

James has been a busy little beaver getting his latest works up on RPGNow in PDF Format.  The latest to hit is Weird New World.

 

Another solid conversion to PDF by the current OSR Workhorse... at least until the next thing hits.  Catch a review of Weird New World here.

Currently $6.00 in PDF from RPGNow for 62 extremely well bookmarked pages.

LotFP's Tower of the Stargazer and Hammers of the God for Sale at RPGNow

I woke up this morning to see that Lamentations of the Flame Princess' Tower of the Stargazer and Hammers of the God had been uploaded for sale at RPGNow.  This is the perfect opportunity for those that didn't, or couldn't pick up the Weird Fantasy box set to grab Tower of the Stargazer (short review here).  Hammers of the God is being sold by James as an individual purchase - I picked up my hard copy when I ordered the Boxed set.

James did a great job reformatting Tower of the Stargazer to PDF format.  What was 16 pages in print becomes over 40 pages in eye pleasing PDF.  Nicely done. Still as deadly as the hard copy tho.

 

 

Hammers of the God was 36 pages plus wrap around cover.  86 pages in PDF format.  See, I knew James did some dense formatting in his print copies, its nice to see them reworked for PDF.  They'll be hitting my iPad shortly.

 

Did I mention they are both well bookmarked?  Well, they are, which is a nice bonus for the PDFs.

Tower of the Stargazer is $3.25 on RPGnow,  Hammers of the God is $6.00.

James, when are you going to put up the Referee Book from Weird Fantasy? Come on, you know I want it ;)

Revamp in Progess

Out with the old Template, in with the New Template.

Very much a work in progress.

Feel free to throw your two cents below... I'm not too proud to take advice ;)

DC Adventures - Quick Start

I know I'm overdue on the next install of the Quick Start listings I've been putting together, but I'd hate to see this one fall thru the cracks.

 

The DC Adventures Quick Start highlights the new DC Adventures game, which is built upon the Mutants and Masterminds rules, of which you can also grab a quick start for here.

DC Adventures Quick Start is a mere 9 pages (the M&M quick start is 34 pages, but who is counting?).  What I do find strange is that the new quick start uses Superboy and Smallville as its hooks... didn't we just get a Smallville RPG?

I've been waiting for a DC supers game since the old Mayfair days... now where is my Marvel Heroes RPG?

LotFP - Weird Fantasy - Weird New World

Lamentations of the Flame Princess - Weird Fantasy - Weird New World is James Raggi's sandbox setting for the Weird Fantasy Ruleset (although it should work with any of the retro clones without much work.

So, why check out Weird New World when fantasy settings are a dime a dozen these days?  Simply because they ARE a dime a dozen these days, and James never plays it safe or close to the vest.  This is not  your normal fantasy setting, but you probably guessed that already.

 

James gives us a cold land further divided by climate zones, a weather severity system (which will effect gameplay), random encounter charts (land, sea and ice), encounter areas and notable landmarks, some detailed encounters, elves that make the Drow seem tame... in the long and short of it, typical Raggi... if there was a typical Raggi.

The man crams a lot into 28 pages.  Most if it is snippets, short pieces to get you thinking about how you want to flesh things out.

Now, could I run this as is?  Nope, its a sandbox, a very large sandbox, and James plants some very nice seeds.  You need to make this your own before you can run it.  Which is fine by me.

Did I mention its a very lethal setting, or did you just assume that with James writing it? ;)

Gamers Seeking Gamers

It appears ENWorld overwhelmed it's servers when it went live with its Gamers Seeking Gamers service over the weekend.  Which tells you there are a lot of gamers seeking game groups, and / or game groups seeking additional players.  Which is good.  Heck the service is good for the hobby, especially from a site that gets traffic like ENWorld does.

Gamers Seeking Gamers is a way for you to find other gamers in your area. But not only that - you can find conventions, events, online groups, and more!

You are able to seach by location - you tell Gamers Seeking Gamers where you are, and then tell it how many miles away from you you'd like to search (and yes, you can change that to kilometers if you want to!) Gamers Seeking Gamers will then show you a map and a list of matching gamers, events, regular games, conventions, and groups within that area.

You can even filter your search results - you can narrow the list down by age group or by which games people are interested in. 

Which makes for a very interesting tool.  Not sure I'll use it much myself, as I have enough trouble trying to schedule  my old gaming group to gather once a month via Fantasy Grounds 2.

Throwing Stones - Sorta

I'm nearing the halfway point of my vacation, and so far I've had:
     - an explosive case of food poisoning
     - passed a kidney stone (apparently - I wasn't going to retrieve it to be sure)
     - received Gold - A Web Series - Season One DVD to review
     - got myself a reviewer's PDF copy of DC Heroes
     - got to spend lots of bathroom time with LotFP's Weird Fantasy
     - other assorted crap too minor to mention

One hell of a mixed bag.  Then again, I seem to always get sick on vacation, which is why I haven't had to take a sick day in almost 3 years... sigh.

Tomorrow I set up my new Mac Mini, with switches to share my monitor and other peripherals with my PC.  Hopefully more quality time with Weird Fantasy and DC Heroes too.

LotFP -Weird Fantasy - My Thoughts

Its weird, but the last pieces of the boxed set I'll probably put some serious reading time into are the Rules and Spells books. This is for the simple reason that the rest of the boxed set steps pretty far from standard fair.

I'm not saying the rules are standard OSR clone-age, but the rest of the set stands unique enough to get preferential reading treatment, and micro reviewing on this blog.

Never got the chance to run thru the tutorial, but i will try to in the next few days.

Game on!

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LotFP - Weird Fantasy - Tower of the Stargazer

Lamentations of the Flame Princess - Weird Fantasy - Tower of the Stargazer.  It's a hell of a lot to write to name one of  James Raggi's latest works, but it is worth it.  It's included in the Weird Fantasy boxed set that James just released, but its also available separately.

So, what do you get for your purchase?  More then you might expect.  You get 16 pages crammed full of text,  a wrap around cover which, just like TSR's old modules, includes all the maps the DM needs on the inside cover, and cover art by Peter Mullen.

Now, as for those 16 pages full of text?  James outdid himself.  Seriously.  The adventure itself is excellent and extremely deadly (as one would expect with Raggi writing it).  Its not just another Wizard's Tower.  But that's not where the value lies.  The value is in James' notes. Notes on the playtest, what worked and what didn't.  Notes on WHY he wrote something one way, and not another way.  Notes that just about any DM will read and say "I just learned something useful".  All that hidden like little Easter Eggs in an an already sweet piece of work.

I really need to sit down with the Tutorial Booklet.  I suspect there will be things to learn there too.

LotFP - Weird Fantasy - Referee Book -

I'm not sure if James plans to make the Referee Book from his Weird Fantasy boxed set available as a stand along product, but he should.  I've read numerous books on DM'ing, GM'ing, Ref'ing, etc... and not one spoke to me in a real man's (or person's) language and terms.  James is spot on way more often then not, and where we disagree its more on a level of play styles - and even in these cases I can see and understand what James' point is.



Rule 1 won me over:  "Don't be a dick."

So right, yet so often left unsaid.

Back to Weird Fantasy reading...

Superhero Summer

I'm amazed at the number of superhero games that are / have been / will be released this summer. 

Icons was released earlier in late spring / early summer.  Its a nice little game from the designer of Mutants and Masterminds, and offers a quick and easy method to get you Superhero fix in.

DC Adventures was just released on RPGNow yesterday, although I think there is a revision going on with the PDF file.  I got an error with Adobe Reader, but Sumatra read it fine.  It's syncing to my iPad as I type.  Nice rainy day here in the Pocono Mountains makes for great reading time. It's engine is the Mutants and Masterminds system.

The Smallville RPG landed last week.  I haven't checked it out as I don't watch the series, but I have heard  good things about the series, so I may have to check it out as I run thru the other superhero rpgs.

Then of course there is Wild Talents 2nd Edition, which I had overlooked until I noticed the current superhero explosion currently in effect.  It came out earlier this year, and I must say it looks nice.  The One Roll Engine looks interesting, tho' I'd like to see it in play  Then again, I'm a bargain hunter at hard, so the earlier Wild Talents Essential Edition for only 5 bucks is very attractive.

Feedback when I get thru some reading, although I may be running the tutorial from LotFP Weird Fantasy as a single player adventure with a DM later tonight or tomorrow.  If I do I'll post the results and review.

Gathering of Fools Recap

Amazingly enough, Army of Darkness was NOT on the list of things to do or watch.  No idea how that fell thru the cracks.

We did however, watch The Hunt for Gollum.  Very well done, especially considering it is a fan movie.  Better then most of the made for SciFy Channel stuff in any case. 

Family Guy, bad Heavy Metal videos, classic arcade games like Gauntlet 2 on the PS3... plus beer, chips and beef jerky.  Classic Fools Fare.  Oh, and some Krod Mandoon.  My god but that show left little to the imagination.

In the end I gave everyone copies of Dark Dungeon, and they got to do a last man standing with generic level 1 fighters for a copy of the collectible Swords & Wizardry Whitebox boxed set (a copy of the S&W Quickstart rules went to the three eliminated).  Probably the first time I had the classic group rolling dice in a meaningful manner in 13 years... it was a blast.  Think I've hooked 'em, no to reel them in ;)

I Looted the Birthday Beast

and all I got was a lousy t-shirt.  Not!  heh

I feel truly blessed, as I received presents way beyond what I deserved.  I'll be hitting Amazon pretty hard in the next couple of days and will need to hit Microcenter soon to spend my new gift card.  Got some new Teva sandals which will be worn at the Gathering of Fools in lieu of socks ;)  Even got a handly dandy Apple Keyboard and Stand for my iPad.  Most excellent.  Oh, and of course Monty Python's Holy Grail  ceramic goblet.  Good one.

Number one b-day loot?  I Hate Your Guts, by comedian Jimmy Norton (also a regular on the Opie and Anthony Satellite Radio Show).  This book was delivered to my Kindle app on my iPad thanks to my son Chris, who figured out the prefect gift without any help from me (i just said get me an iTunes gift card).  I'm a real proud poppa.

Of course, his other idea was to put money on my Paypal account so i could by some of those silly RPGs at RPGNow.  He really knows me well ;)

I get to give gifts out in about 3 hrs at the Gathering of Fools.  Awesome vacation so far.  Heh

Pending Gathering of Fools

Today is my birthday.  I have hit the grand old age of 43, an age I never would have imagined people actively roleplayed at when I was 13.  Go figure.

More importantly tomorrow is the seasonal (more or less) Gathering of Fools.  The core of my old High School / College / Life Before our own Families and Responsibilities Group gets together every few months to shoot the shit, have a few beers for old fiends we've lost, watch Army of Darkness for the 27th time, eat lots of beef jerky and basically act like we did 25 years ago.

I like to bear gifts when possible during these gatherings.  Castles & Crusades books, OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry... I've given them all out.


Tomorrow I get to give out copies of Dark Dungeons, some Swords and Wizardry Quickstarts and a single copy of the Swords & Wizardry Whitebox Edition in the collectible box.  Think I'll run a mock combat with the S&W rules, last man standing gets the boxed set.  Should be a blast.

Posting may be light the rest of the weekend.  Or not.  One never knows what may spark a post ;)

Warrior, Rogue & Mage

Warrior, Rogue & Mage from Stargazer Games is a free, lightweight fantasy RPG.  Its a complete game in all of 40 pages, including setting.

In this game, the classic class names from fantasy RPGs are instead your attributes.  Once you wrap your head around that a few times you'll be fine.

In simplest terms, Warrior defines your combat abilities,  Rogue your stealth and Mage your academic / magical abilities.  Add in skills (that are linked to your attributes) and talents and you've pretty much defined your character.

Simple games can be a lot of fun, but they take the correct group.  A 40 page PDF is not going to cover all possibilities, so common sense and GM fiat may be needed at times.  Still, for a quick and easy system Warrior, Rogue & Mage reminds me in ways of Ancient Odysseys - both games are easy to pick up and get gaming with pretty quickly.

Decent layout and nice enough artwork makes this a keeper.  Warrior, Rogue & Mage is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

LotFP - Weird Fantasy in Hand

Gotta give props to Jim and the Finnish mail service.  I got my copy of Weird Fantasy this afternoon, the 28 of July - Jim shipped o the 26th.

Lots of goodies jammed in the box.  Its a tasty box too, or at least my cat thinks so.  She was nibbling on the edge.

The first parts I plan to read are the Tutorial (to see how well it might actually explain role playing to those outside the hobby), and the two included adventures:  Tower of the Stargazer and Weird New World.  Need to step away from my iPad for a bit it seems ;)

Heck, the dice may be small but they look to be decent quality.

I'll give a review after I read thru everything.

Dungeon Demon - Mapping for this Dummy

I have spent years trying to use a computer program for my dungeon mapping.  Campaign Cartographer is an amazing program in the right hands - those hands are not mine.  Dundjinni is another excellent mapping program.  I came closer to success with this one, but still far from pleasing, and it takes me forever.

I stumbled across Dungeon Demon from Rusty Axe Games last nite, a surprisingly intuitive mapping program for the mapping impaired.  I was able to put a no frills 4 room dungeon together in about 10 minutes, suitable for my online Virtual Table Top of choice, Fantasy Grounds (tho iTabletop may be knocking on that door soon).  I figure if I spend another 20 minutes making it all pretty I'll be pretty well set.

It won't overwhelm you with options, and will probably be seen as a mapping program with training wheels for the mapping masters out there, but I need the training wheels :)

This is a first for me.  I'm actually kind of excited.  Another excuse for not running a game removed from me.  Going to need to get off my ass and DM soon it seems.

If I get anywhere near passable I'll post some on the blog, just don't hold your breath ;)

No More Core 4e Books?

Found this linked on Louis Porter's Facebook page. Will be interesting to see how this plays out if accurate.

ManaNation has received a tip that Wizards of the Coast has decided to end the print run of the Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Core Handbooks, instead aiming to turn the game in the direction of “Dungeons and Dragons Essentials”, a product to be released later this year. The first product for the Essentials line is starting with the ‘Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game’ also being called ‘the Red Box’ and is due to be released on Sept. 7th, 2010.

It is our understanding that they are not going to be reprinting any of the three main books, the Players Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide and Monster Manual from this point on to allow them to be phased out. No other books have been mentioned.

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Location:No More Core 4e Books?

EGG's Lejendary Adventures - Quick Start

Lejendary Adventures was Gary Gygax's most recent game system.  Somewhere in my piles and shelves and closets of gaming goodness, I have both the full sized paperback books and the boxed set published by the Troll Lords.

These days it is out of print.  As Gygax Games has yet to decide what to do with the property, it may be out of print for a while.  That being said, DragonsFoot has a decent amount of material for use in the game.  More to the point, they have the PDF version of the Lejendary Adventures Quickstart available for download.

On the day we remember the man who did much to bring about this hobby of ours, why don't you download a copy of the Lejendary Adventures Quickstart.  Designed by the man.  Played by the man.

Heck, I'm gonna download another copy myself.  So I can give it a good reading.  I never got to play on the man's porch, but I've gotten the chance to spend many a year with his creations.

Roll them dice lads and ladies.

edit:  fixed the damn "G" for "J" deallie - Gary's f'n with me from above I tell you! ;)

Encounters Mag - Aussie for Classic Gaming

The lads down under have been putting out a free PDF magazine called Encounters.  There is a nice amount of material to borrow or steal for your D&D, LL, S&W, or other assorted old school styled gaming.

Very high production values and a decent page count, this quarterly magazine would have me subscribing if it offered such, but it's free, so I'll need to remember to track it down very few months.

Issue 2 of Encounters was just released.  Do yourself, and your gaming group a favor, and grab a copy.